AgWired

Genetically Modified Organisms or GMOs have become a topic of skepticism, especially in France, and the discussion was on tap Monday afternoon at the International Farm Management Congress.

Anti-GMO activists, who view the harvests as highly unnatural, have destroyed fields of these experimental crops. Mourad Hannachi, a PhD student the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, has studied the difficulties involved with “natural farmers” and GMO farmers coexisting.

“It is a scientific controversy,” Hannachi said. “It’s the consumers choice. And some consumers have a fear of the GMO.”

Hannachi conducted studies in the Alsace and southwest regions of France where experimental GMO maize crops are being grown right alongside natural crops. The problem that exists is France’s farmland is divided up much differently then here in the U.S. For example in Illinois, plots of land are broken up clearly into perfect-shaped plots.
But in France much of the land is scattered, and a GMO farmers crop could be in very close proximity to that of a natural farmer. The problem with GMO farmers and farmers that use pesticides is a cross-pollination takes place when the crops are in close proximity. The GMO takes over the natural plant, and there are many consumers that don’t want to buy a GMO product, and farmers that don’t want to grow it.

“It’s a big problem (between the farmers) because it’s cross- pollination,” Hannachi said. “The only way to stop it is to put the two different crops far away from each other.”

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John Alliston welcomed the agricultural world Monday to the Bone Student Center on the campus of Illinois State University for the 17th annual International Farm Management Congress.

Alliston, the President of the IFMA, stressed the importance of communication during this week-long seminar that includes a multitude of presentations dealing with world agriculture.

“By the end of this week, we want everyone in this room to know everyone else in the room,” said Alliston, who was preceded by IFMA17 host Fred Hepler, Illinois Ag director Tom Jennings and Illinois State President Dr. Al Bowman.

“One of the advantages of having a congress like this is that you get to share ideas with people from so many different countries,” Alliston said.

Dr. Robert Thompson, the Gardner Endowed Chair in Agricultural Policy, from the University of Illinois presented a world perspective of agriculture. Thompson’s overview of world agriculture ranged from the limited window of time farmers have to plant and harvest crops to the need for more investment in technology.
He expressed concern over the current economic climate and what effects that could have on agriculture in the long term.

“The rate of inflation as well as interest rates will have a profound impact on the well being of farming,” Thompson said. “I think there is a significant risk, at least in this country, of an outbreak of inflation in the future. The massive amounts of liquidity that are being pumped into the economy with the stimulus package, there’s a high risk for inflation, and this could come back to affect agriculture significantly.”

The world is also in need of more food production according to Thompson, who believes the global population will double by 2050. That places greater importance on finding the land necessary to grow crops, and an even greater importance on advancing farming technologies.

“Food demand is likely to double in the first half of this century,” Thompson said. “Half of that comes from about a 50 percent increase in population, the other half from successful economic growth.”

Thompson said that we are running out of space, and that only 12 percent of the land in the world is farmable unless forests are cut down to make room for crops. This is a last resort option of course. The destruction of forests would lead to displacement of animals and a virtual devastation of habitats.

Bloomington, Ill. is only the second U.S. city to host this event in the Congress’ 38 year history. IFMA 17 runs from July 19 to July 24.

For a review of the complete itinerary, visit: http://www.ifma17.org/

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The International Farm Management Association Congress began Monday, July 20 at Illinois State University. Gregory Traxler was one of several speakers discussing global agriculture issues on the opening day of the IFMA Congress. His presentation, “Toward World Food Security” highlighted the complexity and causes of the issue of food security.

Food security refers to the right to food for all human beings worldwide, that no one should go hungry, in Wexler’s words. The issue is a global problem, yet it is still relevant in the United States and locally. Local food security can be guaranteed by social programs and local government infrastructures. Without government support of research and development, countries cannot improve their agricultural yield, and thus cannot improve their overall food security. Developing technologies and making agricultural changes are “not something you ‘do’ to a country,” Wexler said, but rather choices that countries should make.

Globally, over 870 million people are hungry each day, a number that has increased by 50 million people in the last year alone. The main problem in solving hunger is not greater production of food, but better, more efficient distribution of food, according to Wexler. “Agriculture is the key to reducing hunger and poverty,” Wexler stressed.

Other causes of the global food crisis include rising fuel costs, urbanization, growing world population, and most importantly, neglect of agriculture in developing countries.

After highlighting the causes and the depth of the problem of world food security, Wexler briefly touched on the efforts of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in solving the global issue. He and his colleagues’’ work focuses on the policy and statistics portion in research and development of agricultural practices.

Wexler’s presentation is a prime example that many people, in a variety of fields other than agriculture specifically, can take part in solving the world food crisis.

For a review of the complete itinerary, visit: http://www.ifma17.org/

AgWired coverage of the IFMA 17 is made possible by

As we’ve mentioned earlier, our coverage of the IFMA 17 Congress is being produced by student correspondents in the IFMA 17 newsroom and delivered to AgWired for posting.

It’s always nice to see the students in action like in this photo.

Those same student correspondents are contributing to the Congress Twitter Feed too. So over the coming days we’ll have lots of stories for you.

IFMA runs July 19 through July 24 at Illinois State University. For a review of the complete itinerary, visit: http://www.ifma17.org.

AgWired coverage of the IFMA 17 is made possible by