Agri Growth Council Meeting

The 2009 Minnesota Agri-Growth Council Annual Meeting brings together key stakeholders in the food and agriculture industry. More than 400 industry leaders gathered for this event held at the Minneapolis Convention Center on November 3. Government relations professionals, commodity group and farmer leaders and public officials came together to learn about and discuss current industry trends and topics. This year’s meeting focused on the issue of sustainability and corporate social responsibility.

It is not only the responsibility of big business, but also the responsibility of individuals and producers in the agriculture industry. We need to remember the decisions we make now will affect the world that future generations will be living in.

Attending the Agri-Growth Council Meeting, I was inspired to learn more what effects modern farming practices really have on the environment. Being a dairy farmer, I don’t like to think that the methane from my ruminant friends destroys our ozone layer. And on top of that, that dairy cows are producing so much methane gas that there has been talk of a proposed “Cow Tax” that would charge dairy producers $150 per head for the toll their digestive gases are taking on our environment.

Through the eyes of consumers, modern farming practices appear to have higher environmental effects than to when their grandparents were farming in the 1940s. With the world’s ever growing population, producers need to adopt improved and more efficient means of producing food.
Here are some statistics to bust the myths of the environmental impacts of farming.
· The time needed to grow an animal to slaughter weight takes twice as long of corn fed beef cattle. This translates to three times the energy use and greenhouse emissions per pound of beef.
· In 2007, the U.S. dairy industry produced 8.3 billion more gallons of milk than in 1944 with a carbon footprint that was reduced by 41% during the same time period.
Even though we are making progress in the sustainability department by striving for better days through better ways of producing food for our ever growing population, there is always room for innovation. Our agriculture industry needs leaders like you! What will you and your chapter do to introduce sustainable practices in your schools and communities?
***Statistics provided by: Jude Capper, Ph.D, assistant professor of dairy sciences at Washington State University at the 71st Cornell Nutrition Conference in Syracuse, NY.