Sugar, Sugar, & More Sugar

Sugar Reform Act of 2013-2015

Upon looking at the different kinds of legislative acts that revolved around Agriculture, I had a hard time really discovering on that I could relate to. Although I eat foot every day, there weren't many that I had a strong connection with that I felt had really benefited me in the way that it might with other people. However, I was not afraid of figuring out how some of these might really affect me, which in turn really put into perspective what I eating, what clothes I wear, etc. However, when I came across the Sugar Reform Act of 2013, I realized that this one was especially close to home. 

For me, as someone who is married, I have come into the understanding of how important it is to havefood at home. With this in mind, it has become quite hard to always have a wide variety of food at home based on our spending budget and maintaining a good diet. Although I am married, both my husband and I are still going to college, and it is not always easy to have lots of money to spend on groceries when we have to pay for other things. One aspect of having sugar in many products is that, "Archaic sugar policies have driven costs up for U.S. bakers and consumers to unmanageable levels for far too long," (Sterk, Mackie) basically stating that it would be great for all types of consumers that purchase sugar. 

Although the Sugar Reform Act went from 2013-2015, it was never actually enacted. However, I feel as though it would have been a good Act that would benefit everyone. They are once again reviewing this particular Act to see if they can get it passed in the future. From the Congress.gov website, we see the first version of the Act and what is focuses on which, "requires that sugar allotments be appropriate to maintain adequate supplies at reasonable prices, taking into account all domestic supply sources, including imports," this statement discusses that the supplies that are sold need to be sold at reasonable prices in all different matters. Since they have looked into the Act again, they looked into having the same promises from the Act and some new ones such as having, "18 cents per pound for raw can sugar for each of the 2015 through 2018 crop years," (GovTrack) indicating some of the changes they would like to make and a process of making that work.  I do understand how hard it can be, in today's world, being able to well manage money and to create a chance for everyone to still make money and keep the economy under control. This is a hard thing to do because of the way people work and how they need to keep their products in check to make sure everything runs smoothly. If this Act would to pass and make headway in the upcoming years, I really think it would benefit the economy and help make a difference for the production of sugar and how we, as consumers, will be buying in the future. 

Works Cited

Pitts, Joseph. Liberty of Congress. Congress.gov, 14 February 2013. Web. 26 July 2015. 

Shaheen, Jeanne. GovTrack. Sugar Reform Act of 2015. 12 February 2015. Web. 26 July 2015. 

Sterk, Ron. Food Business News. Sosland. February 15, 2015.  Web. 26 July 2015. 

Morrill-Notes 7/22

Justin Morrill: Land for Learning Notes

• Genes were limited to fruit and vegetables before the 19th century.
• More practical subjects had to wait until 1862 to change for good; these involved agriculture and engineering.
• In 1862 the American Civil rage was high.
• Vermont, Act through congress for higher education.
• The result would be 135 years later, universities would be all over
• Morrill started that Morrill Land Grant College Act
• He missed out on a college education; instead he received a country education.
• Library filled with books and he wanted everyone to be able to learn.
• Became a merchant in his home town and he taught himself.
• Morrill became an expert on what he needed to know. 
• Retired at age 38 and designed a cottage; extensive garden: experimental agriculture.
• In 44 the Wiig party had other plans for him, farming had to be turned aside for the rest of his life. 
• Morrill was 12 years in the House of Representative; over 30 years in the Senate.
• Because Morrill served so long, he truly was a representative for his people. 
• He was extremely thrifty.
• Well known national political figure.
• Took the country through reconstruction and beyond. 
• No-nonsense hard worker. 
• If it was important to him, he would study it. 
• The big issue was access to higher education; formal education ended after elementary school.
• Others had proposed similar ideas, but never got anywhere.
• The colleges did not have desire to teach agriculture and some sciences.
• For practical people.
• Lands were changing, Morrill knew that others (Belgium) were taking care of lands better than Americans, better this knowledge would be helpful for those in America.
• Education was a great way to do that.  
• Finding ways to help others.
• Faith in the working class to move forward with his plan.
• Tried twice to get the plan in motion.
• With the Civil War on the horizon, it just wasn't the right time according to Congress.
• Morrill bill passed both houses with one more hurdle
• Southerners told the president during the time to veto the bill.
• 2 1/2 years later with the new president, Abraham Lincoln, there was success. 
• Lincoln, "Education is the most important subject."
• 30,000 acres to each state to establish Land Grant programs.
• Grants pay for teachers and materials.
• Some states channeled their money into other or new schools.
• Lean enrollments, not enough qualified teachers.
• Disagreements on how and what to teach.
• The inclusion of women was in 1870.
• Three decades of agriculture struggled; offered high school and college classes.
• Land grants began to expand their programs.
• "Aggies would be treated as secondhand students" because people still weren't sure about the Land Grant colleges.
• Inclusion for population for more races.
• Schools that denied this would lose their funding.
• 1890 Schools-confronted with huge problems; serious lack of funding. 
• Because of lack of funding students had to do most of the work in maintaining the schools. 
• 3 of 17 schools at first, but by 1940, 15 were fully accredited. 
• 700,000 students; 60,000 black students each year. (today)
• New Age elimination between haves and have nots.
• Farming-agricultural science and engineering still go the lack of respect they needed.
• Worked on homemakers to increase quality.
• Education for the people, then you have to bring education to the people. (Extensions)
• America is the most successful country in the world in agriculture-all colleges of agriculture. 
• Engineering out passed agriculture for students. 
• 31% to 70% in Land Grant schools.
• Always included liberal arts; these were more popular than the other schools.
• Started to incorporate other classes into student classes. 
• Have to have liberal arts and the sciences have to have both.
• First half proved the point of Land Grant institutions.
• Depression farm business management condition of the nation.
• World War ll Land Grants the opportunity to really shine.
• ROTC Armed Forces getting specialized training.
• Training, we would have been far behind.
• 2 year basic program.
• Food demand helped during the time of the war. 
• Aironotics and technology improvement from engineers.
• GI bill for free college tuition. 
• Needed more, not less to compete with the enemy.
• Land Grants took a more global view, 1950.
• Food, clothing, power to underdeveloped countries.
• Students across the globe traveled here.
• Over 500,000 out of country students attend land grants.
• Learning matters from all points of views.
• Remained strong through the Cold War Era.
• 1970s tribal colleges started to see money. 20 years for them to be admitted into the land grant college community.
• Expansions of progress to provide land grant themes.
• Large number of people in agriculture, better life for cattle is a hope.
• Have a lot of dreams if they had resources.
• Morrill delighted to provide for the nation.
• Dignified man, stepping out of character, warm and friendly person.
• Served longer than anyone before him.
• Pushed for additional funding even with frail health.
• Buried at the nation's capitol.
• He knew his act would be good for the country. 
• Morrill Act was large enough to evolve
• Education must vary for the variation of life.
• Variety of interpretation-keeps being fresh.
• These colleges have impacted our nations.
• Over 20 million graduates and 5,000 degrees.
• We all have something to contribute. 
• Constant working out what is needed.
• Without brain power, progress does not happen.
• Education is tied to practical ideas.

The Chicken, The Peas, and The Topaz.

Each category that we had to pick from, and the animal, vegetable, and mineral, actually worked out really great when I had to find resources. Because I was close by the library, I was able to make my way up and find the books that would be very good resources. I was able to find each category and a book that corresponded with what I was looking for so I could find what I needed to know about each. There were definitely more books on chicken than the other two, but I was still able to find a book for each that gave a lot of great information that made me understand more of each animal, vegetable and mineral. For this assignment, I chose chicken for the animal, peas were the vegetable, and topaz was chosen for the mineral.

Animal: Chicken

I chose chicken for my animal because chicken is the main meat that I eat. Whenever I go out to eat, or eat at home, if chicken is an option then I will eat it. According to Smithsonian.com, the origin of chickens, "Were discovered, according to legend, by the side of a road in Greece in the first decade of the fifth century B.C.," which definitely shows that chickens have been around for a very long time. Because animals were on the earth, even before humans, this definitely makes sense. Who knows if the chicken was around before we actually were on the earth, but from the record of man, they didn't come about until that fifth century B.C. This is quite amazing because we don't realize how long something has actually been around until we actually look up that specific information. There are a lot of reasons why I chose to have chicken as my animal. After reading more about the chicken, I realized that there is a lot about the chicken that I don’t know. For instance, the fact that, as Striffler says in Chicken: The Dangerous Transformation of the Dangerous Food, “At the Millennium, the average American was eating over a hundred times more chicken than a person was eating on the eve of the Great Depression,” (32) showing that the chicken has had a dramatic change over the many years that people have been eating it. Striffler does a lot of research on how the chicken has changed, including within fast food, and how it is not always the best choice for us to eat. However, chicken still, “has been transformed into the most studied and industrialized animal in the world,” (Striffler, 15) representing that the chicken has a great influence on the meat industry which is why there are, side by side, burgers and chicken sandwiches. For me, I still love chicken and whenever I go anywhere I will still get my chicken. I will, because of the information that I have learned, choose my chicken choices more wisely.

Chickens come in all sizes and shapes. This one represents one of many.

Vegetable: Peas

For this particular part, I am not a huge fan of vegetables and I will definitely admit that. My favorite vegetable is the tomato and there is debate on whether or not tomato is really a fruit or a vegetable. Other than tomatoes, it takes a lot for me to want to eat vegetables. I especially do not like peas. However, the reason I took an interest in the peas, was during a recent family reunion, my family and I took time to shell peas from my Grandma’s garden. I wanted to learn more about peas because I was watching them come from a garden instead of out of a can.

Peas come in a shell and you have to break the pod open to get to the actual peas.

From what I gathered from Genetics and Breeding of Peas, was that wasn’t a specific time in when the peas were first found, but during the “Early Paleolithic Age [and] Neolithic Age” (1) was when men would have been known to work within the early stages of agriculture. However, the first recording of the peas was in 1935 where there were “eight major centers of origin of cultivated plants” (2) which made it seem like peas would be a part of it, but they weren’t really narrow in which they discussed the peas origin. This was probably the hardest I had with finding an exact date, but still gave me a lot of information. I did, however, find a lot of information on peas that I obviously didn’t know otherwise. 

For the most part, I find peas that come in the can and not in the garden. But I wanted to see if there was a difference between canned peas and getting the peas straight from the garden and if that would affect their nutritional value. I had a hard time finding a particular article that related the canned pea to the fresh one, however, there was some information that I found that discussed what any canned food versus the fresh one might be like. I understood that canned peas still have a lot of the same nutrients as garden grown, but the biggest difference is a lot of the time when they put fruits and vegetables in cans, the companies that produce canned foods will add extra sugars and salt (sodium) to keep them better preserved. From Livestrong.com comes the statement, "One drawback to canned fruits and vegetables is that manufacturers often add salt to enhance the taste and help preserve the food so it can be sold and stored for longer periods of time," this statement makes sense, because unless we ourselves add the additional salt and sugar, we are getting a lot different intake from the can and from fresh produce. 

When we did shell the peas from my grandma’s garden, I found that I had a better liking to the peas than the canned peas. This makes sense because they are fresh and are not set in a lot of sodium and contained over long periods of time. However, studies have also found that the canned fruits and vegetables are not necessarily bad for us, they still pack all the nutrients that come with fruits and vegetables. The difference here is that the more salt put into the cans to prevent them from going bad, is the part that is worse for us. With this in mind, I think it is important to be aware of this, but not to be afraid of it. We can still have canned foods, we just need to have them in moderation to balance everything out.  I’m not sure if I will switch over my diet and start eating more peas, but I do have a lot more appreciation for them because of what it takes to produce and how many people do enjoy them.  

Mineral: Topaz

I am not too familiar with many minerals, but I have always enjoyed topaz it’s beautiful color. I enjoy having it in jewelry, even if it’s fake, because of the way it looks.

The first thing that I found out, that I didn’t know before, was that there were many different colors of topaz that can also be cut into many different shapes to fit all kinds of jewelry or displays. I honestly thought that there was only one and the color is that light blue color. However, a lot of this came from the fact that I don’t always think about different kinds of minerals, but also, people have been doing studies on minerals for decades. One thing that Hoover mentions in Topaz was, “Whenever one begins to examine the history of gems…the study must be based…on relatively few (if any) examples of reliably dated examples, plus surviving literature,” (1) telling that there are specific ways to work with the minerals and scientists really take a lot of time and energy studying the process and outcomes of minerals. Topaz was kind of like peas where I didn’t know a ton of information about it, but a mineral that I have always liked. There are many amazing attributes to topaz, one being, “Topaz is unique among the gem materials capable of being faceted, with the exception of quartz, for the considerable size of its crystals and for the large flawless gems that have been faceted,” (Hoover, 21) with this, I was surprised how highly topaz is looked at and how often people use it. There are many minerals out there, depending on what you are looking for, and in general, that make up parts of the world. I was highly intrigued by the genetic property that is topaz and what it takes to use this mineral. Although this particular mineral is not the first one you would think of when you picture a mineral, for me, most of the time, I will picture something like sand, but more as a gemstone is what you would think of for topaz. However, it was amazing to really understand all types of minerals, since topaz was under that list, and just what they are used for. 
My biggest thing now, would be, to find all the different colors of topaz when actually looking at jewelry. If, and when, I happen upon a jewelry store, I really would like to see if there are pieces of jewelry that are used, with topaz, that represent all the various colors that come with the gem. We don't often think about how the minerals are always used, so it would be really neat to see what the possibilities are, and what people have been able to accomplish with it. 

This picture shows the vast colors that topaz can come in!

Works Cited:

Striffler, Steve. Chicken: The Dangerous Transformation of America’s Favorite Food. New Haven and London; Yale University Press. 2005. Print.

Hoover, D.B. Topaz.  Oxford; Butterworth-Heinemann. 1992. Print.

Khvostova, V.V. Genetics and Breeding of Peas.  Springfield; Oxonian Press Pvt. 1983. Print.

Adler, Jerry, Lawler, Andrew. Smithsonian. June 2012. Web. 13 July 2015. 

Impatenco, Sara. Live Strong: Nutrition Difference in Canned vs Fresh Produce. 14 Feb. 2014. Web. 14 July 2015.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/260270-nutrition-differences-canned-foods-vs-fresh-produce/

Pictures:

*All found through google; all were related to a website so didn't have a particular author. 

http://news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=9881

http://www.gemstones-guide.com/Topaz.html

http://www.smoothfm.com.au/article/peas

Modern Potatoes

Tracing My Roots

             With this assignment, we were asked to see if anyone in our family, now or in the past, has been involved with any sort of agriculture. This was a very easy question for me to answer because all throughout my life I have always known someone that has been involved with farming in some form or another. My dad grew up in Aberdeen Idaho where there are millions of potatoes that are harvested, among other things, every single year. A huge part of my father's childhood was out working on the fields, he says, "As a child I was always out working on the farm, being put to work, but I loved being a part of it," which is something that has continued on today. My mom also helped out on a farm growing up working a lot with her grandfather, but once they got older, the farm was not a huge part of my mom's life. She has definitely said that she has kept solid roots with farming because of marrying my father. As I have grown up, I was never really involved with working on a farm since my family lived in the city; we always traveled up to Idaho to spend time with the family. I always knew that farming was a huge part of our family, especially the potatoes. 

            Going up to Idaho always meant that we were going to have potatoes at every meal, even breakfast, because to us, that was normal. There are many different ways to make potatoes and they have definitely become a way of the "food life" in our family. I have always enjoyed that our family is able to produce potatoes and make that a big part of our meals together. My Uncle Brock is actually the one that owns his own potato farms and has a huge company, Driscoll Potatoes. His wife, Tena, and their kids, worked the most on the farm. My Aunt Tena said, "Farming is a real up and down game of life! Some year the prices are good, some are terrible. Farm life is a sacrifice and a lot of hard work, but it has been a good life for us," which was a great statement to show how much effort they put into their farm and how it might not always be easy, but it is definitely worth it. I also have other cousins, that grew up in Aberdeen as well, that helped out during harvest time. That was one thing my siblings and I were always jealous about, the fact that our cousins got to take two weeks off of school to help with harvest. We always said that we would rather go help with harvest than go to school any day. 

            The "Agriculture in the Classroom" timeline was a little hard to try and settle down with the exact time that I felt connected with my family because the latest it went was up to the 2000s, which we are still in, but the majority of the information came during the 1990s. Since my family is still doing farm work today, I found it hard to find certain connections that I was looking for because I felt slightly off base with the exact times they were given and what was present during those times. There was one aspect from the timeline that states, during the 1990s, "Information technology and precision techniques [are being] increasingly used in agriculture," that really connected with something my Uncle Brock said, "We have had many advancements to work with over the years, things are always changing, new machines, new equipment, which has been very helpful in being able to produce more crops," which in turn continued by explaining the machines and other aspects of technology. In this world today, we are very overrun with technology, my uncle said that, "technology has been good for us, but not always what you might have in mind," stating that, with any technology, you have to get used to it and be careful because you don't want to take out the greatness that comes from being able to grow food. 

            Because of the advancement that I was seeing with farming, through the timeline, and from my Uncle's perspective, I definitely wanted to dig a little more to see how much advancement were we talking about. Obviously, when farming was first beginning, man did most of the work before we had animals to help out, as part from what we learned in Guns, Germs, and Steel. Now, when we look at today, coming from The Advances in Agriculture website, it states that, "The 21st century and farming has gone all high-tech and is talking about GM food and agricultural biotechnology," showing how different the start of farming began and where they are finding themselves at today. Farming can still be a struggle and can even make people wonder based on these advancements. People might still be scared of how farmers are able to produce their food, but as my cousin Emily put, "Farmers, care about the land, they want to feed the world, and we can't feed them on organic alone. Their biggest drive is to produce more, because there are less people producing crops," by saying this, I think she is pointing out that people might be afraid of some advancements, but that farmers are still doing everything that they can to produce the best quality food that they possibly can. There are still many advancements that are taking place today, and we have come a long way, so it is very interesting to see what has been done with farming previously and what is being done today. This kind of information has really made me appreciate what my family has done with farming and what they are continuing to do today. 

My dad has a sign that hangs on the outside of his childhood door that reads, "Don't complain about farmers with your mouth full," and with my Aunt Tena's words by ending her interview, "In conclusion, EAT MORE POTATOES!" I am more grateful for what my family does with farming. I feel like there is a lot I am continuing to learn, but I am very happy for being able to grow up in such an amazing family and gaining a love for potatoes.

(Thank goodness for family reunions, and for having them this week, which is why I was able to gather quite a few interviews all at once!)

Works Cited

Anderson, Nathan. Personal Interview. 10 July 2015.

Anderson, Kristin. Personal Interview. 10 July 2015.

Driscoll, Brock. Personal Interview. 10 July 2015.

Driscoll, Tena. Personal Interview. 10 July 2015.

Driscoll, Emily. Personal Interview. 10 July 2015. 

NA. The Advances in Agriculture. 2006. Web. 12 July 2015.

http://www.ad-nett.org/

Notes-PRA-7/7/2015

Search & Study on Poor Richard's Almanack.

*I typed this in Word and then pasted it to the blog and I don't know how to make it so the white behind the words doesn't show up.

Who was Richard?

The text, that is given as a summary, states that Richard, Richard Saunders, comes from which the author Franklin would sign his prefaces. This was what I found, and not sure if this was entirely what I was to look for, because it didn't seem to tell any story. He would use characters, one named Richard, that was used with the "humor and wisdom" in the author's writing which seemed to hold popularity for people that would read these works of literature. 

What is an almanack or almanac (you may want to go through the same search process, except choose Oxford English Dictionary)?

An Almanac, according to the dictionary, is "An annual table, or (more usually) a book of tables, containing a calendar of months and days, with astronomical data and calculations, ecclesiastical and other anniversaries, and other information, including astrological and meteorological forecasts." When I looked up the other spelling, with a k, the definition that I received was the same. 

What does this have to do with farming?

I wasn't really sure at first what Poor Richard's Almanack, or an almanac in general, might have to do with farming, but then when you actually read the definition, the word almanac, and how it is used for the author, that it made more sense. When it comes to farming, you cannot just plant anything in the ground and expect it to grow; this seems like fairly common sense, but then again.. Regardless, there are some things that you need to know such as: knowing when to plan certain crops, what kind of weather might occur, when and where the best plants will grow and in what kind of soil, etc. These have a lot to do with astronomy because of the different times of the year and weather. If you try and plant a certain crop that will only grow in the summer and you try to do it in the winter you will not have a lot of luck.

What does this have to do with literature and where does it fit into the different literary eras?

Well, as an English major, I can see this as it's own kind of literature. That being because I have seen so many different aspects of writing and how the writing is used. Just because it does not read like a normal book, does not mean it does not have any resourceful information. 

I do believe that this could fit into different literary eras, depending on the information that is used as well as how it is used. There are many types of literature, ones that I feel could fit in all eras, but some that do better than others. With almanacs I know that I have seen them since I have been alive, but they were probably more prevalent to previous eras, but could very well be beneficial to today's age if we knew how to use them. 

Sources:

http://www.oxfordreference.com.dist.lib.usu.edu/view/10.1093/acref/9780195065480.001.0001/acref-9780195065480-e-3842?rskey=dnWal1&result=1

http://www.oed.com.dist.lib.usu.edu/search?searchType=dictionary&q=Almanac&_searchBtn=Search

"Almanac" Infoplease. Infoplease; The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. n.d. Web. July 7, 2015.  

http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/entertainment/almanac.html

This Blog Entails...

There are many reasons for blogs; mainly where people will write about what is going on in their lives. However, there are other blogs specifically to tell people how to make food or to talk about specific issues that are relevant to what is going on in the world. This blog, will have nothing to do with any of those topics. Which is normal because everyone can have their title to any blog they want. This blog, is going to be revolving around farming and how that can and does affect literature. There will be topics that will be discussed on the blog and represent how I feel toward each topic and the responses from reading Farm: A MultiModual Reader.

This blog is going to be able to explore new aspects of literature, ones that I personally, do not have a lot of knowledge in. Because of this, for those that read this blog, there will be exploration and discovery to understand the material that I will be learning. As an English major, I have studied many different types of literature, but never farming in literature and culture. As I study and research topics that are given to me, specifically for the class I will be taking, I will be posting and discussing these on this blog.