A monthly series of articles by specialists at the University of Nebraska Panhandle Research and Extension Center about issues of importance

Archives from past months

December's Topics:

• Healthy holiday eating
• Dealing with Holiday stress
• Biofuels bring dynamic element to farmers' planning process
  

Healthy Holiday Eating

.By Jenny Larsen
Extension Assistant
Nutrition Education Program

With the holiday season just around the corner, healthy eating is one of the last things on our mind. We are often surrounded by cookies, candies, pie and the temptation becomes difficult to resist. There are many simple things you can do to eat more nutritiously throughout this busy time:
• Eat breakfast. Having a meal in the morning or a small snack can help avoid overeating throughout the rest of the day.
• Drink plenty of water. We are often just thirsty, not really hungry.
• Eat when you are hungry, stop when you are full. Listen to your hunger cues and ask yourself if you are really hungry before going for that second sugar cookie.
• Go for a walk. Physical activity can help to burn those extra calories we often gain during the holidays.
• Watch your portion sizes. If you want pumpkin pie, go ahead and let yourself eat it, but watch the amount!
• Step away from the table. Standing next to the food table is a sure way to over indulge in those holiday food delights.
• Modify your traditional favorite holiday foods.
o Try mashing potatoes, and adding flavor to dressing, with low sodium chicken broth rather than butter.
o Remove the skin on turkey before eating to lower fat.
o Add cinnamon and apple juice to sweet potatoes rather than brown sugar and marshmallows.

Try this quick and easy eggnog recipe for a fun and tasty alternative.

Quick and Easy Eggnog
Makes 8 servings
4 cups skim milk
1 package sugar free vanilla instant pudding (4 serving size)
1 tablespoon vanilla flavoring
½ teaspoon rum flavoring
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
Mix all ingredients and serve.

For more information about healthy eating check out MyPyramid.gov.

Back to top of page

Dealing with Holiday stress

By Carla Mahar
Extension Educator, Garden & Deuel Counties

Tis the Season to Be Jolly; Uh, Humbug! If you are like most people, your reactions through the holiday season fall somewhere between Santa and Scrooge. It is hard to make it through the coming days and weeks without some stress and frustration. Extension Educator Carla Mahar gives some suggestions about how to cope with holiday stress.

You may need to reflect on why you are celebrating and what your priorities are. When asked what they like best about the holidays, people give the following: celebrating a religious holiday; spending time with family and friends; cooking special foods and entertaining; buying and giving gifts; decorating surroundings; giving to charities and spreading goodwill; and finding time to relax and get away.

All of these may be important to you and your family, Mahar says, but you need to decide which are most important and focus your time and resources on those. Getting rid of or reducing the “shoulds” (what you think you should do) will help you determine your priorities. Then put the majority of your time and resources towards these.

A recent survey by Fox News showed that a big stressor for many people is gift exchanges. For many there is genuine pleasure in gift giving, but it can also mean a financial burden, not to mention the commercialism that surrounds the holidays. Mahar suggests having a plan. Let people know early what your plans are for giving gifts. Have a budget and be realistic about what you can and cannot do. Keep track of everything you spend, including gift wrapping, shipping charges, cards, etc. Stay within your budget so you will not have holiday stress hangover.

Ranking high on the holiday stress list is spending time with family and friends. The stress does not come from lack of desire to do this, but the difficulty in getting together. Families are more separated than in Christmases past. Maneuvering travel arrangements, including the cost, finding vacation time, weather conditions, sharing visits with various family members, can make getting together on the special day a real stressor. And then, there is always the chance of a flu bug appearing to change plans.

Wishing things were like they used to be or like you want them to be will not reduce holiday stress, Mahar says. One thing families can do is find new traditions and new ways to celebrate. Talk to all family members to see what they would like to do. Try new things, but if they do not work out, don’t fret. Just try something different next year.

Mahar suggests that you try to apply the three “A’s” for stress reduction. Determine the source of stress; decide if it is within your control or beyond your control; then take action by “altering, avoiding or accepting” the source of stress.

Remember, as much as things change they stay the same. Mahar recommends keeping what is best from the past and striving to enhance the future. The past is history, the future is a mystery, today is a gift – that’s why we call it the “present”.

Back to top of page

Biofuels bring dynamic environment to farmers’ planning process

By Bill Booker
Extension Educator, Box Butte County

Do you remember farming when it was pretty much steady state? Steady state in engineering is when everything comes to equilibrium – inputs or outside factors have settled down and the situation is generally predictable. The situation suddenly becomes dynamic, or put into a state of motion, when one of the outside factors or forces is applied to our steady state or equilibrium condition. This is when people pay attention. This is also analogous to agriculture right now.

The equilibrium or steady state condition is not always what we want – many were steadily losing their nest eggs, creating a great deal of unrest, anxiety and stress. Add continuing drought to the equation, to perhaps continue or accentuate the downward spiral. Some areas were managing and doing well, but for many their equities have been depleted to stay afloat. What did we need? The phrase, “Be careful what you wish” strikes home, because now we are experiencing it – the changes or prices that we were praying for.

One factor that created this dynamic situation was the sudden increase in energy cost. This immediately rolled over into other inputs, creating even more challenges and stress! However, a silver lining (if you wish) was not far behind. All of a sudden dreams of alternative energy sources became feasible – some doable right now. Biofuels and, in particular, ethanol, is a great example.

At the same time huge amounts of information came out and deciphering became a challenge. What to do?

Mike Wolverton, Extension Grain Economist at Kansas State University, illustrated the dynamic happening in corn. He reports the 2006 crop is estimated to be 10.7 billion bushels and 151.2 bushels per acre, based on the November USDA World Supply and Demand Estimates. These were decreases from the October report, including a decrease in ending stocks. It estimated 2.15 billion bushels for ethanol production.

The ethanol producers, he reports, are “fueling” the corn demand. The ethanol industry is averaging one new ethanol plant coming on line each week. This would increase ethanol demand to 2.5 billion bushels. “To satisfy ethanol demand in the 2007/08 crop year, along with other domestic uses and export demand, including a one billion bushel ending stock cushion, the U.S. will need to produce about 13.3 billion bushels of corn.” This is a 24 percent increase and will require an increase of 7.8 to 10 million acres of corn. This will be a challenge since this country has produced an 11.8 billion bushel crop only once.

The acres may shift for the major crops as we go through the planning season. Buyers and sellers are anxious and uncertain – especially with wheat prices around $5, corn approaching $4 and sunflower at $22 (per hundred) with other commodity prices adjusting to also get acres. What is this? A choice of crops that cash flow? Wow!! I can tell you as a grain producer that this is great to see prices above the “steady state” prices that had existed for generations! Things are changing and therefore, our planning efforts must also increase.

How do we adapt to moving targets? We really must adapt the same strategies as we did during the “steady state” situations -- by reducing and/or spreading out risk as much as possible. We can develop our own “steady state” operating environment while everything around is “dynamic”. Some considerations are:

• How we farm: We can do this with crop selection and by the continual improvement of cropping system efficiency. This can be done by including alternative crops (this may involve developing new markets) and conservation tillage (including no till) practices in the cropping plan.
• Locking in profit: This can be done by forward contracting crop production and crop input costs for upcoming crop years at a profitable level. There have been reports of this being done as far out as 2009. This is assuming we will establish our own “steady state” condition. Availability of inputs might also be a challenge. Contracting inputs also insures availability, which can be a problem on the open market.
• Increased yields: Paul Burgener, a UNL ag economics research analyst based at the Panhandle Research and Extension Center, reminds us that increased production can also be a solution to meet these new demands. Genetic and agronomic research is crucial to meet these new demands.
• Volatility Alert: Burgener also reports that there is a volatility factor to keep in mind when prices are changing rapidly. They can go down as fast as they go up – we have all seen this. This further emphasizes the importance of protecting yourself by locking in prices for inputs and production.
  
  Continuing university research is crucial to meet the considerations listed above and others. It will take constant vigilance to concentrate on the issues we can control and do something about them. Through research we can become even more efficient to meet these new demands.

One of the great ironies in agriculture is that an improvement of one area of the ag economy almost always occurs at the cost of another. The jubilation of the higher commodity prices has already negatively impacted livestock producers. Higher prices will also be felt by the ultimate “impactee” of all of these impacts and that would be the consumers as they head to the grocery store shelf and confront the challenges of their higher priced inputs. They too will seek a new equilibrium. It never ends …

Back to top of page

Updated Jan. 3, 2007
Contact Webmaster