The glow of wintry sunsets at the Innovation and Education Campus in Libertyville, Illinois, is peaceful. Come next winter, our new state-of-the-art headquarters will sit directly across from the barn.

Farm Foundation is pleased to announce a suite of awards celebrating significant achievements in the agriculture and food sector. The four awards recognize leaders and change makers who exemplify Farm Foundation’s mission and values. Nominations are due by March 31, 2023.

The January 2023 meeting of the Farm Foundation Round Table took place in Savannah, Georgia. The meeting's theme centered on opportunities and challenges for international trade. This blog post covers some of the key themes and takeaways from the meeting.

In addition, six new Fellows were recently named: Pamela Howlett, vice president and associate general counsel at Bayer Crop Science; Trent McKnight, operating partner of VestedWorld; Matt Moreland, owner of Moreland Farms; Adam Putnam, CEO of Ducks Unlimited; Dr. Ron Rainey, assistant vice president of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture; and Sylvia Wulf, CEO of AquaBounty.

On February 23 and 24, the 2023 Agricultural Scholars attended the USDA’s 99th annual Agricultural Outlook Forum with Farm Foundation Program Manager Jenna Wicks. While there, they attended the USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) open house, went on a tour of the Capitol, and met with ERS Administrator Dr. Spiro Stefanou.

Keep an eye on the Farm Foundation social media channels for the upcoming announcement of the new 2023 Young Agri-Food Leaders and Young Farmer Accelerator program cohorts.

Contact us to discuss partnership opportunities to further scale our Next Generation programs to provide even greater support and more opportunities to our outstanding program participants.

Based on participant feedback from its inaugural year, the Friends of Farm Foundation program recently expanded with a roster of new benefits available for new and renewing Friends. Depending on giving level, new benefits include virtual networking sessions, access to a directory of Friends, a personalized tour of the new Innovation and Education Campus, and more.

Get all the details farmfoundation.org/90thgala.

Click here to save the date to your calendar.

Join us for this Farm Foundation Forum, Greening the Fertilizer Industry, on Tuesday, March 21, at 9 a.m. CST via Zoom as we examine not only where we stand today with fertilizer production and usage, but where we might go to create more sustainable and environmentally friendly fertilizer products in the future.

 The “Agricultural Productivity Growth: Measurement, Drivers, and Climatic Effects” workshop seeks to address how different methodologies result in distinct productivity estimates, the effect of public R&D and patent knowledge, the influence of climate change, and the causes and consequences of agricultural productivity growth.

Farm Foundation President and CEO Shari Rogge-Fidler recently moderated a conversation between USDA Secretary Thomas Vilsack and EU Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski at USDA's 99th annual Agricultural Outlook Forum. A few days later she spoke at an event hosted by the Forum for the Future of Agriculture in Washington, D.C., discussing US perspectives on sustainability and regenerative agriculture.

In November, Shari presented at the THRIVE Global Impact Summit in San Jose, California. She moderated a panel on how agriculture can mitigate food insecurity, nutrition challenges, and climate change, and participated in selecting the winners of the 2022 THRIVE Global Impact Challenge, awarded to innovative startups advancing net-zero in agriculture.

Shari also recorded an interview on The Food Systems Podcast with Global Forum on Farm Policy and Innovation (GFFPI) partner, The Forum for the Future of Agriculture. Across a variety of topics she discusses why Farm Foundation founded GFFPI.

You can meet up with members of the team on their upcoming travels. Todd Price, vice president of the Innovation and Education Campus, will be traveling to the 2023 Commodity Classic in Orlando, Florida, on March 9 to 11. Morgan Craven, senior manager of events, will be traveling to Arlington, Virginia, for the "Agricultural Productivity Growth: Measurement, Drivers, and Climatic Effects" workshop.

Farm Foundation recently welcomed two new team members who have been instrumental in accelerating the implementation of our five-year strategic vision, which includes new programming, creating next generation programs, and opening a new Innovation and Education Center in the Chicago metro area to deliver best-in-class digital and in-person experiences to support our mission. Visit our staff page to learn more about Dr. Amanda Martin, manager of annual giving, and Ellen Prather, marketing and design coordinator.

Would you like to join our team? Visit our career page to see our currently open positions. We are actively seeking a full-time Programs and Events Specialist to support our portfolio of unparalleled programs and events, like the twice yearly in-person Round Table and our virtual Forums. Get all the details and apply at farmfoundation.org/careers.