The inaugural Infrastructure Summit took place yesterday in Ames, Iowa with big news – the launch of the agriculture Infrastructure Vision 2050 (IV2050) Challenge. The news was delivered by Lief Magnusson, President, CLASS Global Sales Americas and Chair of the Association Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) who sponsored the summit with support from Agri-Pulse. IV2050 is a thought leadership initiative focused on crafting a vision for a long-term, national plan for U.S. infrastructure and how the industry will move people, freight and energy in the future.
Leif Magnusson, President, CLASS Global Sales Americas and Chair, Association of Equipment Manufacturers announces AEM’s IV2050 ag initiative during the inaugural Rural Infrastructure Summit.
“AEM is playing an active role in discussions about what is next for the U.S. infrastructure,” said Magnusson who stressed that today the industry is here to explore the link between agriculture and infrastructure and to asses where things stand. “We’re also here to discuss the challenges the ag industry and rural communities face with the current state of U.S. infrastructure. But just as importantly, we’re here to discuss ways to innovate through and around challenges as an ag community.”
In addition to the Rural Infrastructure Summit, the discussion will continue through a new initaitve Magnusson announced: the IV2050 Challenge. The initiative is a call for proposals on the best and most innovative ways to transport goods in the future. “The idea is highlight the most groundbreaking ideas on how to move ag commodities will be moved from farm to market thirty-five years from now,” explained Magnusson.
Magnusson said the competition is open to all AEM members and employees as well as thought leaders from around the country. To learn more about the IV2050 Challenge and how to submit your proposal, click here.
Learn more about IV2050 by listening to Leif Magnusson’s remarks here: [wpaudio url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/zimmcomm/ruralsummit-16-magnusson.mp3″ text=”Leif Magnusson Remarks at #RuralSummit”]