03/14/05 Nutrients for Life

03/14/05 Nutrients for Life

The latest player in the growing efforts of ag industry groups to present positive, educational media coverage of agriculture to the general public & think groups like "Food Forethought" and "Home Grown" here & in a way isn't so new. Now the organization is new, just recently launched last fall and already with a name change effective last month. MATHERS: Fertilizer Education Foundation is now officially the Nutrients for Life Foundation. It's launched. It's going. And we've got an excellent program that we are getting ready to unveil. And there is reason Kathy Mathers of The Fertilizer Institute is excited about Nutrients for Life. That's because the new foundation has her organization and some big name players providing support. MATHERS: A group of about seven of the C.E.O's of some of the largest fertilizer manufacturing and retail companies got together and started talking about the need to put together an organized, concerted effort to combat some of the public misperceptions about fertilizer. That includes familiar names like J.R. Simplot, Cargill, Agrium, Royster-Clark, and Terra. And while the support both in terms of dedication and finances for Nutrients for Life are new, the model that will be used for Nutrients for Life is actually proven. The new foundation received a gift last fall when major player Potash Corporation donated in full, the well known "Fertile Minds" education program. MATHERS: That program and its components will be an essential part of what the Foundation does. We'll attempt to grow that program. We're also putting together a curriculum which will be available for middle school science teachers, which we hope to market through a reputable science teacher's organization. We'll be conducting some scientific research and you'll see in the coming year some results of that research hopefully out in the mainstream media. And Mathers adds that the key will be capitalizing on easing misconstrued fears about fertilizers and food safety, instead showing how our diets and lifestyles benefit from fertilizer application to many of the crops that turn into the foods we eat. MATHERS: We have done a little bit of preliminary focus group research to look at just what exactly is the public concerned about when it comes to fertilizers and their impact on human health and the environment. We found that folks are very concerned about nutritional quality of the food they eat. And to the extent that we can show that fertilizers enhance the nutritional quality of foods that will be a focus of our efforts. More information about Nutrients for Life can be accessed at this website & www.fertile-minds.org.
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