 My Generation - the Blog 
A closer look at life on a young farmer's operation. |
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Dear Suzanne Somers |
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| Posted on January 27, 2011 at 9:15 PM |
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Dear Ms. Somers,
I am writing this letter on a Thursday, having understood through various social media outlets that you appeared on the Today Show a couple times late last week and over the weekend. I used to watch the Today Show faithfully, but then I got tired of being frightened into believing my kids were going to huff something, be kidnapped at birth or be eaten by sharks. For awhile, I tried to catch the headlines during the 7 -7:30 a.m. half hour, just to see what happened in the world overnight but now the bus comes at 7:20 a.m., so that just doesn't happen anymore. So unfortunately, I missed your live interviews.
However, at the urging of many respected friends, I found and watched your two segments online, where you were interviewed on Friday by Natalie Morales and on Saturday by Amy Robach.
Having watched the interviews, I think we really do have something in common here: a desire for health. You have, I understand, written 20 books – 12 of which have been New York Times bestsellers. I think it is most impressive that we live in a country where we are all free to express our opinions. But here's the thing: I think our opinions should be based on fact. And there were a couple tidbits of misinformation you presented in your interview. I appreciate, too, that you acknowledged to Natalie Morales that this was just your opinion, but again, I feel certain you would like to have the very best facts upon which to base your opinions.
On Friday, you told Natalie, "When you inject meat with antibiotics, the antibiotics get into your gut, eat up the happy bacteria, which leaves all the bad stuff. The bad stuff starts to feast on the lining inside the gut, eventually eats little holes in the gut. Those toxins, which should be neutralized in the stomach with hydrochloric acid, leak out now and that's how people are getting autoimmune diseases – MS, fibromyalgia, lupus."
Now I should disclose, I grew up raising cattle and learned to give injections at an early age so we could take better care of the cattle. My family raises cattle today, too. And it was always my impression that the antibiotics we gave were good things; they made sick animals healthier. But I wanted to be sure, so I spoke with large animal veterinarian Shawn McKim. He says that while cattle and hogs may receive an antibiotic injection during their lifetime, each product has a specific withdrawal time to ensure no residue is left behind at harvest. Or in other words, if you give an antibiotic, you have to wait a certain number of days before slaughtering the animal and moving it into the food supply. This is true; we do this on our farm.
Further, McKim adds, "There are no real levels of antibiotics in our meat. If by some chance there were infinitesimal levels of antibiotics in your hamburger, it would be such a low level that it would not alter the microflora in your gut at all."
He also raised another good question: if by chance you did somehow receive antibiotic in your hamburger and it did somehow change the flora in your small and large bowel, how do those "toxins" then make their way back upstream to your stomach? Exactly. Your reasoning seems to counter basic seventh grade biology.
I appreciated, too, that you brought up the difference in grass-fed and grain-fed cattle, because that's something people have a lot of interest in and we're sure hearing more about it these days. I double checked your statement, however, regarding those types of beef. You said: "Leaky gut syndrome…is from antibiotics in meat. It's really important to eat grass-fed beef because they don't inject them the way they do those who are fed corn."
Here again, it looks like some of your underlying information may be inaccurate. McKim, the veterinarian, points out that grass-fed beef may well receive antibiotics, either to treat or prevent sickness in the animal. Only beef that's marketed as organic or antibiotic-free could be guaranteed to be free of antibiotics. Of course, there are problems in that system as well: what happens to the sick grass-fed steer? If he's supposed to be antibiotic-free, will he not be treated and therefore suffer more? This is a question to maybe ask yourself before simplifying our very complex food production system.
Also, while we're on the topic of complex systems, a lot of folks like to point to the Danes as a model for how to raise antibiotic-free hogs. Yet Dr. McKim adds that when the Danish outlawed sub-therapeutic treatment of hogs in the late '90s (sub-therapeutic treatment means giving them all a standard dose of antibiotic to prevent disease, instead of waiting until symptoms appear), the result was in increase in illness in the hogs and an overall increase in the tonnage of antibiotics used to get animals to harvest. I think that's just fascinating, and it's one of the things we just don't hear about when folks (like Katie Couric) go on TV to condemn antibiotic use.
I wanted to mention just one last thing. I think it was during your second interview when you brought up the topic of wheat and gluten. Again, you are correct that this is a growing problem, though the best experts in the country don't seem to know why. For that reason, I won't get into gluten-intolerance, but I did want to clarify your statement on wheat. You said, "There used to be 80 different strains of wheat. And we've engineered those 80 strains now down into five strains of wheat, so the gluten content in those five strains is off the chart. So if you're even a little bit sensitive, and gluten intolerance not only leads to great weight gain but to osteoporosis and other diseases."
My husband and I are corn and soybean producers, so I admit to not knowing enough about wheat first-hand. However, "five strains of wheat" just didn't sound right to me. So I asked Bill Spiegel, who works with the Kansas Wheat Commission (and who also happens to raise wheat himself) to clarify. He says that the DNA of wheat is incredibly complex – some five times more complex than human DNA (I had no idea). That's because today's wheat is a hybrid of 2-3 other grass crops that originated in the Fertile Crescent of the Middle East, some 2,000 years ago.
He adds: "Like all other crops, wheat has been cultivated, refined, bred and rebred, and today's wheat plants are what we have. There are hundreds of varieties, each with different DNA and possessing different milling and baking qualities. There are also six 'classes' of wheat: Hard Red (used for pan breads and as an enhancer to other classes); Soft White (pastries, cookies); Soft Red Winter (pan breads, flour); Hard White (noodles) Hard Red Spring (bagels, croissants) and Durum (pasta)."
So I wonder, what exactly did you mean by "strains"? Did you mean class? Or hybrid? Because even though there are six classes of wheat, there are, quite literally, hundreds of hybrids (or varieties) of wheat on the market today.
Ms. Somers, I hope this is helpful to you, and I apologize for such a long letter. However, we farmers out here in the meat and grain production industries are passionate about what we do, and it bothers us when people are misinformed. Frankly, some of us take it kind of personally. So I hope you will look into this a little further. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Holly Spangler
Farm wife
Farm writer
Former farm kid |
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| Comments |
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| Posted by SM Krause on February 4 at 9:13 AM |
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| Dear Holly: Having not been associated with the agricultural industry other than purchasing produce and meats from local farmers and ranchers in our area as a way to support them, I found your article quite interesting and very informative. What I found to be most interesting about your article is the pointing out that media figures all TOO often, present ideas that are not factual or very misleading due to a possible lack of in-depth research on their subject matter. To me it seems that the media figures use their “fame” to push an agenda that they themselves do not fully understand. This makes me question who is truly behind these “scare tactics.” After all, how many farms are there in Hollywood, and can we truly believe that Ms. Somers is even a partial expert on wheat or cattle production. Thanks again for you factually based insights into the misinformation presented by another media figure.--SMKrause |
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| Posted by NN on February 1 at 8:43 AM |
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| Great response, backed with a lot of facts and telling the truth! You need to have the farm organizations get you on Today or better yet Oprah to tell the rest of the story. Keep up the good work Holly you are doing a fantastic job! |
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| Posted by L. Ann Mathews on January 30 at 4:44 PM |
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| Dear Holly, I appreciate the article that wrote to address this celebrity. I too am a wife to a small beef farmer in Michigan and did not appreciate the information that she shared with millions of viewers. Thank you for setting it straight.
Sincerely,
Lou Ann Mathews |
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| Posted by FarmMama on January 28 at 9:03 AM |
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| Great job! I hope she does respond! |
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| Posted by farmkid on January 28 at 8:39 AM |
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| This was fantastic! Thank you! |
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| Posted by DeereMama on January 28 at 8:00 AM |
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| Very well written!! It will be interesting to see if you get an actual response and not just the automatic response! Please share with us if you do! |
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| Posted by Jennifer on January 28 at 7:51 AM |
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| All through your letter, I'm sitting at my computer with a Chester Cat grin. Way to stick those facts in her face with a slight bit of sarcasm! |
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| Posted by C. Williams on January 28 at 7:06 AM |
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| Well said. Keep it up. We farmers need to get out the right information. |
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| Wait. Monsanto Isn't the Devil? |
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| Posted on May 16, 2012 at 8:30 AM |
| An email from a friend reminds me that our world – and the farm arguments we hear – aren't so black and white. |
| Category: Consumers |
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| We Get Letters |
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| Posted on May 09, 2012 at 8:55 AM |
| People can be so kind, and the letters we receive at Prairie Farmer are the absolute evidence of that. Words are powerful. |
| Category: Farm Family Living |
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| HSUS: Perception as Reality |
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| Posted on May 01, 2012 at 3:05 PM |
| If you believe everything you hear, you might just think HSUS is for shelters, Kashi is natural and Nutella is healthy. Wait. They're not? |
| Category: Consumers |
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| BSE: Here's What We Know |
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| Posted on April 26, 2012 at 4:29 AM |
| The tests worked, USDA's system worked and our food supply is just as safe today as it was yesterday. Or even on the day BSE was discovered. |
| Category: Consumers |
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| How a Good Product Got a Bad Rap |
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| Posted on April 12, 2012 at 10:25 PM |
| Pink slime: lots of misinformation, followed by hype and more misinformation. Rinse, and repeat. But wait! Here are the facts. |
| Category: Issues |
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| The End of a Long Road |
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| Posted on March 28, 2012 at 4:00 AM |
| Blog hiatus explained: my mother died last week. And here, a look at hope, her life and our changed lives on the farm. |
| Category: Farm Family Living |
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| Master Farmers Give It Back |
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| Posted on March 07, 2012 at 4:29 AM |
| Half of all farmers and ranchers donate their time to youth organizations, compared to 7% of most Americans. Take a Master Farmer and that's 100%. |
| Category: Issues |
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| We Went Red...And Met Moms |
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| Posted on March 05, 2012 at 4:29 AM |
| Farm Moms hit the city for a fancy-schmancy event, connecting farmers with consumer moms in Chicago. |
| Category: Consumers |
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| How a Cow Can Change Everything |
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| Posted on February 23, 2012 at 5:31 PM |
| World population expands. Ag technology spreads. Cows make more milk. Families have better lives. Check it out here. |
| Category: Technology |
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| Is Agriculture Waiting to Talk? |
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| Posted on February 21, 2012 at 1:00 AM |
| Ken Cook offers up a contrarian view, not only of food production on the farm, but of telling agriculture's story. He may have a point. |
| Category: Issues |
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| Had It Not Been for 4-H House |
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| Posted on February 17, 2012 at 1:00 AM |
| A cooperative housing unit at the University of Illinois made a profound difference in my life. May it continue to do the same for generations. |
| Category: Farm Family Living |
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| Loose: Not Taking Questions |
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| Posted on January 31, 2012 at 3:36 PM |
| The author of the story that launched degree-gate simply can't answer any questions. Today. |
| Category: Issues |
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| Our Friend, Greg |
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| Posted on January 17, 2012 at 1:00 AM |
| An entire community mourns for Greg Chatterton – farmer, father, husband and friend to so very many. |
| Category: Farm Family Living |
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| When the New York Times Calls |
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| Posted on January 06, 2012 at 1:00 AM |
| It's not always easy to be on the other end of the questions, and other things I learned while being interviewed. |
| Category: Issues |
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| Bob: Just a Great Teacher |
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| Posted on December 29, 2011 at 1:00 AM |
| What’s the mark of a great teacher? In Bob Siebrecht, it’s a teacher who can see in his students what they cannot see in themselves. |
| Category: Farm Family Living |
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| Field Moms Look to Farms, Not PETA |
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| Posted on December 21, 2011 at 11:00 AM |
| Another round of conversations with Illinois Farm Families Field Moms reveal our outreach may just be working. PETA will not be happy about this. |
| Category: Consumers |
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| Big City Lessons |
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| Posted on December 13, 2011 at 4:02 PM |
| A trip to Chicago yield more than just a little fun and sightseeing. See what a couple farm kids learned about hard work and delayed gratification. |
| Category: Farm Family Living |
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| To the Farm |
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| Posted on October 19, 2011 at 12:30 PM |
| A Saturday on the farm with eight moms from Chicago? Priceless. |
| Category: Consumers |
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| Hunger Amidst Bounty |
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| Posted on October 13, 2011 at 3:23 PM |
| Canadians organize a Harvest for Hunger: 120 combines, 160 acres, 12 minutes. |
| Category: Issues |
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| Ready to Roll |
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| Posted on September 26, 2011 at 12:44 PM |
| Harvest rolls along, amid sun and rain and more. Despite the craziness, my favorite season of the year. |
| Category: Corn |
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| ADAP: Clear as Mud, Part Deux |
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| Posted on September 22, 2011 at 5:00 AM |
| Part Two of a series with former Illinois FSA head Bill Graff, as we dissect NCGA's proposed farm program. |
| Category: Policy |
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| ADAP, ACRE, FSA: Clear as Mud? |
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| Posted on September 20, 2011 at 10:47 PM |
| Part One of a series with former Illinois FSA head Bill Graff, as we dissect NCGA's proposed farm program. |
| Category: Policy |
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| Prairie Pictures |
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| Posted on September 08, 2011 at 8:39 AM |
| A barn in a field, a farm on a hill. In Illinois, it's the little things that take us back. |
| Category: Farm Family Living |
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| See You at the Show |
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| Posted on August 28, 2011 at 10:36 PM |
| Time for the Farm Progress Show…drop by the Hospitality Tent and say hello! |
| Category: Issues |
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| POTUS |
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| Posted on August 18, 2011 at 1:03 AM |
| A whirlwind day amid the White House press corps, the president and a lot of seed corn. |
| Category: Issues |
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| Farm Moms Hit the Road |
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| Posted on August 10, 2011 at 10:11 AM |
| Four farm moms drive north to talk food & farming with Chicago moms. Note to self: it's a long way from a Starbucks on State to the Caseys in Kewanee. |
| Category: Issues |
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| Meeting in the Middle |
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| Posted on August 02, 2011 at 10:07 PM |
| A Chicago legislator and her family travel south for a taste of Fulton County agriculture. And let me tell you, the shop has never been cleaner. |
| Category: Issues |
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| A Will and a Way |
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| Posted on July 18, 2011 at 8:57 PM |
| What's it take to get to college? Hard work, if you follow this man's example. |
| Category: Issues |
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| Flashback: 1997 Seed Industry |
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| Posted on July 07, 2011 at 4:00 AM |
| A look back in the files reveals a point in seed history time that feels much longer ago than just 13 years. |
| Category: Corn |
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| Value off the Farm |
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| Posted on July 05, 2011 at 10:30 PM |
| Don't bemoan kids leaving the farm. They're taking good stuff with them. |
| Category: Issues |
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| How We Wound Up On a Billboard |
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| Posted on June 28, 2011 at 10:18 PM |
| One ambitious and forward-thinking county Farm Bureau reaches out to Chicagoland with a family farm message. |
| Category: Issues |
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| Stand Up for 4-H |
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| Posted on June 23, 2011 at 3:46 PM |
| A new CNN blog asks for opinions on 4-H and livestock - and the anti-meat folks are saying a lot of nasty things. Make sure CNN gets your opinion! |
| Category: Issues |
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| It's a New Day |
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| Posted on June 01, 2011 at 4:00 AM |
| New efforts to take the farm to consumers starts with a new blog, a new logo and a new website. And what's this thing called a "Field Mom"? |
| Category: Issues |
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| The Only Peanut Farmer in Illinois |
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| Posted on May 19, 2011 at 4:00 AM |
| With the help of a friend to the south, my six-year-old is growing peanuts. Also, please send 120 days of warm weather. |
| Category: Peanuts |
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| Scrap Direct Payments? |
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| Posted on April 26, 2011 at 10:46 PM |
| Early feedback from readers looks to cut direct payments, simplify crop insurance and help the little guy. |
| Category: Policy |
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| Where Do You Stand? |
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| Posted on April 21, 2011 at 10:02 PM |
| Direct payments, crop insurance, conservation payments and more. |
| Category: Policy |
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| 654 Miles |
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| Posted on April 13, 2011 at 3:00 AM |
| My past 36 hours has seen the following: 654 miles, a dozen ag editors, 378 oz. Diet Pepsi, 23 planters, 3 sprayers, 2 states. Give or take. |
| Category: Farm Family Living |
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| Strength in Numbers |
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| Posted on April 08, 2011 at 3:28 AM |
| Farm leaders do their western Illinois community proud. |
| Category: Issues |
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| What's Natural? |
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| Posted on April 05, 2011 at 5:46 PM |
| Just because something's natural, it doesn't mean it's good for you. |
| Category: Issues |
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| About The Writer |
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Holly Spangler has covered Illinois agriculture for the past 13 years, beginning her career with Prairie Farmer even before graduating from college. As associate editor, she brings real-world production agriculture experience to the topics she covers, including a range of production, management and issue-oriented stories. She also shares the trials and tribulations of young farmers through her monthly column, My Generation, and her blog at www.prairiefarmer.com.
Holly and her husband, John, farm in western Illinois where they raise corn, soybeans and cattle on 2,000 acres. Their operation includes 100 head of commercial cows in a cow/calf operation, plus several Shorthorns for the local show calf market. The family operation includes John’s parents, and their three children, Jenna, Nathan and Caroline.
A member of the American Agricultural Editors Association, Holly was named a Master Writer in 2005 and has received numerous writing and photography awards. She graduated in 1998 from the University of Illinois in agricultural communications, and received the Warren K. Wessels Award for outstanding senior in the College of ACES. She was a founding member of the U of I Ag Communications Alumni Leadership Council, and currently serves on the AAEA Board of Directors. She is also one of 10 recipients worldwide to receive the 2011 IFAJ-Alltech Young Leaders in Ag Journalism award.
Holly and her husband are active in state and local farm organizations, receiving the Illinois Farm Bureau’s Young Farmer Achievement Award in 2007. As members of their local community church, she and her husband serve in youth and music ministries. |
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