1. Who can you trust nowadays in the food business? Following up on my rant last week about having to read labels in the grocery store because you never know where something is grown, we now find out that this problem even exists with those items labeled organic. An audit by the Inspector General of the Department of Agriculture reports that inspections that were required to be performed by the National Organic Program (who oversees the organic industry) were never carried out.  This resulted in products being labeled as organic when in fact they weren’t. From the story I read, most of the problem occurred with products grown in foreign countries. Like I said last week, buying food products grown in foreign countries is always a risk as far as I am concerned. We (the powers that be in this country) do not oversee or monitor their growing practices. Who knows what is actually going on in a growing field thousands of miles away? Another reason to buy local! See the full story here.
2. Today is National Agriculture Day, which is designed to recognize both the effort farmers put into producing the food we consume and the important role agriculture plays in our economy – see story here.  For those of you who homeschool, the Agriculture Council of America has a link to a lesson plan that allows students to learn about the relationship between growing/raising things and the natural resources available (PDF file here).
3. Who knew a vegetable peeler could have so many uses? Story here.
4. Did you know that agriculture is Michigan’s second largest industry? According to this story, agriculture accounts for $71.3 billion dollars in economic activity in the state.  I wasn’t aware of this fact: From dairy to cherries, livestock to row crops, hanging baskets to shrimp and trout, conventional and niche farmers here produce upwards of 200 different commodities, making Michigan agriculture the second-most diverse in the nation after California. It is amazing what is produced in Michigan. Did you know that Michigan ranks first in the nation in the production of dry beans, blueberries, tart cherries, pickling cucumbers, geraniums, Niagara grapes, petunias, impatiens, and squash? (Source: 2008 National Agricultural Statistics Report for Michigan) I never realized how much is grown in Michigan, you learn something new every day. **UPDATE** We just got the Sunday Muskegon Chronicle and it has a graphic that illustrates the resources that Michigan has to offer. Here is the link (PDF File). Very interesting!

Enjoy!