The recent surge in profitability within the agriculture sector is giving farmers and ag companies a bit of room to breath. But, Monsanto says, just a bit. Michael Doane, Monsanto’s Sustainability Team Lead says that with profitability comes responsibility: a responsibility for the agricultural climate of the future. There are big questions, Michael says, that begged to be asked, and, hopefully, answered. How do we meet the growing demand? How do farmers fit into the growing needs of the recent future? What will the world look like for our children? Will it be a world, Michael asked, that has a lot of pressure on its resource base?
“We’re going to have to produce more food on the same acres between now and 2050 then we’ve produced in the last 10,000 years combined,” Michael said. “That’s pretty substantial. That’s going to get us to twice the level of annual food production in 2050 versus today.”
Michael says responding to such demands is a responsibility that must be shared throughout the ag sector. But, he says, Monsanto is eagerly doing it’s part to help.
“This conversation about sustainability kind of hit us right between the eyes,” Michael said. “We went out and started talking to a lot of people about agriculture; and what doing more with less would look like; what would be important there.”
Ultimately, Michael says, Monsanto’s goal is to make farmers more productive and, consequently, more financially successful.
“Our goal is to make every farmer we serve better off the next year than they were the previous year,” Michael said.
And, Michael says, that goal is meant to benefit farmers all over the world.
“In developing countries we think we also need to do that,” Michael said. “So, we’ve committed to helping 5 million resource-poor farmers, who are simply trying to feed their families, do that.”
But, as much as Monsanto recognizes its role in securing the future of farming and the future of feeding the world, the Michael says finding long-term, sustainable solutions will be a team effort.
“It’s going to be the ‘we’ collectively that does this,” Michael said.
You can download and listen to Michael Doane’s entire speech at the 2008 Farm Progress Show in Boone, IA here:
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If you’re planning on traveling with a horse then you might want to check into the advice and help of some experts. The experts at Horse Travel Network. This is a new venture which was just announced at the National Appaloosa Show. They’re not tied to just one breed either by the way.
Mark Hardy is the President of Horse Travel Network. This morning he and I sat down and wound up talking far longer than I think we planned but he’s an interesting guy and this new venture sounds like it’s got some great potential. One of the things I find most interesting is how they’re totally internet based and have already got over 700 people signed up and it’s brand new! Word of mouth is working for them big time. The site will include advice, forums, blogs and of course, listings. It’s going to take advantage of some social networking applications which are really popular today.
The Horse Travel Network is a new sponsor of the Appaloosa Horse Club and offering their members a special deal right now of a free membership.
The program this week ends with music from the Podsafe Music Network. In the spirit of traveling I chose “Travel Ditty Guitar” from Acoustic Rosh. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.
You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast 177 (13 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
Cindy got to see Michael Peterson perform on Friday night but I got to see Callaway perform on Saturday night. She did a benefit concert for support of Appaloosa Youth Association activities and was a big hit with the young audience.
She played a full set of songs with her band and showed why she’s an up and coming star.
The ring was opened up so that everyone could come down out of the stands and get up close and personal. It took a little coaxing but once Callaway got started most of the crowd moved on down.
You can watch Callaway perform one of her songs in this video:
One thing I don’t think you’ll ever find me doing is calf roping. I may as well jump off a building as a horse after roping a calf. That is, if I could even swing the rope and ride at the same time.
These guys make it look like a piece of cake though. It’s still relatively early here in Jackson, MS but they’ve been out here at it since 7:30am. In fact, I think they start that early every day for 2 weeks.
The first week here is mostly the youth show with adults starting today. I’ll be around until about midday on Monday so you can expect more from here.
I don’t mean the golf company. Maybe you don’t know Callaway yet but I do. She’s a very young singing star and will be performing tonight at the National Appaloosa Show.
She’s on the left in case you didn’t figure that out. I’ll let you figure out who’s on the right.
Callaway will be performing a benefit concert for the Appaloosa Youth Association programs. She’s from Madison, MS but lives now in Nashville. Callaway is 16 years old and has been touring with the legendary Sam Moore.
I asked her if she liked horses and she loves them. She’s impressed with how kind the people are she’s met here and good at what they do.
You can listen to my interview with the Callaway here:
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The Riata Ranch Cowboy Girls are performing at the National Appaloosa Show for two nights. According to Executive Director, Jennifer Nicholson, they’ll be doing their choreographed lasso dance and acrobatic trick riding.
This morning I got to talk with them so in the interview you can hear from each of the girls here, ages 9 to 17, with Jennifer in the middle. Jennifer says they normally have about 15 to 20 girls a year who are in the program full time not counting others that participate in various clinics.
You can listen to my interview with the girls here:
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Post Update: The girls performed tonight at the show and you can watch some of their acrobatic trick riding in this video:
Riata Ranch was created in 1957 and became a unique riding school for young people combining horsemanship and character development – a concept that was well ahead of its time. The program provides an opportunity to learn about our western heritage while gaining valuable life lessons. An interesting and fun atmosphere is created while maintaining discipline and direction for an effective learning environment. The quality of instruction is designed so that each student gains a positive set of values of which to guide them through the rest of their lives.
Our vision is to prepare young people for the world’s challenges in a manner that ensures their success & contributes to the happiness of everyone who are fortunate enough to meet them. The training will benefit the whole person, body & soul, through a balance of intellectual, physical, artistic & moral lessons. The ranch’s enduring principles will become so internalized that each rider will forever measure his or her choices against the Riata Ranch philosophy.
This week’s ZimmCast is a little late I know but I wanted to wait until I got to Jackson, MS and the National Appaloosa Show so we could learn about how they’ve handled a major move to a new city with a show that’s been held in another location for a long time.
So this week you can hear Appaloosa Horse Club Executive Director and master blogger, Steve Taylor, tell us all about it. Steve is pictured on the right of the ring announcer.
He says the plan to make the move started before he joined the organization 2 years ago. Some of the reasons for the move included making sure they’re getting the best bang for their buck and allowing some new people in a different part of the country to have an opportunity to participate that couldn’t before.
Steve says the move also allowed them to look at how they’re marketing the show. He says they’ve received very good coverage from local media and that the organizational members themselves have been doing a great job of word of mouth. While they’re here in Jackson, his staff and members are doing a lot of local shopping and they’re even making sure they personally invite community members to the show.
The Appaloosa Horse Club also has its own magazine, website, blog, e-newsletter and during their shows they have one or more live webcams.
You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast 176 (14 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
One of the questions I get asked very often is, “How can you make money with new media?” If you read AgWired often then you probably have a good idea of some of the ways that can happen.
But let’s say you’re a membership organization like the Appaloosa Horse Club and you’ve got a blog. What can you do with it besides use it as one of the most effective communications tools you’ve got? Sell sponsorships!
That’s what the ApHC has done. You can see Featherlite Trailers is one of their sponsors of Appaloosa Blog Spot. Now if that’s not cool then I don’t know what is. We built their blog and did some initial training and they’ve take off with it. It’s got great regular content, including some event content I still produce for them a couple times a year. I’m sure Steve Taylor would be willing to share his experience as a CEO blogger with you.
In an attempt to overcome numerous challenges and what amounts to an economic crisis in several segments, members of this state’s horse community today announced the formation of the Ohio Equine Industry Coalition (OEIC). The organization, designed to include all breeds and disciplines, will represent an industry which accounts for an over $1.4 billion goods and services impact on Ohio.
“In today’s Ohio, more kids are growing up on concrete than on dirt and kids are more likely to learn about computer programming than animal sciences,” said acting Steering Committee Chair Dr. John Mossbarger. “The OEIC is a critical step for the horse industry to tell its story to a wide audience.”
Facing issues such as increased environmental regulations, sale prices bottoming-out, a lack of large-animal and equine veterinary practitioners and development encroaching on riding trails, it will be critical for the equine industry to present a united front.
This week you get to learn about equine photography through an interview with Karen and Larry Williams, Larry Williams Photography. I met them at the World Championship Appaloosa Show and really enjoyed seeing how their system works. They take a lot of pictures and have to manage them through backups and uploading to their website for sale. Watching Larry work with horses shows that he’s got a lot of patience!
The program concludes this week with music from the Podsafe Music Network. This week’s song is “Hot Doggin” by the Deerfoot. I’ll be going on my annual deer hunt in a few days so I was glad to find them.
You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast 143 (11 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
Last night’s program included a short show by Diana Olson who is President of the Arizona Cowboy Mounted Shooters Association. She has a beautiful horse and just in case anyone was nodding off after a long day she woke them up.
Thanks to Steve Taylor and his staff at the ApHC for working with me and having come spend a couple days blogging there show.
I grew up in Sarasota, FL near where the famous Lipizzaner Stallions had a facility so I got to see this move quite a few times. Last night here at the World Championship Appaloosa Show this move got a big “ooh” from the crowd and I just happened to be ready to take a picture.
This was right before the Rope Race Invitational while each contestant was being auctioned in a Calcutta to raise money for Appaloosa youth scholarships. If you don’t know what a rope race is then you’re missing some excitement. Basically the contestants race to a wire that has ropes dangling from it where they have to grab one. The problem is there’s one less rope than contestants. So in each heat the number of contestants drops by one until only one person with a rope is left. You can watch the first heat on YouTube:
I know a lot of you are like me, “not very horsey.” But you work at a show like the World Championship Appaloosa Show and you can get pretty horsey real fast. How many of you know what a reining competition is? Quick show of hands. That’s what I thought. So watch this video clip and then you’ll have an idea
If you need your boots shined at the World Show then “Storming” Norman Miller is your man.
I got mine done earlier today and had a little chat with the shine king. He says he’s been doing this for the ApHC for at least 15 years and about 53 years all together locally. I asked him how many shines he’s done. He says that there’s 5,280 ft. in a mile and he’s shined a lot of miles! He handled my interview with him like the professional he is.
You can listen to my interview with Storming here:
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It looks like the World Show will be in Ft. Worth for some time to come. Today the Appaloosa Horse Club signed a new 5 year contract with the city of Ft. Worth. Looking on just after the signing are ApHC representatives Steve Taylor, CEO and Eric Beené, President along with Ft. Worth City Councilmen.
I attended the signing and recorded their comments which you can listen to here:
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After the signing there was the traditional exchange of gifts. The ApHC guys got some very nice leather bound note pads.
Steve Taylor brought along an Idaho (ApHC Headquarters state) favorite, Huckleberry Mead. The way the Ft. Worth City Councilmen were eyeing the bottles of mead I know which gift will last longer than the other!
You never know who you’re going to run into when you’re out doing some agriblogging. For example, I got to sit down with actor Barry Corbin yesterday at the World Championship Appaloosa Show. He recently completed an award winning short film titled, “Trail End.” The movie stars a great Appaloosa horse. On the left is Tony Nix, owner of the horse in the middle, Chippen Gold (”Chip”). On the right is Barry Corbin. Barry’s starred or guest-starred in too many movies and tv series to list.
I spoke to both of them after yesterday’s screening of the movie here at the World Show. Barry says the horse was the star and he only played a supporting role. He says about Chip, “He supported me but I supported him. It was kind of like a partnership.” In my interview you’ll hear Barry describe the movie and talk about his other experiences in the acting world. I asked him for some behind the scenes stories from making Trail End but all he could really say is that he had a good time and that it was, “Like a week and a couple days of a trail ride.”
You can listen to my interview with Barry here:
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When I spoke to Tony he says that he got involved after someone at the ApHC made a connection to him when the movie company called seeking a horse in Kansas. He says that Chip was great and showed that an Appaloosa (even an 18 yr. old one) can star in a movie. He also thinks it might be pretty cool if someone would need him to star in a movie too.
You can listen to my interview with Tony here:
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It’s been an interesting afternoon here at the 2007 World Championship Appaloosa Show. As you can see one of the rings is busy. They’re just about to wrap up the last show in time for tonight’s World Show Sale.
I spoke with Appaloosa Horse Club board member Chuck McWhirter about the sale since he’s one of the main organizers. He says that they’ve got some great horses lined up and now all they need is some buyers. That would be nice if you want a successful sale.
It is Halloween and the good thing is that I’ve found candy everywhere so I’ve got my chocolate fix.
You can listen to my interview with Chuck here:
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I will not be in costume. I’ll be working at the World Championship Appaloosa Show in Ft. Worth, TX. Besides being able to read all about it on the Appaloosa Blog Spot I’ll have posts here on AgWired as well.
In case you’re interested you can also watch arena action via the Appaloosa Live Web Cam. This picture is taken from the one in John Justin Arena this evening.
In the meantime, Appaloosa Horse Club CEO, Steve Taylor is showing his blogging skills on Appaloosa Blog Spot at the show. Check out what a CEO can do if he wants to. He should provide you with some inspiration. I know there’s some CEO’s reading this. I’ll be giving him a break though for the couple days he’s bringing me in to help out.
I don’t know where you’re spending your Halloween but I’ll be at the 2007 World Championship Appaloosa Show in Ft. Worth, Texas. I hope they’ve got candy.
This year’s show has some interesting features like a Chocolatey Challenge ATV Giveaway and a free screenings of the award winning short film , “Trail End,” starring Emmy-nominated actor Barry Corbin.
So to get yourself in the mood you can hear all about it from Appaloosa Horse Club CEO Steve Taylor. He covers the whole program.
You can listen to the interview with Steve here:
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Combines, tractors and 4-wheelers aren’t the only thing you can test drive here at the Farm Progress Show.
You can also test drive a quarter horse thanks to the American Quarter Horse Association. I didn’t get to watch for long but it looked pretty sedate to me. No racing going on out here today.
Just test rides like these and horse handling demonstrations.
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 recent surge in profitability within the agriculture sector is giving farmers and ag companies a bit of room to breath. But, Monsanto says, just a bit. Michael Doane, Monsanto’s Sustainability Team Lead says that with profitability comes responsibility: a responsibility for the agricultural climate of the future. There are big questions, Michael says, that begged to be asked, and, hopefully, answered. How do we meet the growing demand? How do farmers fit into the growing needs of the recent future? What will the world look like for our children? Will it be a world, Michael asked, that has a lot of pressure on its resource base?
and 
If you’re planning on traveling with a horse then you might want to check into the advice and help of some experts. The experts at 
Mark Hardy is the President of Horse Travel Network. This morning he and I sat down and wound up talking far longer than I think we planned but he’s an interesting guy and this new venture sounds like it’s got some great potential. One of the things I find most interesting is how they’re totally internet based and have already got over 700 people signed up and it’s brand new! Word of mouth is working for them big time. The site will include advice, forums, blogs and of course, listings. It’s going to take advantage of some social networking applications which are really popular today.
Cindy got to see Michael Peterson perform on Friday night but I got to see Callaway perform on Saturday night. She did a benefit concert for support of Appaloosa Youth Association activities and was a big hit with the young audience.
One thing I don’t think you’ll ever find me doing is calf roping. I may as well jump off a building as a horse after roping a calf. That is, if I could even swing the rope and ride at the same time.
I don’t mean the golf company. Maybe you don’t know 
The 
Steve says the move also allowed them to look at how they’re marketing the show. He says they’ve received very good coverage from local media and that the organizational members themselves have been doing a great job of word of mouth. While they’re here in Jackson, his staff and members are doing a lot of local shopping and they’re even making sure they personally invite community members to the show.
One of the questions I get asked very often is, “How can you make money with new media?” If you read AgWired often then you probably have a good idea of some of the ways that can happen.
It’s time for the agriblogger to hit the road home. The 
I grew up in Sarasota, FL near where the famous 
If you need your boots shined at the World Show then “Storming” Norman Miller is your man. 
It looks like the World Show will be in Ft. Worth for some time to come. Today the 
After the signing there was the traditional exchange of gifts. The ApHC guys got some very nice leather bound note pads.
You never know who you’re going to run into when you’re out doing some agriblogging. For example, I got to sit down with actor Barry Corbin yesterday at the World Championship Appaloosa Show. He recently completed an award winning short film titled, 
It’s been an interesting afternoon here at the 
I will not be in costume. I’ll be working at the 
I don’t know where you’re spending your Halloween but I’ll be at the 
Combines, tractors and 4-wheelers aren’t the only thing you can test drive here at the Farm Progress Show.
This week's program features a couple of interviews from World Dairy Expo.
