Two state-of-the-art bale-wrapping systems, designed to help producers turn silage bales into individually wrapped high-nutrition silage packages, were introduced by Vermeer.
The Food and Drug Administration has every confidence in the safety of apple juice. Learn more about how FDA tests juices and concentrates for safety here.
Designed to deliver more power, burn less fuel and meet Tier 4 emissions standards, Case IH has now released a complete family of high-horsepower equipment utilizing Efficient Power technologies.
Our latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “Which is more important to rural America: GPS Service or Broadband Internet?” A majority of 66% said Broadband Internet with 34% choosing GPS Service. So perhaps most of you place more importance on being able to use the internet for whatever reason than having the ability to use your GPS device, which would include location based services on your mobile phone and of course there’s always precision ag applications like auto steer. Interesting. What do you think?
Our new ZimmPoll is now live. We’re asking the question, “What is best for ag to add jobs to the economy?” Jobs is a political key word right now and the economy sure needs a boost. Let us know what you think and thank you.
ZimmPoll is sponsored by Rhea+Kaiser, a full-service advertising/public relations agency.
Tonight the IFAJ attendees went horse racing at Mohawk Racetrack. We had some great Standardbred action for about seven races before departing back to the hotels.
Here’s most of our group out on the track after the 6th race presenting an IFAJ Congress horse blanket to the winner. Now that’s cool.
I’ve updated the photo album from this afternoon and will have more stories to post in the morning. We’re now moving to the official Congress activities starting with business sessions and then getting a little Canada Agriculture 101.
The title makes it sound more like a morality play than a government hearing but “How a Broken Process Leads to Flawed Regulations” is what the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is calling the hearing on Wednesday morning to look into government over-regulation. One of the scheduled witnesses is Colorado cattle producer Robbie LeValley and you can bet your boots that she’ll be talking about the proposed Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyard’s Administration (GIPSA) proposal.
Robbie, who is also part owner of Homestead Meats, already testified about the impact the GIPSA rule would have on cattle producers before a House Small Business Committee hearing in July. “The proposed GIPSA rule will destroy our small business model, force us to lay off our employees, cripple our ability to market our cattle way we want to and limit consumer choice,” she said. Robbie also talked about how the threat of over-regulation is her biggest concern in an interview from the summer cattle industry meeting.
Another hearing on Wednesday that has the attention of the cattle industry is the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry hearing on feed availability, especially considering the latest USDA report showing tighter grain supplies and higher prices. That hearing will be held at 1:30 pm Eastern time, while the regulation hearing is scheduled for 9:30 am.
Mike Deering with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) did a great Beltway Beef interview with their Executive Director of Legislative Affairs Kristina Butts on both the hearings, as well as what the USDA announcement today regarding additional strains of E. coli means for beef producers. In it, I note that both Deering and Kristina skillfully avoid the technical details of that announcement “declaring six additional strains of non-O157 shiga toxin-producing E. coli (non-O157 STECs), including O26, O45, O103, O111, O121 and O145, as adulterants.” I think Mike missed his calling as a farm broadcaster!
This morning Mike Wilson, President, International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) and editor, Farm Futures, kicked off the 2011 Canada Outdoor Farm Show. I’ve got video coming and will add as soon as it’s ready.
We had a ribbon cutting of a different kind. Mike cut the ribbon on a batch of balloons which then floated over the show. Mike made opening remarks to a crowd that gathered for the official opening ceremony. He introduced the visiting agricultural journalists to everyone and told the farmers not to be surprised if someone taps them on the shoulder and asks for an interview with an “accent!”
It’s a beautiful day out here and I’ve added a bunch of new photos to the photo album that include the new permanent building that was dedicated this morning for New Holland.
NCGA is proposing the Agriculture Disaster Assistance Program (ADAP) “that will modify and replace the existing Average Crop Revenue Election Program and provide a more effective and responsive safety net for growers.”
“Responding to a charge by our voting delegates to investigate transitioning direct payments into programs that allow producers the ability to mitigate risk, our grower-led Public Policy Action Team developed a crop-specific, revenue-based risk management tool that provides a safety net when growers are facing a loss,” said NCGA President Bart Schott. “We are focusing on simplification and faster delivery of assistance when it is needed.”
ADAP builds on the existing structure of ACRE and is designed to address the need for simplification and elimination of overlapping coverage with individual crop insurance. Changes include the use of harvest prices and crop reporting districts to set the crop revenue guarantee and would establish a guarantee based on the five-year Olympic average of revenue.
I talked to NCGA first vice president Garry Niemeyer at the Farm Progress Show about what they want to see in a new farm bill. “We’re really interested in a farm bill that provides critical assistance to farmers when they face a loss due to adverse weather, crop diseases and volatile markets,” Garry said, adding that the NCGA team was working on ways to upgrade ACRE. “Since that is part of what we started a year ago, get it fine tuned, and get an ACRE program that will work.”
The coalition is sending out messages on Twitter this week during the “White House Office Hours on the American Jobs Act” to address the importance of the US-Korea FTA and other pending trade agreements in creating American jobs and they are urging other supporters to do the same. You can use the hashtag #WHChat to ask your questions on President Obama’s speech and the American Jobs Act, and senior staff will respond to your questions in real-time via Twitter from the @WHLive account.
The Coalition itself is tweeting one specific message – “Pres. Obama, will you pass pending #FTAs to create US #jobs before US companies get shut of foreign markets? #WHChat @whitehouse” – and encouraging others to retweet it, but you could certainly come up with your own questions. The president did mention free trade in his address to Congress last week on jobs even though he has not yet formally submitting the pending FTAs to them for consideration.
“Now it’s time to clear the way for a series of trade agreements that would make it easier for American companies to sell their products in Panama and Colombia and South Korea -– while also helping the workers whose jobs have been affected by global competition,” the president said. The White House is reportedly waiting on an extension of an expired program that provides aid to workers displaced by foreign competition.
U.S. farmers and ranchers are highly supportive of moving forward with all the trade agreements, which have been languishing for years now. USDA estimates that the agricultural exports results from the FTAs will yield over $2.3 billion in sales and help support more than 19,000 American jobs in agriculture and related industries. According to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association says, just the agreement with South Korea alone could result in a more than $1 billion market for U.S. beef once fully implemented.
So, tweet the White House this week during one of the times listed below and ask these guys why the president is holding up the agreements. The upcoming Office Hours scheduled for this week are: Tuesday, September 13th:
5:30 p.m. EDT: Office Hours with David Plouffe, Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor Wednesday, September 14th:
4:00 p.m. EDT: Office Hours with Brian Deese, Deputy Director of the National Economic Council Thursday, September 15th:
4:00 p.m. EDT: Office Hours with Jason Furman, Principal Deputy Director of the National Economic Council
Welcome to the Canada Outdoor Farm Show. This is where I’ll be today with other IFAJ members before the 2011 IFAJ Congress officially kicks off tomorrow evening. I’m assuming I’ll be away from internet access all day but I’ll be taking photos and have stories to share after I get back.
With helicopters landing and equipment arriving and animals getting bedded, the weekend was a busy one at Canada’s Outdoor Park in Woodstock, Ontario – all in preparation for Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show this Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday – September 13, 14 & 15, 2011. As the nation’s largest agricultural trade show, Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show showcases the latest in agricultural technologies and innovations through demonstrations and interactive displays.
The IFAJ Master Class and Boot Camp is over for 2011. Here are the combined groups before we went to dinner together tonight in downtown Guelph.
From what I’ve heard the participants were very happy with the program and feel like they got a lot out of the experience. I know I have and will alway remember it. There are more photos, including full size ones you can download in my photo album. I hope you enjoy them.
Burton Eller was fighting for the rights of cattle producers when Ronald Reagan was president, but now he plans to finally ride off into the sunset and spend more time on the ranch.
Burton has served the cattle industry in many capacities, most recently as National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) Senior Vice President of Member Services and Industry Affairs. He started back in 1981 as vice president of government affairs for the former National Cattlemen’s Association (NCA) from 1981-1991, served as CEO of NCA from 1991-1996 and was actively involved in the merger of the former National Livestock and Meat Board and NCA to form NCBA in 1996.
NCBA CEO Forrest Roberts said Eller has been an unwavering advocate of the U.S. beef cattle industry and also contributed to the development of the beef checkoff. “Burton played a pivotal role in the development and passage of the Beef Promotion and Research Act in the 1985 Farm Bill,” said Roberts. “He led the efforts to secure congressional passage of the one dollar per head national beef checkoff.”
Burton also served as the deputy under secretary of marketing and regulatory programs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) during the Bush Administration, then returned to NCBA in 2008 to lead the association’s DC office. He is retiring as of September 30 to spend more time with his family and his cattle operation, but says he plans to remain active in NCBA and the cattle industry.
He is the AgroBlogger. He’s Adrian Krebs. Adrian is the president of the Swiss Agricultural Journalists Guild and he was my partner for a presentation to the IFAJ Master Class and Boot Camp yesterday. I thought I’d share a conversation with him about why he’s blogging even though he is currently not working as an agricultural journalist.
However, he still blogs and it’s really because of his personal passion for agriculture. I introduced him to the word, “agvocate” and he like it! I think you’ll enjoy hearing him talk about why he blogs and what it means to him personally and professionally.
Our on-farm dinner included fresh picked and boiled sweet corn. It is definitely some of the best I’ve ever eaten. Having more than one ear was desert for me! There are plenty more photos in my photo album from our trip to the farm this evening.
Rhea + Kaiser is expanding its areas of agency services to formally include technical writing.
“We have always valued and embraced technical writing at R+K,” said CEO Diane Martin. “It’s time to use our expertise in this discipline to garner greater value for both the agency and our clients.”
This new area of emphasis allows R+K to accomplish several core objectives. Foremost, it allows R+K to integrate technical writing directly with client business objective and strategies; provide market knowledge on best practices and benchmarks; and inform, develop and implement technical writing projects.
Heading up this area is Ben Potter, who has been promoted to Manager of Technical Writing. Potter has worked for R+K since 2005 in various public relations roles, driving core communications initiatives for several key clients. Martin is confident the new area of emphasis will have a “viral” quality that will positively affect the entire agency.
“We fully expect that Ben’s analysis, collaboration and expertise, along with his writing and editing skills, will create greater consistency and foster strong technical writing across the agency,” Martin said.
According to Martin, focusing on areas such as technical writing and digital strategy further positions R+K to remain in a constant state of discovery and maintain momentum heading into 2012 and beyond.
Alltech broke ground on its $4.5 million distillery project in downtown Lexington, Ky.
To help farmers track actual results, AgWeb introduces the interactive Corn Harvest Map to give users and followers a chance to see real-time corn harvest results from across the country.
Farm Foundation has launched a new initiative to deliberate critical issues facing today’s food and agricultural systems.
Here’s a cool on-line tool that offers yield and production comparisons of various crops by county.
I received an email a few weeks ago from the guy who built the tool for a comparison engine called “Find the Best,” and also FindtheData.org.
Woody Robinson is a recent graduate of the University of California Santa Barbara who now works for FindTheBest, which he describes as “an objective, socially curated comparison engine that allows you to find a topic, compare your options and decide what’s best for you.”
He says that not only is the crop comparison tool “pretty fun to play around with,” it can also offer farmers some insight into crop production in various regions of the country. “Using data from the USDA, crops are compared using several categories (state, county, harvested, production, yield, etc). These categories can also be filtered to narrow crop search results,” Woody says. “It does provide an interesting perspective for the diversity of American farming.”
The hot, dry summer has taken a toll on the corn crop, according to the latest USDA forecast.
The estimate for corn production this year is now 12.5 billion bushels, down 3 percent from the August forecast but still more than last year and would still be the third largest corn crop in history. Yields are expected to average just over 148 bushels/acre, however, the lowest in six years. Meanwhile, soybean production is forecast at 3.09 billion bushels, up 1 percent from August with yields expected to average 41.8 bushels per acre, up 0.4 bushel from last month. That’s still less than last year, but at least the crop is not suffering as much as corn from the heat.
World Soybean Yield Champion and Rock Star Kip Cullers describes his corn crop in southwest Missouri this year as “horrible at best.” His first 4,000 acres averaged just 23 bushels an acre.
However, Kip says his soybeans actually look pretty good. “Soybeans are a lot more forgiving. They bloom 75 days so basically you got 75 days to mess up and 75 days to redeem yourself.” Kip was on stage at the Pioneer tent at Farm Progress Show talking about his grand champion soybean yield strategies.
Shannon says the company manufactures all sorts of structural shapes like this building for their shared exhibit with Trellis Growing Systems. The focus at the Farm Progress Show was the ag market of course. He says the primary problem in the market is corrosion but the fiberglass material they use is impervious to it. Basically their products last a lifetime. And almost everything they produce is custom designed. This includes fertilizer storage, hog barns, poultry houses and more.
This morning the IFAJ 2011 Master Class is in session while Boot Camp meets separately. Yesterday both groups were together. Here’s a little information about the Master Class: Pioneer Hi-Bred, a DuPont business, is supporting a pilot project called the IFAJ-Pioneer HiBred Master Class. This program will bring a group of journalists from developing countries to a two-day journalism and leadership workshop prior to the congress.
The workshop will focus on journalistic training, global agriculture and communications trends. Journalists will have a chance to share ideas with colleagues, and network with professionals from around the world. Master Class participants will be selected from Asia, Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe.
The project will be based on a workshop with developing-country journalists initiated at the 2010 Belgium Congress, which was managed by AgriTerra, a Dutch-based agri-development agency. AgriTerra will help coordinate the master class program in Canada, owing to its experience in networking with journalists from underdeveloped countries
Here’s our Boot Camp group getting their first lesson of the day. Alltech will expand its sponsorship of the successful IFAJ-Alltech Young Leaders in
Agricultural Journalism award to include a Boot Camp workshop. This activity will provide
select young journalists with expert training and feedback through on-site writing or
broadcasting assignments and further develop their leadership skills through formal in-class
training.
I talked a little bit about the new construction going on in our front yard – the new shed. Last week, instead of focusing on my flowers and deer skull and new maple tree as decorations, I had to snap a photo of the latest lawn adornment – an 18-wheeler. It wasn’t there for long, but the tire tracks in the grass still remain.
This semi delivered all the materials for our new shop, including monstrous trusses. Our driveway is a sharp angle off the country road, so he had to drive in through the ditch … right into our front yard. On top of that, in order to get the trusses off the truck and into the construction area, my husband had to use his forklift and you guessed it, drive through the front yard.
I’m not much for fancy plush-looking grass, but I AM the one who mows around here and I don’t appreciate more ruts in the yard for me to bounce over and through. All complaining aside, it’s par for the course to get a shed and a lean-to for the horses for winter.
Oh, and new sleeping quarters for black kitty and her raccoon kids.
Getting $7/dozen for sweet corn in Canada is a pretty sweet deal for Channing Strom, owner along with his wife Amy, of Strom’s Farm. Especially if you sell an average of 10-12 thousand dozen. I caught a picture of Channing, who is outstanding in his field, during our visit to the farm today. He drove a wagon load of IFAJ folks around before dinner this evening. On this farm the Strom’s grow sweet corn and pumpkins for people to come out a purchase. They promise that the sweet corn you buy is never more than two hours from the stalk! They also create a six acre corn maze using field corn and have a variety of other family fun features that bring out thousands of people to spend several hours of outdoor enjoyment. It is agri-tourism done right. You can see part of our group taking the corn maze challenge in the photo below.
The Stroms are part of Taste Real, a branding initiative for locally grown food in the Guelph Wellington area.
When you see the taste real logo, you know that you are experiencing food grown close to home! When you see the logo at farmers markets, farm gate stalls, on-farm stores, at your favourite retail outlets, restaurants and places to stay you will know it is home to real local food. The brand exists to support local businesses and farms and represents a group of people who are ….Passionate about the way local food is grown, prepared, presented and enjoyed, and how real it tastes!
Our on-farm dinner included fresh picked and boiled sweet corn. It is definitely some of the best I’ve ever eaten. Having more than one ear was desert for me! There are plenty more photos in my photo album from our trip to the farm this evening.
During the Farm Progress Show I stopped in at the “Seven Wonders of the Corn Yield World” and visited with Jeff Whetstine, AGROTAIN. The company worked with several others to put together a massive display of corn test plots that demonstrate the work of Dr. Fred Below which is aimed at finding out how much new high tech products can improve yield in corn. Jeff describes how they put the test plots together that are part of the exhibit and how they dealt with very challenging summer weather conditions. Jeff says Dr. Below has been able to show a 50 bushel yield difference between a grower’s standard practice and the “high tech package.”
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.
The title makes it sound more like a morality play than a government hearing but 
The 
I talked to NCGA first vice president Garry Niemeyer at the Farm Progress Show about what they want to see in a new farm bill. “We’re really interested in a farm bill that provides critical assistance to farmers when they face a loss due to adverse weather, crop diseases and volatile markets,” Garry said, adding that the NCGA team was working on ways to upgrade ACRE. “Since that is part of what we started a year ago, get it fine tuned, and get an ACRE program that will work.”
The coalition is sending out messages on Twitter this week during the 
Burton has served the cattle industry in many capacities, most recently as 
I received an email a few weeks ago from the guy who built the tool for a comparison engine called 
Woody Robinson is a recent graduate of the University of California Santa Barbara who now works for FindTheBest, which he describes as “an objective, socially curated comparison engine that allows you to find a topic, compare your options and decide what’s best for you.” 
World Soybean Yield Champion and Rock Star Kip Cullers describes his corn crop in southwest Missouri this year as “horrible at best.” His first 4,000 acres averaged just 23 bushels an acre. 
In this week's program Chuck talks with David Armano, Global Innovation and Integration.
