Natural Food Products Expo East

I went to Baltimore's Natural Food Products Expo East as a rep for U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance.  Staff member Allison Garriga and fellow rep Jay Hill went, too.

First, there were the sessions we attended, like 'Vitamins and Supplements: Going Non-GMO', 'The Organic Center Presents: Combating Antibiotic Resistance', and 'The Plant-Based Foods Revolution: Sowing Seeds for Climate Friendly Eating.'  In one, a panelist described conventional farms as 'concentration camps.'  During the question and answer session, I said that I was a dairy farmer, and I knew a lot of farmers, and I didn't think it was fair to call farms concentration camps - because we're all trying to do our best for our animals and our farms.  I then asked if they gave any advice to farmers who weren't organic farmers.  He apologized for using the term, and said that in this conference he figured he was 'preaching to the choir'.

Next, there was the supplement trade show.

To be completely fair, I feel good mostly all of the time.  (If I didn't, I'm sure I'd feel differently and would do and take anything in order to make myself feel good.)  So that's what the supplement part of the trade show promised.  Magic pills to cure every ill.  One booth was even set up like an old drug store.  You'll be healthier!  Stronger!  Better hair, skin, life!  I left the area and told my friend, "We're all going to die! Where's the ice cream?"

I found it in the last section, the food trade show part.

Here, there were many kinds of wonderful ice cream (I had to sample them all to be fair), beef jerky, fermented drinks, vegetable noodles, dates, some things that didn't look super appetizing ...

But the product that most got my attention was the bacterial spray.

I know what you're thinking.  Everyone knows about anti-bacterial spray!  No.  This is BACTERIAL spray, as in, you spray bacteria on you.  It's Mother Dirt, and their site says it is for "replacing essential bacteria lost by modern hygiene and lifestyles."

The farming lifestyle gives you tons of opportunities to pick up lots of bacteria!  I feel like we're all set with manure and dirt.  I'd say we have enough to go around.

Just in case, though, I brought my products home.  There's shampoo!  Lotion!  Cleanser!  If ever I feel too clean, I'll spray some on.  In the meantime though, the bacteria at the barn is calling me.

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Talking it out

I knew right away this was going to be a good conference.  Three milk choices?!

Through U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance, today I spoke at the American Food Technology & Innovation Summit in Illinois.

Though 'American' is in the title, it was a very international conference!  Today I talked to people originally from India, Ireland, Brazil, New Zealand, England, Sweden, Germany, Canada, and Holland.  Nine in one day!  The accents were music to my ears.

Not only is it an interesting conference, but the attendees were very interested in learning about modern farming, and the people and technology supporting the industry.  Lots of questions and follow up conversations!  I had questions about anaerobic digesters, organic farms, modern farming practices, sustainability practices ... and lots of evening discussions.  Very enjoyable time with intelligent, invested people.

- One of the presenters who kicked off the conference was Kai Kight, a violinist, composer, and speaker.  Not only was his playing beautiful, but so was his message - don't just be the person playing the notes someone else wrote.  Write your own plan and do something different.  (As an added bonus, he and Zippy were super friendly.)

- During the PepsiCo presentation, Richard Black said that their products are consumed over a billion times every day.  It sounded like an impressive number - and it is - but without doing any research, I'm certain that dairy products are also consumed over a billion times a day.    

- Jeff Manning, one of the people behind the Got Milk? campaign, brought to my attention that there was at one point a Got Milk? Barbie.  How have I gone this far in life and not known that?  

- We had a Future Ingredients showcase - people are always trying to come up with something new, and I love it.  Lycotec, Innophos, and Parabel presented.  They might be your next favorite new ingredient.   

- After I showed how the hoof trimmer keeps track of a cow's hoof problem, Don McGhee of Perfetti Van Melle told me, "I don't even have that!  My doctor doesn't even keep track!  He just asks me what problems I've had!"  

Lots of talk about GMOs, ingredients, and global food issues.  I'm thankful to be part of the conversation to bring in the farmer perspective.  Even in my Midwestern accent.  

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Technology and brackets

Yesterday Kris and I helped host the Michigan Milk Producer Association's Young Cooperator Conference.  For part of it, we went on a farm tour at Daybreak Dairy in Zeeland, where they use automatic calf feeders.

They're not new to the farming world, but I haven't seen them before.  So they're new to me!

All farmers have to decide how many times a day they're going to feed their calves, and then they have to decide how long they're going to drink out of bottles before they move to buckets.  

With an automatic feeder, you don't decide those things, because they eat all the time. 

The machine reads their ear tags, and can tell when they've eaten and how much, and when they meet their maximum in a certain amount of time.  If the calf hasn't eaten enough, it tells you that, so you go and chase it up and encourage it to drink.

So they're hanging out here:

And they walk up to the feeder:

This is a view from the top. You can see the top of the bottle sticking out.

And here's the machine indoors.  The door is open so we could see the inner workings.

This is the milk powder mixing with the water.  It smelled exactly like human formula.

It was fun seeing something new, and as always, talking farm talk with other young farmers.

I always enjoy this conference and the tours, but this marked the first time that I didn't fight sleep on the way back.  This time, thanks to my friend Alex, I was able to avoid the dreaded head jerk.

The conference featured reports from our co-op staff, Gordie Jones speaking about cow comfort, a panel on business planning, and a tailgate party!  We even had a cornhole (beanbag) tournament, with a bracket and everything.  Kris and I came in second place, even though my throw - I was horrified to see when I looked at my pictures - looks like this:

(Can you believe we beat many teams with this toss?  I even obviously step with the wrong foot!)

We had a great time with our planning committee, and we look forward to returning next year!  Who knows what will be new on the farm we visit, what I'll learn at the meeting, or what other terrible discoveries I'll make when I look back at my pictures.