The EWG article attacked the CommonGround program as a PR campaign for “Big Ag” that obscures “the reality … that women really have almost no voice on the boards of the national commodity organizations” compared to “national organic food and agriculture organizations.”
I had a chance to interview Pam during the recent Commodity Classic about her response to that criticism and about the goals of the CommonGround program itself. She took particular issue with the idea “that this program wasn’t genuine and these people were just set-ups, and that is the furthest thing from the truth.”
Pam says NCGA and the American Soybean Association joined together on the CommonGround program. “So that we can make sure that we have true, genuine voices out there with value statements that come from the heart and from the farm,” she said. “They come from women who are involved in their own operations at home and also are learning how to lead and advocate for agriculture.”
The EWG article noted that there are many more women involved in “sustainable” farming groups like the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition and that they “don’t need fancy PR campaigns because their sustainable farming practices speak for themselves.” Pam says that depends on your definition of sustainable. “We’re not organic farmers, we’re production farmers who raise corn and soybeans, but we do it sustainably. I’m a sixth generation farmer and I come from people who have a strong connection to the land and all of us have been charged with leaving it better for the next generation.”
It is true that Pam is the only woman on the 15 member NCGA board of directors, but it is important to note that traditional farming families like Pam’s tend to actually be more traditional families than the general population, in that the women are the primary child caregivers (gasp!) which takes up a large portion of their time when children are young. “In fact, I postponed my involvement in outside organizations until I had my family up and going and raised,” she said. “Since I’m a grandma now and I have two sons back from college, I’m free to go out and get more involved in my own trade association and to be a voice to tell what’s actually going on down on the farm.”
Pam says the CommonGround program allows some younger farm women to take a more active role without the time and travel commitment required in serving on a national board.
At Commodity Classic in Tampa, FL, the leaders of all the participating organizations took to the stage during the general session. Included is the President of the National Corn Growers Association, Bart Schott (pictured second from right). Also on stage were Alan Kemper, ASA, Gerald Simonsen, NAWG and Jerry McReynolds, NSP and moderator Mark Mayfield.
Mark asked each of them the question: “What are you doing to enhance public trust and what efforts do you have to make ag more sustainable?” Listen to Bart’s answer here:
The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA)and BASF Crop Protection announced the winners of six scholarships during the 2011 Commodity Classic on in Tampa. This is the fourth year for the NCGA Academic Excellence in Agriculture Scholarship Program which awards five $1,000 scholarships to college students pursuing a degree in an agriculture-related field.
The winners are Hayley Bunselmeyer, a junior at the University of Illinois majoring in crop sciences; Kristin DeSutter, a junior at the University of Illinois pursuing agricultural communications; Amy Peyton, a junior at Iowa State University majoring in agricultural business, economics, and public service and administration; Andy Pringnitz, a junior at Iowa State University studying agricultural business, economics and international agriculture; and Jessica Schwartz, a first-year graduate student at Ohio State University specializing in horticulture and crop sciences. They are pictured here with BASF VP for U.S. Crop Protection Paul Rea and Pam Johnson, a Corn Board member from Lloyd, Iowa and liaison to the Grower Services Action Team.
“Providing students with the financial resources to complete their education is the key to building strong agricultural leaders of tomorrow,” Pam said. “We thank BASF for its integral role and support in these scholarships.”
These young people really are the cream of the crop, chosen from about 45 entries nationwide. I had a chance to get a couple of comments from each of them, which you can listen to here:
Corn stocks may be a little tight right now, but National Corn Growers Association CEO Rick Tolman thinks that is probably a short term situation.
“Still our biggest challenge is that we can overproduce the market,” Tolman said during an interview after his presentation at the National Ethanol Conference on Monday. “Farmers respond to incentives, there’s an incentive right now to produce. I can guarantee we’ll have a big crop in 2011.”
Tolman makes that confident prediction after an informal survey of the NCGA farmer board members, who are mostly ahead of the game right now as far as being ready for spring planting, compared to where they were a year ago. “We had a great fall, farmers got their crop out of the field, they did their fall tillage, they did their application of inputs. We’re coming into the season in about as perfect a condition as you can have,” he said, adding that odds favor significant yields in 2011 and a larger carryover in 2012.
Rick also gives a preview of the upcoming Commodity Classic in this interview:
It’s time for American Ethanol to take the stage at the Daytona 500 this weekend! It will be NASCAR history as every car will be powered by Sunoco Green E15 – a blend of 15 percent American ethanol. This fuel change, which will become standard for all three NASCAR series this year, represents a shift in professional racing toward a more sustainable, environmentally friendly, domestic fuel source. The National Corn Growers Association, both as a direct partner and through American Ethanol, is helping use this opportunity to educate all Americans about the value of ethanol for our nation’s economy and energy security.
At the National Farm Machinery Show this week in Louisville, KY, the American Ethanol car was on display in the Kentucky Corn Growers booth. On hand to talk about the partnership was Dennis Duchene who works for the Richard Petty Driving Experience. He’s a NASCAR guy and as you’ll hear, a cheerleader for American corn growers.
The emcee for the Global Farmer to Farmer Roundtable conducted by Truth About Trade & Technology was Bob Thomson. He says the participating farmers were looking at what it’s going to take to thrive in the next several years. High on their list is modern technology. He says they realize that to feed the projected population equivalent of two more countries the size of China in the next forty years it will take very high productivity agriculture. The alternative will be massive destruction of forests and that will lead to a lot of undesirable results.
Bob says a real concern and frustration expressed, especially by European participants, was the extent that some activist organizations have dominated the debate and how little their governments are doing to help them. It’s hard to be competitive when you’re overburdened by regulations. Participants from countries like India said that biotechnology products will be critical for them. They weren’t so much interested in subsidies as being on a level playing field. A need to communicate their stories was also expressed.
Have you ever wondered what a seed laboratory does? Participants at the Truth About Trade & Technology Global Farmer to Farmer Roundtable found out during a tour stop at the Iowa State University Seed Science Center. One of our hosts was Michael Stahr, Seed Laboratory Manager, seen showing seeds to the group at one of the stops during the tour.
The first thing that really got my attention was their herbarium which contains over 6,000 vials of seeds that date back to when George Washington Carver was doing work there. These are used primarily to compare and identify seed samples. It is of course in a locked cabinet! Michael says they test seeds for a variety of things. In fact, they’re the largest public seed lab in the country doing over 40,000 tests/year. Besides testing they also do seed conditioning. They conduct workshops for seed company personnel to improve the quality of their seed.
I asked Michael what percentage of American corn grower seeds get tested in his lab and he laughed. He says there are many labs out there unlike when he got started many years ago.
When you listen to my interview with Gabriela Cruz, Portugal, below you’ll understand why she was chosen to receive the Kleckner Trade and Technology Advancement Award during the TATT Global Farmer to Farmer Roundtable. The program was sponsored by the NCGA. Gabriela was presented the award by Dean Kleckner, Chairman, Truth About Trade & Technology.
Gabriela Cruz is passionate about many things: the family farm that she and her sisters work and manage on the eastern border of Portugal; the use of soil conservation to combat the erosion that annually tries to steal their land from them; and access to the technology that will allow her to prevail in the future.
Those passions, and Cruz’s drive to change attitudes of European governments that block farmer-access to genetically modified (GM) crops, led to her selection as the 2010 winner of the Kleckner Trade and Technology Advancement Award.
The award, given by Truth about Trade and Technology (TATT), seeks to recognize “strong leadership, vision, and resolve in advancing the rights of all farmers to choose the technology and tools that will improve the quality, quantity, and availability of agricultural products around the world.”
NCGA board member, Pam Johnson, is a northern Iowa corn and soybean grower. She farms with her husband and sons and is one of the participants in the Truth About Trade & Technology, Global Farmer to Farmer Roundtable. She is not only participating in the roundtable discussions but was also on the panel of this morning’s Biodiversity World Tour town hall mtg.
I spoke with Pam before the afternoon roundtable session got underway. She says this discussion has been great for her because farmers share a lot of the same issues and concerns around the world. She thought this morning’s town hall meeting was a good one with an audience that understands that there are a lot of definitions for terms like sustainability. She says that the point was made that farmers are working hard to be productive while maintaining a viable business and taking care of their land and other resources. She hopes that the farmers visiting the United States will take away the idea that they have to be able to operate in an atmosphere where their government policy, the public and consumers work with farmers. In other words, it’s not an “us vs. them” situation.
The participants in the Truth About Trade and Technology Global Farmer To Farmer Roundtable started their day at the Biodiversity World Tour town hall meeting with Sec. of Agriculture Vilsack. Before we departed for the meeting on the campus of Iowa State University I spoke with Chairman, Dean Kleckner.
He says that there are 16 farmers here this year from various countries including the United States, to have a discussion on farming where they live, and to do it in a public forum to foster better understanding between countries and the general public. He’s says it has been interesting to hear how similar the challenges are throughout the world. I’m planning to feature some interviews with the farmer participants during the next couple days.
Pam says NCGA and the American Soybean Association joined together on the CommonGround program. “So that we can make sure that we have true, genuine voices out there with value statements that come from the heart and from the farm,” she said. “They come from women who are involved in their own operations at home and also are learning how to lead and advocate for agriculture.”
At Commodity Classic in Tampa, FL, the leaders of all the participating organizations took to the stage during the general session. Included is the President of the National Corn Growers Association, Bart Schott (pictured second from right). Also on stage were Alan Kemper, ASA, Gerald Simonsen, NAWG and Jerry McReynolds, NSP and moderator Mark Mayfield.
The winners are Hayley Bunselmeyer, a junior at the University of Illinois majoring in crop sciences; Kristin DeSutter, a junior at the University of Illinois pursuing agricultural communications; Amy Peyton, a junior at Iowa State University majoring in agricultural business, economics, and public service and administration; Andy Pringnitz, a junior at Iowa State University studying agricultural business, economics and international agriculture; and Jessica Schwartz, a first-year graduate student at Ohio State University specializing in horticulture and crop sciences. They are pictured here with BASF VP for U.S. Crop Protection Paul Rea and Pam Johnson, a Corn Board member from Lloyd, Iowa and liaison to the Grower Services Action Team.
Corn stocks may be a little tight right now, but 
It’s time for 
