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SFP, formerly Specialized Fertilizer Products, wants everyone to know that wasted fertilizer is wasted money, and naturally, they have products for growers that can help them see a higher return on investment when added to their current fertilizer mix.
The first product is AVAIL, a phosphorus fertilizer enhancer that when added to the fields in the fall before they are plowed, will help plants absorb phosphorus more effectively. NutriSphere-N is a nitrogen fertilizer which is a key component to a successful nutrient management program.
“Both can be added to what you are normally putting on fields,” said Melanie Acklin with SFP. “Blend it in. Mix it in. Farmers can really see added efficiency from these fertilizers and ideally increased in yield potential and increased return on investment.”
The fertilizers can be applied in spring or fall but Acklin noted that as farmers are getting ready to plant winter wheat, adding AVAIL can help the crop in the spring, especially since a lot of things can happen over the winter like early frost.
Growers can learn more about the products by contacting their local fertilizer dealer or on SFP’s website.
You can see all our pictures from the Ag Media Summit in the IFAJ/AMS 2009 Photo Album.
You can listen to my full interview with Melanie Acklin here.
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Have you ever summited Mt. Everest? I haven’t but Lance Fox has. He is a technical service veterinarian for Alpharma, and his successes both in his job and in his personal life have trained him to become a natural role model for children across America as part of the Reach Teach Learn ag educational program.
“My role is to educate students and make them more aware of agriculture and agribusiness and share some of my personal adventures and experiences,” Fox told AgWired during the Ag Media Summit.
Climbing to the top of Mt. Everest was a 12 year dream for Fox and he has some great advice for our future leaders, “If you have a dream pursue it. Pursue your passion. If you work hard everything is possible.”
In its second year, the Reach Teach Learn program is designed to provide youth with the information they need to ensure that honest, educated decisions are made. The program consists of two main initiatives including a college student video contest and a high school student essay contest. College students will be able to use imagery to depict current ethanol agricultural practices while for the first time, younger students will provide their perspective writing of an essay on agriculture based on the book, “The Man Who Fed The World.” As far as you know, I’m not a high school student but I will be providing my insights about the book as well.
I was also able to chat with Jeff Mellinger, Global Leader – Sales & Marketing for Alpharma. “What we’re really trying to do is reach out to young people in the U.S. is to get them to understand the agriculture industry because they will be the spokespersons in the future. We want them to be more informed in making positive choices and viewpoints because they’ll be the future leaders in developing views about agriculture.”
Mellinger also noted that the ag industry is seeing a lot more public opinion that is not accurate and that they are trying to bring accuracy to the conversation. Agriculture, he says, is a positive industry and still important to the United States.
More than 12 states have signed up to participate in the essay contest and others are welcome to join. You can learn more about Reach Teach Learn on their website. BTW – in addition to my essay on the book, I’ll be submitting a video as well, right here on AgWired.com. Now this you won’t want to miss.
You can see all our pictures from the Ag Media Summit in the IFAJ/AMS 2009 Photo Album.
You can listen to my back-to-back interviews with Jeff Mellinger and Lance Fox here.
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I sat down with Keith Dunn with the United Soybean Board (USB) during the Ag Media Summit to see what their main initiatives currently are. Dunn explained to me the importance of animal agriculture and how supportive the USB was of this industry.
“Currently in the United States 98 percent of the soybean meal goes for animal feed for poultry, beef cattle and dairy cattle,” explained Dunn. “So we feel that animal agriculture is very important to the industry.”
Other important elements of the USB program include its work with biofuels as well as a responding to a recent request for referendum. Less than 1/10th of 1 percent of the growers requested a referendum on the soybean checkoff and Dunn mentioned that it shows that soybean farmers are very confident in their soybean checkoff and the work that is being done.
Biofuels is a hot topic and one that is very important to USB. “We’re concerned with the new renewable fuels standard and we want to make sure these are based on sound science, factual and will work for the American people.”
You can see all our pictures from the Ag Media Summit in the IFAJ/AMS 2009 Photo Album.
You can listen to my full interview with Keith Dunn here.
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A little over a year ago Monsanto made a commitment to people around the world to sustainable agriculture. The company is working on products that will produce more than double current yields while reducing the resources needed to grow the crops by nearly one-third. They are so committed that they launched a website to discuss this topic: www.producemoreconservemore.com.
I was curious to learn more about Monsanto’s initiatives in the sustainability department so I caught up with Kevin Eblen, Vice President Public Policy & Sustainable Yield for Monsanto.
“What we’re trying to to get the world and the public to see and know is that we have the capability to produce more food and conserve resources at the same time,” explained Eblen. “So we went on record saying in the core crops that we focus on as a company which is corn, soybeans and cotton, that we can double the yields of these crops by 2030 with the starting year of 2000. And at the same time, through the use of technology we have and others’ have, that we could conserve resources by one-third to produce each unit of corn, beans and cotton.”
Eblen mentioned that the UN has determined that the world will need to produce as much food in the next 50 years that has been produced in the last 10,000 years. That is why Monsanto is working with farmers around the world to help them grow crops that are both sustainable and profitable.
You can see all our pictures from the Ag Media Summit in the IFAJ/AMS 2009 Photo Album.
You can listen to my full interview with Kevin Eblen here.
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As farmers are getting ready to harvest soon, it’s never too late to begin to think about products for the upcoming year. Nufarm is one of the largest crop protection companies in the world and is primarily at post patent company. After another company’s patent expires, Nufarm brings a similar product to market typically at a better value for the end user.
I was able to learn more about Nufarm’s products during the Ag Media Summit when I sat down with Director, Branding & Marketing Services, Brian Rund.
“This year we introduced 13 new seed treatment products for all the major crops,” said Rund. “We have greatly expanded our product line for range and pasture weed control. We’re also in the process of introducing a very broad range of herbicides for small grasses.”
Nufarm would like everyone to know that they are a very committed player in ag business. “We’re post patent but we’re not generic,” said Rund.
You can see all our pictures from the Ag Media Summit in the IFAJ/AMS 2009 Photo Album.
You can listen to my full interview with Brian Rund here.
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At the conclusion of the IFAJ Congress and Ag Media Summit there were a number of tours.
Thanks to Denny McClintic I have a photo of the group that went on the South Texas tour. He also sent a few more which have been added to the IFAJ Congress/Ag Media Summit Photo Album. I think I have more coming from the other tours which will be added to the album when I receive them.
Looks like this group had a good time.
Ag Leader Technology brought their Ag Media Summit booth to my office today via UPS. It’s true. Editors attending the Ag Media Summit found a briefcase in their hotel room and had to go to the Ag Leader Technology booth to crack the code to open them. The theme was, “Mission: Precision II, Operation Crack the Code.”
So, I just received mine today and it contains a number of items like coffee mug, memory stick, t-shirt, etc. And it all comes in a nice briefcase! Very handy and I would call it a stand out item.
Ag Leader Technology is a new long term sponsor of our Precision Pays website btw. We’ll be working with them over the next year to help bring new and useful information about the latest precision farming techniques and equipment to farmers and I’m sure some of that will find its way to AgWired too.
Thank you Ag Leader Technology and Lessing Flynn.
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The Cattlemen’s Beef Board (CBB) would like its producers to get to know them better, says Lynn Heinz, the executive director of communications. The organization serves all the 800,000 beef producers in the country, and is working with ag journalists to help them get their message out. In some cases this is with paid advertising, and in others it is to help them develop story ideas.
Since they are helping journalists come up with story ideas, I thought I’d ask him for a few ideas. So we discussed some of the key issues facing beef producers today.
“One of the things we’ve seen all summer with the economic situation, people have moved away from traditional steaks and those kinds of more expensive product. We’re working with retailers to help them feature those kinds of items. We’re helping consumers understand how to use something like the flatiron were they can still have the steak experience but at a lower cost.”
CBB is also working with exporters to meet the increased demand of Russia, Europe and Asia for middle meats. But this is the tip of the iceberg in terms of what CBB is doing to promote its beef producers. To hear more, listen to the full interview with Lynn.
You can see all our pictures in the IFAJ/AMS 2009 Photo Album.
You can listen to my full interview with Lynn here.
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There are a lot of agricultural policy concerns today and the Farm Foundation is taking an active role in helping DC adopt better legislation. The organization notes that agriculture is important and ag policy is important, and their role is to bring divergent views together and provide a forum for discussion. During these discussions, The Farm Foundation lets the best policies arise and then provides the outlet for policy makers to take advantage of these ideas. However, the organization does not lobby, but simply provides the best information for policy makers to use.
I asked Sheldon Jones what key issues they have been dealing with and he mentioned two: food prices and the agriculture’s role in feeding and fueling the world.
“A year ago when food prices were increasing and there were food riots around the world, we commissioned a study from three economists at Purdue on what are the real drivers to food prices. They reviewed literature, assessed the global demand for food and what were the driving factors including fuel, petroleum prices, world stocks, supplies of grain and more.”
The organization issued a report last July which they updated six months later, “What’s Driving Food Prices? and have also issued a report on global food and fuel demand, “The 30 -Year Challenge: Agriculture’s Strategic Role In Feeding and Fueling a Growing World“.
You can see all our pictures in the IFAJ/AMS 2009 Photo Album.
You can listen to my full interview with Sheldon here.
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Our photo album for the IFAJ Congress/Ag Media Summit has been giving us fits the last few days. Flickr is great but every once in a while . . .
So, I’ve got most of our photos re-uploaded and ready for your viewing pleasure.
Here’s the link to use for IFAJ Congress/Ag Media Summit photos:
IFAJ/AMS 2009 Photo Album
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Several student and young professional awards were given during the IFAJ/AMS summit and one of the most coveted awards, the Forrest Bassford Award was given to Whitney Wallace and is sponsored by LPC. Whitney will be a senior at the University of Missouri this fall and she is an active member of ACT – the AG Communicators of Tomorrow. She will be graduating next May with a degree in Agricultural Journalism with an Ag Economics minor.
I had the opportunity to spend a few minutes with Whitney, and she is a talented and well spoken woman who has already taken the ag communications industry by storm. For those companies looking for a rare talent, you’d better get in line now, because I suspect that Whitney will be off the market in a blink of an eye!
As such an active and young member of the journalism community, I asked her to give her fellow students some advice.
“Just like I tell the other students at Mizzou, you just gotta jump in an try everything you can. Because we have so many opportunities that we can pick and choose and find so many great little niches of places we can succeed.”
Whitney, I like your style.
You can see the pictures of all the award winners in the IFAJ/AMS 2009 Photo Album.
You can listen to my full interview with Whitney here.
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Thanks to Carly and Joanna, pictured here about to go into Billy Bob’s, our online photo album from this year’s IFAJ/AMS is very full. You’ll find almost 900 pictures in there. Please feel free to use them and if you need a high res version we’ll do our best to get one to you.
I got up early this morning and watched all the photos as a slide show via my Apple TV on my 42″ plasma screen. It felt almost like being there. I could hear the voices and know what they were saying. That happens when you spend a lot of time with good friends and colleagues at an extended event like this each year.
Quasimojo played once again at this year’s event. I’m thinking we should be recording these for future release. What do you think?
Then we could release an annual CD, Best of CD, etc. Perhaps a recording contract with a big label down the road? I don’t know.
IFAJ/AMS 2009 Photo Album
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All registrants to the IFAJ Congress 2009 received a great wild west souvenir to take home with them. These leather note pad holders were all printed with our names. I was registered although I did not get to attend.
Cindy brought mine home. She actually just got home yesterday after attending the APS meeting in Portland, OR right after IFAJ/AMS. She’s starting to know what it feels like to be me when I’m healthy!
If you attended this year’s IFAJ Congress for your first time I’d love to know your thoughts on meeting with fellow ag journalists from other countries. Did you find it helpful? What did you get out of the relationships you made?
Conversely, if you’re an IFAJ member outside the U.S. who attended, what are your thoughts? Was it a good Congress? What do you think about these crazy Americans? Feel free to post comments.
IFAJ/AMS 2009 Photo Album
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Now that everyone is home safe and sound from Ft. Worth, you’ll have a little time to read the new books by the IFAJ/AMS lunch speakers. Participants were first treated to a presentation by Julie Wainwright, who is the owner of Smartnow.com. She worked her way up to found Pets.com (how can you forget the sock puppet) and then undergo a very public bankruptcy right as the Internet bubble burst.
But after a few false starts and five big mistakes, she is now back on her feet and spreading encouragement to others. I can’t speak for everyone who attended, but her message definitely resonated with me which is why I’m looking forward to reading her new self-published book, ReBoot My Five Life Changing Mistakes and How I Have Moved On, available on Amazon.com.
While Wainwright’s presentation was fairly serious, on Tuesday we were thoroughly entertained by Scott McKain, who is the vice president of Obsidian Enterprises and the co-founder and principal of The Value Added Institute, a think tank that explores client loyalty. Speaking of which, how do you maintain client loyalty? Through being distinct. McKain has written exhaustively about this topic and is a best selling author.
There are Four Cornerstones of Distinction according to McKain including clarity, creativity, communication and customer experience focus. I don’t have time to go into details but his presentation was not only extremely funny, it was even more insightful. McKain very much believes in the mission of ag journalists, so much so that he has done two things. First, he has made his presentation available; and second, he has made the audio and e-versions of his new book, Collapse of Distinction: stand out and move up while your competition fails, available for free.
You can see pictures from the presentations in our IFAJ/AMS 2009 Photo Album.
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It’s been an amazing week here in Ft Worth for the largest ever IFAJ Congress and Ag Media Summit. We’ve had some fun times and made long-lasting new friends from around the world but its time to ride into the sunset and say goodbye.
Thanks for letting AgWired be a part of your celebration with special thanks to Novus International, Pioneer and Successful Farming for sponsoring our coverage. You can check out pictures from all the events in our IFAJ/AMS 2009 Photo Album, and come back to AgWired.com often as we’ll be posting stories about the events during the next few weeks.
We’ll see you next year in Belgium. Cheers!
AgWired coverage of IFAJ 2009 is sponsored by:
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AgWired coverage of IFAJ 2009 is sponsored by:
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There’s been a lot of stampeding and kicking it up on the dance floor here in Ft. Worth this week during the IFAJ Congress and Ag Media Summit. And one company that is really kicking it up is BASF with their new product Kixor. Kixor is currently under development and is being designed for broadleaf weed control. Once it is perfected and available for producers, farmers will able to apply the herbicide prior to crop emergence for burndown or for season-long residual broadleaf control.
To learn more, I spent a little time at the campfire with Dan Westberg, Technical Services Manager for BASF.
“Kixor herbicide technology is a unique chemistry that is specifically designed by BASF to solve the toughest broadleaf weed control problems facing growers today,” explained Westberg. “If you look across the board there are a little over 70 broadleaf weed species. Many of those are resistance or hard to control.”
When the technology comes to market, it will have a wide range of crops it can be used on including corn, sorghum, soybean, wheat, all of the cereals, cotton, follow, treat fruit, and more.
One of the best attributes of Kixor will be the short amount of time for it to take effect – three to five days.
“Kixor herbicide technology will be very unique in that it has both burndown activity and also soil residual activity. So, depending on which crop it will have a very effective burndown and for some crops we can provide a very effective residual effect especially corn,” said Westberg.
IFAJ/AMS 2009 Photo Album
You can listen to my full interview with Dan Westberg here:
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Small grain farmers and agricultural researchers were taken by surprise this year due to a huge outbreak of head scab. But many farmers were spared to much damage through the application of various fungicide products including those who used Caramba. Caramba is a fungicide developed by BASF and now for the first time this year available to producers and its benefit is to increase yield protection and reductions of DON levels in grain.
Dr. Gary M Fellows was able to sit down with me during the Ag Media Summit and tell me more about Caramba and Twinline.
“Caramba is the number one product worldwide for the control for head scab in small grains, and we launched it this year which was a good thing because this was the worst year for head scab that we’ve seen in the past 25 years,” said Fellows.
In addition to Caramba, BASF also launched Twinline fungicide which uses the same active ingredient in Headline which is designed to control aggressive wheat diseases.
“The neat thing about Twinline is that its powered by Headline. What we’ve done is taken Headline and moved it up to the next level and that’s Twinline. And so we’ve actually increased it activity its given it a little longer in curative control as well as preventive control we’ve always had. In the trials that are starting to come off, the wheat harvest in the south is almost done, we’re seeing great yields in Twinline compared to all the other competitive products and compared to untreated.”
Although Twinline is only for small grains such as wheat they are working on a comparative product for corn but we’re going to have to wait to get the details.
We had several fellow journalists here at IFAJ and Ag Media Summit from Australia with us and they are not expecting a great wheat harvest. However, although not a record breaking year, the United States, says Fellows, should have a good harvest.
IFAJ/AMS 2009 Photo Album
You can listen to my full interview with Dr. Fellows here:
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I spent some time with Jerry Harrington, Sales and Marketing PR Manager for Pioneer during the Ag Media Summit today so that I could learn a little more about some of their new products. Pioneer is launching several new products this year for producers, two of which are for corn farmers and one for soybean farmers.
“We’re waiting for approval on cadre of new technologies. One is Optimum GAT in corn which is broad spectrum herbicide resistance…and we expect regulatory approval this year with eventual product introduction. There’s also Optimum Acre Max 1 which is our new in the bag refuge program which makes setting up refuge easier for farmers in corn,” said Harrington.
He continued, “And thirdly high oleic soybeans. High oleic soybeans, known as brand name Plenish, is the first oil trait with a human benefit. That is its soybean oil that has greater stability in cooking and its also healthier for the end use audience. We’re looking forward to approvals on all three of those in the second half of this year.”
Producers and media can get more information Optimum GAT, Optimum Acre Max and Plenish on Pioneer’s website.
IFAJ/AMS 2009 Photo Album
You can listen to the full interview with Jerry Harrington here:
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Although I could not attend the combined IFAJ Congress/Ag Media Summit that doesn’t mean I’m not in touch. I just got off Skype with Greg Lamp, Corn & Soybean Digest, and Co-Chair of the event. He had a short break before the afternoon activities get underway.
Greg says the mix of U.S. and international visitors has worked out great and the event is a success. Many of our international guests commented that the “cowboy spirit” they’ve experienced is just what they hoped it would be. Greg says he’s caught that spirit too. Sounds like a lot of hats and boots are going home from this conference.
So listen to my chat with Greg to hear how this year’s event has been going. Just click on the audio player below.
The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired. Subscribe so you can listen when and where you want. Just go to our Subscribe page.
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Time flies when you’re getting close to an event as exciting as the AG CONNECT Expo, who just celebrated its one year anniversary of “existence”. What does that mean you wonder? Last year the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) announced the first ever AG CONNECT show on January 13-15, 2010 in Orlando, Florida. This international show is designed for agriculture industry professionals to share global agricultural ideas and management trends. Participants will be able to interact with exhibits of the latest industry innovations, products and technology as well as a participate in a comprehensive education program and extensive networking opportunities with industry experts worldwide. And what better time for producers to head to Florida then just before they begin to prepare for Spring planting.
The Ag Media Summit was a perfect place for me to catch up with Charlie O’Brien, V.P. of Ag Services for AEM and find out the latest news about AG CONNECT and to learn why everyone should be there.
“It’s really an opportunity to bring agriculture together in one place. They have an opportunity from a trade show perspective to see the latest and greatest innovations and technologies that are available in agriculture. We also have a full complement of education that’s going on. We have more than 50 educational sessions that are available to the attendees. Those are trying to bring out the latest and greatest of what’s happening in agriculture. Agriculture is used whether its precision farming or farm management or succession farming. And we also have the opportunity for networking.”
Everyone who participated in A Media Summit had the opportunity to meet hundreds of journalists from around the world and AG CONNECT will be a great place for them to learn more about global agriculture. You can get more information about AG CONNECT and register at www.agconnect.com.
IFAJ/AMS 2009 Photo Album
You can listen to the full interview with Charlie O’Brien here:
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It's time to thank our farmers and ranchers for all their hard work to feed us.
