Today the Animal Agriculture Alliance hosted a teleconference with various third-party experts to discuss industry improvements presented in the report “Advances in Animal Agriculture; What the Center for a Livable Future, Pew Commission and Others Aren’t Telling You About Food Production.” (pdf) Third-party experts on the call included: Dr. Richard Raymond, former Under Secretary, Food Safety Inspection Service, United States …
Let’s Have a Boston Food Dialogues
Let’s have a food dialogues and let’s have it in Boston. That’s my next stop. This Thursday you can watch the live stream of the USFRA Food Dialogues on the web and follow along via Twitter with the hashtag #FoodD and of course, here on AgWired. Increasingly, consumers are hearing they should be concerned about the size of farms, and …
Canadian Cranberry Time
That cranberry was this big! At least that’s what it looks like Mike Wallis, BC Cranberry Growers Association Mgr., is saying during a presentation at Shergill Cranberry Farm, the second stop for the “farm bikers” tour group during the Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation conference. Also on hand was farm manager Bob Deroche. They talked to us about the farm and …
Meatless Monday Campaign Flops
This is no surprise to me. The Meatless Monday campaign doesn’t have the participation the organizers would like you to think they have. I have thought for some time that reports and effects of animal activists and their trendy sounding ideas are way over estimated. Thanks to the Animal Agriculture Alliance for doing this research! After weeks of investigation, the …
Indian Farmer to Receive TATT Award
An Indian rice, cotton and sugarcane farmer with a passion for technology is the 2013 recipient of the Kleckner Trade & Technology Advancement Award. “We, as farmers, besides earning for our families, have a social obligation to feed our population with enough food and eradicate hunger.” says Ravichandran Vanchinathan of Tamil Nadu, India, who took part in the 2010 Truth …
Join Global Farmer Roundtable Conversation
Even if you are unable to attend the Global Farmer Roundtable discussions next week in Des Moines, you can still participate. The Truth About Trade and Technology (TATT) event includes 20 farmers from various backgrounds and cultures who are invited to gather and discuss agricultural trade and technology access issues, and then continue to be part of a global network …
Support Young Agrarians
Here’s a group that you need to put on your radar. The Young Agrarians. I think you’ll hear more from them from my visit to Canada this week. But to get us started, Sara Dent spoke during our opening reception here at the Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation Conference. She gave us an overview of this organization. Young Agrarians is a …
New National Beef Ambassadors
We have a new team of National Beef Ambassadors and here they are. This weekend the competition in Arkansas took place and I had the honor to be a judge once again even though it was from home. I’ll update this post when I get the names of these new beef agvocates. I was a judge of the essay writing …
Corn Grower Voice on Climate Change
The president of the National Corn Growers Association provided a voice for American farmers Monday at the Opening Ceremony for Climate Week NYC 2013 along with leaders from business and government all over the world. Iowa farmer Pam Johnson, who spoke alongside international notables including former United Kingdom Prime Minister Tony Blair, President of World Bank Jim Kim, U.S. Special …
2013 NAMA PDA Winners
During our concluding lunch to the 2013 NAMA Fall Conference we celebrated with our new Professional Development Awards of Excellence. Let’s start with Gary Sakin, Monsanto, for Marketing Communications. Gary joined Monsanto in November of 2006, and has made impactful changes to how Monsanto approaches branding, measures marcom impact, and engages with its audiences. Currently, Gary is a key member …