Date/Time
Date(s) - 01/24/2020
12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
Location
Ramada Viscount Suites Hotel
Categories
Fight Against Hunger, Rise Against Hunger, End Hunger Project, Harvest Against Hunger, Kids Against Hunger – all Rotary initiatives to feed the hungry of the world. So, how do we really do it? As with everything, the answer might be technology. American agriculture has become very high tech. Like a cow dairy operated by robots. Like planting and harvesting crops using precision-farming satellites. Who knows? Merle knows!
Merle L. Anderson was born and raised in Heartland farm country near Galva, Illinois. He served as an Infantry Drill Sergeant in the U.S. Army Reserve and spent a 37-year career in farm supply and grain marketing cooperatives in both Illinois and Iowa. Merle retired in June 2000 from the (Mississippi) River Valley Cooperative, headquartered in Davenport, Iowa, as its General Manager and CEO. Now residing in nearby Eldridge (though wintering in Tucson), Merle has been a Rotary Club member for 29 years (23 with perfect attendance) and was President of the Rotary Club of North Scott in Davenport. He is a multiple Paul Harris Fellow and a Rotary Major Donor. Merle received the Rotary District 6000 Guardian of Integrity Award in 2013, the Rotary Foundation District Service Award in 2015, and the Rotary International Vocational Service Award in 2017. He is a member of the District 6000 Vocational Training Team Committee, and he does business consulting as a Rotary volunteer 3-4 weeks a year in the Ukraine and neighboring Moldova, or in Uganda, Africa.
Merle and his wife Mary Lou have been married 50 years. They have three adult children in Destin (FL), Chicago, and Dallas, plus four grandchildren. They enjoy traveling five to seven months of the year.