Don't forget to give #foodthanks

Food doesn’t just happen. It takes an incredible number of caring, thoughtful, hard-working individuals to provide the food for the meals we enjoy every day. From farmer to processor to truck driver to chef to retailer, millions work hard to provide our food.

Those people deserve our thanks, especially during the Thanksgiving holiday. Please remember to give #foodthanks this week on your blog, facebook pages, and twitter, especially on Wednesday, November 24.

I want to take the opportunity to personally thank each and every person for helping to provide the food myself and my family will consume for our Thanksgiving meal. I know there are a lot of hands involved and my thanks go to every one of you. Thank you for providing a safe, affordable, nutritious product. I am also proud of the small role I play in helping to bring food to the table of many families. It makes me proud to say that I help farmers take care of their animals so they can feed people.

Regardless of who produced your food or how it got to you, I hope we can agree that they all deserve our thanks. As you sit down for your Thanksgiving meal this week, please remember to give #foodthanks.


P.S. For those of you on twitter, #foodthanks is the hashtag to express your gratitude there as well.

Monday's agriculture website: Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project

The Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP) is today's website of interest to share with readers. ASAP helps to create and expand local food markets as a way to preserve local agricultural heritage, give everyone access to fresh, healthy, locally grown food, and a way to support local farmers. The mission of the organization is to help local farms thrive, link farmers to markets and supporters, and build healthy communities through connections to local food.

The organization takes an all inclusive approach to food and farms. In addition to promoting farmers' markets, it has a cookbook, organizes farm tours and provides nutritional education to school children. The website also provides a multitude of gardening ideas for children, in additional to kid friendly recipes and and children's literature.

Happy Independence Day!

As many are enjoying the birthday of the United States today, it is interesting to note that several of our founding fathers were also farmers.  Please enjoy some of their thoughts on farming as found on the Animal Agriculture Alliance facebook page.

Monday's agriculture website of interest: LOCAL HARVEST

For those interested in visiting local food outlets, today's agricultural website of interest, Local Harvest, lists farmers' markets across the country. Local Harvest promotes organic and local food. It maintains a directory of farms, farmers markets, and other local food sources. The site also encourages people to establish direct contact with farms in their local area.

Monday's agriculture website of interest: ANIMAL DISEASE TRACEABILITY

Food safety is something very important to the agriculture community. It is also something I take very seriously in working with dairy and beef farms. It is important we know how to monitor, control and eradicate disease in order to have a safe product for consumers. Recently, USDA announced that it was formulating a more flexible, national animal identification program. The animal, plant and health inspection service portion of USDA has posted an Animal Disease Traceability website. While there is not much information there now to start, I anticipate more will be added as it is discussed and decided upon. Currently, there is a frequently asked questions fact page detailing some of the things learned from trying to implement the national animal identification system and what USDA plans to do differently.

Monday's agriculture website of interest: HOW TO CREATE A COMPOST PILE

As people are becoming more aware of their actions on the environment, they are looking for ways to "reduce, reuse and recycle." Today's website of agricultural interest is the EPA's page on How to create your own compost pile. The finished compost, in turn, can be used in flower beds and potted plants to provide nutrients.

Monday's agriculture website of interest: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY

Monday's agricultural website of interest to share with readers is a frequently asked questions page on agricultural biotechnology. This site discusses some questions and answers about biotechnology focused primarily in the crop and plant sciences. The site is maintained by Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO).

BIO is the world's largest biotechnology organization, providing advocacy, business development and communications services for more than 1,200 members worldwide. BIO members are involved in the research and development of innovative healthcare, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology technologies. Corporate members range from entrepreneurial companies developing a first product to Fortune 100 multinationals. The group also represents state and regional biotech associations, service providers to the industry and academic centers.

Giving Thanks

On this Thanksgiving Day, I wanted to specifically thank all the farmers who helped to provide the meal for myself and many millions of Americans on this day. Regardless of what specifically you are eating on this day, human hands were necessary to grow, produce and process your meal. Farmers come in many forms, small to large, animals to produce, organic to conventional, in all parts of the country. Thanks to all of you for what you do!

Along that line, I would also like to take a moment and thank Michelle Payn-Knoper (@mpaynknoper on twitter) for organizing agriculture folks on Tuesday nights for the #agchat and #foodchat conversations. She has provided a platform for people with varying agriculture backgrounds and interests to come together and converse and debate about agriculture topics. I urge all of you out there to vote for her as the Mashable twitter user of the year. She's up against several big name celebrities and needs our daily votes to help her win!

Monday's agriculture website of interest: THE CENTER FOR FOOD INTEGRITY

Today's agricultural website to share is The Center for Food Integrity.

The Center for Food Integrity was established in 2007 to increase consumer trust and confidence in the contemporary U.S. food system. The primary mission of the organization is to promote dialogue, model best practices, address issues that are important to consumers, and serve as a resource for accurate, balanced information about the U.S. food system.

The center is a non-profit entity and does not lobby or advocate individual food companies or brands. The group's member organizations represent each segment of the food chain, including farmers and ranchers, processors, and companies that deliver food products under local, regional and global brand names, and government.

Monday's agriculture website of interest: THE FOOD PROJECT

Today's agriculture focused website to share is The Food Project, a Massachusetts based group encouraging leadership through farming. The group's mission is to grow a thoughtful and productive community of youth and adults from diverse backgrounds who work together to build a sustainable food system. They produce food for residents of the city and suburbs and provide youth leadership opportunities while supporting others to create change in their own communities.

The group was organized in 1991, and works with over 140 teens and thousands of volunteers yearly to farm on 31 acres in rural Lincoln, MA, 9 acres in Beverly and Ipswich, 2 1/2 acres in Boston and 1 acre in Lynn. The group considers their hallmark to be a focus on identifying and transforming a new generation of leaders by placing teens in unusually responsible roles, with deeply meaningful work. Each season, The Food Project grows nearly a quarter-million pounds of food, donating half to local shelters. The remainder of the produce is sold through Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) crop “shares” and farmers’ markets.

Monday's agriculture website of interest: FARMERS FEED US

Monday's agricultural website of interest is the Farmer's Feed Us website. This website aims to introduce consumers to the farmers that produce the food people eat. As this group puts it, "Farmers and ranchers work each day to produce the food you and your family enjoy. To us, farming is much more than our chosen profession. It is a commitment to providing you with safe, nutritious and affordable food, caring for our animals and our land, and giving back to our communities."

Monday's agriculture website of interest: HEIFER INTERNATIONAL

Monday's agricultural website focus is on Heifer International, a nonprofit organization based in Arkansas, that alleviates hunger, poverty, and environmental degradation through gifts of food and income producing farm animals and training. These animals provide a source of protein, such as eggs and milk, for children and generate income for families through the sale of animal products. Since 1944, Heifer International has helped over 4 million families in 125 countries become self-reliant. Each family "passes on the gift" by giving one or more of its animal's offspring to another family in need.

Monday's agriculture website of interest: SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE RESEARCH AND EDUCATION

For those new to the Cow Art and More blog, every Monday, I focus on an agricultural website of interest for our readers.

Today's agriculture website focus in on Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education. Consumers are becoming more interested in knowing how agriculture impacts and protects the environment. Since 1988, the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program has helped advance farming systems that are profitable, environmentally sound and good for communities through a nationwide research and education grants program. The national outreach office of the SARE program is supported by the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service, a part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It operates under cooperative agreements with the University of Maryland and the University of Vermont to develop and disseminate information about sustainable agriculture.