AgWired

I’m thinking about eating dinner and if I were susceptible to drama then I’d rethink my dinner plans. I just finished reading the novel “Out at Night,” a work of fiction by Susan Arnout Smith, that uses genetically modified organisms (GMO) as its basis for murder and mayhem. Now, I don’t profess to be able to discern between fact and fancy when it comes to GMO crops, but for the most part, it appears that the circumstances in the book are fancy.

So here’s the plot. As the world converges at the largest agricultural convention in Palm Springs, California, a man is murdered and set on fire in a genetically modified soy field that is to be unveiled during the conference. As the story unfolds, there is a crazy environmental organization staging rallies and protests and planning to take down the event during the closing session. But is the murder tied to the environmental organization or is there another factor in play?

Now I must concede that readers of this book will not get unbiased information surrounding GMO crops but much of the circumstances surrounding the plot, for example countries that won’t accept GMO crops, are in fact reality. In addition, Smith doesn’t portray the work of environmentalists in a positive light -she chooses to portray the most left-wing of the bunch. This in and of itself wouldn’t be a problem for agriculture or the environmental movement, but while this is a work of fiction, many readers will take the plot to heart. On the flip side, using the extremes in both industries makes for a more tension-filled plot.

On that note, and being a more educated reader regarding agriculture and the environmental movement than most, the book was a fast-paced thriller and I was entertained from beginning to end. If you can put your personal opions aside on these issues for a few hours, I promise you’ll be entertained.

I am working with a number of talented young student bloggers covering the AGMasters Conference at the University of Illinois and they are doing an awesome job of audio interviews and posting on the conference blog.

The bloggers include Crop Science majors Ross Recker (pictured interviewing Emerson Nafzinger) and Jared Roskamp. They have both done great interviews, first time ever! Also working hard are Ag Comm majors Megan Ott and Alyssa Eade. And doing triple duty blogging, tweeting and working the conference is Crop Sci major Caitlin Allen.

Please check out the conference blog and see the great work these young people are doing. They could be working for you someday (or you for them!)

See photos from the conference here on the AGMasters Photo Album

Listen to Ross’ interview with Dr. Nafzinger about the potential for 300 bushel corn here:

The inaugural AGMasters Conference is underway at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana and there is a good crowd on hand, despite the fact that many farmers around the state are still out harvesting corn. This event is a new format for a conference that has a 60 year history at the university. Once upon a time, it was called “Spray School” – but it has evolved into so much more.

I talked with one of the co-chairs, Mike Gray, an entomologist with the Department of Crop Sciences. Mike says the organizers of the conference decided to move to the beautiful new I Center this year and have it in December instead of January. “Who would have known with this late harvest that we would have some issues surface because of that,” he said.

They also decided to change the format to a general session the first day and a classroom setting with breakouts on the second day. Check out the AGMasters conference blog for full coverage.

Started a Flickr photo album here – and you can listen to or download my interview with Mike below.