Presiding: Jaime Stine
Meeting Room setup/takedown and general problem solving:
Inspiration:
Professor’s Quote:
Foundation Flash:
Introduction of Guests:
Guests: Evelyn Edson
Exchange Students:
Visiting Rotarians:
Junior Rotarians/RYLA/Young RYLA:
Rotaract/Interact Students:
Humor:
Foundation Drawing:
O’Dwyers Drawing:
Announcements:
- October 24 is World Polio Day.
- Ollie Walter reminded everyone to review the Voter Guide in the newspaper. If you didn’t get one and want one, Sid Walter will deliver to you if you call 307-742-2460.
- Randi Downham announced that we will be bringing back the card raffle drawings. This will be done virtually over Zoom during the meeting. There will be a call for tickets in the chat and then you will be charged monthly.
Rotarian of the Week: Jaime Stine nominated Dave Hansen for being nominated to the Laramie Jubilee Days board of directors.
Songs:
Program: US Economic & Trade Policy, US State Department, Adam Cornish and Gaurav Bansal
Introduction: Jean Garrison
Adam Cornish spoke about enabling innovation in agriculture. Agriculture was a $130 billion industry in FY16. Agriculture involves a lot of trade and complicated relationships.
The Office of Agriculture Policy empowers growth and secures the future. It stands on three pillars of trade, food security, and biotechnology.
Biotechnology is a wide area including selective breeding and genome editing. A variety of technology for crops can take decades to develop.
A good portion of the US commodity crops are biotech. Soybean and corn are examples.
We will need 60 percent more food by 2050 to feed 10 billion people. This needs to be done with less water, less land, less fertilizer, and fewer pesticides. Biotech is one way to accomplish this.
Selective breeding started 10,000 years ago with breeding plants through successful generations. Plants are selected for traits and then crossed within a species. Ancestor plants have seen many changes since selective breeding started.
Crops are also crossed with differed species to develop a new crop with different traits. For example, the sweet orange was crossed with the pomelo to create the grapefruit.
Genetic engineering started in the 1990s. Previously the process was just to breed over and over again to get the crop that was wanted. Genetic engineering made this an exact process. There are two kinds: cisgenic and transgenic.
Cisgenic takes a resistance gene from a relative and transfers that gene within the species. Transgenic transfers across a species. There are a whole variety of these in the US.
Genetic engineered plants are regulated for food and environmental safety by the FDA, USDA, and EPA. There are many international regulations. Twenty-six countries grow biotech crops commercially. Thirteen countries have stopped in the last several years due to concerns about biotech and the environment.
US still trades across the world, and many countries still import biotech crops, even if they don’t produce them.
The Office of Ag Policy is trying to promote access and choice with science-based standards, effective regulations, minimal trade barriers, and with a farmer/consumer oriented approach.
Gaurav Bansal spoke about American Citizen Services. He works as a foreign service officer. He told the club to make sure you know where and how to contact the US Embassy when visiting another country. All embassies have a 24-hour line. There is also an online system where you can register where you’re traveling in case you end up lost or go missing.
Bansal worked in Cambodia. Part of his job was to look at economic trends that would be of interest to American politics or could create new trade barriers.
Response: Ollie Walter
Rotary 4-way test
Of the things we think, say, or do
•Is it the Truth?
•Is it Fair?
•Will it build Good Will and
Better Friendships?
•Will it be Beneficial to All
Concerned?
‘Response: The Rotary Club of Laramie will make a donation to the public library children’s book fund in the speaker’s name.
NOTE: We Do Not Donate a Book!
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Website: laramierotaryclub.org
Spoke Editor: Caitlin White, 307-630-1965, cwhite@acplwy.org