New York Energy & Environmental Funders

Hosting Sponsor:
Torys LLP

The media are filled with stories about the recent food crisis in Africa. A USA Today headline (August 18) called it a "Ticking Time Bomb." Many Sub-Saharan countries are confronted with a "toxic cocktail"-drought killing the spring crop; global inflation that has doubled the price of food; interruptions in the food delivery systems by political/military interventions; and various plagues and diseases. While food aid ameliorated the crisis in the past, it has created a deeper-rooted problem-dependence on external food supplies.

To create a sustainable solution to the food supply, malnutrition and health of the African population, local farmers need the means to grow sufficient subsistence and income crops. However, without income they cannot purchase any of the necessary farming implements-seeds, fertilizer, water, tilling/harvesting equipment, etc.

EcoVerdance has a solution that is both immediate and sustainable-"give" local farmers Accele-Gro M products and provide them assistance with "best practices" in exchange for the agricultural carbon rights. EcoVerdance generates revenue to fund these activities by selling carbon credits for the increased biomass that Accele-Gro M sequesters in the soil.

Many agronomists, horticulturists and bio-scientists have estimated that plants utilize only 35-50% of their genetic potential. Accele-Gro M can unlock that growth potential and substantially increase performance for market crops such as cotton, corn, sugarcane, soybeans, hay, peanuts, wheat, rye, and vegetables together with grasses, trees or timber. Accele-Gro M also enhances plants' draught resistance and quality. Accele-Gro M products are not designed to replace fertilization, pesticide or herbicide applications. Instead, these plant growth enhancers were developed by Accelegrow Technologies, Inc. to work in synergy with traditional crop practices as a fertilizer supplement. Depending on the crop and growing conditions, one gallon of liquid Accele-Gro M product will treat 10 to 21 acres. With a product cost of $10/acre, typical revenues on US farms have increased by $100 to $500 per acre. For some vegetable crops gross revenues have increased from $3000 to $6000 per acre.

EcoVerdance, Inc. is the international distributor of the Accele-Gro M product. Formed in 2007 by a group of environmental- and humanitarian-minded individuals, EcoVerdance will simultaneously meet fundamental humanitarian needs (food, health, and subsistence) and address critical environmental issues through distribution of the Accele-Gro M growth enhancer in developing economies. Where appropriate, they will create or utilize existing micro-finance organizations to further distribution efforts.

R. David Morris (President and CEO) and Lanier M. Davenport Sr. (Founding Partner of EcoVerdance, Global Balanced Carbon Technologies, and Accelegrow Technologies Inc.) will summarize US farmer experience with Accele-Gro M, their plan to distribute the product internationally (with initial focus on Sub-Saharan Africa), and capital investment opportunities at both the corporate and project level. Fundamentally, the EcoVerdance business model is to:

• Facilitate distribution and application of Accele-Gro M on indigenous food crops-at "no cost" to farmers-to create self-sufficient farming enterprises.
• Engage existing humanitarian infrastructure and service organizations to link sustainable crops with improved health and nutrition.
• Capitalize on enhanced carbon sequestration properties of indigenous food crops to create certified emission reduction (CER) credits under Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). Capital from CER sales would underwrite EcoVerdance distribution and facilitation mechanisms for Accele-Gro M.

Sector Expert: Janet E. Hawkes, Ph.D. will discuss the tremendous need for and the potential of Accele-Gro M in the Third World as well as the challenges in distributing it, from the perspective of her decades of agriculture-development work.

Date: Friday, September 12, 2008
Time: 8:00 – 10:00 am
Place: Torys LLP
237 Park Ave. (Enter at 466 Lexington Ave, between 45th & 46th Streets)
New York City, 20th Floor
202-662-2700

Security: Tell the personnel at the security desk in the ground floor lobby that you re attending the Center for Economic and Environmental Partnership, Inc. meeting at Torys LLP. You will need personal ID. They will issue a pass.

Cost: $50 if you pre-register.
Cash or checks (payable to CEEP) accepted. Must register or cancel by 4pm the previous day. No shows will be invoiced.
$60 if you pay at the door.
See below for Annual Registration opportunities and other important conditions.

Agenda:
8:00 to 8:20 – Networking with Members
8:30 to 9:00 – Presentation by David Morris, Director and President, with Lanier M. Davenport Sr. (Founder)
9:00 to 9:30 – Presentation by Sector Expert: Janet E. Hawkes, Ph.D., Cornell University
9:30 to 10:00 – Discussion and Networking

Thank you, and we look forward to seeing you at the next NY Funders meeting.

If you have any questions about registration or need more information about the program, please contact Gelvin Stevenson at gelvin@optonline.net.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES:

David Morris: Director, President and CEO. Before joining EcoVerdance, he was involved in management of a Home Depot in Park City, Utah, and in private investments. From 2000-2002, he was semi-retired, working as a consultant in the plastic injection-molding sector. From 1998-2000, he was President of IMC Plastics, Inc., a custom plastic injection molding business located in Los Angeles, CA. From 1996-1998, he was President of OTTO Material Handling, Inc. in Charlotte, NC. Prior to that, he held a number of different positions with Hoechst Celanese Corporation. R. David Morris, 59, has a BS and Masters degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and resides in Park City, Utah.

Lanier M. Davenport Sr.: Founding Partner of EcoVerdance, Global Balanced Carbon Technologies, and Accelegrow Technologies Inc. His specialty is in fostering early-stage developing companies and growing emerging technologies. Lanier has served as CEO of several NASDAQ and small-cap public companies. He currently serves as director of Special Projects for EcoVerdance.

Lanier has a focused passion for balancing the Earth's carbon burden and feeding the world's hungry. He is a graduate of Auburn University, where he received a BS degree in Accounting and an MBA. He is a licensed CPA and attorney, and currently resides in Lanett, Alabama.

Janet E. Hawkes, Ph.D., has worked with not-for-profits and start-up ventures commercializing agriculture, environmental, and educational technologies. Hawkes assisted in the development of RPM Ecosystems LLC, which grows and sells native trees, shrubs and grasses for restoration and conservation, which are produced by the patented Root Production Method. Hawkes was Director of the Cornell Educational Resources Program at Cornell University, and Principal Investigator on a variety of national and international environmental and agricultural programs. She worked in international development and tropical agriculture in the South Pacific, Asia (India, Philippines, China), Southern Africa, and the Caribbean.

Dr. Hawkes authored research and instructional resources on a variety of agricultural and environmental topics from bioenergy to tropical agroforestry and sustainable agriculture. She currently serves on the Advisory Board for the United Nations Food and Agriculture "The Growing Connections" Program, as an advisor to EcoPort in South Africa, on the Cornell University Theory Center Advisory Board, on the Stone Barns Center for Sustainable Agriculture Board of Directors. She is past Chair of the Cayuga Lake Watershed Network, as well as other economic development, environmental, and agriculture boards and committees.

Dr. Hawkes has a Doctorate in Agricultural Sciences, a Masters degree and teaching certification in Agriculture and Science Education, and the Bachelors of Science all from Cornell University.

Advisory Board

Mark Austin, Chandler-Reed
John Cusack, Gifford Park Associates
Ira Rubenstein, CEEP, Inc.
Gelvin Stevenson, Ph.D., CEEP, Inc.

NYE&EF Pricing Policy
1. Cost, with pre-registration up to 4pm the day before the meeting: $50.
2. No-shows will be invoiced.
3. Cancellations allowed until 4pm the day before the meeting.
4. Cost, with registration at the door the day of the meeting: $60.
5. All paid registrants will be emailed any information made available electronically for that meeting.
6. An Annual Registration for NYE&EF can be purchased for $400. It will provide admittance to all regularly scheduled meetings held during a 12-month period.
7. Annual registrants will be emailed any information made available electronically for any of the regularly scheduled meetings covered by their annual registration.

Formed in October 2001, New York Energy & Environmental Funders (NYE&EF) is a joint service of Investors Circle, the Energy & Environmental Capital Network (ECN), the Environmental Business Association of New York State, Inc. (EBA/NYS) and Investors Circle. NYE&EF provides networking, information, and other services to investors interested in energy and environmental companies. NYE&EF activities are produced by the Center for Economic and Environmental Partnership, Inc. (CEEP) in furtherance of its educational mission.

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