ST. LOUIS (Sept. 15, 2014) - "Brew City" recently became "Soy City" as more than 270 representatives of major international companies interested in importing U.S. soy came together for the second annual U.S. Soy Global Trade Exchange in Milwaukee. Areas represented included China, the Middle East, Vietnam and many others.

"Every other row of U.S. soybeans is exported, so it is imperative to build and retain strong relationships with our international customers," says Jim Call, soybean farmer from Minnesota and United Soybean Board (USB) chairman. "The Global Trade Exchange gives U.S. soybean farmers a great opportunity to meet face to face with these valuable customers and prospective buyers as they commit to buying millions of bushels of our soybeans."

International representatives committed to buy $2.8 billion worth of U.S. soy during last year's U.S. Soy Global Trade Exchange in Davenport, Iowa.

In the most recent marketing year, U.S. soybean farmers exported more than 1.7 billion bushels of U.S. soy to customer beyond our borders. The value of these exports set a record of more than $28 billion.

The event, which is co-sponsored by USB, the American Soybean Association (ASA), the checkoff-funded U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC) and the Midwest Shippers Association, continues through Thursday, Sept. 18. Besides meeting with U.S. soy farmer-leaders, attendees will also attend a variety of presentations to learn about the sustainability and quality of U.S. soybeans.

"This event offers a taste of American ag that they don't get every day," Call says. "This experience should give them a better understanding of the pride we take in our farms and product and how U.S. soybeans will benefit them for the long haul. Choosing U.S. soy is a win-win situation for all of us."

The 70 farmer-directors of USB oversee the investments of the soy checkoff to maximize profit opportunities for all U.S. soybean farmers. These volunteers invest and leverage checkoff funds to increase the value of U.S. soy meal and oil, to ensure U.S. soybean farmers and their customers have the freedom and infrastructure to operate, and to meet the needs of U.S. soy's customers. As stipulated in the federal Soybean Promotion, Research and Consumer Information Act, the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service has oversight responsibilities for USB and the soy checkoff.

For more information on the United Soybean Board, visit www.unitedsoybean.org
Visit us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/UnitedSoybeanBoard
Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/unitedsoy
View our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/user/UnitedSoybeanBoard

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The Moline Public Library is pleased to host "A Morning with Heather Gudenkauf" on Saturday, September 27th at 10 a.m. in the Library's meeting rooms at 3210 - 41st Street, Moline, IL.

Heather Gudenkauf is a New York Times Bestselling author, whose most recent book is Little Mercies, a novel according to Library Journal, that "combines page turning intensity with deep questions about priorities" and "is ideal for book groups."

Copies of Gudenkauf's books will be available for purchase and an autograph session is planned following the program.

For information, contact the library's adult services desk at 309-524-2473 or reference@molinelibrary.org.

For more information about Heather Gudenkauf and her work, please visit www.heathergudenkauf.com.

Everyone says they want innovation in their organization, but when an ambitious employee offers it to a CEO, for example, the idea is often shot down, says Dr. Neal Thornberry, faculty director for innovation initiatives at the Naval Postgraduate School in California.

"Senior leaders often miss the value-creating potential of a new concept because they either don't take the time to really listen and delve into it, or the innovating employee presents it in the wrong way," says Thornberry, who recently published "Innovation Judo," (www.NealThornberry.com ), based on his years of experience teaching innovation at Babson College and advising an array of corporate clients, from the Ford Co. and IBM to Cisco Systems.

"Innovation should be presented as opportunities, not ideas. Opportunities have gravitas while ideas do not!"

Thornberry outlines a template for innovation that work:

•  Intention: Once the "why" is answered, leaders have the beginnings of a legitimate roadmap to innovation's fruition. This is no small task and requires some soul searching.

"I once worked with an executive committee, and I got six different ideas for what 'innovation' meant," he says. "One wanted new products, another focused on creative cost-cutting, and the president wanted a more innovative culture. The group needed to agree on their intent before anything else."

•  Infrastructure: This is where you designate who is responsible for what. It's tough, because the average employee will not risk new responsibility and potential risk without incentive. Some companies create units specifically focused on innovation, while others try to change the company culture in order to foster innovation throughout.  "Creating a culture takes too long," Thornberry says. "Don't wait for that."

•  Investigation: What do you know about the problem? IDEO may be the world's premier organization for investigating innovative solutions. Suffice to say that the organization doesn't skimp on collecting and analyzing data. At this point, data collection is crucial, whereas brainstorming often proves to be a waste of time if the participants come in with the same ideas, knowledge and opinions that they had last week with no new learning in their pockets.

•  Ideation: The fourth step is also the most fun and, unfortunately, is the part many companies leap to. This is dangerous because you may uncover many exciting and good ideas, but if the right context and focus aren't provided up front, and team members cannot get on the same page, then a company is wasting its time. That is why intentmust be the first step for any company seeking to increase innovation. Innovation should be viewed as a set of tools or processes, and not a destination.

•  Identification: Here's where the rubber meets the road on innovation. Whereas the previous step was creative, now logic and subtraction must be applied to focus on a result. Again, ideas are great, but they must be grounded in reality. An entrepreneurial attitude is required here, one that enables the winnowing of ideas, leaving only those with real value-creating potential.

"Innovation without the entrepreneurial mindset is fun but folly," Thornberry notes.

•  Infection: Does anyone care about what you've come up with? Will excitement spread during this infection phase? Now is the time to find out. Pilot testing, experimentation and speaking directly with potential customers begin to give you an idea of how innovative and valuable an idea is. This phase is part selling, part research and part science. If people can't feel, touch or experience your new idea in part or whole, they probably won't get it. This is where the innovator has a chance to reshape their idea into an opportunity, mitigate risk, assess resistance and build allies for their endeavor.

•  Implementation/Integration: While many talk about this final phase, they often fail to address the integration part. Implementation refers to tactics that are employed in order to put an idea into practice. This is actually a perilous phase because, in order for implementation to be successful, the idea must first be successfully integrated with other activities in the business and aligned with strategy. An innovation, despite its support from the top, can still fail if a department cannot work with it.

About Neal Thornberry, Ph.D.

– MassGeneral and Royal Marsden in London Receive $110,000 Grant –

BOSTON, MA – September 15, 2014 – Children's Cancer Recovery Foundation (CCRF) and its sister charity, Cancer Recovery Foundation-U.K,  recently approved a grant of $110,000 to MassGeneral Hospital for Children (MGHfC) Cancer Center and The Royal Marsden Hospital in London for a collaborative study to fund research on the effects of proton versus photon radiation treatments. This study is consistent with CCRF's steadfast commitment to supporting minimally-invasive and less toxic therapies that greatly improve the quality of life for pediatric cancer survivors.

According to a number of studies, including a 2012 report published by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, cancer survival rates for children have increased, yet treatments often leave the survivor with a diminished quality of life.  Proton radiation, a relatively new treatment, better targets the radiation dose to a specific area with minimal entrance dose and no exit dose.  This allows the radiation to stay concentrated within the tumor.  Radiation therapy in many pediatric tumors is essential to achieving a cure, but often comes with serious, long-lasting side effects from the unintended dose and its effect on normal tissue.

"This study will directly address a dire need for comparative health outcomes data in proton and photon treated pediatric cancer survivors.  It will both inform the debate on proton radiotherapy, and solidify its role in the management of pediatric cancer patients," said Torunn I. Yock, M.D., MGHfC Cancer Center. "In this era of escalating health care costs and budgetary constraints, it is imperative that the value of new medical technologies is measured and proven by comparing the health outcomes between the old and new technologies."

"We are pleased to be able to fund this important study that will help protect the children battling this horrible disease, while improving their overall quality of life," said Greg Anderson, founder and CEO, CCRF. "The new partnership with MassGeneral Hospital for Children and The Royal Marsden Hospital is cause for great optimism. We are eagerly looking forward to the findings of this comparative study, the first ever for the pediatric cancer population."

CCRF is dedicated to funding research that specifically concentrates on less toxic, minimally- invasive treatments to improve quality of life.

About the Children's Cancer Recovery Foundation

Headquartered in Harrisburg, PA with a division in The Woodlands, TX, the Children's Cancer Recovery Foundation supports children under 18 and their families facing the hardships of cancer. The foundation performs acts of care and kindness through the following programs: Bear-Able Gifts (largest distributor of gifts to children with cancer in the U.S.); Toxic-Free Kids (educates families on the dangers of environmental toxins); New Era Cancer Research Fund (funds research for less toxic, minimally-invasive pediatric-cancer treatments); International Aid (provides medications and supplies to clinics in developing and impoverished countries); Helping Hands Fund (provides emergency financial assistance to families); and Camp Scholarships (allows children in remission to reconnect with activities they love). With a national pediatric-hospital partner network of 215+ locations, the foundation directly helps more than 15,000 children affected by cancer and their families every year. Please visit www.ChildrensCancerRecovery.org.

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