Seth Meyer is with the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI). He’s also a speaker here at the Farm Foundation’s Transition To A Bio Economy Conference. He talked to us about how biofuels policies are affecting commodity prices and trade but he says there are a lot of other factors affecting export volume. For example, he says that even …
What Farm Policy Is Looking Like
Since the new staff at USDA is finally filling out and we’ve now had a couple months of a new administration in Washington, DC I thought it might be a good time to learn about what’s going with farm policy these days. So I went to the expert, Keith Good, Farm Policy. Keith and I chatted via Skype today and …
Dairy Farm Makes a Difference
My new friend, Annie Link, spoke at the Great Lakes Regional Dairy Conference in Grand Rapids, Mich. today during the Partners Program. Annie is part of a multi-generational dairy operation called SwissLane Dairy Farms that is dedicated to their cows, the community and the environment. The dairy operation consists of 2,500 cows and 23 family members living within a two …
FarmPolicy.com Lands New Sponsor
I want to congratulate Keith Good, FarmPolicy.com, for his new sponsor, McLeod, Watkinson & Miller. Keith is a shining example of the new media entrepreneur. He exhibits the classic traits of what can make you successful including, knowledge of his subject, passion and persistence. Here’s what his new sponsor has to say about him and his product: We have come …
Political Policy Dynamics Changing
The topic of the St. Louis Agribusiness Club lunch was “Policy Outlook for Agriculture as the Political Dynamics Begin to Change.” I think the political dynamics have already changed don’t you? Giving us his take on this was Thomas J. Erickson, Vice President, Government Affairs, Bunge North America. He says that since the incoming administration seems to have a lot …
Will We Have a Livable Future?
What do you think about this new website project by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health? Their Center for a Livable Future has launched the site to “enable research on the critical links between agriculture and public health.” Do you think they understand production agriculture and have farmer’s best interests at heart? Is this needed? Who defines a …
Live Blogging AgNite at the RNC
I just found out that I’ll be live blogging AgNite during the Republican National Convention. This is going to be very cool and a lot of fun. There’s an impressive list of companies and organizations already supporting this opportunity to showcase American agriculture to a national audience. You can count on seeing some live video via AgWired Live TV and …
Ag Secretary Ed Schafer Urges Private Investors to Develop Africa
Investment in Africa is spurring economic innovation and growth throughout the continent. There’s no question about that for the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer. “Make no mistake about it,” Schafer said. “Investment in agriculture, investment in the structure of agriculture to move food to the market, is an investment in Africa’s future.” Schafer urged private sector investors to build …
USDA Undersecretary Bruce Knight Speaks at BASF Media Summit
Wow. What a morning here at the BASF Media Summit. After doing some live video streaming, interviews, pictures and recordings we got to have lunch with USDA Undersecretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs, Bruce Knight. Bruce talked about the farm bill of course. He used a description from a story in the Washington Post which called the current proposal “an …
American Farmland Trust Working on Farm Bill
Last week I had the pleasure to spend a couple of half day sessions doing some media production training with Jennifer Morrill at American Farmland Trust in Washington, DC. It worked out very well since I was attending the NAFB Washington Watch. At the Washington Watch Issues Forum I also got to interview AFT President, Ralph Grossi. (Jennifer took the …