AgWired

AgWired coverage of IFAJ 2009 is sponsored by:
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There are a lot of agricultural policy concerns today and the Farm Foundation is taking an active role in helping DC adopt better legislation. The organization notes that agriculture is important and ag policy is important, and their role is to bring divergent views together and provide a forum for discussion. During these discussions, The Farm Foundation lets the best policies arise and then provides the outlet for policy makers to take advantage of these ideas. However, the organization does not lobby, but simply provides the best information for policy makers to use.

I asked Sheldon Jones what key issues they have been dealing with and he mentioned two: food prices and the agriculture’s role in feeding and fueling the world.

“A year ago when food prices were increasing and there were food riots around the world, we commissioned a study from three economists at Purdue on what are the real drivers to food prices. They reviewed literature, assessed the global demand for food and what were the driving factors including fuel, petroleum prices, world stocks, supplies of grain and more.”

The organization issued a report last July which they updated six months later, “What’s Driving Food Prices? and have also issued a report on global food and fuel demand, “The 30 -Year Challenge: Agriculture’s Strategic Role In Feeding and Fueling a Growing World“.

You can see all our pictures in the IFAJ/AMS 2009 Photo Album.

You can listen to my full interview with Sheldon here.

AgWired coverage of IFAJ 2009 is sponsored by:
and

Several student and young professional awards were given during the IFAJ/AMS summit and one of the most coveted awards, the Forrest Bassford Award was given to Whitney Wallace and is sponsored by LPC. Whitney will be a senior at the University of Missouri this fall and she is an active member of ACT – the AG Communicators of Tomorrow. She will be graduating next May with a degree in Agricultural Journalism with an Ag Economics minor.

I had the opportunity to spend a few minutes with Whitney, and she is a talented and well spoken woman who has already taken the ag communications industry by storm. For those companies looking for a rare talent, you’d better get in line now, because I suspect that Whitney will be off the market in a blink of an eye!

As such an active and young member of the journalism community, I asked her to give her fellow students some advice.

“Just like I tell the other students at Mizzou, you just gotta jump in an try everything you can. Because we have so many opportunities that we can pick and choose and find so many great little niches of places we can succeed.”

Whitney, I like your style.

You can see the pictures of all the award winners in the IFAJ/AMS 2009 Photo Album.

You can listen to my full interview with Whitney here.