Welcome to another week in the world of agribusiness. To kick it off I thought I’d share one of the latest video clips on the John Deere Drive Green Utility Tractor Show blog. I’m really having fun with this project and it’s going to keep me busy. I’ll be in Houston later this month as we kick off the “Year of the Utility Tractor.” After messing with Final Cut Express export settings I think I’ve finally landed on the ones that work best with the new YouTube HD. It sure looks better than anything I’ve been able to post onto YouTube before.
This is a short video presentation by Jim Stoffregen on the new 5E Limited Series Tractors.
Kurt has a great post on our Precision Pays website that I thought I’d share with you.
How about this for an extravagant non-ag precision gizmo? Among the many high-tech product launches at the recent SEMA (automotive specialty products) show was this AT&T Cruisecast satellite TV for your car–through a unique roof-top antenna developed by AT&T and RaySat.
For a list price of $1,299 and a monthly fee of $28, the current system will offer 22 channels of satellite TV and 20 satellite radio channels–but the sky is the limit on this technology (and I imagine Internet access may be in its future). It’s designed for rear-seat auto video screens, but I wouldn’t put it past some techies to make it work for anything from tailgates to tractor uses.
AT&T says it will available this spring at auto dealerships and in auto aftermarket channels.
I just got off the phone with Missouri soybean grower, Warren Stemme, who is the Vice President of the newly formed U.S. Soybean Federation. I wanted to learn more about the USSF so I could share with you.
Warren says the USSF is just getting started so there is no staff yet although they plan to put a lobbyist in Washington, DC as soon as possible. For the time being, the organization is being handled by the Minnesota Soybean Association office with Jim Palmer, MSA Executive Director, as the acting CEO. Warren says a very positive element of the new organization is equal representation for each state association that joins. He also says that the American Soybean Association’s recent call for an audit of the United Soybean Board has caused “strained relationships between those two groups.” He says the USSF supports the current soybean checkoff. He says their goal is to “move forward in a positive manner.”
You can listen to my interview with Warren here: ussf-stemme.mp3
It seems like a growing number of people I run in to have an iPhone. So I’ve been getting some questions about the apps that I’m using. I thought I’d just list them for you and invite you to post your own. These are links to the apps in the iTunes Store.
NetNewsWire: Great news feed reader which syncs with your online and computer accounts. Facebook: Pretty much a full service mobile version. WordPress: Let’s me post onto my blogs from anywhere I have a connection! 12seconds: Let’s you post a 3 picture slide show with audio to your 12seconds.tv account. Pandora: My music whenever and wherever I want. Speakeasy: Audio recorder. Great quality. You’ll be seeing me use in on location. iBreviary: Provides the Liturgy of The Hours, daily prayer of the Church. Updated daily. The Weather Channel: Better weather than built in wx app on phone. Darkslide: Let’s me upload photos to my Flickr account (including into sets). Twitterific: Where I tweet from most often. AIM: Not using this much but a great IM app. Google Mobile: Quick access to all my Google accounts/services. Google Earth: You have to see it to believe it.
I don’t know if you saw the release about USDA recommending that their Office of the Inspector General conduct an audit and perhaps investigation of the United Soybean Board but the allegations are serious. Apparently all is not well in soybean grower organization land. This is evidenced even more by this morning’s announcement of the U.S. Soybean Federation (USSF). I wonder how this will affect Commodity Classic, if at all. It seems like a lot of questions need to be answered. I’ve got a call in to learn more about the newly formed USSF and hope to have more to report soon.
With a sole mission of representing the voice of U.S. soybean farmers through advocacy and policy, the new U.S. Soybean Federation (USSF) was announced by founding farmer-leaders today.
“This is a challenging time for everyone in our country and soybean farmers are no exception,” says newly elected USSF President Lance Peterson, a soybean farmer from Underwood, Minn. “We need an organization like USSF that will have no other focus than to fairly, vigorously and effectively represent the voice of all U.S. soybean farmers in the federal legislative process.”
Peterson also pointed out actions by the American Soybean Association have triggered the need for this new organization. “It’s clear to us that ASA’s continuing actions are not in the best interest of soybean farmers as ASA is jeopardizing the national soybean checkoff,” says Peterson. “We need both a strong checkoff organization and a strong policy and advocacy organization that can work independently but cooperatively. USSF stands in total support of the current national soybean checkoff and the farmer-leaders appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to oversee checkoff investments.” (more…)
Monsanto announced the names of the high school seniors being awarded Deltapine Class of ‘09 scholarships to pursue agriculture-related studies in college. Students wrote an essay themed “My Future in Cotton” and the winners were announced during the Deltapine Class of ’09 reception at the 2009 Beltwide Cotton Conferences in San Antonio, Texas. View the list of winners here.
The American Corn Growers Association, announced that its coming 22nd Annual Convention will feature discussions with industry experts including several new additions to its speakers line-up. Opening with a “public invited” one day workshop covering the opportunities for developing and producing renewable Alcohol and Ethanol Fuel, led by BioFuels expert David Blume, the Convention runs Jan. 15-16 at the Marriott Hotel in Coralville, Iowa.
Animal welfare is a hot topic right now in the agribusiness world and anyone involved in animal agriculture should know that they’ve got a friend in Washington, DC called the Foundation For Biomedical Research. FBR has a new voice as I mentioned recently and that’s Paul McKellips. He’s bringing his multimedia skills to the organization to help get out good scientific information on this issue. One of the first things we talked about is the difference in animal welfare and animal rights. I spoke with him this morning not only about the mission of FBR but how they’re using various new and social media platforms to accomplish their communication objectives.
Paul says that FBR is using Facebook and podcasting and has plans for additional social communications efforts. According to him, “New media is the future of communications.” I can’t agree more. That doesn’t mean that FBR isn’t working with traditional media outlets though. The very same elements of new media like podcasts can also be used by traditional media and FBR is making sure that they continue to develop relationships with those media representatives. Paul encourages broadcasters and podcasters to make use of their new Animal Research Minute program for example.
Instead of ending the program this week with music I’m going to let you hear the latest Animal Research Minute. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.
You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast 202 (22 min MP3)
I never came across the Farm Bureau Foodie News Blog until this morning. It looks like the staff is into it. I think I would describe myself as a foodie. How about you?
The preferences of foodies, who generally are more discriminating than other consumers, continue to influence the food grown by America’s farmers and ranchers. With this trend in mind, we hope you enjoy the Foodie News blog.
There are so many social networks out there, it’s hard to maintain them all! However, I have found a social network that might be perfect for you! It’s called CattleGrower, a network community for livestock producers to connect, collaborate and promote their operations.
It’s a great way to make more connections, increase business in 2009, chat with like-minded producers, list your stock for sale, and establish an online presences. The best part is that it’s free! It’s just like MySpace, but created just for agriculturalists! You can start up your own blog, join a forum, add livestock photos, ask questions, and meet people just like you!
I just set up my profile, and I will let you know how well it works. So far, it has been a lot of fun, and it’s interesting to see the huge number of people that are already participating. Maybe you would like to join this social network, as well; just don’t forget to add me as a friend! Check it out today!
Cindy found a very corny story that is worth sharing.
With all the many flavors of gourmet popcorn out there, apparently no one perfected the pairing of two perennial party favorites until now.
A Kansas City college student named Cary Silverman has invented beer-flavored popcorn, according to a KMBC-TV story.
Pub Corn also comes in other alcohol flavors – like pina colada – but actually has no alcoholic content. After trying a variety of ways to flavor the snack – such as soaking the kernels in whiskey – the inventor finally partnered with a company that helped him develop a non-alcoholic alcohol flavoring.
There is a website for the product with a phone number to call for orders here at www.pub-corn.com.
That’s what Katie Allen is doing for Monsanto. Wish I was there but it just didn’t work out this year.
My name is Katie Allen, and I am a graduate student in agricultural communications at Texas Tech University. I am from the small town of Marceline, Missouri, where my family farms livestock and row crops. I graduated from the University of Missouri in May 2008 with a degree in agricultural journalism before moving to Texas!
The Wisconsin Federation of Cooperatives and Minnesota Association of Cooperatives announces that its new name is Cooperative Network. The new name is effective Jan. 1, 2009.
CSI Safener 500FS, new from Bayer CropScience, adds another line of protection for sorghum growers shielding treated grain and forage sorghum seed from the phytotoxic effects of metolachlor or S-metolachlor herbicides.
The Agriculture Council of America is calling on seventh- to 12th-grade students to submit an original essay of 450 words about the importance of agriculture. This year’s theme is “Agriculture – Every Day in Every Way,” and the deadline is Feb. 9.
I think one of my favorite things to do is take pictures. If I could choose only do one thing for a living it would be photography. Hopefully y’all are finding that ZimmComm photography has improved over time (and it’s not just because of upgraded gear).
This is why I love what Russell Graves is doing. I know I’ve pointed you to him before but I just noticed he’s now making ag photos available for purchase on his website. Like this one for example.
He’s also a pretty good writer and in his most recent newsletter he writes about things he’s thankful for. They struck a nerve with me since I share them. He just says them better than I would though. Like: * The opportunity to live everyday of my life in America.
You’ll see people in the news prognosticate that America’s best days are behind her and there are worse times ahead but I choose not to believe any of the doom-and-gloom scenarios. Instead, I am optimistic and believe in the spirit and ingenuity of our culture and its people and have faith that our best days are still ahead of us.
I look back at every year of my life and realize that the things I’ve been able to do and the people I have met have all blessed me. Looking forward, I don’t see those blessing diminishing. Instead, I am confident that the blessings will continue to blossom.
Monsanto is making a bold move with a unique partnership with the Weather Channel. Nothing like taking two of the things most important to farmers and making it easily available to them in an online and social networking environment!
The Weather Channel Interactive, in partnership with agricultural products leader Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON), announced a new section on weather.com® dedicated to weather and farming at www.weather.com/farming. Within the Agriculture News & Forecast, the main feature is the Farmers Forecast, which includes up-to-date weather information that matters most to the agricultural community, such as severe weather alerts affecting crops and detailed data about precipitation, wind and soil moisture.
The new Farmers Forecast adds farming-related alerts in addition to the severe weather alerts already available through the weather.com site. These will alert consumers to warnings with freeze, frost, high wind or hail indicators for each forecasted day. With precipitation being critical for the farming community, not only does the page include the percent of precipitation, but it also includes an actual projection of the amount of rain that is expected.
Weather.com/farming will offer several components to help farmers make decisions before and throughout the season. From the same page, users can easily change locations to keep up with multiple farms or compare sites. Among the information included on the new section:
· Soil moisture information
· Detailed wind data
· Sunrise and sunset times
· UV index
The section is also a one-stop resource for the latest agriculture news. Users can stay up to date with articles related to the industry while checking out the next day’s forecast. Users can easily bookmark any page within the new section, such as the Farmers Forecast, to return to this practical resource and connect it to social networking sites such as Facebook, Digg and others.
Along with the new section within the weather.com site, Monsanto will also run an online campaign throughout 2009 featuring many of its brands such as Deltapine, DEKALB, Asgrow, Yieldgard, Roundup Ready and Roundup PowerMax.
Post Update: If you’re an iPhone owner make sure that when you use your browser that you select the “Classic Weather Channel” link instead of the mobile version. This isn’t available in the mobile version yet.
I’m sure many AgWired fans will remember Paul McKellips. He’s moved from the “good news in Iraq” to working on an issue of major importance to anyone involved in animal agriculture.
Perhaps a few of you may remember me from my days at FSA in Washington and then my agriculture broadcasts from Iraq in 2006 and 2007. I’m now the executive vice president at the Foundation for Biomedical Research here in Washington.
With the passage of Prop 2 in California it has become evident that the massive power of the Humane Society of the US (HSUS) and organizations like PETA will continue to have an enormous impact on animals, both those used in animal agriculture as well as biomedical research. We conducted another national poll last month with Zogby International (1,204 adults) and discovered that the public opinion needle is moving away from the humane use of animals.
Educating the public on how animal research improves animal agriculture, human health and animal health is, perhaps, now our best approach to countering aggressive animal rights messaging.
To accomplish this Paul has started the FBR Animal Research Minute. In this program he will take “the top headlines from animal research labs across the world and delivers honest success stories, unfolding hope and words of promise.” If you’ve got a podcast or farm broadcast or place to post it on your website I’m sure he would really appreciate it.
Well, I’m not in the same boat as Chuck, enjoying the nice weather of a Florida cruise, but I am feeling the lethargy and dread of getting back to work once again, like so many of you.
Although my college vacation is still effectively on until next Wednesday, writing deadlines are creeping up, job interviews need to be prepared for and it’s time to get ready for one last semester of college classes. I’ll admit that sitting in front of the laptop all day again is one of those things I have been dreading. However, knowing everyone is in the same boat makes it a little bit easier.
And, 2009 is off to an insanely busy start! I will be speaking and traveling to a variety of locations in the next few weeks. Hopefully our paths will cross along the way, and you will introduce yourself to me at one point or another. I’ll keep you posted on every road trip and plane ride. I can’t wait to meet all of the AgWired readers! Until then, it’s back to the grindstone, everybody!
Welcome back to work everyone. I’m almost there. Sort of. Kind of.
Actually I’ll be back to it full time on Wednesday. This morning I got a chance to got offshore trolling for dolphins (Mahi-Mahi) near Pompano Beach, FL. This lighthouse was really lit up by this morning’s sun. It was a beautiful morning on the water.
I see from the tweets, updates, posts, emails, etc. that most of you are suffering through a full day in the office. I was thinking about you as we cruised along. Mmm Hmm. Sure I was.
This sounds like a magazine I would enjoy. Just the name conjures up savory images – Meatpaper.
Meatpaper is a print magazine of art and ideas about meat. We like metaphors more than marinating tips. We are your journal of meat culture.
At once divisive and universal, delicious and disturbing, funny and dead-serious, meat polarizes us unlike any other food; it’s the Hillary Clinton of the freezer aisle.
Us, we’re ambidextrous here at Meatpaper — no agenda except to gnaw on the ideas, artistic excursions and bone-deep emotions the subject inspires. We invite you to dig in with us.
Worksaver, Inc. will be exhibiting their new Worksaver Snow Blades at the National Farm Machinery Show at the Kentucky Exposition Center, Booth No. 3013 from Feb. 11-14, 2009.
The new snow blades for skid steers (SBS Series) and tractor loaders (SBFL Series) remove snow from driveways, parking lots or other large areas. The snow blades are able to angle left or right for easier use and feature a 90” width and 3/8” x 6” cutting edge of 1044 steel.
AgriMarketing magazine’s annual Marketing Services Guide is now available to viewed on-line. To view, click here.
American Vanguard Corporation announced that Trevor Thorley has been named as Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of its principal operating subsidiary, AMVAC Chemical Corporation, effective immediately.
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association has announced Forrest L. Roberts will be its next chief executive officer. Roberts, 42, will start January 20, 2009.
In this week's program Chuck talks with David Armano, Global Innovation and Integration.
David conducted a presentation on delivering expert opinion via social media to an audience at the start of International Poultry Expo week. He's got some great information about who consumers trust and how you can use today's consumer behavior to help communicate your message.
Kurt has a great post on our 
Animal welfare is a hot topic right now in the agribusiness world and anyone involved in animal agriculture should know that they’ve got a friend in Washington, DC called the 
Paul says that FBR is using 
I never came across the Farm Bureau 
Cindy found a very corny story that is worth sharing.
That’s what 
I think one of my favorite things to do is take pictures. If I could choose only do one thing for a living it would be photography. Hopefully y’all are finding that ZimmComm photography has improved over time (and it’s not just because of upgraded gear). 
Welcome back to work everyone. I’m almost there. Sort of. Kind of.
This sounds like a magazine I would enjoy. Just the name conjures up savory images – 
In this week's program Chuck talks with David Armano, Global Innovation and Integration.
