Exciting Time to be in Agriculture

Brett Begemann, featured speaker at the Council’s April meeting, recalled it wasn’t until the late 1990s that people ‘really’ started to talk about food. Before that, food production, processing, packaging and transportation were just banal topics that didn’t command headlines. Now, Begemann, who is COO for Bayer’s Crop Science division in St. Louis, claims food is a headliner. At least three times a week, newspapers like the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune and business-oriented cable and television news programs run stories about agriculture and food. 

“It’s an exciting time to be in ag.” That’s because 25 years ago talk about the environment and things like sustainability got serious. And there is no industry that has done more to promote, develop and advance the concept of sustainability than agricultural, Begemann said. He attributes ag’s emergence as a leader in sustainability to the array of digital tools that are driving innovation today.  But he put Council members and the ag industry in general on notice to keep talking and touting the business. “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.”

Serving as host of the virtual meeting was Chris Daubert, dean of the University of Missouri‘s College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources.  He described CAFNR’s vision and mission as “imagining a healthy world.” CAFNR’s “food for life philosophy cultivates this world through visionary and transformative solutions for the environment, food systems, economies and communities.” Dean Daubert noted that CAFNR is changing core components that impacts what people eat, where they live and how they will face the future.

CAFNR has numerous existing research, teaching and extension programs that are nationally and internationally recognized. To highlight the recognized strength of existing and future programs, CAFNR has established criteria for Programs of Distinction, a select collection of programs that exemplify CAFNR’s drive to distinction.

Dr. Rob Kallenbach, University of Missouri’s associate dean of the Agriculture & Environment Extension indicated the goal of the Extension is to double the economic impact of agriculture in Missouri by 2030 “while sustaining our natural resources.” The strategic plan calls for such action as turning advances in animal genetics into better stock and couple that with an effective business model to capture retail value.