Alltech-Muhammad Ali Center Global Education Fund

Chuck Zimmerman

Alltech Muhammad AliThe Alltech-Muhammad Ali Center Global Education and Humanitarian Fund has been officially announced here at the Alltech Symposium. His name is one of the most recognizable in the world and the former heavyweight boxing champion of the world was on hand with his wife Lonnie. They’re seen here with Dr. Pearse Lyons after the announcement moments ago.

Alltech president and founder, Dr. Pearse Lyons presented Muhammad and Lonnie Ali a check for $50,000 to establish the Alltech – Muhammad Ali Center Global Education and Charitable Fund. The focal point of the fund is education. Alltech and the Muhammad Ali Center will stress programs that positively impact others around the world, promote excellence and achieving one’s potential. The fund will have humanitarian and artistic components as well.

“For 29 years Alltech has believed that it is our responsibility to not only provide science-based solutions to agribusiness, but to give back to the communities in which we operate,” said Alltech president and CEO, Dr. Pearse Lyons. “The establishment of this fund and this collaboration will undoubtedly help us raise global awareness of the problems that we hope to address; particularly those that are educational or humanitarian in nature.”

On the stage this morning we heard remarks from Lonnie Ali and then Dr. Lyons. I have them recorded for you here.

You can listen to their remarks here: alltech-symposium-ali.mp3

You can also download the remarks here: Alltech-Muhammad Ali Center Fund Remarks (mp3)

Alltech Symposium Photo Album

Agribusiness, Alltech, Audio

Trade, Food and Agriculture

Cindy Zimmerman

World Ag Forum Day 2The impact of trade on food and agriculture security for the global economy was the topic of the first roundtable discussion on day two of the 2009 World Agricultural Forum World Congress in St. Louis on Tuesday.

Roundtable participants included moderator Gary Blumenthal, CEO of World Perspectives; Joel Velasco of Brazil’s Sugar Cane Industry Association, Cargill’s Devry Boughner, Robert Modarelli with the National Center for APEC; and Tjada McKenna of The Gates Foundation.

I am taking over for John Davis covering this event this week and hope I can do half as good a job. Thanks to John for his excellent coverage, and thanks again to Novus International for sponsoring Agwired coverage of the congress.

Flickr Photo Album for World Ag Forum

AgWired coverage of the 2009 World Agricultural Forum World Congress is sponsored by:
Novus.

Novus International

Freelance Blogging For Alltech

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast-220 - Freelance BloggingThis morning I had an interesting Twitter exchange on the subject of bloggers vs. journalists. I don’t see the difference really and I don’t think you can lump people into those categories as if they’re mutually exclusive. I think you’ll find plenty of “journalists” on mainstream media channels without credibility and you’ll also find plenty of blogging “journalists” with plenty of credibility. That exchange became the inspiration for this week’s program which features an interview with Debbie Hildreth who is the Alltech blogger here at the Symposium I’m attending. I was the Alltech blogger last year so it was easy for me to understand what Debbie is doing as a freelancer with a new gig.

Alltech BloggerHere’s Debbie doing one of her many interviews which are winding up as YouTube videos that are also being posted on their blog.

If you’re a freelance writer or photographer you might find our interview of interest. There is a world of opportunity out there and hopefully Debbie’s story will inspire you.

You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: Listen To ZimmCastZimmCast 220 (12 min MP3)

Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:Interview with Debbie Hildreth - ZimmCast 220

The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired which you can subscribe to using the link in our sidebar. You can also subscribe in iTunes

Alltech, Audio, ZimmCast

I Love Farmers They Feed My Soul

Chuck Zimmerman

I Love FarmersHave you heard of or visited I Love Farmers, They Feed My Soul? Here’s what it’s all About.

We may be young, but we are not stupid.

We love farmers. They feed our soul. Together we are working to help our generation understand the importance of knowing where our food comes from and who produced it.

We’re not your typical “who cares” kind of young people from the Millennial Generation. Sure, we all have cell phones and we text like crazy. We have iPods and spend way too much time on Facebook and MySpace, but we care about our planet. We care about our country. We care about the American family farmer.

Few of our friends know how their food is produced. We think that is sad. And, really it is kind of scary. If we are not careful, we will become dependent on other countries to provide our food. That is not good. Who knows what goes on in other countries when it comes to growing our food? We have an idea, and it too is not good.

In an effort to create a conversation among our peers about our food, our farmers and our future, we have committed to getting connected. We want to get the word out about where our food comes from and how it is produced. We invite you to join our I Love Farmers group on Facebook and be a part of the conversation about American agriculture.

“Together, our generation can make a difference.”

Ag Groups

Alltech Europe Faring Well

Chuck Zimmerman

The Alltech blogger, Debbie Hildreth, has been busy. I will be featuring an interview with her in this week’s ZimmCast. Part of her duties include getting short video clips with attendees here at the Symposium. The first one I found in their YouTube channel is with Alltech Europe Director Marc Larousse. He answers the question: How are Alltech’s European facilities doing during this economic crisis?

Alltech Symposium Photo Album

Alltech, Video

Agri Aware and Alltech Announce KIDZONE

Chuck Zimmerman

Alltech Announces Agri Aware SupportKIDZONE is going global thanks to new support from Alltech. KIDZONE is an educational resource of Agri Aware, an Irish farm and food education organization. Teaching children about agriculture and food is something I think all of us here in America would like to see more of. The new KIDZONE resource is scheduled to launch later this year. I spoke with Dr. Pearse Lyons, pictured here with Mairead Lavery, Agri Aware, at yesterday’s press announcement. Dr. Lyons is holding up the teaching resources packet for class rooms called, “Dig In.” It is one of the items that will be translated into different languages as part of this effort. I would encourage American farm groups to look into this program.

Agri AwareDr. Lyons says that he became aware of Agri Aware a few years ago and has supported it locally in Ireland since then. This new level of support is meant to allow the program to become available around the world.

I also asked him how things were going at this year’s Symposium. He says that attendance is strong at about 1,200 and that is impressive when you consider what he described as several strikes against them. For starters, the economy is discouraging travel, especially internationally. Additionally, Alltech began charging a fee for the Symposium for the first time this year. However, those factors have not dampened attendance which is testament to how important these folks believe the event is from a networking and professional improvement standpoint.

You can listen to my interview with Dr. Lyons here: alltech-symposium-lyons-1.mp3

You can also download the interview here: Dr. Pearse Lyons Remarks (mp3)

Alltech Symposium Photo Album

Ag Groups, Alltech, Audio

Alltech Where The Buffalo Roam

Chuck Zimmerman

Alltech BuffaloWe finished today’s Alltech Symposium out on the farm. You couldn’t have asked for more picture perfect weather which is why I took photos like this one of the buffalo. You can find a lot more in the photo album.

I have a number of stories to post in the morning including an announcement by Alltech that it’s supporting a program to educate children about farm life. Actually, the company has been supporting it but now wants to help take the program “global.” More on that in the morning. Until then, enjoy the photos.

Alltech Symposium Photo Album

Alltech

Mark Lambert Joins Staff at National Corn Growers

Chuck Zimmerman

Mark LambertIt’s official now. Our good buddy Mark Lambert is a Senior Communications Manager for the National Corn Growers Association. The picture is him hard at work during the recent NAFB Washington Watch program.

“Mark is such a valuable addition to our NCGA communications team. We are delighted to have him join the NCGA team,” said NCGA Communications Director Nancy Bunker Koester. “Our farmer members and state organizations will benefit greatly from the wealth of experience Mark brings to NCGA after working more than two decades on corn and ethanol issues for Illinois farmers.”

Previously, Lambert served as communications director for the Illinois Corn Growers Association and Illinois Corn Marketing Board. He has been actively engaged in agriculture and related issues for more than three decades, with 20 years of experience in the corn industry and 12 years covering agri-business as a journalist and columnist for the Peoria Journal Star and Illinois Agri-News.

Ag Groups, Corn, NCGA

John Deere’s Penn Picks Up Syngenta Award at World Ag Forum

John Davis

syngentaawardpicJ.B. Penn, Chief Economist for John Deere, has been recognized for his efforts that have “impacted the lives and livelihood of the world’s population by meeting the growing need for food.”

During a presentation after the last session today at the World Agricultural Forum in St. Louis, Syngenta Seeds President David Morgan presented Penn with the Syngenta Recognizing Contributions to Global Challenges Award for his work that has “contributed significantly to bringing plant potential to life by addressing the crucial issues of safe, affordable and reliable supplies of food, fuel, fiber and water.”

Morgan highlighted Penn’s work to calm fears after BSE in cattle was discovered to have been imported into the U.S. from Canada. He was also noted for his educational work about the enhanced safeguards put in place against BSE and helped lift bans on U.S. beef exports to other countries.

Penn told the delegates to the forum that he was very flattered, very honored and very pleased to accept the award. He hopes the award will help draw attention and better inform people of the daunting challenges facing agriculture in the future.

You can hear almost all of the award presentation (sorry, missed the first few seconds) and Penn’s acceptance remarks here: Syngentaaward.mp3

Flickr Photo Album for World Ag Forum

AgWired coverage of the 2009 World Agricultural Forum World Congress is sponsored by:
Novus.

John Deere, Novus International, Syngenta

Farm Bureau’s Stallman: Any Hungry Person is a Concern

John Davis

stallmanpicPresident of the American Farm Bureau Federation, Bob Stallman, just finished up his part of a panel discussion at World Agricultural Forum, entitled Strategies, Actions & Policies for Long-Term Security in Agriculture & Food Production.

Right at the outset, Stallman stressed the American farmers’ commitment to making sure that not only people in the U.S. are fed but that the entire world has enough to eat.

“Any hungry person should be great cause for concern to all of us.”

Stallman says agriculture needs to figure out how it will feed the 9 billion people who will live on the planet by the year 2050… on basically the same amount of land used to feed about 6 billion today (including the nearly 3 billion who now don’t get enough to eat). But, he says global hunger has less to do with production than it does with infrastructure and politics. “Hunger in the world today is not a lack of calories. It’s a problem of distribution,” he said.

Stallman says policies, in particular, the trade protections that too many developing countries insist upon, are some of the political decisions that are having a tremendous impact on world food supplies. He also defended biofuels, which had been a bit maligned during this session, as not being to blame for the spike in food prices the world has seen. Stallman pointed out that American farmers are getting better at sustainability practices.

Stallman tells the group in St. Louis that there are some solutions to the daunting tasks world agriculture will face over the next couple of decades.

“We must continue to seek out new production technology, adapt new production technology and not fear new production technology. Those countries that choose to turn their backs on tech will be left behind.”

Stallman says open borders and open trade are also part of the solution to how to feed those 9 billion people by 2050.

You can hear more of Bob’s comments during the session here: Stallman1.mp3

Flickr Photo Album for World Ag Forum

AgWired coverage of the 2009 World Agricultural Forum World Congress is sponsored by:
Novus.

Novus International