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Prairie Cafe 2004

2007-11-04

2004 Prairie Cafe
July 26, 2004
River Bluff Meeting Room
Ponca State Park, NE

For more information, contact Barbara Ricord

The primary objective of Prairie Cafe is to stimulate innovative thinking among the participants about the topic.  It is important to note, however, that it is not the intent of Prairie Cafe to move the discussions toward specific conclusions or outcomes.  A secondary objective is to encourage Prairie Cafe participants to continue the discussion within their organizations and among their friends and colleagues in the Region.

The 2004 Prairie Cafe will be held July 26th, 2004 in the River Bluff Meeting Room at Ponca State Park, Ponca, Nebraska. Ponca State Park is located approximately 20 miles northwest of South Sioux City, Nebraska. The day will begin at 8:30 a.m. and conclude by 3:00 p.m. The 2004 Prairie Cafe will be modeled upon the World Cafe format.

This year's topic is:

Mapping the Future - Discovering the Northern Great Plains in 2015

In 1803, Lewis and Clark set out to map the unknown future of the United States. We pay homage to that voyage of discovery by calling this year's Prairie Cafe Mapping the Future - Discovering the Northern Great Plains in 2015. Starting with a story describing a fictional but possible future for North America in 2015, participants will discover implications for the Northern Great Plains region. Conversations will center around these four sectors - agriculture, energy, population, and information technology. By exploring these maps of a possible future for the region, participants can bring into clearer focus what they think may happen and what they want to see happen.

The following stories are summaries of the future scenarios that will be discussed at Prairie Cafe 2004. To read the entire scenarios, download the June 2004 plainspeaking.

US Agriculture in 2015 - A Global Demand Scenario

In response to rising global demand for food - due to increased, income, population and urban growth in China and India - the United States Congress passed the Global Agriculture Markets Development Act in 2007.

Eight years ago, when the Act was passed, world population stood at 6.7 billion. Growing at 1.4% a year, world population has now reached 7.5 billion. At the same time that the world's population increased significantly, incomes also increased - especially in countries that had previously been considered developing countries. With an increase of income came an increase in demand for protein rich foods. World meat consumption is now nearly double what it was in 2004, and international trade in meat has increased 31%. The increased demand for protein led to continued over fishing of the oceans, resulting in a ban on all ocean fishing in 2013 after global recognition that several species of ocean fish had become extinct. The growth in demand for food exports accelerated the trend towards a two - tiered agricultural system in the US that began in the late 1990s. The 2007 Global Agriculture Markets Development Act also hardened the US position regarding production subsidies, leading to expanded federal support of efforts to increase US market share of the global food trade. 

Technology 2015 Scenario

In an increasingly mobile computing environment, Jim and Jenny and their children Jeff and Jerilyn use intelligent wireless computerized devices to help them manage their lives. Their hydrogen powered automobile has autopilot controls and the children see farm tractors that are operated by autonomous agents. Jeff and Jerilyn can "attend" their middle school or high school classes with the aid of electronic tablet computers, greatly enhancing educational opportunities for both mobile and isolated populations. Overnight delivery of goods purchased online is an expectation for this family. Jim and Jenny increasingly work from home or away from the office, connected electronically to their companies. Although the digital divide between rural and urban areas has narrowed in recent years, the emergence of new technologies threatens to widen this gap in the future. This scenario offers one perspective on the role technology could play in the everyday life of a typical family.

"Goodbye to Oil" Scenario

In the 2008 State of the Union address, the President of the United States announced an overriding policy priority for the nation: to make significant cuts in use of petroleum by 2015. He arrived at that conclusion after a six month series of meetings with scientists, business leaders, economists, health experts, engineers, anti - terrorist experts, and international leaders.

After 2008, the government increased aid for research on new applied energy sources, made funds available to help those most affected make the transition away from petroleum, and made energy efficiency the top priority in federal purchasing. In the private sector, investment in wind, solar, hydrogen fuel cells, electric cars and 50 mpg cars exploded. In agriculture, the President's Oil Reduction path had unforeseen consequences. It resulted in two groups of growers: those whose unsubsidized conventional crops were grown for use in energy production or as industrial feedstock for plastics and other oil replacements; and those who made their living growing higher value crops for domestic food consumption and received some government payments for growing crops without using petrochemicals.

Partly weaned from oil, America is stronger in 2015. 

Population 2015 Scenario

The James Madison High School class of 1965 meets at their 50th year class reunion in Small Ville.  Small Ville has become a model for how a community could and should look.  Young people work along side more mature citizens.  The family friendly medical center accommodates several traditional medical personnel plus a number of staff who practice alternative forms of medicine. Health and fitness for the entire population are a given priority rather than an exception.  A spiritual center serves all the community's diverse religious base.  A life long learning complex provides classes in the two official languages of the United States - English and Spanish.  Several new businesses reflect the accepted diversity of the immigrant population of the community. 

Hotels/Motels in South Sioux City, NE

Marina Inn  -  402-494-4000
Best Value Inn  -  402-494-2021
Travelodge  -  402-494-3046
Midtown Motel  -  402-292-9783
Cardinal Inn & Suites  -  402-494-8874
Econo Lodge  -  402-494-4114  -  less than 5 min from S Sioux City

Hotels/Motels in Ponca, NE

Trails Inn - 402-755-2237

Hotels/Motels in Vermillion, SD

Comfort Inn – 605-624-8333
Super 8 – 605-624-8005
Travelodge – 605-624-2824
Holiday Inn Express – 605-624-7600

Airports within 50 miles of Ponca, NE

South Sioux City, NE
Sioux City, IA (SUX)  -  major airport
Vermillion, SD
Yankton, SD 

Other lodging

Sioux Falls, SD
Omaha, NE

Things to do at Ponca State Park

1400 acres of heavily forested rolling hills and Mississippi River bottomland
Camping
Educational Center/Nature Activities
Swimming Pool
Hiking  -  more than 17 miles of trails
Boating
Golf  -  9-hole course
Supervised horseback riding
Kayaking  -  Missouri River Expeditions (MRE) 1-866-USKAYAK
    http://www.missriverexp.com/ponca.html
Guided fishing trips  -  MRE
Canoe rental - MRE
Kayak rental  -  MRE
Information about park can be found at these websites
    http://www.lasr.net/pages/park.php?Park_ID=NE01sp001
    http://www.ne-iaexplorer.com/Ponca.htm
    http://www.visitnebraska.org/myplanner/attractiondetail.asp?id=159