|Return to Conference page |
Contents
Be part of the solution
Many can benefit
Agenda
Exhibitors

Be part of the solution

The agricultural community receives too little attention for its efforts to prevent pollution. Private initiative is flourishing in every quarter: individual farmers, cooperatives, producer groups, food processors, chemical manufacturers. In the future, the private sector is likely to be a more critical player in the battle to prevent agricultural pollution.

This conference will explore the role of the private sector in helping to meet public demand for environmental protection in times of contracting government spending. Those who attend the conference will learn about programs sponsored or supported by the private sector. You will learn more about what individual farmers are doing on the front lines.

Participants should be prepared to contribute as well as listen. This conference will challenge participants to be part of the solution. Their input will be sought to identify the support farmers need to take voluntary action. Participants will be asked to consider how the private sector can play a more important role. Conference organizers hope to generate ideas that will result in strategies to increase support for voluntary action in Michigan. As a starting point, participants will consider a Michigan-specific resource directory for farmers that consolidates private and public programs.

Many can benefit

Public officials and others in government can learn how the private sector is making a difference. The conference will stimulate ideas about partnership building that can leverage limited funds to produce higher public dividends. Producer groups and agribusinesses who want to be proactive can learn from the successes of others. Those concerned about the environment can discover the contributions of the private sector and find common ground to achieve new levels of environmental protection through cooperation. Farmers can learn lessons from innovators in the field.

Agenda

8:00AM Registration
On your own - poster session
 
9:00AM Welcome
What we hope to accomplish
Jack Laurie, President, Michigan Farm Bureau
 
9:15AM Keynote speech
Government and the private sector: Partnerships that support voluntary action
G. Tracy Mehan, MI Dept. of Environmental Quality
Marlene Fluharty, American Foundation
 
9:45AM Taking the first step
A directory of private initiatives
Gary Jackson, University of Wisconsin Extension
 
10:15AM Break
 
10:30AM Marketing pollution prevention:
The cooperative' perspective
Gary Hansen, AgriBank, FCB
 
10:00AM Agribusiness in action:
Why they're proactive, what they're doing, and what's in their future
Moderator/facilitator: Ben Darling, MI Dept. of Ag.
Jerry Flint, Monsanto
Ted McKinney, Dow Elanco
Randy Ettema, DuPont Agricultural Products
Jim Blair, Schoolcraft Farm Service
 
12:00AM Lunch
Food served 12:00-12:30
 
12:30PM Lunch speaker
Profiting from less (pesticide reduction)
Jim Breinling, Agricultural Research Manager
Gerber Foods
 
1:15PM What's happening in the field:
Farmer initiatives
Moderator/facilitator: Russ LaRowe, MASA
Bill McPhee, Innovative Farmers of Huron County
Jan Vosburg, Hog/beef farmer
Don Gregory, fruit grower
Jim Slater, Dairy farmer
2:30PM Break
 
3:00PM Group discussion on what's needed
Moderator/facilitator: Dr. Eileen Van Ravenswaay, Professor
Dept. of Agricultural Economics, MSU
 
3:45PM Closing Remarks
Building on what we've learned;
Where do we go from here?
Dr. Sandra Batie, Elton R. Smith Endowed Chair, Professor
Food and Agricultural Policy, MSU

Conference Coordinators:
Kevin Kirk, Michigan Farm Bureau
Terri Novak, MI Department of Environmental Quality

Exhibitors include:

Address for this site: http://www.wisc.edu/farmasyst/private/broc.html
Created by: Richard Castelnuovo,rcasteln@students.wisc.edu,
Last modified: November 17, 1997