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Thank You Mr. Gates/ Gates Foundation Annual Letter and Farming

Bill Gates has just released his annual letter on the work of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Gates Annual Letter

It is well worth a read. Thank you Mr. Gates. Yes the money for agricultural research is indeed appreciated. But even more I appreciate the mention of climate change and agriculture. I appreciate the mention of the 5 key African crops. Of course if climate change gets bad enough, then some of the key African crops may be the key Illinois crops as well... I think the bleak reality is that If corn depends on the right rain at the right time, and that rain doesn't come, well then,  it's now Welcome to Illinois--Sorghum grower to the world.

Thanks also for mentioning the fact that farming doesn't even get mentioned much in the U.S. Of course, ignoring food is one of the greatest luxuries of life. For most of the world, it's more like the Chinese saying, "Food is more important than God."  This is the complacency bred of a certain food supply but in the age of great uncertainly we have enterered, I would say this is  a greatly misplaced certainty.... Global Climate Change could affect all agriculture profoundly--including our own.

 

If I were Vice President Xi Jinping, I think I might visit with Mr. Biden and then I would go the Iowa farmland too

Reuters just reported that Vice President Xi Jinping will visit The White House on February 14, and then he will visit Iowa http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/24/us-usa-china-xi-idUSTRE80N06E20120124. If I were him and about to undertake the very big job of leading China, I think that's where I would go. I would be thinking of the center of U.S. power and diplomacy and what they might mean for Asia and China. But, I'd also be thinking of my country's boundless need for raw materials and chief among them, I would think about food. Specifically, I would wonder where all the affordable pork would be coming from, and then I would turn my attention to Iowa and all that number 2 yellow corn just waiting to be exported.

Because if I were him, I would have paid attention when the Chinese agricultural economist types announced last week,that China is quickly approaching the red line limits of the farmland the country needs to be able to grow enough food.... And then I would wonder where the corn for the pigs for the pork would be coming from...http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203735304577166652002366514.html

And then, I would decide to go to Iowa or Illinois or Missouri or South America.... Or may be all of them.

Chicago Farmers Farmland Investment Fair 2012 Schedule With Times

I am updating the schedule for The Chicago Farmers 2012 Farmland Investment Fair with the times and addresses. It should be a fun day, see www.chicagofarmers.org for more info and updates.

8:45 - 9:30 a.m.     Session 1
    Condemnation & Eminent Domain
    Managing Drainage
    The Business Case for Investing in Local & Organic Farms
    Biomass: Your Third Crop
    Farmland Values
10:15 - 11:00 a.m     Session 2
    Conservation Solutions
    Custom Farm Leasing
    "How To" info for Farmer's Markets & Grass Fed By-The-Numbers
    Evolving Biomass Markets: Home To Industry
    Condemnation & Eminent Domain
11:00 - 1:00 p.m.     Complimentary Lunch Served
11:15 - 12:00 p.m.     Session 3
    1031 Exchange
    4 R's of Nutrient Management
    Value Added and Its Effect on Farmland Values
    Investing In South American Agriculture
    Wind & Solar Energy
1:15 - 2:00 p.m.     Session 4
    Remote Sensing
    Farmland Values

Weitendorf Agricultural Education Center
17840 Laraway Road
Joliet, IL 60433
Phone: (815) 280-6900

The 2012 Chicago Farmers Farmland Investment Fair.. A Chance to be with the folks who get it...

One of the real reasons to come to the The 2012 Chicago Farmers Farmland Investment Fair is to be with the people who get it... Farmland really  is one of the few relatively safe places to put investment capital on a long term basis, and what Will Rogers said is true, "Buy land, they're not making any more of it".

Now for those who grew up on farms, it may also be true what a New York stock invester type supposedly said during 1929 when the market was collapsing around him, "Thank God, I could still milk a cow if i I had to."

Topic List For The Chicago Farmers 2012 Farmland Investment Fair

The Chicago Farmers 2012 Farmland Investment Fair Seminars

There’s a lot to learn from this bunch. If you go to the website, you can find information on the Fair and how to register, www.chicagofarmers.org. There are several sessions on local and organic farmland investing and grass fed beef that  you just won't find many other places:

 

1031 Exchange

The 4 R's Of Nutrient Management

The Business Case for Investing in Local & Organic Farmland

Biomass: Your Third Crop

Investing in South American Agriculture: Brazil, Uruguay, and Bolivia

Condemnation & Eminent Domain

Conservation Solutions

Custom Farm Leasing

Evolving Biomass Markets: Home to Industry

 How to Info on Farmers’ Markets & Grass Fed by the Numbers

Farmland Values

Managing Drainage

Remote Sensing      

Value Added Food and its Effect on Farmland Values

Wind & Solar Energy

The Chicago Farmers Farmland Investment Fair 2012

The Chicago Farmers Farmland Investment Fair will be held on February 4, 2012 . I'm eager to see who's buying, who's selling and who wants to own farmland. I suspect if we could ever truly know who really wanted to farm it could be quite interesting. I bet there are a fair number of farmers who really would have preferred to have been New Yorkers and a fair number of urbanites who were born into the concrete who really wanted to own their own place and farm....

Illinois Specialty Growers, H2A, Everify and Managing Drift Risk It's Really All About The People....

I spent last week at the Illinois Specialty Growers Annual Conference and Trade Show.Illinois Specialty Growers I was there to give a speech on the H2A Program and Everify and Risk Mangement for Genetic and Chemical Drift.  I've come back with a heretical thought about food and ag---It's really all about the people.

Food and Agriculture are like any other business ventures. If you can get the people part of the deal right, a lot of the rest will follow. And, if you get the wrong people on the bus, little else will matter until you get them off the bus...

We spend a lot of time in food and ag talking about the things,--land, money, production process and equipment. But, we do a disservice to ourselves and our industries of food and ag when we don't spend enough time asking questions on the people side of the equation:

Who will raise these crops? Who will invest in the land, the training and infrastructure? Who's going to eat the food? How do we have meaningful conversations with the people in and out of agriculture? And, how do the 98 percent of the U.S. that eats  the food talk to the 2 percent that produces the food?