Meat-filled Monday with beef

It was never difficult to find beef for meal options growing up. Not only did my family raise our own beef cattle [and still do], but we would often use our own cuts of meat to create home-cooked recipes for my mom, dad, sister and me. Beef was a staple item in my diet growing up. I was a cute little 9 year old with my first beef feeder calf named "Buddy". Raising my own calf with the intent of harvesting him for my nourishment taught me a lot growing up. It gave me a strong appreciation for food and lifestyle.

Like many, changes in finances, location and life situations can alter our diets. In college, I suffered beef deprivation. I was not consuming as much beef while studying at the university. Part of that was finances and other part proximity and meal frequency. I also had no clue how to cook steaks.

I'm still working on that. Dad always grilled them for the family growing up. It kept things simple. Mom and I would prepare the side dishes inside while he got the steaks ready. Now that I am a college graduate, you would think I knew a bit more about beef preparations.

Today's food, tomorrow's future -- National Ag Day 2016

Just a few years ago, I spent my first National Ag Day in Washington, D.C., talking to legislative assistants and congressional representatives about agricultural policy. I have returned two times during this week to not only share my ag story from my family farm in Ohio, but also to network and learn from those whose careers have been shared by food.

Today's food conversations are developing tomorrow's future. Guess what? It won't be stopping anytime soon. However, we have a duty. We must ensure the conversations are happening.

Me and Congressman Latta, who is the representative for the Ohio district I grew up in.

Challenges or excuses

When I look back on old photographs, I know I have learned a lot about today's food policy and production. It is not all easy. It is not all the perfectly pruned barnyards and immaculate fields. There are many challenges in agriculture, besides what farmers are trying to overcome.

Monday night, I started typing this blog post to share on National Ag Day. What happened? My computer crashed. I use a MacBook Pro from college, so it is a little aged. That moment the screens began blinking and would not stop, I panicked. Many photos, files and experiences are on the hard drive of this computer. Guess what? That is just a little challenge. It is nothing compared to what others face on a daily basis.

My week, your week, National Ag Week!

Believe it or not, we have reached the middle of March! Spring is in the air and the seasons are shifting to much more tolerable weather... I know for me, anyway! Not only is weather changing, but outside activities and priorities are also.

This upcoming week, it is time to celebrate the integral industry for you, for me, and all humans. 

National Agriculture Week is from March 13-19, 2016. 

Here is an opportunity to thank a farmer, communication with your legislatures about the future of agriculture and learn more about the food, fibers and fuel produced from ag producers and products. As mentioned before, I grew up on a farm and in agriculture. However, there are still many new facts and information I learn each day! You can too.

This week is for all of us to come together as a community and open the conversation! I plan to share some fun agriculture facts this week and hope you will do the same. 

Please ask questions and share in the excitement. Without ag, where would we be?

What do you hope to learn or share during National Ag Week? Check out more at the official website for National Ag Day, on Tuesday, March 15th.

Marketing is a first-world issue. Let's change that.

The plethora of my college experience was in marketing and communications. Just a few years ago, I was in love with strategizing and developing campaigns to drive markets, meet consumer demand and ultimately, make more sales and impact the economy.

Now, I despise it.

Our world has become one of extraordinary misinformation. Superficial needs raise above those of fact. It is a first world issue.

You may disagree. However, as I analyze what I grew up with and what I desire now, the two do not align.

In rural northwest Ohio, I did not grow up with much. I did not need to. Growing up, my family was content on our little row crop and livestock farm. My mom, dad, sister and I stuck to our agricultural roots and spent a majority of our time in the great outdoors, working during the day (or after school was out) and coming back inside for dinner together in the evenings. At some point during my youth, that all changed. I cannot pinpoint the exact year, societal pressures or cultural shift. However, the shift has accelerated tremendously to now.

It is saddening to see how much disconnect stands between families, friends, communities and the world. You might disagree. You might think social media has made us more "social" and more "connected" than ever. I beg to differ.

The quote "perception is reality" is the unfortunate view of today's world. For example, the above photo I captured while in New Zealand in 2013. Fun farm fact (on Friday), there are more total sheep in New Zealand than people!

Is the sheep helpless or being helped? 

Sheep is propped on her haunches in preparation for shearing. 

The farmer began by shearing her belly, and proceeded to shear the rest of her
wool to be cleaned and made into clothing goods.

This shearing not only lifted some weight off the sheep's body, but allows
her to grow new, healthy hair -- just like when we get hair cuts!

If you did not have these additional photos of the sheep, would you have been inclined to think she was helpless?

When in doubt, Try Wine!

How often do you get the opportunity to taste high class, top quality wines from around the globe, with the push of a button and swipe of a card? Not many for me. Last week, I was blessed to do so.

I love wine. I have always been intrigued by viticulture and the science behind it. Whenever I get the chance to travel, especially internationally, I try to experience wineries or vineyards. Last week, I went to St. Petersburg, Florida with some customers on a trip. Even though the weather was less than desirable in the mid-50s, we did not let that get us down. We Try Wine.

Thank you, Kale!

Mmmmm, kale. A healthy, fibrous green vegetable acclaimed by the health world as a "super food" and staple addition to a healthy diet. People in the health and food industry are always urging more people to eat veggies, "natural" products, that our bodies digest better and can be converted into healthy fuel for the body.

I agree completely. Eating more vegetables has helped me maintain and perform to levels I did not expect possible. Guess I should start eating more of this GMO.

Yes, GMO. Kale is a GMO. Genetically modified organism. And it's a damn good one. A few more of its vegetable relatives are too.

Kale: Another Fabulous Benefit of Genetic Modification (INFOGRAPHIC) from Food Insight

Kale, broccoli, brussel sprouts and cauliflower are just a few examples of vegetables that are genetically engineered for certain qualities we want. Many foods in nature today are not what they looked like many years ago. That's adaptation. Some of them, like the sweet potato, are naturally derived GMOs. Nonetheless, they are still good for you.

The term GMO gets a bad rep. Instead, first world people are obsessed with the terms like "organic, natural, gluten free", when those products may not have any other option to begin with. In today's age of technology, scientists and food production companies know the growing need for food diversity, instant meals, and more options to feed our extremely picky or extremely adventurous taste buds.

Thankful 30 - Day 30, agriculture

I save the best and most important for last. On the 30th day of November, I am thankful for agriculture.

Best thing about agriculture is that I know all of you are thankful for it too. It's all of our livelihood. We all eat. We all wear clothing (or at least I hope so!). We all use paper, plastics, rubber, wood, and many other materials.

Thankful 30 - Day 6, technology

We live in a technology society. Advancements are happening quickly, especially for agricultural production. At the AFA Leaders Conference and a session for the AFA Alliance Forum, I had discussions with college students and agricultural professional peers about technology.

Everyone know it is expanding. New iPhones, iWatches, drones, data management software are just the beginning. What is next? Programs to coordinate health systems, soil metric measuring developments? Who knows. All I know is, there is a lot to learn in a short amount of time.

Lucky for us, we can be thankful for what we have now. Internet connections, email, cell phones, cable, cloud storage, GPS, field mapping, computers and countless other devices that I cannot remember. But there is more to come. How will we enhance it to make the most of agriculture, medicine and life? I guess we shall see. There is a lot of opportunity for my generation. :)

7-year trend comes to an end

The past seven years, I have spent the last week of October focused on the same thing. The National FFA Convention and Expo has had my undivided attention. This trend is coming to an end. Unfortunately, I will not make it to the convention this year. But, that is OK.

Sometimes, our responsibilities and priorities shift. The National FFA Organization is near and dear to my heart. It has shown dramatic impact on my personal development and aptitude for my career in agriculture. Whether it was getting my start in public speaking or learning about soil science, I learned much through my local, state and national participation. If there is one thing I learned and took for granted through FFA but now understand and implement today, it is that putting yourself in environments of change and discomfort yield the greatest results. I have said this a lot; change is tough. Let me reiterate:

Putting yourself in environments of change and discomfort yield the greatest results.

I shared in a past blog post about my various experiences at FFA Convention. Last year, I judged Supervised Agriculture Experience finalists and chapter awards, in addition to mingling with guests in the Syngenta booth in the Expo. Each of my convention years were different. This year, now that I will not be there, is the most different of all. Instead, I will be in Nebraska, working with my customers, closing out harvest 2015 and attending a district sales meeting.

Change is difficult, but change is good. I have now been a Seed Advisor Manager for 8 months and have learned a lot. It is crazy that we are already in the thick of selling corn and soybean seed for 2016 and my Seed Advisors are well on their way to reaching and exceeding goals. I have much more to do and learn before I will feel more comfortable in my job. Thankfully, the FFA paved my path towards being active in agriculture and better serving the farmers I work with.

Lucky for me, the trend of change continues. My time attending FFA Convention may be coming to a stall, but definitely not a close. Whenever my next appearance there is for, it will be a new experience. Who ever say they want to remain the same for the rest of their lives? If they did, they must already have reached their life's ambitions...

I am openminded. What big change or end of a trend is upon you? Are you ready? Can you be openminded and embrace it? Your choice. I know I do not settle for mediocrity.

5 tips for being the coach and the athlete.

9 weeks. It has been 9 weeks since I began my new "coaching" role as a Seed Advisor Manager. 

Yes, I said coaching. I may be in the "sales" facet of the business. However, my job requires I do more than understand my products and hit our sales targets. I must understand the business of my eight seed advisors and help coach them to be as successful as possible.

For example, the image to the right is from a morning where I assisted a Seed Advisor plant a soybean plot in south central Nebraska. Having an awareness of how my customers are acquiring real-world data of our products gives me more exposure to strengths and weaknesses in my overall territory and individual seed advisors and their businesses. I can then coach them on where changes might be needed or where we are excelling.

You know what? I never envisioned being a coach. It just happened to fit the profile of what I do on a weekly basis with my customers. But that isn't the only thing I did not imagine.

I'm an outlier and I embrace it.

Have you ever felt like no one understand you? What about the fact that you think people understand you, and then a comment or situation with them proves the opposite? Do you think differently or act differently from peers?

Let me reassure you, you are not alone. I do. And I'm good with it.

Rocking rubber boots and ripped jean shorts in 2009.

Growing up was hard for me. I was always that quiet, skinny, weird girl who spent too much time working, doing well in school and getting overly involved in organizations and community activities. Being the oldest of my sister and me, I was also the "son" on the farm. This made me a bit more tomboyish and the uncanny ability to have more guy friends than girl friends. I grew out of the "shy" part a little. As for the skinny and weird, I'm still working on those. Nonetheless, in all points of my life, there is always a moment of being "the odd one out". It may have been an instance as little as my favorite farm animal being the alpaca or as large as spending five consecutive hours doing homework and student organization projects on a Saturday night. Somehow, this feeling of being different has not changed since moving from high school and college to the working world.

I received recognition at our annual college banquet for being a top
student employee in my job two years while at Ohio State. #workaholic

Now, it is a larger scale of different. I am a female in the agriculture industry. More specifically, I am a young female in the seed industry. Even as more women work in different job sectors, it is mind boggling the amount of confused looks and skeptical remarks I get when I talk to people in the grocery store and strangers in the community. Sometimes, people are genuinely supportive with responses like, "Good for you! I'm sure you'll do great." Other times, it may go more like, "Oh, that's interesting. Guess you are in the right place for that."

The evil emotion: fear.

I do not like to admit it, but I have fears. Everyone does, including you. The chemical changes in our human brains control our emotions, like fear. They allow us to interpret thoughts and actions and since everyone thinks and feels differently, we have different fears (if you keep reading, you might discover mine at the end of this post.)

People "Don't Do Vaccines"

A common fear is of the unknown or a threat. Imagine you approach a dark tunnel. Is it intimidating to look at the pitch black and not know what is there? Where does it lead? Where is the end? Anything could be there. That unknown factor impacts the situations and decisions people make on a regular basis.

Do you feel challenged yet?

Time moves quickly, life changes often. I can't believe it is already March of 2015! It seems like yesterday I graduated from Ohio State and started by first big girl job with Syngenta. Even as this time passes, there are things that feel like they move so slowly. One of them is feeling like an expert in your job.

Every job you have is an unwritten requirement to become an expert. Why you might ask? If you do not know the necessities and fundamentals of your job, you cannot progress to actively learn, grow and excel. Experts excel. 

To learn and grow, you are challenged. Tell me,

Human Health and Plant Health Require Multiple MOA

We are constantly scrutinized. What should we wear, what should we eat, what we should do for our careers, how we should act and what we should think. That's a lot of pressure. One area I have seen even more pressure is to eat healthy and be fit or in shape.

Why are we fat

Some statistics and facts about ag.

The continuous impression we received from news anchors, celebrities, athletes, doctors, friends and family is that American's are overweight. As stated in this November article by Business Insider, a study from The Lancet by the Global Burden of Disease found the United States as the fattest country in the world for 2014, with 33 percent of the population being defined as "obese".

This is not a good thing for our country, but it is does demonstrate other positive aspects we have in our country, being modernized, technologically savvy and full of resources. With all of these resources from food to electronics, it has become easy to overeat, spend more time staring at computer, tablet, and phone screens and become less "physical" in our daily routines. More people sit in an office or in a vehicle for their jobs because our society has become smarter and made it "easier" for us to work.

Amaranth: Food or Fiend?

As usual, I spent a portion of my day grocery shopping. I have become more intrigued by different products being marketed that people are eating, so I now will walk more isles to see what options are out there. Today, I had to stop dead in my tracks while in the organic section. I don't usually buy organic because

1) I know how it is produced and don't typically care about the difference

2) Am not into the whole "surplus marketing" thing 

3) What I eat is just as healthy anyways.

But, nonetheless, I wanted to see what was on the shelves. One product I found today gave me a little surprise. Within the grain and cereals section, there sat some bags of Amaranth.

8 Things Learned from Living "On The Go" for One Week

In my current role, I am constantly traveling. I am either meeting up with people, attending events, riding along with coworkers or visiting farmers/growers independently. This past week, I primarily visited growers on my own.

I believe one of the best ways I, and many others, learn is by doing. Don't just show me what that means. Teach me; allow me to try it and execute it myself. I retain that information or learn the task much quicker. It has been trying and invigorating, with highs and lows. Nonetheless, it is preparing me for a territory of my own in a few months.

Reflecting on this past week, I have pinpointed eight valuable things learned from living "on the go" for one week. 

1. Plan your schedule ahead of time.
Making appointments with farmers can be difficult. This is their busy time of year. I plan my schedule as much as possible to save on wasted drive time and by meeting with people who are in close proximity on the same day or two. My Outlook calendar has become my best friend by keeping me organized with reminders and addresses for appointments.

2. When your schedule changes, be adaptable.
Since people are very busy, things come up. Schedules change, technology issues occur and not everything goes as planned. I have learned to adapt. Sometimes spending an extra hour at a grower's house trying to resolve an issue with their computer builds an even stronger relationship, no matter how frustrated you might feel when things aren't going smoothly.

3. Never solely rely on a GPS.
Moving from Ohio to Indiana, I figured I would be fine navigating this new state. Surprise! I have gotten lost more times than I can count, even with the use of a GPS. Back country roads and rural landmarks can be more beneficial in finding my way than inputing an address into a computer. Always have a backup way to find your location, whether it is a paper map or by calling the grower and asking for directions.

4. Pack snacks and water to go.
I have been attempting a healthier lifestyle by eating less processed and "fast" foods. Unfortunately, that is even more challenging when staying in hotels and not having fresh groceries. Now, I always carry at least 2 bottles of water with me and pack some granola bars, fresh fruit and veggies in a cooler for a few days. You don't always have to get a meal from a restaurant. Stop at a grocery store for a package of hummus and vegetables, fresh fruit or even a pre-made sandwich. The cost of those foods is comparable, if not less, than purchasing a meal from McDonald's or Wendy's.

I'm tired of fighting... I give up.

Forward: This post is hypothetical and meant to provoke thoughts and solutions. Please do share thoughts via the comment section below.

The past few days, I have had a headache. My mom always says I get stressed out too easily and that causes them. Well, this time, I agree.

Image courtesy of Getty Images

You may have heard on the news about the toxic algae levels in Lake Erie that caused Toledo, Ohio to issue a ban on drinking tap water (article by The Weather Channel). This is devastating. Not only did this impact my family, who is only 20 miles from Toledo city limits, but it created struggle for 400,000 city residents.

The water looks disgusting. I'm sure it can't taste any better either. Growing up, my parents always expressed how dirty the lake was and that some other local water sources like the Maumee River weren't much better. I never had to worry because we had a well for water--until a few years ago. We joined "the general population" with city water. Going to college and now living in Fort Wayne, Ind., it never phased me that drinking tap water could be harmful. However, I have found there is something more threatening than the risk of poisoned water.

I have become first removed. What are you?

This past month, I have had many awesome, hands-on experiences! I never knew that as a sales representative in the agriculture industry, there is so much opportunity to travel, meet growers and learn in the field (literally). The days seem to fly by but there is not much more exciting than the knowledge I am gaining in these fast-paced days. To accompany this learning curve about crop protection and agronomy, a new realization has set in. I have become first removed.

You might think, what is going on with her family? Is everything OK? Other than our county fair beginning Monday and I will miss my sister show her goats and run for fair queen, a newborn calf being born a few days ago that I couldn't assist with its first nursing of first colostrum or my grandmother attempting to sell her house, everything is great! The only disappointment is, I'm not there.

Was it all worth five minutes?

A few weeks ago, I drove 1.5 hours to Piqua, Ohio to attend the Ohio Farm Forum and for a 5-minute interaction with Speaker of the House John Boehner. Then, I drove home another 1.5 hours. My mom asked me, "Was all that driving worth just 5 minutes?" My immediate response was "of course".

Next week, I am going to Washington, D.C. for National Agriculture Day. Traveling with 99 other young agriculturalists, we will meet on Capitol Hill to discuss ag policy and meet with our prospective legislatures. Those meetings will last anywhere from 5 minutes to 30 minutes. However, they are all worth it. Why? Because any time talking to policy leaders about agriculture is valuable. I was only able to meet with Speaker Boehner because I reached out in advance and was willing to make the drive for a few moments, since he is unavailable this next week when I will be in DC. My interaction may not have seemed like much, but our conversation about TPP and food labeling could provoke thoughts in his future government decisions.

What is worth the distance for you? Is it working that "dirty job" another month to see a pay raise? How about saving a few extra dollars to make your dream trip to Europe for a week? Whatever it is, as long as it is valuable to you and your passions, the endeavor is all that matters.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/555842778980072764/

Can you invent something like the Tree T-Pee? Only if you have a heart like Johnny.

http://treetpee.com/

My mom likes to send me emails of things I should have seen in the news or forwards that will give me a good laugh. One email she sent me today was more impactful than that. It was an article written by Farm and Dairy about the Tree T-Pee.

If you have ever watched ABC's Shark Tank, you can see entrepreneurs bring their start up businesses to these business guru's who may choose to invest in the products or services pitched to them.