It’s a much more upbeat attitude at this year’s World Pork Expo in at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines. National Pork Producers Council President Sam Carney, a pork producer from Adair, Iowa, welcomed members of the media this morning and says they are expecting much bigger crowds than they’ve seen in the last couple of years because of …
China Perspective On CUTC
The Corn Utilization and Technology Conference has international participants. We have quite a few from China. I had an opportunity to speak with Li Bin, CEO, Xin Jiang Tianda Biotechnology Co., Ltd., pictured here with Linyi Li, Novozymes China, my interpreter. Thank you Linyi! I asked him what stimulated his interest in participating. He says that corn utilization in China …
BASF Welcomes Ag Media to Summit in Chicago
Chuck is with corn growers in Atlanta, John and Joanna are covering the Pork Expo in Des Moines, while I am toughing it out with my dear friends from BASF and some of the nation’s finest agricultural journalists in the sumptuous Trump International Hotel and Tower Chicago. I am seriously thinking I got the best job this week! Pictured are …
Info, Food and Fun at World Pork Expo!
It’s World Pork Expo eve (that’s a holiday, right?), and we’re here in Des Moines, Iowa to keep you up-to-date on all the news from event. This evening as producers, industry leaders and media converge on Central Iowa in anticipation of the next three days of information, I caught up with Cindy Cunningham, Assistant Vice President of Communications with the …
CUTC Encouraging New Uses For Corn
It looks like we have nearly 300 people attending the 2010 Corn Utilization and Technology Conference. I sat down with NCGA President and South Dakota corn farmer, Darrin Ihnen, this morning and we talked about the need for this kind of conference. Darrin says CUTC brings out ideas that are still in the development stage while helping the industry come …
Fluidigm Introduces First Reusable Bio-Chip
Fluidigm Corporation held a joint press conference this morning with the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service to announce their new reusable bio-chip architecture which is a first for the commercial market. These reusable integrated fluidic circuits (IFCs) will dramatically lower SNP genotyping costs and are designed to support accelerated sample throughput, while maintaining data quality of 99.75 percent or greater accuracy …
Ag Research Key To New Green Revolution
I previewed the keynote address to open the Corn Utilization and Technology Conference earlier today. Now here’s the full comments from Dr. Gale Buchanan, former USDA Chief Scientist and Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics. Dr. Buchanan was introduced by NCGA President, Darrin Ihnen, and I’m also posting his welcome message. During the next couple days I’ll be doing …
The CUTC Keynote Will Focus On Ag Productivity
This is the welcoming committee here at the Corn Utilization and Technology Conference. Actually, our keynote speaker at this afternoon’s opening general session, Gale Buchanan, former USDA Chief Scientist and Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics, just happened to be registering at the same time I was. Gale is always happy to help anyone so I got a pre-CUTC …
The Antique Tractor Show
Antique tractors are a passion for Michael Hinton. He decided there needed to be a good resource for people who share that passion so he started The Antique Tractor Show. This website is meant to be a place to find information and to enhance the effort he’s teamed up with Frazier Dailey who has Antique Tractors Forum. The Antique Tractor …
Corn Crib Baseball Makes Frontier League Commish Happy
The Commissioner of the Frontier League, Independent Professional Baseball, is Bill Lee. Here’s Bill making some opening remarks prior to the first home game of the Normal CornBelters in the Corn Crib. I spoke to him about this new franchise and what he thinks about the support of Illinois Corn Growers. Bill says it’s a wonderful thing because it’s a …