During a visit last week to Indiana American Farm Bureau President Bob Stallman met with media to discuss a range of topics, and one of those was university dedication to production agriculture. Stallman said it’s vital that ag related colleges continue focusing on commercial ag. He spoke while at Purdue University.
“I know Purdue has that attitude. That attitude may be failing somewhat in other parts of the country,” he said, but universities need to keep “focusing on what we need for the future, focusing on the kind of research and science and programs that address some of the issues raised by society, including animal welfare issues, and to be a very objective source of information about those issues that do affect agriculture, and be a very qualified source of information to help agriculture succeed in the future.”
Stallman spent time on the campus and said he likes what he sees in West Lafayette.
“I’ve had a good discussion with many of the individuals in the school of agriculture that do various things from research on cellulosic ethanol, research on animal behavior, the Center for Commercial Agriculture, which makes a greater connection between the university and commercial agriculture. All of those things are very important, including training the next generation of agriculture leaders.”
Stallman added, “I had the opportunity to meet with some very well qualified, fantastic students that will be the agriculture leaders of the future in some part of the business, from production and manufacturing on to retailing and so forth.”
He also addressed the Humane Society of the US which represents a huge issue for American agriculture. The issue or challenge to farmers and ranchers is to communicate about their modern practices to a population getting further removed from the farm.
The U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance and their Food Dialogues is doing just that.
USFRA also helped get an op-ed by fifth generation Ohio farmer Mike Haley on the CNN Eatocracy website. In the piece Haley highlights the challenges of the 2012 drought and how the latest technologies and a focus on continuous improvement are helping farmers.
The next Food Dialogues is coming in November.[audio:https://www.hoosieragtoday.com//wp-content/uploads//2012/09/Stallman-on-Purdue.mp3|titles=Stallman on Purdue]