Plant and lab tours, industry speakers and agronomists also on agenda

Today former Secretary of Agriculture John Block spoke to farmers, agronomists and agricultural leaders from around the Midwest about the recently passed national farm bill and agricultural trade and technology issues. He spoke to more than 400 participants of the Great Lakes Hybrids (GLH) Technology Showcase, a biannual event at its Ovid headquarters designed to demonstrate and educate technological advances in farming and crop management.

"When my father farmed, it took one day to harvest 100 bushel of corn," said Block, who served under President Ronald Reagan. "Now my son does it in nine minutes.

"Technology is absolutely essential for our survival," he continued, pointing out that different types of technology are equally important. "We’ve come a long way from the days when horses pulled a two-row planter. Now we’re driving 24-row super machines and relying on biotechnology, hybridization, chemistry and innovative thinking to grow crops. But we’ve barely scratched the surface."

Joining Block in the event’s line-up of speakers were MSU Entomologists; quality assurance managers and corn breeders from Great Lakes Hybrids’ parent company, AgReliant Genetics; and herbicide and insecticide specialists from Monsanto, Bayer and Gustafson. Participants, who weren’t able to visit GLH’s test-plot fields on West M-21 due to much-needed rain, also toured Great Lakes’ facilities and learned about the company’s newest seed products for the 2001-2002 season.

Block, who now heads Food Distributors International, also highlighted the benefits to the agricultural community of the $5.5-billion farm-aid bill recently signed by President Bush.

"This farm bill means predictability, stability of land value and lots of money for the farmer’s benefit," explained Block. "This is a farmer-friendly administration, and its support will continue."

Block also expects Bush’s Republican administration to make progress in establishing a Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) to open more foreign markets to trade with American farmers. He cited Democrat-led opposition and disagreement among foreign countries about biotechnology as roadblocks to previous attempts at a TPA.

"Farmers would rather make their money from a fair-market system, not the government," he said. "We need to open more markets around the world in order for that to happen."

The former secretary used China as an example of a foreign market that’s about to join the World Trade Organization and make its grain available to trade. He believes this will be a "growing market" for the United States.

Great Lakes Hybrids is the largest Michigan-based seed corn supplier and a brand of AgReliant Genetics, LLC. With the industry’s third-largest corn breeding program, Great Lakes Hybrids and AgReliant Genetics have been able to produce top-performing conventional genetics for incorporation of new transgenic traits. Great Lakes Hybrids has also produced more winners per entry of any other Midwestern seed company in the National Corn Growers annual Corn Yield Contest. For the latest information, visit www.glh-seeds.com or call 1-800-257-SEED (7333).