Des Moines, IA – Approximately 20 farmers from Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia, North and South America will gather in Des Moines Oct. 14-16 for the third annual Global Farmer-to-Farmer Roundtable. The Roundtable is organized by Truth about Trade and Technology (TATT), and will coincide with The World Food Prize Symposium that will be held Oct. 14-17, also in Des Moines.

While the symposium will take a more academic view of agriculture and global development in the next 50 years, the farmers at the Roundtable will discuss what they must do over the next 5-10 years to increase crop yields worldwide.

“There is one tool that farm operations worldwide can benefit from,” says Dean Kleckner, the Iowa farmer who is chairman of TATT. “It is the technology that can be included in one seed. Technology that helps plants resist diseases, droughts, and rely less on nitrogen.”

The farmers at the Roundtable will discuss the barriers they face in accessing that technology, and how they can work together to overcome those barriers.

The international farmers represent a variety of farm sizes and commodities. Each has used biotechnology to achieve personal goals in their farm operations, but they have faced trade and production barriers because of that choice.

Also at the Roundtable, the TATT board will present the 2008 Kleckner Trade & Technology Advancement Award. The award recognizes a farmer for “exemplary leadership, vision and resolve in advancing the rights of all farmers to choose the technology and tools that will improve the quality, quantity and availability of agricultural products around the world.”

Truth about Trade and Technology (www.TruthAboutTrade.org) is committed to promoting free trade and agricultural biotechnology through farmer-led educational initiatives that target public officials, opinion leaders, and the agricultural community.

Participating Farmers in the Global Farmer-to-Farmer Roundtable

Argentina – Mr. Enrique Duhau (80k hectares; corn, soybeans, wheat, sunflower, cattle, dairy)

Australia – Mr. Jeff Bidstrup (5k hectares of cotton, wheat, sorghum, chickpeas)

Brazil – Mr. Sergio Luis Bortolozzo (25k hectares, soybeans, eucalyptus, sugarcane)

Canada – Ms. Cherilyn Jolly-Nagel (8500 acres diversified grains)

Colombia – Ms. Angela Maria Cabal Barona (60 hectares white corn)

Czech Republic – Mr. Stepan Cizek (8000 hectares; winter wheat, rape seed; barley; maize; sunflowers; mustard; sugar beet; dairy)

Germany – Mr. Oliver Ransmann (400 hectares of maize, rye, energy crops)

Honduras – Mr. Roger Edgardo Padilla Ramirez (300 acres maize, sorghum)

Hungary – Mr. Csaba Machaty (25k hectares; livestock, corn, wheat, sunflower, rape seed, soybeans)

India – Mr. Mekala Velangan Reddy (27 acres; Bt cotton, chilies, maize, rice)

Ireland – Mr. Jim McCarthy (1800 acres wheat, barely, rape seed in Ireland; US dairy production; 30k acres crop in Argentina)

Italy – Mr. Giuseppe Elias (600 hectares; corn, wheat, dairy)

Kenya – Mr. Alfred Mwangi Nderitu (20 acres; banana, basmati rice, mango, dairy, various – tomato, beans, pepper, onion, watermelon)

Mexico – Mr. Rubén Chávez (Mainly Yellow corn; president Chihuahua growers association)

Portugal – Ms. Maria Gabriela Cruz (Sugar beets; various)

Romania – Mr. Valentin Petrosu (500 hectares; cereals, oilseeds; vegetables; seeds)

Spain – Mr. José Luis Romeo Martín (400 hectares; sorghum, sunflowers, wheat, barley, alfalfa, beans, corn; grapevines and winery)

Uganda – Mr. Bruno B. Matovu (400 acres maize, hogs, cattle)

US, North Dakota – Mr. Al Skogen (Rotate wheat, soybeans, corn using minimum and no till practices)

US, Iowa – Mr. Bill Horan (Corn, soybeans, specialty crops)