The Chairman of the Agriculture Council of America is Dr. John Bonner, CAST. During National Ag Day activities he was busy and had the pleasure to introduce the Essay Content winners. I’ll more on that in my next post. I spoke with him about ACA and Ag Day. John says that ACA is having a great year and points out …
House Ag Chairman Lucas Addresses Ag Day
We’ve got youth in agriculture here at National Ag Day from just about every organization you can think of including the FFA. Introducing our lunch speaker today was Victor Salazar, Connecticut FFA state president. He was introduced by Orion Samuelson and I’m thinking that alone made an impression on him. But then it was his turn to do the introduction …
A Voice For Ag Day
The man with the voice no one will forget, Orion Samuelson, WGN, emceed the National Ag Day Mix & Mingle Luncheon today. I spoke with Orion before the program got started to get his thoughts on Ag Day and learn what we’ll be doing this celebrate American agriculture day. Orion says that we’ve had Labor Day to honor labor in …
Syngenta at Commodity Classic
Syngenta held a press conference at the recent Commodity Classic to discuss challenges growers have in the upcoming season and the Syngenta commitment to make their R&D investment “local” to the grower. Getting things started was Tracy Mader, head of product marketing for Syngenta Seeds. He asked the ag media how many new technologies they had heard about, seen or …
Remembering Derry Brownfield
I just received word that my very good friend Derry Brownfield has passed away. I’m kind of in shock and will update this post when I get more information. I’ve known Derry almost all of my professional career in agricultural communications and am finding it hard to imagine a world without him. This is a photo from a couple years …
Coufal-Prater Equipment Shows Green
Spending a day at a farm implement dealership is not only fun when you can drive brand new equipment but also an education. It’s also a way to get to meet new farm friends too! That’s what I did earlier this week at Coufal-Prater Equipment’s John Deere Day which was held at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock, TX. Pictured …
BIVI Offers A Triple Threat for Pig Disease Control
I learned a lot during Boehringer Ingelheim’s (BIVI) 2011 Swine Health Seminar, but maybe my biggest take away was that there are three diseases that seem to be a problem for the swine industry: mycoplasma, flu and PRRS. I also learned some other valuable information: BIVI has a triple threat for swine disease control called 3FLEX. This I learned more …
Emerging PRDC Control Opportunities
A very engaging session during the 2011 Swine Health Seminar hosted by Boehringer Ingelheim was the practitioner panel focusing on Emerging PRDC Control Opportunities. It came as no surprise that PRRS, or Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome, was a hot topic among the attendees. The three panel experts include veterinarians Mike Eisenmenger with Swine Vet Center, Tom Gillespie with Rensselaer …
Media Partnering With AgHaven
Let’s learn more about this new thing called AgHaven in this week’s program. In the photo below you can see AgHaven President, Srik Soogoor, discussing the agricultural search engine and social networking community that’s a whole lot more, during Commodity Classic. One of the board members of AgHaven is Tom Taylor, High Plains Journal. I sat down with Tom during …
What To Do If Your Pig Has the Flu
Did you know that just like humans, pigs can get the flu too? To learn more about how to treat and prevent the flu in pigs, I spoke with Tom Gillespie, DVM, with Rensselaer Swine Services. Gillespie, a veterinarian who lives in northwest Indiana, participated in the Emerging PRDC Control Opportunities Panel as part of Boehringer Ingelheim’s 2011 Swine Health …