One area where there seemed to be general agreement in the first meeting of the farm bill conference committee last week was the need for a strong conservation program – and most committee members who mentioned it during last week’s meeting are in favor of tying conservation compliance to crop insurance, which is part of the Senate bill. “As we … Read More
TATT Proud of Global Roundtable
Truth About Trade and Technology (TATT) is a non-profit advocacy group led by farmers who support freer trade and a farmers freedom to choose the tools, technologies and strategies they need to maximize productivity and profitability in a sustainable manner. Since 2006, TATT has brought farmers from different countries together during World Food Prize week in Des Moines to attend … Read More
World Food Prize: Bigger & Better Than Ever
World Food Prize Foundation president Ambassador Kenneth M. Quinn says this year’s event was bigger and better than ever. “We had more people registered this year for the symposium,” he said. “After we got beyond 1200 I almost stopped counting because I wasn’t sure where we were going to put folks!” In addition, there were 350 students and teachers at … Read More
Fascinating TATT Global Roundtable Discussion
It was a fascinating experience for me to spend three days watching and listening to the 16 Truth About Trade and Technologies (TATT) Global Farmer Roundtable farmers as they shared with each other and became friends. They were from Argentina, Australia, Canada, Ghana, India, Kenya, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Ukraine, Uruguay, Zimbabwe and the US – yet they were … Read More
World Food Prize Laureates
Three biotechnology scientists were honored at the World Food Prize in a ceremony in Des Moines last week, but before that, they met the press and answered some tough questions about the technology they have dedicated their lives to developing. The 2013 World Food Prize Laureates are Monsanto Chief Technology Officer Dr. Robert Fraley, Marc Van Montagu of the Institute … Read More
Kleckner Fellow Awarded Ahead of World Food Prize
A highlight of the Truth About Trade and Technology (TATT) Global Farmer Roundtable last week was the presentation of the first Kleckner Trade and Technology Advancement Award Fellow to V. Ravichandran, better known to friends as Ravi. He is pictured here with TATT CEO Mary Boote and chairman Bill Horan. Ravi grows rice, sugarcane, cotton and pulses on about 60 … Read More
Initiatives Announced at World Food Prize
Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and philanthropist/farmer Howard G. Buffett were the stars at the World Food Prize Borlaug Dialogues last week in Des Moines, launching new initiatives to address conservation, hunger and poverty issues in Africa. For one, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation has formed a partnership with John Deere and DuPont Pioneer to promote conservation agriculture adoption … Read More
What Deere’s Expanded Access Means to Partners
Another agriculture technology company that took advance of John Deere’s API Integrators Conference was MapShots. Chuck met up with Ted Macy, Vice President of Operations and Lead Architect for MapShots. The company focuses on software development and providing crop management applications for the agriculture industry. Ted gives credit to Deere as being one of the first companies to give expanded … Read More
John Deere’s Approach to Developers & APIs
On day one of John Deere’s API Integrator Conference the idea of treating developers like customers and API’s like products was brought to the table. Robert Witcher, Manager in API Enablement & Developer Relations for John Deere, has over 18 years of technology experience, has focused mostly on leading IT for software engineering, including IT strategy for software products and … Read More