Farmers from around the globe gathered in Des Moines this week to participate in the 2009 Global Farmer-to-Farmer Roundtable, which is held in conjunction with the World Food Prize and hosted by Truth About Trade and Technology. The group honored one of their own today with the 2009 Kleckner Trade & Technology Advancement Award which recognizes a farmer for “exemplary …
CLEANmp Provides Help With Nutrient Management Plans
Helping livestock and poultry producers develop and implement plans to limit their environmental impact is the goal of a program called Comprehensive Livestock Environmental Assessments and Nutrient management plans, or CLEANmp. The program, which is managed by the Missouri-based Environmental Resources Coalition, is designed to provide services to all types and sizes of livestock and poultry production operations west of …
Climate Change is BAD Topic
Thursday is Blog Action Day (BAD) and the topic this year is Climate Change. Food production is top on the list of suggested ideas for bloggers to write about in an alert sent out by organizers. “Agricultural production around the world is responsible for nearly as much greenhouse gas emissions as all forms of transportation put together, so it shouldn’t …
Syngenta Seeds Striving for Control of Broad Leps
Syngenta Seeds calls them “broad leps” – farmers call them expensive – most people would just call them icky. They are a bunch of nasty wormy creatures – technically lepidopteran corn pests – that make up what Syngenta calls the “multi-pest complex” which costs growers over $1 billion each year in lost yield and grain quality. They include corn earworm, …
Big Interest in USDA Conservation Stewardship Program
Lots of farmers are interested in USDA’s revamped Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) – formally known as the Conservation Security Program. Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Chief Dave White announced this week that they received nearly 21,300 applications to participate in the CSP, covering more than 33 million acres nationwide. “NRCS has received enough applications to carry out conservation activities on …
Sustainability and Modern Farming
The new president of the National Corn Growers Association, Darrin Ihnen of Hurley, S.D., is the star of a new video on the subject of increasing sustainability in agriculture that debuted Oct. 3 on the television program This Week in Agribusiness. The short video features Darrin and other family farmers telling the story of how better management and modern technology …
Alpharma’s Reach Teach and Learn Program
Alpharma Animal Health is reaching out to teach young people more about agriculture through a grassroots educational program called “Reach Teach and Learn.” The company launched the program earlier this year at the 2009 Agriculture in the Classroom Conference in St. Louis, Missouri. The program supports local school districts and colleges through initiatives that encourage students to learn more about …
Grains Council Seeking Harvest Photos
The U.S. Grains Council (USGC) wants to see the fruits of your harvest. USGC is encouraging all farmers to carry a camera in the combine this year to snap some photos of the harvesting of food, feed and fuel for the United States and abroad. Each photo will be entered for a free Council meeting registration for our 7th International …
Sustainability in Focus at Plant and Soil Science Conference
“Footprints in the Landscape: Sustainability through Plant and Soil Sciences” is the theme for the joint annual meetings of three agricultural science organizations coming up next month in Pittsburgh. 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 …
New Syngenta Seeds HQ Enhances Global Research
Syngenta Seeds new headquarters in Minnetonka, Minnesota is just one of the many locations where Syngenta has major research laboratories. Principal Research Scientist for Insect Resistance Dirk Benson talked about Syngenta’s global research capabilities during a symposium for agricultural reporters during the grand opening event. “In Europe, we have insecticide development, we have herbicide technology development, in the US we …