During the during the World Food Prize I had the opportunity to learn about a new mobile training unit pilot program from Geoff Andersen, director, Global Citizenship and Strategic Planning with John Deere. The unit was first used in Ghana and Kenya to help more than 60,000 farmers learn how to increase productivity. Andersen was in country to work with …
New Zealand’s Trade Minister at #IFAJ2015
One of the hard news highlights of the 2015 IFAJ Congress was hearing from the man who was responsible for holding up the Trans Pacific Partnership agreement to get New Zealand’s dairy industry more access to other markets. “The fundamental reason why New Zealand agriculture is so strong is we don’t have a choice, it’s export or die for us,” …
New Zealand’s Minister of Primary Industries
The Honorable Nathan Guy, Minister of Primary Industries for New Zealand, is basically the counterpart of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in this country and he was delighted to welcome the 2015 International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) Congress to “little old New Zealand.” “This is a significant event for New Zealand,” said Guy of the 33 countries represented at the …
Chelsea Clinton On Women in Ag at #FoodPrize15
The official Borlaug 101 sessions kicked off yesterday afternoon in Des Moines, Iowa with remarks from Ambassador Kenneth M Quinn who is the president of the The World Food Prize Foundation. He acknowledged the famous founder, Norman Borlaug and that this year would have been his 101 birthday, while next year will be the 30th anniversary of World Food Prize. …
#GAPReport2015: Productivity, Sustainability Must Be Priority
The global productivity of agriculture has stagnated for the second year in a row and productive, sustainable agriculture must be a priority. This was one of the main findings of the 6th annual Global Agricultural Productivity Report: Building Sustainable Breadbaskets (#GAPReport2015) released by the Global Harvest Initiative (GHI) today during the World Food Prize taking place this week in Des …
Greetings from IFAJ in New Zealand
We have seen the future and it is in New Zealand – 18 hours ahead of central time in the United States! The International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) 2015 Congress is being held in Hamilton, New Zealand where we are learning a lot about this small, two island, South Pacific nation that is home to 30 million sheep, seven …
Agri-Pulse Open Mic with Rep. Reid Ribble of Wisconsin
Agri-Pulse Open Mic this week features Wisconsin Representative Reid Ribble. The 8th district Republican left the Freedom Caucus last week in the fallout from a failed attempt to elect a new House Speaker. In this week’s interview, Ribble outlines challenges the Congress faces in approving a spending plan and his efforts to bring about a two-year budget cycle. He sees …
Vote to End Hunger Launched at #FoodPrize15
The Iowa Food Summit took place today in Des Moines, IA leading up to the opening of this year’s World Food Prize. Following the Summit, several national nonprofits launched a new campaign, Vote to End Hunger (VTEH), an effort to urge 2016 presidential candidates to focus on ending hunger, alleviating poverty and creating global opportunity. “Throughout the world, countries such …
First Chairwoman of CropLife America
At the recent annual meeting of Croplife America some newly elected board leaders were announced. One of those is the first ever chairwoman, Diane Allemang, director of North America business development and global portfolio at FMC Corporation. Diane was elected to a two-year term and is the 46th chair of the board. I spoke to Diane this morning to get …
RFS Uncertainty Hurting Farm Income
The uncertainties around the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) are threatening farm income and hurting the economic stability of rural economies. A new white paper from the National Farmers Union (NFU) and the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA), using recent USDA data on net cash income for American farmers and ranchers, states that income is expected to decline by 26 percent …