Yes I can multitask. In fact, during the opening keynote presentation here I was also moderating today’s FuelChat session for the Renewable Fuels Association. I think I was only having to post via about 10 different social media channels. Piece of cake.
Our opening keynote speaker at the NAMA Trends In Agriculture conference is David Kohl, Professor Emeritus, Agricultural Finanace and Small Business Management, Virginia Tech and President, AgriVisions, LLC. His topic is “Defining the New Ag Community.”
David set up his session with a number of facts and figures including the fact that 70% of North American farm ground will change hands by 2025 and that women and minorities will become major decision makers. Then since we’re all agrimarketers he started talking about the move to the digital world. He asked participants how many were involved in social networking and podcasting. Only a couple of hands were raised for podcasting. I think he was surprised by that. Yeah. Let’s go agrimarketers. Get your podcast on!
He offered the 10 C’s of going digital which include: Commitment, Collaboration, Consumers, Customers, Community, Connecting, Competition, Control, Communication and Cost & Capital Return. He offered a parting thought that “success in social media/digital is balance of high tech and high touch.”
I’ll be posting a video interview with David that’s being produced by Paulsen Marketing. I’d like to thank them for sponsoring AgWired coverage of this year’s NAMA Trends In Agriculture Conference once again.
The NAMA Trends In Agriculture Conference is underway in KC, MO at the Hyatt. The first order of business was the board meeting. You can see NAMA President-Elect Susie Decker, Farm Progress Companies, leading the group. I got there just as they were wrapping things up.
I actually interviewed Susie with my new SONY PCM-M10 but had a “whoops” and it didn’t record. So I caught board member Beth Burgy, Broadhead+Co, in the hallway and got it right.
Beth and Susie said that the board will be surveying members to find out what other professional organizations they belong to and what their preferred methods of communication are including Twitter, Facebook, etc. The idea is to find new ways to engage members “where they are.” It’s an initiative that will be playing out in the coming year.
USDA lowered its forecast for 2009 corn production and yields in the latest report out today, but increased the soybean estimate.
Corn production is forecast at 12.9 billion bushels, down 1 percent from last month but 7 percent higher than 2008. Based on conditions as of November 1, yields are expected to average 162.9 bushels per acre, down 1.3 bushels from October but 9.0 bushels above last year. Despite the drop in yield from October, this yield will be the highest on record if realized. Total production will be second highest on record, only behind 2007. Within the Corn Belt, forecasted yields in Minnesota and Wisconsin increased, while Illinois, Iowa, and Michigan yields decreased.
Soybean production is forecast at a record high 3.32 billion bushels, up 2 percent from the October forecast and up 12 percent from last year. Based on November 1 conditions, yields are expected to average 43.3 bushels per acre, up 0.9 bushel from last month and up 3.6 bushels from 2008. If realized, this will be the highest U.S. yield on record.
The corn harvest continues to lag far behind normal. According to USDA, just 37 percent of the corn had been combined as of Sunday, compared to 82 percent average. Soybeans are doing better with 75 percent harvest compared to 92 percent average.
Analyst Brian Hoops with Midwest Market Solutions told reporters on the Minneapolis Grain Exchange crop call that many farmers are talking about leaving their corn in the field. “There’s a lot of producers in the northern part of the corn belt, North Dakota in particular, that are likely to leave the crop sit throughout the winter because of the concerns about dry down and the cost of drying the corn down manually.”
Last week, I was watching the Ellen DeGeneres Show because I knew she would be interviewing Jonathan Safran Foer, the author of “Eating Animals,” a gruesome attack against animal agriculture and a strong testimony for a vegan lifestyle. Recently, the National Pork Board responded to Foer’s statements, especially when he falsely linked H1N1 to a hog farm in North Carolina. Read on to learn more about this ongoing debate. To read the entire article and watch the video, link to the New York Times.
“This swine flu that’s now an epidemic, they’ve been able to trace it back to a farm in North Carolina,” he said. “A hog farm. Nobody knows this. Nobody talks about it. We’ve been told this lie that it came from Mexico.”
But Liz Wagstrom, a staff veterinarian at the National Pork Board, said the claim that the novel 2009 H1N1 virus originally came from swine farms in North Carolina is “patently false.” Researchers at that time did find an H3N2 flu virus in pigs there, she said, but it had a different genetic architecture than the current H1N1 pandemic virus circulating around the world. And those trying to link the H1N1 to factory farming “are using a scare tactic to try to cast a negative light on modern pork production,” Ms. Wagstrom said.
Head into a grocery store these days and consumers are offered aisles upon aisles of food choices. It’s been said that annually, food producers raise enough food to feed 144 people. With this efficiency, consumers can enjoy their favorite foods in abundance. As a result of our food surplus, new food options have become available, and as a result, conventional agriculture is under attack in favor of natural, organic and locally grown options. While I think it’s great and noble that consumers are trying to do better for themselves and the environment, I believe sometimes these food claims can be misleading. Apparently, others agree with me, as well.
In a recent meeting, Jude Capper, Ph.D., assistant professor of dairy sciences at Washington State University, told his audience of animal nutrition specialists that, “as a food industry, we must use a whole-system approach and assess environmental impact per gallon of milk, pound of beef or dozen eggs, not per farm or per acre.” Read on to learn more about his views on 1940′s agriculture verses today’s advanced food production.
As consumers increasingly aim to make environmentally responsible food purchases, they need to base their decision on sound science. However, according to a presenter at the 71st Cornell Nutrition Conference held in Syracuse, N.Y., the ‘intuitively correct’ food choice is often the least environmentally friendly option.
“Consumer demand for milk, meat and eggs is going to increase as the population continues to grow,” Capper says. “Therefore, the vital role of improved productivity and efficiency in reducing environmental impact must be conveyed to government, food retailers and consumers.”
AGCO is one of the companies working on a prototype biomass harvest/transport system. At POET’s Project LIBERTY Field Day they demonstrated a pulled behind baler system to harvest corn cobs and stover.
Dean Morrell, Product Marketing Manager for Hay and Forage Harvesting, was on site and talked with me about their system. He says it’s a one pass system which utilizes combine technology and durable large square baler technology. He says the material doesn’t touch the ground and makes for a very clean bale product. They had to do some major customization on the equipment and they have two units out working in the field as part of the development process.
When it comes to research and development at Fluidigm Corporation, one of the key people involved is Andy May. In my interview with him he puts the high level technology Fluidigm develops into easy to understand terms. You’ll find out why this is necessary when we get into the whole DNA sequencing issue and how Fluidigm has pioneered some of the latest mechanisms to work with it. Forward a link to the interview to your favorite R&D’er!
Andy says there are two main products they’ve been developing. One of them is called Slingshot which he says is a very accurate method of measuring concentrations of DNA samples. The other product, which his group is focused on, is called AccessArray which streamlines the preparation of small regions of DNA for sequencing using the current generation of sequencing platforms. He says there has been a huge change in the technology used for DNA sequencing in recent years and people are looking for new ways and improved methods for introducing samples into those instruments. Like the whole Fluidigm System, these products help streamline the work flow and in fact are more production devices than just measurement devices.
The new Fluidigm products have been developed in conjunction with early access clients and several systems have been sold and are now available via general release.
You can watch or listen to my interview with Andy below:
Bayer CropScience officially opened its new Cotton Research and Development Laboratory in Lubbock, Texas.
New Holland’s new WORKMASTER tractors bear a trusted name, and the same important qualities that made the original WORKMASTER tractors so popular in the 1960s.
A team of researchers led by University of California, Riverside (UCR) Professor of Chemical Engineering Wilfred Chen has constructed for the first time a synthetic cellulosome in yeast, which is much more ethanol-tolerant than the bacteria in which these structures are normally found.
Steve Pickle and Eddie Walley have joined SFP as regional account managers, and Jennie Martin has stepped into a newly developed position as event coordinator.
At least some farmers are finished with their harvest.
BASF sent me to southwest Missouri last week to visit with a couple of farmers in Purdy about their harvest. I told you last week about world famous Kip Cullers’ harvest, today we hear from his neighbor, Curtis Schallert – who also uses Headline fungicide, by the way (no coincidence!).
Curtis says the wet weather posed some challenges but he got it done. “We got a good start at the end of September,” he told me. “We got finished up about ten days ago with our corn before the last big rain, so compared to most we are very fortunate.”
He grows wheat, soybeans and corn and uses Headline on most of his acres. “I started with Headline and was satisfied with the results on my wheat and soybeans and in the past few years started using it on corn,” he said. He uses Headline on select acres of his corn and estimates that he gets a 6-7 bushel per acre increase in yield for those acres.
Here is a YouTube video of my interview with Curtis.
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The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) is helping to support the future of agriculture by assisting in the creation of an information clearinghouse for beginning farmers.
AFBF has teamed up with the Agriculture Department’s National Agricultural Library to create the National Curriculum and Training Clearinghouse for Beginning Farmers and Ranchers. The program will help those who have decided to pursue a career in agriculture and will help support Farm Bureau’s commitment to rural development.
“This is a great opportunity for Farm Bureau to provide information to beginning farmers on how to start and stay in farming and ranching,” said AFBF President Bob Stallman. “We are providing in-kind support to the National Ag Library with outreach, publicity, educational seminars and our annual conference where other project grants will be highlighted.”
The clearinghouse will use the grant money to develop a Web site and databases to serve beginning farmers and ranchers, with particular focus on those categorized as underserved. The clearinghouse will provide education, training, outreach and mentoring materials to beginning farmers and ranchers across the United States. AFBF will serve as a conduit for distribution of the information.
Read more here.
The harvest is running about a month behind schedule just about everywhere, including Missouri, which only had half the corn crop and a third of the soybean crop harvested as of November 1.
BASF sent us out on the road this week to talk to some farmers about the late harvest and we started at the top, with World Soybean Yield Champion Kip Cullers of Purdy, who says this is the latest harvest he has ever seen. “We started combining corn August 12 and its now November and I’ve never combined corn in my entire life in the month of November, we should have been done a month and a half ago, and we’ve just barely started on soybeans,” Kip said.
Nevertheless, Kip says he is still seeing good yields, thanks to Headline fungicide. “Probably 15-20 bushel an acre increase in corn and about the same in soybeans,” he said. This year in particular he notes the importance of standability in the corn that has not yet been combined. “We sprayed Headline on every acre of corn and the corn’s actually standing there waiting on us, but some of my neighbors’ corn that don’t have Headline on it and it looks like a tee-total wreck to me.”
Here is a video interview with Kip, along with some B-roll video of him harvesting beans this week, followed by the audio from the interview. And check back for more Headline harvest reports over the next month or so.
One of the companies exhibiting their developmental corn cob harvest/collection equipment at the POET Project LIBERTY Field Day was Case IH. Representing them again this year was Sam Acker, pictured sitting in their booth during the speeches. I spoke to him to find out what’s new with Case IH in this area this year.
Sam says they’re demonstrating an Axial-Flow 8120 combine and biomass harvesting system. The combine features a massive 350 bushel grain tank and has an attached biomass cart which is receives power from the combine. The cart has an adjustable cleaning system to tailor the cob/stover sample how you want it.
You can listen to my interview with Sam below and watch a video clip of the equipment lined up and waiting demonstration starting with Case IH.
The Wheat Foods Council has launched an interactive website called How Wheat Works. It’s purpose is to deliver a farm-to-fork education on wheat while enabling a better understanding of its nutritional value.
At www.howwheatworks.com, participants of all ages can virtually grow, harvest and mill their own kernels to create their desired wheat food. For each participant, the Council will donate two pounds of flour, up to 90,000 pounds, to Operation Homefront, a non-profit that provides assistance to needy U.S. troops and their families.
“How Wheat Works is an exciting educational opportunity to take wheat kernels from farm to fork in a virtual world, while providing wheat flour, which holds endless meal possibilities, for needy U.S. troops and their families,” said Carol Pratt, M.S., R.D., Wheat Foods Council nutrition expert. “This unique mixture of subjects like agriculture, milling, baking and nutrition allows people to better understand wheat’s role in a healthy diet.”
How Wheat Works combines 3-D animation, still photography, video and factual information to chronicle wheat’s path from field to table. Each of the program’s four phases – growth, harvest, milling/baking and the grocer’s aisle – takes just a few minutes to complete, while the program spans the course of four days. Interactive opportunities include the selection of the type of wheat to be grown and wheat flour to be milled, based on the participant’s preferred wheat food creation.
Farmers in Minnesota are helping to feed the hungry, even as they face their own tough times.
Minnesota Farmers Helping Families, a coalition of state agriculture commodity groups, recently donated more than $115,000 in pork and dairy products to Hunger Solutions Minnesota.
Governor Tim Pawlenty was joined at the state capitol by representatives from the Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council, Minnesota Pork Board and Minnesota Milk Producers Association to announce the donation of approximately 85,000 pounds of pork and more than 36,000 pounds of cheese.
“Minnesota farmers are known for their willingness to help neighbors in times of need,” Governor Pawlenty said. “It’s heartwarming to see the agricultural community lending a hand, even as it faces its own economic challenges.” In the past two years, high feed costs, the downward spiral of the economy, and now, the fallout from H1N1influenza, have translated to a 5 billion dollar loss for the pork industry. About 200 of the state’s dairy farms have closed in the past year as the worldwide economic crisis has resulted in record low prices and a sharp drop in demand.
Pictured here with Gov. Pawlenty are Barb Overlie, Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council; Pat Lunemann, Minnesota Milk Producers Association; and Jim Merritt, Minnesota Pork Board.
There were 16 different equipment manufacturers involved with POET’s Project LIBERTY Field Day. One of them was John Deere, represented by Dean Acheson, Manager, Solutions Development. Dean says that what they’re working on is completely customer based. He says they don’t want to be slowed down during harvest and they want to keep up a high level of productivity.
The prototype equipment they had on display was a one pass, two stream cob collection system. On the back of their combine they have a new prototype piece of equipment that allows the grain to follow a normal path and the cobs then flow out of an attachment on the back of the combine. He says the equipment allows you some flexibility in how you choose or handle what is being harvested. A wagon is pulled by a tractor alongside the combine to collect the cobs. They’re currently not endorsing the towing of equipment behind their combines but this is equipment that is in development for the future.
You can listen to my interview with Dean below and watch a video clip of their equipment in action.
Precision farming took a step forward this week as Ag Leader Technology of Ames, Iowa and AutoFarm of Fremont, California joined forces to provide auto steering and assisted steering solutions to the marketplace.
“We think the combination of the two companies’ products is going to provide some great efficiencies to the end user,” says Dave King, Ag Leader Marketing Communications Manager. “So, it’s a one stop shop for all their products and one stop for customer support as well.”
That’s just one of the announcements made this week by Ag Leader, in addition to a number of new products, which will all be showcased during a media event December 7-8 in Ames. “We’re going to have both Ag Leader and AutoFarm personnel on hand,” Dave said. “We’re going to cover all the new products and give editors a chance to see the products in action.”
Those who are lucky enough to be attending Agritechnica in Hanover, Germany next week will be getting the first chance to see and hear about the new products and the new alliance since Ag Leader will be there. “Ag Leader has distribution throughout the world, Europe being a primary export market for us,” said Dave. “Agritechnica is such a great show to introduce new products and a great opportunity to meet people in the European marketplace.”
The 21 industry legends elected in June as the Class of 2009 are now charter members of the Meat Industry Hall of Fame.
AG CONNECT Expo announced a new awards program for those who support “in a compelling way the work of farmers and ranchers to provide abundant and affordable food and fiber.” There are three categories: Ag Woman of the Year, Community Leadership and Ag Innovation.
Michiel van Lookeren Campagne, Ph.D., has joined Syngenta to lead global biotechnology R&D at both of the company’s key biotech facilities.
Select Sires Inc. has announced plans to offer two summer internships at its headquarters facility in Plain City, Ohio, during the summer of 2010. Positions are available within the sales and marketing department, with applications due by Dec. 1, 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.
Thanks to John Walter, Successful Farming, you can see the @AgriBlogger in action, doubling as the NAMA Blogger.
Our opening keynote speaker at the NAMA Trends In Agriculture conference is David Kohl, Professor Emeritus, Agricultural Finanace and Small Business Management, Virginia Tech and President, AgriVisions, LLC. His topic is “Defining the New Ag Community.”
The NAMA Trends In Agriculture Conference is underway in KC, MO at the Hyatt. The first order of business was the board meeting. You can see NAMA President-Elect Susie Decker, 
Corn production is forecast at 12.9 billion bushels, down 1 percent from last month but 7 percent higher than 2008. Based on conditions as of November 1, yields are expected to average 162.9 bushels per acre, down 1.3 bushels from October but 9.0 bushels above last year. Despite the drop in yield from October, this yield will be the highest on record if realized. Total production will be second highest on record, only behind 2007. Within the Corn Belt, forecasted yields in Minnesota and Wisconsin increased, while Illinois, Iowa, and Michigan yields decreased.
Last week, I was watching the Ellen DeGeneres Show because I knew she would be interviewing Jonathan Safran Foer, the author of “Eating Animals,” a gruesome attack against animal agriculture and a strong testimony for a vegan lifestyle. Recently, the National Pork Board responded to Foer’s statements, especially when he falsely linked H1N1 to a hog farm in North Carolina. Read on to learn more about this ongoing debate. To read the entire article and watch the video, link to the 
Head into a grocery store these days and consumers are offered aisles upon aisles of food choices. It’s been said that annually, food producers raise enough food to feed 144 people. With this efficiency, consumers can enjoy their favorite foods in abundance. As a result of our food surplus, new food options have become available, and as a result, conventional agriculture is under attack in favor of natural, organic and locally grown options. While I think it’s great and noble that consumers are trying to do better for themselves and the environment, I believe sometimes these food claims can be misleading. Apparently, others agree with me, as well.
AGCO is one of the companies working on a 
When it comes to research and development at 
At least some farmers are finished with their harvest. 
Commodity Update is making 
The National Association of Farm Broadcasting Trade Talk invites keep showing up and this is the week for the convention.
AFBF has teamed up with the Agriculture Department’s National Agricultural Library to create the National Curriculum and Training Clearinghouse for Beginning Farmers and Ranchers. The program will help those who have decided to pursue a career in agriculture and will help support Farm Bureau’s commitment to rural development.
The harvest is running about a month behind schedule just about everywhere, including Missouri, which only had half the corn crop and a third of the soybean crop harvested as of November 1. 
One of the companies exhibiting their developmental corn cob harvest/collection equipment at the POET Project LIBERTY Field Day was 
The 
Minnesota Farmers Helping Families, a coalition of state agriculture commodity groups, recently donated more than $115,000 in pork and dairy products to 
There were 16 different equipment manufacturers involved with POET’s Project LIBERTY Field Day. One of them was 
Precision farming took a step forward this week as 
“We think the combination of the two companies’ products is going to provide some great efficiencies to the end user,” says Dave King, Ag Leader Marketing Communications Manager. “So, it’s a one stop shop for all their products and one stop for customer support as well.”
In this week's program Chuck talks with David Armano, Global Innovation and Integration.
