Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving

Please give a special thanks to the Farmers and Ranchers who produced the food you are about to eat.  Have a great day,  

Putnam County Farm Bureau, Inc.

Kron and Culp newly elected as President and VP of Indiana Farm Bureau

Randy Kron

Vandenberg County farmer Randy Kron was elected on the first ballot as President of Indiana Farm Bureau.  Kron said one of his first actions will be to revitalize county Farm Bureau organizations, “Our foundation is our county Farm Bureaus so, if we do not have strong county organizations, we will not have the support at the Statehouse we need.”  He added that, beginning in 2016, IFB will develop a strategic plan and will be seeking input from county Farm Bureaus on what resources they need.

Kendell Culp

Jasper County farmer Kendell Culp was elected First Vice President on the 4th ballot. Culp ran on a platform of reshaping Farm Bureau membership, “We have to look at membership rather differently.” He said other organizations like national FFA and ASA are changing the way they do membership, “I think it is time for Farm Bureau to sit down and look at other ways we can recruit and encourage others to be part of the organization.”

Several of the candidates for President, like Joe Kelsey and Donny Lawson, were younger farmers who called for changes in the way the organization works. Kron said he will be reaching out to younger farmers and finding ways to get them more engaged in Farm Bureau, “We are going to have to find new ways to get them engaged because maybe the traditional Farm Bureau way is not working.  So I want to reach out to them and see what we can do to help keep them engaged.”

Several of the candidates stressed the need for Farm Bureau to be more diverse and inclusive, with more involvement by the livestock sector and smaller and organic farmers. Culp, who also serves on the  Soybean Alliance board, said he will work to try and bring unity between Farm Bureau and the state commodity groups, “Indiana agriculture needs to speak with one voice.” He stressed to HAT that there needs to be more coordination and consistency on policy issues among all sectors of agriculture.

Both men will assume their duties on January 1. Outgoing President Don Villwock had high praise for the new President, “He has the experience and a deep passion for serving agriculture and Farm Bureau members.” Kron has been served as the IFB vice President for the past 14 years.  Kron farms with his wife and son near Evansville, raising primarily corn, soybeans, and wheat. A 1983 graduate of Purdue University, he holds a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics. He has held numerous leadership positions, including as INFB’s representative on the U.S. Grains Council and on the Indiana Corn Marketing Council. He is also past president of the county extension board, and he serves as his township’s trustee/assessor.

Culp farms with his wife, parents, son, and daughter near Rensselaer, raising grain and hogs. He served as District 3 director on the Indiana Farm Bureau board for 12 years (the maximum number of years a district director can serve). He currently serves as a director for Farm Credit Mid-America, Jasper County commissioner, and as a member of the board of directors for the Indiana Soybean Alliance.  Isabella Chism will remain 2nd VP of Indiana Farm Bureau.

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Partnerships strengthen family farm.

Partnerships strengthen family farm

FILLMORE, Ind. — Hog farmer Mark Legan and his family understand that to remain a successful farming operation, there is need for steady growth and improvement.
That is just what Legan and his wife, Phyllis, and their daughter and son-in-law, Beth and Nick Tharp, have been doing.
“As a farm, we continue to grow so we can compete and stay in business,” Legan said. “We try to be as efficient as possible and want others to know that what we’re doing is environmentally safe.”
The family operates a livestock and grain farm in Putnam County.
They farm 1,000 acres and raise 3,000 sows and have continued to expand over the years. A large portion of their time is spent taking care of the mother sows and their baby pigs. About 1,500 pigs are weaned each week and then moved to finishers.
A majority of the pigs are finished in partnership with two families in Shelby and Boone counties. Partnerships such as this have helped the family grow.

Getting A Start

Neither Legan nor his wife came from production agriculture. In fact, when Legan graduated college, he served as an Extension agent for seven years, until he got the opportunity to start a farming venture with a family in Putnam County.
In 1989, they joined the 180-sow farrow-to-finish operation. In 1994, the family purchased the farm and added another 250 sows.
The farm has since continued to grow. In 1997, they were up to 600 sows and began the process of modernizing and brought the sows inside to take better care of them.
“We saw a two-sow per litter increase by doing that,” Legan said. “We’ve had to reinvent ourselves every four to five years to stay competitive.”
They continued to grow with 1,600 sows in 2006 and then 2,400 sows in 2010, when their daughter and her husband joined the farm after graduating from Purdue.
“They helped us quadruple our management capacity and explore the partnerships with the families who have finishing facilities,” Legan said. “It has allows us to do what we do best.”
Today, there are 3,000 sows and 14 employees, including the family, helping out on the farm.
It’s easy to see why relationships and continuous growth are two of the family’s core values.
“Basically, everything we’ve been able to accomplish over the years has been because of the opportunities and relationships we’ve had with other people,” Legan said.

Putting It Together

Each family member has a different role on the farm. Legan’s primary responsibility is crops, manure management and working with finishing partners.
Nick Tharp manages the sow herd and the employees who help with that on a day-to-day basis. Phyllis Legan is in charge of human resources.
“We’re only as good as the people who help us,” Phyllis said. “Relationships are huge to us not only in our farming partnerships, but also here at the farm and in the barn.”
Beth Tharp focuses on the finances of entities including the grain and sows, the two partnerships and another entity on the farm. She also works on sales and marketing.
Although they all have separate roles, they also work together. The family is proud to be doing what they’re doing and do what they can to include the community.
Beth Tharp recently posted a 21-day series on the farm’s Facebook page of the life of a baby pig. The family prints a semiannual newsletter so that neighbors can see what they’re doing on the farm.
“We work hard at being good neighbors, and we carry on dialogue year round with them,” Legan said. “If they have questions or want to have a better understanding of how we do things, we want them to let us know.”

Above And Beyond

This is all part of what the family is doing to show consumers that they care about the well being of the animal, food safety and more.
Consumer perception can be challenging, which is why another core value is integrity or doing what’s right when no one is looking, Beth Tharp said.
“We feel like we have a moral obligation to take the best care of our animals,” she said. “Yes, we have to be able to sell our product, but we care about our animals and we want consumers to understand where we’re coming from.”
Phyllis Legan agreed and said she wishes that consumers would have an open mind about pig farming.
“I wish consumers would listen and not just at the wow-factor headlines that scare them into believing something without being educated,” she said.” We do all of these things in an effort to show we’re doing everything we can.”

Caring For Animals, Land

The family members are passionate about pigs, but they also are passionate about stewardship, which is their fourth core value.
“In addition to taking care of animals and making sure their needs are met, we have to take care of the land we’ve been entrusted with,” Legan said.
The family improves the health of the soil by using manure as a natural fertilizer and using conservation practices such as no-till. They have also been using cover crops for the past six years. The practices cut down on erosion, improve soil biology and help reduce the amount of fuel needed to produce grain crops.
For more information, visit www.leganlivestock.com or search for Legan Livestock and Grain on Facebook.

Amie Sites can be reached at 317-726-5391, ext. 3, or asites@agrinews-pubs.com. Follow her on Twitter at: @AgNews_Sites.

3 Ways to disprove the link between red meat and cancer

3 ways to disprove IARC on red meat & cancer link

Oct 28, 2015by Amanda Radke in BEEF Daily

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On Monday, October 26, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which is the cancer agency of the World Health Organization, announced the results of an ongoing discussion about red meat’s role in a healthy diet. IARC’s conclusion? Red meat is “probably carcinogenic to humans.”

In its report, IARC states that a 50 gram portion of processed meat eaten daily increases the risk of colorectal cancer by 18%. For reference, 50 grams is about 1.75 ounces.

Read IARC’s complete report on the consumption of red meat and processed meats here.

Although IARC considered more than 800 studies to make this conclusion, I believe the committee purposely chose to ignore the large body of research submitted by the beef checkoff and independent scientists. This action is irresponsible at best and malicious at its worst as red meat is a nutrient-rich food that has been eaten and enjoyed for generations — from native tribes eating red meat on the frozen tundra, to pioneers who salted it and kept it year 'round as a source of food on the prairie, to modern-day families who want to confidently feed their children pot roast on a busy school night and not feel guilty about it.

To shed some light on IARC’s reach and influence, the organization has completed reviews of the cancer risk of 984 other substances over the past 50 years, and of those items, approximately 48% were reported to have cancer risk. The highest-risk items include air, sunlight, hair coloring and alcohol. 


READ: Understanding the evidence on red meat and cancer

Cancer devastates families around the world, and as folks become increasingly desperate to find the cause and a cure, it’s easy to pinpoint culprits that may be the cause. However, a whole, natural food like beef that is an abundant source of nutrients like zinc, iron, protein, B vitamins, and more, in my humble opinion, hardly seems like the right culprit to point a finger at.

Without question, this announcement from IARC puts into question consumers’ confidence in beef. While we don’t yet know the market ramifications of this announcement, it’s obvious that the beef industry has some damage control to do.

READ: 5 resources that debunk the red meat & cancer link 

Here are three resources that address the red meat and cancer risk. Please share this information on social media to help reassure folks that red meat can be a part of a healthy, nourishing diet.

1. The Mediterranean diet is recognized for its reduction in chronic disease, including cancer.

According to beef checkoff research, “The average intake of fresh red meat in the U.S. is 44.2 g per day (WWEIA, 2011-2012). The average intake of processed (cured) meat is 27.8 g per day. Usual U.S. adult consumption of red and processed meat is within, and often lower, than that reported in observational studies of the Mediterranean-style dietary pattern, which is recognized for its reduction in chronic disease risk.”

Case Study: Mechanisms of Dietary BaP Exposure in Colorectal Cancer

2. Cancer epidemiologist Dominik Alexander, PhD, points out weak link between red meat and cancer.

Alexander’s independent research finds that, “Most summary associations between red meat and processed meat and cancer are weak in magnitude and not statistically significant. Many associations for red/processed meat and cancer from individual studies are null or inverse. The majority of associations from individual studies are not statistically significant. It’s nearly impossible to disentangle the independent effects of red meat from the complex human diet and lifestyle.”

Read: Red Meat and Cancer Meta-Analyses Review from Alexander

3. Reference pages of studies from the beef checkoff.

Dozens of research has been gathered into one place that examines red meat intake and any correlations to cancer. Check out these 16 pages of research to answer all of your questions about red meat and cancer. 

The opinions of Amanda Radke are not necessarily those of beefmagazine.com or Penton Agriculture.

Farm Bureau Incorporated news

The Putnam County Farm Bureau Inc. board while most of them have been sitting on a tractor or combine have been looking to the future.  The most pressing of which are the Elections coming up for our District 5 Director at our District meeting in November at the Beef House. Incumbent David Wyeth will be seeking re-election against former director Rita Sharma.  We follow that with the Indiana State FB Convention at the Indianapolis Convention Center where we will be electing the next State President from the current list of candidates, David Wyeth, Donnie Lawson, Joe Kelsey, and Randy Kron, and depending on how that goes possibly some of the offices under that.  After that some of us will venture to Orlando, Fl. for the National Convention in January where a new National AFBF President will be elected.  Current Indiana FB President will be running for that seat.  Our legislative update sessions will once again be held on the 3rd Saturdays of Jan., Feb., and March.  We are also beginning to prepare for next year's Annual meeting and Ag Day which will be happening in March.   This December we will also be setting up a luncheon for our area Superintendents to meet with our Legislators.  We are always open for ideas for new programs and would entertain any new ideas to assist the farmers in Putnam County.

It's Harvest Time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Combines are running through bean and corn fields quickly and efficiently as I write.  To know how the yields are doing we need to communicate with each other to determine if its just me or is everyone having a good year or bad year or just running somewhat normal.  I encourage farmers who may read this to report how things are going.  I should rephrase that, I encourage the farm wives between running the grain cart and fixing the meals to spend a couple of minutes to let the world know how things are going in your corner.  I have had one report from a Dairy farmer near Crawfordsville and his silage is running less than half of what he normally gets.  I do believe that communicating the trials and tribulations of a farmers daily work would go a long way in promoting a better relationship with those who have no idea of the daily stress of being a farmer.  Praying for a good harvest or at least the pricing of your product to keep our farmers finances stable in order to continue providing the worlds food.

Say Goodbye to Bacon and Eggs

By Gary Truitt -

 

Aug 24, 2015

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For the past 3 weeks I have been at the Indiana State Fair celebrating the Year of the Farmer. So imagine my surprise upon returning to the office and finding out that, while I was out, the forces of evil (in my opinion) were busy trying to put the farmer out of business. Not only were they putting the farmers out of business, but also trying to take away one of the basic staples of the American diet.  Yes, the Humane Society of the United States has launched a campaign to eliminate bacon and eggs.

According to Humane Watch, a group that keeps an eye on the actions of HSUS, a ballot measure was proposed that would ban most pork and eggs from being sold in Massachusetts by 2022. The proposed law would ban the sale of all pork and egg products that come from farms using common animal housing systems. They say the measure is to protect public health and animal welfare. Their approach is a bit different than what they successfully implemented in Florida and California. Rather than pushing the animal welfare angle, they are using the food safety approach.  The measure needs 90,000 signatures to qualify; but, given HSUS’s ability to drum up phony press and drop money on signature-gatherers, expect it to make the 2016 ballot.

Massachusetts’ voters have a history of not being very discerning, after all they kept re-electing Ted Kennedy time after time.  But are they willing to give up their bacon and eggs? The food safety claim by HSUS cannot be supported by research, but when has that ever stopped HSUS? Research studies show that their cage-free approach is actually bad for the health of the animals and for the quality of the food. For instance, cage-free systems result in more manure on eggs as the birds are in an open floor system, while cages are designed so that the manure falls out of the cage and onto a belt, where it is swept away. Which system sounds better for food safety? The Coalition for a Sustainable Egg Supply published multi-year research this year that exposes HSUS’s false food safety claims.

Massachusetts’ voters don’t have to look any further than California where the HSUS ballot proposition was implemented in January. The cost of producing eggs soared, and California eggs rose to a price 66 percent higher than other Western states. The Massachusetts measure is even more invasive, and it shows that HSUS is willing to spend millions to make sure that affordable animal protein is taken away from consumers.

According to Humane Watch, “The proposed measure surely violates our Constitution’s Interstate Commerce Clause. If the measure passes, Massachusetts will be telling every other state that sells chicken, veal, or pork to the Bay State how to house their animals.”

If you ever needed an example of how dangerous this organization is to American agriculture, here it is.  If you ever needed a reason to stand up and support the many groups that are working to expose HSUS for what it really it, this is it.  So, fix yourself a big plate of bacon and eggs, then get serious and join the fight.

By Gary Truitt

Putnam County Fair

The Putnam County, Indiana Fair begins this Friday, July 17th with a "Crusin to the Fair" fair parade.  Over 90 vehicles, floats, and etc. have signed up to be in the parade.  Putnam County Farm Bureau Inc. sponsor of the Inside Arena will be present every day with the operation of the time honored Milk Barn serving cold white or chocolate milk.  The building has been upgraded with a new sign and metal siding and roof.  The Pedal Pull is always a crowd pleaser as Jerry Martin and his volunteers will operate the event beginning at 3 pm Friday July 24 with registration and pulling begins at 3:30.  Putnam County Farm Bureau will also be supporting the Livestock Auction, and the Antique Tractor and Machinery Field. Tractor Games are being planned for Sunday afternoon.

Villwock to seeks to be AFBF President

Indiana Farm Bureau

NEWS RELEASE

July 15, 2015

Statement from INFB President Don Villwock regarding his decision

to seek the office of American Farm Bureau Federation president

Following the announcement yesterday by AFBF President Bob Stallman that he will not seek reelection as president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, Indiana Farm Bureau President Don Villwock issued the following statement:

After discussions with my family and encouragement from friends and colleagues, I have decided to seek the presidency of the American Farm Bureau Federation at the AFBF annual meeting in January. I believe that my experiences and my leadership capabilities qualify me to lead the organization as our industry and our nation face challenging times.

American agriculture needs the strong and unified voice of Farm Bureau. My diverse leadership experiences, both inside and outside Farm Bureau, have given me the unique qualifications to represent our nation’s farmers and ranchers. 

I firmly believe that Farm Bureau’s strength resides in our grassroots system. The bedrock of that system is the local Farm Bureau. We can only have a strong American Farm Bureau if we have strong state and county/parish Farm Bureaus. I will dedicate my efforts to strengthen and build on this tradition.

AFBF President Bob Stallman has done an outstanding job leading our organization, and it has been an honor to work with him.  I look forward to visiting with Farm Bureau members, listening to their ideas, and answering any questions they might have.

Promoting Ag Literacy

Farm Bureau promotes ag literacy in local students

Friday, May 29, 2015

Putnam County Farm Bureau Education and Outreach Coordinator Heather Poynter presents Ag Literacy Toolkits to Bainbridge Elementary students and Principal Rodney Simpson (above), as well as Roachdale Elementary students and Principal Scott Spencer (below).
(Courtesy photos)

The Indiana Agriculture in the Classroom (INAITC) program strives to increase agricultural literacy through K-12 education. More than 100 volunteers across the state work with schools, teachers and youth organizations to introduce the program, arrange farm tours and present lessons and activities in the classroom.
Last year, INAITC received a grant from the Indiana State Department of Agriculture to further its efforts to educate Hoosier children about the importance that agriculture and farmers play in their everyday lives.
Through this grant, Indiana Farm Bureau was able to create and donate ag literacy toolkits to at least one elementary school in each Indiana county for use in third through fifth grade classrooms.

The toolkit features Indiana Ag Mag-a 12 page publication about Indiana agriculture; "The Beef Princess of Practical County" by Michelle Houts with student and educator guides; agriculture resources for teachers; color-changing pencils with activity; and Indiana Activity Guide.
Receiving the toolkits for Putnam County are Bainbridge Elementary and Roachdale Elementary.
Putnam County Farm Bureau has also announced that its has purchased "The Beef Princess of Practical County" books for Greencastle Middle School, Central Elementary, Tzouanakis Intermediate, Cloverdale Middle School and Fillmore Elementary.

THE TRUTH ABOUT HSUS

THE TRUTH ABOUT HSUS AND HOW TO PROTECT YOUR OPERATION – FORMER INVESTIGATOR TELLS ALL

BY Jesse Harding | May 16, 2015

Courtesy of HumaneWatch.org. 'Chris' being interviewed by HumaneWatch.org.

It's to make videos, to generate revenue, to create an agenda you can publish and show the media to garner more support and effectively get more money.

- Former Undercover Investigator for the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS)

Animal activist groups attack the animal agriculture industry and state’s laws involving the industry. How do we know this? A former undercover videographer for the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) gives a ‘tell all’ about his firsthand experience with HSUS. He wanted to remain anonymous, due to fear of retaliation from HSUS. So, we used ‘Chris’ as his name for the purpose of the article.

“Chris’ first heard about the job, as an undercover investigator with HSUS, from a friend who saw it on Craigslist. “It was kinda strange for a multimillion dollar lobbyist group to be posting ads on Craigslist to hire for undercover investigators,” said ‘Chris’.

After he was hired, ‘Chris’ found out they thought he was a meth addict and it seemed to be no problem to HSUS – as long as he could ‘do his job’. ‘Chris’ started on his first assignment in upstate New Jersey with a fellow investigator.

Mary Beth Sweetland, HSUS director of research and investigation, was ‘Chris’ boss. She is in charge of all the investigators – which is about six, ‘Chris’ once included. He says there is no chain of command because there is only one person above her.

When it came to finding jobs and places to investigate this is what ‘Chris’ says would happen:

Sweetland would give a state to work in and he would go. Once he was there, she would tell him what type of industry to work for – such as beef, poultry or swine. Sweetland would then have a list of all possible aspects of that industry to apply to. Those lists could range from one hundred to a thousand locations. ‘Chris’ would start apply around the original location he was told and then she would send an amended list to where she really wanted him to be.

Once he was hired on at a place, he would wait one day to start work in-order to tell Sweetland he had the job and to prepare for it. He typically would not video record anything till after one week. ‘Chris’ would only write what he saw. “Then I would start to see how I could get a camera in here, (like) ‘this is how I could wear it without being found out’, etcetera,” said ‘Chris’.

‘Chris’ said he wasn’t working for HSUS very long when he started to ‘get rubbed the wrong way’ about what he was doing. As previously stated, New Jersey was the first state he worked in for HSUS and it was also his first experience “of HSUS taking film and not exactly skewing what I filmed but, definitely being instructed to blatantly mislead,” said Chris.

The official change in ‘Chris’ opinion came when he actually did discover animal abuse and Sweetland didn’t act any differently compared to non-abuse footage. When he stopped believing in what HSUS was doing, he changed how he worked for them. In his reports about the content of his videos, he stated in detail what actually was going on so, nothing could be skewed as animal abuse.

“The public never see the reports we do unless it goes to court, but going to court – that is a complete possibility. So, if I am going to put something like that (details saying there is no animal abuse occurring) in a report, that’s going to have heavy hits. She (Sweetland) can’t misconstrue that as animal abuse any longer, because her investigators themselves (who are) out there said it wasn’t. So, she can’t take that to court. Therefore, she wouldn’t want to use the footage either,” said ‘Chris’.

‘Chris’ believes that Sweetland and HSUS knows that what they are doing is blatantly lying to the public half the time. ‘Chris’ said she has told him, “Every farmer is doing something illegal and it is your job to find it.”

When ‘Chris’ tells people that he use to work for the Humane Society for the United States (HSUS), they think that he worked in an animal shelter. And when it comes to turning people away from HSUS, “That’s what sways them right there! No one knows, for some reason, that HSUS doesn’t run a single animal shelter,” said ‘Chris’. He goes on to say that HumaneWatch.org does a ‘brilliant’ job of getting an in depth look of what HSUS really does.

Animal activist groups also target state and national laws affecting animal agriculture. Some of the most known bills are referred to as ‘ag gag’ laws. In short, they typically require you to report abuse within a certain time frame from first witnessing the abuse. So how could organizations that wants to protect animals be against these laws?

According the HSUS website, “They (ag gag laws) also sometimes require mandatory reporting with impossibly short timelines so that whistleblowers must “out” themselves before they can document a pattern of abuse.”

‘Chris’ response to HSUS? “Utter nonsense. HSUS is not a government organization. They have zero legal authority. They shouldn’t be the one’s to decide when they should turn that information over. If they spot a crime, they should have to immediately report that crime. There is no way you should allow a crime to continue, if anything that is aiding and abetting! That should be illegal in my opinion,” says ‘Chris’, “Elongating animal abuse that you witness daily, it doesn’t make any sense. That’s the opposite of what you should do if you want to stop animal abuse. Why wait? The answer is easy, I know the answer: it’s to make videos, to generate revenue, to create an agenda you can publish and show the media to garner more support and effectively get more money.”

As to an investigator having to ‘out’ themselves? ‘Chris’ says you can make an anonymous tip to the authorities. They will investigate and stop it if it is happening and an investigator doesn’t have to break cover.

‘Chris’ also says there have been investigations that have gone on for over a year before the FBI shut it down. “That is a year’s worth of animal abuse that HSUS just only documented. They documented. If there was a state that had a ‘Good Samaritan’ law, HSUS would be banned if that law could be applied! They just watched animal abuse happen for a year straight and didn’t do anything about it. There is no set time that they could sit on footage, it could be up to a year or a couple weeks,” said ‘Chris.’

He offers up advice to employers within the industry to protect themselves from investigators. ‘Chris’ said, “Believe you and me, farmers have this on lock down right now. They are pretty good in the game of detecting an undercover investigator but they don’t take it to a level necessary.”

His advice for the interview process:

1. Look at when that license was issued. Most states require you to change your address within the first 30 days. And if they haven’t, ‘Chris’ says, they are either lazy or an investigator.
2. If the license is from another state, that should be the first red flag. If they are an investigator, they will probably have a story as to why they are ‘new’ to the state.
3. They will put an address down on the job application. Google it! Most farmers don’t do that says ‘Chris’. Investigators, he says, typically stay in hotels so they will use an UPS address on applications. ‘Chris’ would use the Walmart address because it would ‘look good’ on paper.
4. Don’t be afraid to drive by and check the place out. ‘Chris’ said, “It sounds kind of weird but, it could mean the difference between keeping or losing your farm in a legal battle.”
5. If they claim to be from the area: vet them on how well they know the local area and surroundings.

His advice on if you think you already hired them:

1. Move them to another section immediately. Preferably away from the animals such as clerical work or driving trucks.
2. Then tell them they will be there for a while. Sweetland pulled him from a job when he spent a week driving trucks because he wasn’t getting any video footage. If they quit one week after you moved them, that is a good indicator they were an investigator.
3. If you have moved them away from the animals and they continue to ask about those operations, when it doesn’t impact their new job duties, it is a good indicator that they are an investigator.
4. See if they eat meat. Most of the investigators are vegans but will eat meat on the job. He says you can also tell by their body type if they keep animal protein as a steady part of their diet or not.
5. Limit employee clothing choices. Have shirts with no buttons. Investigators will have to get real creative on hiding cameras.

“The only other piece of advice would be – without video an investigation is useless. Utterly useless,” said ‘Chris’.

He also gave us this link, from the Animal Agriculture Alliance, of known investigators (which he confirmed) to help if operations think they might of hired someone.

Watch the full interview with HumaneWatch.org HE

Is it Safe to Use Roundup?

Mar 29, 2015
Gary Truitt

Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup made headlines last week when the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), an arm of the World Health Organization, departed from the scientific consensus to declare glyphosate to be a class 2A “probable human carcinogen.” With the speed of the internet and the reach of social media, the spin began on both sides. Consumers wondered if it was safe to eat food on which glyphosate had been used, and farmers worried about being sued if they kept using the product. Historical perspective, science, and common sense were left in the dust as the rhetoric spun out of control. So setting aside the posturing, here are a few things to consider as you make up your mind on this issue.

First, glyphosate has undergone testing and scientific study for more than 30 years. The U.S. government has declared the chemical safe for use on crops and in agricultural production. The standards used by the government are as follows: “The U.S. EPA develops strict limits (or tolerances) for residues at 100 to 1,000 times lower than levels are at which health impacts might occur. These tolerance levels are considered safe based on average daily food intake by adults and children.” Those  opposed to biotechnology or the use of almost any agricultural chemical say these standards are not safe.  “It is the amount of exposure to a chemical that determines the potential for harm, not simply its presence or absence,” said Carl Winter, PhD, UC Davis. Levels 1,000 times lower than needed seems reasonable to both scientists and regulators. In addition, no credible evidence of health problems have been documented over the past 3 decades.

Second, consider the fact that the ARC study is just one study compared to a much larger body of work that has drawn a different conclusion. “Scientific experts who have considered the body of relevant research do not agree with a categorization of glyphosate as carcinogenic for a very simple reason – it’s clearly not. There is nothing in the data to support such claims, and nothing in the deep reservoir of real world experience with glyphosate, to justify such a move,” said   L. Val Giddings, with the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. He also points out that the ARC study does not present any new research, but bases its conclusion on previously released research. Whether you believe the new study or not, keep in mind that, to date, the vast amount of science is on the side of glyphosate safety.

Should farmers stop using glyphosate? The Organic Consumer Association says yes.  In a statement released just moments after the ARC results were made public, they said, “The OCA calls on the U.S. EPA to do its job: Ban glyphosate now.” I do find it interesting that the same groups that say 30 years of testing on GMO food is not enough to prove their safety are calling for a ban on glyphosate based on one report.

As for farmers ready to head to the fields to plant a new crop, should they be worried about using glyphosate? Could they be sued or caught in a class action suit? Todd Janzen, ag law expert for Hoosier Ag Today, says no, “Nothing has changed with respect to EPA approval of glyphosate. All we have is one organization classifying it as something that ‘probably’ is carcinogenic.”

So, as you sort through the mountains of media coverage and the megabites of comments on social media, keep this in mind: As of today, glyphosate is safe to use on crops, and food from those crops poses no risk to your health.

 By Gary Truitt

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