The Population Research Institute is seeking to debunk the myth of overpopulation with a series of simple but clever YouTube videos. Our daughter Chelsea alerted us to the latest one – “Food: There’s Lots of it.” Some very good points in here about modern agricultural production and the real causes of hunger.
National Beef Ambassador Earth Day Photo Contest Winners
Here’s the winning photo in the National Beef Ambassador “Farmers and Ranchers Care” Earth Day photo contest. It was taken by Kaylyn Groce of Silver City, N.C.
In order to participate, the first requirement was to become a fan of the National Beef Ambassadors on Facebook and upload a photo to that page showcasing how they, as beef producers, are involved in caring for the environment. To date, the Facebook page has more than 2,000 fans.
Voting took place by ‘liking’ the photos and the winners were determined by the number of ‘likes’. On Earth Day, the winners of the photo contest were announced.
In total, 83 photos were posted. The winning photo became the National Beef Ambassador’s Facebook profile picture for one week and was also featured in Beef Ambassador Malorie Bankhead’s blog post on Earth Day. The winner of the contest also received a $50 beef gift certificate; 2nd and 3rd place winners each received a $25 beef gift certificate and appeared in Malorie’s blog post on April 23.
The winners were: 1st: Kaylyn Groce of Silver City, N.C.; 2nd: Sunny Taylor of Kaycee, Wy.; and 3rd: Allison Boggs of Martin, S.D.
SEGMENTrak Solicits Consumer Opinions On Food Production
Demeter Communications has asked consumers some questions about food production and you might find the answers interesting. They launched a proprietary market research tool called SEGMENTrak to do this.
Demeter Communications has set out to track opinions about food production practices among “indicator consumers.”
“We want to shift from a defensive position to one of proactively talking to consumers about how their food is produced,” said Claudine Wargel, M.S., senior partner with Demeter Communications, and the market researcher who heads up the project.
These data are part of Demeter’s targeted market research tool, SegmenTrakTM, a nationally-representative consumer opinion tracking survey fielded for the first time earlier this year. The online study focused on those likely to adapt perceptions and practices ahead of the general public – what Demeter calls “”indicator consumers.”
“Successfully explaining in consumer terms how food is produced has really become a requirement for product acceptance,” said Claudine Wargel, senior partner with Demeter Communications. The firm specializes in helping agricultural companies and associations connect with consumers and their influencers. Demeter’s first SegmenTrakTM study was conducted in February 2010. The data show that while indicator consumers think favorably of farmers, they have a number of questions about their on-farm practices and how they impact food. SegmenTrakTM explores what consumers want to know from farmers and what they would change about modern food production, as well as where they currently get their information about how food is produced.
More than three-fourths want to know more about “measures used to produce safe food” (76 percent “agree/strongly agree”). The next response was “ways they ensure animal care” (68 percent “agree/strongly agree”). Also ranked highly were “measures they take to protect the water” (64 percent) and “how they make farming sustainable” (61 percent). Wargel said that while this was an aided response question, it reveals a significant point.
You can find the Executive Summary here (pdf).
Mitch Rouda Revamping Farm Journal Online
At the recent NAMA Convention I met Mitch Rouda who has just moved up at Farm Journal to President of their e-Media division. He has responsibility for all e-Media activity, including growth of the company’s 20 current e-titles and all online development, merger and acquisition activity. Mitch is a long time web guy who had his own business before joining Farm Journal
I interviewed Mitch in between his own interviews that he was conducting at the Farm Journal reception to announce their new re-build of AgWeb.com which will be published this summer. He says it will be a complete re-do. One of the main changes will be in navigation to find information you’re looking for. He says there are 8,000 pages on the site now. It will also have a mobile version available too. You can see pictures and video from the reception on their Facebook page.
We also talked about other things including, blogs and their rise as an information source. . At the time he was waiting on his iPad since he wanted a 3G version. He sees a lot of potential for the device to be a great tool to revitalize publications.
You can listen to my interview with Mitch here.
Zimfo Bytes
- Sandra E. Peterson (51) is to be the new Chairman of the Board of Management of Bayer CropScience AG. Click here for a complete listing of Board appointments.
- Dairy producers, through their checkoff investment, will once again award 20 academic scholarships to students currently enrolled in programs that emphasize dairy and who have shown potential to become future dairy leaders.
- Ag Leader Technology, Inc, added dual product control for application operations to the popular EDGE display.
- A decade after it first asked the federal Food and Drug Administration to crack down on the misappropriation of dairy terminology on imitation milk products, the National Milk Producers Federation sent another petition to the FDA, asserting that the practice has gotten worse in the past 10 years.
Great People Make for Great Day at Novus
What a great day and great enthusiasm by the people at Novus International and the Missouri Colleges Fund scholar students during Novus’ 2nd annual “Science: A Foundation for Dynamic Careers” days! The Novus staff exuded enthusiasm in their presentations to the students, and the students reciprocated in their enthusiasm for what they learned.
Anna Arthur, a sophomore majoring in biological chemistry and minoring in psychology at Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Mo., was typical of that engaged attitude (you can’t believe how much she wanted to win a t-shirt during the impromptu trivia contests during the tour!). She really seemed to cling to about every word the Novus staff had to say … not bad considering she wasn’t even sure she was going to be able to make it.
“I’m so glad I did because I’ve gotten such a great impression from the people and from even just the facilities themselves.”
In fact, she’s hoping to do an internship with Novus this summer. And Arthur feels that with the wide variety of jobs available, there will be plenty of opportunities.
“It really opened my eyes to the fact that even if your major is in just one area of science that can still be brought into marketing aspects or sales aspects or all different areas which I never really thought about before.” She adds that it’s good to know Novus gives employees chances to advance and move through the company and is the kind of place where she might like to work one day after graduation.
Arthur was also impressed how the Novus labs were a practical application of what she’s learning in the classroom.
“It was fun today to hear them talk about the different tests they’re doing ion the labs and to say ‘I just did some of those tests myself a couple of weeks ago in my [school] lab. It’s really cool to be able to apply what you’ve done in the actual work place.”
More of my conversation with Anna is available in the player below.
2010 Novus International Science: A Foundation for Dynamic Careers Photo Album
Novus is More than Animal Ag Company, It’s a Sustainability Company
One of the important lessons the students learned during the 2nd annual “Science: A Foundation for Dynamic Careers” days at Novus International’s suburban St. Louis headquarters and rural Missouri research farm was that Novus is more than just an animal agriculture company. It’s a sustainability company.
Experts say the world’s population will be 9 billion by 2050 … but maybe only half the land used for agriculture now will be available to feed that population in 40 years. The point wasn’t lost on Avila University in Kansas City senior Neemah Ngega. The biochemistry major says she was impressed with how Novus is working to get more food out of shrinking resources for the world’s growing population.
“That’s a crucial point that I don’t think a lot of young people understand … including myself. The more I got engaged today, the more I learned how important of a problem we’re going to be facing as a world, not just a nation. For the science [Novus] engages in to help produce more food, I think, is commendable.”
Born and raised in Tanzania, Africa and moving to this country when she was young has given Ngega a unique perspective.
“I think I’ve learned a lot, and there’s so much I could utilize in my future studies and future work… getting other people engaged and teaching other people what I’ve learned today.”
She says Novus’ work to better the world through minimizing the amount of space needed to grow an increased amount of food truly makes Novus a sustainability company.
“The more we become better on sustaining not just the food industry, but all around – water, economic, land and people – it’s going to help.”
Listen to more of my conversation with Neemah in the player below.
2010 Novus International Science: A Foundation for Dynamic Careers Photo Album
Zimfo Bytes
- Attendees to United Fresh 2010 cast their votes and recognized the winners of the 2010 United Fresh Produce Association New Product Awards.
- The Sixth Annual Adult Worldquest Knowledge Competition held on Tuesday, April 12, 2010 brought seven teams from the metropolitan St. Louis area to Maryville University. Two Novus teams participated.
- Gold Standard Labs opened its seventh facility – this one located in Sulphur Springs, Texas.
- John Deere Agri Services has released the new Pit Monitor feature for the oneWeigh scale automation system. This option enables scale operators at grain handling facilities to automatically convey pertinent load information to operators at the receiving pits by using a pit monitor program and display screen.
Charge Ahead & Don’t Be Afraid to Fail: Life Lessons on a Bus
Last year, I had the pleasure of meeting one of the most optimistic people I’ve ever seen: Dr. Nasser Odetallah, Product Manager of Enzymes, Probiotics, and Idea Testing Kits for Novus International. His message last year to the Missouri Colleges Fund scholars was, “There is nothing impossible in life.” This year during Novus’ 2nd annual “Science: A Foundation for Dynamic Careers” days, he added to that message, saying “Charge ahead, and don’t be afraid to fail!”
Odetallah’s talk came in between impromptu trivia contests (for t-shirts and candy!), as the bus full of students rolled down the road from the tour of Novus’ research farm, Green Acres.
“We have to try something to know if we fit into it. And if we fail that’s not the end of the world. The most important thing is do not hesitate and don’t be scared!”
He says the Novus attitude is that failure teaches them more and helps the company reach its goals of providing better animal and human nutritional products. In fact, Odetallah says probably 10 percent or more of the employees at Novus started in a different section of the company and were moved, sometimes several times, to make a better fit for the worker and Novus.
He advises the students to come up with ideas outside of the norm.
[While it’s important to meet certain standards], if you want success in life, you have to think outside of the box, outside of your outline.”Odetallah adds that you have to keep in mind how the world is getting smaller through all the connections people make, and look for ways to enhance those connections through learning new languages and cultures.
“The more you plant, the more you reap.”
Great words of wisdom.
It’s a great conversation, and you can hear more of it in the player below.
2010 Novus International Science: A Foundation for Dynamic Careers Photo Album
Farm Foundation to Discuss Ag Trade Issues
Our friends at Farm Foundation are hosting another one of their talks that help bring out a variety of viewpoints to solve the problems facing agriculture today. This latest one will focus on trade issues and will take place on Tuesday, May 4 and will include the following presenters:
* Richard Fritz of Global AgriTrends, who will focus on global trade issues in the meat and poultry sectors,
* David Abler of Penn State University, who will discuss non-tariff measures,
* John Wainio of USDA’s Economic Research Service, focusing on regional trade agreements, and
* Jean-Philipe Gervais of North Carolina State University, whose essay, “Moving Agricultural Trade Liberalization Forward to Improve Global Food Security,” won the Global Food Security Category of Farm Foundation’s 30-Year Challenge Policy Competition.
Farm Foundation President Neil Conklin will introduce the presenters. Following the presentations, the discussion will be moderated by Charlotte Hedebrand of the International Food & Agricultural Trade Policy Council.
The forum runs from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the National Press Club, 529 14th Street NW, Washington D.C. But you need to hurry and make your reservation by noon tomorrow, April 30. More information is available on Farm Foundation’s Web site. It’s free, and they’ll even provide the coffee.