Here’s the outside of the building, so why don’t you head on inside to the whole photo album to see what I saw and meet who I met!

In the meantime, check out the great post Breeding, Biotech and Bulls from our newest contributor, Matt.

A month ago, I talked someone down from freaking out about sugar cane because she learned it was a cross between two species. As an allopolyploid, it contains all the genes from two species combined. I likened it to a GMO, which has 1 or more new genes inserted into it. But what’s one or two genes compared to tens of thousands??? I think the only sugar she’s avoiding now is high fructose corn syrup. Success..?

As an after-effect of chatting with me, one tweep ended up joining GMO Pundit David Tribe for a Skype conversation. I think I’m getting a hang of these 140 characters. Anastasia and Pam are experts, but I hear Karl refuses to do it. It must be nice to have all those fingers to type long posts with, but this is perfect for the ends of my husks to handle. This is the kind of social media I like!

So far, I think I’m the only plant in the Twitterverse, but people are starting to accept me for who I am. People used to think I was working for The Man, but I’ve got such an independent streak that I don’t think I ever could. Frank N. Foode is a free plant!

And another Frank, last name Plughoff, is talking a lot about me on twitter. He goes by “Earthnik“, and calls himself a “STAUNCH GMO OPPONENT!” Whoa, back off on the caps, man. I didn’t take much notice until I heard that he publishes The Earthnik Gazette, and the latest issue is out today, and has a feature about me! Yippie!

Whoops, looks like he misspelled my name, but the jokes are still good as they can be. I laughed at the thought of Biofortified’s thoughtful, bookish authors being “spinmeisters.” I’ve seen them dance, it’s mostly jumping. You know who really knows how to spin? Jeffrey Smith. Literally, too!

And the part at the end is a fantastic use of hyperbole! The Earthnik Gazette is the best thing in parody since Sarah Palin. She’s a joke, right?

But one thing did hurt my feelings. (Yes, even plants can get stressed out.) I wanted to “follow” Earthnik on Twitter so I could read more of his excellent parodical periodicals, but when I did that, I was met with this:

“This user has blocked you from following them.”

What?

The dirty underhanded bugger! That’s some anti-social media there.

And he even took a potshot at my friend Michael Pollan:

Frank N. Foodie (Even Michael Pollan is sucked in)

I thought about reaching down from my perch on the mantle to tap Michael and the shoulder and ask him what he thought. But I bet this kinda stuff is water off a waxy leaf for him. I should harden up, too.

Well, hey, so it’s not all popcorn and bubblegum in the Web 2.0 World – but at least I can look forward to some new scents – why did no one tell me I had two options!?

I will also be available for photo ops, too, so to make it easy for you to find me, here’s where I will be on Wednesday the 5th:

The Global Experience with the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety

Session Track: Food and Agriculture, Breakout Sessions

Session Location: Room N426C

Session Date: Wednesday May 5, 2010

Session Time: 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM

Session Speaker: Alexander Grobman, PhD – Chair | Company:Peru Biotec  [and other speakers]

Summary: The Cartagena Protocol of Biosafety, approved in February 2000, was implemented in September 2003. The Protocol applies to the transboundary movement, transit, handling and use of all living modified…

• Compost guide at Vegweb
• Cornell Waste Management (how do you deal with animals?)
• University of Illinois Extension
• University of Nebraska – Composting with worms

If you are gung-ho you can go all out with a bin of worms in your house, or you can take the tried-and-true slow method and just pile it up in a bin in your back yard. And when the compost is ready you can complete the cycle and spread it around your veggie garden! You get free fertilizer for your plants, and the EPA says it helps the planet! It’s a win for everyone.

I like to use my husks to provide the carbon for my compost. Waste nothing!

For Earth day I’m going to study some part of the natural world. I found a population of purple and white flowers. The purple color is dominant over the white color – which means that many of these purple flowers are heterozygotes. Ok, who wants to help me count all the flowers so I can calculate the allelic frequencies? Anyone?

Anastasia has set up a Flickr account for the blog, which you can see on the Photos page! This has made it so much easier for me. I may be smarter than the average corn but all this web stuff is confusing.

You can see the pictures from my whole trip in the Flickr photo album hosted on Biofortified here, on the Flickr site, or read more below.

Seed Swap! I can’t wait!

The fine folks at Vermont Valley Community Farm have got some seed potatoes here of all kinds of colors. Jonnah (holding me) likes the blue ones the best. Their little tubers were selling like hot potatoes!

Jared here just got a Masters degree from UW Madison, and now he works for the Organic Seed Alliance! He is helping people learn how to produce seeds for planting and how to cross varieties together.

Hey buddies, how you doin?
(…) Organic only?
Whoa didn’t know this was such an exclusive club.

Look, I’m “Contaminating!”

Brian grows sweet corn, field corn, wheat, and soybeans on his family farm in Dwight, Illinois, which is about 1/3 organic. He was really curious about how the genetics of sweet corn works, and although he doesn’t grow any GE crops, he was ‘all ears’ about what people are working on!

Strike up the band! But lose that glove, man.

HELP! HELP! Jeffrey Smith has got me! He said I was cute but don’t let me out of your sight!

This is Margaret (“Mardi”) Mellon, who directs the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Food & Agriculture Program.
Psst, is Jeffrey Smith gone? Can I come out now?

Chuck Benbrook works for The Organic Center, and writes about differences in the healthful content of food depending on how you grow it, and also writes about pesticide use with genetic engineering. He’s not as anti-GE as he sounds from what he writes, but he’s still arguing old questions.

Eric Mader from the Xerces Society talked about Native Pollinators and how you can help them out on your farm. Hey Roundup Ready Beet growers – remember to strip-spray and leave some forage for the bees!

Ah, the MOSES organic farming conference is over, and I’ve met a lot of people, some of whom just don’t like me and don’t want me on their farms or in their food…

But at the same time I met many people who are interested to learn more about me. Will Organic Agriculture stop being my enemy and instead be my ally in producing healthier, safer food that is better for the environment?
I’m optimistic, but these things take time.

Frank at Big Heart Park in Atlanta, GA. "Doesn't this look like wheat or have I gone starchy?"

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great field trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow test plots. And some of you have come from areas where your quest — quest for acreage left you battered by the storms of uninformed pundits and ripped out by the hands of Greenpeace brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that biotic and abiotic stresses are redemptive. Go back to Colorado, go back to Oregon, go back to Southeast Asia, go back to Africa, go back to Europe, go back to the broken greenhouses of Germany, and the burned buildings in Michigan and California, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the laboratory with despair, I say to you today, my Frank ‘N’ Friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the Human dream.

I have a dream that one day the eaters will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all crops are bred equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Boulder Colorado, the sibs of proprietary beets and the half-sibs of open-pollinated varieties will be able to sit down together at the table of beta-hood.

I have a dream that one day even Africa, a continent sweltering with the heat of climate change, sweltering with the heat of hunger, will be transformed into an oasis of healthy soil and food.

I have a dream that my many seedlings will one day live in a world where they will not be judged by the presence or absence of a gene but by the content of their endosperm.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in India, with its vicious activists, with their lips dripping with the words of “poison” and “suicide” — one day right there in India little Bt Cottons and Bt Brinjals will be able to join roots with little conventional cottons and eggplants as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every grain of golden rice shall be exalted, and every trade barrier shall be made low, the politics will be made benign, and the wrong statements will be made right; “and the glory of Humanity shall be revealed and all threshed shall see it together.”

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the Soil with.

"Let freedom ring"

Thumpetty thump thump,
Thumpety thump thump,
Look at Franky grow.
Thumpetty thump thump,
Thumpety thump thump,
In all the farmers rows.

Franky the Snowmaize knew
That Greenpeace was out that day,
So he said “Let’s run and
We’ll have some fun
Now before I’m plucked away.”
Down from the city,
With pitchforks in their hands,
Running here and there
Carving circles in his hair saying
Donate if you can.
He led them down the streets of town
Right to U.S.D.A.
And he only paused a moment when
He heard a judge say “Political Hay!”
Though Franky the Snowmaize
Eliminates some sprays,
But he waved goodbye saying,
“Don’t you cry,
I will grow again someday.”

Thumpetty thump thump,
Thumpety thump thump,
Look at Franky grow.
Thumpetty thump thump,
Thumpety thump thump,
In all the farmer’s rows!

Merry Frankmas and a Happy New Year!

So what are we going to do now that Biofortified is solvent? Plan a big bash? Make some movies? Personally, I like the idea of renting some space at a tropical research station for a little winter nursery to do some field trials. But that’s just me.

Also, over Thanksgiving we finalized the details of our Michael Pollan meetup. On January 25th at 1:00 pm (PST), Anastasia, Karl, and Yours Truly will be having lunch with Michael at the shwanky Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California. This might be a first for this locavore restaurant – will they serve ‘my kind’?

Unfortunately, there will not be any interviewing going on to be posted on the blog, however we are hoping to have a… ahem, Frank discussion with the bestselling author about genetics and food. We’ll certainly have questions for him, but we’re hoping that he will also have questions for us. But the big question on my mind is, what should I order?

A PROCLAMATION

Our Nation’s farm and ranch families supply many of the basic necessities of our daily life. They manage a large portion of our country’s fertile land base, and they are caretakers of our valuable natural resources and diverse ecosystems. Their connections with urban and suburban communities are critical to our economy and to the nourishment of our people. During National Farm-City Week, we express gratitude for the contributions of our Nation’s farmers and ranchers, and we rededicate ourselves to providing all Americans with access to healthy food, and thus, a healthy future.

Pioneered by Native Americans, agriculture was our Nation’s first industry. For agriculture to thrive in the 21st century, we must continue to cultivate the relationships between farmers and rural businesses and their partners and customers in cities and towns. American farmers and ranchers are proud to grow the food, feed, fuel, and fiber that enhance our national security and prosperity, and remain steadfast stewards of the land they love. We must ensure that farming is maintained as an economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable way of life for future generations.

This Thanksgiving season, we celebrate farms of every size that produce fruits, vegetables, dairy, and livestock indispensable to the health of our families. We also recognize the vital ties between our urban and suburban communities and their local farmers through regional food systems, farmers markets, and community gardens. During National Farm-City Week, we celebrate the bounty of America, and we honor the commitment of those who grow, harvest, and deliver agricultural goods to feed our country and grow our economy.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim the week ending on Thanksgiving Day of each year as National Farm-City Week. I call on Americans as they gather with their families and friends to reflect on the accomplishments of all who dedicate their lives to promoting our [N]ation’s agricultural abundance and environmental stewardship.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twentieth day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fourth.

Sounds like a great idea! The Monsanto company also made a page where people can post short messages to show their gratitude to farmers. I added my thanks, go ahead and pile on! There’s also a “Twibbon” where you can show your support for farmers in your twitter account. I’m totally there in honor of Thanksgiving this week. It sure beats buying a magnet for my Cornmobile!

But what would the farmers grow if it weren’t for plant breeders who continue to advance the best genetics of our crops forward into the seeds that they plant? And what about those intrepid genetic engineers that have helped reduce insecticide sprays, shield produce from viruses, and more? Whether working in the field or in the lab, these are essential, but often thankless jobs.

Thank a farmer, and thank a plant geneticist, too!

And a happy Thanksgiving to you all, from the center of my cobb!