Truth About Trade and Technology (TATT) is a non-profit advocacy group led by farmers who support freer trade and a farmers freedom to choose the tools, technologies and strategies they need to maximize productivity and profitability in a sustainable manner. Since 2006, TATT has brought farmers from different countries together during World Food Prize week in Des Moines to attend the event and share their knowledge and experiences with each other. This year there were 16 farmers from 14 countries at the Roundtable, all with different backgrounds and experiences but common challenges and aspirations.
Mary Boote, Chief Executive Officer for TATT, is the one who organizes and brings these farmers together and hosts them while they are in Des Moines for the World Food Prize. Mary says since they started the roundtable, they have hosted 98 farmers from 63 different countries and she takes great pride in the fact that alumni want to stay in touch and work together as they go back to their countries. Listen to my interview with Mary here: Interview with Mary Boote
TATT chairman and Iowa farmer Bill Horan says the farmers sitting around the table have such similar stories to tell, yet they have so much to learn from one another. “Farmers, large and small, around the world seem to be dealing with some of the same issues – access to technology, credit, trade barriers,” said Horan, adding that the farmers from other countries bring lots of new information back home. “When these folks go back to their own country, they’re treated like rock stars.” Interview with Bill Horan