Tonight on Speed Channel, Jay Leno and his former New Holland Boomer Tractor took a last ride at the Barret-Jackson auction in Scottsdale, AZ. The tractor has been working in his garage for years and became known as Lil Tug since it was used to pull his vehicles around among other chores. He drove the tractor onto the auction stage …
GROWMARK Celebrating 2012 International Year of Cooperatives
During this year that the United Nations has declared the “International Year of Cooperatives,” GROWMARK has a number of projects going on to participate. To learn about them I spoke with Amy Bradford, Corporate Communications Manager. Amy says GROWMARK has several programs underway. One of them works with their local cooperatives called, “You’re on the World Stage.” It allows them …
Make Learning Mobile With Float
In this week’s program we’re going to use the M word, as in Mobile, as in Float Mobile Learning. I just had a conversation with Chad Udell, Managing Director, about mobile learning technology and what that means for today’s agribusiness customers. Float Mobile’s parent company is the Iona Group. Chad says the company has a deep history working with agribusiness …
Agri-Marketing Conference in Jacksonville in 2014
The NAMA Executive Committee has been meeting in Jacksonville, FL at the Hyatt Riverfront, location for the 2014 Agri-Marketing Conference. This morning we got a tour of the facilities to see where everything from registration to the student competition rooms will be located. The hotel sits on the St. John River and is a beautiful location for the event. After …
AFBF President Pleased With Policy Direction
Bob Stallman of Texas was re-elected to serve another two year term as president of the American Farm Bureau Federation after a long voting delegate session to set policy direction for 2012 as the organization’s 93rd annual meeting wrapped up on Tuesday in Honolulu. The business session of the AFBF meeting lasted all day Tuesday covering a wide variety of …
Preparing For 2012 Cotton Season With FMC
During the Beltwide Cotton Conferences I visited with Gerald Simmons, FMC Southern Business Manager, about some best management practices and things to consider when preparing for this year’s crop. He says the business has changed, especially technology, but that growers should also consider some of those “old” options they have. FMC has a broad portfolio now for cotton that growers …
John Deere Cotton Harvest Module Identification
John Deere talked up its latest application for cotton growers during this year’s Beltwide Cotton Conferences. Harvest Identification Cotton will continue to automate the production of a cotton module. This is tied into the 7760 cotton picker. The application will use the RFID tags that are embedded into the module wrap. These will be captured by an RFID reader on …
Dave Barry Leaves Farmers Laughing at AFBF
Growing up in south Florida, I have been a fan of humorist Dave Barry from the time he was still just the humor columnist at the Miami Herald before he hit the big time, so it was a thrill for me to see him at the American Farm Bureau Federation annual meeting. And while he was unknown to many of …
Kruse Receives AFBF Distinguished Service Award
The American Farm Bureau Federation Monday presented its highest honor, the Distinguished Service to Agriculture Award, to former Missouri Farm Bureau President Charles Kruse. “This is a tremendous honor to receive this award,” Kruse said, accepting the award from AFBF president Bob Stallman on stage at the 93rd annual meeting with his wife Pam and current Missouri Farm Bureau president …
Vilsack Announces USDA Streamlining at AFBF Meeting
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack revealed a plan for streamlining operations and cutting costs at USDA during an address to the American Farm Bureau Federation annual meeting on Monday. “The USDA, like families and businesses across the country, cannot continue to operate like we did 50 years ago,” said Vilsack. “We must innovate, modernize, and be better stewards of the taxpayers’ …