My husband and I arrived in Nicaragua early Christmas morning. Christmas here is similar in some ways. People decorate with lights & we could hear a big mass going on in the middle of the afternoon. However, unlike the 24/7 Denny’s culture in the US most places we’re closed today..

Although not much was open today, we did discover the wonderful fresh juices that can be served as smoothies for a morning treat or with “ron” which we believe to be rum.

We found some legit coffee. Coffee is grown in Nicaragua but because Nescafé is cheaper, the real thing can be hard to find.

Arepas are everywhere we scored some on the street that were served in banana leaves. For 5 cords (about 25 cents US) this salty treat is a great mid–day snack.

Tomorrow we are excited to try a bakery that has pies & tres leches cake. We are also going to taxi out to a lively restaurant that is frequented by locals & has “ron” on every table. I think Ron & I will have some good times in the coming weeks!

As a part of my final project in graduate school, I made a google gadget using dairy farming data from the U.S. Agricultural Census. Unfortunately I was unable to get the gadget to both function and appear normally on my blog so I have a little picture of it here and a link for you to check it out: http://www.google.com/ig/modules/motionchart.xml

Note how many variables you are able to play around with here. The color and size of the dots that move over time in addition to the x and y axis variables.

I am interested to hear what you think of this. Does the story in the number represent your understanding of dairy farms? Why do you think the numbers look like this? How crazy is the price fluctuation of milk? Please leave your comments and thoughts here.

Ever since the Salmonella outbreak in eggs, which resulted in the recall of 380 million eggs (according to the industry), the media, advocacy groups, farmers, and consumers have all been in a tizzy over food safety. I don’t intend to belittle the media furry over food safety. It is utterly unacceptable that 380 million eggs must be recalled in an industrialized nation in the 21st century. We have the knowledge, infrastructure, and resources to do better.

I was going to write a couple paragraphs about how the current food safety system came into being, but as I started reviewing my notes from grad school and recalling all the federal agencies involved (USDA, FDA, EPA) I realized I could write a short book.  Therefore, I will refer my curious readers to the National Agriculture Law Center’s write-up on the topic of food safety at: http://www.nationalaglawcenter.org/assets/overviews/foodsafety.html  It is well worth the read!

The food safety debate is always a heated one with differing groups angling for a specific outcome.  Here are a few of the dominate voices you hear time and again.  Be it spinach, eggs, orange juice, or tainted hamburgers. 

• “Industrial agriculture” is the culprit and “organic farms” are the saviors.  
• Food safety has improved greatly but it doesn’t appear that way because detection technology and the rapid exchange of information has inflated small incidents into national scandals.  
• The government should not interfere with businesses.  Regulations are a slippery slope and if we start regulating everything down to the last grain of rice — we might not be too happy.
• A massive overhaul of the entire system is required either by creating a new food safety entity in the federal government or by giving clear jurisdiction in this area to one of the current agencies. 
• Each piece of the supply chain must be held accountable through a tracking system of RFID chips or bar codes.  

It is the last one that I will give some discussion to as it is a reasonable step that could be taken immediately and could have a dramatic impact on food safety.  Stephen Jannise  of Software Advice has a nice piece with a nice piece with a great illustration on food safety recalls that you can read on the Distribution Blog.  As Jannise suggests in his post, we have this great technology for tracking — why not use it to create a safer food system? 

The major concern, and the agriculture and food industry unify on, is cost.  One way around this is to create a grant program or pool that small farms and businesses can dip into in order to make the technology upgrades required.  Or have the phase in time line long enough that producers and businesses can budget for the upgrades and pass the cost on to consumers.  Either way consumers will pay for the technology upgrades either through taxes or through an increased cost in food.   Consumers are the main group benefiting from the technology upgrades and therefor we should pay for it.

The benefits are tangible.  Small additives will be traceable back to the source cutting down the investigation time and putting a stop to the flow of adulterated food.  Fewer people will become ill due to contaminated food.  The culprits will be easily identified.

Communication between different segments of the supply chain will improve.  Companies, organizations, and farms will be able to track their inventory more accurately — both in quantity and in quality.  This will reduce overhead expenses and help farmers and distributors find markets for their products immediately.  The data resulting from such technology will illustrate important trends in our food system, such as the traits of companies have the most recalls (big, small, location, industry, etc.) and how far our food travels.

Understanding the food system better will bring about a safer and a more efficient system.