Like any southern woman, I do enjoy hearing about a good scandal. I should be ashamed of this guilty pleasure, but cmon, who doesn’t love to hear a juicy piece of gossip? Furthermore, who doesn’t love to hear a juicy piece of gossip about someone they despise? On that note, it gives me great pleasure to share with y’all the juicy, ridiculous, unbelievable scandals Beyond Meat is engulfed in at this very moment. The first scandal comes as no surprise and has been going on for quite some time. According to Food and Beverage Insider, two class action lawsuits have recently been filed against Beyo ..read more

Image grabbed from AirPortein.com I’m a little skeptical of a new, innovative startup. I’m positive this is because I binged watched Inventing Anna (the story of Anna Sorokin) and The Dropout (the story of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos) in the span of a week. Don’t get me wrong, I love to give people the benefit of the doubt and arguably, I do this too often — but today, I am weary of the company called “Air Protein.” I found Air Protein online after hearing “fake” meat — specifically air-grown meat — was highlighted at the Wall Street Journal’s Global Food Forum. Air Protein Founder and CEO ..read more

My uncle, Jim Purviance, is a teacher at Rivercrest High School in Northeast Texas where he teaches World Geography to freshmen and Government and Economics to seniors. Two things I’ve always admired about Mr. Purviance (when I was in high school, he made me call him this, even at family Thanksgiving), is his flair for Hawaiian shirts before Hawaiian shirts were cool, and his ability to be unbiased. Jimbo teaches three classes which, arguably, are the three easiest classes for a teacher to be biased about. In world geography, he teaches his students about different cultures and their religiou ..read more

This week, it’s hard to find anything to write about, agriculturally speaking, because the news and many peoples’ minds are dominated by things outside of ag. I acknowledge that it may be “tone-deaf” of me not to write about the household debates going on in our country right now, but to be frank: my opinion on this matter is my business, no one else’s; and y’all read my blog to learn about agriculture and agriculture only. So, to hopefully lightening the mood a bit, and in the spirit of keeping this blog ag-based while not having any anti-ag-newsworthy information to report, here is a poem I ..read more

One of my favorite things to do, anytime, anywhere, is play “The Farming Game.” The Farming Game is a board game which is kind of like Monopoly, but better. Maybe I like it so much because I’m competitive and like to brag about my win when I inevitably beat my brother so bad, he has to quit out of shame. Maybe I like it because it’s just quirky and ag-nerdy enough to make me laugh. Maybe I like it because in the farming game, I can take out $100,000+ of “debt” (even though I know I’m not supposed) to buy 50 cows, multiple leases, grain, and fruit. Regardless, I LOVE The Farming Game because it ..read more

Today, a friend sent me a screenshot of a Facebook post which read “Hello, does anyone know where I [can] purchase real cow’s milk? Not store milk, but from a real actual cow.” At first, I thought *maybe* the Original Poster meant that they just wanted to purchase their dairy products farm to table. But as my friend confirmed, they did not — Original Poster genuinely thought milk purchased in a store was “fake” milk. Point numero uno: milk from a dairy cow purchased at the store is real milk, just as milk from a dairy cow purchased from a dairyman/woman is also real milk. I could stop the colu ..read more

Two weeks ago, I got the opportunity to speak with members of the Gallatin County 4-H club who have beef projects for their county fair. My speech focused on transparency and finding your place in agriculture, and as most public speakers, I opened the floor up for questions following my half hour lecture. One of the questions I received was from someone who’d done their homework on me, as they asked to talk about the time I went vegan. For those of you who are new to this blog: two years ago I went vegan for the season of Lent to 1. see if the vegan diet really was all it’s cracked up to be ..read more

When it comes to my column/blog and agriculture, I don’t often write about my mom. I think it’s because I don’t have as many photos of her on a horse as I do my dad but let’s be honest here… nothing I have ever done in my entire life would’ve been possible if it weren’t for her. So, here’s what you need to know about my mom, Kristi Jane Purviance, or “Mrs. P” as most of her former students call her on Teacher Appreciation Day. If my mom were to write a short bio about herself, it would probably read something like this: Kristi is a sixth generation Red River County, Texas, resident, and a mot ..read more

Picture this: you walk into your favorite grocery store and are automatically drawn to the vibrant, fresh veggies displayed at the front of the house. You peruse through the pre-packaged vegetables — ready to steam, ready to mix, ready to eat — your mouth is watering. Right over your shoulder, you hear someone let out an ever so slight gasp and turn around to see a blonde-headed young woman standing behind you with the biggest grin on her face.  “Sorry,” she laughs, “it’s just…that’s a photo of my grandad on the back of this bag, he’s a farmer. He’d be so proud of this.” She grabs a bag ..read more

“Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will, in the end, contribute most to wealth, good morals, and happiness….” — Thomas Jefferson, 1787, in a letter to George Washington, from Paris. Thomas Jefferson, a wise and intriguing man, knew what he was talking about. He was a “spokesman for democracy,” the author of the Declaration of Independence, the third President of the United States, and a Founding Father. Not on that list provided by whitehouse.gov, however, is the title of “agriculturist,” one which Jefferson was incredibly proud of. Jefferson inherited a large plantation in Mont ..read more