February 23, I was in Lincoln, Nebraska attending the Nebraska Pork Producers' annual meeting. I spoke to the audience - gathering to celebrate their 50th anniversary - on the 21st century challenges and important policy and political issues facing agriculture. We discussed the expectations being placed on agriculture to feed a growing world population that is experiencing tremendous wealth creation (especially in developing countries) and thereby creating sustained and strong demand for food products. Because of natural resource (arable land and water) constraints, agriculture will need to generate even greater annual productivity growth rates over the next several decades through the development, commercialization and adoption of both traditional and cutting-edge technologies.
Norman Borlaug, the Father of the Green Revolution, once said, "The world has the technology, either available or well-advanced in the research pipeline, to feed a population of 10 billion people. The more pertinent question is whether farmers and ranchers will be permitted to use this new technology." Today, agriculture is challenged and even misunderstood by several groups...consumers, politicians, regulators, advocates for the environment and animal rights and welfare, their neighbors - rural and urban, and sometimes even by other parts of the industry (i.e., the food vs. fuel debate). These are all forces that today have either the will, the authority, the financing or the support to limit agriculture's ability to use new technologies and meet the world's growing food demand.
What was most striking about the assembly of agricultural leaders in Lincoln and the feeling that pervaded the meeting was the absolute commitment they all felt to defend their businesses, their families, their way of life and their contributions to society and the planet. Nebraska's production agriculture sector, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, accounts for about 7 percent of the state's economic output. This percentage ranks Nebraska third in the country of states that rely most on their agriculture sectors - behind North and South Dakota.
Livestock and crop production are both critically important to the state, and that is especially clear in the sentiments shared at the conference - and with daily frequency - by Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman. The Governor has minced no words about his intent to defend the state's livestock industry from expected attacks by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) on production agriculture. "You (HSUS) come to Nebraska and you're going to have the fight of your life," Heineman publicly stated. "If you think you can intimidate Nebraskans, you're kidding yourself. I'll organize the whole state if that's what it takes." Heineman said he would work nonstop if HSUS pushes a ballot initiative, to be sure all the state's citizens understand the HSUS agenda and what it would mean in a state where livestock is the leading industry. "And then I'll go to every state in the nation," he said.
Indiana's Governor Mitch Daniels echoes this same unabashed support for our agriculture industry. If agriculture could make Daniels and Heineman official industry spokespersons and send them across the country, every state in the nation would certainly benefit from their "no excuses, no apologies" style.
Read the article written for Nebraska Pork Producers' industry magazine Pork Talk, titled "Is Agriculture Ready to Meet the 21st Century Challenge?"
Norman Borlaug, the Father of the Green Revolution, once said, "The world has the technology, either available or well-advanced in the research pipeline, to feed a population of 10 billion people. The more pertinent question is whether farmers and ranchers will be permitted to use this new technology." Today, agriculture is challenged and even misunderstood by several groups...consumers, politicians, regulators, advocates for the environment and animal rights and welfare, their neighbors - rural and urban, and sometimes even by other parts of the industry (i.e., the food vs. fuel debate). These are all forces that today have either the will, the authority, the financing or the support to limit agriculture's ability to use new technologies and meet the world's growing food demand.
What was most striking about the assembly of agricultural leaders in Lincoln and the feeling that pervaded the meeting was the absolute commitment they all felt to defend their businesses, their families, their way of life and their contributions to society and the planet. Nebraska's production agriculture sector, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, accounts for about 7 percent of the state's economic output. This percentage ranks Nebraska third in the country of states that rely most on their agriculture sectors - behind North and South Dakota.
Livestock and crop production are both critically important to the state, and that is especially clear in the sentiments shared at the conference - and with daily frequency - by Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman. The Governor has minced no words about his intent to defend the state's livestock industry from expected attacks by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) on production agriculture. "You (HSUS) come to Nebraska and you're going to have the fight of your life," Heineman publicly stated. "If you think you can intimidate Nebraskans, you're kidding yourself. I'll organize the whole state if that's what it takes." Heineman said he would work nonstop if HSUS pushes a ballot initiative, to be sure all the state's citizens understand the HSUS agenda and what it would mean in a state where livestock is the leading industry. "And then I'll go to every state in the nation," he said.
Indiana's Governor Mitch Daniels echoes this same unabashed support for our agriculture industry. If agriculture could make Daniels and Heineman official industry spokespersons and send them across the country, every state in the nation would certainly benefit from their "no excuses, no apologies" style.
Read the article written for Nebraska Pork Producers' industry magazine Pork Talk, titled "Is Agriculture Ready to Meet the 21st Century Challenge?"
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