Deadline Looms for Farm Foundation 30-Year Challenge Competition

John Davis

30-yearchallengeNext Monday by the close of business is the deadline to get your ideas into the Farm Foundation’s 30-Year Challenge Competition… and perhaps your share of $20,000 in cash prizes for the best solutions to the challenges agriculture is facing in providing food, feed, fiber and fuel over the next 30 years:

The competition is open to anyone with an interest in the public policy issues outlined in the Foundation’s report, The 30-Year Challenge: Agriculture’s Strategic Role in Feeding and Fueling a Growing World. That report discusses challenges in six areas: global financial markets and recession; global food security; global energy security; climate change; competition for natural resources; and global economic development.

“We encourage all segments of the food system–from producers to consumers–to contribute entries with their ideas and proposals,” says Farm Foundation President Neil Conklin. “Agriculture and the food system today face diverse and complex issues. Farm Foundation believes that without a civil and broad-reaching discussion respectful of all stakeholders opinions, we will be unable to develop the policies that agriculture and the food system need to deal with the challenges before us.”

Entries can be submitted that address issues in one of the six challenge areas, or multiple areas. For each of the six challenge areas, judging will be done by an independent three-member panel selected by Farm Foundation. Prize winners will be announced in September 2009.

More details about the 30-Year Challenge is available on the Farm Foundation Web site.

The 30-Year Challenge project is directed and led by Farm Foundation. Contributing financial assistance to the project are: the Alliance for Abundant Food and Energy, the American Farm Bureau Federation, the National Corn Growers Association, the National Pork Producers Council, and the United Egg Producers.

Farm Foundation

Virtual Farming on Facebook

Amanda Nolz

Looking back to my college days, there was one craze that my roommates and friends got into that I never got into. It’s called Virtual Farming, and it’s a new application on Facebook. I ran across an excellent column on this Virtual Farming by Gary Truitt at Hoosier Ag Today. While I always thought of it as some strange addiction that would more than likely eat up all my time (partly true), Truitt sees it as an educational opportunity for consumers (if the application was accurate).

app_1_56748925791_4089 Let me explain how this works. On Facebook, you can join a farming community, where you can purchase livestock, plant and harvest crops, make money, build fences and join a neighborhood. Truitt writes, There are no diseases, no deaths, no market crashes, no hail storms or droughts, and no bank foreclosures. Yet the game is engaging and, if you are not careful, rather addictive. Like farming, it can get into your blood.

This game on Facebook is one of those tools that might begin a conversation with consumers about where their foods come from; however, the livestock aren’t used for meat or milk production in this game. Truitt admits there are flaws to this system when he writes, I would like to see the game developers add some new features to the higher levels. Things like confined animal feeding, biotechnology, and conservation tillage. These are simple concepts that could be easily added to the game and would enhance the players’ understanding of agricultural issues that are very much in the news today.

To read the entire column, link to Hoosier Ag Today. And, let me know if you give this virtual farming thing a shot. I haven’t tried it yet, but I might think about joining a rural community online one of these days…

Social Networking

The Pope On iPhone

Chuck Zimmerman

Vatican News iPhone AppIf you’re still wondering how new social media/networking platforms have become so pervasive I would suggest hearing how an expert explains it. That expert is Pope Benedict XVI.

Most AgWired fans know how big a fan I was of Pope John Paul II and that personally meeting him was one of the highlights of my life. I have also grown very fond of our new Pope Benedict XVI and am amazed by how well he and the Vatican are implementing new media/social networking communications strategies. I think we can all learn a lot from these developments:

The Pope has written a message (pdf) to go along with the new website which explains his view on using social media. I think he’s gets it completely. Here’s an excerpt:

While the speed with which the new technologies have evolved in terms of their efficiency and reliability is rightly a source of wonder, their popularity with users should not surprise us, as they respond to a fundamental desire of people to communicate and to relate to each other. This desire for communication and friendship is rooted in our very nature as human beings and cannot be adequately understood as a response to technical innovations.

So even though these new platforms are cool and we have cool new gadgets to use them they only work because they are helping people communicate how they want to, not necessarily how a company or organization would like to. That’s really a hard concept for traditional communicators to grasp but is one of the best explanations I’ve heard for why what we’re doing is working so well.

How is your company or organizations adapting?

Social Networking

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

    Sustainability Important to Novus International

    Cindy Zimmerman

    Thad SimonsAt the conclusion of the World Ag Congress in St. Louis last week, Novus International held a sustainability roundtable for some of the congress participants to discuss how the livestock industry can step up to the sustainability challenge. Novus president and CEO Thad Simons, pictured here with his son Kenneth, were among the participants. Thad says this year’s World Ag Congress was the best they have ever had. “One of the reasons this is the best congress is that people are really coming to understand the value of agriculture again,” he says. “We’ve become sexy again as an industry.”

    Thad says they work with their customers to improve efficiency and deal with issues of sustainability, which is more than just a word for Novus International. They don’t just talk the talk, they walk the walk as well, which can be seen in their new headquarters building in St. Charles, MO. “We just received the certification from the Green Building Council of the United States for the Platinum LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and we are very proud of that,” Thad says. He says their goal for the building was that it be sustainable in three ways – economically, environmentally and socially. “It was intended to be an open, team-based work environment and the environmental design part of the LEED program is really focused on the employees, so it is very open and very light.”

    The grand opening of the new Novus International headquarters is coming up next week – June 3 – and we will be able to provide you with a peek inside this new sustainable building.

    You can listen to my interview with Thad here: waf-09-novus-thad-2.mp3

    Flickr Photo Album for World Ag Forum

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

    Audio, Novus International, Sustainability

    Climate Change and Animal Agriculture

    Cindy Zimmerman

    UC-Davis Air Quality Extension Specialist Dr. Frank Mitloehner presented his views on animal agriculture and climate change during the World Ag Congress last week in St. Louis, and then followed up with a presentation on sustainability in livestock production during a roundtable presented by Novus International.

    Frank MitloehnerDr. Mitloehner talked about the United Nations report that claimed livestock produce more greenhouse gases than all transportation. “This has been a very controversial report,” he said. “You can’t take these global numbers and apply them regionally. That’s one of the big issues.”

    He says that increasing efficiency in livestock production is already decreasing greenhouse gas emissions, comparing the efficiency of dairy cows in the United States between 1944 and 2007. “To produce one billion kilograms of milk in 2007, we need 20 percent less cows, 25 percent less feed, 10 percent less land. In 2007, we produced 40 percent less methane and 56 percent less nitrous oxide compared to 1944. The reason for that is improved efficiency, and these are huge gains.”

    He believes that while livestock production may be part of the problem in some regions, it can be part of the solution by producing energy from manure. “I come from a village in Germany that decided five years ago to establish a very large digester, which is fed with animal manure, food waste, green clippings and other residue. It produces methane, which is burned, the heat from the burning heats up a water tower, the heated water goes through a pipeline system into every home in the village and the power that is generated is used to power the entire village. This village is now the first one in the world that is off the grid.” Mitloehner says they are working on a similar project at UC-Davis.

    During the Novus roundtable, it was brought out that the issues of climate change, sustainability and animal welfare are all tied together and provide both challenges and opportunities for the livestock industry. Mitloehner says producers need to confront the issues and be proactive.

    You can listen to Frank Mitloehner’s opening remarks during the climate change session at the World Ag Congress: waf-09-mitloehner.MP3

    Flickr Photo Album for World Ag Forum

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

    Audio, Livestock, Novus International

    Syngenta Gives FarmAssist a Face Lift

    Cindy Zimmerman

    Syngenta Crop Protection has redesigned the online face of the company, FarmAssist.com.

    With more than 30,000 visitors per month, FarmAssist® provides users with up-to-the-minute agricultural news and commentary, local weather customized by zip code, market observations and agronomic and product information.

    The refreshed FarmAssist provides a better user experience, allowing visitors to navigate more easily through current industry news, updated educational materials and a new audio/visual library, featuring agronomic and product information, crop-related videos and customer testimonials. The new site improves upon the previous site that was set in place more than four years ago.

    “The revamped site features a number of improvements over the old site,” said Anthony Transou, Syngenta internet marketing manager. “We were able to update the design, making navigation easy and efficient, and add improved features to provide users more agronomic resources. We continue to analyze our service offerings for our customers and provide them with the best information in whatever manner is most convenient for their business.”

    Internet, Syngenta

    BASF Sponsors Fly-ins

    Cindy Zimmerman

    Agricultural aviators across the country are attend fly-in workshops this year sponsored by BASF.

    The workshops give agricultural aviators a chance to gather each year to test their equipment and learn about new developments in application technologies to ensure they are applying crop protection products evenly, efficiently and safely. Analysts with the Operation Self-Regulating Application and Flight Efficiency (S.A.F.E.) from across the country conduct these workshops in conjunction with state agricultural aviator associations.

    “We are very impressed with the level of expertise and training that S.A.F.E. offers and are proud to support the Ag Aviators through sponsorship of fly-ins,” said Jim Gaffney, Market Manager, Agricultural Aviation, with BASF. “The application of crop protection products such as Headline® fungicide enables growers to reap the benefits in terms of yield, disease control and Plant Health. Precision application is an essential tool in helping growers manage their fertilizer and pesticide costs.”

    Workshops have already been held this month in Mattoon, IL; Wakarusa, IN; and Washington, NC. Upcoming workshops will be held June 5 in Indianapolis, IN and June 9-10 in Webster, IA. Another is scheduled for September 3 in El Reno, OK.

    The workshops are open to interested pilots. More information about S.A.F.E. is available through the National Agricultural Aviation Association.

    In addition to the scheduled fly-ins, BASF is also sponsoring events around Nebraska in conjunction with the Nebraska Aviation Trades Association.

    BASF

    International Journalists at World Ag Congress

    Cindy Zimmerman

    Paul Collier Mike Wilson Markus RedigerLast week’s World Agricultural Forum World Ag Congress attracted a great crop of journalists, both locally and internationally. Pictured here interviewing keynote speaker Paul Collier (left) are two leaders of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) – current president Mike Wilson with Farm Futures magazine and senior vice president Markus Rediger of Switzerland’s LID Agricultural Information Center.

    Read Mike’s feature on Paul Collier here.

    Collier is a professor of economics at Oxford University and author of a book on global poverty, “The Bottom Billion”. He contends that there are three major policy changes that can be made by nations that would alleviate hunger in the poorest countries. One is biofuels subsidies. “I’m not against biofuels, I’m against subsidies for biofuels,” Paul says.

    Not sure I agree with him on that one, but I do agree with his second premise that the ban on genetically modified crops in Europe and Africa should be lifted. “Europe shot itself in the foot and in the process it shot Africa in the heart because Africa really needs to adapt to climatic deterioration and a rising population and genetic modification of crops is potentially a godsend,” said Collier.

    The third policy mistake Collier notes is the over emphasis in Africa on “peasant farming” and the resistance to commercial agriculture. “This has tended to be imposed on African by the agenda of some NGOs and development agencies who have a romantic attachment to the vanished peasant lifestyle,” something he says is very self-serving, “trying to impose our fantasies on the poorest people on Earth.”

    You can listen to my interview with Paul Collier here: waf-09-bottom-billion.mp3

    Flickr Photo Album for World Ag Forum

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

    Audio, IFAJ, Novus International

    The Podcast Consumer Revealed

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Edison ADM Podcast SlideI missed the Association for Downloadable Media’s webcast titled, “The Podcast Consumer Revealed.” The session was conducted by Tom Webster, Edison Research. The audience for podcasting just keeps growing. The main reasons people watch or listen to podcasts is so they can do so whenever and wherever they want. Here are some key points from the session.

    * 1 in 5 Americans (22%) have listened to a podcast.
    * 59% men 41% women, 18-44 demo = 60% of podcast users.
    * Most downloadable media is consumed via desktop, mobile growing.
    * Podcast users are very active on social networks – mainly Myspace and Facebook
    * 24% of podcast consumers feel “emotional connection” with their favorite podcasts.
    * Podcast consumers are more receptive to advertisers heard in podcast vs heard via internet radio.
    * Producers need to do a better job of selling the portable aspects.

    If you’d like to know more then feel free to watch the recorded presentation here.

    Podcasts