TUESDAY MORNING NOTES - July 10, 2012

Tue Jul 10 09:39:44 MST 2012

TMN submittal:
http://cals.arizona.edu/extension/tuesday/form/submittal_form.html 

Tuesday Morning Notes 

July 10, 2012

RECOGNIZING OUR 150TH ANNIVERSARY:

Many historians consider Abraham Lincoln to be our most important President,
and with good reason. The Civil War was our most trying time, dividing the
country and taking 625,000 lives, two percent of the entire population at
the time.  The Gettysburg Address, at just 272 words, completely redefined
the Unites States. Lincoln traced our roots to the Declaration of
Independence, where all men were considered equal, rather than the
Constitution, which recognized slavery.

Lincoln's contribution to agriculture may pale in comparison to saving the
nation, but his vision of and commitment to agriculture is still paying
dividends for all Americans and, indeed, the entire world. 

In the middle of the Civil War, on May 15, 1862, President Lincoln created
the Department of Agriculture. Five days later, he signed the Homestead Act,
granting land to people who would settle the frontier. Then, on July 2,
1862, the President signed the Morrill Act, granting tracts of land to the
states in order to endow public universities. The Morrill Act created our
nation's land grant university system and established many of the great
research institutions relied upon by agriculture in the U.S. and around the
world. In less than two months, President Lincoln put our nation on a path
to agriculture leadership.

Of those three pieces of legislation, the Morrill Act, whose 150th
Anniversary is this week, might well have had the largest impact.  

Today, there are 106 land-grant universities and colleges across the nation,
including historically black and Native American schools. These schools have
produced thousands of our most prominent agriculture scientists, along with
farmers, ranchers and citizens who have used the knowledge they gained at
state universities to drive economic activity, enhance agricultural
productivity, and improve their quality of life.

The Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU) is the
organization representing our nation's land-grant institutions. Last week,
APLU received a tremendous honor when the World Food Prize Foundation
awarded it the Borlaug Medallion. The Borlaug Medallion is named after Dr.
Norman Borlaug, the only Nobel Peace Prize Laureate to receive the award for
contributions to agriculture.  

The Borlaug Medallion is given to those who have made an especially
noteworthy contribution to improving the world's food supply and ensuring
adequate nutrition. The APLU was honored for its role in inspiring multiple
generations of students to attain the highest levels of education and
scientific achievement. The Medallion has only been awarded three other
times. 

The land grant universities remain on the cutting edge of our most important
research.

Dr. Borlaug - who many consider one of the most influential and important
individuals of the past 100 years - graduated from a land-grant university,
the University of Minnesota. Working with Borlaug at Texas A&M was Edgar
McFadden from South Dakota.  Just this week, South Dakota State University
has formalized the Edgar S. McFadden Endowment for Wheat Improvement.
Professors and students will work on projects to develop higher yielding,
sustainable varieties of wheat. They will also work to establish a symposium
to hear from experts on wheat technology, global food availability and the
mitigation of hunger. 

At Iowa State University, the Seed Testing Laboratory is a national center
for seed science. For over 100 years, the program has provided accurate,
professional seed testing services to the seed industry. Iowa State has the
only graduate program in Seed Technology and Business in the world. In the
past 12 years, scientists from the Center have facilitated projects on seed
policy and regulations in over 70 countries around the world.

Land-grant universities are also playing a national leadership role in the
area of biofuels and renewable energy. Projects such as the SunGrant
Initiative, with five regional centers, strive to determine how best to
solve our nation's energy challenges and make our nation more energy
independent. Cornell's Biofuels Research Laboratory is researching the steps
necessary to learn how various types of biomass can be used to create the
next generation of biofuels.

We are already importing less fossil fuel from the Middle East, in part
because of the increased production of renewable energy right here in the
U.S.   

The Morrill Act also set in motion the creation of university extension
services. Today, such extension services provide a clear framework for
land-grant schools to share its knowledge and research not just with
students, but also farmers, ranchers and citizens. Extension services bring
the school directly to the farmers and ranchers.  

One of the major goals for the new USDA Native American Farmers and Ranchers
Advisory Committee is to craft a more effective extension program for
Reservations. 

The recent G8 summit at Camp David and the G20 summit in Mexico both focused
on global food security along with other critical issues facing the world.
The success of that initiative and the United Nations Panel on Global
Sustainability are dependent on producing and spreading the type of
scientific breakthroughs that the Morrill Act spurred.

At the 150th Anniversary celebration of the Morrill Act, organized by APLU,
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and
Bill Gates all paid tribute to the Morrill Act and the land grant
universities for  being on the  forefront of the research needed to sustain
the planet in the years ahead.  

President Lincoln set in motion our wonderful land-grant universities and
all the important discoveries and advances which followed. Right on, Abe! 

In my last conversation with Dr. Norman Borlaug at the World Food Prize in
Des Moines, I asked him what was his advice was for me as I returned to
Washington.  While he was 92 at the time, Borlaug said "push the politicians
to the wall."  It is now up to us to see that Lincoln's vision, and
Borlaug's work, continues.

Source:   Agri-Pulse Communications article by Marshall Matz, U.S. Board of
the World Food Program, Congressional Hunger Center and the Global Child
Nutrition Foundation, OFW Law partner-Washington, D.C., July 1, 2012.

TECH TIP OF THE WEEK - Checking Browser Plug-In Security:

It is very critical to keep browser plug-ins updated. The main browser
plug-ins that are exploited are Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Flash and Oracle Java.
However, all plug-ins may be exploited if not kept up to date.  BrowserCheck
<https://browsercheck.qualys.com/>  by Qualys is a great way to make sure
your browsers (currently Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, and Safari) are
safe to surf the web.  It is recommended to use the Qualys plug-in version
of the browser check since it can check all browsers installed on the system
with one scan instead of individually checking each one.  The plug-in
version can also check the OS, Anti-virus and firewall.  It is recommended
to also select the "All Browsers and Plugins" and the "System Checks" scan
options.  If security issues are found, there are Fix It buttons for just
about any issue. For more information, check the BrowserCheck FAQ
<https://community.qualys.com/docs/DOC-1542#s2> .

Jeffrey C. Silvertooth
Associate Dean

Director for Economic Development & Extension
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
PO Box 210036
Tucson, AZ  85721-0036
520.621.7205
520.621.1314 (fax)

To submit tips, suggestions, ideas for changes and anything that could help
us be more effective, use  the "Director
<http://extension.arizona.edu/state/directors-suggestion-box> 's Suggestion
Box" - all submissions are anonymous.  

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