The American Farm Bureau Federation is pleased with a decision by Senate leadership last week to delay consideration of climate change legislation until the spring of 2010.
I talked with AFBF president Bob Stallman about that legislation and a number of other issues affecting agriculture during the recent National Association of Farm Broadcasting annual meeting. Stallman says they opposed the climate change bill that was passed by the House, despite provisions included that were beneficial to agriculture. “That bill we believe will downsize American agriculture by at least 20 percent,” he said. “Long term it reduces our ability to produce food.” Stallman says they disagree with USDA’s projections that climate change legislation will help agriculture. “We’re still asking USDA to explain how they come up with those numbers and we’re not getting an answer to that yet.” Stallman also comments on indirect land use change and health care, all issues that will likely be topics of discussion at the AFBF 91st annual meeting coming up January 10-13 in Seattle.
Stallman also comments on the importance of social media use for Farm Bureau and farmers in general. “These are new communications tools that are being rapidly adopted by society and we have to communicate with society. Even I have a Facebook page now!”
Listen to my interview with Bob here.
In a release by the American Soybean Association and published in the
American Farmland Trust has launched a new blog called 
Our sponsor for AgWired coverage of the NAMA Trends In Agriculture conference again this year was 
Besides talking about how the agency was started in 1951 and how it has evolved I thought it very interesting to hear how they’re working with clients on new communications channels. For example, they say that clients are surprised at how low the costs are to get started with social media. They also offer some good advice for implementing it into a communications plan like making a commitment to it and staying engaged. They also acknowledge the difficulty with measuring ROI for digital marketing campaigns but with a little effort there are ways to judge how well it’s working for you.
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With a title like Director of Molecular Biology you might think that it would be hard for a non-technical person to carry on a conversation with Ramesh Ramakrishna. Not so. Ramesh works for 
Last month’s Farm Foundation “30-Year Policy Conference” drew agribusiness leaders, government officials, and other interested parties. “Because 30 years from now, we’re going to be looking at over 9 billion people on the planet and with rising incomes, people begin to eat more meat and a more varied diet and that means that agriculture has to deliver more,” says Farm Foundation President Neil Conklin. “As we deal with how to make the best use of our increasingly scarce natural resources to produce food, feed fiber, fuel – and even flowers – we need to be sure that we are thinking about policies that will help us in that environment, not the environment we have lived in for the last 30 years.”
‘Tis the season…for giving! That’s exactly what Christmas tree growers are doing in Indiana this year. In a spirited event that should remind us all to step up and help others, this is a charity worth giving cheers to! Check it out!