The primary purpose of AgNite was to showcase and educate attendees about agriculture.
What better way than to have your state FFA officers on hand? One of them was Sydney Place who is Minnesota FFA State Reporter. Sydney had an exciting day because she not only attended AgNite but it was also her first day of college. She says,
“It is such an exciting time to be a part of agriculture right now. There are some challenges and some things that need to be worked on in agriculture right now but the exciting part about being an agriculturalist is you have the opportunity to find solutions to those problems.”
Listen to my interview with Sydney here:
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Be sure to check out the AgNite Photo Album for 200 pictures from the event.
The potential for increasing yields exists everywhere if you ask Michael Doane. Michael is the Sustainability Team Lead for Monsanto. He spoke at the Monsanto discussion on sustainability on the 2008 Farm Progress Show last week. After his speech, I caught up with him and we spoke more about how he thinks the world will answer the global food demands of the future.
While Michael says a big portion of global food needs will be met in developing countries that have a huge potential for improving crop yields, he says there is still a lot of opportunity for increasing yields in the already yield-efficient U.S. Modern technology such as biotech, Michael says, means farmers in the U.S. still have a landscape that’s wide open with opportunity.
“If you just look at some of the yields that have been achieved in some very optimized conditions, it suggests that we’ve got a long ways to go before we’ve tapped yield potential [in the U.S.],” Michael said. (more…)
There is a group of indigenous people in Honduras that live off an average of $300 a year… less than one dollar a day. At least two months out of every year they starve. That’s the reality as Billy Collins sees it. Billy has been working with the Chortí Maya, the direct descendants of the Mayan Indians, for five years.
I met Billy in Copán Ruinas, a charming town in Western Honduras not far from the Guatemalan border. The small, cobblestoned town is “base camp” so-to-speak for visiting Honduras’ famous ancient Mayan ruins. That’s why I am here: to see the ruins. But, it’s been three days and I have yet to explore them. Instead, I’ve been exploring the harsh realities of the Chortí Maya, realties that Billy, his wife Mary and a handful of others are committed to changing. And, they’re making those changes largely through agriculture. I spent an entire day with Billy touring villages of adobe huts with straw roofs, bumping and bouncing along dirt roads consistently washed out by the wet season’s frequent rains to get to them.
While Billy and his wife are involved in more than a handful of projects with the Chortí, their SALT project, or Sloping Agricultural Land Technology, is among one of the biggest. It’s a project that’s aimed at training the indigenous people how to cultivate their rolling, mountainous lands more efficiently and successfully. Through a double hedgerow terracing technique, Billy says the Chortí Maya can double, even triple their current crop yields.
“We give them enough to plant like a half acre, enough seeds,” Billy said. “I’m talking about seeds for their terracing. We use leguminous seeds to terrace. We use the A-frame to mark out how terraces should go and then they plant it… We want to stop water long enough to let it drop the soil, let plants get taller, this soil will get higher and they’ll have good soil. In three to four years, if they do this right they can double their harvest.” (more…)
If you’re an AAEA member you probably know Fred Myers. If you’re not, then you can get to know him online via his new website, For Ag Journalists.
This website is the latest of many contributions I have made to agricultural journalism, much of it through the American Agricultural Editors’ Association (AAEA). Take a few minutes every month to look at what I have prepared. I hope you will enjoy the reading as much as I enjoy the writing.
But this isn’t only about me. It’s about all of us and about our profession and our lives. So I encourage you to share with me your thoughts, comments and any news you believe others should know. I will then post them. You can either be identified with them or contribute in anonymity. I will honor your choice.
Afterward, the now past national President, Matt Splitter and new President, Katy Teixeira, visited Agwired in the BASF Media Room. Katy says that they’re going to work on their website this year.
I’m hoping that if they come to my advanced blogging session this afternoon, they’ll get motivated to develop some new media tools for ACT online.
You can listen to my interview with Matt and Katy here:
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Changing the African vision from one of short-term pay-offs to that of long-term success was one of the key issues for panelists at the “Education and Knowledge Building in Animal Agriculture” breakout session. The session was one of fifteen being offered at the 2008 U.S. Africa Agribusiness Forum. The workshop, sponsored by Novus International, featured a panel of experts that addressed the needs and means for improving education and first-hand know-how for creating “robust agribusiness value-chains” throughout Africa.
And, robust agribusiness in Africa is a very real possibility offering real opportunities if you ask Dr. Jerry Nelson. Jerry is a professor of plant sciences at the University of Missouri-Columbia and served as the panel moderator.
“Africa probably has the most agricultural potential than anywhere we’re looking at right now,” Jerry said.
Thad Simons, the president and CEO of Novus International highlighted the ultimate goal: “providing safe and secure food all over the world.” He added that performance and sustainability were critical for realizing that goal.
The panelists looked at how to drive that performance and sustainability in Africa. Sergio Beliver, sales manager for Europe, Africa and Middle East at Novus International, stressed the importance of education. He said Africans need to be educated not only in the processes, management and technology needed for modernizing Africa’s agricultural industry but also in long-term vision. He says farmers need to be taught to recognize the value in a more secure future instead of looking for quick pay-offs in the present. That’s something Dave Harlan, director of Global Animal Health & Food Safety at Cargill Inc. also stressed.
“It’s not about capturing a high price, but locking in a price that people can live on,” Dave said.
Dr. Shaukat Ali Abdulrazak, secretary National Council for Science and Technology in Kenya, also echoed Sergio’s call for more education. Shaukat said his country needs personnel that is both educated and trained in modern farming techniques, management and the development of necessary infrastructure. He conceded that one major challenge is “short-sighted politicians” who only consider programs that fall within the parameters of the term they serve in parliament. He says politicians in Kenya tend to have an agenda that expire when their term expires.
But, Shaukat says Kenya does have government initiatives and national development plans that should attract investors. He stressed that leaders in the public and private sectors of both the U.S. and Africa need to work together to build off of the positives that already exist. Shaukat says leaders and experts need to “make lemonade out of the lemons we have.”
Tasir Olawale Raji, the permanent secretary with Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, agreed. He said its crucial for African countries to move with other developing countries throughout the world, so Africa won’t be left behind. And, to do that, Tasir said leaders and experts need to focus on those that are already on the job in Africa, building upon “already acquired experience.”
Jerry highlighted the critical agricultural “lemons” so-to-speak that countries throughout Africa need to work on including land, water, electricity, energy and marketing. Jerry said African countries must develop the needed infrastructures and the continent’s agricultural industries must exists within those infrastructures. The continent should work as a larger unit to develop a strategy planning mission with each country, Jerry said, offering its own unique approach and contribution.
The entire panel discussion is available here on AgWired.com. You can listen to the discussion in two parts here:
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We had two Under Secretaries talk to us here today. It was my first time to meet our USDA Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics, Gale Buchanan. He was here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference to talk about the need for research in a growing bio economy. In fact, he sees a need for a tremendous amount of research to address the opportunities presented by the whole energy picture.
He also talked about how impressed he was at last week’s Bio Energy Awareness Days in Washington, DC where 35 different universities made presentations.
You can listen to my interview with Gale here:
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Wisconsin’s largest outdoor farm show now has ample seating for attendees. As part of a lesson in mass production, Wrightstown High School Tech produced 50 park benches in one day. The benches will be used at the 2008 Wisconsin Farm Technology Days held July 15-17, 2008, at Country Aire Farms.
“These benches were hand made out of treated lumber – 2 x 6s and 5/4-inch deck boards,” explains Youth Committee Chair Marty Nackers. “The park benches will be used during Farm Technology Days for seating in the stage area of the Youth Tent.”
Each bench is for sale as a fund raiser for the Brown County show organizers. The cost is for $50 per bench and they must be picked up the last day of the show, Thursday, July 17, between 4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. Orders will be filled while supplies last and payment is due on or before July 10.
A $1 million grant from John Deere will fund the development of a new John Deere Technology Innovation Center at the University of Illinois. Illini students and faculty will use the center for studies and research in agriculture, business, engineering and information technology.
The new facility, which is expected to be ready by July, is located in the
University Research Park in Champaign, Illinois and will create an accelerated
innovation environment to assist Deere in utilizing advanced electronics, mechatronics,
advanced sensors and control systems technology.
Deere said the new technology innovation center in Champaign will expand its
capabilities to respond to the rapidly changing environment for John Deere’s customers
and businesses through leveraging the capabilities of the University.
John Deere says the new center will serve as a satellite facility for the company’s Moline Technology Innovation Center, which is located on John Deere’s World Headquarters campus in Moline, IL.
Precision agriculture training at Iowa State University just got a boost.
Today, Ag Leader Technology announced their commitment to support students interested in precision agriculture by establishing the Ag Leader Technology Precision Agriculture Scholarship within the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering (ABE) at Iowa State University. Five Ag Leader scholarships will be awarded annually starting in the 2008/2009 school year.
“Ag Leader has benefited from the knowledge and expertise of many graduates from ABE at Iowa State University,” says President of Ag Leader, Al Myers. “Our goal is to enhance students’ awareness of, and interest in precision agriculture so they are prepared for the ever-changing agriculture industry landscape.”
The Milk Processor Education Program has named its 2008 SAMMY Award winners. Twenty-five teens are receiving the $7,500 Scholar Athlete Milk Mustache of the Year Award. A record-breaking 65,000 students entered the contest.
The winners are unsurpassed when it comes to top-notch performance in academics, athletics, community service and leadership.
The 2008 SAMMY Award winners will join a distinguished group of fellow SAMMY alumni and celebrities in the Milk Mustache campaign who serve as inspiring role models to teens across the country.
Winners will receive a $7,500 college scholarship and join Michelle Kwan and Avery Johnson for an award ceremony and induction into the SAMMY Hall of Fame at The Milk House at Disney’s Wide World of Sports(R). Each of the 25 winners also will grace the pages of the USA Today on June 27th with their very own special-edition Milk Mustache ad, joining the ranks of Milk Mustache celebrities from Rihanna and Taylor Swift to Vince Carter and Michael Strahan.
The SAMMY scholarships are given once a year to 25 college-bound high school seniors. Information for the 2009 SAMMY Award program is available online.
I’m enjoying some coffee and a relaxing morning here in Lincoln, NE and getting ready to wander around the HayMarket Farmer’s Market in a few minutes. The Michael Peterson, My Real Life Tour, will conclude this evening with a big performance at the Pershing Center. Hopefully, it will continue again this fall. If you or your company is interested I’m sure they’d love to have some more sponsors.
Yesterday I got to Lincoln Southwest High School to shoot the bus on the way in. I mis-calculated the direction they’d take but did get this short video clip.
This morning the Michael Peterson, My Real Life Tour, put on a great show for the students at Lincoln Southwest High School. We had thunder and lightning outside and an awesome show inside. You can click on the photo for a bigger one.
You can get a pretty good sense of what these tour stops are like at the schools from the photo album which has over 200 photos in it so far and some of the video clips I’ve done. The final school stop will be later this afternoon.
Tomorrow I’ll be attending the final performance which is a full show at the Pershing Center. All the events during this week have been promoting it and leading up to it.
After dinner I got to talk to Mark about his new position and what he thinks about this marriage of Army and agriculture touring together and inspiring communities like Lincoln. He thinks it’s great. In fact, everyone I’ve spoken with after seeing Michael’s show have said the same thing.
You can learn more about the Ag Research Center in my interview with Mark which you can listen to here:
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Another part of the audience at the schools where My Real Life Tour stops is the faculty. As you can see, they get into it too.
The Principal of Grand Island Senior High School is Kent Mann. I spoke to him before the show yesterday and he was really looking forward to it. He said his only fear was how to top this next year. He also says that his son worked for years for my sponsor, New Holland, before returning to farming full time. It’s just another example of how much of a connection there is to agriculture with what Michael’s doing with the Army.
You can listen to my interview with Kent here:
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After the show I interviewed Kent again in his office, this time with video. I think he found the show to be all he expected.
When it comes to gauging how well students receive the My Real Life Tour message it’s best to hear it from them. The auditorium was packed at yesterday’s event, including the upper level seating.
I asked several of them after the show at Grand Island Senior High School what they thought of the program and here’s what they said.
Michael Peterson is helping young people get real in their life. He’s on the “My Real Life - Strong for America Tour” and I’ll be joining him this week in Lincoln, NE. During the week I’ll be posting frequently from the various events taking place on this last leg of the current segment of the tour.
I spoke to Michael today about the tour and got a preview of what we’re going to experience this week. It sounds to me like a great opportunity for companies and organizations to get involved to support our youth who will be tomorrow’s leaders. You can click on the picture for a larger one.
A Real Life Tour stop is a week long event that includes multiple school assemblies like the one you see Michael in above. It’s all about reaching the students and as you can see from this picture, they love Michael. In fact, from what Michael’s told me the activities that make up an assembly program really hold these kids attention.
This week’s program ends with a little bit of Michael Peterson performing “Down on the Farm.” I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.
You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast 171 (18 min MP3)
Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:
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The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired which you can subscribe to using the link in our sidebar. You can also subscribe in iTunes
AgWired coverage of My Real Life Tour is sponsored by:
Country Clover is a new CD made by the National 4-H Council. It’s “Songs From Famous 4-H Alumni” featuring artists like Sugarland, Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire and many more. I got a copy when I interviewed Anarosa Garcia, Corporate Development Manager, National 4-H Council, at the recent NAMA Convention. Proceeds from the sale of the CD will benefit the activities of 4-H.
Anarosa tells us about 4-H today and how they’re continuing to have strong membership with a goal of adding about 1 million youngsters. You can hear all about the organization and Clover Country in the following video interview.
This is one in a series of interviews we conducted in partnership with AgriMarketing Magazine and exhibtors in the NAMA Connection Point.
Crazy faces for Crazy Wings. Student competitors from Iowa State University are in the spotlight before NAMA judges as we speak, or shall I say as I type, presenting what they hope is a winning pitch for Crazy Wings, a pork version of the chicken drumstick.
I spoke with the Iowa State Marketing Team Director Josie Rudolphi (pictured second from left) just before the students headed into their final pitch and asked them about their product and what it took to get this far into the NAMA competition. You can listen to my interview with Josie here.
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A big part of the NAMA Agrimarketing Conference is the student chapter marketing competitions. For this year’s “Leading the Charge” event, students from Virginia Tech have chosen to promote Blue Ridge Apple Chips for a company based out of Western Virginia. Team member Josh Stephens (pictured shaking hands far right) touts the apple chips as a healthy, on-the-go snack for busy-bodies living in the fast track… like us bloggers.
You can listen to my interview with Josh here, where he explains why his team chose Blue Ridge Apple Chips. He also comments on what he’s learning through the NAMA experience… and he’ll tell you, marketing isn’t easy.
But then, that’s why we are all here at the NAMA Agrimarketing Conference isn’t it…
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Cindy attended the AEM AgExecutive Forum in St. Louis and captured it in photos.
Dairy Expo Talk
This week's program features a couple of interviews from World Dairy Expo.
First up is Stephanie Gable, who talks about her new job with Novus International, then it's Lindsay Hill, who talks about the new website and brand decisions at ABN Radio.
The primary purpose of AgNite was to showcase and educate attendees about agriculture. 
and 
The potential for increasing yields exists everywhere if you ask Michael Doane. Michael is the Sustainability Team Lead for 
There is a group of indigenous people in Honduras that live off an average of $300 a year… less than one dollar a day. At least two months out of every year they starve. That’s the reality as Billy Collins sees it. Billy has been working with the Chortí Maya, the direct descendants of the Mayan Indians, for five years.
While Billy and his wife are involved in more than a handful of projects with the Chortí, their SALT project, or Sloping Agricultural Land Technology, is among one of the biggest. It’s a project that’s aimed at training the indigenous people how to cultivate their rolling, mountainous lands more efficiently and successfully. Through a double hedgerow terracing technique, Billy says the Chortí Maya can double, even triple their current crop yields.
If you’re an 
The 
We had two Under Secretaries talk to us here today. It was my first time to meet our USDA Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics, Gale Buchanan. He was here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference to talk about the need for research in a growing bio economy. In fact, he sees a need for a tremendous amount of research to address the opportunities presented by the whole energy picture.
A $1 million grant from 
Precision agriculture training at Iowa State University just got a boost.
The new Director of the 
Another part of the audience at the schools where My Real Life Tour stops is the faculty. As you can see, they get into it too.
When it comes to gauging how well students receive the My Real Life Tour message it’s best to hear it from them. The auditorium was packed at yesterday’s event, including the upper level seating.
A Real Life Tour stop is a week long event that includes multiple school assemblies like the one you see Michael in above. It’s all about reaching the students and as you can see from this picture, they love Michael. In fact, from what Michael’s told me the activities that make up an assembly program really hold these kids attention.
A big part of the NAMA Agrimarketing Conference is the student chapter marketing competitions. For this year’s “Leading the Charge” event, students from Virginia Tech have chosen to promote Blue Ridge Apple Chips for a company based out of Western Virginia. Team member Josh Stephens (pictured shaking hands far right) touts the apple chips as a healthy, on-the-go snack for busy-bodies living in the fast track… like us bloggers.
This week's program features a couple of interviews from World Dairy Expo.
