Farm Foundation to Host 30-Year Challenge Conference

John Davis

30-YearChallengeHow do you feed, clothe and fuel a world population that is expected to climb to 9 billion people by 2040? That is the challenge the folks at the Farm Foundation set out about a year ago to address six major drivers impacting agriculture’s ability to provide food, feed, fiber and fuel to a growing world. Those six areas are: global financial markets and recession; global food security; global energy security; climate change; competition for natural resources and global economic development.

On Tuesday, October 27th the ag-based think tank will host a conference focusing on those six challenging areas at the National Press Club, in Washington, D.C.:

Featured speakers will be Dr. Rajiv Shah, USDA Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics, former U.S. Trade Representative Clayton Yeutter and Erik Peterson, Director of the Global Strategy Institute at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The program will also feature a panel of agribusiness, NGO and academic leaders discussing how to build the next generation of public policies. Dr. Barry Flinchbaugh of Kansas State University will moderate that discussion.

“Given the right tools and incentives, we are confident that the world’s agricultural producers and agribusinesses will meet the 30-year challenge,” says Farm Foundation President Neil Conklin. “But those incentives and tools are heavily influenced by food and agricultural policies that have been shaped by decades of abundance and declining real food prices.

“Today, consumers, environmental concerns and climate change–as well as a major global financial recession–are reshaping the public policy landscape. It is not clear that today’s policies, most of which were designed to deal with the challenges of the last century, will provide the tools and incentives needed to address the 30-year challenge,” Conklin continues.

The conference will feature the winners in Farm Foundation”s 30-Year Challenge Policy Competition, which sought innovative and promising public policy options to address the challenges outlined in the 30-Year Challenge report.

You can register for the free conference by Friday, October 23 here.

Farm Foundation

Truth About Trade and Technology Honors Irish Farmer

Cindy Zimmerman

TATTFarmers from around the globe gathered in Des Moines this week to participate in the 2009 Global Farmer-to-Farmer Roundtable, which is held in conjunction with the World Food Prize and hosted by Truth About Trade and Technology.

The group honored one of their own today with the 2009 Kleckner Trade & Technology Advancement Award which recognizes a farmer for “exemplary leadership, vision and resolve in advancing the rights of all farmers to choose the technology and tools that will improve the quality, quantity and availability of agricultural products around the world.”

TATTThis year’s honoree is Jim McCarthy, a farm manager from Ireland whose agricultural interests span three continents – Europe, South America and North America. He says it is frustrating that he is unable to use biotechnology-based crops in his farming operation in Ireland, but can in other areas. “The environmental benefit of GM (genetically modified) crops is staggering,” he said, as he made comparisons between the farm operations he’s involved with in Ireland and Argentina. He says wildlife numbers are much higher in the South America farm operation because fewer pesticides are used because of Bt traits in the crops. “We’re not using huge amounts of organophosphates, so the food chain is not being interrupted for the wildlife,” he said.

Closer to home, McCarthy is one of a group of farmers that invested in a grass-based dairy in southern Missouri. He is the third recipient of the Kleckner Trade and Technology Advancement Award, which was established in 2007 in honor of Dean Kleckner, the founder and chairman of Truth About Trade and Technology.

Biotech, Farming, International

Getting Ready For Start of BlogWorld & New Media Expo

Chuck Zimmerman

BlogWorld & New Media Expo - Las Vegas Convention CenterThe 2009 BlogWorld & New Media Expo is about to get underway in Las Vegas. Carly, Robert and I are on location (finally).

I’ll primarily be writing about the conference on ZimmComm.biz but will post here too when I find something you new media farm folks might be interested in.

My hope is that I can shed a little more light on how and why you and your company should be utilizing new media mechanisms like blogs, podcasts and social networks.

Uncategorized

CLEANmp Provides Help With Nutrient Management Plans

Cindy Zimmerman

cleanmpHelping livestock and poultry producers develop and implement plans to limit their environmental impact is the goal of a program called Comprehensive Livestock Environmental Assessments and Nutrient management plans, or CLEANmp.

The program, which is managed by the Missouri-based Environmental Resources Coalition, is designed to provide services to all types and sizes of livestock and poultry production operations west of the Mississippi River. Technical assistance for the project is confidential and free to all producers. ERC is a non-profit group dedicated to water quality protection and improvement efforts and the program uses federal grant dollars from the Environmental Protection Agency.

Find out more here.

Environment, Livestock, Poultry

Climate Change is BAD Topic

Cindy Zimmerman

BADThursday is Blog Action Day (BAD) and the topic this year is Climate Change. Food production is top on the list of suggested ideas for bloggers to write about in an alert sent out by organizers. “Agricultural production around the world is responsible for nearly as much greenhouse gas emissions as all forms of transportation put together, so it shouldn’t be surprising that the food choices we make have a big impact on the climate,” the organizers say, linking to some choice misinformation on their website.

If you are an agricultural blogger, you should sign up now for BAD, because the views of this will likely be very one-sided without you. When you sign up, you can get an idea of the ideology of the organizers. You are asked to “pick your favorite causes” from a list that includes such goodies as Animal Rights, Global Warming, Gay Rights, Global Poverty, Sustainable Food, Environment, Wildlife and Habitat, and Conflict and Response (that’s a cause?) You get the idea. BAD is “powered by change.org” which has as the top post today “Will Our Beef Addiction Destroy the Amazon?” Lovely.

If you haven’t registered and feel like airing your viewpoint on food production and climate change as part of BAD, sign up here. Or just boycott it.

Animal Activists, Farming, Wackos

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Syngenta Crop Protection announced Callisto Xtra as the brand name for a new, post-emergence corn herbicide that will be an excellent tank mix partner for glyphosate in glyphosate-tolerant corn.
  • Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health announced that it has initiated a multi-year sponsorship project, supporting the Shire Highlands Milk Producers Association in Malawi.
  • Alltech’s Yea-Sacc1026, a live yeast culture based on Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain 1026, has been granted full European Union authorization as a feed additive for horses under Commission Regulation (EC) No. 886/2009.
  • The American Phytopathological Society, in cooperation with related organizations, will present the 2009 National Soybean Rust Symposium, Dec. 9-11, in New Orleans, La.
    Zimfo Bytes

    Talking NAFB With Bill O’Neill

    Chuck Zimmerman

    ZimmCast 234 - NAFBThe National Association of Farm Broadcasting has seen some significant changes in the last 4 years and the staff leader has been Bill O’Neill. Bill is stepping down at the end of this year to pursue some personal interests and I spoke with him about his decision and his years working with the organization. He says he’s going to move on to some things he’s been interested in for a while. He mentions “being a student again.”

    Highlights for him during his time with NAFB include the fact that the board of directors that was just seated when he started represented all aspects of the membership. The name of the organization changed the year he started as well. That was done to reflect how the classes of membership have changed over the years. He is proud of the fact that they implemented a strategic plan and that they’ve conducted national farm media studies in the last several years.

    Bill also gives us a preview of the upcoming NAFB Convention which Cindy and I will be attending and covering on AgWired. He says that the convention will continue to provide members with an opportunity to learn more about how to cope with changes in communications technology among other things. The annual Trade Talk session is full showing strong support from agribusinesses and other ag organizations. He says that new research about farmers and their use of the internet will also be of interest.

    If you haven’t registered for the convention, the early registration deadline is the end of this week.

    The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired. Subscribe so you can listen when and where you want. Just go to our a Subscribe page.

    Audio, Media, NAFB, ZimmCast

    Getting To Know Fluidigm

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Fluidigm Gajus WorthingtonThe President/CEO and co-Founder of Fluidigm (AgWired Sponsor) is Gajus Worthington. Let’s meet him and learn about the company and how its technology can benefit agribusiness.

    I met with Gajus at the company headquarters in South San Francisco and asked him a number of questions to help us better understand their core technology. Before getting to the technology, he explains how he decided to start the company one day while walking down the street and “in an instant, like being hit by a bolt of lightning” he knew his future was defined and that “what I was supposed to do was build a company that could contribute in a variety of different ways to a variety of different industries.”

    The core technology produced by Fluidigm is the production of integrated fluidic circuits (IFC’s). Gajus uses the analogy of electronics where large computers using vacuum tubes were made very small by the use of a chip. That made electronics much more high performance and affordable. That innovation has impacted ag through the use of GPS in precision applications for example. He says Fluidigm does a similar thing for biology. Biology research today uses machines much like those old vacuum tube computers except they use arrays of test tubes and hoses. Fluidigm takes all that “plumbing” and puts it on a chip. For example, a single chip (IFC) can have as much plumbing as in a 1,000 room hotel! This allows for very high throughput biological research much more cost effectively and easily. This has major implications for genetics, conservation, seed selection and quality control.

    Because the technology is so small it allows this type of work to move to the field in places where it couldn’t be done before, like feedlots for example. One example is a Fluidigm client, the Alaska Dept. of Fish & Game, which uses their technology in the field to manage salmon fisheries. He says seeing the use of their technology in industries like agribusiness and the management of wildlife is extremely gratifying because it’s contributing to people’s livelihoods and helping the environment.

    We’re going to learn more about Fluidigm systems and technology in upcoming stories that include interviews with key company representatives. Gajus provides a very good overview of what you can expect from Fluidigm now and in the future.

    You can watch or listen to my interview with Gajus below:

    Agribusiness, Audio, Research, Technology, Video

    Just Saying No To Food Taxes

    Chuck Zimmerman

    AAFT LogoAmericans Against Food Taxes is ramping up its campaign. See a list of the coalition members here.

    Dear Concerned Citizen:

    Thank you for joining the fight against beverage and food taxes. Because of you, many in Washington listened and agreed – a tax on beverages is not what concerned citizens like you want. In the coming week, as the health care debate heads to the Senate Floor, the idea of a tax on the sodas and juice drinks you enjoy is being revived yet again. Now more than ever, it’s important that your Senators hear from you. We need your help to send another message to Congress. Please go to our simple web form by clicking below and let your Senator know that a beverage tax is the last thing you need in this economy.

    In the past few weeks, proponents of a new national tax on soda and juice drinks have become more driven and vocal than ever before. We thank you for your support and ask that you match their enthusiasm at this critical juncture.

    Sincerely,
    Americans Against Food Taxes

    Ag Groups

    NAFB Executive Director Stepping Down

    Chuck Zimmerman

    NAFBJust received word that Bill O’Neill, the Executive Director of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting, will be stepping down. The NAFB Board has accepted his resignation effective December 31.

    You can hear all about it from NAFB President, Pam Jahnke, who has recorded an audio statement (mp3).

    Pam Jahnke, current president of NAFB said that O’Neill plans on pursuing some personal goals he’s been considering for some time. “The association is in wonderful shape financially, and blessed with a solid staff in Platte City. Bill took all of this into consideration before his announcement. The officer team is very grateful that NAFB has had his guidance and dedication for five years, and we’re even more grateful that he’s not departing until December 31.”

    The executive officer team of Jahnke, Greg Akagi and Lindsay Hill has already begun work planning for the next director. They will complete formation of a search and screen committee shortly, and begin advertising the position on a national scale. Jahnke said that they’re in agreement that they will take their time, and research all options thoroughly.

    “We realize the importance of this process and are consulting with members and outside resources to make sure that the NAFB has the opportunity to enjoy another 65 years of success.”

    It’s hard to believe that I posted the announcement of Bill’s start with NAFB back in 2005. Been doing this a while!

    Media, NAFB