Prior to the end of the Cattle Industry Summer Convention I came across some of the leaders of the NCBA, CBB and Federation of State Beef Councils having a discussion. I am quite happy to see this effort and think it’s a good sign for the future. There have been some very tense and emotional moments here at the conference but hopefully some of the issues have been ironed out and this type of interaction will lead to greater understandings and cooperation in the future.
I’ll be heading back to ZimmComm World Headquarters today but have more coverage of the conference that I’ll try to get posted tomorrow before heading on the the next agventure.
2010 Cattle Industry Summer Conference Photo Album
At the Cattle Industry Summer Conference second general session Temple Grandin was presented with a special Lifetime Achievement Award from NCBA. We heard some stories about the making of her HBO movie and she made a few remarks.
She said that back in the ’70′s there would be people that would help out a “quirky” kid and we need more of them today. She talked about the press conferences she has attended recently where the media had lots of questions about cattle stuff. She told them about slaughter plants, not harvest plants, and said they had no problem with that. She says it shows that consumers have questions and we have to do a better job of communicating with them. Temple Grandin Award Remarks
2010 Cattle Industry Summer Conference Photo Album
The CBB Update Session was standing room only today. It also went over on time but there were some serious issues being discussed. This session is an official meeting of the Beef Board at which they take action as needed on issues that come before them. There were several today.
I thought I would post some of the remarks made from the podium for you. First I’ve got the financial report that was presented by Secretary/Treasurer Robert Fountain, Jr. The board is facing reduced revenues. He reported that the 2011 budget has declined by 24 percent since 2007. CBB Financial Report
Next up is the management report by CBB CEO Tom Ramey. In light of the budget restrictions he told the board that they must monitor and safe guard funds and spend them as wisely and effectively as possible to achieve their goals. CBB Management Report
2010 Cattle Industry Summer Conference Photo Album
Syngenta Seeds has teamed up with John Deere Credit to offer grower financing solutions through Farm PlanTM for the 2011 crop season. Qualified growers purchasing Garst®, Golden Harvest® and NK® brand seed products will be eligible to receive season-long financing, with attractive cash discounts, at competitive interest rates through Farm Plan.
Chuck Lee, head of Syngenta Seeds corn and soybean marketing, says they look forward to making financing an option for their customers. “At Syngenta, we are always looking for ways to help growers build a successful and profitable business,” he said.
“Farm Plan is a great fit with Syngenta because we serve the same customer, ” said Scott Cline, vice president of marketing at John Deere Credit. “Our strategic relationship with Syngenta is helping us achieve our goal of providing dependable solutions that help qualified producers get what they need when they need it.”
Qualified growers will have access to financing through Farm Plan this coming fall.
The Sustainable Beef Resource Center was announced during the Cattle Industry Summer Conference. It is actually a re-name of the Growth Enhancement Technology Team (GET IT).
The Chairman of the SBRC is Paul Parker, Pfizer Animal Health. He’s pictured here being interviewed by Evan Slack and his light blue bumpered new iPhone. I interviewed Paul with mine!
Paul says the name was changed to better reflect their mission while not raising alarms with consumers. The mission is to provide information to fill the gap in information about technologies to enhance the production of beef. Paul Parker Interview
2010 Cattle Industry Summer Conference Photo Album
Thank you once again to Merial for not only sponsoring the media room at the Cattle Industry Summer Conference but also our media reception. It’s a very nice opportunity to meet in a relaxed social atmosphere without having to “work.”
Pictured is Daren Williams, NCBA, welcoming us and thanking our sponsor. We have a great group of ag media folks here at the conference and you can find photos of them hard at work in the photo album.
2010 Cattle Industry Summer Conference Photo Album
The NCBA President Elect is Bill Donald from Montana. He’s pictured here speaking with CBB Vice Chairman, Tom Jones. I talked with Bill about the issues facing cattle producers.
Bill says there are several issues. They include the death tax, the GIPSA rules and the decline of the U.S. cattle herd. Some of these are more time sensitive than others and he says NCBA is hard at work on them. When it comes to the decline in the cow herd he says one ramification is losing infrastructure which would be devastating to the future of the industry. Bill Donald Interview
2010 Cattle Industry Summer Conference Photo Album
What causes farmers the most headaches? That’s what BASF Crop Protection set out to determine in a survey they recently completed and released at the Ag Media Summit in St. Paul earlier this week.
More than 600 corn, hay, soybean and wheat growers from 44 states participated in the survey, which questioned them about their concerns about the future and specific challenges they face with regard to crop production.
According to BASF Technical Services Regional Manager Dr. Gary Fellows (pictured center) says the survey asked farmers their major concerns looking ahead in the next five years. “Two of those, which occupied them 52 percent of the time, was controlling input costs and maximizing yield,” Gary says. Three other concerns the farmers mentioned were the future of their farm, land issues, and whether they want to expand.
The rest of the survey asked growers about the challenges they face, and they identified three major areas – stress tolerance of crops, unpredictable weather, and residual control of weeds. Fifty-four percent of growers indicated that disease pressure is a major concern and 75 percent of growers indicated that stress tolerance of crops is a difficult issue to manage.
Gary says that BASF already offers products, like Headline and Kixor, that can help growers meet the challenges they face. But they survey helped them to make sure they are looking for the right products down the road. “And we’re pretty excited, because in the next four years we have 28 new products we should be launching, with nine brand new active ingredients,” said Gary.
Listen to or download Chuck’s interview with Gary Fellows from AMS here:
Gary Fellows Interview
Chuck gets back from 11 days on the road Saturday and has one day to unpack and repack before heading out to learn more about how agriculture protects water quality and improves soil health at the Conservation Technology Information Center, Conservation In Action Tour, August 2-3.
The tour will visit farm operations in east central Virginia that embody “Conservation in Action.” The final stop of the tour will also feature a Nutrient Use Efficiency Expo of tools, technology and equipment that make nutrient use more efficient, more profitable and more effective. Companies making this event possible include Syngenta, Pioneer, The Fertilizer Institute, John Deere, Mosaic, and AGROTAIN International.
I talked with AGROTAIN’s Tim Healey about their participation in the event and the importance of communicating with farmers about the efficient use of nutrients. Listen to or download that interview here:
Tim Healey Interview
Because the tour size was limited, CTIC and AGROTAIN are both sponsoring coverage of the event here on Agwired to bring the educational information offered there to farmers who are unable to attend. Start watching for CTIC Conservation in Action coverage here starting on Monday.
- Farm Credit has launched a new national online presence at FarmCredit.com, revitalized its national giving and sponsorship program, and established a dedicated communications team to build awareness of Farm Credit and its unique mission among those it serves.
- Willard Agri-Service of Greenwood, DE, was named the National Environmental Respect Award winner.
- The new Swath Command control system from Great Plains can save growers more than time. It also has the potential to save up to 18 percent on seed costs by eliminating the loss associated with over planting or double planting.
- The USDA has extended the comment period to the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration’s (GIPSA) proposed rule on livestock marketing for an additional 90 days.
It’s nice to talk about something other than “the issue” here at the Cattle Industry Summer Conference. It has sure dominated discussion and I sincerely hope “the issue” can be worked out amicably and soon for the benefit of everyone in the beef industry. If you’re wondering what I’m referring to then check my earlier posts from this morning.
So, let’s talk about steaks and fine cuisine for a moment. I was pleasantly surprised to see a number of restaurant and other Denver area establishments on display near conference registration. One that caught my eye right away was The Fort. The Fort is a unique restaurant west of downtown a little ways. I met Wayne Lindsey, Marketing and Public Relations Manager.
Wayne says The Fort was built in 1963 by Sam Arnold as a replica of an 1830′s fur trade fort in La Junta, CO. It was built to be a house and the family lived there for a while. Now it’s a very fine restaurant with 1830′s Colorado cuisine that includes beef of course but also other items like rattlesnake, buffalo and elk. Now that sounds like where I need to go! Wayne Lindsey Interview
2010 Cattle Industry Summer Conference Photo Album
The Chairman of the Beef Board is Dan Dierschke (pictured left). He welcomed new members of the Board at a luncheon for them to get to know each other. Experienced Board members are assigned as mentors to new members and they were there too.
After the meal I spoke with Dan about this year’s summer meeting. He says the most significant aspect of the meeting is bringing together producers from around the country who pay into the Checkoff to determine the most effective utilization of the limited resources available to increase profitability for the industry. The decline in the cattle herd has put real pressure on Checkoff revenues. He says, “Whatever it is we do we want to increase demand for our product and increase the revenue we receive for what we produce.”Dan Dierschke Interview
As you know, I’m Beef Board Blogging again on MyBeefCheckoffMeeting.com. You’ll find a number of other interviews and posts over there. I’ll also find other stories to post here in the next couple days.
2010 Cattle Industry Summer Conference Photo Album
In order to get some perspective from the Cattlemen’s Beef Board on the NCBA Compliance Review issue I spoke with CBB Secretary/Treasurer Robert Fountain, Jr. Here’s Robert with Charlotte Coates, CBB Operations Manager. You can read CBB’s statement on the review here.
In my interview with Robert he describes why the audit was conducted and why it was released on Monday of this week. He says that’s when they received the completed final report from the independent auditing firm and everyone wanted the results as soon as possible. He says that the timing of the report with the summer meeting provides an excellent opportunity for discussion. I’m sure that is happening and there are some meetings like tomorrow’s CBB Update Session where this will be discussed openly.
Robert Fountain Interview
2010 Cattle Industry Summer Conference Photo Album
Podcast: Play in new window
| Download
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Board just concluded a press conference on the Cattlemen’s Beef Board independent account’s report that audited NCBA use of Beef Checkoff funds. This report was released earlier this week. There is obviously a lot of friction right now between the organizations and media were given an opportunity to hear NCBA’s side of the story this morning. Participating in the press conference were NCBA CEO Forrest Roberts, President Steve Foglesong and Federation of State Beef Councils Chairman Scott George. Forrest is at the podium in the photo with Steve on the right and Scott seated to the left.
I’m posting the full press conference here. When you click on the player you’ll get an option to download the file. Please feel free to use the audio if you’re an ag media representative. I’m also uploading new photos from the press conference to the photo album.
NCBA Press Conference
2010 Cattle Industry Summer Conference Photo Album
Podcast: Play in new window
| Download
I have transitioned from Ag Media Summit mode to Beef Board Blogging Mode and covering the 2010 Cattle Industry Summer Conference. To get things started I met with the communications staff of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board (l-r) Lynn Heinze, Melissa Slagle and Diane Henderson.
To get us started with an overview of why the Beef Board meets during the summer I spoke with Lynn Heinze, Executive Director of Communications. He says this meeting is important for the planning process before making decisions for the next year. Committees will review proposed funding requests known as authorization requests. There will also be a large group of new members to the board who will be sworn in at this meeting. So we’ve got a number of first timers and I’ll make sure I interview several of them. The conference concludes on Saturday with a board meeting after a morning of committee meetings. Lynn Heinze Interview
I am sure many of you are aware of some issues that have surfaced recently between the Beef Board and NCBA. I will be getting both sides of it and presenting information about it as soon as I can.
I have a photo album started from this year’s conference: 2010 Cattle Industry Summer Conference Photo Album
In this week’s program we’ll get to meet the new Presidents of the American Agricultural Editors Association and Livestock Publications Council. They’re both Missouri boys!
First up is Steven Fairchild, MFA Incorporated. I asked him what his goals are for his year in office and he wants to focus on membership since increasing membership is a key goal of the organization.
He says the meetings at AMS reflect the hard work of outgoing president, Karen Simon. He says AAEA will have a new website this fall.
Next is Andy Atzenweiler, Missouri Beef Cattlemen Magazine. He says things are in good shape at LPC and they’re going to “tweak” their website. They want to promote their contest more since there were a lot of changes this year.
At the annual meeting there was some discussion about changing the by-laws to get rid of the language referring to the ratio of service to publication members. It is now about 50-50.
ZimmCast 268
Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsors, Novus International, and Leica Geosytems for their support.
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
The Agricultural Relations Council, Golden ARC Awards Contest Manager is Amy McDonald, McDonald Marketing Communications. She put together a really good contest and is already working on the next one.
I spoke with her about the awards program so we get a better understanding of what these awards are for, how they are judged and what to look for in the future. The contest began in 1990. This year there were 40 entries and there were 19 Golden ARC Award winners and 9 Golden ARC Merit Award winners. The judging was done by the Florida Chapter of PRSA so these were looked at from the standpoint of the “science of PR.” It’s a more objective judging strategy than other awards in the industry. Next year’s awards will be presented at the ARC annual meeting so the deadline for entries will be announced soon.
Amy McDonald Interview
2010 Ag Media Summit Photo Album
Zachary Larson, Borlaug Summer Intern, is on location at Nanjing Agricultural University and providing us with updates this summer of his trip. Here’s his latest. You can also find a photo album he’s got started here: Borlaug Summer Intern Photo Album. The internship is being sponsored by the Iowa State University Plant Sciences Institute.
I predicted correctly that this last week would have been fun, and has been, if not for a just a bit crazy. While I am still frequently going to the lab, but the time to run experiments is quickly disappearing, and these last few days have allowed me more opportunities to see the city of Nanjing, meet a few interesting professors and see some of the history of Nanjing Agricultural University.
I faced the biggest challenge I have faced since arriving here last Saturday when I gave a presentation about my university life in the U.S, my general studies, and life in Iowa. Unlike most of my previous power points, the focus of this one was extremely broad. Nonetheless, I had a very liberal audience, and despite my numerous slips throughout my presentation, they all thought I did an excellent job, and I might give another presentation before I leave on Saturday. As always, I thought I did ok, but in hindsight I could of always done better, Given the fact my Professor Wang ordered me to do the presentation in English, it mattered little nonetheless! (more…)
The 2010 Agricultural Media Summit has concluded but that doesn’t mean the coverage on AgWired has ended. So much posting to do and so little time . . .
I’ve got a lot more to post from AMS but I’ve also got 3 more events to attend in the next week before getting back to ZimmComm World Headquarters. So, I’ll be posting interviews and photos when time allows. I’m heading to Denver early in the morning for the Cattle Industry Summer Conference where I’ll be Beef Board Blogging and hoping everything works out okay with the groups participating in the meeting. I’m sure more information on that will be forthcoming.
In the meantime I have updated the AMS photo album. There are some great photos in there and I hope you enjoy it. Like this one of the “3 Gregs” during the closing banquet tonight. All of tonight’s award winners are in there and I’ll try to find a way to post who they all are when I get a listing. You’ll know many of them.
2010 Ag Media Summit Photo Album
- Farm Journal has completed four sold-out sessions at its popular Corn College event held near Bloomington, Ill., with graduates from more than 29 states and 2 providences in four different sessions during the 2010 event.
- The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association brought Mike Deering to the communications team to focus on grassroots advocacy and trade media relations.
- Jane DeMarchi joined the staff of the National Association of Wheat Growers as director of government affairs for research and technology.
- Founders of the Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame awarded the very first Industry Leadership Award to Richard McDonald, former president and CEO of the Texas Cattle Feeders Association (TCFA).
« Previously Posted
In this week's program Chuck talks with David Armano, Global Innovation and Integration.
