If you are in agriculture and support ethanol, the Growth Force wants you. Growth Force is the individual membership arm of Growth Energy, the ethanol advocacy organization started about this time last year to help fight the attacks on farming and renewable fuels like ethanol. “Right now it’s more than 10,000 strong, and growing,” says Growth Energy director of public …
We Really Do Love Farmers
According to a new poll, we really do love farmers. A nationwide survey conducted for the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) found broad public respect and trust for family farmers and support for corn as food, feed and fuel. Ninety-five percent of those polled find farmers to be trusted messengers on issues such as agriculture, corn products and ethanol – …
Vermeer Rolls Out the Rancher
Vermeer had cow-calf producers in mind when they designed the new Rancher 665 round baler. According to Vermeer Forage Marketing Manager Dan Belzer, the new Rancher 665 baler design fills a niche many cow-calf producers have been asking for – basically, the ability to produce bigger bales with a “right-sized” baler that requires less horsepower. “Now, with a minimum 60 …
Ag Students Key to Correcting Food Critics on Campus
College students with agriculture backgrounds are finding the need to defend modern agriculture and correct misinformation about food production that is being worked into class curriculums. Some classes are now requiring students to read books like “Omnivore’s Dilemma,” watch movies like “Food, Inc.” and see presentations by critics of modern agriculture like Michael Pollan. Sarah Downing, a junior at the …
Facts About Pigs With H1N1
USDA has confirmed the presence of 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza virus in a pig sample collected at the Minnesota State Fair. The National Pork Producers Council notes, despite this development, pork is safe to eat and handle and that, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, flu viruses cannot be transmitted through food, including pork. Pigs, like people, …
Syngenta Seeds Developing Water Optimized Hybrids
Coming soon to a field near you from Syngenta Seeds – corn with water optimization traits. Syngenta is going beyond drought-resistant corn to introduce water optimization traits, which will reduce the amount of moisture needed to optimize yield and minimize yield loss in drought conditions, as well as reduce water use in average years. Business Lead Corn Product Manager Wayne …
Farming for Generations
Yes, Virginia, there really are family farmers in the United States. The National Corn Growers Association wants the public to know that family farmers not only exist, but are the critical factor that make the nation’s number one industry the world leaders in production of safe and wholesome products. Polling shows that many Americans no longer understand agriculture in their …
United Soybean Board Supports World Food Prize Hall
The United Soybean Board (USB) and soybean checkoff, through USB’s Biotechnology Initiative, announced a $500,000 investment in the World Food Prize Hall of Laureates in Des Moines, Iowa. This investment will be used to help create a kiosk in the new educational wing at the Hall of Laureates that will help educate the public on the value of biotechnology toward …
Bill Gates Defends Biotech Crops
At the World Food Prize Forum in Des Moines on Thursday, Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates spoke out in support of biotechnology to help feed the world. “We have to develop crops, including new inputs to go with them that can grow in a drought,” Gates said. “We have to have crops that can survive a flood, that can …
Truth About Trade and Technology Honors Irish Farmer
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 …