Pioneer made my day a little sweeter yesterday when a package of holiday cookies arrived on our doorstep in a cute Pioneer Plenish coffee mug.
Can’t show you a photo of the cookies because daughter Chelsea and I gobbled them up. We didn’t even save any for Chuck, they were just so AMAZING! Chocolate chip and cranberry and I presume made with Plenish(TM) high oleic soybean oil. They tasted like they were just baked! Thanks to the Plenish team at Pioneer Hi-Bred for the treat.
We’ve been hearing about Plenish for some time now and have even had a taste of the soybean oil used in cooking and in salad dressings at events like Commodity Classic. Pioneer VP for Crop Genetics R&D John Soper talked about the Plenish soybean trait during an interview at NAFB Trade Talk last month and said it is coming for growers in 2012. “It’s a great new product, the first really biotech trait for end use,” he told me. “It provides an oil much more like olive oil, very stable, very heart-healthy, doesn’t require hydrogenation so no trans fatty acid issues. Really a wonderful product for end users and the food industry.”
John also talked about some other new products in the pipeline, like improved drought-tolerant corn. Listen to my interview with John here: Pioneer's John Soper
Plenish was also one of the topics addressed by Pioneer senior marketing manager for soybeans Don Schafer during Trade Talk. He explained that they still need to get regulatory approval for the new soybean trait before it can go on the market. “That is one of the things we have to do in the industry is make sure that we have this product completely registered worldwide so that the grower doesn’t have any concern about being able to utilize the crop in the marketplace,” Don said.
Don also discussed the 29 new Y-series soybeans from Pioneer coming out in 2011, which will bring the total for the Y-series up to about 80. Listen to Don’s interview here: Pioneer's Don Schafer
Here’s the BASF team looking good at the National Agricultural Aviation Association convention. Their booth has been really busy and the stress relieving corn cobs are going fast!
Dr. Gary Fellows (second from left) has been busy not only interacting with customers in the booth but also conducting educational presentations and presenting the NAAA/BASF Agricultural Aviation Scholarships. I’ll have interviews with the winners posted soon.
I asked Dr. Fellows to tell my about all the ways that BASF has become involved in supporting and working with NAAA. He says that the ag aviators have become extremely important to modern production agriculture and BASF is proud to be a major sponsor. You can listen to my interview with Dr. Fellows here: Dr. Gary Fellows Interview
Like a lot of associations, the National Agricultural Aviation Association conducts an auction to raise funds during their convention. Actually, there are both a silent and live auction. The live auction took place at the end of the day yesterday and it was a packed house and a good party. One of the big ticket items was a Pratt & Whitney Canada new PT6A-34 AG engine with basic warranty coverage of 1000 hours, with no calendar limit, new parts primary parts service and extended engine service policy.
I don’t know what the results were but I’m betting they were good since there is a record attendance at this year’s convention. You can get a feel for the action in a short video clip below.
It was almost deja vu for me at the recent NAFB convention Trade Talk session because I interviewed Wayne Fithian, Syngenta Seeds, just like last year. However, since the topic is “what’s new” you’ll hear a new story.
Wayne says they’re very lucky to have three major launches this year including Agrisure Viptera, Aphid Management System and a first wave of drought tolerant corn with Agrisure Artesian. In my interview he will tell you the status of each of these product launches. You can listen to my interview with Wayne here: Syngenta Interview
Incidentally, Syngenta Seeds just announced that they have submitted a petition for the deregulation of its Event 5307*, a next-generation corn rootworm trait to USDA.
Syngenta’s Event 5307 expresses the eCry3.1Ab protein, which has demonstrated resistance to corn rootworm in Syngenta trials. This protein has a novel mode of action that binds differently in the gut of target insects than the protein in Syngenta’s Agrisure® RW corn rootworm trait. As such, once approved, the new event will provide Syngenta with the opportunity to create proprietary trait stacks with multiple modes of action against corn rootworms.
The Agriculture Council of America (ACA) calls on 9th to 12th grade students to submit an original, 450-word essay or a two-minute video essay about the importance of agriculture. This year’s theme is “American Agriculture: Your Food. Your Farmer.” and the deadline is Feb. 4, 2011.
The theme presents an opportunity for students to address how the agriculture industry continues to feed a growing population. Entrants may choose to either write an essay or create a video that acknowledges the many ways today’s growers are providing a safe, stable food supply and sustaining the significant role agriculture plays in everyday life.
The national written essay winner receives a $1,000 prize and round-trip ticket to Washington, D.C., for recognition during the Celebration of Ag Dinner held March 15 at Whitten Patio at the USDA. During dinner, the winner will have the opportunity to read the winning essay as well as join with industry representatives, members of Congress, federal agency representatives, media and other friends in a festive ag celebration. The video essay winner wins a $1,000 prize, and the winning video will play during the Celebration of Ag Dinner.
This is the 38th anniversary of National Ag Day.
All written entries should be sent to: Ag Day Essay Contest, Agriculture Council of America, 11020 King Street, Suite 205, Overland Park, KS 66210, or submitted by e-mail to essay@agday.org. Students may upload video essays here and follow the directions on the page, or students may choose to mail video entries to the address above on a CD. Click here to read official contest rules and for more details regarding entry applications.
Ag Leader Technology, Inc., announced the February 2011 release of Advanced Seed Monitoring through the SeedCommand system.
Legendary agribusiness broadcaster Orion Samuelson will be recognized by the City of Chicago with an honorary street naming commemorating his 50 years of broadcasting on Tribune’s WGN Radio.
Chicken Farmers of Canada has responded to the high expectations of Canadian consumers by creating a new website, featuring a revamped, searchable recipe database, shareable content, social media options and other special features.
The StrategyOne Annual Holiday Shopping Index found that 79% of Americans believe the U.S. remains in a recession; only 10% rate the economy as excellent or good, and just 8% think the economy will be much better by next year.
The moon has risen over Savannah, GA. The NAAA convention will continue tomorrow but I will be traveling back to Missouri. However, I have multiple interviews to post over the coming days so my coverage is not done.
This evening the NAAA live auction took place and there are photos in the online photo album. It was very well attended and one of the more active ones I’ve attended.
One of the exhibitors at the NAAA Trade Show is AgSync. I met Sales Manager, Clay Rassi who explained what the company offer agricultural applicators. Their slogan is “It’s not just about maps anymore.” It sure isn’t. For one thing the company has expanded their product and services via integrated partnerships that includes AgWired sponsor BASF.
Clay says the company offers everything from customer management to mapping to communicating work orders to creating missions and organizing the loads and efficiency of the airplanes and more. From a precision ag standpoint their products help aerial applicators be more efficient while helping them make sure they’re in the right field and applying the right product. In my interview with Clay he describes their partners. BASF for example, assists with marketing their products.
Oh, the weather outside is frightful,
But the fire is so delightful,
And since we’ve got no place to go, Fill Out a Survey! Fill Out a Survey! Fill Out a Survey!
The snow doesn’t show signs of stopping,
And I’ve bought some corn for popping,
The lights are turned way down low,
Fill Out a Survey! Fill Out a Survey! Fill Out a Survey!
When I’ve completed the short questionnaire,
How I’ll hate going out in the storm!
So I’ll daydream about my online shopping spree,
Where I’ll buy a sweater to keep me warm.
I’ve clicked “register me to win,”
And, my dear, I may win $250.
All because it was snowing,
And I Filled Out a Survey! Filled Out a Survey! Filled Out a Survey!
I hope my rendition of “Let it Snow” hasn’t offended you too much to fill out our AgWired survey. If not, those who complete the survey will have a chance to win $250. Happy Holidays and may Santa bring you some extra green this year.
I’m taking a cue from my daughter Chelsea and doing a little cute baby blogging. She has it as a regular feature on her website.
In this photo we have cute NAAA Trade Show baby after stopping by the BASF booth. She’s holding one of the corn cob stress relievers that attendees will find when they stop by. Somehow I don’t think this potentially future aerial applicator is under a lot of stress at the moment!
The main activity at the NAAA Convention today is the trade show. Association President Brian Rau did the honors with the ribbon cutting. I have already done a quick photo tour and added to the photo album so be sure to check it out.
During the afternoon I’ll be conducting interviews in the trade show with my sponsor BASF and others. I’ll be posting them later and during the next couple days.
You can also see the ribbon cutting almost live on YouTube.
In this week’s program we’re going to learn what’s new at Paulsen Marketing. Listen in on my conversation with Greg Guse, Sara Steever and Kristi Moss. The main topic of our discussion was their just completed project titled, “Adoption of Communication Tools in Agriculture.” You can find a project summary that includes video interviews with the farmers themselves on their website.
Ever wondered what actual farm families would say when asked how they use communication technology in their operations? We did, too. This paper outlines the insightful and sometimes entertaining “real world” feedback that every agrimarketer should hear.
The Paulsenites learned some surprising things from the 25 farm families they interviewed. The study is a natural extension of their regular “Continuing Ag Education Program.” In the photo some of the staff is having breakfast with area farmers. Talk about getting to know the audience that your client wants to reach!
Listen in and find out those key takeaways from this project and expect more from Paulsen since they’re already planning the next one. ZimmCast 284 - Paulsen Marketing
This week’s program ends with some music from Music Alley. It’s called “Aqua Aviation” by Miss Pinkers.
We have talked several times over the past few years with Dr. Scott Dee of the Swine Disease Eradication Center at the University of Minnesota about area regional control (ARC) and elimination of Porcine Respiratory and Reproductive Syndrome (PRRS), since he is one of the early advocates of using that approach to the virus.
Scott was the moderator of last week’s Boehringer Ingelheim (BIVI) Area Regional Control Workshop in Chicago just prior to the start of the 2010 International PRRS Symposium – the third time they have held such an event which has gotten larger with every year. “It’s great to see new faces in the audience, but also a lot of the same people keep coming back and bringing new information,” Scott said. “We heard about projects that are happening throughout our continent, we’re hearing how people are doing it and it’s very similar.” The program featured updates from about a dozen ARCs in Canada and the US, as well as new tools that are being used.
The Minnesota PRRS ARC is one of the nation’s first, started in 2004. “For the longest time, we didn’t know where we were going, what we were doing. Then all of the sudden it turned the corner and before we knew it, the thing was basically PRRS-free in a very large geographical area of Minnesota,” Scott said.
Listen to my interview with Scott here here: Scott Dee
One of the challenges of controlling PRRS (Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome) is the diversity in which the disease presents itself.
“We can have several hundred different types of PRRS around and one of our main concerns is that every year we isolate new types of PRRS,” says Enrique Mondaca, a member of the Boehringer Ingelheim (BIVI) PRRS Area Solutions Team. During the BIVI PRRS Area Regional Control Workshop in Chicago last week, Enrique presented work they are doing in creating a bioportal tool that can help understand the genetic diversity of the swine virus. “With the bioportal we can see through time how new siblings of PRRS are coming into the area.”
They are in the initial stages of integrating the bioportal program that was originally developed for Foot and Mouth Disease to adapt it for PRRS. “The more you know, the better you can control it,” Enrique said.
Listen to my interview with Enrique here here: Enrique Mondaca
Brian Rau is a farmer and an aerial applicator with Medina Flying Service Inc.. He’s also President of the NAAA. Brian welcomed everyone to this record breaking convention and I spoke with him afterward.
Brian says he got interested in flying and aerial application because his dad flew combat missions and did aerial application for their farm. When he got out of college he wanted something more than “just farming” so he worked as an aerial applicator for a couple years before returning to the farm and starting his own flying business. He accepted the position of President of NAAA because he sees some challenges facing the business and those are primarily regulatory. He’s optimistic about the future because conventional agriculture, to which aerial application is very important, will play a key role in helping the environment while feeding the population that is expected to continue growing.
The National Agricultural Aviation Association is all about safety, education and common sense legislation. That’s a take away from my interview with NAAA Executive Director Andrew Moore.
Andrew says that things are going well. He expects the 2010 season to be a good one in terms of total aerial application hours flown. The convention is a record in terms of attendance and exhibitors. So that’s making him very optimistic about 2011. He says they will be very active monitoring activity in Washington, DC, in particular in regards to pesticide application requirements. Another concern is the federal budget and maintaining ag research dollars. You can listen to my interview with Andrew here: Andrew Moore Interview
The most exciting part of the first day of the NAAA convention is the flyby done just a few minutes ago. We’re on the Savannah River and attendees were treated to the sight of a Fire Boss 802F make repeated passes in front us, picking up water and then dropping it before pulling up and around before getting to the bridge from downtown Savannah. You can watch one of the passes in the video below.
When it’s your time to put out the fire, the Fire Boss is the aircraft you’ll want to do the job. Built from an 802 Air Tractor, the Fire Boss is an initial attack fire suppression aircraft with scooping capability. It compliments any aerial fleet as a traditional air tanker carrying retardant. However, the unique aspect of the aircraft is that it can scoop water from nearby lakes and rivers.
At the NAAA convention welcome breakfast we got an inside look at what it’s like on Air Force One. Our speaker was Howie Franklin, 18 year steward of the President’s plane. He served under five Presidents and has hundreds of stories.
I spoke with Howie after his presentation and got him to share one story that includes a situation he had to deal with on one flight that had 3 Presidents involved (past/present). You’ll enjoy him as I did. He also comments on how enjoyable it is to speak with the agricultural pilots gathered here for the convention. You can listen to my interview with Howie here: Howie Franklin Interview
During the welcome breakfast at the NAAA convention the winners of the this year’s agricultural aviation scholarships were announced. The scholarships are part of the partnership that BASF has with the organization. Pictured are (l-r), Ben Cadenbach, Matthew Kollars, Dr. Gary Fellows, BASF and Brian Rau, NAAA President. I will have interviews with all of them for you during the next couple days.
“BASF believes in sustaining and growing the aerial application industry,” said Gary Fellows, Ph.D., BASF Technical Services Regional Manager and member of the NAAREF (National Agricultural Aviation Research & Education Foundation) PAASS (Professional Aerial Applicators’ Support System) Program development committee. “This scholarship is designed to help NAAA operators bring new pilots into the field and help in their training to become part of the aerial application industry.”
The 2010 scholarship winners are Ben Cadenbach and Matthew Kollars, both of Kearney, Nebraska. Both Cadenbach and Kollars are pursuing a career in agricultural aviation and will be completing their commercial licenses; Kollars will return to the cockpit after obtaining a degree in Industrial Distribution and Cadenbach will be supporting his young family with an aviation career.
To be eligible for the Agricultural Aviation Scholarship, each applicant had to be sponsored by an NAAA member operator. Cadenbach was sponsored by Buffalo Air Services operator Sean Penner. Woods Aviation’s Waylon Woods sponsored Kollars. Like the scholarship recipients, both businesses are based in Kearney, Nebraska.
The first interview I did during this year’s NAFB convention Trade Talk session was with Sean Dorosz. He’s being interviewed by an NAFB member in the photo while Gene Hemphill looks on.
Sean had two main points to make. The first is their choice of Tier 4 engine technology. New Holland is using the SCR or selective catalytic reduction technology and they believe it is the correct solution for larger tractors. The engines will start showing up right after the first of the year.
The second one is moving past Tier 4 to zero emissions with a hydrogen powered tractor. We saw that on display at the Farm Progress Show and it’s not only incredible due to the engine but in looks. You know how important it is to look good in the field!
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.
Pioneer made my day a little sweeter yesterday when a package of holiday cookies arrived on our doorstep in a cute Pioneer Plenish coffee mug. 
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One of the challenges of controlling PRRS (Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome) is the diversity in which the disease presents itself. 
In this week's program Chuck talks with David Armano, Global Innovation and Integration.
