Cresco Times Plain Dealer, IA
10-04-06
Ag scientists tour farm sites
DECORAH - Agricultural scientists from across the globe will experience Iowa's
agricultural expertise this harvest season.
In celebration of Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area's (SSNHA) 10year designation anniversary along with the World Food Prize's 20th anniversary
celebration and symposium, a two- day motorcoach tour of the Heritage Area has
been planned for 50 foreign USDA Norman Borlaug Fellows Oct. 16-17.
The fellows, who will be in Iowa to celebrate The World Food Prize 2006 Harvest
Festival, will tour an Iowa hog farm, view corn and soybeans being harvested,
hear a lecture by Norman Borlaug's biographer at his boyhood home, see a
large-scale dairy farm, and tour one of the state's largest wetlands restoration
projects.
"Silos and Smokestacks' mission is to tell the story of American agriculture and to
help visitors interpret and experience the diverse features of Iowa's agricultural
heritage," said Don Short, SSNHA director. "The World Food Prize is the
foremost international award dedicated to improving the quality, quantity and
availability of food in the world. We are very excited to show-case a sampling of
Iowa's agricultural heritage during harvest season and to be a part of the World
Food Prize week-long series of events."
Ambassador Kenneth Quinn, president of the World Food Prize Foundation,
agrees. "From small pork producers to high-tech grain and dairy operations to
wetlands restoration, the tour itinerary will engage our fellows and will hopefully
spark discussions on increasing food and fiber production to feed a world of 10
billion people," he said.
The contingent of USDA Norman Borlaug Fellows - from Afghanistan, Bulgaria,
Cameroon, Costa Rica, India, Montenegro and Serbia - together with Silos and
Smokestacks, World Food Prize and USDA staff members will leave Des Moines
Monday, Oct. 16. The first stop will be at a hog farm near Zearing. Members of
Iowa Farm Families, an independent pork producer co-op that markets its pork
direct to consumers, will show how they raise pork that is free range, antibioticfree and compassionately raised. They will also discuss their work with Iowa
State University in developing a unique genetic base for their "Naturally Tender
Pork."
The tour will then visit an Iowa grain farm. There they'll see corn being combined
and transported from the field to on-farm storage bins. Discussions will include till
versus no-till farming, crop rotation, fertilizer and chemical application and grain
yields.
Following a catered lunch at the Hubbard Golf and Recreation Club, the tour will
visit the Norman Borlaug boyhood home in Cresco. In the one-room schoolhouse
where Norman Borlaug, 1970 Nobel Peace Prize Laueate, received his earliest
education the fellows will hear a presentation by Leon Hesser, author of the new
Borlaug biography, "The Man Who Fed the World." Hesser will also sign books
for those in attendance.
Following an overnight stay in Decorah, the scientists will experience the 1,000head Stor-Del Dairy in Fredericksburg. The group will tour the milking barn, and
hear about the dairy's daily operations, including use of on-farm embryo transfers
and international Holstein semen shipping, from the dairy's owner.
With water resource issues becoming more pressing in worldwide agriculture
production, the group's final stop will be at one of Iowa's largest wetlands
restoration and water quality projects: the Polk County Chichaqua Bottoms
Greenbelt. Here attendees will take an interpretive tour of a 10-square-mile
wetlands and prairie restoration project. Stretching for 10 miles along the Skunk
River, the area's restored features include old oxbow river channels and
backwaters, marshes, and wetlands. Chichaqua also include sandy upland hills
with reconstructed prairies and native prairie remnants.
The 2006 World Food Prize Laureates are Edson Lobato, Brazil; Alysson
Paolinelli, Brazil; and A. Colin McClung, United States. They will receive their
awards on Thursday, Oct. 19, in Des Moines, for their pioneering work in soil
science and policy implementation that opened the vast Cerrado, Brazil, area to
agricultural and food production.
Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area is a 37-county region in Northeast
Iowa covering over 20,000 square miles, It is one of 27 federally designated
heritage areas in the nation and is an Affiliated Area of the National Park Service.
Through the development of a network of sites, program and events, Silos &
Smokestacks' mission is to interpret farm life, agribusiness and rural communities
- past and present. With 96 partner sites and attractions, Silos and Smokestacks
is where the story of American Agriculture comes to life. Silos & Smokestacks will
be celebrating its 10th-anniversary of Congressional designation on Nov. 15 in
Waterloo. For more information visit www.silosandsmokestacks.
The World Food Prize was established in 1986 to be the foremost international
award recognizing the achievements of individuals who have advanced human
development by improving the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world.
Dr. Norman Borlaug, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his role as
father of the Green Revolution, envisioned a prize that would honor those who
have made Nobel-like contributions to improving the world's food supply and
reducing hunger. At the same time, Dr. Borlaug sees the Prize as a means of
inspiring even greater achievement in the future. For more information visit
www.worldfoodprize.org.