Barbra Streisand, also known as Jodie Wehrspann, Farm Industry News, made a guest appearance at our opening reception party. Doesn’t she look gorgeous in her red and pearls? Since it is our 10th industry of the Ag Media Summit she had a special performance of “The Way We Were.” The reality is that none of us are just exactly the …
AAEA Update
John Walter, Agriculture Online, is President of AAEA and he’s got a lot to smile about. After today’s board meeting he told me that the organization is very healthy and that it’s been a pleasure for him to preside over continued growth in membership and sponsors. Topics discussed at the meeting include, new member benefits like professional development webinars, new …
Digital Cattle News Pioneer
Rob Cook is one of the digital pioneers in agricultural communications. He now works for Vance Publishing overseeing CattleNetwork.com. Rob and I sat down for a conversation about CattleNetwork.com and the Vance acquisition while we were attending the Cattle Industry Summer Conference. His family has been in the cattle business a long time. He says that about 7 years ago, …
Cattlemen Finish Up In Denver
The Cattle Industry Summer Conference is over. It’s been a great week of cowboys, steaks and following the grass roots process of the work of the NCBA and CBB. Helping me wrap up my coverage is CBB Chairman, Dave Bateman. I want to thank CBB for once again having me in as their Beef Board Blogger. I spoke to Dave …
Baxter Black Is Environmentally Friendly
In a highly applauded encore appearance, Baxter Black, entertained at the CBB annual dinner. Baxter is the voice of Checkoff producer communications radio spots. He says it’s very important for producers to know what’s going on with their investment. One observation he made when I spoke with him is how things get done here. He says it’s stunning to him …
Beef Quality Assurance Awards
The first ever winners of the BQA Award were announced today. Quality. It’s not only a word written in an instruction manual but a responsible action – one must live it and then teach it. That was the underlying theme this week as two producers were honored with the national Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) award, created to recognize outstanding beef …
Joe Schuele Says So Long
In a real show of gratitude, we allowed Joe Schuele, USMEF, to attend the media reception here at the Cattle Industry Summer Conference. We even let him say a few words. We did it because we appreciate all his hard work in the media room for years. Joe let us know how much he enjoyed doing it and said that …
Educating Children About Animal Agriculture
Inspirational speaker and writer, Rebecca Long Chaney, is working on a series of agricultural education books for pre-schoolers and elementary school children. Here she’s seen with her exhibit at the Cattle Industry Summer Conference. The book she’s promoting will be available through her website soon. This first book, which she had for sale, is written from the perspective of her …
Beef Budget Blues
Tom Ramey, CBB’s CEO sure has his hands full dealing with some challenging times for the Checkoff. This morning he made a presentation at the second general session of the Summer Conference. You can listen to his presentation below. I also interviewed Tom and found out that there are two main issues of special importance to the Checkoff here at …
Farmers Find Student Expert at Mobile Greenhouse
One of Monsanto‘s Mobile Greenhouse “Street Team” representatives is a student from Purdue. Daniel Stauffer is a Field Sales Intern for Monsanto and is one of the experts farmers and growers at the Michigan Ag Expo can grill about Monsanto’s new Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybeans. Daniel says one of the most exciting attributes of Monsanto’s “next generation” soybeans is …