Pennsylvania heritage and farming

This week, I was fortunate to spend two days at the Penn Ag Industries 125th anniversary convention. For 125 years they have been impacting agriculture and really having a true impact. When you talk about the urbanization of America, no state has had to deal with more of this than Pennsylvania. But the leadership and the “get the message out” attitude of every member I met sets this group apart. They do not sit back waiting and wishing the issue away. They address it and hit it square between the eyes. Thanks for asking me to be a part of it and congratulations on 125 years.

The mission of PennAg Industries "Working to create and maintain an effective, viable and competitive environment for Pennsylvania agribusinesses to grow and prosper."

We all talk about educating the consumer, the kid in the grocery store and the law maker. Well to do that we must get much more aggressive with websites and virtual tours. Check out PennAg Industry website and virtual tour by clicking here.

Little by little

With 99% of the media attention blaming animal agriculture for human resistance to antibiotics, I have found this small report that tells the truth. Few in agriculture are willing to take this on because I think some us wonder if it might be true. What we can be sure about is that human consumption of antibiotics has increased exponentially. The fear of the unknown is just too powerful isn’t? Click here for entire story.

A new study finds little risk to humans of contracting bacterial infections resistant to common antibiotics by eating meat from animals given two widely used livestock antibiotics.

Results show people "are much more likely to die of a bee sting" than to pick up a resistant infection from meat, said lead author H. Scott Hurd, an epidemiologist and veterinarian who runs Hurd-Health Consulting in Roland, Iowa.

Hurd said he and a panel of experts from Iowa State University, the University of Georgia, Penn State University, the University of Tennessee, and the University of Minnesota analyzed existing data on bacteria-contaminated meat and cases of resistant bacteria in humans. They concluded the risk of someone in the United States acquiring bacteria that resist common treatment by eating contaminated meat from animals treated with the two Elanco products to be less than one case in 10 million per year.