Photo courtesy of Tom Campbell, Purdue Agricultural Communication.

During the annual Purdue Ag Alumni Fish Fry at the Indiana State Fairgrounds this past weekend, the Alumni Association recognized eight agriculture leaders with its highest award.  Donya Lester, the association’s executive director says the Purdue’s Ag Alumni is honored to recognize such a distinguished group of professionals. 

The recipients of the 2012 Certificate of Distinction from the Purdue University Agricultural Alumni Association:

• Phillip E. Boring of New Palestine, Ind., president of Boring Farms Inc. and LOI Farms Inc. Boring has been an innovator with his farming operations, his farm becoming one of the earliest family farms in Indiana to incorporate. He has innovated with new and non-traditional crops such as cucumbers and canola, as well as tomatoes and popcorn, which he still grows along with corn, soybeans and wheat. He and his wife, Janice, have hosted senior diplomats from the State Department to learn about agricultural production and policy, and many state and national delegations and international farmers and visitors have toured their farm. Boring has served on numerous national panels and symposia boards on topics including pork production, farm business transition and estate planning. He received a bachelor’s degree in general agriculture from Purdue in 1961.
• Susan A. Hayhurst of Terre Haute, Ind., a freelance writer. Her work appears in agricultural publications including Indiana Prairie Farmer, where she writes her “Hayhurst Haylofts” column and for more than 10 years has been a panelist for the magazine’s Young Farmer Forum. She also has written for Farm World, AAA Hoosier Home & Away, the Indiana Farm Bureau’s My Indiana Home and the Terre Haute Tribune-Star. She speaks to community groups about her farm life and has been a presenter at the Midwest Women in Ag Conference. Hayhurst previously worked in communications in Indianapolis and for the Purdue Alumni Association. In 1989 she joined her husband, Terry, in his family farming operation and continued her career in public relations at St. Mary of the Woods College. She received a bachelor’s degree in child development from Purdue in 1982.
• Hubert R. “Hub” Johnson of Frankfort, Ind., whose 50-year career has included positions with meat processors, service as a U.S. Department of Agriculture staff officer, a member of the Purdue faculty in meat science and many years as a consultant to the meats processing industry. Johnson has played a major role in transforming regulatory policy affecting the meat industry. His expertise earned him the nickname “The Ham Doctor.” Johnson also has served his profession through service on numerous industry committees and boards. A varsity basketball player at Purdue, he received a bachelor’s degree in animal sciences in 1961 and went on to earn a master’s degree, also in animal sciences, and a doctoral degree. After his stint at Purdue, in 1977 he launched his own company, H.B. Ham Inc. in Rossville, Ind.
• George F. Patrick of West Lafayette, Ind., a professor in Purdue’s Department of Agricultural Economics, where he has served since 1973. He earned both his master’s and doctorate in agricultural economics at Purdue in 1966 and 1970, respectively. Following graduation, he spent three years as project specialist for the Ford Foundation’s work in Brazil. Patrick’s career has had three major areas of impact: in his applied research and Extension education program on risk management; as a leader in tax education in Indiana and the nation, directing the Purdue Income Tax School since 1976; and in leadership in Extension at the departmental, regional and national levels. Among his other work in agriculture, Patrick was a founding director of the American Agricultural Economics Association Extension Section and served as its president.
• Rolf O. Peterson of Houghton, Mich., a professor in the School of Forestry and Wood Products at Michigan Technological University, where in 2009 he was named as the Robbins Endowed Chair in Sustainable Management of the Environment. He has spent his entire career at MTU, establishing himself as an authority on wolf biology and the predator-prey relationship of wolves and moose. Peterson for 37 years has been involved in research at Isle Royale National Park in Michigan that began in 1958 and has become the longest continuous predator-prey research ever conducted. It is the baseline for virtually all wolf-moose research in the world and is the template for a study now being conducted on the reintroduced wolf population in Yellowstone National Park. He received a doctorate in wildlife ecology from Purdue in 1974.
• Harold L. Thompson of Danville, Ind. Thompson’s career spanned nearly 40 years with the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, formerly the Soil Conservation Service. He provided technical assistance to producers in soil and water conservation systems, mostly in southwest Indiana, and served on the Indiana NRCS Leadership Team in assistant state conservationist positions. He became known for his ability to coordinate NRCS resources with other state and local agencies to complete successful conservation projects in watershed protection and flood prevention and to protect the highly erodible soils of southwest Indiana. Thompson served in leadership roles during his 42-year membership in the Hoosier Chapter of the Soil and Water Conservation Society. He received a bachelor’s degree in agricultural education from Purdue in 1971.
• S. Richard “Rick” Tolman of Ballwin, Mo., chief executive of the National Corn Growers Association. Under Tolman’s leadership, the group has grown in membership, checkoff funds, size and stature of the annual Commodity Classic, and in market opportunities for corn farmers. He led the NCGA Corn Board in its 2006 call for production of 15 billion bushels of corn, a third of which could be used for production of 15 billion gallons of ethanol by 2015. The plan was part of energy legislation that President George W. Bush signed in 2007. Tolman previously was executive director of the U.S. Grains Council, marketing planning manager for the Advanced Harvesting Systems Group at International Harvester Co. and a market research analyst for the farm equipment maker Gehl Co. He earned a master’s degree in agricultural economics from Purdue in 1978.
• J. William “Bill” Uhrig of West Lafayette, Ind., is a retired Purdue professor of agricultural economics. He served in the Air Force Reserves as a pilot and at Iowa State University as an Extension economist before moving in 1967 to Purdue, where he made his mark over a 33-year career as an educator and grain marketing economist. Uhrig was co-developer of Purdue’s Top Farmer Crop Workshop and organized Purdue’s schools for agricultural banking, farm income tax and marketing on Indiana Higher Education Telecommunication System TV. He developed a farm marketing video series offered through closed-circuit television, one of the first such offerings by an agricultural economics department in the United States. He also developed AGEC 420, the undergraduate grain marketing course, which he taught for 20 years.

International travel, Tatman says provides students with an eye-opening experience that helps to make students better professionals.  He adds it helps them understand that the world of agriculture is much bigger than the United States and helps them develop flexibility skills and work through different professional situations.

This year’s group is headed to Southeast Asia. 

Upon completion of the program, students are required to make three presentations to college groups or community organizations about the value they received from the program. 

The deadline for applications is February 15, 2012.  More information can be found HERE

He says the one thing about hunger in this country that differs from others is that every single person that has any resources can do something about it.  Buffett says it’s not as daunting as saying, “How do I help someone that is 12,000 miles away in a culture that I don’t understand?”  “It’s down the street.”  Buffett thinks being proactive about fighting food security is important for the population to grasp.  “It’s something we can all add to it, in terms of the solution,” he says.

You can learn more HERE.

“For example,” she says, “Our state veterinarian needs to be involved in this decision.”  In addition, Troxel believes the Indiana board of Public Health should be involved in the conversation.  She tells Brownfield, “If we’re going to truly discuss legalizing the sale of unpasteurized milk, there should be a discussion among the stakeholders involved, the public health officials and scientist.”

Todd Janzen, legal adviser to IPDP summarizes the amendment as follows: 

• If producers have less than 20 cows they can register to sell raw milk (Notwithstanding any other law, a milk producer who does not have a permit under this chapter may register with the department for the purposes described in subsection (d) if the milk producer milks fewer than twenty (20) cows.)
• The milk producer must provide a sanitary container and fill the container in a sanitary manner
• The raw milk producer must display a sign that states “Raw milk products are sold here.  Raw milk products are not pasteurized.”
• The container must contain a label that states:  “This product contains raw milk.  Consume at your own risk.”

The bill the amendment is attached to is expected to come up for a vote later today.

Other recognitions from this past weekend:  Rush County was named the most improved Young Farmer program and Wells and Jennings counties received the Awakening Award, which recognizes programs that have not entered in the past three years.  Counties were also honored for their impact on Feeding America (a nationwide network of food banks).  Warren County donated the most pounds; Marion County gave the most volunteer time; and Johnson County raised the most money.

Indiana Farm Bureau Young Farmer program is for IFB members between 18 and 35 years old.

Bechdol tells Brownfield ACI offers three very important things for its members.  “Like any organization, it brings people together.” she says.  “When people come together, they feel a little more empowered, they have better business relationships, and they develop personal connections with one another.”  Bechdol says the concept of assembling people is important.

She also says ACI also provides information and works to represent agribusiness industries in regulatory and governmental affairs.  The 2012 ACI Conference and Expo concludes today at noon.

Rodman’s plan is gaining support from a coalition of business interests, it would link sponsor companies with illegal immigrants who have been in Kansas at least five years and have no criminal background. Employers would pay a fee which would be used to support the program. Lawmakers in Topeka are working on legislation to establish an outline for the program.

The idea is offered as an alternative to immigration laws which have driven farm workers out of Arizona, Alabama and Georgia. The Kansas Secretary of State is promising a similar law in Kansas. Rodman says farmers in those states watched their crops rot in the fields because of a lack of workers.

ADM Chairman and CEO Patricia Woertz says ongoing weakness in global oilseeds margins, lower results in corn and poor international merchandising resulted in “a tough quarter”. Among the factors, oilseeds processing profit declined $72 million, agricultural services profit decreased $268 million due in part to lower U.S. export volumes and corn processing decreased $532 million thanks in part to asset impairment charges related to the PHA renewable plastic production facility at Clinton, Iowa. Minus that charge, corn processing profit was down $193 million from the second quarter of 2010.

ADM returned $304 million to shareholders in the quarter including buying back 6.5 million shares and increasing the quarterly dividend a penny-and-a-half to 17.5 cents.

Read the ADM report here:

The 320 page guide is available through Purdue Extension’s Education Store, to purchase click HERE.  Individual copies are $7

Last year President Obama and the President of the European Council established the Trans-Atlantic Council to look at ways to generate jobs and create growth.  Steve Wellman, president of the American Soybean Association says included within those discussions is the possibility of a free trade agreement between the United States and the European Union.  He says, “If carried out properly a free trade agreement between the US and the EU would generate growth and create jobs on both sides of the Atlantic.” 

Wellman says some examples include “restrictive biotech approvals and labeling regulations that restrict the United States’ corn, soybean and refined corn product exports.” He says the Trans Pacific Partnership, currently being negotiated, should serve as an example of what a trade agreement between the US and EU should look like.