Award of Excellence

 

Hey folks!

The Award of Excellence recognizes individuals who have demonstrated excellence in the SIG area as well as leadership and involvement in ACE. A recipient may be either a current or a past member of the SIG. Nominees may be nominated by anyone in ACE.

Guidelines for Nomination

   1. Nominee must have membership dues paid for the current year.

   2. Nominee must have at least five years of membership in ACE (not necessarily consecutive). Any ACE member – active or retired – may be nominated by any ACE member.

   3. Nominees must not be current chair, co-chair or vice chair of SIG in which nominated.

   4. No person should be named an award recipient for more than one SIG in the same year.

   5. Nominees must be current or past members of SIG for which the award is given and must meet all other criteria (1,2,3 and 4 above).

   6. SIGs do not have to have a nominee every year. Only one award per SIG may be presented each year.

   7. Current voting members of the ACE board are not eligible to receive Awards of Excellence. Directors-elect, however, are eligible for these awards.

   8. SIG chairs and the SIG director serve as the Awards of Excellence Committee. They are responsible for promoting the awards, soliciting and screening nominations, selecting recipients and presenting the awards at the ACE annual meeting. It is each SIG’s responsibility to create a method for selecting recipients and to consult with the Award of Excellence Committee members to resolve any ties. The name of the finalist must be sent to the SIG director for presentation to and approval by the board.

   9. The SIG director and the ACE board, with SIG chair concurrence, may reject any nomination if candidates do not meet expected standards of documented performance.

  10. Runner-up nominees are not considered automatic candidates in subsequent years. New nominations need to be made each year.

  11. Completed forms are to be returned to the appropriate SIG chair by February 13, 2009 in time for selections to be made and awards prepared.

  12. SIG chairs must send the name and the nomination form of the finalist recommended to receive the award to the SIG director and Headquarters by March 2, 2009.

  13. Selection, acquisition and engraving of appropriate plaques or certificates is a function of ACE Headquarters. No cash or sponsored award is allowed.

For additional details and nomination restrictions, please consult the Policies and Procedures Manual (PDF), Section II, Award Nomination and Selection Procedures. 

Here is the nomination form:

award_excellence_nom

New hydrogen production method could reduce need for fossil fuels

Interesting development… The breakthrough means ethanol which comes from the fermentation of crops can be completely converted to hydrogen and carbon dioxide for the first time.

Read more…
http://www.physorg.com/news150472856.html

CATIE joins the United Nations Global Compact Initiative

CATIE (Tropical Agricultural Research and Education Center) has joined the United Nations Global Compact, an international initiative for organizations that are willing to make a voluntary commitment to pursue socially responsible policies through the adoption of 10 universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labor, the environment and anti-corruption. 

CATIE’s acceptance to this initiative was officially confirmed by the UN in a letter welcoming the institution to the Global Compact. The letter states: “We believe that business practices rooted in universal principles help the global market to be more socially and economically responsible. Indeed, the companies and other organizations that participate in the Global Compact are working diligently to give practical meaning to those principles, thereby advancing the collective goals of international cooperation, peace and development.” 

Saline agriculture may be the future of farming

Interesting article discussing an article in Science on saline agriculture.

Jeremy Hance, mongabay.com
December 4, 2008

Salinization is occurring globally for a number of reasons. Perhaps surprisingly, irrigation is a major cause of salinity. High rates of continuous evaporation and transpiration, caused by irrigation, bring salts up from deep in the soil, contaminating arable land. In dry regions, the change from forest to agriculture moves salt from groundwater into the soil. Finally, rises in sea-level are inundating agricultural lands along the coasts with seawater. Over fifteen years ago, a study found that of the 230 million hectares of land under irrigation, 45 million had seen an increase in salt: nearly 20 percent of the world’s irrigated land. 

the article continues on that some countries, like Australia and currently Iraq, are dealing with salinity by pumping it out and replacing it with fresh. Sounds expensive.

Global Transparency: Fighting corruption for a sustainable future

With transparency being such a buzzword in the latest election, i decided to have a look around the Web (yes, that thing is still around) to see what I could find. When I stumbled across this Site and thought our international folk would be interested.

Transparency International, the global civil society organisation leading the fight against corruption, brings people together in a powerful worldwide coalition to end the devastating impact of corruption on men, women and children around the world. TI’s mission is to create change towards a world free of corruption.

Cheers! 

- Matt

Dr. Jeanne Gleason’s Training and Capacity Building Workshops in Afghanistan

Dr. Jeanne Gleason, Director of New Mexico State University’s Media Productions, traveled to Afghanistan in October, 2008 with the goals:

• To establish a framework for assisting with AWATT communications projects. 
• To initiate a capacity building program for communications skills development by one or more Afghans to support AWATT’s educational and training communications outreach activities.  

 

Here is a photo from Dr. Gleason’s training and capacity building workshops in Afghanistan as part of the AWATT project. I’ll post a few more soon.

Dr. Gleason was kind enough to give me permission to post some photographs and a few details of her amazing journey and experiences. I’ll be asking her post a story or two, and more pictures over the next few months because what I post won’t compare to hearing Dr. Gleason describe the trip herself. She is already away on the next assignment.

Thanks Dr. Gleason!

FAS WORLDWIDE

FAS WorldWide

An online review of Foreign Agricultural Service initiatives and services. FAS Worldwide, which debuted in March 2005, is an online magazine from USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service that is designed to cover the full spectrum of the Agency’s responsibilities and activities. This electronic publication provides comprehensive information about the multiple goals and activities of FAS in a flexible, user-friendly format.

Agricultural Outlook Forum 2009

 

USDA’s 85th Agricultural Outlook Forum

Global Agriculture & Rural America in Transition

February 26-27, 2009

Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel :: Arlington, Virginia

Join us for USDA’s annual Forum as the Secretary of Agriculture and government, farm, and industry leaders discuss the future of American agriculture.

Survey

We have created a survey for the members of the International SIG. We need some feedback on what YOU feel the needs of the SIG are and what kind of professional development you would like. 

Please take a few minutes (it is a very short survey) and help guide us in making the SIG more tuned in to your needs.

Here is the link:

survey

Regards

Matt Byrnes & Leslie Edgar

World Food Prize

Transcript of Remarks by Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer at the 2008 Borlaug Dialogue and World Food Prize Presentation - Des Moines, Iowa – October 17, 2008

Interesting speech from Sec. Schafer about the work of Senators Dole and McGovern that earned them the World Food Prize.

…if we have peace in the countries through agriculture in this world today, I know that that language of agriculture will bring peace to the world.