Keynote & Workshop Topics:
|
Farming & Food Production
|
How Food Producers Can Contribute to a Greener Society: Breaking the Carbon Habit Without Breaking the Bank
|
With the dramatic fall in the price of oil, it would be tempting to assume that the pressure to go green has disappeared. That would be a mistake, as the facts of climate change are still very much in evidence. This leaves the question: how can we, as individuals as well as producers, contribute to a greener society? Richard Worzel is a Chartered Financial Analyst, a strategic planner, best-selling author, and Canada's leading futurist. In this presentation, he:
- Outlines the critical issues relating to climate change, and humanity’s part in it;
- Identifies the ways in which we are contributing to climate change; and
- Talks about the ways in which we can change the harm we do without destroying our businesses, of ways of going green while making it a profit-contributing process instead of a profit-draining one.
To finish off, Richard will outline a technique for identifying concrete new ways of improving efficiency, in order to benefit both profits and the environment.
|
|
Tools for Taming the Future (Workshop)
|
Farming and the business of food production is changing more quickly than at any time in the last century. The steady rise of foreign competition is driving farmers out of straight commodity products like wheat, and will sooner or later drive them out of even protected sectors like dairy production. For those who plan to stay in the business of agriculture and involved in the food chain, new approaches will be necessary, taking account of the greater information flows available both ways between consumer and producer, the targeting of individuals as opposed to groups, and an understanding of the importance of our growing genetic knowledge of the unique nutritional needs of each individual. Likewise, the marketplace is changing. Boomers are getting older, more aware of their health needs and the role nutrition plays in it, and more determined to avoid getting old. And they are approaching retirement age, when the patterns of their lives and demand will change. Their children, the echo boom or echoes, will become the next generation in the food industry – but only if farmers and processors can demonstrate that there’s a valuable future waiting for them. Finally, there’s the promise of industrial biotechnology – entirely new ways in which plants and animals can be bred and used to produce feedstock and products that are greener and more efficient than those produced by traditional industrial means.
With the future so much in flux, food growers, processors, and marketers will have to adopt new, more sophisticated approaches to planning for uncertainty. In this half-day workshop, strategic planner and professional futurist Richard Worzel offers a toolbox for those who intend to find new niches, and new ways to market in this fluid, rapidly changing world.
|
|
Nourishing Tomorrow: The Future of Farms and Farmers
|
The Green Revolution has been going on for more than a century, as technological advances in managing and encouraging food production have produced dramatic increases in productivity. Yet, what has come before will pale into insignificance with what is yet to come. The fruits of genetic research, the use of computers in exploring genetics and molecular biology, and the emerging field of nanotechnology are going to dramatically accelerate developments in the field. But with new advances will come novel problems, as the European reaction to genetically modified foods demonstrates. Strategic planner and professional futurist Richard Worzel surveys the field in this upbeat, intriguing, yet down-to-earth presentation on the future of agriculture and food production, identifying both the opportunities, and the lurking dangers ahead. You'll leave with a greater appreciation of the choices available to farmers, and the kinds of tools that can help you select the most profitable fields to pursue.
|
|
The Transformation Century:
Confronting the Forces that are Changing Agriculture
|
The unprecedented convergence of change in demographics, science, technology, government, and public attitudes is radically changing life on Earth, in Canada, and in the farm community. In this fast-paced and entertaining presentation, futurist and strategic planner Richard Worzel explores the topics that will affect our lives, our businesses, and our society, including:
Biosciences - New advances, especially in bioinformatics, genetics, and proteomics, offer new opportunities, as well as new threats and challenges in the physical world, in competition, and in the expectations of the public.
The ecology and environmentalism - As we learn more about how the Earth's ecology works, we have a greater responsibility to measure and monitor our actions. The rise of the anti-globalization movement has raised the stakes for anyone interested in science-based policy. What can the industry do to anticipate and forestall the dangers of junk science attacks, as well as real world problems?
Governments are going to be more erratic and less predictable. How can you prepare for this, and how can you work successfully with unpredictable regulators?
To prosper, you need to prepare intelligently for the changes ahead. Richard will hand you a road map of the future to help you navigate the difficult times ahead.
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
