Archive

American Pulse Association

Tim McGreevy of the American Pulse Association and I met last week to begin working on the fundraising and finance plans for CICILS contribution to the International Year of Pulses. Tim and his team were amazing hosts at their offices located right on the border of Washington and Idaho States. The resulting plan will focus […]

Gates Foundation to Support Agriculture Innovation Forum

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has been confirmed as Global Development Partner for the Global Forum for Innovations in Agriculture (GFIA). The event, to be held in Abu Dhabi from 3-5 February 2014 under the Patronage of HH Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nayhan, Deputy Prime Minister of the UAE and Minister of Presidential […]

Joan Anderson

It was an honour to see the Winnipeg Free Press honour my Mother this weekend. In their article, “Lasting legacies: Prominent Manitobans who died in 2013” they noted her extraordinary service as a volunteer. She was an amazing woman. Read the full article here.

United Nations Proclaims 2016 as “International Year of Pulses”

I am very excited to hear 2016 has been declared ‘Year of the Pulses’. Here is the press release from the International Pulse Trade and Industries Confederation (IPTIC): Issued by International Pulse Trade and Industries Confederation, Head Office DUBAI, UAE December 20, 2013 Pulses – the healthiest grain foods in the world – have captured […]

Climate Science and GM Science: Both are Needed

There is an excellent article in the Economist that hones in on the irony of the way in which people invoke science in today’s policy setting. The need to use modern scientific information to understand climate change and take action to adapt to its impacts, particularly in agriculture, and to mitigate it is obvious. In […]

Increased Productivity Now the Primary Source of Growth in World Agriculture

The average annual rate of global agricultural growth slowed in the 1970s and 1980s but then accelerated in the 1990s and 2000s. In the decades prior to 1990, most output growth came about from intensification of input use (i.e., using more labor, capital, and material inputs per acre of agricultural land). Bringing new land into […]

Astronaut Chris Hadfield Speaks at GrowCanada Conference 2013

It was a thrill to listen to Chris Hadfield at GrowCanada. The astronaut is a global hero who has traveled to space three times. He cited an astronaut mantra “There is no problem so big that you can’t make it worse.” Careful preparation to run scenarios and do realistic simulations is the foundation of addressing […]

Climate Change & Emissions Management (CCEMC) Corporation Announces Funding to Help Alberta Farmers Reduce GHG Emissions & Generate Offset Credits

It was my pleasure to be at the Grain Growers of Canada meeting this morning when the Climate Change and Emissions Management (CCEMC) Corporation announced it is providing $252,500 to support the second phase of a project led by the Canadian Fertilizer Institute (CFI) called Farming 4R Land. The project will help Alberta farmers improve […]

Farming First Launches Infographic: Food and Farming in 2030

Last week in New York the first Open Working Groups began to discuss the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that will replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) when they expire in 2015. In an effort to inform the SDGs, Farming First has launched a creative infographic that skips forward in time to 2030, when the SDGs […]

“Let Us Choose What Works For Our Farms” say farmers about the tools and technologies needed to tackle climate change

During the World Food Prize a panel of five farmers, several of whom I know well and admire greatly, discussed how they are responding to the challenges which global climate change will pose to their farms. The Farming First (www.farmingfirst.org) synopsis is below: The panel was chaired by Julie Borlaug, granddaughter of the late Dr. […]