Now showing: Sustainable tomatoes, natural bug zappers & healthy beans

Contact: Steve Paradiso, (800) 292-2680, ext. 3208

LANSING, Oct. 21, 2010 - New video stories that help bring Michigan's diverse agriculture industry to life are now available on Michigan Farm Bureau's (MFB) YouTube channel. Following are descriptions of and direct links to the segments, which are featured in the latest edition of MFB's quarterly video newsletter "FB Update."

Can-do attitude good for tomato farm, processor
AcMoody Farms & Red Gold Tomatoes
AcMoody Farms of Union City has diversified into growing tomatoes for processing, along with producing corn and soybeans. There is no tomato processing facility in Michigan, so the farm ships its crop to a Red Gold facility in Indiana. Red Gold is the nation's largest privately owned tomato processor, canning tomatoes into more than 50 tomato products. The two family-owned businesses have forged a positive working relationship which provides consumers with a quality product and helps to assure agricultural sustainability for years to come.

Bugs have no chance in Spartan farm country
SPARTA Aphid-Resistant Soybean Germplasm
Michigan soybean growers were bugged by pesky insects that were wreaking havoc to their crops. Rather than using costly spray controls that can kill beneficial insects, they decided it'd be best to make the soybean plant aphid-resistant. So with grower funding, the Michigan Soybean Promotion Committee enlisted the help of Michigan State University researchers to develop an aphid-fighting soybean. The work has paid off with aphid-resistant soybean germplasms now on the market, appropriately titled SPARTA.

Bean Appetit!
Carlson-Arbogast Farm of Howard City
Michigan is the second-largest dry bean-producing state in the country, thanks to family businesses like Carlson-Arbogast Farm in Howard City. While dry beans tend to be a temperamental crop, Carlson-Arbogast Farm grows a wide variety of beans and markets them on a wholesale basis, as well as direct to consumers under their retail label Bean Appetit. And while Americans' bean consumption tends to lag behind other populations, the health benefits of beans are undeniable according to the Michigan Bean Commission.

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