“Hate. It has caused a lot of problems in this world but has not solved one yet.”
― Maya Angelou 

 

“Life has many ways of testing a person’s will, either by having nothing happen at all or by having everything happen all at once.” ― Paulo Coelho 

 

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

(notes provided by the erudite Mary Hodson)

 

The All Area Rotary Meeting will be held at Noon on Wednesday, April 26 at the Round Barn Center.   CU Sunrise will not meet on Thursday, April 27.

 

The District Conference will be held on May 6-7.   Sign up at the District 6490 website.

 

New Member orientation will be held at 6:30 PM, Tuesday, April 25, at Allan Penwell’s condo.

 

Tod announced that the Sola Gratia Plant Sale will be held from May 6 to May 14.

 

 

PROGRAM

 

Mary introduced Cynthia Bruno, Chief Strategy Officer at Agrible.   Cynthia pointed out that 8 of 10 American consumers consider sustainability when making food purchases.  Consumer demand motivates retailers to seek data regarding sustainable agriculture.   

 

Currently, there is no standard definition of “sustainable”.   Cynthia said the best definition for now is “maximizing output while minimizing the impact on the environment.”   

 

Agrible creates software for farmers that gives them information they need to be sustainable farmers.  Agrible uses data from NOAA, NASA and from the farmers, themselves.   Currently available applications are:

 

      1) Morning Farm Report

      2)  Pocket Rain Gauge

      3) Spray Smart

      4) Tractor Time

      5) Drone Technology

 

Cynthia said that Agrible is currently working with a major equipment manufacturer to put “Spray Smart” technology on sprayers.  “Spray Smart” tells farmers the optimal time to spray each field.  Reports from the “Tractor Time” app is attractive for food processors because they can see how an ingredient was sourced.   “Tractor Time” ensures that only the necessary amount of nitrogen needed is applied.

 

Agrible currently has users in 48 states.  Several associations such as The Farm Bureau and ADM offer free initial subscriptions to encourage participation.

 

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  Apr 27th May 4th May 11th May 18th
Introductions No Meeting Diana Dummitt Ata Durukan Mary Hodson
Invocation due to  Allan Penwell Ed Perry Tod Satterthwaite
Greeters All Rotary Diana Dummitt Ata Durukan Mary Hodson
meeting on Candy Loyd Candy Loyd John McDaniel
Song Leader 4/26 at Mary Hodson Darrell Hoemann Larry Johnson
Notetaker Round Barn Penwell Hodson Lintner

 

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UPCOMING SCHEDULE (with program committee member responsible listed in parentheses)

April 27th – Meeting canceled due to All Area Rotary Meeting on April 26th

May 4th – Speaker from the Trinity Horsemanship Foundation (Ata)

May 11th – Brian Adams, IL State Archaeological Survey, will discuss the C-U area work of Joseph Royer and his family (Mary)

May 18th – Alicia Schneider, Champaign County Humane Society (Phyllis)

May 25th – Diane Marlin, Mayor, City of Urbana (Tod)

June 1st – David Grogan, Associate Director of University Compliance, UIUC (Mary)

June 8th – TBD (Bob)

June 15th – TBD (Laura)

June 22nd – TBD (Tom)