Ben and Jennifer Moore of Tennessee won the Achievement Award, which recognizes young farmers and ranchers who have excelled in their farming or ranching operations and exhibited superior leadership abilities.

Heather Barnes of North Carolina won the Discussion Meet, where participants are evaluated on their ability to exchange ideas and information on a predetermined topic.

Andy and Ellie Holt of Tennessee won the Excellence in Agriculture Award, which recognizes young farmers and ranchers who do not derive the majority of their income from an agricultural operation.

All the winners receive their choice of either a 2012 Chevrolet Silverado or 2012 GMC Sierra, courtesy of GM and paid registration to attend the 2012 AFBF YF&R Leadership Conference in Grand Rapids, Mich., in February.

Photo courtesy of AFBF.

AFBF 93rd Annual Meeting Photos

A coalition of agricultural commodity groups and farmers from Maryland, Pennsylvania and Delaware are reaching out to consumers in Washington DC by launching the Mid-Atlantic Farmers Feed US.

“The Mid-Atlantic Farmers Feed US program is a tremendous opportunity to introduce the region’s consumers to the hard-working men and women who raise healthy, nutritious and affordable food,” said Charlie Arnot, CEO of the Center for Food Integrity. “We need to show that even though our systems have changed and our use of technology has increased, the farmer’s commitment to do what’s right has never been stronger.”

Open to residents of those three states and Washington, D.C., the program will offer consumers the chance to win one of four “Free Groceries for a Year” sweepstakes prizes, while introducing them to 10 of the region’s farmers. The diverse group of farmers includes producers of livestock, poultry and eggs, grains, vegetables, watermelons and even mushrooms.

Since July 2009, Farmers Feed US has been connecting farmers and consumers in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Minnesota and Illinois. During that time, those programs have accounted for more than 1.35 million consumer sweepstakes registrations, with each one introducing consumers to farmers from their state. Additionally, the program has built a consumer “opt-in” list of more than 85,000 consumers in participating states, who have requested on-going communication on farming and food, as well as social media platforms on Facebook and Twitter with more than 20,000 likers and followers.

“It is sit down, one on one with that farmer and make recommendations that fit that producer’s risk tolerance, risk profile and needs at that time,” said Cory Winstead, Senior MaxVisor Representative.

MaxVisor is a service of AgriVisor, an agricultural advisory firm that is part of the GROWMARK family of companies. “We have multiple different silos, or bins, that are part of AgriVisor,” Cory says, from research and pricing strategies, to crop insurance and brokerages service relationships. MaxVisor specifically includes hedge accounting and professional services with timely and frequent communications updates by email, text and audio reports.

Cory says AgriVisor is owned 51% by GROWMARK and 49% by Illinois Farm Bureau, but anyone can take advantage of their services. “You don’t need to be a GROWMARK customer, or an FS customer – you don’t even need to be a Farm Bureau member to be a part of us. If you’re a farmer who has some needs or questions about the market – that’s what we’re here for.” Cory adds that they have customers from Ohio to Kansas, and Canada to Alabama.

To find out more about MaxVisor, Cory says there is a link on the side bar of the AgriVisor home page that takes you to a free trial sign up page – no risk, no obligation – just to check it out. What do you have to lose?

Find out more about MaxVisor in my interview with Cory here: Cory Winstead Interview

The knowledge that you are supporting the National Agricultural Hall of Fame and our ability to honor the American Farmer and help educate all who visit about the past, present, and future of farming Special Recognition for Farmers: Let us know if your contribution is in honor/memory of a farmer and we will be sure to place your brick in our walkway specifically designated for farmers. The Ag Hall of Fame is funded solely through private and corporate donations generated through admission, special events, and event rentals.

And don’t forget the 2012 ZimmComm Ag Events Calendar!

I got a notice from the casting company looking for “the hardest working women in America to celebrate the tough women who aren’t afraid of disgusting, terrifying, or even backbreaking labor. Women who are proud to be Wonder Women!”

They gave a few examples – mining, roofing, hanging from scaffolding, installing power lines, deep sea fishing, fighting fires, working in sewers, slaughterhouses – but not farming or ranching! I think ladies of the ag persuasion need to apply and show these folks the real Wonder Women of this world!

The application form can be found at wonderwomencasting.com.

I interviewed one of those researchers, Dr. Mike Owen, during the NAFB Trade Talk in the Syngenta booth. He says his role was to investigate the issue of herbicide resistance. He says the information basically reinforces what most people already knew about the impact of using glyphosate resistant crops with glyphosate to the exclusion of a lot of the other tools in the agricultural toolbox. He says farmers are still in denial about this issue. They need to diversity in weed management! You can find a number of links on this subject posted by Dr. Owen here.

Listen to my interview with Dr. Owen here: Interview with Dr. Mike Owen

According to a release from Syngenta (pdf) on this subject:

U.S. consumers and society benefit from atrazine and other triazine herbicides by up to $4.8 billion per year, due to increased yield as well as decreased producer costs and reduced soil erosion, according to new studies released today in Kansas City.

In addition, the U.S. economy benefits from atrazine and other triazine herbicides by as much as $22 billion over a five-year period. Benefits to farmers and consumers from the triazine herbicides include increased corn, sorghum and sugar cane crop yields, lower weed-control costs, significantly reduced soil erosion and less carbon released into the atmosphere. Atrazine and the triazine herbicides account for as many as 48,000 American jobs in corn production alone.

You can watch the AgriTalk program with all the researchers, as they share highlights of the new data, documenting atrazine’s impact on weed management, crop yields and jobs.

2011 NAFB Convention Photo Album

The study was carried out in Brazil, India, the United States, Germany, Spain and France in cooperation with the global market research firm Synovate GmbH and Professor Dr. Ulrich Oevermann, Professor for Sociology at the University of Frankfurt.

Both farmers and consumers view farming as a vocation, one that is dedicated to providing nourishment, supporting rural culture and caring for the land. “Steward of the land” or “Caretaker of the land” is farmers’ favorite self-description in all six countries (over 80%), but registers significantly lower with consumers (50-60%). In a related question, many consumers blame farmers for environmental problems, with concerns strongest in Brazil, India and France (38-43%), the U.S. and Germany (23%).

Around 80 percent of farmers and consumers from all countries agree that farming’s primary objective is to feed the world. Consumers show a high level of interest in farming (from 84% in India to 50% in France), but also admit that they do not know enough about farming to judge it properly. The price of food and, conversely, the price of conservation remain obstacles for both farmers and consumers.

Click here to read more from the full study.

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.”

Juli Paladino, FS PARTNERS retail energy administrator in Ontario, helped develop the use of this communications technology for Pursuit of Maximum Yield corn and soybean plots. “So, you’re at a Pursuit of Maximum Yield site, you’re going to scan it and it’s going to take you right to information on our field trials,” she explains. That information can include seed information, treatments, planting dates and even audio updates tailored specifically to that particular site.

As smartphones become more prevalent, people are becoming more familiar with using QR codes to get information, but Juli says they have actually been around for a while. “Originally they were developed in 1994 by Toyota in Japan to track parts,” she said. “It’s been a very commonplace technology in Japan and Asia.”

While consumers in the United States has been slower to adopt the use of QR codes, Juli says farmers are quicker to pick up on new technology. “Farmers are at a higher rate than the general public to be adopting mobile phone technology. They’ve got the smart phone and they’re ready to use it.”

FS PARTNERS used the QR codes at plots in Ontario this year and Juli expects to see more widespread use of the technology at the Pursuit of Maximum Yield plots in the Corn Belt next year. The Pursuit of Maximum Yield is an FS Green Plan Solutions on-farm discovery program geared toward increasing yield per acre to meet the demands of a growing world population.

Listen to or download my interview with July here: Juli Paladino Interview

“I sign this pledge to show support for the dedicated, hard-working farmers and ranchers of America – large and small – who provide a safe, nutritious, and affordable food supply for me and my family. I understand and respect the importance of both protecting our food security and ensuring consumer choice for future generations.”

You will find the pledge here.

“American Hoggers” is a new original real-life series that follows the Campbell family and their struggle to rescue Texas residents and ranches from the devastating chaos caused by millions of invasive wild boars. As you may know, these ferocious hogs can be deadly to humans and animals alike, and can destroy acres of precious farmland in just one night! American Hoggers premieres on Wednesday, October 19 at 10/9 Central.

Meet the Campbells: Jerry Campbell has been hunting hogs “since Moby Dick was a sardine,” but nowadays it’s a family affair. Daughter Krystal “Pistol” Campbell & son Robert learned from the best, and now they help their dad hunt wild boar all over Texas.

The Illinois Soldiers have educations and backgrounds in agronomy, plant and soil science, forestry, engineering, pest management, zoology and hydrology.

Be careful out there!

The survey results will play a key role in guiding discussion of today’s Food Dialogues. You can watch these town hall meetings online and use the #FoodD hashtag on Twitter to follow along and interact with the conversation. One of the panelists is Rick Stott, Executive Vice President, Agri Beef Co. I visited with him yesterday to learn how and why he got involved and what he hopes the event will accomplish.

Rick says that his company has been interested in becoming more open with consumers for many years and thinks the industry should too. He says that there has been a “cloud of unknown” within the ag industry that has “fundamentally allowed other people to tell our story.” He says they have yet to have a negative experience with anyone who has visited their operations. As a result of their own interests he believes what USFRA is doing is very important and that is why he got involved. He says the dialogue concept of the town hall meetings will allow for two way communication and he hopes to see a tremendous amount of interest in watching and participating. Using the internet as the vehicle to make it all happen just makes sense to him. One of the exciting things to him for using this communication platform is that the information will be “filtered” far less than would have been the case just using traditional media channels. He hopes this will make the dialogue healthier.

You can listen to or download my conversation with Rick here: Rick Stott interview

The conversation with the dairy operators covered just about every topic you could imagine from genetics to marketing. I recorded part of a conversation with reporters in which I asked about their thoughts on the Canadian supply management system (more on that later). You can listen in on that Q&A here: Claynook Farms

I also recorded a video clip with part of the discussion too.

2011 IFAJ Congress Photo Album

From Main Street to MTV, everyone is talking about food. Unfortunately, this conversation does not often include the people who grow it. CommonGround Conversations creates a space for America’s farm families, and the people who support them, to share the story. Here, we have a meeting ground that will let you discover the values and hard work that underlie our nation’s abundant, safe harvest. Help us share our story! By submitting photos of yourself, family and friends waving at the camera, join your voice with like-minded people to open a national dialogue saying, “Hi! I support farmers. Let’s talk about how we grow our food.”

Learn More About CommonGround

You can listen to a portion of Kevin’s remarks here: Kevin Smith Potato Grower

2011 IFAJ Congress Photo Album

I received an email a few weeks ago from the guy who built the tool for a comparison engine called “Find the Best,” and also FindtheData.org.

Woody Robinson is a recent graduate of the University of California Santa Barbara who now works for FindTheBest, which he describes as “an objective, socially curated comparison engine that allows you to find a topic, compare your options and decide what’s best for you.”

He says that not only is the crop comparison tool “pretty fun to play around with,” it can also offer farmers some insight into crop production in various regions of the country. “Using data from the USDA, crops are compared using several categories (state, county, harvested, production, yield, etc). These categories can also be filtered to narrow crop search results,” Woody says. “It does provide an interesting perspective for the diversity of American farming.”

Check it out here.

The estimate for corn production this year is now 12.5 billion bushels, down 3 percent from the August forecast but still more than last year and would still be the third largest corn crop in history. Yields are expected to average just over 148 bushels/acre, however, the lowest in six years. Meanwhile, soybean production is forecast at 3.09 billion bushels, up 1 percent from August with yields expected to average 41.8 bushels per acre, up 0.4 bushel from last month. That’s still less than last year, but at least the crop is not suffering as much as corn from the heat.

World Soybean Yield Champion and Rock Star Kip Cullers describes his corn crop in southwest Missouri this year as “horrible at best.” His first 4,000 acres averaged just 23 bushels an acre.

However, Kip says his soybeans actually look pretty good. “Soybeans are a lot more forgiving. They bloom 75 days so basically you got 75 days to mess up and 75 days to redeem yourself.” Kip was on stage at the Pioneer tent at Farm Progress Show talking about his grand champion soybean yield strategies.

Listen to or download my interview with Kip here. Kip Cullers at FPS 2011

2011 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

“The focus is really local,” says Curt Clausen, Pioneer agronomy sciences director. “It’s really about local crop management, innovation and knowledge.”

Pioneer is doubling the number of ATMs currently in the field to over 40 in the next three years. “This is the next level of service to our customers,” Curt said during the Pioneer press conference at FPS.

Listen to Curt’s press comments, introduced by Pioneer’s Jerry Harrington, here. Curt Clausen of Pioneer

One of the real live Pioneer ATMs out in the field is Jake Vossenkemper from the Decatur area, who says growers have hundreds of agronomy questions that they want answered. “They want to do the best job they can just like everyone else and our job is to step in and help them answer those questions,” Jake says.

Jake says Pioneer has been performing some specific experiments in certain regions, like an intensive soybean management experiment to look at factors that have been shown to consistently increase soybean yields. “Some of those factors include seed treatments, foliar applied pesticides and fungicides, as well as planting date,” he said.

Listen to Jake’s comments here. Pioneer ATM Jake Vossenkemper

2011 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

“We take care of about 225 acres that we use for combine and tillage tune up and then Tuesday and Wednesday during the shows we have demos out there,” David told me.

They partner with GROWMARK FS on the field plots. “They keep an eye on it all year, whether it’s crop scouting, fungicide treatments, genetics,” David said. “They take the worry out of our hands, we’re doing the labor but they’re doing all the stuff to make sure it’s the best crop it can be.”

It has been a challenging year for the corn crop. “We didn’t plant until maybe the 10th, then it got flooded out and then we didn’t have another drop of rain after that,” he said. “All things considered, to still have 110-115 bushels yields, that’s pretty good.”

Listen to or download my interview with David here. FPS Field Demo Host Farmer David Brix

2011 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

Basically, Trellis approached Bedford for a product material to make their unique growing system that was designed for midwest growers. Bedford’s reinforced plastics product is custom made and designed to resist corrosion and aging, making it ideal for blackberry growing. Trellis has sold systems throughout the country including some of the largest growers in the industry. In the midwest they’ve sold systems into Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky and other states.

Besides selling their systems Trellis provides a full meal deal that includes consulting and advice, setup, product selection and even marketing. They’ve also partnered with Bedford on several farms of their own! What better way to talk farming to a farmer than being one yourself?

You can listen to my interview with Richard and Shannon here. Interview with Bedford/Trellis

2011 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

“The GROWMARK system started under the auspices of Illinois Farm Bureau years ago, so we’re kind of the parent of the organization,” said ILFB president Philip Nelson at the cooperative’s annual meeting last week in Chicago. “It’s been successful, they continue to grow in all regions of the country providing goods and services that farmers utilize.”

Phil conducted the nomination and election of new directors for GROWMARK during the business session. Five of the cooperative’s 16 director seats, established by geographic zone, were elected and will serve three-year terms. Bob Phelps of Rockton, Ill., who has served on the GROWMARK Board since 1997, David Watt of Murrayville, Ill., and Matt Heitz of Farley, Iowa were re-elected to the board. Jack McCormick of Ellis Grove, Ill., and Kim Fysh of Thamesville, Ont. were elected to first terms on the GROWMARK Board.

You may recall that when President Obama visited Illinois this month, Phil was able to challenge him about the regulations being considered by the federal government that could make it more difficult for farmers to do their jobs. “We’re not asking for a favor but we need some common sense or you’re going to regulate what we think is the biggest industry in the country right out of production,” Phil said he told the president. “I think the president addressed the question somewhat but I think it shows that we need to get further engaged with the EPA so that they better understand what they’re doing.”

I also asked Phil about the crops in Illinois this season – listen to or download the whole interview here. IL Farm Bureau President Phil Nelson

2011 GROWMARK Annual Meeting Photos

I spent a few minutes with Dan Kelley, Chairman of the Board and President of GROWMARK, prior to the opening reception Thursday night about what value-driven means to GROWMARK. “The GROWMARK system has historically been recognized for having a high standard of ethics and we carry that into customer responsiveness and being able to satisfy our customers’ needs and hopefully exceed their expectations,” he said.

Dan says it has been a very good year for GROWMARK and agriculture in general. “Agriculture has been one of the stellar industries in this economic downturn over the last 2-3 years,” he said. “We have now recorded our best seven years in the history of the GROWMARK system, which is 84 years.”

Dan operates a grain farm in partnership with his two brothers and son, and he says it has been a challenging growing season for the Midwest, so every bushel counts. “I’ve heard yields from almost zero, in the low 40s, to as high as 240,” and that’s just in McLean County, where Dan farms in Normal and where GROWMARK headquarters are located in Bloomington.

Listen to my interview with Dan Kelley here. GROWMARK President Dan Kelley

2011 GROWMARK Annual Meeting Photos

Listen to my conversations with Michele and Amanda in this week’s ZimmCast: Agvocacy 2.0 Conference

While the conference was taking place, local news outlet, The Tennessean, had a crew come by and they did a story about what was going on that I thought you might enjoy. It’s titled, “Got a question about your food? Tweet your Farmer.”

2011 AgChat Agvocacy 2.0 Conference Photo Album

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.

The vicious backlash over the Iowa Cy-Hawk series football trophy, sponsored by Iowa’s corn growers, might be one of those times – or it might not. The trophy shows an Iowa family together after a day on the farm, the farmer husband kneeling before his wife and children with a bushel of corn between them. It was designed by the Iowa Corn Growers to represent “the people and characteristics that are uniquely Iowan.”

It was immediately and almost universally condemned as the “worst trophy in sports.” Trophy chatter Twitter and Facebook just intensified over the weekend and once Governor Branstad commented Monday that he thought they “could do better” it was obvious that something had to be done. Iowa Corn representatives along with University of Iowa and Iowa State University officials will be holding a press conference Tuesday at 2 pm central in Johnston to talk about the situation and it is likely that some kind of modifications to the trophy, if not a complete redesign, will be announced.

Most of the criticism is based on the fact that the trophy has no football on it. Some of the comments have been humorous and some have been mean, but many of the sports writers seemed to be careful to point out they were not anti-farmer, like The Gazette in Cedar Rapids – “Yes, we are corn. Yes, we are farmers. And thank the heavens we are. Many of our families have lived it and we continue to live it every day in our state. We celebrate that every day. The Cy-Hawk Trophy should be about football, the game and the players.”

The question is whether this publicity will ultimately be positive or negative, because the whole purpose of the corn growers sponsorship of this high profile state rivalry is to remind Iowans about the importance of farming and corn. Had this been your basic sports trophy with maybe a football on top of a bushel of corn, the story would have gotten some state coverage and mentions in the college sports media. Instead, it literally went viral. I’m sure someone can calculate the number of mentions of this trophy in traditional and social media and it has to already be huge, and it will continue to have legs for some time as the college football season gets underway.

There have been positive comments about the trophy, like this one on the Iowa Corn Facebook page – “This will turn out to be a HUGE WIN for Iowa Corn and the CyHawk series.” It could very well happen.

“We’ve been doing this for five years now and each year the conservation tour gets better,” Tim told me at the end of the tour in northwest Ohio. “We hear from farmers who are really dedicated to instituting conservation practices to make sure that the majority of nutrients they apply in the field stay in the field.”

Listen to my interview with Tim here: Tim Healey of AGROTAIN on CTIC Tour

The tour had a record number of participants this year, over 200, and many of them were farmers who had the chance to learn about conservation practices from other farmers. During time on the bus, Tim did an interview with one of the farmer participants, Gerald Heck of Monroe, Michigan.

Tim asked Gerry why he decided to come on the tour. “Couple of reasons,” Gerry answered. “The opportunity to gain more knowledge about conservation tillage and the six CCUs also were a nice incentive since I’m a CCA.” Gerry says he does use continuous no-till in some fields. “Started no-tilling back the late 80s, with soybeans, then wheat and finally corn, as the equipment became available,” he said. “We moved to no-till to save on fuel and wear and tear on our iron.”

Listen to Tim’s interview with Gerry here: Tim and Gerald Heck

CTIC 2011 Conservation in Action Tour Photos

After I spoke with Ken and Brad, Sara Steever, Paulsen Marketing, took her turn (photo). I think you’ll enjoy hearing this father/son team talk about working together and transitioning from one generation to another. Brad has taken an increasingly active part in managing the farm while Ken is enjoying some “down time” and being a consultant to Brad. I hope Brad’s paying a good rate for the advice. We also covered topics like information channels they depend on and social media. Brad says it’s “internet and magazines” with the internet definitely in the lead. Ken is an iPhone/iPad guy who recently bought Brad an iPad!

Listen to my conversation with Ken and Brad in this week’s ZimmCast: Generations On The Farm

The ZimmCast ends this week with some music from Music Alley. It’s “Regenerations” by Ritchie Hernandez. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

NAMA Boot Camp 2011 Photos

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.

Tom says it was very interesting to hear what types of media influenced these farmers. One thing that came through loud and clear was how important local information is. They want to know how information or news relates to them. He says that one of the farmers on the panel still has dial-up internet access but the others had good service and rely heavily on their smartphones for information. When it comes to that old fashioned media he says that print was a very important to them and radio too. Basically, what he heard backed up research that has been done.

You can listen to my interview with Tom here: Tom Hudson Interview

I also spoke with one of the farmers on the panel, Jimmie Long, Cole Camp, MO. Jimmie is a cattle buyer and has a cow-calf operation. Jimmie explained to the group that radio ads that are “catchy” get his attention as well as nice colorful mailers and print ads. I think the takeaway is that good creative works! He says they will often see an item they want to purchase but then they’ll get home and research it on the internet. When it comes to his smartphone, he uses it a lot and checking weather is at the top of the list. He would like to get a tablet btw.

He was surprised at how many people in the audience did not have an ag background. He was shocked that no one asked him about DTN and it never came up in the discussion since it is still so important as a source for real time markets.

You can listen to my interview with Jimmie here: Jimmie Long Interview

2011 NAMA Boot Camp Photo Album

“Our water infiltration rates for heavy rains, we can definitely see an improvement in the quantity of rain water we can accept and not have standing water or running water off the service,” he said. “That’s the biggest improvement we see is soil health and soil quality.”

Listen to my interview with Todd here: Ohio No Till Farmer Todd Hesterman

To show the clear difference between tilled and no-till soil, USDA-NRCS Ohio state agronomist Mark Scarpitti did a little demonstration on Todd’s farm by dropping a chunk of soil that had been in no-till for several decades, compared to a similar chunk of tilled soil. You can see what happens in the video below.

CTIC 2011 Conservation in Action Tour Photos