Genetically Modified Organisms

I'm sure all of you have heard of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) before. I can almost guarantee that you have all eaten GMOs at some point of your life. This is not a new concept to the agriculture and technological worlds anymore. GMOs have been being produced for the past 20 years. In 1994, the first GMO was produced; it was the Flavr Savr tomato that was modified to taste better and have a longer shelf life. Modifying a natural organism can have its benefits, but there are negative effects associated with modifications as well. With these positive and negative effects it has caused ethical arguments within my field of Natural Resource Management.

How can you tell if a food has been genetically modified?

Well, to be honest with you it's not very easy. It's so difficult to distinguish between GMOs and non-GMOs because currently the FDA does not require companies to label their food as GMOs. Some companies may label their food one way or the other to let their consumers know, but for the time being they are not required to do so. One thing you can do to help yourself out about organic food vs. GMOs is to educate yourself on GMO companies and what major crops they produce. For example, anything related with corn you can almost guarantee the product has been modified one way or another. Also, sugars and high fructose corn syrup are for the most part modified as well. They are also found in almost all processed foods.

There are many desired qualities one would want in their products they are selling, but as a consumer do they want them in their food? GMOs are great for making crops resistant to severe weather such as droughts or flash floods. Also GMOs are good for making crops resistant to disease/famine as well as resistant to many pests such as bugs that feed on the crops and can consume an entire field in hours. Like I touched on earlier, its great for the suppliers, but maybe not so good for the consumers. Companies like Monsanto make millions of dollars each year on the modified crops they produce. Monsanto and companies alike, patent their newly modified crops claiming it as their own inventions. Isn't that kind of weird? Take corn for example, if you can modify it somehow where it doesn't need as much water to grow, and you still call it corn, isn't it still corn? Apparently it's not. Monsanto does this all the time and ultimately takes over private farm industries because they are a large corporation with tons of power. I'm sure you guys know it gets very windy around this part of the world which increases the chance of cross pollination between GMO fields farmed by Monsanto, and non-GMO fields farmed privately by a family that's been doing it for generations. If that happens (which it does ALL the time and nobody can stop it) and Monsanto finds GMO crops on that private farmers fields, they can basically sue that farmer for using their crop without consent.

The negative side effects, as well as the unknown side effects are what is scary about these GMOs. I understand that world hunger and access to nutritional food is a major problem in today's world and GMOs do help the cause out, but at what costs? GMOs cause mutations within the natural structure of the organisms DNA. That's why they cannot be labeled "organic" because they are not natural. These inorganic foods could possibly have terrible side effects. They may not be noticed right away, but definitely noticeable as time goes by. Doctors and scientists are worried about creating new allergies as well as increasing cancer diagnoses. Even more severe forms than people have today. From personal experience, I am severely allergic to peanuts (yes, I've never enjoyed a PB&J). Having a food allergy is very dangerous and one needs to be aware of not only what they are eating, but also what the people around them are eating. With that being said, I'm sure you can understand the dangers of increased food allergies. Another worry is how it affects pregnant women and infertility, especially the affects it may have on the baby. GMOs are also known to decrease the nutritional value of the food. If that's the case world hunger may end, but people would still be malnourished if the food they are eating isn't supplying them with enough nutrients to be sustainable. 

I'm not completely against GMOs. I just think what science has discovered so far is that the negatives are outweighing the positives. With that being said, I highly disapprove of major corporations such as Monsanto that are sought out to destroy private farming practices and wish to monopolize the agricultural industry.

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

http://enhs.umn.edu/current/5103/gm/harmful.html

http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/focusareas/medical/conference/presentations/genetically-modified-foods.html

  

2014 Farm Bill

This past February something significant happened in Washington D.C. President Obama signed and passed the Agriculture Act of 2014, or better known as the 2014 Farm Bill. Some general information about the Farm Bill that people are always talking about is a new one gets passed about every 5 years, give or take a couple years. It primarily acts as the federal governments laws regarding agricultural practices, food, and natural resource policies. Just to give you some numbers, the federal government has authorized the spending of $956 billion over the next 10 years after enacting the bill (USDA).

Now that you have a little background information about what the Farm Bill is all about, I want to talk about how this bill affects people in Natural Resource Management (NRM). From what I have read on the internet, heard on the radio, and have discussed in my classes is that the 2014 Farm Bill is a victory for conservationists. This is great news for NRM people. However, it's not so great news for some farmers. Farming practices have changed drastically over the past 50 years due to better farming technology and intensive seed research which resulted in increased crop yields. Land that wasn't able to be farmed 50 years ago is now able to be farmed. Because of these more efficient farming practices and the demand of food always rising, more and more "natural land" is being used for agriculture. This is soon going to change.

This new 2014 Farm Bill is going to give the farmer more incentive to have natural grasses on their land or make it harder for them to turn that natural land into agricultural use. I'm sure you’re asking, "Why does it matter if there's natural grass or crops on the land?" Well to be clear and concise, hundreds of species rely on these natural grasses for their habitat and natural breeding grounds. Also, by cropping this land you are manipulating natural drainage patterns into wetlands, rivers, lakes, and consequently increasing erosion and water runoff which increases flood severity. Reduction of natural land due to cropping has numerous negative side effects (good ones too) on the areas watershed and hydrology. So with this new bill, it gives farmers incentive to take those factors into consideration and if they don't they may suffer consequences. These consequences could be as little as a petty fine or worse off, not qualify for government subsidies or crop insurance. If you didn't know, farmers rely heavily on government subsidies and crop insurance.

It will be interesting to see how this pans out in the next few years. This bill is going to require farmers to take on new perspectives when thinking of ways they are going to manage their land. The farmer's main goal is to produce as much crop as he can so he can get paid and provide for his family. The conservationist main goal is to preserve the natural environment. People involved with managing natural resources and farmers are going to have to work together in order for success to be an outcome for both parties.

Click Here for a link to a great article by the Associated Press talking about the conservationist side of the new 2014 Farm Bill.

Thanks for reading and have a great day,

Corey Bjoralt

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

I'm sure most of you, if not all, have heard of Global Positioning System programs, or GPS. You probably know that GPS is very useful when dealing with specific locations. Today I want to talk about a similar, yet quite different, program called Geographic Information System or GIS.

GIS is a computer program used to interpret spatial data. The program provides tools for solving specific problems related to spatial data. A lot of the spatial data is represented and easily interpreted by using a map, or integrating multiple layers of information onto one map. For example, you work for a company that manages the natural resources for a specific area. GIS would be a great tool to use. It allows you to integrate and compare multiple sets of data that may include: topography of the land, water use, soil type, crop type, roadways, land use, and allows you to set boundaries for each.

If you have ever used Google Earth before you can think of GIS as a more advanced product. Google Earth is very good at finding specific locations and giving you the exact latitude/longitude readings. With GIS you can do the same thing as Google Earth, but you can also add multiple features and labels that you cannot add when using Google Earth.

Now that you have somewhat of an understanding of what the program is used for I would like to talk about my personal experiences when using the GIS program. GIS can be a very complex program, but because of the complexity of the program it can provide very useful information that cannot be used elsewhere. There are parts of the program that I think can be very confusing at times, and other parts of the program that are pretty basic and straightforward. The program has a good layout that is basic enough to find the functions and features one needs to get a desired output. The program makes it easy to maneuver between different layers by displaying an easily accessible table of contents bar as well as a catalog. What I found confusing was once you have your final product, the way you go about saving your file/forwarding file to someone else. It does not always save into one file, sometimes it is separated into multiple files so you have to know what files are needed to access all of the information. If one file is not saved properly, or not attached to the rest of the files, some information may be left out. Another problem with the program is the files being saved/uploaded can get pretty big. If you have poor internet connection or on a server with multiple people using the internet, the files may take hours to load or not even load at all. I recommend using a personal computer versus a public computer network.

Pros of GIS:

• analyze large quantities of data
• analyze several different kinds of data and compare relationships
• compare changes of geographical area over time
• integrate multiple data sets
• allows you to add layers of maps on top of each other
• shows you boundary errors and allows you to fix them
• gives you a visual representation of data sets
• data use is widely available

Cons of GIS:

• can be a very complex program
• results can appear more reliable than they actually are
• importing false information from the internet makes your final product unreliable
• some data may not be free to the public and can be very expensive or hard to purchase
• can be a very slow program without ideal internet connection
• saving/forwarding files can be confusing

Overall this program has changed how people interpret maps. Instead of having three or four different maps on paper and having to flip back and forth, GIS allows you to incorporate all of those maps into one. This allows for easier comparison and to easily identify relationships. With increasing technology I expect this program to only get better and will allow for more data to be imported. 

Thanks for reading and have a great day.

Corey

Welcome to NRM!

Greetings readers! I have created this blog to educate you on the field of Natural Resource Management as well as inform you on how to get involved with the great outdoors.

Natural Resource Management (NRM) is exactly what it sounds like; its main focus is to manage natural resources on local, state, and federal levels. It can be broken down into many different categories including: soil, water, land, plant, and wildlife management.

                        

There are many different jobs pertaining to natural resources. One might focus on the biotic side and work specifically with animals ranging from studying migration patterns, population increases/decreases, protecting endangered species, etc. Or one might focus more on the land aspect in regards to soil testing, erosion issues, or drainage techniques. Another common job in the natural resources field is monitoring streams and rivers. As you may have noticed, it is hard to manage and focus on one aspect. For example, runoff from farmland causes new water and new nutrients (found naturally and in fertilizers/pesticides) to enter a stream. Those greatly affect the plants and micro/macro organisms living in the stream.

Here is a list of some state and federal agencies regarding Natural Resources Management:

• Department of Health (DOH)
• Department of Natural Resources (DNR)
• United States Dept. of Agriculture (USDA)
• Natural Resources Conservation Program (NRCS)
• US Arm Corps of Engineers (USACE)
• US Forest Service (USFS)

I have lived in North Dakota my entire life. Thanks to the influences of my father, brother, and uncles I have had the great opportunity to enjoy and learn a lot about the land and how fragile it can be when not managed properly. Ever since I was a little kid out hunting and fishing with my family, I have grown to love our natural environment. I chose to study NRM because I want to be able to protect and give back to the environment that so many people abuse and take for granted. With that being said, who likes to work inside a stuffy office 40 hours a week when you can enjoy the outdoors and work at the same time.

Nature's pretty neat!

 Natural Resources are very important and need to be managed to avoid depletion of these resources. Everyone is dependent on natural resources one way or another. Whether you are a farmer and are dependent on a reliable water source in order to make a living and grow crops/cattle, or on the other side, dependent on the farmer to grow the crops so you can eat. Natural resources are essential for everyday life.

If you are sitting there thinking, "Why do I care about this? I'm going to make piles of cash and live in the big city. I won't have to worry about rivers, streams, lakes, crops, wildlife, or wetlands. I'm Rich!" Well, here are a few questions to think about: 

• "Do I like breathing clean air? 
• "Do I like drinking fresh water?" 
• "Do I enjoy a nice juicy steak with a side of mashed potatoes and corn on the cob?" 

If you answered yes to any of those questions then you should care about how we manage our natural resources. What I'm trying to get at here is that if you are not a farmer, hunter, fisherman, etc. these issues should still be important to you. Everyone should care about our natural resources and understand that if we misuse these valuable commodities we may never get a chance to enjoy them ever again.

"Our livelihood is intimately tied to the food we eat, water we drink and the places we recreate. That's why we have to promote responsibility and conservation when it comes to our natural resources." Mark Udall

I've been studying NRM for about three years now and have noticed there are a few common misconceptions about the field. One thing I've noticed is most people automatically come to the conclusion that we all grew up on a farm. Another misconception is people thinking we are all about "Going Green." That is most definitely not the case. We believe in all energy sources, including fossil fuels.

Whether or not you enjoy the outdoors, I'd be willing to bet you enjoy your natural resources. I encourage you to become more aware and get involved in preserving these delicate valuables. We must work together by doing this; these problems cannot be solved by individuals. If you are a fan of clean air, fresh water, and sustainable food supplies, you are a fan of natural resources. 

Thanks for reading,

Corey Bjoralt