Last week, two Oregon counties voted overwhelmingly to ban the cultivation of genetically engineered (GE) crops. The initiatives in Josephine County and Jackson County, which border California, passed by as much as a two to one margin. “This isn’t Monsanto or Syngenta, these are local farms that have been farming the way they have chosen here in the valley for …
Ag Specialist Uses Communication to Promote Biotech
The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) announces that the prestigious 2014 Borlaug CAST Communication Award goes to Alison Van Eenennaam, an honored faculty member at the University of California, Davis. Nominees must demonstrate an ability to communicate by written material; public presentations; and/or the use of television, radio, or other social media. Van Eenennaam excels in all three …
Corn Growers Talk Priorities at Commodity Classic
Members of the National Corn Growers Association are at Commodity Classic in full force this year, as part the more than 7,000+ corn, wheat, soybean and sorghum growers who have come to San Antonio. President of NCGA, Martin Barbre, a farmer from Illinois, outlined some of his group’s priorities in this coming year, including their work with a couple of …
Julie Borlaug Corrects Biotech Misunderstandings
You will really enjoy listening to Julie Borlaug, Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture. She just spoke at the annual Bayer CropScience Ag Issues Forum, held prior to the Commodity Classic. She started her remarks by telling some entertaining anecdotes about her famous Grandfather Norman Borlaug. One that I enjoyed was when she was holding her baby he asked her, …
GMO Coalition for Safe Food Formed
A diverse group of industry and non-governmental organizations today announced the formation of a new coalition dedicated to the advancement of a federal solution on the labeling of food products derived from genetically modified ingredients (GMOs). The goal of the “Coalition for Safe Affordable Food” is to urge Congress to seek a federal solution that would establish standards for the …
AgAccord is Complete
The big topic at last year’s ASTA CSS 2013 and Seed Expo was The Accord, which is an industry agreement developed to provide a mechanism to transition from proprietary biotech events to off-patent or generic biotech events. Just prior to the expo this year, the second part of what is now called the AgAccord was opened up for signature. That …
Monsanto Novozymes Bioag Alliance
Monsanto and Novozymes jointly announced a “long-term strategic alliance to transform research and commercialization of sustainable microbial products that will provide a new platform of solutions for growers around the world.” The BioAg Alliance will allow the companies to leverage employees, technologies and commercial assets in the companies’ agricultural biologicals portfolios. The BioAg Alliance is unique in the industry, bringing …
Biotech Crops Alliance Names Secretariat
An alliance of organizations supporting biotech crops has named a leader to help “spearhead collaborative efforts to improve the environment for technology innovation and the market for U.S. crops produced through modern biotechnology.” Dr. Michael J. Phillips has been selected as the first secretariat for the U.S. Biotech Crops Alliance (USBCA), which was established by several organizations under a memorandum …
NCGA Chair is TATT Roundable Alumni
I was happy to see National Corn Growers Association Chairwoman Pam Johnson of Iowa at the World Food Prize symposium last week and interested to find out that she was a Truth About Trade and Technology Global Farmer Roundtable alumni. Pam had a seat at the global roundtable in 2010 and she was pleased to reconnect with some of her …
World Food Prize Laureates Meet the Press
Three biotechnology scientists are being honored at the World Food Prize ceremony in Des Moines tonight, but yesterday they met the press and answered some tough questions about the technology they have dedicated their lives to developing. The 2013 World Food Prize Laureates are Monsanto Chief Technology Officer Dr. Robert Fraley, Marc Van Montagu of the Institute of Plant Biotechnology …