Nevada Farm Bureau's 2011 Annual Meeting (Part 1)

For those involved with the planning and preparation for this year’s Nevada Farm Bureau Annual Meeting, you should be giving yourselves a big pat on the back for a great meeting! The Annual meeting, held the 16-19th of November, in Fallon, brought together Farmers and Ranchers and Agriculturists from across the state to tour various operations in Churchill County, to attend workshops, and to finalize our state Farm Bureau’s policy for the coming year.

This year we started out with Board training and dinner at the Slanted Porch in Fallon. Of course, I was too busy looking for my keys to have a chance to get my camera out and take any pictures, so you’ll just have to take my word for it. It was a great dinner and the training put on by Doug Busselman was also very well done. And, in the end, I also found my keys—and was not the only one to lose them that week—though I did receive the most ribbing for it.

Farm Bureau Members headed to the Desert Oasis Teff Plant.

The following day we began with more training from Doug. We then broke for lunch and then began the planned tours. Our first stop was at Desert Oasis Teff.   Instead of telling you all about it myself, I found this article online, which does a much better job:

http://www.unce.unr.edu/news/article.asp?ID=1499

  You really need to read that article to understand the basics of Teff, what it is used for and why it is becoming such an important crop in a world of increasing numbers with celiac's disease.



Jay Davison, UNCE Agent that helped introduce Teff to Nevada
growers.

Teff is harvested with a few manipulations to regular machinery.  The swather has been adapted to have as large as a swath as possible to dry the teff qucikly.  A combine is sealed as much as possible, even using duct tape to cover any minor holes to keep the tiny seed from being lost. 


This is what they use to spread the tiny seed with,
and have had success in flood and sprinkler irrigation systems.

 

Teff before cleaning.

 

This is just the chaff left after the first cleaning.



Dave Eckert and John Getto, owners of Desert Teff.

The seed as it prepares for further cleaning and processing.

Here it is again processed, and the different sizes of seeds and
colors of seed are separated.



The darker seeds are more preferred in the Ethiopian Market
 because they can mix them with regualr flour and it is not as noticeable.



The final sorting of the Teff.



The final cleaned seed, like grains of sand.

  

Gluten-free Teff flour, ready for use.

So, stop one of our tour and I had already learned so much more than I had known before I got there.  Nevada and Idaho vie for the spot of top-producing state, with Nevada's production valuing around 1 million a year in 2010 with 1,200 acres of Teff in production. 

And, that is all you gert for this post, which I am pretty proud of myself for even having gotten out during this crazy week!  Tune in for the rest of the tour to Liberty Dairy and Churchill Vineyards, hopefully next week.  But, for now: HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO YOU ALL!!

STATE MEETING!!

Well, this is finally it--a year of perparation puts us headed to Fallon in the next couple of days, so since Farm Bureau is taking up the majority of my week, blogging is not!! But I am sure I will have plenty to share next week!!!

November Holidays

Well, we are well into November, so it is time to see what great agricultural products we are celebrating in our nation this month!  This month is a bit NuTtY as it is the month that we celebrate

Georgia Pecan Month,

Peanut Butter Lover's Month,  For all you peanut butter lover's out there--check out the peanut butter lover's website:  http://peanutbutterlovers.com/ . 

You can also find the recipe for this peanut butter lover's pie and many other fun recipes!!  Way more than just your PB&J, not that PB&J isn't an all time favorite for many--especailly MOM'S!!

Their site even includes spotlight's on peanut grower's in our nation!!  and November 23rd is designated as National Cashew Day!!  November is also home to Good Nutrition Month!!  So, enjoy good nutrition by adding pecans filled with antioxidants to your diet this month!

Pecan Facts

Every pecan pie uses 1/2 lb to 3/4 lb of pecans. It takes about 310 pecans halves to fill a one-pound bag. So there are about 78 pecans used in every pecan pie!

Pecans are the only tree nut that is truly native to the United States.

WHY A NATIONAL MONTH FOR GEORGIA PECANS??:  Georgia leads the nation in pecan production. Georgia has been the top pecan producing state in the nation since the late 1800s.

Pecans are one of the largest fruit-bearing trees. One irrigated, managed acre of pecan trees will produce about 1,000 pounds of pecans.

More than 500 varieties of pecans exist today. Over 1,000 cultivars have been released over the history of pecan culture. Only three are common and all three are available Georgia orchards.
America’s President, food connoisseur and gardener, Thomas Jefferson, was very taken by the flavor of pecans and had trees imported from Louisiana for his Monticello orchards.
In 1995, Georgia pecan wood was selected by the Atlanta Committee to make the handles of the torches for the 1996 Olympic Games. The torches were carried in the 15,000-mile U.S.A. relay and in the lighting of the Olympic flame in Atlanta on July 19, 1996.

(all info from the Georgia Pecan Commission)

Global Demand for Food Booms

This was a really interesting article to me, and since November is a CrAzY month for me, I tried to make it a little easier by cutting a bit of my blogging down....so take time to read it, I  liked the quote in the second paragraph--you know, sometimes in the Ag business you can really use a positive outlook or two! ;) But what do you think?  I know there is definitely some debate over whether America should worry ab out feeding the world or feeding America.  I think the information in this article is really interesting, and I think that if there is anyway for America to keep a hold over China, then our Agriculture is one of our best resources to do so. Feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of the post and share what you think!  Anyway, here's what he had to say in case you need a reason to read the article:

"In my 30-year career, I’ve never seen a better environment and outlook for American agriculture," says Mike Dwyer, director and chief economist for USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS).

Global Demand for Food Booms Top Producer Magazine