Agriculture Blog

International Coordination of Food Safety Regulations

As food distribution chains are increasingly stretched around the world, urgency has arisen for the creation of new food safety standards and stricter enforcement of existing food safety laws to ensure that food industry quality control and food processing standards provide for a safe global food supply.

The global food and beverage industry is the world’s largest industry. In fact, it is larger than all of the world’s other industries combined. In the quest for market share and increased profits, quality and food safety may sometimes be sacrificed. Consumers depend upon the interaction and the cooperation between government agencies to set and enforce standardized safety guidelines and food safety laws that ensure that there are no compromises in terms of quality and safety. Consumers need to know that produce from agriculture is safe from farm through processing to grocery shelves, that fish is safely wild harvested or raised by aquaculture, that poultry and livestock are free from pathogens and that food and food supplements contain ingredients generally recognized as safe. Processed foods must be pasteurized or sterilized, and canned or otherwise packaged aseptically sealed containers. Fresh food must be inspected by government agencies.

…continue reading more about Food Safety Regulations in an International Context»

Farmers Markets – Local, Great Tasting Healthy Food and Good for the Environment

Certified farmers’ markets enable certified farmers to sell seasonal, often organic, only local grown and raised produce and food products. Typically, products sold must be produced by the producer upon the producer’s land.

What’s In It For You and Me?

Locally produced food is fresher, tastes better and is environmentally friendly – it dramatically reduces the energy cost to get the food to the table. And farmers’ markets are flush with always local, organic foods which use neither fertilizers nor pesticides which together account for more than 1/3 of the energy used to make food.

Then there’s the health benefit of organic food. Not that organic food is, in itself, necessarily healthier than other food but that the absence of pesticides and insecticides makes it a better choice. Today, the EPA considers 60% of all herbicides, 90% of all fungicides, and 30% of all insecticides as potentially cancer-causing.

…continue reading more about Local Farmers Markets»

Educating the Consumer

One of the phrases that I often hear in agricultural circles is that “we need to educate the consumer to buy our product”! If we tell them that they must buy our product then they will. I have a real problem with this term “educate” because, whose responsibility is it to educate the consumer and why do we, whoever “we” are, think they need educating? Education is about the imparting of knowledge, but in order to do that the person doing the educating must obviously be knowledgeable! So who are the experts and will the general public trust these, so called experts, whoever they may be either retailers, food manufacturers, farmers and growers, food technologists, nutritionists, celebrity chefs, doctors, academics, politicians, or government employees …….. There is a paternalistic assumption in this scenario that others know far more than the consumer does about what is good for them and why they should buy it. Is this true?

As producers, in order to understand our consumer we need to understand what impacts on their individual autonomy and the food choices they make. Social restrictions include: personal circumstances including disposable income, hours of work, shift patterns, literacy skills; availability of options for food e.g. garden produced, convenience store, out-of town retailer, high street; knowledge of health and nutritional information and pressure from other members of the family with regard to food purchase. If farmers do not recognise that all these factors impact on buying choices, they will fail to connect with their customer.

…continue reading more about Encouraging Food Consumers and Producers to Think»

Agriculture Online 

Online Agriculture Schools offer programs of study in animal care, crop management, and turfgrass sciences. Busy professionals who want to further their education, change their careers, or study for reasons of personal interest will find it easy to study and gain a degree in Agriculture studies without ever stepping into a classroom. Online Agriculture degree programs are sometimes completely available through online sources.

Degree programs at diploma, associate, bachelor, and master levels are all offered by Online Agriculture Schools. Teaching Agriculture courses incorporates interactive Internet, video, tele-course, audio-conference, and computer assisted instruction.

One-year diplomas in agribusiness management are presented entirely through Online Agriculture studies. This diploma prepares students for entry-level positions in production, wholesale, and retail. Professional development in dairy science includes Online Agriculture courses using interactive educational tools. Diplomas and certificates can be awarded upon successful completion of introductory classes. Diplomas and certificates are also valuable for those who wish to follow basic courses with advanced training that will allow them to enter the fields of management, livestock nutrition, livestock reproduction, education, and veterinary sciences.

…continue reading more about Online Agriculture Schools»