Ag classes begin again for fall 2011

Today is the start of a new semester at Virginia Tech's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. My class for the fall is Agricultural Marketing Policy and Business Strategies, adding yet a new component to my overall studies of the agricultural industry. I'm looking forward it and actually wish that I could take more agribusiness classes. However, this is one of the last of my core classes for the master's program, and everything save for one class after this will be focused fully on my food safety area of concentration.

I'm especially excited about this class because I hope it translates into some agribusiness reporting opportunities at the newspaper where I work. We shall see!

Peeling back the food label

Audubon did a very interesting article earlier this year on how to dissect the verbiage on your supermarket food labels. Check it out!

http://www.audubonmagazine.org/audubonliving/audubonliving1103.html

Immigration and farming

McClatchy-Tribune offered up an interesting story on how immigration -- in many cases illegal immigration -- impacts the agriculture industry. It’s easy to see both sides of this issue, which is probably indicative of balanced reporting.

http://www.theolympian.com/2011/07/30/1741224/farmers-fear-congress-might-crack.html