The annual Farmland Investment Fair put on by the Chicago Farmers is underway in Joliet, IL at the Weitendorf Agricultural Education Center.
I’ll be doing back to back presentations on social media this morning with the first one starting momentarily. Please feel free to tweet us using the #ChiFarm hashtag. I appreciate it.
Later on today I’ll have some interviews for you from the event so see you then.
Chicago Farmers Farmland Investment Fair Photo Album
I’d like to introduce the newest sponsor for AgWired and that’s Leica Geosystems. They are also providing sponsorship on our Precision Pays website as well. We’ll get to know Leica more during the coming year with regularly scheduled posts on the company and the growing part of the industry they serve.
Today the company announced that Harlan Little has been named the North American Business Manager for Leica Geosystems’ agriculture group.
Little started with Leica Geosystems in late January, and will be based out of Leica Geosystems NAFTA headquarters in Atlanta.
With more than 20 years of experience in sales, marketing, management and precision agriculture, Little is a great fit for the Leica agriculture team in North America.
“Harlan is a great addition to the team and brings with him a wealth of ideas and industry contacts to help grow our business throughout the U.S. and Canada,” said Rob Kiernan, global sales and marketing manager. “We are ready to take our business to the next level with new leadership and a suite of new products being introduced this year.”
(more…)
Want to find some farm folks on Twitter? Mike Haley at Follow Farmer List has used Listorious to put together several other lists.
After my presentations tomorrow at the Chicago Farmers Farmland Investment Fair I’ll be off to Dallas for the National Biodiesel Conference and I’ll be the Biodiesel Blogger for the 5th year!
I’d like to thank New Holland for their sponsorship of the National Biodiesel Conference Blog this year and their support for the biodiesel industry.
You can subscribe to the Biodiesel Conference Blog using the RSS Feed Link. We’ll also be podcasting our audio interviews again and that subscription link is here.
In addition to my posts on the NBC Blog I’ll also be posting onto our DomesticFuel.com website and even right here on AgWired.
This is one of the most familiar sights for ag journalists to see at a Cattle Industry Convention. You can believe that the company representative that is probably interviewed the most is therefore with Merial.
In what seems to be becoming a tradition I interviewed Dr. Frank Hurtig during the convention to find out what’s new from Merial. He says that once again the company will be offering the Ivomec Challenge. He says that it’s coming on the heels of what many parasitologists are saying will be one of the worst springs and summers for parasites out on pastures due to 2009 weather patterns. To participate in the Ivomec Challenge a producer has to treat all their cows and calves with Ivomec this spring and then if those calves don’t weigh more this fall than last fall Merial will give them enough Ivomec product to treat their herd again this fall at no charge.
To hear other news from Merial just listen to my interview with Frank below:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Organizations representing both biofuels and agriculture are pretty happy overall with EPA’s release of final rules for the implementation of the second phase of the Renewable Fuel Standard, or RFS2.
“We’re pleased the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recognizes that corn ethanol provides a distinct advantage over conventional gasoline when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions, with a reduction of more than 21 percent in some cases,” said National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) President Darrin Ihnen. “This means that all corn ethanol including existing grandfathered capacity and new production will qualify to meet the conventional biofuels targets in the RFS.”
American Farm Bureau Federation president Bob Stallman says that they are encouraged by the rule because it “will help keep the nation’s renewable fuel standards on a path toward greater energy independence. By raising the volume of biofuels available for our nation’s transportation fuel supply, the administration is building on the strong bipartisan efforts that began years ago to provide a home-grown solution to the energy challenges facing our nation.”
Ethanol and biodiesel organizations were also pleased with the rule, which was changed from the initial proposal to be more favorable to first generation biofuels. See all their reactions on our sister site Domestic Fuel.com including a podcast with details from administration officials and comments from major biofuels groups.
However, while overall reaction has been favorable, all organizations are expressing concern about EPA’s continued reliance on the unproven theory of indirect land use change, which penalizes domestic biofuels production on the basis that it results in more land put into production globally in areas like the Amazon rain forest. “Removing the impacts from the international indirect land use theory means that corn ethanol actually provides a 52 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, compared to gasoline,” said NCGA’s Ihnen. “The EPA is not considering similar indirect impacts of petroleum-based fuels, so why are they so stringent when it comes to green, renewable corn ethanol?”
Time to make your plans to participate in the 2010 Ag Day Celebration. Here are the details:
Ag Day 2010 in Celebration of American Agriculture
Join other industry leaders on March 18, 2010, for two great events to honor and celebrate just how AMAZING American agriculture really is!
Mix & Mingle Luncheon
11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
U.S. Capitol Visitors Center
Washington, DC
Complimentary admittance to luncheon. Register for Luncheon
National Ag Day Dinner & Cocktails
5:30 p.m.
USDA Whitten Building Patio
Washington, DC
Tickets: $100 per person, or $1,000 for a reserved table of 10
hosted by the Agriculture Council of America in recognition of National Ag Week
Invited Guest Speaker:
United States Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack Register for Dinner
This slogan pretty well sums things up don’t you think? No Farms No Food. The American Farmland Trust opened an E-Commerce store during the holiday season and you can still make purchases.
The store features our first line of products with the No Farms No Food® message. American Farmland Trust encourages buyers to keep the shopping spirit alive as we welcome 2010 and introduce new items throughout the year at http://www.zazzle.com/americanfarmland.
Sales from the store serve a vital purpose in helping AFT achieve its mission to protect farm and ranch land, increase the availability of fresh local food and farm products, and keep the land and our communities healthy. The profits from our e-commerce store continue to benefit the on-the-ground programs we implement each year.
According to radical extremist group H$U$, they have received a $100,000 donation from Yellow Tail wines. They’re calling it the “tails for tails” program and the organizational logo will appear on Yellow Tail wine displays throughout the country through the end of March. The photo shows what one former product fan thinks of the donation decision.
Feel free to let Yellow Tail know your thoughts on their Facebook page. I have and unless they change their decision I have also removed them from my list of ZimmComm approved wines.
I guess I’m not shocked that HSUS has pulled this bait and switch on Ohio voters. While stepping aside to let Ohio farmers pass the Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board, our friends at HSUS are now campaigning to make sure that board pushes their agendas forward, which include: abolishing meat, dairy and eggs from the American diet and putting farmers and ranchers out of business. In their newest campaign, Ohioans for Humane Farms, HSUS and Farm Sanctuary are back on the campaign trail, ready to take action in the next election. Check out an excerpt from Kristy Foster in Farm and Dairy.
Producers and state officials had heard it was coming. Now, it’s official: The Humane Society of the United States launched a counterattack on Ohio Jan. 27. Ohioans for Humane Farms, backed by HSUS and Farm Sanctuary, submitted a petition — including signatures from Ohio voters in 48 counties — to Ohio’s Secretary of State in support of placing an anti-cruelty measure on the November ballot.
Regulations requested include: 1. End confinement for veal calves, breeding pigs and chickens in what has been described by the Humane Society of the United States as “tiny cages.” 2. Stop “downer cows” or animals too sick or injured to stand or walk on their own from entering the human food chain. 3. Establish regulations for the euthanasia of sick and injured animals.
How many discussions have you participated in about showing consumers how food gets from the field to the plate? I lost count a while ago. There are many groups and efforts going on to accomplish this. Here’s one I just found from the Canned Food Alliance. They’re using YouTube and MealTimes.org.
Canned food is one of the most versatile options for creating affordable, quick and healthy meals especially during colder months. But common misperceptions persist about the canning process. Within hours of harvesting, top quality fruits and vegetables are simply and naturally preserved for convenience and year-round availability, so you can enjoy tropical fruit even during the cold days of winter. Cans are also one of the safest and most recyclable forms of packaging available. Watch “Canned Food From Field to Table” to get the facts from the people who grow, pack, recommend and cook with canned foods.
The video features food blogger Tom Barritt, authto of food blog, Culinary Types, Associate Director of the Food and Nutrition Practice at Ketchum. Interesting combination. Are you a journalist or a public relations person? I don’t care personally and he is transparent about it. Doesn’t bother me. Does it bother you?
StollerUSA’s Ag Associates Conference has come to a close. The attendees were pumped up by all that they learned and they are looking forward to next year.
I asked many people during the course of the week what information they found to be most valuable. While many had a hard time just coming up with one thing (they all had many things) I heard several topics repeated no matter where the attendee was from. Some of them included how to listen to the plant, the importance of not only root mass but root tips, epigenetics, and learning to focus more on plant health below the soil because if the plant is does not have healthy roots, it will not achieve maximum yields.
Watch the recap video below with more things that the attendees would like all growers around the world to know, and we hope to see you next year.
This is just a reminder that I’ll be attending and presenting at Saturday’s Chicago Farmers Farmland Investment Fair. It will be held at the Joliet Junior College Weitendorf Agricultural Education Center.
I’ll be conducting two morning sessions on social media before heading to Dallas, TX for the National Biodiesel Conference where I’ll be the Biodiesel Blogger again.
If you haven’t registered for the Farmland Investment Fair it’s not too late.
Earlier this week Ag Leader Technology added the patent-pending SureVac electric row shutoff to their lineup of planter section shutoff devices. Since I was at the Iowa Power Farming Show I stopped in and learned all about it from Chad Huedepohl. You can watch the interview or just listen to it below. Here’s the details:
SureVac provides today’s precision farming operation with an easily- installed, zero-maintenance solution to reduce seed costs and increase yield potential.
SureVac is designed for John Deere Pro-SeriesTM XP row units, but is also compatible with any John Deere vacuum seed meter manufactured in the last 20 years. In addition to John Deere corn and soybean seed disks, SureVac supports the eSet® vacuum disk from Precision Planting.
Chad says SureVac is an electric row shutoff made to shut off the seed placement per row on a row by row basis. He says this benefits the farmer user by saving on seed and avoiding “doubles” such as on point rows.
Iowa Power Farming Show Photo Album
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
There are booths on the floor of three different buildings at the Iowa Power Farming Show. They’re also in the hallways. I stopped at this one to learn about the Monsanto sponsored America’s Farmers Grow Communities Project. Lots of farmers were stopping by to sign up their favorite local charity. To tell us all about it I interviewed Gayla Daugherty, Monsanto Communications Manager.
She says it’s a new project for farmers to sign up a local non-profit of their choice to win via a random drawing. There are 179 counties involved in Iowa/Missouri/Arkansas and you can see them listed on the official rules page.
Plant $2,500 in your community and watch it grow.
As a farmer, you care for our land and grow our economy. You make everyone’s lives better – locally, nationally and globally. To thank you, Monsanto wants to make a contribution in your name to your local community with the America’s Farmers Grow Communities™ Project.
One nonprofit community organization in each eligible county will receive a $2,500 award. It’s up to farmers like you to help decide where it goes.
Together we can grow rural America…one community at a time. Apply now.
You can listen to my interview with Gayla below.
Iowa Power Farming Show Photo Album
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Novus International Executive Vice President of marketing and sales Giovanni Gasperoni, pictured here with a delegation from Thailand, seemed to know everyone at the International Poultry/Feed Expo in Atlanta last week and he greeted them all as close friends. His genuine and effusive personality reflects his passion for the business of animal agriculture and the people in the industry who produce food for the world. He is firmly dedicated to Novus’ vision to help feed the world affordable, wholesome food and achieve a higher quality of life. “This is really important to us, this is our vision, and we’ve maintained the same vision for the last 20 years,” Gio told me during an interview.
One of the ways Novus is working to achieve that vision is by maintaining a close relationship with their customers in every one of the more than 90 countries they serve. In January, Novus opened a new blending plant in Singapore for animal feed supplements. “It’s part of our overall strategy to be closer to our customers with our specialty products,” Gio said. “We needed to address that in the Asia Pacific and northern China.” The plant will serve as a distribution hub for regional Novus clients in industries including aquaculture, poultry, ruminant and pork.
Gio says in the coming year, Novus will be focused on Africa. “It’s kind of a last frontier for us in helping feed the world affordable and wholesome food,” he says.
Listen to or download my interview with Gio in the player below, and check out our photo albums from the IPE – especially if you had a photo taken with baseball great Bob Gibson at the Novus booth.
International Poultry Expo 2010
Bob Gibson/Novus Photo Album
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
After all the committees meet during convention the leaders got together for a special extra meeting to set their priorities. This was done via a wireless electronic process. You can see CBB Board member Robert Fountain, Jr. (Secretary/Treasurer) holding up his device before they got started.
I spoke about the process with Rick Husted who managed the session. He says that in the past the priority setting has happened in each of the committee meetings. This year they have evolved that process to bring all the committee leaders together in one session to set and rank priorities. This will be used to set the FY 2011 plan. You can learn more about the process by listening to Rick.
You can listen to and download my interview with Rick below.
Cattle Industry Convention Photo Album
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
If you are interested in getting up-to-date ag reports from growers around the world, then you need to check out Ag Reports Network (ARN). The site utilizes video clips from farmers and agronomists to give growers timely and accurate crop condition 
reports from farms around the world. The newly designed site gives updates from around the United States as well as from Brazil. Within the next few months, reports will also be coming from farmers in the Ukraine and Argentina.
In addition to crop reports, growers can also buy and sell equipment, also featured via video, as well as view educational pieces focused on various crops such as corn and soybeans. There will also be weekly market reports available that are designed to help a grower manage risk.
ARN is currently looking for additional growers from around the world, growing a diversity of crops, to participate in the weekly video reports. You can visit the website to learn more at www.agreportsnetwork.com. And while you’re there, register to win an all expenses paid trip for two to Bahia, Brazil to learn, first hand, about Brazilian agriculture.
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.
