Hello, CALS,
What a beautiful weekend we just had! And now a bit of rain is a good thing, too.
This past week, for a number of us, was spent in one activity or another associated with the World Food Prize meetings in Des Moines (and online). This annual effort to bring together experts and innovators from all over the world to work and imagine a future with enhanced agriculture, with sustained food, without hunger, is a remarkable set of activities to have right here at our doorstep. If you’ve not had a chance to participate in this meeting this year or in years past, I encourage you to consider it for next year. It’s so close and so important. We also benefit each year of having the World Food Prize Laureate come to campus early in the week of the meetings and present uniquely to Iowa State. This year, the Laureate, Cynthia Rosenzweig, a NASA scientist, did a fantastic job presenting on her work on climate and food modeling.
Two weeks ago, I shared with you one of my favorite seasonal poems, "September" by Helen Hunt Jackson, and our colleague in Extension and Outreach Integrated Pest Management, Adam Sisson, shared another great one that’s fit for the season, "When the Frost is on the Punkin" by James Whitcomb Riley. Adam also referred me to The Phytopoetry Project, a cool combination of poetry and Iowa State’s IPM Program – check it out. And here’s another short poem on fall, by Emily Bronte, "Fall, leaves, fall." Does anyone else have other favorite poems of the season?
All the best, Dan
Scenes from CALS
The 2022 World Food Prize Norman E. Borlaug International Dialogue took place Oct. 18-20 in Des Moines and focused on Feeding a Fragile World. CALS hosted a breakout session on Sustainable Rural Livelihoods in Practice in Uganda on Oct. 18, from 11 a.m. to noon. A panel of individuals from Iowa State and Uganda shared their model for sustainably building capacity of local communities. Pictured left to right are: Gail Nonnecke, University Professor, Morrill Professor, Global Professor in Global Resource Systems, and CSRL associate director, education programs; Yvette Nikuze, livestock extension specialist, ISU-Uganda Program; Curtis Youngs, ME Ensminger Endowed Chair of International Animal Agriculture, and CSRL associate director, livestock development; Moureen Mbeiza, agronomy and land use officer, ISU-Uganda Program; Lee Burras, Morrill Professor, agronomy, and CSRL associate director, agronomy and land use; Tammi Martin, CSRL assistant director, community income generation innovations; Dorothy Masinde, associate teaching professor in Global Resource Systems and CSRL associate director, nutrition education programs; Gideon Nadiope, national director, ISU-Uganda Program; David Acker, associate dean for global engagement, and CSRL director; and Daniel Robison, endowed dean’s chair in CALS.
Cynthia Rosenzweig (center) of NASA, the 2022 World Food Prize Laureate, is pictured with members of the international AgMIP modeling team who were present at the Iowa State Capitol after the award ceremony on Oct. 20. Rosenzweig was recognized for her pioneering work in modeling the impact of climate change on food production worldwide. On the AgMIP team as one of the program leads is Sotirios Archontoulis (far left) from Iowa State's Department of Agronomy.
Rachel Chikwamba (’02 PhD genetics) was selected as last year's George Washington Carver Distinguished Service Award recipient. Since she was unable to travel to Iowa for the awards ceremony, I presented the award to her in between last week's World Food Prize activities.
I had the chance to interact with graduate students from Dirk Maier’s research group representing six different countries (Ghana, Tunisia, The Philippines, Bangladesh, DR Congo, USA) before they entered the state capital building to enjoy the World Food Prize Laureate ceremony.
