WorConversation: More food, better food ld Food Prize:

Conversation: More food, better food – improving and preserving quality


Philip Nelson – Professor, Purdue University
Great Advances in Ag production but much more needs to be done in the food chain.  How do we improve micro nutrients.  Cambodia had bumper crop of rice but lost 1/2 because there was no way to get it to market. 

Florence Chenoweth – Minister of Agriculture, Liberia
She is trying to rebuild the Ag sector in the face a a region with severe conflict.  When she was 17 she heard about hunger that showed her her future .  She had career day at school and a man came and talked about hunger in the world.  She had to fight to go to national Univ.  She brought lawsuit forcing Gov't to let her be 1st girl in Univ.  She went through Univ as only girl.  25 years of conflict destroyed the research and institutional aspects that fought hunger.  El Salvador and Liberia where two countries that have gotten to 100% of food in schools localy produced.  25 years of anything that walked was eaten and any plant product nothing saved for seed.  We are now rebuilding.  We are not aproaching hunger holisticly, we do not discuss nutrition.  Emphasis is more on suplements rather then getting it from the food.



Howarth Bouis – Director, HarvestPlus
Cereal production doubled in Green revolution while nutritious plant mater fell.  Price of fish and non-staple plant food doubled.  making harder to get nutrition.  80% of income goes to rice only 20% go to nutritious.  This is purely an economic issue.  As food prices in Nutritious food increase the % that go to this type decreases. 

Dyno Keatinge – Director-General, the World Vegetable Center
We don't have not elephants in the room but tyrannosaurus Rex.  Hunger and malnutrition.  1/5 of all diabetic are Indian, 1/10 of China is diabetic.  Type II diabetes is a dietary induced disease.  If we challenge malnutrition we have to get people to change their diets.  Need to consume more Vegis less grain.  It's not good enough to feed the world in 2015 if we are not nourishing it.  Not all Vegetables created equal.  No attention has been addressed by research on his nutirient leafy green Vegis.

Joseph Taets – Vice President, ADM Grain Group
Invest in Ag
We tranfere info to farmers small and lg

promoting Sustainable Ag
We have mult program. Doing it right in Brazil  more food better food in sustainable way.  Also partnering with industry]=try expert on eliminating post harvest loss

Leveraging our expertise.
In Haiti.  We had 800 tons of rice and we made that rice immediately available to Haiti.

Derek Yach – Senior Vice President, Global Health, PepsiCo
We cannot look at hunger without looking at the health and nutrition aspects.  The focus of pepsico will not just be on high end markets but will focus on small markets and smallholders and how do you improve the quality of the food supply.  How can we embed the knowledge we have into the developing markets. 

Jacqueline Morete, Farmer in Haiti.
 
 
I asked question on irradiation of food.  The rep from ADM and Pepsico could offer no work by their companies about this.  The Moderator reinforced that consumer is afraid they would glow in the dark(which is not true) and almost no-one is doing any work on this.
 
Pepsico will cut sugar in it's products by 25% and within two years remove all coloric drinks from schools.

I RESIGN: Candidacy in Iowa House District 60

I am(or was) the Democratic candidate for the Iowa House District 60, composed of most of the Polk County portion of West Des Moines. I am running against Peter Cownie the incumbent, who I ran against and lost to two years ago when it was an open seat. Two years ago he out spent me 17 to one. His father is Jim Cownie, one of the founders of the cable network in Iowa and after selling it in 1991 one of the richest men in Iowa. Peter Cownie has distinguished himself in the House with a lack luster first term. Looking at his website he can not even site a single accomplishment or single bill he introduced, other then his committee assignments. He has not a single new plan since he ran two years ago.

We have developed not a meritocracy but an affirmative action system for those of privilege. the system we have of private funding of campaigns through raising campaign contributions has led to corporatization of the United States Congress and our State Houses. We have representatives and senators at all levels costing the Government much more money because they spend based upon their contributors interest rather then the fiduciary interests of the public, their voters.

I feel we are long over due for a Clean Election Bill here in Iowa. There have been lots of court challenges of this because of potential unfairness to third part candidates. As described in Wikipedia:

Unlike traditional campaign finance laws that focus primarily on restricting spending and placing caps on campaign donations, Clean Elections laws provide a public grant to candidates who agree to limit their spending and private fundraising. Candidates participating in a Clean Elections system are required to meet certain qualification criteria, which usually includes collecting a number of signatures and small contributions (generally determined by statute and set at $5 in both Maine and Arizona) before the candidate can receive public support. In most Clean Elections programs, these qualifying contributions must be given by constituents. To receive the government campaign grant, "Clean Candidates" must forgo all other fundraising and accept no other private or personal funds. Candidates who choose not to participate are subject to limits on their fundraising, typically in the form of limits on the size of contributions they may accept and the sources of those contributions (such as limits on corporate or union contributions), and detailed reporting requirements.

I am as I describe myself a community activist who supports myself by being a Vascular Surgeon. I went to Haiti on two medical missions two weeks and two months after the devastating earthquake. I have developed a plan to allow every student attend college/university/professional/technical school and not pay a dime till they were working and then pay a fixed relatively small percentage of their salary for ten years. I developed a plan to pay for all health care in Iowa and not cost the taxpayers anything more. Several news sources credited me with keeping health care as a major issue in the last Presidential caucus cycle by attending and asking questions at 224 caucus events from all 18 candidates of both parties. I started my activism in High School and was one of ten to conceive of and run the first March of Dimes Walk (the first walk to raise money for charity) and developing the first program in the country for High school students to get academic credit for community service. Here in Iowa I have received National Volunteer of the year award from both the March of Dimes for my advocacy for the child health insurance HAWK-I and from the American Diabetes Association for conceiving of and getting passed the Farm-to-School bill and the seed that became the Healthy Child bill. The question and follow-up I asked Mr. Lightfoot in 1998 led to Vilsak being elected Governor (yes one person can make a difference). Seven months ago I completed a nine month diet losing 95 pounds and today is the seven month anniversary of completing it and I haven't gained a single pound back.