American Corn Grower On TATT Farmer Roundtable

Chuck Zimmerman

One of our TATT Global Farmer to Farmer Roundtable participants is Pam Johnson, Iowa farmer. Pam is a board member of the National Corn Growers Association. She is not only participating in the roundtable discussions but was also on the panel of this morning’s Biodiversity World Tour town hall mtg.

I spoke with Pam before the afternoon roundtable session got underway. She farms corn and soybeans with her husband and sons in northern Iowa. She says this discussion has been great for her because farmers share a lot of the same issues and concerns around the world. She thought this morning’s town hall meeting was a good one with an audience that understands that there are a lot of definitions for terms like sustainability. She says that the point was made that farmers are working hard to be productive while maintaining a viable business and taking care of their land and other resources. She hopes that the farmers visiting the United States will take away the idea that they have to be able to operate in an atmosphere where their government policy, the public and consumers work with farmers. In other words, it’s not an “us vs. them” situation.

You can listen to my interview with Pam here: Pam Johnson Interview
TATT Global Farmer To Farmer Roundtable Photo Album

Ag Groups, Audio, Corn, International, NCGA

TATT Roundtable Underway

Chuck Zimmerman

The TATT Global Farmer to Farmer Roundtable is now in session. This is a discussion which will take place this evening and continue tomorrow morning with a concluding lunch.

After introductions we’re now involved in a discussion about issues like the growing world population and challenges faces farmers who are trying to produce food to feed them all. I’m listening in and will be conducting some interviews with various participants to post in coming days. There are some very interesting farmers here from a variety of types of farms.

TATT Global Farmer To Farmer Roundtable Photo Album

Ag Groups, Biotech, International, Technology, Trade

TATT Global Farmer Roundtable Tours ISU Seed Science Center

Chuck Zimmerman

The Truth About Trade & Technology Global Farmer To Farmer Roundtable participants went from meeting with our Sec. of Agriculture to a tour of the Iowa State University Seed Science Center. It was a short but fascinating look at the largest public seed testing facility in the country.

We got a real behind the scenes look at the various labs before heading off to our next stop on the Bill Couser farm, Couser Cattle Company. I’ve just updated the photo album and will have more interviews coming.

TATT Global Farmer To Farmer Roundtable Photo Album

Ag Groups, University

Biodiversity World Tour Panelists

Chuck Zimmerman

Here’s our panel at the Biodiversity World Tour town hall mtg. with Sec. of Ag Vilsack (right). It has been a very interesting discussion with lots of questions about organic vs. traditional agriculture and sustainability. I believe you’ll be able to watch a recording of the session on the BWT website.

The participants include:

Rajesh Kumar, Vegetable Farmer from Tamil Nadu, India.
Camila Illich, Field Crop Farmer from Guarapuava, Brazil
Pam Johnson, Corn and Soybean Farmer from Central Iowa, United States.
Gary Munkvold, Seed Science Endowed Chair, Chair of the Graduate Program in Seed Technology and Business, Iowa State University.
Judy Chambers, Director of the Program for Biosafety Systems in the Environment and Production Technology Division at IFPRI, Senior Advisor to USAID.

Our moderator is Orion Samuelson, WGN (left).

After this morning’s session I’ll be following the TATT Global Farmer To Farmer Roundtable participants to a farm tour before we return to Des Moines for their opening session. So I’ll see you along the way, especially on Twitter.

TATT Global Farmer To Farmer Roundtable Photo Album

Ag Groups, International, Sustainability

Opening Biodiversity World Tour

Chuck Zimmerman

U. S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack was an opening speaker at the Biodiversity World Tour stop on the campus of Iowa State University. It is being webcast live right now and I believe a recorded version will be available later. If you’d like to hear the Secretary’s comments I have them posted below.

The theme of the town hall meeting taking place here is “How can we feed a growing world while protecting our environment?”

You can listen to Sec. Vilsack’s opening comments here: Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack Comments
TATT Global Farmer To Farmer Roundtable Photo Album

Ag Groups, Audio, Biotech, International, Sustainability

Learning About Global Farmer Challenges

Chuck Zimmerman

World Food Prize week is underway in Des Moines, IA. There are a lot of meeting, town halls, roundtables, symposiums, ceremonies taking place, some simultaneously. I’m going to be focusing on the Truth About Trade and Technology Global Farmer To Farmer Roundtable. So to kick things off I spoke with TATT Chairman, Dean Kleckner.

He says that there are 16 farmers here this year from various countries including the United States, to have a discussion on farming where they live, and to do it in a public forum to foster better understanding between countries and the general public. He’s says it has been interesting to hear how similar the challenges are throughout the world. I’m planning to feature interviews with as many of the farmer participants as I can during the next couple days.

You can listen to my interview with Dean here: Dean Kleckner Interview

Photos will be posted to the TATT Global Farmer To Farmer Roundtable Photo Album. Thanks to the National Corn Growers Association, sponsor of the Roundtable for making my participation possible.

Ag Groups, Audio, International

Soybean Champ Does it Again

Cindy Zimmerman

kip cullersSoybean superstar Kip Cullers is going to officially announce his 2010 soybean yield results today at a press conference near his farm in Purdy, Missouri.

Kip set the world soybean yield record in 2006 with 139 bushels per acre, then beat that the following year with a yield of 154.57 bushels per acre. When another grower achieved a yield of more than 100 bushels per acre in 2008, the 100 Bushel Club was formed and Kip was inducted.

Today’s news conference will include Missouri Governor Jay Nixon and representatives of the Missouri Soybean Association, who are understandably proud of this native son. Also, the good folks from BASF will be there – and me, too! Can’t wait to see my friend Kip again – and his lovely wife Michelle and their little brood. I took this photo of Kip during his soybean harvest last year.

BASF, Soybean

American Farmland Trust Invites You to “Dine Out for Farms” this Week

John Davis

Need a good excuse to dine out this week? Well, the American Farmland Trust invites you to have a meal out on the town in support of farms in this country now through October 16th:

“We hope that many consumers will be a friend to farms and join us at the table during the national Dine Out for Farms™ week October 10-16,” says Jon Scholl, President of American Farmland Trust (AFT). “Restaurants in 17 states signed up to participate in this inaugural event because the chefs recognize the need to protect America’s farmland and support family farmers. Farmland is a key ingredient that farmers need to be able to grow provisions for restaurateurs and our own kitchen tables.”

This national, week-long event is designed to bring together restaurants and consumers together to support a sustainable future for America’s farms. Scholl wants to make sure people make the connection with food and the land.

“It’s never been more critical than it is today for diners and consumers to reconnect with the farmers who grow their food. That’s not only so we can have farm-fresh food but also because of the critical issues facing our nation—including food security and healthier diets,” Scholl adds. “The United States has been losing nearly one million acres of farmland each year, and the farms and farmland most under threat are near cities where the majority of our dairy, fresh fruits and vegetables are grown.”

And as Oliver Monday with The Market Restaurant in Gloucester, Massachusetts, one of the participating restaurants, points out, “Without land, there will be no farms. Without farms, there will be no food.”

More information is available at www.farmland.org/dineout.

Events, Food

Book Review – Farm Hands

Joanna Schroeder

The book I read over the weekend now has a special place on my shelf since I have actually experienced a small portion of what author Tom Rivers describes in “Farm Hands“. The book is an accumulation of his writings for his local newspaper, The Daily News, where he chronicles the labor challenges faced by small farm operations in Upstate New York. While narrating his experiences of picking fruit, planting vegetables in the pouring rain and milking cows at the crack of dawn, among others, he also eloquently tells the stories of the immigrants who he worked beside each day.

Why was this an important and book worthy endeavor? Because Americans feel their jobs are being taken by illegal immigrants – jobs they feel are rightfully theirs. However, this is only partially true. Many difficult and grueling farm jobs are in fact taken on by immigrants, many in the States as part of a special farm labor program. However, the jobs are available because Americans don’t want them. They are low paying and high intensity positions. Yet without these immigrants, most of the farm operations would no longer be able to financially survive.

To learn more about why Americans don’t want these farm jobs, for one year Rivers became a farm hand at various operations near his home. While working next to men and women who have come to the States from other countries, Rivers discovered that working on a farm is one of the hardest jobs imaginable. He lost more than 30 pounds during the year and spent countless hours nurturing sore muscles. The result was rewarding though, after the year ended, he successfully completed the Disney Marathon.

I too understand how difficult work it is having lived and worked on a produce and fruit operation for several months. I can honestly say that I do not have the fortitude to pursue this kind of work; yet I have a much greater understanding and respect for those who toil away in the fields to put food on my table. Quite frankly, I’d rather make the same amount of money working in a coffee shop for minimum wage and tips (something I’ve actually done extensively) and I’m not alone.

The labor issue has become very prominent in the U.S. this year due to many states, particularly Arizona that are attempting to curb illegal immigration. In response to this issue, along with ramped unemployment in the country, the United Farm Workers launched a “Take Our Jobs” campaign. To my knowledge, Americans are not jumping off couches to “take their jobs”.

That said, the next time you’re eating dinner and you’re about to lament the immigrants who helped put food on your table do two things. First, read Farm Hands (or read it anyway because it is truly a moving book). Next, sign up to “Take Their Job“. I bet 99 percent of you will stop complaining and begin working with ag producers to help address the farm labor issues.

Agribusiness, Farming

Going Global On Biodiversity World Tour

Chuck Zimmerman

Tomorrow morning I’ll be attending the Biodiversity World Tour stop in Ames, IA where our U.S. Secretary of Ag, Tom Vilsack, will be joining the conversation. The event will be streamed live online too. Just use the hashtag #BWT2010 and your tweets will appear in the auditorium for the audience, moderator, Secretary Vilsack, and panelists to see.

Iowa State University, CropLife International, CropLife America, and Truth about Trade and Technology have partnered together to bring together farmers from around the world to discuss what they are doing on a daily basis to preserve our planet and how they see these practices improving in the future. Featuring farmers from North America, Asia, and South America, the panel will discuss the role of sustainable agriculture practices in protecting biodiversity. In addition, taking questions from the audience and interacting with the panel will also be United States Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.

This event is on the agenda of the Truth About Trade and Technology, Global Farmer To Farmer Roundtable, which I’m participating in courtesy of the National Corn Growers Association, one of the event’s sponsors.

Believing that farmers must work together on a global table to expand access to technology in agriculture to all, Truth About Trade & Technology (TATT) – an American based non-profit formed and led by farmers who support access to technology, including biotechnology, and freer trade – will host an Annual Global Farmer to Farmer Roundtable.

So, keep an eye on AgWired for action from these events. They kind of tie into the Borlaug Dialogues and World Food Prize Symposium that take place in Des Moines this week too. I am not planning on attending them, but who knows? Schedules can change.

Ag Groups