Stanley Cup…of farming

Jun 03, 2015

Illinois vs. Florida

Tonight, the Western Conference champion Chicago Blackhawks will meet the Eastern Conference champion Tampa Bay Lightning in the first game of the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup Final.

The first team to win four games will hoist the Stanley Cup over their heads as the best team in hockey after a nine-month season.

Up to this point, analysts and experts have been dissecting matchups, player personnel, goaltending, penalty killing and other stats to try and determine which team has the edge going into the series.

The same thing is about to happen here, but with the agricultural industries of the represented states: Illinois and Florida.

? Signals advantage for each team

	Illinois	Florida
NHL Team	Chicago Blackhawks	Tampa Bay Lightning
Number of farm operations	74,500 ?	47,600
Beef cows (As of Jan. 1, 2015)	376,000	916,000 ?
Milk production (Measured in Lb/Head)	19,681	20,382 ?
Total value of ag producs sold	More than $17 billion ?	More than $7 billion
Top commodity value	Corn - $8.5 billion ?	Oranges - $1 billion
Average age of principal operator	57.8 ?	59.8
Value of aquaculture sales	More than $5 million	More than $88 million ?
Total acres operated	26.9 million ?	9.5 million

Based on the eight categories used to compare the two teams, the Chicago Blackhawks will have a distinct advantage going into the Stanley Cup over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Tell us your thoughts about how the two states stack up against one another in agriculture, or in hockey. Who are you rooting for?

Be sure to check out how farming impacted some of today’s NHL superstars.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.