A Glance at Ag #6

JANUARY 13, 2020

Here are some resources I’ve found recently to help us digest what’s going on in the agriculture industry. Consider each resource as “food for thought” in our own journeys of understanding food, and let’s ask questions to allow us to continually learn and grow.

We all have a lot going on this time of year as we try to get 2020 started on the right foot. With that in mind, this edition of “A Glance at Ag” features short & sweet articles that are important for us to know as we begin the new decade in agriculture.

• 5 TRENDS FOR THE FUTURE OF AGRICULTURE

Here’s a great AgGrad “Future of Agriculture” podcast by Tim Hammerich that gives a short and sweet glimpse into what agriculture will look like in 2020 and beyond. If you have a short attention span like me ( 🙂 ), this episode jumps to five previous podcasts in the series giving a deeper look at each trend, making the episode fly by while covering important topics that will become a bigger part of the ag community this year.

• 5 REASONS WHY AGRICULTURE IS IN WORSE SHAPE THAN YOU THINK

It seems I find myself saying “Farmers are in bad shape” or “Farmers are really struggling right now,” but sometimes it’s hard to explain why that’s the case. Simply put, there are a lot of factors globally that are hurting the American farmer today, mostly revolving around trade, regulation, and the lack of transparency and understanding in the farmer-consumer relationship. This CropLife short read by Dr. Jim Budzynski explains why agriculture is in a bad spot right now and why agriculturalists are losing optimism in early 2020.

• 5 SIMPLE CHEMISTRY FACTS THAT EVERYONE SHOULD UNDERSTAND BEFORE TALKING ABOUT SCIENCE

“Everything is made of chemicals.” This piece on Logic of Science’s page is a little bit dated, but holds so much truth that we all need to be reminded of. If you don’t want to read the whole piece, I beg of you to just read the bulleted statements so you can refresh your memory of the reality behind chemicals’ roles in our lives. This is especially important as we hear about legal cases involving chemicals like RoundUp. There’s so much mud in the water in knowing what’s true, and this article does a great job of keeping us in check with the facts that ground us.

If you have any thoughts on the above links, or if you find any helpful or insightful resources in your internet searching, please send them to me on social media (below) or on my contact page.

Thanks for reading!