Reconnecting Nebraska's Farmers and Grocery Retailers

Sponsored by your Nebraska Grocery Industry Association

According to history, Thanksgiving Day has been an

annual holiday in the United States since 1863. There are claims that the first Thanksgiving Day was held in the city of El Paso, Texas, in 1598. Many people trace the origins of the modern Thanksgiving Day to the harvest celebration the Pilgrims held in Plymouth, Mass., in 1621. However, their first true thanksgiving was in 1623, when they gave thanks for rain that ended a drought. These early thanksgivings took the form of a special church service, rather than a feast.
In the second half of the 1600s, thanksgivings after the harvest were more common and become annual events. However, it was celebrated on different days in different communities and in some locations there was more than one thanksgiving celebration each year. George Washington, the first president of the United States, proclaimed the first national Thanksgiving Day in 1789. Thanksgiving is now celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November of each year.
Thanksgiving Day is traditionally a day for families and friends to get together for a special meal. The meal often includes a turkey, stuffing, potatoes, cranberry sauce, gravy, pumpkin pie and vegetables. Thanksgiving Day is a time for many people to give thanks for what they have. We give thanks for the veterans who protect our country, for the farmers who grow food in abundance, for the food that is available to all, and to the grocers who sell food to families across this nation. We wish an enjoyable, food filled Thanksgiving to all of our readers!

Sincerely,

Kathy Siefken

Executive Director

Nebraska Grocery Industry Association

Nebraska's soybean farmers are proud to bring you this information to help answer customer questions

Nebraska soybean farmers and their checkoff are proud sponsors of the Farmer Goes to Market program, realizing that this program provides an integral link in the food system chain. The information provided in this newsletter is a key step in our educational initiative, providing consumers with information on our effort to provide them with a safe, affordable, abundant food supply.

The farm and ranch families represented by Nebraska Farm Bureau are proud sponsors of the Farmer Goes to Market program. We take great pride in supporting Nebraska's agricultural foundation. A key part of that effort is to make sure we produce safe and affordable food. This newsletter is an important part of our effort to connect the two most important parts of the food chain -- the farmer and the grocer -- with the goal of increasing consumer awareness and information about how their food is raised in Nebraska.

An educational program produced by Food-Chain Communications and delivered to members of the Nebraska Grocery Industry Association. Farmer Goes to Market was established in 2008 to help bridge the growing gulf between today's grocery retailer and today's farmer, empowering them with full-chain knowledge to carry agriculture's true message to food consumers.

Translating Food Technology:

Think Small Farmers Markets are Cleaner
than Supermarkets? Think Again

Farmers Markets safer than groceries?

More and more consumers have been convinced that produce grown by small farms and vended through local farmers markets represents the pinnacle of pristine, naturally pure food.
Not so fast, says this recently published study, which found a variety of "yuck factors" attended those venues. Click here for the low-down (and dirty).

Foresight on Food Politics:
Healthier Eating through SNAP?
What USDA's Latest Assessment Says
Does SNAP really encourage healthy eating?

USDA's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program offers a powerful tool to improve nutrition among low-income people, according to the program's proponents. But does it really? USDA just released a new detailed study that looked at the Healthy Eating Index scores for adults in low-income households that do and do not participate in SNAP. Some surprising results.

Navigating the New Food Movement:
A Five-Point Food-Safety Reality Check
from Nebraska's Former Head Doctor

A reality check on food safety issues

Nebraska's Chief Medical Officer from 1999 through 2005 and USDA Undersecretary for Food Safety under George Bush took note of five common perceptions about food-animal production and the possible effect on human health at a recent symposium in Kansas City. The reality, according to the Loup City native, falls far from the perception.

Competitive Commodity Insight:
About that 'Turkey Shortage'
You've Been Reading about

The media was alive with reports last week that Butterball was warning of an impending "turkey shortage" this holiday season.
As is often the case, the media was half right and mostly wrong when it comes to farm and food reporting. Farmer Goes to Market brings you the commodity perspective you likely haven't read anywhere else.

Meet your Farmers...
This Albion Farmer Has Proud Roots in
both Grocery Retail and Farming

The grocery-to-farmer connection embodied in Farmer Goes to Market comes alive in the form of Albion farmer Hillary Maricle, whose parents owned a grocery in Spaulding while much of the rest of her extended family farmed. With those roots founded in the best of both worlds, she went on to help run this sixth-generation Nebraska cattle and crop farm.

On the Lighter Side:
Happy Thansgiving, Carson Style

Nebraska's favorite comic native son demonstrates the naturally intimate personal humor that so endeared him to late night television audiences for 30 years in this hilarious Thanksgiving ad-lib with band leader Doc Severinsen from 1979.

Click here for more details on today's Food Morality Movement