Cause Matters Blog

Archive for March, 2010

2010 Global Ag Outlook

Tuesday, March 30th, 2010

Agchat session 3/30/2010

Question 1:

Global is so large. What would be the one or two global priority ag issues to bring to focus?

Question 2:

How does the growing need for energy worldwide affect agriculture, both short-term and long-term?

Question 3:

Does agriculture in other countries face as many outside critics as American ag does?

Question 4:

Given traceability is WAY farther along in EU, can we expect deliverables of Bioterrorism Act of 2002 to make headway?

Question 5:

How would you fill this in: ‘I would be willing to _____ to improve global agriculture.’

Question 6:

So what’s the outlook for U.S. agriculture in 2010, in your opinion?

Question 7:

What are effects of increasing soybean demand from China?

Question 8:

What opportunities are there to meet food demands without additional cropland and irrigation?

Question 9:

Should global ag issues be tackled as whole (globally) or at a local (no bigger than state?) level? A mixture?

Question 10:

What is the one executable idea you have gained from tonight’s conversation that you’ll be working on?

Thanks to Truffle Media for archiving this
week’s chat

Posted in #AgChat Archives | No Comments »

Celebrating the AgChat Community

Tuesday, March 30th, 2010

One year ago I was contemplating the idea of agriculture folks joining  a conversation on Twitter, similar to what I had seen in action on “#journchat.” I discussed the idea with some friends in the business, tried to evaluate how such a conversation could connect people around the food plate and wondered if it really was something ag people would “do.”  ’No risk, no reward’ is a personal philosophy, so on April 6, 2009, I announced we were going to try out a moderated streaming conversation known as “#AgChat” on Twitter on April 7, 2009. Read More »

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Posted in Advocacy, Agriculture, Farmer, Farming, Food, Motivation, Social Media, Technology | 6 Comments »

Water and Water Issues

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

Agchat session 3/23/2010

Question 1:

What can/should farmers do to protect quality of surface and ground water?

Question 2:

Would you incorporate algae tech and/or hydroponics to handle nutrient runoff if there was an ongoing ROI?

Question 3:

People talk about food security. Are farmers feeling ‘H2O secure’ for what they want to do? How about 10 years from now?

Question 4:

Tom Vilsack, United States Secretary of Agriculture, says farms of future need to be about developing ‘eco-system markets.’ How do we tap ‘water market?’

Question 5:

What are some of challenges facing agriculture with regard to diminishing supplies of fresh water?

Question 6:

What is the biggest water challenge in your area?

Question 7:

How should farmers respond to PETA’s claim it takes ’4K liters of H2O to produce 1 steak’?

Question 8:

What cool technology resources are being developed to clean water today?

Question 9:

What voluntary decreases in ag activity could result in lower water usage?

Question 10:

Do H2O use efficiency improvements really conserve water? Or just get more yield for the same amount of water use?

Question 11:

What is the one executable idea you’ll act upon as a result of tonight’s #agchat?

Thanks to Truffle Media for archiving this
week’s chat

Posted in #AgChat Archives | No Comments »

Agvocates: People Just Like You

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

“Agvocacy” is the heart and soul of National Agriculture Week. A farmer in Ohio, Mike Haley, coined the “agvocate” term on Twitter a few months ago. It brings together ‘agriculture’ and ‘advocate’ into a singular term that’s representative of the action needed. Agvocates from across the country shared their stores at the Cause Matters Corp. National Ag Week party – you’ll see they’re people just like you. Read More »

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Posted in Advocacy, Agriculture, Consumer Trust, Environment, Farmer, Farming, Food | No Comments »

Milk Pongs, Family Farms & Politicians

Thursday, March 18th, 2010

Telling your story can happen through words, pictures, videos or text!

The National Agriculture Week celebration continues with great events across communities, large and small, in real life and the virtual world. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and even Linkedin have been filled with updates from people working to increase awareness of  American agriculture. The idea extravaganza at the Cause Matters Corp. fan page has brought people from across the country to the party; these are a few of my favorites s far  (we’re partying til Saturday at midnight). Read More »

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Posted in Advocacy, Agriculture, Farmer, Farming, Food, Social Media | 1 Comment »

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