It’s all right to go ahead and look forward to the 2012 Ag Media Summit. I’m sure the ABQ loudly proclaims that we’ll be in Albuquerque, NM next August 4-8 at the Albuquerque Hyatt Downtown.
No real news yet. Just a “look” to tease you. Online registration opens May 1. Get that on your calendar too.
If you’re looking for the best place to promote your company or organization’s products and services, then you’ll want to be at the 14th Annual Ag Media Summit in Albuquerque, New Mexico, August 4-8, 2012. This annual get-together, the largest meeting in the United States of the ag industry’s top writers, editors, photographers, publishers and ag communicator specialists, begins with pre-meeting events on Saturday, August 4, followed by the AMS program August 5-8. We invite you to participate as a sponsor or an exhibitor at our InfoExpo or both, and be a part of this important agricultural media event.
The AG MEDIA SUMMIT is a joint meeting of the American Agricultural Editors’ Association, the Livestock Publications Council and the American Business Media Agri-Council. This industry-wide gathering of agricultural communicators offers one of the best opportunities for professional improvement and industry networking. More than 600 attend this event each year, and the InfoExpo annually exceeds 85 booths.
If TASCAM ever releases their iM2 Microphone for the iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch you’ll be able to use it with their new PCM Recorder app. I just added it to my iPhone but haven’t used it yet.
PCM Recorder is a free app from TASCAM that turns your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad into a portable stereo recorder. Use it with the iM2 to record yourself any- where you go.
PCM Recorder has input and output level faders with an “on-screen” meter to help you check levels. It includes high and low EQ and a limiter to prevent overload. Save your recordings to your computer as WAV files or share with friends and fans by uploading them to Soundcloud.
PCM Recorder is a available free on the iTunes App Store.
My son’s morning routine looks a little something like this:
Get up and quietly sneak down the stairs
Use the restroom
Eat donuts with stuffed monkey while watching Dinosaur Train
Ask where daddy is
Complain about getting dressed
Request to watch Scooby Doo
Finally give in and get clothes on
Meander out the door but stall as much as possible
Our morning routine is just that – routine. But there’s usually one conversation with our 3-year-old that makes each day unique. This morning it was the sunrise.
My mother always said, don’t look right at the sun or it will hurt your eyes. I tell my son the same thing. So when I stopped to snap this picture and my son asked, “Mommy, are you looking at the sun?” I said, “No, the camera is.”
Conversations like this make me want to get up and out the door and show my son more beautiful things each day, even though I know it’s going to take an extra 10 minutes …
Insert: “Get our winter coats on, shoes, mittens and hats, then take them off in the car, then put them back on again before we get out at our destination” into the morning routine above.
Until we walk again …
New National Association of Farm Broadcasting President Tom Steever, Brownfield, just sent out a post-convention report. It sure makes sense to send out a report we can listen to from this group doesn’t it?
In Tom’s report you’ll hear about the value of increased professional improvement opportunities for the organization. I had the pleasure to chair the professional improvement committee again this year and hope to see that initiative continue to grow.
Tom also mentions that Jennifer Saylor is leaving the organization. I was sad to hear that since she has been the person I have most relied on for a number of years now whenever I needed a question answered or help on a project. I wish her all the best in the future.
Listen to Tom’s report here for more on what happened at this year’s NAFB Convention: NAFB President Post-Convention Report
2011 NAFB Convention Photo Album
The first six months of 2011, exports of U.S. beef and variety meat exports totaled over $3 billion, a 40% increase over the same time period in 2010 and something that has made beef cattle producers very happy this year.
“It’s looking really good,” said National Cattlemen’s Beef Association president-elect J.D. Alexander of Nebraska during an interview at NAFB Trade Talk. “Our exports today can add about $200 to our individual animal value, and that is huge.”
J.D. notes that the new Free Trade Agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama will continue to increase U.S. beef exports. “The other good thing about it is we export a lot of our beef products that really are not used in the United States,” he said. “Some of the things that we don’t utilize in the United States are looked at as delicacies in other countries.”
Even though other markets are growing, J.D. says Mexico and Canada remain the biggest customers for U.S. beef, comprising a third of total exports. “We’ve got great relationships with those countries,” he said.
I also talked with J.D. about the mood of the industry – which he says is very positive – and the efforts of NCBA to keep Washington from over-regulating producers out of business.
Listen to my interview with J.D. here: NCBA president-elect JD Alexander
2011 NAFB Convention Photo Album
Coming up next week in Lexington, Kentucky is an event that dairy and beef producers should not miss.
Since 2008, more than 800 of world’s most progressive dairy and beef producers have convened for the Alltech Global 500 to network and discuss the most relevant and challenging topics in the industry.
This year, the Global 500 explores the future landscape for the dairy and beef industries and provides a rare opportunity for global colleagues and friends to engage in open discussion on critical topics such as sustainable strategies and practices that can be implemented now and in the future.
I talked with Alltech Beef Division Manager Ty Yeast about the event, which will be held December 6-8. “Originally it started as a dairy event and with the success after the first two years in the dairy event, we expanded to the beef side as well,” Ty said. “Last year was our first ever addition of the beef event and we had over 125 participants from all over the world.” This year, Ty says they already have more than doubled last year’s registration.
Ty says the conference is really about looking at new ways of approaching a business that’s been around for a long time. “It’s innovation, it’s looking at new ways of doing things, and really breaking old paradigms on how to move forward and get to that next level of efficiency.”
Interested producers can still register for the event by going to the Global 500 website. You can be sure it will be worth your while.
Listen to or download my interview with Ty here: Ty Yeast - Alltech Global 500
Nuseed, a wholly owned subsidiary of Nufarm Limited, this week announced the acquisition of Seeds 2000 Inc, based in Breckenridge, Minnesota, USA.
Seeds 2000 is a seed research, production, sales and marketing company focused primarily on the development of elite oil and confection sunflower hybrids that benefit both the farmer and end-use food customer. The company has significantly expanded its international activities in recent years and today conducts development and sales activities in the USA, Canada, China, Argentina and a number of European markets.
Nuseed is a global seed and traits company focused on the enhancement of food and feed value through seed technology. The company develops proprietary canola, sunflower, and sorghum products that are marketed in over 25 countries. Nuseed has existing sunflower breeding and marketing operations based in California, Argentina, Serbia and Australia.
Sunflower is an important oilseed and snack food crop, occupying approximately 24 million hectares of land globally and producing approximately 32 million metric tonnes of grain annually.
Seeds 2000 President, Steve Kent, said he expected the transition to be seamless and to facilitate additional opportunities to expand the business in both the US domestic market and globally.
Hello from the agriblogging highway at the Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica PRRS ARC&E Seminar in Chicago. We’ve got a good crowd. The ARC&E stands for Area Regional Control & Elimination of this seriouis swine disease.
I’m collecting photos and interviews. The interview will be posted during the next week since I’ve almost completely lost my voice. I’ll have to edit myself back in so you can understand me better. Hate it when this happens. Actually it has never happened like this before!
So, here’s where you can find photos from this event: 2011 Boehringer Ingelheim PRRS ARC&E Seminar Photo Album
As the spread of resistant weeds continues, the term “site of action” is becoming a factor in managing resistance. BASF wants growers to understand herbicide site of action – and what it means to their weed management plan – because it can spell the difference between losing yield or gaining profit.
BASF offers four tips to unlock the benefits of herbicide sites of action:
Know the tool
Site of action is a term used by weed scientists to group or classify different herbicide active ingredients. A critical element in managing or preventing development of herbicide resistant weed populations is employing multiple sites of action during a growing season. Therefore, classifying herbicides by their site of action provides a tool that enables grower and retailers to design an effective weed management program.
“Site of action specifically refers to the biochemical site within a plant where a herbicide has its direct impact on weed growth and development,” said Dan Westberg, Ph.D., BASF Technical Market Manager. “In other words, the site of action is where a herbicide controls a weed.”
Recognize the enemy
The Weed Science Society of America has confirmed 13 different species of glyphosate-resistant weeds across 28 states. Some weeds, such as waterhemp, are developing resistance to multiple herbicide sites of action. Waterhemp, along with its close cousin Palmer pigweed, is especially scary because of its ability to produce at least one million seeds from a single plant. That seed production could result in 6.25 million waterhemp plants in one acre if not adequately controlled with multiple sites of action.
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- The Kansas Soybean staff now includes a director of operations: Adam O’Trimble.
- The National Cattlemen’s Foundation is announcing ten $1,500 scholarships to be awarded to outstanding students who are pursuing careers in the beef industry.
- The U.S. Grains Council announced that registration is now open for its 9th International Marketing Conference and 52nd Annual Membership Meeting to be held Feb. 13-15 in Panama City, Panama.
- A new video, “U.S. Dairy Farmers Care,” tells the story of dairy farmers and their commitment to their animals, the environment, local communities and consumers.
The board of the AgChat Foundation has been hard at work for two days planning for the future. We’re still in the process and will have some very positive and exciting announcements coming out soon.
It’s hard to believe that farmers have been engaging online via a weekly Twitter chat that began over two years ago. The AgChat Foundation has grown out of that effort and community and now encompasses much more than just one social media platform. The organization is specializing in training agvocates. As the mission statement says:
Empower farmers and ranchers to connect communities through social media platforms.
We do that by reaching out and engaging with farmers and conducting an annual training conference. Let’s just say that the effort is going very well and I’m proud to be a part of it. I’m also proud of all the people who are volunteering past and present. We’ve got a lot more work to do but in retrospect it’s amazing what we’ve accomplished so far. I’ll have more after we get done with the rest of our agenda here.
The Agriculture Council of America (ACA) calls on ninth- to 12th-grade students to submit an original, 450-word essay or a two-minute video essay about the importance of agriculture for this year’s National Ag Day Essay Contest. This year’s theme is “American Agriculture: Feeding the Future, Filling the Gaps” and the deadline is Feb. 1, 2012. The ACA asks teachers and parents to encourage student participation.
The theme “American Agriculture: Feeding the Future, Filling the Gaps” 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 and/or create a video focusing on how today’s growers are overcoming challenges to provide a safe, stable food supply and sustain 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 8 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.
I’m sure this is applicable to agriculture somehow. I just think it’s pretty cool and wanted to share it. With all the talk about geo-located services and precision agriculture it’s neat to think that you can track Santa’s progress as he does his thing at Christmas time. Get the official NORAD Tracks Santa app for your iPhone or Android phone.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command is getting ready to track Santa’s yuletide journey! The NORAD Tracks Santa website, www.noradsanta.org, went live today featuring a Countdown Calendar, a Kid’s Countdown Village complete with holiday games and activities that change daily, and video messages from students and troops from around the world. With the addition of Brazilian Portuguese, the website is now available in eight languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, and Chinese.
This year, using free apps in the Apple iTunes Store and in the Android Market, parents and children can countdown the days until Santa’s take off on their smart phones! Tracking opportunities are also offered on Facebook, Google+, YouTube, and Twitter. Santa followers just need to type “@noradsanta” into each search engine to get started. (more…)
I think it’s hard sometimes for city-folk to imagine what it’s like to live in the country. When I tell them we have two horses out front in the pasture, they can’t imagine having that much room in the “front yard”. Then I tell them we have to drive at least 18 miles for groceries but if you want cheaper ones, you have to drive 26 miles. Our closest neighbors are my grandparents and they’re about ¼ mile away. Living where we do, I’ve learned to make lists, too because if you get to the store and forget something, you can’t just turn right around and be back to the store in a blink. It’s thoughtful and planned which sometimes drives my husband crazy because he likes to be more spontaneous. I on the other hand like to combine my trips to save on gas and time.
This is a picture of our local co-op, 5 miles from our house. This is where we get gas. There’s no pizza, no restroom, no candy, but the air is free. (Imagine that – not charging $1 for AIR.) And you have to have a card or you can’t fill up.
The co-op at my in-laws in Kansas is the same way except they have a candy and pop machine inside where our son’s Grandpa always makes a purchase when the grandkids are visiting. It’s tradition…going to the co-op, seeing all the men sitting around drinking coffee and gossiping, then getting chocolate and a pop for the ride home. Even if it is 10 minutes before lunch.
The nice thing about the pump at the co-op? It’s always open as long as you have a card.
Until we walk again …
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In this week's program Chuck talks with David Armano, Global Innovation and Integration.
