If you’re looking for some photos of the harvest then look to the U.S. Grains Council Flickr set of 2009 Harvest Photos.
The USGC is collecting photos from U.S. farmers all over the country. Thanks to all of you that submitted photos. Remember that we are still accepting photos until Dec. 1, 2009.
This photo is of Dave and Sue Roehm who make farming a family affair in Leesburg, Ohio.
This is the next installment in our series about Expert Advice from the United Soybean Board. While attending the National Association of Farm Broadcasting Convention I spoke with USB Treasurer Marc Curtis who farms in Mississippi.
Marc serves on the USB Production Committee so he’s especially happy that the organization can offer Expert Advice to soybean growers via a regular column on their website which allows registered growers to read, comment and ask questions and get answers. There are several regular Expert Advice columnists who Marc says are covering various topics like diseases, rust, insects, agronomics and just about anything that a grower will have to deal with. He says that one of the issues Southeast growers have right now during harvest is what to do with a crop that is still in the ground due to wet weather. He says they can find answers by posing questions on the Expert Advice section of the website since USB has a research project in progress on this very topic.
You can listen to my interview with Marc below.
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The President of Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, George Heidgerken (pictured on left), attended today’s media event and spoke with reporters about changes in the company after the acquisition of Ft. Dodge Animal Health. He says the purchase is a big deal for BIVI here in the United States and globally since it essentially doubles their business including their ability to innovate in the future. While merging the two company cultures he says they will maintain the BI vision and mission and how they achieve them.
George says they can take the best of both companies, put them together and get excited about what they can achieve. They’re calling it the “new BIVI.” He says that full integration may take a couple years although they hope to achieve that sooner. The products they’ve acquired fit in perfectly with their existing portfolio and expand their cattle, dairy and pet business. The vision for the future of the company he says, is “value through innovation.”
You can listen to my interview with George below.
Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Media Day Photo Album
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Somehow I neglected to do a post on Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack being at NAFB last week. He did a press conference and attended the NAFB Foundation luncheon where he spoke and helped to honor this year’s scholarship winners.
Not a whole lot of newsy information out of the Secretary’s visit, but it was nice to have him there. He had nice things to say about farm broadcasters and their service to agriculture and talked a lot about Veteran’s Day. Here is his opening statement from the news conference, introduced by president Pam Jahnke.
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The traditional Thursday night auction to benefit the NAFB Foundation was a record breaker at the convention last week at $15,100. Orion Samuelson once again served as Master of Ceremonies while the legendary Cliff Mitchell did a cameo guest appearance as auctioneer. The almost-legendary Dave Schumacher of KTRS Radio was the main auctioneer for the event.
Among the 56 treasures and trips that were donated for the auction was a weekend at Sara Wyant and Al Johnson’s place at Lake Ozark, which was won by a group of NAFB ladies who are finally going to have that “Girls’ Weekend” we have been talking about for decades! That will include myself, Cyndi Young, Cindy Cunningham, Sally Behringer, Janet Adkinson, Robin Loftin, and Anita Vanderwert.
Three students actively seeking a career in agricultural journalism and communication were awarded NAFB scholarships funded by the Foundation. Receiving the Glenn Kummerow Memorial Scholarship of $5,000 was DeAnna Schertz of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The two winners of $4,000 NAFB Foundation scholarships were Mattie Nutley, a junior at Oklahoma State University and Iowa State University junior Chet Hollingshead. I’m sure they all hope to follow in the footsteps of outgoing NAFB president Pam Jahnke, who was one of the early recipients of the NAFB Foundation scholarship program.
If you have not donated yet this year to the NAFB Foundation, they will be happy to accept your tax-deductible contribution. Find out how to become a Foundation Booster here.
I’ve now got a photo album started for today’s Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica ag media day. Here’s Betsy Freese, Living The Country Life, posing in her lab coat before our R&D tour.
I will have interviews to post later since I neglected to bring along the right cable for my audio recorder. I just interviewed George Heidgerken, President of BIVI. He says that the Ft. Dodge Animal Health acquisition is the largest purchase the company has ever made. The two companies becoming one is a process that will take a couple of years. He says the products acquired by BIVI perfectly complements their existing portfolio and really helps them with a complete offering in cattle, dairy and companion animals.
Here’s the photos so far: Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Media Day Photo Album
Boehringer Ingelheim is holding an ag media day to provide an overview of changes in the company and its product line due to the recent acquisition of a portion of the Ft. Dodge Animal Health products.
As an example, in the opening presentation on cattle products, Colin Meyers told us that the new products “complete their cattle vaccine and pharmaceutical portfolio.”
I’ll be conducting interviews and taking photos so you can count on more to come as we learn about the changes at BIVI.
Novus International has launched a new bi-weekly podcast series – “What’s New with Novus,” hosted by Novus public relations manager Jeremy Lutgen.
The inaugural podcast, featuring Novus executive VP for marketing and sales Dr. Giovanni Gasperoni, went on line today and is available on iTunes, Zune and www.novusint.com/podcasts to subscribe, download or stream.
Gasperoni discusses ALIMET® and Novus’s 30 year commitment to the product and 25 years of production in Texas. Upcoming topics of “What’s New with Novus” will focus on issues facing the global agriculture community today, such as the global food crisis and sustainability, and how Novus is meeting those challenges.
Broadhead + Co is opening an office in the nation’s capitol to serve its growing association and government practice.
Tom DiBacco, Broadhead’s Director of Consumer and Government Relations, and a former network journalist based in Washington, DC, will return to familiar territory to lead the effort.
“I’m very excited and honored to be given this opportunity to come home and build upon a lifetime of contacts in a city where I have deep roots,” said DiBacco. “It is the best of both worlds. I’ll be continuing to work for a great agency in a challenging arena at an exciting time in the nation’s capitol.”
Prior to joining Broadhead + Co in 2006, DiBacco helped establish a firm that provided broadcast and interactive solutions to federal government clients. From 1984 to 2000, he was a journalist at ABC News and CNN in Washington, DC. A member of the White House Press Corps, DiBacco traveled extensively with Presidents George Herbert Walker Bush and Bill Clinton aboard Air Force One.
The Minneapolis-based agency was approved as a federal contractor on the General Services Administration (GSA) schedule in August 2008.
During NAFB Trade Talk last week, BASF announced that Headline AMP™ fungicide has received full registration from the Environmental Protection Agency. I talked with Reed Barrett and Nick Fassler about Headline AMP and Headline Advantage.
Nick says Headline AMP is the first combination fungicide specifically developed for corn growers. “There’s a segment of corn growers that desire a combination fungicide and we went out and developed the best combination available on the market for them,” Nick told me.
Headline AMP™ has federal registration and expect to have all major state registrations completed to be available in time for the 2010 season. Reed says Headline is already the number one product used in corn and soybeans and usage just keeps growing. BASF is offering an even better ROI for growers using Headline in the coming season, with Headline Advantage. “Through this program, growers can be eligible for up to $100 per gallon back directly from BASF for their 2010 purchases,” Reed says.
Listen or download back-to-back interviews with Nick and Reid from NAFB Trade Talk.
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Superior Livestock Auction, Inc., the largest livestock auction company in the U.S. and the number one in the livestock marketing industry, is now owned by SLAI, LLC, a wholly owned entity of Farm Credit West, ACA.
According to company materials, Superior Livestock is the nations’ leader in marketing load-lots of cattle via satellite and the Internet, and pioneered video cattle marketing in 1987. On an annual basis, the company offers more than 1.5 million cattle and to date, has sold more than 1.6 million head of cattle in 2009.
In its first move as the new owner, Farm Credit West has asked Jim Odle to return to the company as general manager. Odle was one of the company co-founders and played a significant role of the development and growth the the company.
Pfizer Animal Health has announced today that it selected Bader Rutter, a full service agency based in Milwaukee, Wis. to service its U.S. cattle business. The agency will begin work on the account in January 2010.
In other recent news, Pfizer Animal Health unveiled a new look in October after its acquisition of Wyeth, including its subsidiary Fort Dodge Animal Health. The acquisition makes the company the, “world’s leader in the discovery, development, manufacture and sales of veterinary vaccines and medicines for livestock and companion animals.”
In a company press statement, Clint Lewis, president of U.S. Operations for Pfizer Animal Health said of the acquisition, “We’re extremely proud to offer our customers even more best-in-class and innovative products. The products, services and expertise we are gaining strengthen what is already a robust U.S. portfolio and will enhance our leading position in the animal health marketplace.”
It was a year ago this month that ethanol advocacy group Growth Energy was formed, absorbing the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) and more recently merging with the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition (NEVC).
Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis has been with the organization since March, after leaving the National Farmers Union and he was on hand at the National Association of Farm Broadcasters Trade Talk last week discussing ethanol issues with ag reporters like Gary Cooper of Southeast Agnet pictured here.
I talked with Tom about what Growth Energy has accomplished in one year and what the organization is working on now.
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I went to bed last night thinking I should write an ode to oil. It would be partially flattering as some of my favorite things come from petroleum by-products, and partially lambasting as our addition to it has caused such harm. The fuel to my passion last night? The book “Power Trip“ by Amanda Little.
Little traveled the country for two years to take us on the journey of fossil fuels including oil and coal. One area where she spent considerable time is fossil fuel’s role in our food. It’s used to fuel the farming equipment. It’s used in fertilizer. It’s used to transport the food to market (on average, our food travels 1500 miles from farm to table).
To help us better understand the relationship between petroleum and agriculture, and agriculture and fuel, Little visited the Kansas farm of a dear agricultural friend of ours – former National Corn Growers Association President, Ken McCauley, where she was treated to a lesson in precision fertilizer application technologies, and the role of corn in ethanol production.
Farmers have been getting harassed of late about their use of fertilizer, and when Little asked McCauley what would happen if he, “cut out fertilizers altogether?” he answered, “If you don’t put your fertilizer on, you’ll cut your yields by half or more…Look at poor countries–when you travel to places that don’t use fertilizer you’ll see they’re raising a third of the yield.”
But what about organic farming that uses no fertilizer, asks Little in response to Micheal Pollen’s claims most notably made in his book Omnivore’s Dilemma? Well, I’m only going to give you a taste of what McCauley said….you’ll just have to read the book to discover his thoughtful answer. “It’s not a way to maximize production…”
To read more about this book check out my separate review on DomesticFuel.com. Ready to learn what McCauley’s answers are to sustainable farming, and why corn ethanol is so important to America? Then buy the book.
A FOOD FIGHT got underway today with dairy farmers and beef producers joining forces to fling facts in the face of food foes.
The main message is to Give Thanks for food and farmers as we prepare for the holiday season. Giving thanks can even get you a steak – actually, an Omaha Steaks Ideal Gift Collection of steaks and burgers valued at $135. Just leave a message of thanks for our farmers and ranchers here on the Pasture to Plate website. Producers can join the Beef Checkoff’s five-day FOOD FIGHT by visiting the
Cattlemen’s Beef Board chairman Lucinda Williams, a dairy producer from Massachusetts, was at NAFB Trade Talk last week talking about why livestock producers need to be armed with the facts to defend themselves against critics. “There’s an awful lot of people trying to tell our story,” Lucinda says. “This is our time to get out and tell our story.”
She says they are encouraging producers to get out an tell that story on Facebook and Twitter and email, (as well as traditional methods like actual face to face communication!) and encouraging everyone to give thanks for the safe and abundant food supply we enjoy in this country.
Listen to Chuck’s interview with Lucinda from NAFB here:
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USDA reports that farmers took advantage of a dry week to get 17 percent of the corn out and 14 percent more soybeans harvested last week. The new crop progress report has the soybean harvest nearing average for this time of year at 89 percent, while corn remains about 35 percent behind normal at just 54 percent complete. North Dakota has yet to get out of the single digits in corn harvesting, but they do have 80 percent of the soybeans complete.
The late harvest was one of the major topics of discussion for National Corn Growers Association first vice president Bart Schott of North Dakota at the NAFB Trade Talk last week. Bart is still optimistic because the corn remains in good to excellent condition. “If we get a few more weeks of really nice weather, we’ll get this corn crop off in good shape,” he said. Despite the problems this year, he says the crop continues to look good and is still expected to be the second largest on record, “If there’s ever been a debate about whether we can produce enough corn feed our exports, livestock industry and ethanol industry, this will be the second year in a row that we’ve proved them wrong.”
Listen to my interview with Bart here.
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This week’s ZimmCast features two interviews done at the National Association of Farm Broadcasting annual meeting last week in Kansas City.
We have been attending the NAFB convention since 1985 and some things never change – like Ted Haller, for example. But, other things – like Ted’s hair – do change, and in recent years that has been the emphasis on usage of the Internet and social media. Teddy presented us with findings from Internet Ag Information Usage Study that surveyed farmers and ranchers about their Internet access practices and preferences for agribusiness information, including use of the mobile Web. That study will be available on the NAFB website for members to access.
Meanwhile, Dr. Emily Rhodes of THE Ohio State University (who is also a Gator), did a study of farm broadcasters and journalists about their usage of the internet and social media tools like Facebook and Twitter. She had some interesting findings and her main message to the media was that utilizing these tools helps us reach new audiences to get the positive message about agriculture to the general public.
Thanks to AgWired Sponsor, Fluidigm, for their support of the ZimmCast. Be sure to check out the combined NAMA/NAFB Flickr photo album for lots of pictures from both events last week.
You can listen to this week’s ZimmCast below.
The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired. Subscribe so you can listen when and where you want. Just go to our a Subscribe page.
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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.
