People need the correct information about food

WORLAND - The biggest challenge for agriculture producers used to be that no one knew where food came from. Today, the challenge is now people don't have the right information.

That message came out loud and strong during Trent Loos' presentation to open 2018 WESTI (Wyoming Extension's Strategically and Technologically Informative) Ag Days at the Worland Community Center Complex Wednesday morning. Been too long since visited Wyoming. Very exhilarating, abundant of resources and people willing to make it happen.

Loos has six radio shows and he and his wife have a ranch in Nebraska with 100 beef cows, 100 sows and 25 horses. They have three daughters.

He said he and his wife, Kelli, decided 20 years ago that "people didn't know where their food came from. We've been chasing this rabbit for what is now right on 20 years. And in 2018, I'm going to tell you that our greatest challenge is no longer that people don't know where their food comes from but too much of what they know, isn't so."

He added, "They've been informed. We live in the information highway. We're gathering information all the time ... but when people acquire bad information you have to break that all down and start all over. That's really where we're at, we have to break down all the misguided information."

He said part of the problem in educating the public about the correct information about where food comes from, is many people don't understand the first thing about the cycle of life.

He related a story about getting a cup of coffee in Wisconsin. He said he doesn't put lids when buying a cup of coffee at a convenience store and the clerk asked if it was coffee. He joked and said it was water and the guy behind him in line joked "that the water looks like that because the "fish have sex in the water." "I turned to him and said 'is there water that fish don't have sex in?' Once again the young lady behind the counter said 'you guys quit pulling my my leg, fish don't have sex.' Ma'am how is it we get more fish?'"

"She lives 100 feet from the Mississippi River where fish are having sex on a daily basis, making more fish and she never thought about it. Here's the thing ... I've been in meetings like this every week and our common theme is we just need to educate them. How do you educate someone who doesn't understand the first thing about cycle of life."

He added, "And, the greatest challenge I feel we have today, is this basic premise ... we have ladies selling coffee, school teachers, regulators, even people who have occupied the White House who do not the understand the basic premise of life. And that is this, everything lives, everything dies and death with a purpose gives full meaning to life.

He said that's what people do in resource-managed country, manage life, create death because only in death can something else live. "And that's the component that gets completely left out of the equation. Nothing can live unless there is a death that occurs and that is the disconnect because the only exposure people have with death today is death of a loved one. They're not out there tending to plants and animals and understanding work ethic, responsibility and respect that animal when we take it's life."

He said in 1900 it required 5 acres to produce enough food to feed one person for a year. Today it takes a third of an acre due to science and research creating technology to allow ag producers to produce more with less.

Due to science and technology when the same area as the Dust Bowl in 1930-1937 received even less measurable precipitation in 2000-2007, the impact was not as great because of technology and better stewardship.

In order to better educate the public, Loos said, people also need to understand how and where people are getting their information.

He said if people have a question about soil health, antibiotics or sugar consumption, they don't ask and Extension educator or a veterinarian, they type it into their favorite search engine.

Unless you do a search on the internet "you have no idea how grossly misinformed the American public has become."

He said when he travels he is asked what he does and when they find out he is a rancher the next question is if he grows organically. His reply: "No, we quit that in 1952, it didn't work for my grandfather either."

He said a woman seated next to him on an airplane recently said she doesn't like all the chemicals and buys everything organic. He noted that she says this while drinking her latte.

"What is the No. 1 consumed chemical in the world? Dihydrogen monoxide, H20. What's the No. 1 chemical killer in the world? Water, 42,000 people a year die from some water-related incident. What's the No. 2 consumed chemical in the world? Caffeine. What is caffeine? It is a stimulant because it dilutes your blood. Caffeine is a [natural-occurring] pesticide that naturally occurs to protect the plant from insects."

He said a University of Hawaii research study showed that if you do not harvest the coffee beans from the plant, it will produce enough caffeine, pesticide to kill itself.

"I drink a lot of pesticide on a daily basis. I'm not saying that caffeine, the pesticide is dangerous. I'm saying we have better living through chemistry," he said

Loos added, "We have managed these chemicals in a way we've improved everything," but noted that emotions drive many decisions.

In 1942, the first year in World War II, the No. 1 killer of troops, was mosquito-borne diseases so troops began using DDT, he said, and until 1970, DDT was credited for saving 6 million human lives in the world. In 1971 the Environmental Protection Agency was created with the first job of eliminating DDT despite testimony that it was not harmful to the planet or human beings.

Loos said "It was banned based upon sensationalized fear," much the same way that people fear genetically modified organisms (GMOs) today.

"It's pretty simple for me," Loos said. He then quoted Norman Borlaug, 1970 Nobel Peace Prize winner and 'Father of the Green Revolution,' in which Borlaug said, "I have no doubt in my mind that farmers will have the potential through science and technology to feed 10 billion people on the planet. The question is will they be allowed to utilize the technology."

Loos wrapped up his speech discussing the need for ag producers to speak up and help educate the public on issues that can impact them.

He said there are two groups of people that will have the most impact on America's future, farmers and ranchers and the military, and ironically, he said that the two groups most Americans know the least about.

"The reason we sit here in great resource-producing counties producing the essentials of life, making food, fiber, pharmaceuticals and fuel available to the United States and the global consumer at a lower cost than anybody else, because we've been home working hard, taking care of the soil and resources and doing it and have not left enough time to exercise our right to be heard," Loos said.

Loos said, "We live in a republic where people are supposed to represent who they hear from most often. So my question today, WESTI Ag Days 2018, 'what are you going to do different tomorrow than you did last week.'"

He said when people who work and live on the land and share with others, people will begin to relate and resonate with them.

WESTI Ag Days continues today with workshops in the morning and afternoon and lunch by the Washakie County Cowbelles. All activities are at the Worland Community Center Complex.