Hillary Clinton seems to be everywhere these days and this week she spent over an hour at the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) convention in San Diego chatting with BIO president and CEO Jim Greenwood, a former congressman from Pennsylvania. The wide ranging discussion touched on a variety of topics, including agricultural biotechnology. Greenwood asked Mrs. Clinton where she stood on …
ASTA Committee on Innovations and Policy
The American Seed Trade Association has had a Biotechnology Committee for two decades, but as it is now the Innovations and Policy Committee. Pictured here from the ASTA annual meeting are immediate past committee chair Keith Newhouse with Winfield Solutions and current chair Mark Krieger of Dow AgroSciences who presided at the first meeting of the committee under the new …
Purdue President Proud to be Pro-GMO
Former Indiana governor and current president of Purdue University Mitch Daniels had some strong words for opponents of biotechnology when he addressed the American Seed Trade Association annual meeting in Indianapolis recently. “It’s bogus for people to try and alarm consumers about fictional difficulties with biotechnology,” said Daniels in an interview with Brownfield Ag News following his address. “The fight …
ASTA First Vice Chair from Oregon
We’ve talked with American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) first vice chair Risa DeMasi a couple of times before – a year ago when she was elected as the first woman officer of ASTA and again in December at the Seed Expo when we learned more about her company Grassland Oregon, which is very involved in the development of new cover …
ASTA Annual Meeting Kicks Off
Industry leaders and seed experts are in Indianapolis this week for the 131st American Seed Trade Association’s Annual Meeting. ASTA CEO Andy Lavigne says much of the discussion this week will focus on innovation and technology in the seed industry. The meeting kicks off Thursday morning with Purdue University president Mitch Daniels. Lavigne says Daniels will focus on innovation and that will set …
Oregon GMO Bans Hurt All Farmers
Last week, two Oregon counties voted overwhelmingly to ban the cultivation of genetically engineered (GE) crops. The initiatives in Josephine County and Jackson County, which border California, passed by as much as a two to one margin. “This isn’t Monsanto or Syngenta, these are local farms that have been farming the way they have chosen here in the valley for …
Ag Specialist Uses Communication to Promote Biotech
The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) announces that the prestigious 2014 Borlaug CAST Communication Award goes to Alison Van Eenennaam, an honored faculty member at the University of California, Davis. Nominees must demonstrate an ability to communicate by written material; public presentations; and/or the use of television, radio, or other social media. Van Eenennaam excels in all three …
Corn Growers Talk Priorities at Commodity Classic
Members of the National Corn Growers Association are at Commodity Classic in full force this year, as part the more than 7,000+ corn, wheat, soybean and sorghum growers who have come to San Antonio. President of NCGA, Martin Barbre, a farmer from Illinois, outlined some of his group’s priorities in this coming year, including their work with a couple of …
Julie Borlaug Corrects Biotech Misunderstandings
You will really enjoy listening to Julie Borlaug, Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture. She just spoke at the annual Bayer CropScience Ag Issues Forum, held prior to the Commodity Classic. She started her remarks by telling some entertaining anecdotes about her famous Grandfather Norman Borlaug. One that I enjoyed was when she was holding her baby he asked her, …
GMO Coalition for Safe Food Formed
A diverse group of industry and non-governmental organizations today announced the formation of a new coalition dedicated to the advancement of a federal solution on the labeling of food products derived from genetically modified ingredients (GMOs). The goal of the “Coalition for Safe Affordable Food” is to urge Congress to seek a federal solution that would establish standards for the …
