The 4th annual New Holland/Michael Peterson Celebrity Tractor Race was another rousing success at the CMA Music Festival. Not only is it a great promotion for New Holland and a fun way for fans to see some of their favorite stars in the tractor seat, it also raises money for the National FFA.
“The tractor is going to be sold at auction this year, as it has been for the last four years, at the National FFA Convention,” Michael said. “Fifty percent of the proceeds go to the charity of the driver’s choice and the other 50 percent goes to support FFA programs.”
Michael is pictured here with this year’s winner for the second year in a row, Darby Ledbetter, who is not only a great tractor driver, but also a singer/songwriter and proud member of the National Guard! Michael is on the right, by the way, Darby on the left – and that guy in the middle is the famous host of AgriTalk, Mike Adams, who was the announcer for the race once again this year.
Here are two biofuels promoters. Chuck Leavell, Rolling Stones (left) and Joe Jobe, CEO of the National Biodiesel Board. They were race contestants in the New Holland/Michael Peterson Celebrity Tractor Race.
I caught both of them in the tent for a short interview. It was very noisy. They were having a lot of fun. Of course when I interviewed them Chuck had just completed his race. Joe says we had biodiesel in the tank of the New Holland Boomer that was being used for the race. He says, “Hats off to New Holland, Michael Peterson and Chuck Leavell.” Chuck not only supports biodiesel but ethanol as well since he’s a tree farmer and very interested in cellulosic ethanol production.
Michael Waddell is the star of Bone Collectors on the Outdoor Channel. He was one of the competitors in the New Holland Celebrity Tractor Race, hosted by Michael Peterson.
Waddell gave it a valiant effort and hopefully will compete again next year.
I don’t know how many of you have had a chance to see Michael Peterson perform. With his permission I shot a video of him singing one of his biggest hits, “Drink Swear Steal & Lie” at the Hard Rock Cafe in Nashville last night. He was being backed up by the band Stony Run.
One of the great things about the CMA Music Festival is the opportunity to meet stars of the stage. Michael Peterson introduced me to Ricochet. They were in the kickoff parade and will be competing in the New Holland Celebrity Tractor Race on Sunday.
I spoke with Troy, Greg, Heath and Robert after the parade. They said riding in the parade, “beat hauling hay.” They’ve got a new album out called “Ricochet Reloaded.”
They’re looking forward to racing tractors on Sunday since at least one of them “is an old tractor jockey from way back.” They think country music fans would be good tractor race fans. It only makes sense.
“New Holland is one of our corporate sponsors, which we are very proud to have on board, so we are happy to be here sharing a booth with them talking about horses while they talk about tractors,” says Ginger Walker, APHA director of special events.
APHA is the second largest horse breed registry in the United States with nearly 100,000 members and Ginger says they are a very exceptional horse. “The color really sets them apart, they’re basically a stock horse with color and each one is unique – no two are alike, they’re like a snowflake,” said Ginger. “They’re very fun to ride and they can do all sorts of things.”
Visitors to the New Holland/APHA booth get to play Wii games to win Michael Peterson CDs. Ginger is shown here congratulating one young visitor on his Wii bowling score.
Listen to or download my interview with Ginger here:
Hello from the Chevy Sports Zone at the CMA Music Festival. We’ve been streaming live from the New Holland booth. We’ve also got the American Paint Horse Association sharing space with us.
I was testing out our live feed in advance of Sunday’s New Holland Celebrity Tractor Race, hosted by Michael Peterson. Thanks to everyone who tuned in. We’ve got a special internet access set up that didn’t reach our tent so I was just borrowing some local bandwidth. That’s why the feed was going in and out but I hope you got a flavor of the booth. We’re looking forward to being live Sunday morning starting at 10:30am central for the race!
For the third year in a row I got to sit in the studio with Joe Jobe, National Biodiesel Board (left) and Michael Peterson (right) while they were guests on the Dave Nemo Show. This year the show is on both XM and Sirius.
They talked biodiesel and sang some songs during the show. I’ve got video that will be showing up later. Right now I’m heading downtown to see what’s going on at the CMA Music Festival.
In this week’s program we’re going to hear all about how well the New Holland Celebrity Tractor Race, hosted by Michael Peterson, is working for the company. I sat down with Gene Hemphill, New Holland Public Affairs, and we talked about this project that we’ve been involved with for 4 years now. Gene says he and Michael took the idea to the CMA about a year before the first tractor race and were welcomed to become CMA Music Festival participants. The event has grown to the point that, outside of the evening concerts, it’s now one of the top attended events during the festival.
You’ll hear Gene say that this project has accomplished a lot of things for New Holland as it has developed. Besides just the race event and all the celebrities New Holland is also able to support the FFA, work with Joe Jobe, CEO of the National Biodiesel Board and Chuck Leavell, keyboardist for the Rolling Stones and interact with people who fit the ideal demographics for the company and its products.
Cindy was with us so she got a photo of Gene talking to the ZimmComm Golden Microphone.
This week’s program ends with some Michael Peterson music. It’s a song titled, “Down On The Farm” and even if you’ve heard it before, it’s worth hearing again. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.
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
Michael Peterson recruited Carly to ride on in the parade with him here at the CMA Music Festival.
So she hopped on and joined the FFA members who rode in the sunshine as we kicked off another country music extravaganza.
While Carly was riding, Cindy was multitasking in the back.
Here in the picture you can see her shooting with my Flip Mino HD while shooting some still photos.
In case you’re wondering if that really works, there are pictures in the photo album from Cindy when I took this photo of her.
Then you can watch a clip of the video she was shooting below. In it Michael hops off the trailer for a quick live interview.
We’ll be on location here all week so you can expect to see and hear more interviews when and where we find them. We’re taking it slow this morning though since a major storm just moved through and it was not a good time to be outside. Hopefully it all clears up soon.
New Holland and Michael Peterson showed their support for the FFA here at the CMA Music Festival once again. The officers of the Westmoreland FFA chapter rode with Michael in the kickoff parade. Before we got started I interviewed them. They’re north of Nashville about 45 minutes.
They were pretty excited to ride along with Michael behind a new New Holland tractor. They describe the FFA as a basic youth organization for agricultural education. They’re happy to have the chance to promote their program and show their support for agriculture. They’ll be working in the New Holland booth in the Chevy Sports Zone during the rest of the Festival.
You can listen to my interview with Westmoreland FFA here:
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The CMA Music Festival is underway in Nashville, TN. My good friend Michael Peterson was a crowd pleaser in the opening parade this afternoon. He and I found a cool place for an interview after the parade.
Michael and I agree that it seems like there are even more people here than last year. It was a big crowd lining Broadway for the parade in the heat and humidity. He’s looking forward to another great New Holland Celebrity Tractor Race on Sunday.
You can listen to my interview with Michael here:
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Or watch the interview here:
I’ve got over a hundred photos being uploaded to Flickr right now and I’ll be posting a link to it soon in an online photo album. Check them out: 2009 CMA Music Festival Photo Album
AgWired goes country this week at the 2009 Country Music Association’s annual summer Music Fest, commonly known as Fan Fair. Once again we’re sponsored by New Holland to cover their activities which culminate on Sunday with the Michael Peterson/New Holland Celebrity Tractor Race. You’ll be able to watch live video of the race, announced by AgriTalk’s Mike Adams, here via AgWired Live TV starting at 10:30am this Sunday.
It looks like the competition for the race is already heating up as evidenced by this excerpt from the latest National Biodiesel Board news release:
National Biodiesel Board CEO Joe Jobe returns for his third appearance in the New Holland Celebrity Tractor Race, now in its fourth year as a popular feature of the Country Music Association’s (CMA) 2009 Music Festival, June 10-14, 2009 in Nashville, TN. The race involves “celebrities” from many professions driving a New Holland compact tractor through an obstacle course of road cones, each trying to complete the course in the least amount of seconds.
Jobe, who placed 3rd in the 2008 race, has his eyes set on moving higher in the ratings. One of his main challengers from 2008 is his friend and biodiesel supporter Chuck Leavell, environmentalist, conservationist, author, and 27-year keyboardist for the Rolling Stones. Leavell placed 5th in 2008, but only seconds on the clock separated the two friends. His eyes are also set on placing higher. Adding to the action is country music artist Michael Peterson, also a strong biodiesel supporter, who is hosting the competition for New Holland.
“New Holland is once again taking an industry-leading role in its support of biodiesel,” said Jobe. “They have already led the industry in supporting 100% biodiesel in all of the engines they manufacture, but they are not resting on those achievements. They continue to promote the biodiesel for its benefits to the nation’s energy supply, food supply, and agricultural sector.”
Cindy, Carly and I will all be on location starting this evening so you can count on lots of photos, interviews and videos this week from the home of country music.
It looks like my friend Michael Peterson, who is a real friend of agriculture, just received a major award from the USO at a ceremony at the Pentagon on Tuesday. This is a picture of him on a “My Real Life, Strong For America” tour stop in Nebraska.
Award-winning country music artist Michael Peterson, a special friend of The American Legion, is being honored with the prestigious Spirit of Hope Award. The award, named in honor of the late radio, television and film star Bob Hope, is bestowed upon Americans who, like Bob Hope, have demonstrated, in the words of award creator, the USO, “tireless dedication to our country and to U.S. troops both in times of peace and war.”
Songwriter and recording artist Peterson was nominated for the award by the United States Army in recognition of his youth-motivating “My Real Life, Strong for America” nationwide tours as well as his many visits to entertain troops at military venues. The “My Real Life – Strong For America” tour, which is being presented by the Army and supported by sponsors such as the American Legion, challenges students, civic and business leaders and other community members to engage in building their communities through initiatives and programs employing what supporters consider traditional American values.
The American Legion maintains a close association with the multiple Grammy and CMA (Country Music Association) award nominee. Peterson has performed at annual national conventions of The Legion and acts as spokesperson for the veterans service organization’s Legacy Fund. The Legacy Fund provides scholarships for children of military personnel who have lost their lives in post-9/11 conflicts.
Here’s a little video from the Wyant/Johnson Farm Foundation benefit concert of Michael Peterson singing part of the song that brought him and New Holland together – “Down on the Farm.”
It’s hard to appreciate from this little thumbnail photo just what a cool venue the Sara Wyant/Allan Johnson lake house was for the Farm Foundation Michael Peterson concert Friday night. You have to go look at the photo album to get a bigger view.
First of all, it is a beautiful house. And it has these three balcony levels so everyone had a perfect view of Michael set up lakeside and the acoustics were excellent.
The event was made possible by our very good friend Gene Hemphill and New Holland. It was his idea two years ago to offer a private concert with Michael to the highest bidder at the NAFB Farm Foundation auction. In 2006, farm broadcaster Pam Jahnke of Madison, WI bought one package and used it for a Wisconsin FFA fundraiser, while the National Farmers Union matched her bid and bought another for their annual convention. Gene says they will offer it up again at the 2008 convention in November.
People from all over the country attended the concert, including some corn guys from Illinois and Kansas who might be familiar faces to AgWired readers. We also had the famous singer and National Biodiesel Board executive director Joe Jobe and his family, as well as some people from as far away as Washington DC, like Karen Coble Edwards who was visiting with Charlene Finck of Farm Journal down at the lake and they both came with their families.
I did a little audio interview after the concert with Sara and Allan, Garry Niemeyer and Ken McCauley, Gene and Michael that you can listen to here.
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If we were a radio station, this would make a great promo spot.
I had the honor of being introduced by Michael Peterson at a private concert held this past weekend at the Lake Ozark home of Sara (Agri-Pulse) Wyant and her husband Allan Johnson with USDA. He said some very nice things about me and Chuck and AgWired and I fortunately had a recorder running at the time.
He called AgWired “the largest and most influential agriculture blog site in the world!” Wow! I like that. “They’re doing a lot around the country to help share the ‘no-spin’ truth about agriculture,” Michael said.
Listen to Michael’s AgWired promo here:
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Country music singer Michael Peterson made some young fans happy at a private party at Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks Friday night, singing autographs on copies of his “Down on the Farm” CD supplied to guests courtesy of New Holland. But he also got an autographed memento of his own from the event.
The party was a benefit for Farm Foundation, so immediate past chairman (and party host) Sara Wyant of Agri-Pulse Communications, and Farm Foundation communications director Mary Thompson presented Michael with a book commemorating the foundation’s 75 year history that was signed by some of the organization’s representatives.
Sara presented the book to Michael in gratitude for his performance and in recognition of his tremendous contributions to rural America.
The Farm Foundation focuses on economic and policy issues impacting agriculture, the food system and the people of rural America. The organization works as a catalyst, using conferences, workshops and other activities to bring stakeholders of all types together to identify and understand forces that will shape the future for our industry.
To find out more – or to make a contribution (which they would greatly appreciate) – go to farmfoundation.org.
While Chuck was busy chasing spotted horses in Mississippi this weekend, I got to go to a really GREAT party at beautiful Lake of the Ozarks, featuring our good friend Michael Peterson.
Our gracious hosts were Sara Wyant and Allan Johnson, who bought a private concert with Michael at the NAFB Foundation auction last November, courtesy of New Holland and the still-not-retired Gene Hemphill.
It was just a wonderful event, with about 100 of Sara and Al’s friends and neighbors, including lots of familiar faces in the agribusiness world. The event was also a fundraiser for the Farm Foundation, for which Sara has been serving as chairman.
To see more photos from the event, check out this Flickr Photo Album:
We certainly had a little bit of rock and roll getting together with country at the Michael Peterson/New Holland Celebrity Tractor Race. One of the contestants who held the lead for a while was Rolling Stones keyboardist, Chuck Leavell (left), seen here with Michael Peterson.
Chuck is a central Georgia tree farmer where he and his wife have 2,500 acres. He’s the proud owner of a New Holland 2410. I asked him why he participated and one of the things he likes is supporting FFA, which he feels strongly about. As far as a celebrity tractor race goes, he thinks it’s the coolest thing in the world. When he’s not on the road rocking and rolling with the Stones, he says you’ll find him on his New Holland out in the woods.
He’s also a big believer in biofuels like biodiesel and has a special interest in cellulosic ethanol production. That makes sense for a tree farmer.
Listen to my interview with Chuck:
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Commodity Classic took place in Anaheim, CA. You'll find all of Chuck, Cindy and Joanna's photos here.
Happy Ag Week
It's time to thank our farmers and ranchers for all their hard work to feed us.
In this week's program I interview Linda Tank, CHS, Inc., who is Chair of the Agriculture Council of America, the group coordinating National Ag Day. Learn more about their activities, especially this week in Washington, DC.
The 4th annual New Holland/Michael Peterson Celebrity Tractor Race was another rousing success at the CMA Music Festival. Not only is it a great promotion for New Holland and a fun way for fans to see some of their favorite stars in the tractor seat, it also raises money for the National FFA. 
Here are two biofuels promoters. Chuck Leavell, Rolling Stones (left) and Joe Jobe, CEO of the 
One of the great things about the CMA Music Festival is the opportunity to meet stars of the stage. Michael Peterson introduced me to Ricochet. They were in the kickoff parade and will be competing in the New Holland Celebrity Tractor Race on Sunday.
Sharing a booth with New Holland at the CMA Music Festival in Nashville this year is the 
APHA is the second largest horse breed registry in the United States with nearly 100,000 members and Ginger says they are a very exceptional horse. “The color really sets them apart, they’re basically a stock horse with color and each one is unique – no two are alike, they’re like a snowflake,” said Ginger. “They’re very fun to ride and they can do all sorts of things.” 
For the third year in a row I got to sit in the studio with Joe Jobe, National Biodiesel Board (left) and Michael Peterson (right) while they were guests on the 
In this week’s program we’re going to hear all about how well the New Holland Celebrity Tractor Race, hosted by Michael Peterson, is working for the company. I sat down with Gene Hemphill, New Holland Public Affairs, and we talked about this project that we’ve been involved with for 4 years now. Gene says he and Michael took the idea to the CMA about a year before the first tractor race and were welcomed to become CMA Music Festival participants. The event has grown to the point that, outside of the evening concerts, it’s now one of the top attended events during the festival.
You’ll hear Gene say that this project has accomplished a lot of things for New Holland as it has developed. Besides just the race event and all the celebrities New Holland is also able to support the FFA, work with Joe Jobe, CEO of the National Biodiesel Board and Chuck Leavell, keyboardist for the Rolling Stones and interact with people who fit the ideal demographics for the company and its products.
Michael Peterson recruited Carly to ride on in the parade with him here at the CMA Music Festival. 
In case you’re wondering if that really works, there are pictures in the photo album from Cindy when I took this photo of her. 
New Holland and Michael Peterson showed their support for the FFA here at the CMA Music Festival once again. The officers of the Westmoreland FFA chapter rode with Michael in the kickoff parade. Before we got started I interviewed them. They’re north of Nashville about 45 minutes. 
The CMA Music Festival is underway in Nashville, TN. My good friend Michael Peterson was a crowd pleaser in the opening parade this afternoon. He and I found a cool place for an interview after the parade.
AgWired goes country this week at the 2009 Country Music Association’s annual summer Music Fest, commonly known as Fan Fair. Once again we’re sponsored by 
It looks like my friend Michael Peterson, who is a real friend of agriculture, just received a major award from the 
It’s hard to appreciate from this little thumbnail photo just what a cool venue the Sara Wyant/Allan Johnson lake house was for the Farm Foundation Michael Peterson concert Friday night. You have to go look at the photo album to get a bigger view. 
The event was made possible by our very good friend Gene Hemphill and New Holland. It was his idea two years ago to offer a private concert with Michael to the highest bidder at the NAFB Farm Foundation auction. In 2006, farm broadcaster Pam Jahnke of Madison, WI bought one package and used it for a Wisconsin FFA fundraiser, while the National Farmers Union matched her bid and bought another for their annual convention. Gene says they will offer it up again at the 2008 convention in November.
People from all over the country attended the concert, including some corn guys from Illinois and Kansas who might be familiar faces to AgWired readers. We also had the famous singer and National Biodiesel Board executive director Joe Jobe and his family, as well as some people from as far away as Washington DC, like Karen Coble Edwards who was visiting with Charlene Finck of Farm Journal down at the lake and they both came with their families. 
If we were a radio station, this would make a great promo spot.
Country music singer Michael Peterson made some young fans happy at a private party at Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks Friday night, singing autographs on copies of his “Down on the Farm” CD supplied to guests courtesy of New Holland. But he also got an autographed memento of his own from the event.
The party was a benefit for 
Sara presented the book to Michael in gratitude for his performance and in recognition of his tremendous contributions to rural America. 
While Chuck was busy chasing spotted horses in Mississippi this weekend, I got to go to a really GREAT party at beautiful Lake of the Ozarks, featuring our good friend Michael Peterson. 
Our gracious hosts were Sara Wyant and Allan Johnson, who bought a private concert with Michael at the NAFB Foundation auction last November, courtesy of New Holland and the still-not-retired Gene Hemphill.
We certainly had a little bit of rock and roll getting together with country at the Michael Peterson/New Holland Celebrity Tractor Race. One of the contestants who held the lead for a while was Rolling Stones keyboardist, Chuck Leavell (left), seen here with Michael Peterson.
It's time to thank our farmers and ranchers for all their hard work to feed us.
