My highlight of 2012: CNN Eatocracy

The comment that started it all:

I’m from a family farm with cattle, horses, and on occasion a few pigs, chickens for our own freezer. I’ve also worked in large cattle feedlots in different parts of the country. Farmers (both large and small) I’ve worked with all care about providing a quality life for their animals. There’s no other way around it. If someone doesn’t, we have a problem to work out. It’s our responsibility, and do the best we can with tools, technology, and respond to customer demands. Gestation crates were one of those tools for pig farmers.

Back in June, I made a decision that would take my advocacy efforts to a new level. It was on this post from CNN Eatocracy covering the crate-debate. Many folks were discussing the use of gestation crates in pork production and I wanted to add my 2-cents just like I have on hundreds of other online news articles. This one was in the right place at the right time.

I am so thankful for CNN Editor Kat Kinsman in 2012. For whatever reasons when she read my comment, it sparked enough interest for a follow up and eventually open doors for myself and few other farmers to share our thoughts with the CNN Eatocracy audience.

That event turned into my first CNN Eatocracy post and several others.

• No bull – what a farmer wants you to know about how beef gets to your plate
• No bull – start a conversation with a farmer
• Praying for rain in the Arkansas drought
• From the field – tweets from #drought12
• Farmer in the know: 5 easy ways you can help us help animals
• Farmers aren’t evil. Now can we have a civil conversation?
• What should a ‘local’ farm (and farmer) look like?
• Brian Scott (Video) – Corn farmers worried drought will worsen
• Brian Scott – Farmer in the drought – if you plant it, it might not come
• Brian Scott – Harvesting the lessons of Drought ’12
• Chris Chinn – Farmer: ‘If you eat, this drought will affect you’
• Mike Haley – Opinion: Forward-thinking farmers are preventing another Dust Bowl

I really don’t know how to say thank you enough other than to say it made my year to receive that opportunity to share a bit of the farming world and links to my many fellow ag bloggers with that audience. I am so thankful for the support of the many friends who have read my posts, left encouraging comments, and guided me in how to be a better advocate for my beliefs.

An even larger bit of gratitude goes out to those have increased their efforts to reach out and share their message of food production with our customers.

I hope 2013 brings better understanding and many more great opportunities for the agriculture community to reach out to customers and answer their questions about our food supply.

Be sure to catch up on the Top Posts and other highlights on my blog from 2012 on this previous post.