Archive

Irrigation is Insurance

Weather variability is already affecting agriculture. Crop insurance is one way to think of managing this variability but it is rapidly becoming untenable as it is too expensive unless government subsidized national schemes. “The real insurance is irrigation,” said Johnathon Lassers of Ariel Investment Management at the Global Ag Investing Conference in Singapore. Active in […]

How are Ag Marketers Different than Those in Other Industries?

Millennium Research Inc. sent out some interesting facts on agricultural marketing: They are focused on customer retention The majority of agriculture organizations’ sales revenue (80%) comes from existing customers, which is the highest among all of the industries surveyed. Not surprisingly, one of their primary goals for content marketing is customer retention. They rely heavily […]

How to Navigate Spaceship Earth’s Food Security and Land-based Mitigation

The Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security team at the CGIAR system, do great work looking at the challenges agriculture faces in both adapting to and mitigating climate change. Below is a latest piece that shows how clearly demand side change is needed to help address greenhouse gas emissions, as well as the role for […]

Lindiwe Sibanda wins Yara Prize

Advocating for impact has always been Dr. Lindiwe Sibanda passion. That passion was recognized this year when Lindiwe was awarded the Yara prize for her many years of work generating knowledge and facilitating dialogue to develop informed, research-based development through policy and advocacy across Africa as CEO of the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy […]

Timeline for the Post 2015 and SDG process

Stakeholder Forum deserves a lot of credit for creating an interactive timeline of key milestones for three of the primary post-Rio+20 processes: the Expert Committee on a Sustainable Development Financing Strategy; the high level political forum; and sustainable development goals. It also outlines key milestones for the post-MDG process, which, along with the SDGs form […]

Seed Leadership

The Canadian Seed Growers’ Association (CSGA) has conferred upon myself an Honorary Life Membership in the organization. The CSGA, which represents over 3,700 seed growers, is an integral part of Canada’s agricultural sector. The CSGA monitors and certifies pedigree seed for every agricultural crop in Canada save potatoes. The award, a reflection of my important […]

Stand Strong Together

In my remarks to the opening plenary of the Global Youth Ag Summit, I focused on the importance of farmers speaking up and speaking together. Now is the moment agriculture is at the forefront of the global agenda and the people at the summit have the chance to use their leadership skills to make sure […]

Global Youth Ag Summit

On August 19th the Global Youth Ag Summit, kicked off with a challenge to create new ideas to Feed a Hungry Planet. Bringing together young farmers from 24 countries around the world, the celebration of the future of 4-H after its first hundred years is focused on sustainable agriculture. Moderated by Canadian ag guru, Kim […]

Ag Facts in Canada

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has released some great facts and videos about the importance of agriculture to Canada…. Why is the agriculture and agri-food sector so important? It’s a colossal contributor to the lives of all Canadians. It feeds us, as well as our economy. It employs us, and depends upon the environmental stewardship of […]

Science Can Help Small Farmers Feed Africa

In a story by Kanayo Nwanze of the International Fund for Agricultural Development and Clement Kofi Humado in AllAfrica, the need for agricultural research was underlined. “While spending on agricultural research in sub-Saharan Africa grew by 20 per cent between 2001 and 2008, most of that growth was in just a few countries. Only eight […]