Worried about antibiotics? See what farm moms say.

DeEtta Bohling of Kansas Grains recently wrote  an interesting post called “Farm Moms for Responsible Antibiotic Use.” In the article, Bohling discusses a recent flyer titled “Moms for Antibiotic Awareness”, which was distributed to parents in southeast Kansas by PEW Charitable Trusts (below). The flyer calls for parents to “help end the misuse and overuse of antibiotics in food animal production.”

A flyer distributed by PEW Charitable Trusts to parents in the Neodesha school district.

Bohling writes:

“I worry about the foods that enter my mouth, especially when I don’t know how they were prepared. One thing I don’t have to fear, however, is antibiotics in my meat.”

Bohling goes on to discuss how farmers like CommonGround Kansas volunteer Teresa Brandenburg “take the judicious use of antibiotics very seriously.” 

The post answers several questions like:

• Should you be worried about antibiotics in the meat you buy for your family?
• Why are antibiotics given to livestock?
• Is human health impacted by eating meat from animals given antibiotics?

If antibiotics in meat are of concern to you, this post is well worth a read. You also can learn more about antibiotics in livestock production at http://findourcommonground.com/food-facts/antibiotics/.  In addition, send your questions our way and we’ll connect you with a local volunteer farm woman who can tell you more.

What would you ask a farmer?

If you could ask farmers about your food, what would you ask them? Folks just like you ask these questions in a video posted on the CommonGround website. See what others want to know about their food. Chances are they probably have some of the same question you have.

Just go to findourcommonground.com and scroll down to watch the video in the bottom left part of the screen. While you’re there, check out some of the topic areas, such as hormones, animal welfare and corporate farms. You’ll find a great deal of information in a Q&A format. We also encourage you to ask a question if you don’t see yours answered on the site.

If you’re looking for a local farmer to ask about your food, learn about our four Kansas volunteers who represent many different parts of the state. They’re here to talk to you one-on-one and help answer your questions.

New CommonGround Website Launched

CommonGround Kansas volunteers traveled to Charleston, SC, in early February for the Shared Voices conference. We really enjoyed meeting other CommonGround volunteer farm women from around the nation. From an Iowa turkey farmer and a Colorado rancher to a Delaware vegetable grower and a Kentucky corn farmer, we met so many great ladies who are passionate about answering your questions about food and farming.

While at the conference, the national CommonGround staff unveiled a new look for our website, findourcommonground.com. Check it out to see what’s new. We really like the way they’ve presented factual information on the home page from trustworthy third-party sources. You can now find answers to your questions categorized under the following topics:

• Antibiotics
• Food prices
• Animal welfare
• Hormones
• Local/Organic
• Food safety
• GMO foods
• Corporate farms

We definitely encourage you to swing by and take a look. You can also submit a question if you don’t see it already answered. We are excited about the website’s enhanced ability to help you get the information you need about your food to make educated choices.

Already checked out the site? Tell us what you think!

Kansas Joins CommonGround™ Program

Farmers Greet Guests with Delicious Food and Genuine Conversations at State Launch

 

Guests discuss food and farming during the CommonGround Kansas launch event on Jan. 7 in Lawrence.

Lawrence, Kan. (Jan. 9, 2012) — The Kansas State University Lady Wildcats may have shot better hoops than the University of Kansas Lady Jayhawks Saturday night, but the real winners were the farm women who started a conversation about food at Allen Fieldhouse prior to the game.  Teresa Brandenburg, Kara James and LaVell Winsor hosted dinner to launch the Kansas arm of the CommonGround program—a national grassroots movement, designed to bridge the gap between the women who grow food and the women who buy it.

The event brought together members of the media, academics and government officials to discuss modern farming. During the dinner, guests were invited to partake in conversation about farming and food while enjoying delicious food and the company of the new Kansas CommonGround volunteer farmers.

The reason Kansas became a part of the CommonGround movement was clear during dinner as Alton, Kan. CommonGround volunteer, Teresa Brandenburg explained, “many consumers are confronted by a barrage of inaccurate information and rumors about food. All three of us (volunteers) want to share our stories and personal understanding of agriculture and food.” She also noted, “who is better to tell that story than someone like me, a mom, and a farmer?”

Throughout the dinner, the volunteers shared anecdotes from their farm and used their agriculture knowledge and expertise to address guest’s concerns about our nation’s food supply.

Welcome to CommonGround Kansas!

We’re glad you’re here!

Let us introduce ourselves. We’re a group of Kansas farm women working to help dispel myths and build trust in farm families again. We want to answer questions and share facts as well as our personal stories of farm life.

Throughout the year, we plan to host events to create a dialogue about farming and food with urban and suburban consumers. Consumers in the cities and suburbs are more disconnected from farm life than ever before, and that disconnect has led to misconceptions about modern farming and the people behind it. We want to talk about it with you, let you ask questions and get you answers based on facts from the women who grow your food.