Mary Thompson, Farm Foundation, took my photo yesterday as I was doing some concluding work for the day here at their Transition To A Bio Economy Conference: Global Trade & Policy Issues.
That new Mac is getting a workout on the road and I’m loving it.
I’ll be posting more interviews through the day today and will be live tweeting at twitter.com/AgWiredLive.
You can find photos from the conference here:
Transition To A Bio Economy Conference: Global & Trade Issues Photo Album
Biofuels production in Canada will impact meat trading patterns according to research by Al Mussell, George Morris Centre, University of Guelph. He says that the increase in biofuels production will turn the country into an importer of grains instead of an exporter. Al was one of the speakers at the Transition To A Bio Economy Conference.
He says that as you develop an ethanol production system built on feed grains it will seriously impact feeding livestock. That will mean serious adjustments over time. He says that these trends take a while to work themselves out. But in the long run he says we should like the taste of Brazilian beef and pork.
You can listen to my interview with Al here: ff-global-09-mussell.mp3
You can download the interview with this link (mp3).
You can find photos from the conference here:
Transition To A Bio Economy Conference: Global & Trade Issues Photo Album
A very interesting presentation at our Farm Foundation Global Trade and Policy Issues conference had to do with the impact on poverty. Tom Hertel, Purdue University, was our presenter.
He says they conducted an international study of 16 developing countries and the impact of biofuels production on the poverty level. As he puts it, it’s a very complex issue. Most people he says think that just because food is scarce in low income countries that biofuels production from feedstocks would contribute to poverty but in fact, the opposite is true in some parts of the world like southeast Asia.
You can listen to my interview with Tom here: ff-global-09-hertel.mp3
You can download the interview with this link (mp3).
You can find photos from the conference here:
Transition To A Bio Economy Conference: Global & Trade Issues Photo Album
Former Texas Congressman Charles Stenholm was the moderator for our second session here at the Farm Foundation Global Trade & Policy Issues conference. I don’t think you’ll find anyone more knowledgeable about the policy side of this discussion.
He says that it’s clear to everyone that the price of our basic commodities which was extremely beneficial to our producers has had a tendency to increase the price of food. He says that it’s had a major affect on our livestock producers. He thinks Congress has a difficult challenge in front of it. He’s all for alternative biofuels but he wonders about subsidizing biofuels for example. One thing he thinks we should have looked at is a counter cyclical program. We’ve heard it said before but he said it again, that the price of corn will be set by the price of oil.
You can listen to my interview with Mr. Stenholm here: ff-global-09-stenholm.mp3
You can download the interview with this link (mp3).
You can find photos from the conference here:
Transition To A Bio Economy Conference: Global & Trade Issues Photo Album
Providing us with a “Technical Global Biofuels Analysis” here at the Farm Foundation Global Trade & Policy Issues conference was Thomas Alfstad, Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Thomas was on the program to speak about a technical global biofuels analysis.
He says that last year they completed a study on biofuels. They looked at the U.S. importing fuels to meet the RFS. He says their findings were that there are strong incentives for producers to expand production of biofuels. He says that biofuels producers may have short term concerns but that their findings should be encouraging for the long term.
You can listen to my interview with Thomas here: ff-global-09-alfstad.mp3
You can download the interview with this link (mp3).
You can find photos from the conference here:
Transition To A Bio Economy Conference: Global & Trade Issues Photo Album
1,700 students and even more guests traveled to Brookings, SD to South Dakota State University to take part in the 86th Little International. Little “I” is the largest, two-day livestock exposition run completely by students for students. For the past three years I have served on the staff. My first two years, I served as the advertising and publicity superintendent. In my final year at SDSU, I served on the executive team to assist in this project that takes the full year to plan and prepare.
So, what are the exciting events at Little International? How do we work to promote and publicize this event? Well, if you have never taken part in an event like this, I will fill you in. To start, there are several judging contests for FFA, 4-H and collegiate students to compete in, including: livestock, dairy, horses, dairy products, floriculture, nursery landscape, land and natural resources, farm business management, crops, meats evaluation and ag sales. Students can also exhibit crops, hay and wool samples for judging. In addition, college students can show livestock and compete for the Round Robin showmanship champion and reserve titles. There is also the High Point Freshman and Upperclassman awards that include a combination of all of these contests. The student that scores the highest and competes in the most contests secures this award. (I won these two awards back-to-back, the first girl in 86 years to do so! It is one of my favorite memories of my college experience!) Finally, there are scholarships awards available to the top showman, highpointers and highschool qualifiers.
To say the least, this is a huge event that celebrates agriculture and the people in it. The staff nominates an annual award called the Honored Agriculturalists, and this year’s award went to the Sharon Odegaard family from Lake Preston, S.D. To bring in a crowd, we have entertainment such as old timers showmanship, ag olympics and the national anthem sang by a featured singer in the community. We place radio spots and newspaper advertisements to help spread the word, along with sending out invitations to parents, sponsors and area legislators. I’m proud to have been a part of the Little International experience during my time at SDSU. Have you ever been to an event like this? What did you like about it? What can we as students do to get a larger crowd next year? Your advice would be greatly appreciated by the incoming staff members! Thanks for your help!
Michael Schaal is with the Energy Information Administration which is part of the U. S. Dept. of Energy. He spoke early on the program at the Farm Foundation conference about the global outlook for energy.
He says they were actually looking at trends through 2030. He says that developing countries will be significantly increasing their fuel consumption which will increase the use of vehicles. All sorts of fuel production will be needed to meet this growing need. He says that with low world oil prices the production of biofuels is low and the converse is true. So the uncertainty of the price of oil is key to the development of biofuels. This is something all the speakers have mentioned today.
You can listen to my interview with Michael here: ff-global-09-schaal.mp3
You can download the interview with this link (mp3).
You can find photos from the conference here:
Transition To A Bio Economy Conference: Global & Trade Issues Photo Album
I’ll be updating and monitoring this feed as much as I can during the next several hours of the Farm Foundation’s Transition To A Bio Economy Conference: Global & Trade Issues. The focus is on biofuels.
Update: I’ve closed the session but it’s archived for you to “replay” if you’d like. I’ll be posting speaker interviews over the next several hours.
Transition To A Bio Economy Conference: Global & Trade Issues Photo Album
Wally Tyner is an energy economist with the Dept. of Agricultural Economics at Purdue University. He’s one of the first speakers on the Farm Foundation, Transition To A Bio Economy Conference: Global Trade and Policy Issues. I was able to speak with him before the program kicks off this afternoon here in Washington, DC.
Wally says Farm Foundation decided to host a series of conferences a couple years ago. There are to be five in all and this is the fourth one. You can find out information about them on the Farm Foundation website.
This conference will focus on biofuels from a global perspective with participation from the European Union and Brazil. We’ll hear some contrasting viewpoints since Wally says that the EU has taken a different approach to requiring biofuels than the US. In his presentation he’ll focus on cellulosic or second generation biofuels. The hope is that the conference will incite or promote discussion even though Farm Foundation itself doesn’t take positions. He says they believe they’ve accomplished the objective with the conferences so far.
The next one in the series will focus on extension and it’s role across the country in biofuels production. It will be held in Arkansas in June.
You can listen to my interview with Wally here: ff-global-09-tyner.mp3
You can download the interview with this link (mp3).
You’ll be able to find photos from the conference here:
Transition To A Bio Economy Conference: Global & Trade Issues Photo Album
