Syngenta made two announcements during Commodity Classic last week - a new sustainability team and that their water optimization technology is on track. I spoke with Terry Stone who is heading the new sustainability team as well as Tracy Mader, Project Marketing Head who is working with the team developing the water optimization technologies.
I asked Stone to tell me what the mission of the new sustainability team was and he explained, “Our focus is helping growers produce more from less and to realize where they’re at in terms of not just how much they are producing but now much energy, water, soil loss and other impacts they are having from production.”
There is a lot of talk now about how the world will need to feed nine billion people in the next 30 years so I asked Stone how sustainability and world food production go hand in hand. “Farmers are the original stewards of the land and when you think about land, you have to think about soil and the soil is the farmer’s bread and butter,” explained Stone. “They’ve been very careful about the health of their soil and the more healthy the soil, the more productive it will be.”
Water optimization also goes hand-in-hand with sustainability and Mader gave me an update on their technology that is close to market. “Our water optimization technology is on track and has made several technical milestones. We plan to introduce this technology in the 2011 planting season for growers in the plains and the Western cornbelt of the United States.”
Nebraska and California are the two most irrigated states and Syngenta did research in both of these states as well as other regions. However, they are developing the technology to both work during drought conditions and during optimal conditions.
“We are really committed to two guiding principals,” said Mader. “Number one to help the plant maximize its yield based on the available water and number two, when growing conditions are ideal, that the technology doesn’t offer any yield penalty. And our initial hybrids will meet both of these criteria.”
Listen below to my back-to-back interviews with Terry Stone and Tracy Mader.
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Can you define sustainability? Neither can I. But that was the first task of the panel discussion of commodity group leaders this morning at Commodity Classic. Moderated by Mark Mayfield, the panel discussed what sustainability means to them. Panelists included: Darrin Ihnen, President, NCGA, Rob Joslin, President, ASA, Karl Scronce, President, NAWG and Gerald Simonsen, Chairman, NSP.
C. Larry Pope, president and CEO of Smithfield Foods Inc., was keynote speaker for the two day summit and his main message was that the animal agriculture industry, both processors and farmers, need to listen to and engage the people and groups who are attacking them. He said that it is important to talk with these individuals and groups to show them the industry’s side of the story. “We need to educate all of the groups that challenge our practices,” Pope said.
Also on the program was Christian Richter of The Policy Group, who discussed the regulatory mood in Washington when it comes to animal agriculture. “Hyper command and control mode is coming back at EPA,” said Richter. “The current administration is shifting personnel from cooperative voluntary programs to enforcement programs.” He notes this represents a major shift in focus from the Bush administration which advocated the role of non-government drivers in prompting more voluntary action on the part of corporations towards sustainable practices.
Agrotain is a product to be used with urea fertilizer. “Urea is a really great product for farmers to be using because it’s safe and abundant and it’s relatively inexpensive,” said Stegmann. “But it’s got a problem and that problem is when its applied to the surface, part of it is lost back into the environment.” A third actually. Stegmann continued, “When that loss occurs it’s not only an economic loss to the grower but also represents an environmental issue.”
As a livestock producer, I like to follow the trends as pastures are converted to cropland. In many places, pastures will always be there, as the land is too steep, hilly or rocky for modernizing or farming. However, the low profit margins in the livestock industry are pushing many farmers and ranchers to expand their crop enterprise and decrease their cowherds. On another note, it seems that water is in short supplies these days, and an increasing number of acres are being irrigated. Since we have had such a wet, cold year here in South Dakota, I can only imagine the troubles those are experiencing in places of drought. Check out the statistics from the USDA as printed by the 
Yesterday, at the South Dakota Cattlemen’s Association’s Annual Trade Show and Convention, I had the opportunity to listen to Terry Gompert, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln Educator with a speciality in grazing. His presentation was titled, “Money Saving Ideas Including Extending the Grazing Season,” and he offered up tips for producers to consider in 
The
A group called the Vegetarian Society is standing up once again attribute global warming and the end to the universe to meat eaters. The article, 
Gates took environmentalists to task for having an idealistic attitude that jeopardizes the ability of developing countries to grow enough food. “They have tried to restrict the spread of biotechnology into sub-Saharan Africa without regard to how much hunger and poverty might be reduced by it.”
More than 3,000 international scientists, professionals, educators, and students will present new technologies and discuss emerging trends in agriculture, energy, climate change, carbon trading, science education, and related issues at the event November 1-5 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. Other informative sessions will focus on nutrition, wines, food security, invasive species, organic agriculture, hazardous waste, plant breeding, and turfgrass science.
At this year’s Farm Progress Show Eric Hatling, Development and Communications Coordinator for the 
Although I didn’t get to attend the Novus Media Day dinner last night, Jeremy Lutgen helped me out so you can actually hear the guest speaker. He’s 
SAI Platform is an organization created by the food industry to communicate worldwide, and to actively support the development of, sustainable agriculture involving the different stakeholders of the food chain. According to SAI, the three new members will be actively participating in SAI Platform’s activities, and in particular its working groups on arable crops, coffee, dairy, fruit, water and agriculture.
At the conclusion of the World Ag Congress in St. Louis last week, 
Our first panelist to tackle this question was Lutz Goedde, Deputy Director, Agricultural Development, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He says the Foundation he works for looks at sustainability “through a very different lens compared to many other organizations.” He then proceeded to say that there are a billion people in the world who live on under a dollar a day and described what that is like. He says that agriculture is the primary means for most of them to get food and earn a living. He says they follow the Bill and Melinda sustainability philosophy that “every person on the planet has the right to live a healthy and productive life.” Next he says that there are normally three dimensions to sustainability which are economic, social and environmental. 
Next up was Dr. Michael Boehlje, Professor, Dept. of Agricultural Economics and the Center for Food and Agricultural Business, Purdue University. He said we could look at sustainability from a traditional farm management standpoint of carrying capacity that recognizes current and future capacity on a global basis and deals with absorbing waste in terms of the economic or production activity you’re involved in. He says that although government is involved in this issue, it will be consumers who “will be the ultimate in terms of whether in fact sustainability practices are adopted and those who adopt them are compensated for them.” 
Finally we heard an answer to this question from Philip Wilkinson, Order of the British Empire, Executive Director, 2 Sisters Food Group. He said that the definition he would use is the one used by the United Nations but since that has already been brought up by earlier speakers he composed a slightly different one. He says, “A sustainable agricultural system is one which maximizes production by increases in yield while minimizing environmental impact and does not compromise animal welfare.” He says farmers are the logical custodians of the land who can accomplish this. He also quoted a former United Kingdom Minister who summed it us as, “Don’t cheat your children.”
One of the highlight sessions at the Alltech Symposium is The Great Debate. This is a roundtable discussion and featured well known panelists Michael Boehlje, Professor at Purdue University, Lutz Goedde, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Philip Wilkinson, 2 Sisters Food Group. The moderator (pictured) was Alltech Vice President, Aidan Connolly. The subject was “Sustainability – For realists or for dreamers?”