During our weekly AgChat session last night several folks interjected messages about a United Nations sanctioned initiative called the 2014 International Year of Family Farming, Feeding the World, Caring for the Earth. So I had to look at it and can’t say I like what I see. If you click around their website you’ll see some pretty mixed messages. There …
International Seed Federation President on Issues
Tim Johnson of Illinois Foundation Seeds is currently serving aS president of the International Seed Federation (ISF). “The International Seed Federation has 80 countries that are involved,” Tim said. “What we do is promote movement of seed, protection of intellectual property (IP) rights, and support of companies moving seed globally.” IP was a big focus during a Chinese-American seed symposium …
MOU Importance for China and US Seed Companies
American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) Chairman Blake Curtis calls the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the US and China seed organizations Monday “monumental.” “Everything has to start somewhere and this is a great start,” said Blake, with Curtis and Curtis Seed Company of New Mexico. “China is a very aggressive force in our world today and we’re …
US and China Seed Groups Sign MOU
Leaders from the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) and the China National Seed Association (CNSA) signed an historic Memo of Understanding today to promote cooperation relating to innovation in the seed industry, said ASTA president Andrew W. LaVigne. “This agreement achieves two extremely important goals,” said LaVigne. “First, it is an important first step in providing new business opportunities for …
Social Media Use in Czech Republic
I thought this information from ACDC (Agricultural Communications Documentation Center) was interesting and wanted to share. Social media usage in the Czech Republic (pdf). Would you have thought this to be the case? Looks like companies are slow to adopt but their customers are not. This is from two years ago so I would assume there has been more of …
2012 Global Farmer Roundtable at WFP
This year’s Global Farmer Roundtable at the World Food Prize hosted another great group of producers from around the world. Participants at this event included 17 producers from Canada, Honduras, India, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, South Africa, Swaziland, United Kingdom, Uruguay, US, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. This annual roundtable is organized by Truth About Trade & Technology (TATT), a nonprofit advocacy …
UN Secretary-General at World Food Prize
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addressed the big ceremony last night at the World Food Prize and stuck around to also speak at breakfast this morning for those not able (or willing) to attend the gala at the state capitol. During his brief address at breakfast, Ban talked about how making sure everyone in the world has enough to eat …
Agricultural Cooperatives Key to Feeding the World
We have now gone from Blog Action Day to World Food Day 2012. The FAO says that agricultural cooperatives are the “key to feeding the world.” They are the focus of this World Food Day. The official World Food Day theme, announced each spring by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), gives focus to World Food …
Farm Foundation Forum to Look at Global Ag Policies
Our friends at Farm Foundation hold another free forum … this time on global agricultural policies on Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2012. The forum, entitled Perspectives on Global Agricultural Policies, will be from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. EDT at the National Press Club, 529 14th St. NW, Washington D.C. and will feature the official release of the Organization for Economic …
Soybean Association Grows a Nation in Afghanistan
We hear a lot about the war in Afghanistan but often times don’t hear as much about the peace-building efforts there. From my own experience, I can tell you that our efforts to build that nation will most likely have as big, if not bigger, impact as any military strike. Our friends at the American Soybean Association (ASA) must be …