CropLife America (CLA) Board of Directors has elected Diane Allemang, FMC Agricultural Solutions director of Global Portfolio Management & Strategic Marketing and North America Business Development, as the association’s 46th chair of the board for a two-year term. She will work the with the organization’s leadership and board to meet its strategic objectives and is the first female chair.
“I look forward to continuing to work with CropLife America on important issues facing the agricultural industry,” said Allemang. “CLA’s dedication to American agriculture and addressing long-term global issues, such as feeding the ever-growing world population, is inspiring. I’m honored to play a role in their work.”
“The CropLife America board is committed to advancing technology for today’s farmers, which is reflected in our organizational programs and priorities. We look forward to Diane’s leadership during the next two years,” said Jay Vroom, president and CEO of CLA.
CLA is the national trade association that represents the manufacturers, formulators and distributors of plant science solutions for agriculture and pest management. FMC Corporation is a proud member of CLA and shares a mutual vision of meeting the food and nutritional needs of billions of individuals
Allemang is responsible for business development for North America Crop and Global Strategic Marketing/Global Portfolio Management at FMC Agricultural Solutions. She was previously executive vice president of Cheminova A/S’s North America organization where she led development, marketing and regulatory affairs. Allemang joins colleague John Cummings, manager of FMC North America Crop Regulatory Affairs, who currently serves as the chair of the CLA Strategic Oversight Council.
National Geographic and Bayer CropScience are excited to announce the launch of their new, online game “Top Crop: Farming for the Future.” The game hopes to educate students on the basics of producing crops by taking players through a series of virtual growing seasons, complete with all the challenges growers face, like pests, disease and weather. Players may also use various modern technologies in their quest for a good harvest.
“At National Geographic, we’re committed to educating tomorrow’s explorers, scientists, engineers and farmers about the world and how it works, and this ‘Top Crop’ game is a great example of how we can teach kids about the challenges and solutions farmers face in the real world through a fun and interactive game,” said National Geographic Chief Education Officer Melina Bellows.
“Top Crop” introduces a scenario where the USDA wishes to experiment with new technologies to support sustainable farming, and wants student game players to lead the way. If the student players can successfully grow crops, the USDA will provide the technology and equipment necessary to run a virtual modern agricultural operation. Throughout the course of the “Top Crop” story, game players help agricultural leaders figure out the best way to provide more healthy food and sustainable agriculture techniques to feed a growing global population.
By 2050, global food demand will increase by 60 percent, and meat consumption will increase by 70 percent. These demands must be met by cultivating more food on the same or fewer arable acres than exist today, in the face of a shrinking water supply, evolving pest pressures and a changing climate. “Top Crop” helps game players devise ways to best utilize their available resources to grow healthy crops and maximize overall crop yield.
“Bayer CropScience is proud to work alongside National Geographic to educate students on the role modern agriculture plays in our everyday lives,” said Jim Blome, president and CEO of Bayer CropScience LP. “In order to produce enough safe, healthy food for the 9 billion people that will inhabit our Earth by 2050, these students and so many other people need to get involved in writing the next chapter of agriculture’s history. That will only happen if we develop an agriculturally literate population that not only understands where their food comes from and how it is produced, but also develops a passion for solving the world’s most pressing food issues and fighting global hunger. ‘Top Crop’ is a fun way to get started down this path to educating and cultivating a new generation of agricultural game changers.”
Land O’Lakes awarded 10 U.S. college sophomores fellowships to help find ways to end world hunger. The Global Food Challenge Emerging Leaders for Food Security Program is designed to engage future leaders in the challenges and opportunities facing agriculture in the coming decades. The 2015 fellowship recipients were announced during the 2015 World Food Prize Borlaug Dialogue.
The 2015-2016 Emerging Leaders for Food Security fellows are: Elizabeth Alonzi (Bloomington, Minn.), Katie Enzenauer (Brooklyn Park, Minn.), Blake Schweiner (Green Bay, Wis.), attending the University of Minnesota; Abby Adair (Crown Point, Ind.), Sydney Gray (West Lafayette, Ind.), attending Purdue University; Addison Bidwell (Grinnell, Iowa), Leah Ellensohn (Le Mars, Iowa), Megan Schnell (Charlottesville, Va.), attending Iowa State University; Diana Fu (Pleasanton, Calif.), attending Northwestern University and Ayse Muratoglu (Chicago, Ill.), attending The George Washington University.
“This experience is life-changing,” said Mandi Egeland, a 2014 alumna of the program and a business student from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management. Another 2014 alum, Trey Forsyth from Iowa State University, said, “We need people from different professional backgrounds, countries and viewpoints to make a difference in feeding the world.”
Because a broad mix of skills is needed to find new ways of feeding the growing population, students are selected through a competitive application process that includes wide-ranging education disciplines from agronomy and environmental science to nutrition, finance and marketing.
Chris Policinski, president and CEO, Land O’Lakes said of the program, “Ag is the greatest growth industry of our era and represents the most dynamic career opportunity for this generation.”
The Senate Agriculture Committee held a hearing this week that showcased the overwhelming scientific consensus regarding GMO safety, as well as the urgent need for Congressional action to pass a reasonable, common-sense solution that prevents a state-by-state patchwork of labeling laws.
“Today’s hearing confirmed that GMOs are safe; a state-by-state patchwork of labeling laws will have dire consequences for farmers, businesses and consumers; and the urgency for Congress to prevent these problems by passing a uniform national law,” said Coalition or Safe Affordable Food (CFSAF) spokesperson Claire Parker.
Senators from both parties spoke to the importance and safety of biotechnology and the need for a single national food labeling standard. Chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS) began the hearing by stating that “agriculture biotechnology has become a valuable tool in ensuring the success of the American farmer in meeting the challenge of increasing yield in a more efficient, safe, and responsible manner.”
Ranking Member Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) said, “I share the concern of doing business if 50 different states have 50 different standards and quite frankly, it wont work.” Senator Stabenow also said she hopes the Senate can “work together to develop a bipartisan bill that can pass the Senate by the end of this year.”
Wednesday’s hearing began with a panel of experts from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Environmental Protection Agency, and the Food and Drug Administration offering testimony that reaffirmed the safety of GMOs.
Following three hearings in the U.S. House of Representatives, this is the fourth time in the past 12 months where expert witnesses have confirmed the science and safety of biotechnology.
The Senate hearing comes less than ten months from the July 1 effective date of Vermont’s labeling mandate, which will be the first state to implement its own unique food labeling standard. Though Vermont’s law is currently being challenged in federal court, there is little chance of a judicial resolution in time to prevent the negative impacts of the misguided statute.
It it increasingly clear that a bipartisan solution is attainable. In July, the House of Representatives passed its own bill that creates a single, national labeling standard, as well as a GMO-free certification program that assures consumers who prefer to purchase non-GMO foods have a consistent, transparent means of identifying those products. That legislation passed by a 275-150 vote with support of 45 Democrats. The hearing provided plenty of evidence that similar bipartisan compromise is within reach in the Senate.
Today Aunt Jeanette writes:
No, this isn’t an L.A. freeway! Sorry, Brooks and Dunn, I will take the sun going down behind our farm any day.
Our neighbor/friend took this picture from across the section while she was going for an evening walk. I thought it was a gorgeous picture! It gives me a peaceful, relaxed feeling that comes from living on a farm. It also reminds me how fortunate I am to live where I do, and how lucky I am to have friends that share their pictures. There’s not much else to write. The picture says it all.
Thank you Megan Kucera for the wonderful photo.
Until we walk again …
The Center for Consumer Freedom continued its Chubby Chipotle campaign against Chipotle’s food misinformation with a new “Dihydrogen Monoxide” ad in the New York Post. The ad calls out Chipotle for scaring the public and tricking people into thinking its burritos are healthier by advertising its meat as being “antibiotic-free,” meaning from animals raised without antibiotics.
But Chipotle is trying to have its pork and eat it, too. This year the burrito chain began sourcing pork from Europe that comes from animals that may have been given antibiotics.
The instance is one more example of Chipotle deception and attempts to abuse consumers’ lack of familiarity with food production. The use of antibiotics is strictly controlled by federal regulations. If a farmer uses antibiotics to prevent or treat sickness in an animal, regulations ensure that food from that animal is safe. The federal government mandates a withdrawal time for drugs so that animals can eliminate them from their bodies. The government conducts random testing of meat to ensure safety, and can stop meat from being sold that doesn’t pass muster. As veterinarian Dr. Scott Hurd has put it in regards to meat: “It’s all antibiotic free.” Even Chipotle now admits this—on its website, after running misleading ads that scare consumers.
“Consumers shouldn’t let Chipotle trick them into thinking their burritos are healthier by saying they’re antibiotic-free, because federal regulations are designed to ensure all meat served in restaurants and sold in supermarkets is antibiotic-free,” Will Coggin, director of research at the Center for Consumer Freedom, said. “Chipotle not only denigrates U.S. farmers who humanely use antibiotics to prevent or treat illness, but it uses scare tactics to take advantage of consumers.”
Dr. Prakash accepting award with Dr. Srnic, DuPont representative.
This year’s winner of the Borlaug CAST Communication Award was Dr. Channapatna Prakash, who gave a keynote presentation during the award ceremony entitled, “Everything I Know about GMOs, I Learned on Social Media”. Currently the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Tuskegee University, Prakash was instrumental in establishing the prestigious plant biotechnology research and training program at the school, and he has a long list of influential publications and awards. He has presented his messages about agriculture in more than 70 countries.
Each year, CAST awards a science and/or agriculture expert who demonstrates an great ability to communicate messages through various media platforms. Colleagues say that he can communicate with “every kind of audience, in every medium available.”
The October 14 morning session began with short remarks by CAST EVP Kent Schescke and DuPont Pioneer Research Director Wendy Srnic. Julie Borlaug Larson of the Norman E. Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture spoke about Dr. Borlaug’s legacy, and CAST President David Songstad introduced the award winner.
Dr. Prakash’s presentation centered on the challenges scientists and the agricultural community have when dealing with modern media. Prakash used thought-provoking images and personal anecdotes to emphasize the need for innovative science. He also encouraged the use of effective “hands on” education. “Knowledge is important,” he said. “We need to rekindle curiosity and wonder in our young people.”
RFD-TV executives are lobbying government officials in Washington, D.C., to approve a merger that will see the network on more cable providers. In this news release, RFD-TV points out that Charter Communications, which has a pending merger with Time Warner and Brighthouse cable networks, has a proven track record of supporting rural, independent programming, and the rural network now enjoys full distribution in all Charter systems nationwide, both in standard and high definition.
By contrast, only 4% of Time Warner and Brighthouse cable customers currently enjoy RFD-TV due to lack of carriage in most areas of the country and/or placement of RFD-TV on obscure tiers. Since March 2014, RFD-TV has been out of contract with both Time Warner and Brighthouse, who have been unwilling to negotiate in good faith to increase distribution of rural, independent programming.
“Rural America recognizes that its best opportunity to reconnect city with country again is to have Charter Communications control access to the urban homes currently being served by Time Warner Cable and Brighthouse systems,” stated Patrick Gottsch, founder and president of Rural Media Group, Inc. “This is a totally different situation compared to the previous takeover attempt as roles are reversed with the smaller rural cable company merging with the larger urban clustered entities.”
In support of the merger, RFD-TV submitted comments to the FCC.
Krista Lottinsville is the grand prize winner of Syngenta’s Drive to Thrive contest. The contest asked growers to describe how agriculture drives their communities to thrive. Lottinville won the challenge with her essay and video submission describing how agriculture nurtures the talents of young women with leadership skills and how it helped her grow professionally.
“I love agriculture, and I want young women everywhere to love it too,” she said. “It’s an industry that thrives, in part, because of the community of women who are committed to creating more opportunities for female students and other young leaders. I am so excited and very honored by this win, and I greatly appreciate the recognition and support from Syngenta.”
Earlier this year, Syngenta posted the 10 best Drive to Thrive entries, as determined by a panel of judges, onto its Thrive website and invited visitors to vote for their favorite. Based on online voting and the quality of her essay, Lottinville was named the grand prizewinner of a $500 gift card, which she has decided to donate to Women Changing the Face of Agriculture (WCFA). This outreach and leadership development project, initiated by Illinois Agri-Women (IAW), gives young women the opportunity to explore different career paths offered in the agriculture sector. Syngenta also will make a $1,000 donation to WCFA in Lottinville’s name.
“Krista is a role model for all of us in agriculture,” said Kelsey Vance, retail sales representative for Syngenta, who works with Lottinville through IAW and WCFA. “She is super involved and always willing to take on more responsibility to promote women’s leadership in agriculture. We’re proud to support her.”
You can read more about Lottinville and watch her video on the Drive to Thrive website.
