Rona Applebaum - Executive Vice President, Scientific and Regulatory Affairs, National Food Processors Association
Dr. Applebaum obtained her PhD in Food Microbiology from the University of Wisconsin and an MS in Nutrition and Food Science from Drexel University. She has directed scientific and regulatory affairs for the Distilled Spirits Council of the US and the American Cocoa Research Institute/Chocolate Manufacturers Association/National Confectioners Association. As NFPA's chief scientific spokesperson on food safety, food security, nutrition, and biotechnology, she has published articles in a variety of scientific journals and industry publications. She has testified before congressional committees and at federal government agency hearings. Dr. Applebaum has served on the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Food Advisory Committee and as a member of the Agricultural Policy Advisory Committee, which serves in advisory capacity to the Secretary of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the US Trade Representative (USTR). Currently, Dr. Applebaum serves as a member of the Agricultural Technical Advisory Committee for Meat and Poultry Products, which also provides guidance to the USDA and USTR.

AgWeb.com Charlie Arnot,
Vice President of Communications And Public Affairs - Premium Standard Farms
Charlie Arnot was born and raised in a rural area outside Lincoln Nebraska, and graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1984 with a Bachelor's degree in journalism and a major in psychology. Charlie began his career in communications in radio and has worked in video, film and with a public relations agency prior to coming to Premium Standard Farms in 1993.

Charlie has had the opportunity to deal with a number of communication challenges while with Premium Standard Farms. Rapid growth in the early 1990's, Chapter 11 reorganization, activist opposition, environmental litigation and regulation, and mergers and acquisitions are some of the issues faced by the company in the last nine years.

Premium Standard Farms now owns or manages production from 211,000 sows making it the second largest pork producer in the United States. The company has two pork processing facilities and employs more than 4,000 people nationwide. They sell fresh and processed pork products to leading retailers and restaurants, further processors and export customers in more than 20 countries.

When not on the road, Charlie lives in Kansas City with his wife Susan and his two daughters, Anna 15, and
Elizabeth 13.

Roy Bardole: Roy graduated from Iowa State University. He has farmed with his dad, sons, and wife west of Rippey Iowa since 1965. Today he and his family operate his family's Century Farm and his wife's Century Farm. He has been active in community organizations and activities. He served nine years on the Iowa Soybean Association board, serving as President during the 1990 Farm Bill. From 1992 - 2001, he served on the American Soybean Association board. He served as Secretary for 3 years and a Vice President for 2 years. During this time he became the environmental lead for the organization. He was chairman of the Nutrient Management Task Force and worked on the Raccoon River Watershed Project in Iowa. Nationally, Roy served on the Client Review Team for USDA-NASDA, "Whole Farm & Ranch Plan" development group. He has given numerous presentations, both nationally and internationally on soybeans and their use, and the environmental impacts of agriculture.

Larry Cleverley: Larry Cleverley grew up on a diversified family farm in central Iowa. After twenty-three years in Chicago & New York City, Larry and his wife, Beth Jaeger, moved to Iowa to establish a chemical-free specialty produce farm.

After six years, the farm has grown to six acres. Their wholesale customers include twenty-five white tablecloth restaurants and two natural food stores. The retail side of the business is conducted at the downtown Des Moines farmers market held twenty-six Saturdays a year. This market is one of the top farmers markets in the country with an average daily attendance of 9000 people each market.

Cleverley Farms is also the Iowa distributor for Niman Ranch meats.

Craig Cox: Craig Cox began his career in natural resources in 1977 with a B.S. degree in wildlife management from the University of Minnesota. He joined the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources as a field biologist in 1977 and eventually directed a program of land and water resource management in the Minnesota State Park System. In 1987, Craig accepted a fellowship from the University of Minnesota to complete an M.S. degree in Agricultural and Applied Economics, specializing in natural resource and environmental policy. He graduated in 1989 and moved to Washington D.C. to accept a position as Senior Staff Officer with the Board on Agriculture of the National Academy of Sciences. He directed three major studies, including Soil and Water Quality: An Agenda for Agriculture and Rangeland Health: New Methods of Classifying, Inventorying, and Monitoring Rangelands. In 1994, Craig left the Board on Agriculture to join the staff of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. On the committee, Craig was the lead staffer for natural resource and environmental issues and helped develop much of the conservation title of the farm bill that was passed in March 1996. In March of 1996, Craig joined the Natural Resources Conservation Service as a Special Assistant to the Chief where he was responsible for policy development and a number of special projects. In 1998 Craig served as Acting Deputy Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environmental in the Department of Agriculture. He is currently Executive Vice President of the Soil and Water Conservation Society - a professional Society dedicated to promoting the art and science of natural resource conservation.

Russell Cross: Russell Crossis the Vice President of Dupont Food Industry Solutions. The first eighteen years of his career was devoted to research and teaching (ARS, USDA and Texas A&M university). Cross has published over 235 journal research papers and nine book chapters. The next twelve years was devoted to administration and management. Cross served as the Administrator of USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service during the Bush and Clinton Administrations, where he was responsible for all domestic and imported meat and poultry inspection program in the US. His experience also includes CEO and Chairman of Future Beef Operations, Director of IDEXX Food Safety Net, Director of Texas A&Ms Institute of Food and Science Engineering Founder and Director of the International HACCP Alliance, and head of Texas A&Ms Department of Animal Science. While at Texas A&M, he was the first holder of the E.M. Rosenthal Chair in Food Science. Cross has received numerous awards for his work in animal and food science research, including the National Meat Association's Forbes Award, the Industry Advancement Award from the American Meat Institute, the R.C. Pollock, Meat research and Signal Service Awards from the American Meat Science Association, The educator of the year Award from the North American Meat Association, Progressive Farmer's Man of the year Award, the meat Research Award from the American Society of Animal Science, and the Distinguished Achievement Award from the U.S. Meat Export Federation. Cross was the past president of the American meat Science Association and the past Chairman of the International Stockmen's Educational Foundation.

Randy Cruise: Randy Cruise was educated in Nebraska, graduating from Pleasanton High School and also attended Kearney State College in Kearney, Nebraska. He joined his father and brother, Bob and Ron, in the family farming operation in the early 1970's. They operate a cash grain operation on 3,000 irrigated acres, raising corn and soybeans.

Randy became involved with the Nebraska Corn Growers and National Corn Growers Assoc. in 1984. After he served as chairman for several committees, such as Public Relations, Marketing and Government Relations Committees, he was elected as the President of the National Corn Grower Association in 1992. He was also chairman of the board in 1993. Randy has remained involved in several agriculture groups and organizations in recent years. He has also been appointed by state officials to serve on several Value-Added Ag Task Committees.

Randy and his wife Debra have four sons, Justin, age 26 working on the farm and for Farmers Premium Produce, Nick, age 24 and working with Plains Greenhouse in Minden, Eric, age 21 a junior at University of Nebraska at Lincoln and Kyle, age 16, a sophomore in high school. In order to give our children a chance to become involved with our farming operation, we started looking at ways to diversify our farm. Raising hydroponic vegetables and marketing them was the method we have chosen. In 1995 we built our first greenhouse and raised beefsteak tomatoes, marketing them throughout the state of Nebraska. In 1998, we founded a management and marketing company named CT Farms, LTD. Our products sold under the Farmers Premium Produce label, are sold across several states today.

CT Farms, LTD. is currently the management and marketing company for two l0-acre greenhouses in Nebraska, Plains Produce Greenhouse of Minden, NE and Pony Express Greenhouse of Gothenburg, NE. Each facility has the capability of producing 5 million pounds of produce annually.

Dr. Robert Fraley: Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Responsibilities
Oversees Monsanto's integrated crop and seed agribusiness technology and research with facilities in most every world area.

Work History
· Co-President, Monsanto's Agricultural Sector.
· President, Monsanto's Ceregen business unit, prior to the merger with Pharmacia & Upjohn (now called Pharmacia Corporation), with
responsibilities for the discovery, development and commercialization of new crop chemical and biotechnology products.
· Group Vice President and General Manager, New Products Division.
· Vice President of Technology for crop chemical and plant biotechnology R&D.
· Director, Monsanto's Plant Science Research Group.
· Senior Research Specialist, Monsanto Biological Sciences Program.

Education
· Fellowship, University of California, San Francisco.
· Ph.D in microbiology/biochemistry, University of Illinois.
· Bachelor of Science, University of Illinois.

Memberships/Affiliations
· Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science.
· Past member of the Agriculture Biotechnology Research Advisory
Committee and the National Institutes of Health Molecular Cytology Study Section
· Technical advisor to numerous government and public agencies, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Science Foundation, Office of Technology Assessment, CAST, Agency for International Development, the National Academy of Science and the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications.
· Editorial boards of several scientific journals Significant Activities
· Authored more than 100 publications and patent applications relating to technical advances in agricultural biotechnology.
· Received the National Medal of Technology from President Clinton in 1999.
· National Award for Agricultural Excellence in Science by National Agri-Marketing Association in 1995.
· Kenneth A. Spencer Award for Outstanding Achievement in Agricultural and Food Chemistry in 1995.
· Progressive Farming Magazine's Man of the Year in 1995.
· Received the Monsanto Edgar M. Queeny Award in recognition of the discovery, development and successful commercialization of Roundup Ready?; crops.
· Received the Monsanto Thomas and Hochwalt Award for recognition of the advances made in basic research in plant biology.

Gregory Jaffe: Gregory Jaffeis the Director of the Project on Biotechnology for the Center for Science in the Public Interest ("CSPI"), an advocacy and educational organization that focuses on nutrition and health, food safety, alcohol policy, and sound science. Mr. Jaffe came to CSPI after a long and distinguished career in government service. He first worked as a Trial Attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice's Environmental and Natural Resources Division for seven years. He then moved on to become Senior Counsel with the U.S. EPA, Air Enforcement Division, before joining CSPI to direct the Biotechnology project. Over the last decade, he has been a strong advocate for federal positions in federal court and frequently has spoken publicly on behalf of federal court and frequently has spoken publicly on behalf of EPA. At EPA he was awarded a bronze medal for commendable service, a special achievement award, and a gold medal for performance.

Jaffe's interest in biotechnology began early in his career when he wrote a law review article on regulatory issues surrounding biotechnology and genetically modified organisms. In the early 1990s, while at the department of justice, he advised the Assitant Attorney General on biotechnology issues and worked with a federal interagency committee addressing biotechnology policy. He is currently a member of the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology's Stakeholders Forum and was a member of the University of Pennsylvania Bioethics Center's GMO Consumer Values panel. He has published articles on agricultural biotechnology in the Christian Science Monitor, the Food and Drug Law Institute's Update magazine, and the Environmental Law Institute's Environmental Forum Magazine. He also spoke at a dozen conferences addressing agricultural biotechnology issues, both in the United States and abroad. He is a recognized expert on the U.S. regulatory structure for agricultural biotechnology as well as consumer issues pertaining to agricultural biotechnology.

Gregory Jaffe earned his BA with High Honors from Wesleyan University in Biology and then received a degree from Harvard Law School.

Ramon Loucks: Ion Crops, Portland, In.
Ramon Loucks is a town kid gone Ag. Ramon has always had a great desire to farm. Unfortunately in order to farm without a family in production agriculture he has taken a few side jobs along the way. Ramon has been an investor in Agri-Businesses for 24 years. Along with crop production; he has spent time as a:
· Commodity Broker
· Partner in a Grain Elevator
· Of course owned a Trucking Co
· Lead grain merchant in a multi-site Cooperative

· And is currently a: Partner in Ion Crops, a web based crop tracking company.
· Partner in H. & B. Conditioning, a food grains conditioning and packaging company.
· Owner of an Ag Real Estate Mgmt. Co
· Farming approx. 3,600 acres in East Central In. all specialty crop
· Investor and Board Member of Preferred Medical Mgmt. Inc

· Civic Duties include: Pres. Jay County Economic Development Corp
· Pres. Jay County Boys Club and Community Center
· Board Of Directors Texas A&M TEPAP
· Pres. Precision Growers Inc.

Education
· Ball State University, School of Economic Dev.
· Texas A&M, TEPAP Program
· Purdue University

Bill Niman: Bill Niman has been providing naturally raised beef, pork, and lamb to gourmet restaurants for more than thirty years. A graduate of the University of Minnesota (B.A. Anthropology, 1967), and former teacher, he began raising beef and cattle in 1970 on a ranch in Bolinas, California, that he owned with a friend, journalist Orville Schell. As his reputation for superior-tasting meat spread among discerning chefs, he began marketing it to San Francisco Bay area restaurants under the name Niman Schell. In 1978, Orville Schell published a book, Modern Meat, which the Washington Post called "a marvelously readable account of the drugs, chemicals and assorted garbage being fed to livestock these days." In contrast the so-called "modern" husbandry methods, Niman Schell raised their animals humanely, with care taken to have livestock lead stress-free lives. As Schell's journalism career consumed more of his time, Niman bought Schell's interest, brought in new partners, and began the expansion program that continues today.

Niman Ranch, as the company is now called, has gained a reputation for having the best-tasting beef, pork, and lamb available. The company's reputation has spread largely by word-of-mouth, as chefs share their "secrets" with other chefs. Recently, the press has also begun to pay attention, with feature articles in the Wine Spectator, Art of Eating, New York Times, and San Jose Mercury News, among others, and smaller pieces in Gourmet, Bon Appetit, House & Garden, Cuisine, and other national food journals.

The flavor comes from a combination of factors:

·	Superior Breeding. Animals are selected for their flavor qualities, not their ability to grow fastest. In beef, that means Angus, Hereford, and English cross-breeds. In pork, that means cross-bred heirloom hogs that can live outdoors, and have plenty of back fat.
·	Superior Feeding. Animals are fed only natural ingredients such as grains and soy, with no cheap protein sources such as chicken feather meal. Cattle are fed longer than typical feedlot cattle, and are brought into the feedlot slightly older than is typical. Antibiotics are never included in feed, and are only administered in case of illness (and in pork and lamb, they are never administered.)
·	No artificial growth promotants and no artificial growth hormones are used. Antibiotics are never used as a growth promotant.
·	Superior husbandry and care. Niman Ranch's beef, pork, and lamb is raised by farmers and ranchers known personally to Bill and his partners. Niman Ranch's husbandry protocols are the strictest in the industry, and have been endorsed by the Animal Welfare Institute, which has yet to endorse another meat operation. Animals are treated with respect and care at every stage of their lives. The land upon which they're raised is treated as a sustainable resource.

Bill Niman lives on the original Niman Ranch in Bolinas, California. The company is headquartered in Oakland. Niman Ranch delivers meat daily to restaurants and selected retailers in northern California. It has distributors in New York, Seattle, Boston, and Washington and ships direct to restaurants and markets in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Chicago, Portland, Denver, Santa Fe, Miami, and many other locations.

William Pape: Mr. Pape is Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of AgInfoLink Global Inc.He was co-founder of VeriFone and worked to develop the world's credit card transaction system. While working for Innovative Software Applications, he co-designed Spellguard, the first commercial spell checker for personal computers. Other positions include Assistant Professor of Decision Sciences at the University of Hawaii School of Business and a variety of program development roles for the United Nations. Mr. Pape was also the co-founder of Hawaii Natural Meats Inc., a small niche meat marketing company. He currently operates ranches in northern New Mexico.

David B. Schmidt - Senior Vice President, Food Safety
David Schmidt is senior vice president of the International Food Information Council (IFIC) in Washington, DC, where he is responsible for IFIC's food safety programs. Previously, he held the positions of vice president and director of food safety and technology communications and has been a frequent speaker on food biotechnology, food irradiation, functional foods and other food issues.

Prior to joining IFIC in 1993, Schmidt served as the first Bush Administration's director of external affairs for the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. There he addressed a number of controversial food safety and nutrition issues, and managed the inspection agency's media, legislative and consumer education programs. Schmidt also gained a thorough understanding of the food industry in previous sales positions with leading food and beverage firms, Oscar Mayer Foods, Pepsi-Cola USA and Canada Dry Corporation.

In 1998, Schmidt was named as an adjunct fellow with the Georgetown Center for Food and Nutrition Policy in Washington, DC. David also served on the steering committee on Reinventing Agricultural Education for the Year 2020. In his spare time, he is a member of Rotary International and also serves the Town of Leesburg, Virginia where he was elected in 2000 to a four-year term on the Leesburg Town Council.

Schmidt holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in business administration from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee and has completed graduate business studies at the University of New Orleans.

Linda Thrane: Linda Thraneserves as executive director of the Council for Biotechnology Information, a comprehensive communications effort to help people better understand the importance and benefits of agricultural and food biotechnology. Sponsored by the major biotechnology companies, CBI is focusing on research, advertising and multiple outreach activities to educate key audiences in North America, which includes Canada and Mexico. It is also working with similar efforts in Europe, Japan, Brazil, Africa and other parts of the world to improve communication and education about biotechnology.

Prior to CBI, Thrane served as vice president of public affairs for Cargill, Inc., where she led the company's internal and external communications and issue management efforts. Cargill is an international agriculture, food, industrial and financial company with some 80,000 employees in more than 60 countries around the world. Thrane has also served as an editorial writer for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, associate director of the Minnesota Petroleum Council and a reporter for the united Press International.

She lives in independence, Minn., with her husband John and has two children in college. Her work with CBI is based in Washington, D.C.