People from all walks of life, as World Trade Center Illinois Agribusiness Director Chuck Hartke puts it, are gathering in a first-of-its-kind forum in Chicago this week in an effort to grow agricultural exchange and commerce between the U.S. and Africa. Chuck says the 300 participants of the 2008 U.S. Africa Agribusiness Forum have come together to explore how America …
From African Farm to American Fork
The Corporate Council on Africa wants U.S. investors to realize their potential in African agribusiness opportunities. That’s why the CCA is showcasing the African food value-chain at the 2008 U.S. Africa Agribusiness Forum. The CCA wants public and private sectors alike to cross borders and bring “farm to fork.” I’ll be covering the forum here at the Hyatt Regency in …
Biotech Needed to Increase Biofuels
Like the first speaker on our program today here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference, our second speaker, David Zilberman, University of California, Berkeley, says we need to increase agricultural productivity. His talk was on the distributional effects of biofeuls and he had two conclusions. The first one is that biofuels make some people better off and some …
Is There a Biofuel To Food Price Link?
The first speaker here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference is Michael Wetzstein, University of Georgia. His talk deals with two issues. One is on price volatility and the other is on food and fuel. He’s one of 22 speakers on the program and all the talks are dealing with the biofuels issue. I’ll do my best to …
Real Girls Eat Meat
Since Cindy alerted me to this I’ve got to post it. I would have anyway since this is too good to pass on. Deceiver.com has a great post with this photo of Jessica Simpson and her “Real Girls Eat Meat” t-shirt. I can’t say I’ve been a fan of hers but I think she’s just made a bunch of new …
Travel and BBQ Go Together
The online travel agency CheapTickets.com is bringing consumers the best in barbecue and travel this summer. The agency has teamed up with Rick Browne, host of PBS’ Barbecue America, to launch bbq.cheaptickets.com. The new site, which features a blog written by Browne exclusively for CheapTickets, reveals undiscovered BBQ destinations around the U.S. In his blog, Browne highlights lesser known, but …
Dog Wild for Hot Dogs
Okay. So who knew just how crazy Americans are for hot dogs? I didn’t. Apparently, Hatfield Quality Meats does. The family-owned meat company says on July 4th alone, Americans will chow down on 150 million hot dogs. That’s enough hot dogs, the company says, to stretch from Washington D.C. to Los Angeles… five times over. That’s just one day. Hatfield …
Turkey Talk on Facebook
The National Turkey Federation is becoming more savvy in online social networking. June is ‘Turkey Lovers’ Month’ and to celebrate, the federation is debuting its new identity on Facebook.com The federation chose to focus the concept on Facebook, to reach a younger audience that is talking with their peers through this social networking community. Campaign participants will add a “turkey …
The Tomato Industry Attack
Cindy pointed me to a story on the Financial Post Blog about the big tomato scare. It’s too good not to bring to your attention. Here’s how Financial Post editor, Terence Corcoran, describes how the whole mess got started. It begins with a food poisoning, gets picked up by brain-dead media, story flies out of control for 48 hours, regulators …
Big and Juicy Franks
Oscar Mayer says hot dog enthusiasts have more reason to love the summer grilling season. That’s because Broadway Actor Mario Lopez is introducing the new Oscar Mayer Premium Beef Franks. Lopez will be firing up the grill on June 10 in Times Square to give New Yorkers a sample of the new beefier, juicier hot dogs. Both the WIENERMOBILE and …