The Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC) will mark its 30th anniversary the way one might expect from an organization that spent three decades connecting farmers with information – with a pair of panel discussions on conservation issues.
CTIC hosted two high-powered panels on October 25, 2012 at Monsanto’s campus in St. Louis, Mo. In the first discussion, farmer and former chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Bill Richards and former NRCS chief Bruce Knight will join Brent Haglund of the Sand County Foundation, Jane Frankenberger of Purdue University, and Missouri agri-business leader Steve Taylor to explore achievements over the past 30 years in agricultural conservation.
A second panel – focusing on the conservation challenges facing farmers, researchers and policymakers – will bring together another diverse group of thinkers.
“We’re using this 30th anniversary milestone to look back at conservation technology accomplishments and look forward to the opportunities and challenges ahead,” says Karen A. Scanlon, executive director of CTIC in West Lafayette, Ind. “We’re bringing together a room full of really committed people – farmers, researchers, state and federal conservationists, regulators, non-profit leaders and agribusiness professionals – to bring the conservation technology dialogue to a new level.”
Of course, Scanlon notes, no anniversary is complete without a party. Following the panel discussions, CTIC will host a celebration dinner. There, the crowd will recognize key conservationists and celebrate CTIC’s evolution from a modest information-sharing junction for agribusiness, government and farmers to its role today as a global resource on conservation technology practice and management.