One of the speakers at the opening session of the World Agricultural Forum was the former Prime Minister of New Zealand and current Chairman of the World Ag Forum, the RT Hon. James B. Bolger.
He told the group that while you can park unsold cars, you can’t park hunger… drawing parallels to the bailout of the US auto industry but a lack of similar action to bail out some of the world’s poorest people.
Just a few minutes ago, I caught up with Mr. Bolger as he stepped off the stage from a session that included representatives from some of the world’s biggest agri-businesses talking about how to solve the current global financial crisis. He says the most important thing we can do is lift up the 3 billion people who are at the bottom of the economic ladder.
“Fundamentally, if we are going to have a world economy moving smoothly, we need to have the 3 billion on the bottom having the income to buy the goods of the others.” Mr. Bolger sees those 3 billion as potential customers who could make a tremendous difference in the world’s economy as a whole.
Several of the panelists pointed out that while banks and companies would like to invest in these developing countries, there needs to be a stable political environment. Mr. Bolger sees it as a “chicken-and-egg” quandry as to which one is solved first.
“Poor countries will be unstable. We’ve got to start looking at how we lift them up out of absolute poverty to have more stable societies. It’s naive to say we can’t do anything until they all settle down and behave.”
He says a venue, such as the World Agricultural Forum, is a tremendous place where people can get together and hear other viewpoints and learn from others backgrounds.
Listen to my entire conversation with Mr. Bolger here: Bolger1.mp3
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With financial markets still stinging after the recent meltdown, it’s no wonder that the financial challenges facing agriculture is part of the first session at the World Agricultural Forum going on in St. Louis, Mo.
In just a few moments, the 2009 World Congress of the World Agricultural Forum will get underway, with opening remarks from World Ag Forum CEO Leonard Guarraia and Congressman Russ Carnahan (D-MO).
At the Alltech Animal Health & Nutrition Symposium you get your day started with a little “fun run.” I’m not sure everyone would think of a 6:30am run as fun but it really is.
I had such a good time the last time I covered an event that our friends at Novus International sponsored (the Undergraduate Networking Day back in April), that I just couldn’t wait to see what they had in store for us at the World Agricultural Forum. Well, they did not disappoint as they provided those who took the bus ride over to the St. Louis Zoo a behind-the-scenes tour of the world famous St. Louis Zoo. I’ve been there a couple of times, but this time I got to see some of what goes on to make this great institution run, including a look at the penguin and puffin exhibit and a look at the zoo’s animal nutrition lab where they mix up the daily meals for the hundreds of animals that make the zoo their home.
Before we took off on our tour, I caught up with Novus CEO and President Thad Simons. While his company was sponsoring the reception and tour, it was also part of the bigger conversation at World Ag Forum of how to meet the challenges of feeding the world. He says the world’s population right now is about 6.5 billion people… and all of them are not being fed properly. He says the challenge becomes even more daunting when you consider the population is expecting to explode to more than 9 billion by the year 2050. But he believes ag technology is up to the task ahead.
Hello for St. Louis, Mo. where the World Agricultural Forum is getting underway! We’ll be here all week covering the events and conversations that impact ag producers, not just in this country, but globally as well.
Before everything got kicked off, I caught up with Dr. Leonard J. Guarraia, Chairman and CEO of the World Ag Forum. He says the major issues facing agriculture today are water availability, credit availability, production levels and the ability to provide the foodstuffs and feedstocks to feed and fuel the planet. He says a meeting such as this one give people from divergent backgrounds a place to discuss their concerns and plan for what might be next down the pike.
This evening we had a wonderful dinner courtesy of Alltech and Dr. Pearse Lyons. He got our international dinner started tonight by introducing our entertainment which included the singing voices of the Alltech competition which is managed by Dr. Everett McCorvey, Professor of Voice, 
On of the performers was Julie who sang, “I Could Have Danced All Night.” She was just one of the wonderful voices we heard at dinner. I think this is one of the most memorable events at the Alltech Symposium.