We are a nonprofit advocacy group led by American farmers – narrowly focused, issue specific – as we support free trade and agricultural biotechnology.

East ports want to dig deeper

Publication — The Sacramento Bee Author — By Curtis Tate Date — May 9, 2012 Website — www.sacbee.com WASHINGTON – A wider, deeper Panama Canal will open in 2014, meaning that biggercargo ships filled with more containers ofconsumer goods can move directly to the population centers of the East Coast instead of stopping on the West Coast and sending [...]

The Coming Global Water Crisis

Publication — The Atlantic Author — By Stewart M. Patrick Date — May 9, 2012 Website — www.theatlantic.com The recent UN alert that drought in the Sahel threatens 15 million lives is a harbinger of things to come. In the next twenty years, global demand for fresh water will vastly outstrip reliable supply in many parts of [...]

Tehran Sets Trade Deals With India Amid Curbs

Publication — The Wall Street Journal Authors — By Debiprasad Nayak and Biman Mukherji Date — May 9, 2012 Website — http://online.wsj.com MUMBAI—An Iranian trade delegation to India has sealed deals to buy shipments of rice, sugar and soybeans from the South Asian country, as part of a plan for Tehran to use such pacts [...]

Obama’s Double Standard on TPP

Publication — The Wall Street Journal Author — By Greg Rushford Date — May 7, 2012 Website — httpp://online.wsj.com Trade officials from nine dynamic Asia-Pacific economies begin 10 days of talks today in Dallas, Texas, hoping to finalize the Trans-Pacific Partnership pact by the end of this year. President Obama has said the deal will [...]

Time for an Asia Trade Breakthrough

Publication — The Wall Street Journal Author — By Myron Brilliant Date — May 7, 2012 Website — http://online.wsj.com With 13 million unemployed, no priority facing our nation is more important than putting Americans back to work. While divisions in Washington run deep, Democrats and Republicans agree that boosting exports is a vital part of [...]

Demand will restructure food industry

Publication — Brownfield Ag Network Author — By Tom Steever Date — May 7, 2012 Website — www.brownfieldagnews.com Rising demand, especially from China, will significantly restructure the global food industry. That’s according to an in-depth report from the U.S. Grains Council, which examines the future of food and agriculture in East Asia. Tom Sleight, the vice [...]

California GMO labeling petitions turned in

Publication — Brownfield Ag Network Author — By Bob Meyer Date — May 7, 2012 Website — www.brownfieldagnews.com Supporters of California’s “Right to Know” effort say they have enough signatures to put the GMO-labeling issue on the November ballot. The proposition would ask if foods containing genetically engineered products should clearly indicate such on the [...]

Salt-tolerant rice: Nuclear-powered crops

Publication — The Economist Date — May 5, 2012 Website — www.economist.com THOSE who turn their noses up at “genetically modified” food seldom seem to consider that all crops are genetically modified. The difference between a wild plant and one that serves some human end is a lot of selective breeding—the picking and combining over [...]

Gates Foundation gives $3m grant to support biotechnology in Africa

Publication — Ghana Business News Date — May 3, 2012 Website — www.ghanabusinessnews.com The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on Thursday presented $3 million grant to the Open Forum for Biotechnology in Africa (OFAB) to expand its operations. The grant also seeks to support the forum to create an enabling environment for agricultural biotechnology which [...]

Commentary: Biotech as bellwether

Publication — Port Network Author — By Dan Murphy Date — May 4, 2012 Website — www.porknetwork.com An interesting take on the evolution of attitudes toward biotechnology recently appeared on the website of Ag-West Bio, a non-profit, agricultural advocacy organization funded by Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada and Saskatchewan’s provincial Ministry of Agriculture. Written by Peter [...]