[Plsfaculty] USDA's Know Your Farmer - Know Your Food Website Launched

[Kenneth Feldmann]

Last one for today but may be of interest to some of you. First is the
announcement about Roger Beachy and then a relevant web site, soon to become
NIFA, at the bottom of this email.


Roger Beachy to Join Obama Administration Danforth Center President
Appointed First Director of New Agency

ST. LOUIS, MO, September 23, 2009 - Dr. Roger N. Beachy, the founding
President of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, MO, has
been appointed the first Director of the National Institute of Food and
Agriculture (NIFA) by President Barack Obama. Beachy will join the agency on
October 5, 2009.

According to the formal agreement, Beachy will be "on loan" to NIFA from the
Danforth Plant Science Center.  On assuming the new position, he will
transition to his new role of Vice Chairman of the Center's Board of
Trustees, a move that was originally scheduled to occur next year.
"This exciting new agency is critical to growing our agriculture economy and
ensures that innovation in plant science and agriculture research will
flourish.  I have been a strong proponent of the NIFA as have the scientists
at the Danforth Plant Science Center, and of course our Chairman, Dr.
Danforth.   I am honored to have been selected for this position by the
President and am committed to sharing my knowledge and experiences to help
shape research and its applications that will impact agriculture and food in
the U.S. and in developing economies," Beachy said.

The mission of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), an
agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), is to stimulate and
fund the research and technological innovations that will enhance and make
American agriculture more productive and environmentally sustainable while
ensuring the economic viability of agriculture and production.  The
Institute was developed as a result of a task force chaired by William H.
Danforth and appointed by then Secretary of Agriculture, Ann M. Veneman.
The Danforth Task Force recommended that Congress authorize the creation of
NIFA as a way to strengthen agriculture research and to attract additional
highly competitive research scientists to this field of endeavor. A growing
program in competitive research grants will be a hallmark of the new agency.

"I am thrilled and sad at the same time." said William H. Danforth, chair
Danforth Plant Science Center Board of Trustees.  "Working closely with
Roger Beachy has been one of the privileges of my life; he has lead and
orchestrated the success of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center.  I
hate to see him less active in St. Louis even for a little while.  On the
other hand I believe strongly in the NIFA.  No one in the world would be a
better founding director.  Our board saw the situation the same way."

In May the Danforth Center's Board of Directors approved a succession plan
that would ensure continuity of the organization as it moves into its second
decade.  Under this scenario Beachy was to transition from Center President
to Vice Chairman of the board.  That transition will now occur more rapidly.
A search committee, headed by Dr. P. Roy Vagelos, has already begun an
international search for Beachy's successor with a target date for
implementation in July 2010.  Until the new president is identified and on
board, Philip Needleman, Ph.D, member of the Center's Board of Trustees will
serve as Interim President.

Needleman has been a member of the Center's Board of Trustees since 2005.
He spent 25 years at Washington University School of Medicine, where he was
professor and chairman of the department of pharmacology.  In 1989 he moved
to industry, becoming senior vice president of Monsanto.  In 1993 he became
president of Searle Research and Development.  He was also senior executive
vice president and chief scientist of Pharmacia from 2000 to 2003.
Needleman is a member of the National Academy of Science and the Institute
of Medicine.   He is the recipient of many awards and honors, including the
John Jacob Abel Award of the American Pharmacology Society and the Research
Achievement Award of the American Heart Association.

Since Beachy became the center's first president on January 1, 1999, he has
been responsible for setting the scientific mission of the center; under his
watch the Center has achieved several milestones worth noting including:

.         The establishment of a $75 million award-winning facility;

.         Recruiting more than two dozen outstanding principal investigators
and 170 plant            scientists, including 95 Ph.Ds;

 *   Attracting more than $75 million in research grants, including a $5.9
million grant from the National Science Foundation for maize genome research
and two grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation totaling $12 million
as part of the Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative which seeks to
identify and direct funds to the most critical scientific challenges in
global health;

.         Working in partnership with the USDA to locate a laboratory and
staff at the center;

.         Establishing the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Institute for Renewable
Fuels through a $25 million gift from the Taylor Family, the Institute
recently attracted a $15 million award from the Department of Energy;

.         Creating a research park on the Danforth Center campus to maximize
opportunities for commercializing promising plant and life science companies
that will contribute to the economic development and growth of the St. Louis
region.  The first of three buildings of the BioResearch and Development
Growth Park opened on June 16, 2009 and is already 65% leased;

.         Formation of the center's first new joint venture Agrius BioForms
LLC (ABF), which is working to commercialize a proprietary protein
production system developed by Danforth Center and U.S. Department of
Agriculture scientists;

.         An endowment of nearly $100 million;

.         Establishing, participating in, and promoting the international
programs of the Danforth Center; these programs have had great technical
success, and will, if successful, have significant impact on food production
and poverty alleviation in developing countries in Africa and Asia;

.         Establishing the Global Harvest Alliance, a partnership between
the Danforth Center, Washington University School of Medicine and Saint
Louis Children's Hospital to address childhood malnutrition.
Prior to joining the Danforth Center, Beachy held academic positions at
Washington University in St. Louis, and The Scripps Research Institute in La
Jolla, California, where he was co-founder of the International Laboratory
for Tropical Agricultural Biotechnology and held the Scripps Family Chair in
Cell Biology.   He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences the
premier scientific society in the United States, and a Fellow of the
American Academy of Microbiology and the AAAS: he is also a Foreign
Associate of science academies in India. A few of his awards include the
Wolf Prize in Agriculture, the D. Robert Hoagland Award from the Society of
Plant Biologists and Ruth Allen Award from the American Phytopathological
Society. Beachy has served as Chair of the AAAS Section on Agriculture, Food
and Renewable Resources and is President of the International Association of
Plant Biotechnology, among other activities.   He also serves on a number of
boards of non-profit organizations, including of St. Louis Children's
Hospital, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Science Center, Academy of
Science of St. Louis,



http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/knowyourfarmer?navid=KNOWYOURFARMER

Dear All - 

On behalf of the CSREES (soon to be NIFA) gang who has worked on USDA's
Know Your Farmer - Know Your Food initiative (with Liz Tuckermanty in
the lead), I'm sharing this brand new, just posted site.  

The site - designed to be real interactive - contains much information,
and will likely grow and change in the coming weeks and months.  You and
your colleagues/students may find the site useful and of interest.  

While it may seem a bit paradoxical at first, I'd suggest that the
initiative's focus on local foods holds several internationally-scoped
opportunities.  

Thanks,
Hiram

 
Hiram Larew, Ph.D.
Director, International Programs
USDA/CSREES