Alltech Young Scientist Global Scholarship Winners

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Chuck

Alltech announced the winners of their Young Scientist competition during today’s afternoon session. In addition to regional winners there are two global winners (graduate and undergraduate). Altogether there were 8,000 entries in the competition! Presenting the awards were Dr. Mark Lyons and Dr. Inge Russell.

The Global Undergraduate winner is Gisele Greghi, Universidade Sao Paulo, Brazil. Listen to Jamie’s interview with Gisele here: Interview with Gisele Greghi

The Global Graduate winner is Qian Wang, University of California-Davis, USA.

The Alltech Young Scientist Award brings together the world’s brightest scientific thinkers from colleges and universities across the globe. To compete for the top prizes, undergraduate and graduate students are asked to register and submit a scientific paper on an agricultural topic such as veterinary science, animal feed technology, agricultural developments or agriculture management.

Listen to Jamie’s interview with Qian here: Interview with Qian Wang

2012 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

The Farmer of the Future

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Jamie

During the Marketing Forum at the 2012 Alltech International Symposium, Dr. Dwight Armstrong, Chief Executive Officer for the National FFA Organization, answered the question, “Who is the farmer of the future?” The FFA works with 500,000 potential youth farmers to help fill the need for young agriculturalists.

The National FFA Organization is dedicated to making a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education.

Dr. Armstrong highlighted the FFA’s efforts to make career success a priority for its future members, current members and alumni.

“The farmer of the future is an individual who can step forward and supply technology, business and science into farming because farming is far more complicated and complex then it has been in the past, but certainly we hope the 500,000 FFA members that are involved in agriculture education and FFA will be the farmer of the future.”

Dr. Armstrong is a former FFA member from Kentucky and served as the 2005 chairman of the National FFA Foundation Sponsors’ Board. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Murray State University and his master’s degree and Ph.D from Purdue University.

Listen to the complete interview with Dwight Armstrong here: Interview with Dwight Armstrong

2012 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

College Aggies Online Scholarship Winners

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Chuck

The winners of the College Aggies Online Scholarship are attending the 2012 Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit. Here they are from Casper College with their adviser, Marty Finch. The college team was presented a check by Animal Ag Alliance Chairman Chris Ashworth and and Kay Johnson Smith, President/CEO.

I visited with the students, Kaycee Carpenter, Trinity Holland and Jessie McClellan. I asked them to tell us about the College Aggies program and what being here means to them and why they are such strong supporters of agriculture.

You can hear my interview with our scholarship winners here: Interview with Scholarship Winners

2012 Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit Photo Album

Thanks to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and United Soybean Board for their sponsorship of our coverage of this year’s Summit.

Iowa State Student NAMA Wins Marketing Competition

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Chuck

The announcement of the student NAMA team that wins the annual marketing competition at the annual Agri-Marketing Conference is always so emotional. There are smiles, cheers and tears. And you even find them on the students too!

This year the winning team is the Iowa State University Student NAMA team. I did not get to be involved in the team competition much this year so somebody needs to help me out and add a comment about what their product was. Sorry, I just did not get notes of that. However, I did capture the winners on video. Think they’re excited?

The other winners included:

2nd place – University of Minnesota,

3rd place – Kansas State University,

4th place – University of Wisconsin-Madison,

5th place – Arizona State University,

6th place – University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign.

2012 Agri-Marketing Conference Photo Album

National Ag Hall of Fame Season

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Chuck

ZimmCast 346 It’s actually called the National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame which was “chartered by Congress to honor the American farmer.” According to NACHOF Executive Director, Cathi Hahner, their season kicks off on April 19.

“As spring approaches, we are ready for the new season of sharing about the importance of agriculture in daily life,” said Cathi Hahner, NACHOF director. “We invite everyone to learn more about where food comes from and experience our one-of-a-kind features such as historic machinery, farming related exhibits or exploring FarmTown USA.”

I spoke with Cathi about the 2012 season which she says offers, “a full line-up of events with seasonal favorites like spring Barnyard Babies for families and children, as well as the fall Linemans’ Rodeo featuring worldwide electric workers.”

Thousands of people visit the Center which sits on a 164 acre site next to Legends Outlet Mall and Kansas Speedway in Bonner Spring, Kan. The Center relies on dues, donations, facility rental and visitor fees since it doesn’t receive any state or federal money.

Listen to this week’s ZimmCast here: 2012 National Ag Hall of Fame Season

Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsors, GROWMARK, locally owned, globally strong and Monsanto, for their support.

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.

Youth In Ag Groups Attending National Ag Day Activities

Posted on March 8, 2012 by Chuck

One of the best parts of National Ag Day Activities is seeing and meeting all the young people who attend. Most are receiving support to come to Washington, DC through the organization they belong to. We have a lot of blue coats here for example.

I met two of them this morning and asked what brought them to the events. They are high school FFA members who applied at the urging of their adviser. They’ve been here two days so far and they feel like they’ve learned a lot, including how to do interviews. I think you’ll find they do a good job of that!

Listen to my interview with these FFA members here: Interview with FFA Members

2012 National Agriculture Day Activities Photo Album

Coverage of the 2012 National AgDay Activities is sponsored by the American Seed Trade Association

National Teach Ag Day First Ever Live Stream

Posted on March 7, 2012 by Chuck

I am on my way to National Agriculture Day activities which will be taking place tomorrow. Here’s another event you might want to check out being held again this year. It’s National Teach Ag Day which is being celebrated on March 15 and it includes a live stream event.

The agriculture program at Buena Park High School in Buena Park, Calif. has been selected as the site for the first ever national Teach Ag Day celebration to be streamed live online.

Anyone logging in on March 15 will be able to watch an agriscience class in action, as well as follow along on a program tour. Participants will get an insider’s view of the agriculture department’s state-of-the-art agriscience lab, large animal pavilion, greenhouse, farm store, 350-tree orchard, and facility that houses 200 laying hens.

Events will also include a panel of agricultural education experts answering questions via Twitter, Facebook and email, plus greetings from National FFA Central Region vice president Alicia Hodnik.

Visit http://www.naae.org/teachag/live2012.php for information about how to log on and ask questions via social media and email.

National Teach Ag Day is a component of the National Teach Ag Campaign, an initiative to bring attention to the career of agricultural education, get students thinking about a possible career in agricultural education, and to support current agricultural educators in their careers.

The Teach Ag Campaign is an initiative of the National Council for Agricultural Education, led by the National Association of Agricultural Educators (NAAE). It is sponsored by the CHS Foundation and Landmark Nurseries as a special project of the National FFA Foundation.

Foundation for Agriculture Book of the Year

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Cindy

Presenting accurate information to children about where their food comes from is the goal of the 2012 American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture “Book of the Year” – “How Did That Get In My Lunchbox? The Story of Food.”

afbf book of the year Author Chris Butterworth received the Foundation’s fifth annual “Book of the Year” award during the recent AFBF annual meeting. The book shows young readers how each ingredient made its journey to their lunchbox with illustrations by artist Lucia Gaggiotti that highlight many aspects of farming and include information on food safety and nutrition.

Butterworth, a native of England, is the author of more than 70 nonfiction books for children, covering a diverse range of issues.

“There’s always something else to find out about, and writing about a thing is the best way to find out about it,” said Butterworth. “I started writing information books when my own children were little. I couldn’t find the sort of book I wanted them to read, so I wrote one of my own.”

The Book of the Year award is part of the foundation’s effort to identify “accurate ag books,” a data base that now includes more than 400 books for children, teenagers and adults. In addition to their accuracy, Book of the Year selections are educational, reflect farmers’ and ranchers’ love for the land and what they do, create positive public perceptions about agriculture, inspire readers to learn more and touch their readers’ lives as well as tell the farmer’s story.

National FFA Meets With Secretary of Agriculture

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Chuck

I have a concern about this announcement from the FFA.

With more than 100,000 new farmers needed over the next few years, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack issued the young leaders of the National FFA Organization a challenge in 2011. “I would like you to with your fellow students and the adult leadership of the organization to develop a series of recommendations around the upcoming Farm Bill that will encourage more young people to pursue careers in farming,” Vilsack said.

It was a challenge that the national FFA officer team for 2010-11 took seriously. The students immediately began work- framing key questions, consulting FFA members, engaging leaders in agriculture, compiling input and formulating recommendations.

Okay. On the surface it looks and sounds nice that the government wants to do something to encourage youth in agriculture. We certainly do! But . . . Here’s more from FFA. I’ve highlighted section that immediately drew my attention and comment below.

“Never before had we been invited to submit direct input to the Secretary of Agriculture that could enhance the ability of agricultural education and FFA to help students succeed and strengthen American agriculture,” said Riley Pagett, national FFA President, 2010-11. “We were honored to be invited to be a part of this process.”

In December 2011, the 2010-11 national officer team met with Sec. Vilsack to share their recommendations which fell under four main categories. Those are: Getting started in production agriculture; creating vibrant rural communities; who should care about agriculture and why; planning for the future.

Items that were recommended were as follows: USDA and other agencies should encourage and assist beginning farmers to start or continue in production agriculture; USDA should help transition farms from older related and non-related farmers to younger of beginner farmers who may not come from a farm; USDA should help keep young people in rural communities and make rural communities an even more important part of our nation’s economy and society; USDA should support efforts to increase the public’s knowledge of agricultural literacy; USDA should strengthen the capacity of agricultural education o produce more students that pursue production agriculture and other agriculturally related careers and the USDA should provide authority, responsibility and support for school-based agricultural education and FFA.

So, FFA student leaders, everything you mention here is all asking USDA to do something for you. As in “USDA should . . . ” Where’s the money for that going to come from? Are you sure you want more involvement fromt he government in your business or potential business? I think it’s great that the Secretary invited you in but I’d urge caution before you ask for too much, if anything. I think you’d be better off talking with agribusiness leadership about stand alone private practice programs to help you get established in farming or make transitions on your farm. These things are being done. I think most agribusiness companies would be quite willing to talk with you about that. Then maybe we wouldn’t need the government to “take care of us.” What do you think?

Make Learning Mobile With Float

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Chuck

ZimmCast 335 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 companies like GROWMARK, Pioneer and Bayer. He says, “There’s a great amount of demand in the marketplace to put the right information in the right people’s hands at the right time.” He says that when growers need information they’re often away from the computer and out in the field. Examples include working with clients to put mobile and updated information in the hands of sales staff at a farm show. Tablets like an iPad or Android device are very cost effective for this purpose. In fact, Chad says mobile application development is surprisingly affordable. He says these applications are simple and do one or two things very well. Float Mobile uses a S3D Process with their clients which means Strategy, Design, Develop, Deliver. He says they work quickly since the whole mobile device world is changing rapidly today.

To learn more about Float Mobile Learning listen in to this week’s program: Float Mobile Learning

Check out their 2012 predictions for the Mobile Landscape on their blog.

Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsor, GROWMARK, locally owned, globally strong, for their support.

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.

A FAPRI Farm Market Outlook

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Chuck

Patrick Westhoff is the Director of the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) at the University of Missouri–Columbia and a professor in the MU department of agricultural and applied economics. He was also our St. Louis Agribusiness Club speaker yesterday. I spoke with him beforehand since I had to leave early.

He says his job was to talk about why agricultural markets have been so wild the last several years and why they’ll continue to be volatile for years to come. He says one of the reasons is an “ordinary garden variety one” which is weather. Sometimes people forget that he said. He says they’re watching agricultural land markets vary carefully. And of course he mentions farm policy and the farm bill and the efforts in Washington, DC recently. When it comes to tight corn stocks he says the smallest piece of news is having an impact on markets and he expects that to continue for the next several years. Hear some more of his outlook in my interview.

You can listen to my interview with Patrick here: Patrick Westhoff Interview

St. Louis Agribusiness Club Meeting Photo Album

GROWMARK Essay Contest Underway

Posted on November 15, 2011 by Cindy

Appropriately for the International Year of Cooperatives, the theme for the 2012 GROWMARK essay contest is “Cooperatives in a Global Environment.”

This is the 19th year for the program, sponsored by the GROWMARK System and FS member cooperatives, in conjunction with state FFA leaders, to help young people develop their writing skills, learn about current issues impacting agriculture, and understand the unique role of cooperatives. This year, students will focus on three questions: What benefits do co-ops provide their member-owners? How do co-ops improve the quality of life in their communities? How do co-ops contribute to economic growth throughout the world?

The contest is open to all high school FFA members in Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin. Essays should be approximately 500 words, typed and double-spaced. The postmarked entry deadline for Iowa FFA members is February 15. The postmarked entry deadline for Illinois and Wisconsin FFA members is March 15. Additional program details have been sent to agriculture teachers and are online at www.growmark.com.

WTF? Where’s the Food. Without the Farmer?

Posted on November 3, 2011 by Chuck

Hey farmer and food lovers. Here’s a head’s up about a coordinated effort by college students to help do some agvocacy and reach out to other students to help them better understand food production and where it comes from.

Student volunteers from colleges and universities nationwide have joined the agricultural advocacy group, I Love Farmers…They Feed My Soul to promote the importance American agriculture, Thursday, November 10. Students will be on campuses asking the question, “WTF? Where’s The Food. Without The Farmer?”

Student volunteers at Texas A&M University, Oklahoma State University, University of Arkansas, Fresno State University, UC Santa Barbara, Cal Poly State University, Iowa State University, Kansas State University and Woodland College are also involved in advocating on the same day. Students will be using social media channels to share what is going on at the individual campuses. You can follow the activity on the Facebook page “NEW I Love Farmers They Feed My Soul” or on Twitter using the hashtag #WTFILF2011.

Megan Silcott, the president of the non-profit I Love Farmers…The Feed My Soul organization says, “Our goal is to create conversations about American agriculture with college students and to disseminate materials that will lead them to credible sources of information about food and agriculture.”

GROWMARK Names Scholarship Winners

Posted on September 27, 2011 by Cindy

GROWMARK is helping 35 college students from throughout the Midwest to continue their educations in agriculture and business.

GROWMARK Steve German “GROWMARK invests more than $45,500 annually on scholarships. We’re investing today for a return tomorrow,” says Steve German, GROWMARK member employment manager, pictured here at the scholarship luncheon during the recent GROWMARK annual meeting. “There’s a need for agriculture businesses to support formal education to strengthen agriculture.”

The students from Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, and Wisconsin all received GROWMARK-sponsored scholarships this year, joining hundreds more who have been helped by the cooperative over since the early 1960s. Today, they are awarded to students majoring in agriculture or accounting at 15 universities and colleges. Each educational institution is responsible for the selection process and awarding scholarships. University scholarship recipients are honored each year at the GROWMARK Annual Meeting in Chicago.

Find out who all received the awards on the GROWMARK Blog.

Illinois Commodity Groups Support Evans Endowed Chair at U of IL

Posted on September 23, 2011 by Chuck

After just seeing Jim Evans last week at the 2011 IFAJ Congress it was nice to see this large gift to the James F. Evans Endowed Chair in Agricultural Communications at the University of Illinois.

Five Illinois agriculture groups jointly announced today a more than $28,000 award to a University of Illinois joint initiative between the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) and the College of Media designed to address the growing need for effective communications in the fast-changing world of agriculture, food, feed, fiber, bio-energy and rural development.

The awards from Illinois Beef Association (IBA), Illinois Corn Marketing Board (ICMB), the Illinois Farm Bureau (IFB), Illinois Pork Producers Association (IPPA) and Illinois Soybean Association (ISA) and will be applied towards the university’s $2 million goal for the James F. Evans Endowed Chair in Agricultural Communications.

The university plans to enhance its joint agricultural communications program with a first-of-its-kind endowed chair in agricultural communications to support teaching and research in the field. The university plans to have at least three teaching positions and include initiatives in consumer and environmental communications.

“We are grateful for the Illinois agriculture associations’ willingness to support this important initiative that will benefit the university’s students in agricultural communications for years to come,” said Robert Hauser, dean of the College of ACES.

About the James F. Evans Endowed Chair

The University of Illinois Agricultural Communications Program is a dual program between the College of Media and College of ACES. In recognition of Jim Evans’ many years of exemplary service and as a driving force behind the development of the Agricultural Communications Program, the endowed chair is being established in his name. To achieve this goal, $2 million in funds are needed. To make a gift to the fund, visit http://agcomm.aces.illinois.edu/donate.

Rupert Loves Home Grown Fuel

Posted on August 10, 2011 by Chuck

His name is Rupert Boneham but everyone knows him as Rupert, winner of Survivor. Rupert is one of the folks I’ve had the pleasure to meet here at the 2011 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. In the photo he’s being interviewed on the street before the Legends Ride. I ran into him again out here where I’m staying at the Buffalo Chip Campground.

Rupert has a charitable organization called, “Rupert’s Kids” which is “dedicated to serving an easily overlooked population of youth: those that have become too old for the youth social service system, but are not old enough for the adult social service system. We teach these youth valuable skills and trades, while also empowering them to discover their inner strengths, passions and interests.” I heard him speak about the work his organization is doing and the fact that they’ve never taken any government money. That message alone was well worth bringing to your attention. With donations lagging due to the economy he’s turned to some very creative ways to create funding that includes his own branded video games.

Rupert is from Indiana and is also a big supporter of home grown fuel like ethanol, one of the sponsors of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.

Listen to my interview with Rupert here: Interview with Rupert

2011 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Photo Album

USFRA Prepares for Public Launch of Ag Movement

Posted on August 4, 2011 by Joanna

There was a great panel discussion during the General Session of the Cattle Industry Summer Conference 2011 in Kissimmee, Florida that focused on the movement being developed by the US Farmers & Ranchers Alliance (USFRA). The ultimate goal of the USFRA is to educate people about where their food comes from.

During a brief presentation by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s (NCBA) CEO Forrest Roberts, he updated the cattle producers on how the campaign is coming along. Roberts said that this is the largest agricultural communications effort of its kind and the goal is to speak with “one voice”. He said this is not a campaign, but a long-term movement that would foster a two-way dialogue with key influencers, policymakers and consumers.

During the meeting, the first phase of the campaign was officially kicked off – farmer and rancher activation. He stressed that in order for this movement to be effective, ranchers and farmers across the country would need to speak out.

Weldon Wynn, a rancher from Star City, Arkansas who is a member of the CBB Executive Committee, said there are 49 different organizations involved ranging from cattle ranchers to corn and soybean organizations to vegetable growers, and they have a budget of $10 million dollars. This has allowed them to kick off the initiative they are promoting during the conference and that is to get the consumer involved and the producer involved. Wynn said they need to learn about how safe their food is and grassroots efforts are the only way this is going to happen.

Both Wynn and Roberts stressed the importance of getting farmers and ranchers involved, which you can do here. They asked that you fill out their survey here and also sign up to be one of the “voices of agriculture.”

Listen to my interview with Weldon Wynn here: Weldon Wynn Discusses USFRA Efforts

Listen to Forrest Robert’s comments regarding the initiatives of the U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance here: Update on USFRA Beef Campaign

Photos from the conference will be posted to this photo album: 2011 Cattle Industry Summer Conference Photo Album. Check it often as we add to it over the next several days.

Agriculture Future of America at Ag HR Roundtable

Posted on August 4, 2011 by Cindy

An organization that helps prepare young people for careers in agriculture was very involved in the AgCareers.com 2011 North American Ag HR Roundtable.

I spoke with Nancy Barcus, Director of Leader Development Programs for Agriculture Future of America. “AFA works with college men and women and young professionals just entering the work force to provide academic scholarship support, career and leader development training, and assist finding intern or other work experiences to help them get into full time employment,” Nancy told me.

AgCareers.com is one of the industry partners that support AFA’s career development and scholarship program. “We’re really well aligned organizations,” Nancy says. “A lot of things that AgCareers is trying to do for the industry to understand what the needs are and bring colleges and universities to the table at a roundtable like this with employers are similar to what we do.”

Listen to my interview with Nancy here: Nancy Barcus with AFA

Nancy reminded me that Chuck interviewed her just recently at the NAMA where she was a hall monitor!

2011 AgCareers Ag HR Roundtable photo album.