His poetic composition for the cattle industry was on the timely topic of dust – and anyone aware of the bureaucratic battle over the regulation of “particulate matter” will enjoy Tom’s “It’s Only Dust.”

Listen to the audio here and watch the video below: NAFB President Tom Steever - Dust

2012 Cattle Industry Convention Photo Album

Among the many awards presented were – National Retail Beef Backer, Foodservice Beef Backer, Beef Quality Assurance, Excellence in Communications, Trailblazer, National Stocker, NCBA Top Hand Club, the Max Deets Leadership and CME Group Beef Industry Scholarship awards, and Environmental Stewardship regional winners. Check out the 2012 CIC photo album to see pictures of pretty much all of the winners.

AgWired, with our parent company ZimmComm New Media, was proud to sponsor the NCBA Excellence in Communication awards for the second year of their existence. The awards recognize communications professionals from NCBA state affiliate organizations and cattle breed associations, as well as an agricultural journalist. The recipient of the 2011 Excellence in Communications and Public Relations for a state affiliate is Carmen Fenton, director of public affairs for the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association (TSCRA) and for a breed affiliate is Angie Stump Denton, director of communications for the American Hereford Association (AHA).

Pictured with me and NCBA Communications guru Mike Deering is the winner of the 2011 Excellence in Agricultural Journalism award – Pete Crow, publisher of the Western Livestock Journal (WLJ). Crow’s family has been publishing WLJ every week since 1922.

All of the communications award winners will also be recognized at the media reception this evening.

2012 Cattle Industry Convention Photo Album

Watch NAFB’s fearless leader Tom Steever here:

Here’s a holiday greeting from the National Association of Farm Broadcasting:

Celebrate…

National Association of Farm Broadcasting

In Tom’s report you’ll hear about the value of increased professional improvement opportunities for the organization. I had the pleasure to chair the professional improvement committee again this year and hope to see that initiative continue to grow.

Tom also mentions that Jennifer Saylor is leaving the organization. I was sad to hear that since she has been the person I have most relied on for a number of years now whenever I needed a question answered or help on a project. I wish her all the best in the future.

Listen to Tom’s report here for more on what happened at this year’s NAFB Convention: NAFB President Post-Convention Report

2011 NAFB Convention Photo Album

“It’s looking really good,” said National Cattlemen’s Beef Association president-elect J.D. Alexander of Nebraska during an interview at NAFB Trade Talk. “Our exports today can add about $200 to our individual animal value, and that is huge.”

J.D. notes that the new Free Trade Agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama will continue to increase U.S. beef exports. “The other good thing about it is we export a lot of our beef products that really are not used in the United States,” he said. “Some of the things that we don’t utilize in the United States are looked at as delicacies in other countries.”

Even though other markets are growing, J.D. says Mexico and Canada remain the biggest customers for U.S. beef, comprising a third of total exports. “We’ve got great relationships with those countries,” he said.

I also talked with J.D. about the mood of the industry – which he says is very positive – and the efforts of NCBA to keep Washington from over-regulating producers out of business.

Listen to my interview with J.D. here: NCBA president-elect JD Alexander

2011 NAFB Convention Photo Album

At the National Association of Farm Broadcasting Trade Talk, I talked with Technical Market Manager Nick Fassler about what is new in the fungicide arena. You might remember that we just chatted with Nick earlier this year at Commodity Classic about the launch of Xemium™ and already there are new fungicides in the pipeline with that active ingredient. “We’ve been real busy developing new fungicides and new uses for these products,” Nick says. “The last two years we’ve been talking about Headline AMP and now we’ve got another new product on the horizon that combines the active ingredient Xemium with Headline to develop Priaxor™.”

Nick says the Headline plus Xemium compound will be registered on multiple row crops and specialty crops – including corn, soybeans, cereals, potatoes and tomatoes. Registration by the U.S. EPA is expected in early 2012.

Listen to my interview from NAFB with Nick here: Nick Fassler with BASF

BASF is also offering several new incentives for growers to get a great start on the 2012 season, according to Corn Market Manager Mike Hofer. “One of them is called ‘Investment Advantage’ which is really a first of its kind in the industry,” Mike said. “It rewards a grower who purchases a high yield package from BASF, which may contain products like Headline AMP for corn, or Headline for soybeans, or Kixor herbicide technology.”

To help growers who purchase this type of package before March 15 better manage their risk, BASF will offer a partial rebate if commodity prices fall below a certain point. “What we’re trying to do is make sure that growers maintain a healthy return on investment,” Mike says.

BASF is also expanding the Headline Advantage offer from BASF has expanded to include more BASF fungicides for the 2012 season with up to 20% savings. In addition, BASF is again partnering with John Deere Financial to bring growers Finance Advantage.

Mike explains it all in this interview: Mike Hofer with BASF

2011 NAFB Convention Photo Album

Russ says they’ve had a big increase in sales this year which is the second year the product has been out. He thinks the return on investment that growers are seeing is driving this increase. Looking ahead to 2012 he encourages growers who saw flooding or water-logged fields to consider using a seed treatment that contains an inoculant product.

Listen to my interview with Russ here: Interview with Russ Berndt

2011 NAFB Convention Photo Album

Listen to my interview with Gail to learn more about how FMC products can help increase corn yields here: Interview with Gail Stratman

2011 NAFB Convention Photo Album

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

Polly says that the Beef Board is taking a look at the structure of its joint committees to see if they can be better or re-structured. She says they’re also looking at their by-laws and some of the antiquated language that’s now twenty five years old. The Beef Checkoff is celebrating its silver anniversary. Polly also mentions that they’re starting a big life cycle analysis project that “allows us to put metrics on how we’re doing as far as sustainability goes and to communicate those to consumers.”

Listen to my interview with Polly here: Interview with Polly Ruhland

2011 NAFB Convention Photo Album

This morning I sat down with Tom to have a conversation about the state of NAFB, the convention just held in Kansas City and what he sees for the future of farm broadcasting. When it comes to the membership of NAFB Tom says things are in great shape. In fact, membership is up from a low point a couple years ago. He wants to “see the NAFB continue to be and increase in value to its members. I want people to look at their membership in the NAFB as essential to what they do.” One of the ways Tom says NAFB can accomplish this is to continue to develop professional improvement opportunities in addition to promotional ones since they both will add value to the member’s company bottom line. At this year’s convention I chaired the professional improvement committee and we held five sessions on professional improvement that included smartphone technology, streaming audio/video and video production/editing.

I also asked Tom if NAFB has considered becoming part of the Ag Media Summit since we are seeing so much convergence in all of media today. I know it has been discussed and according to Tom “We keep courting. We keep watching one another.” He says things are working well for the organizations involved both at the Ag Media Summit and for NAFB and its convention. That probably is making it difficult to decide that there should be some formal joining of forces. I like to think of NAFB joining the Ag Media Summit like when the Commodity Classic expanded with the addition of sorghum and wheat grower organizations. Maybe the time just isn’t right yet. What do you think?

Listen to my conversation with Tom in this week’s ZimmCast and learn more about what’s going on with NAFB: Tom Steever New NAFB President

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.

George says that SipcamAdvan is based in Durham, NC with a full lineup of traditional chemistries that includes herbicides and fungicides. He says they’re looking to move into “biorational” products. These are “living organisms that we take from one part of the soil and develop into a product that can be applied to combat a specific pest, in agriculture and turf & ornamental.” An example of a product they’re working on now is Contans, a soybean product to treat white mold. George says these products are safe for the environment and the user and require less labeling requirements.

Listen to my interview with George here: Interview with George Hackman

2011 NAFB Convention Photo Album

The committee was charged with making cuts that ideally would mean a new Farm Bill and that was a major topic of discussion with farm group representatives at the recent National Association of Farm Broadcasting Trade Talk.

“Passing farm bills usually takes about 15 months, and ironically, this one – if it happens – will be one of the quickest ever in history,” said National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) president Garry Niemeyer of Illinois, pictured here being interviewed with first vice president Pam Johnson of Iowa. He is concerned about budget cuts hitting agriculture more than other areas. “Everybody thinks that farmers are flush with money, which makes it pretty tough,” he said.

Listen to my interview with Garry here: NCGA president Garry Niemeyer

If, as it appears, the super committee breaks down and comes up with nothing, American Farm Bureau Federation economist Bob Young says it’s a whole new conversation as far as a farm bill is concerned. “Then we’ll be back to standard process and a much more challenging environment to write a farm bill with this Congress,” he said, noting that the agriculture committees have proposed cuts of about $23 billion for farm and food programs, which the industry believes would be fair.

“We want the super committee to work,” Young added. “If the United States cannot get our act together, the markets are going to be pretty exciting, which might be a polite way of putting it.”

Listen to my interview with Bob here: Bob Young with AFBF

2011 NAFB Convention Photo Album

Fuel Up to Play 60 helps students make positive changes in their schools by improving opportunities to consume nutrient-rich foods and get at least 60 minutes of physical activity every day. The ultimate goal is to ensure changes made at school are sustainable and complements – not competes with – an academics-focused environment.

Eddie says they’re “trying to send a message across the nation really to help children and parents understand the things that need to go into their body to help them to stay healthy and to stay healthy for a long time.” Eddie has kids of his own so this program is very close to his heart. When it comes to milk he says that after a heavy duty workout a glass of chocolate milk helps him recover faster than any other drink out there.

Listen to my interview with Eddie here: Interview with Eddie Kennison

2011 NAFB Convention Photo Album

Pictured here, left to right, are Sandi Wilson, Dr. Dan Westberg and Pat Morrow – about half the team from BASF at NAFB. This was Pat’s sixth year at NAFB and she loves it more every time she attends. “I just really love the farm broadcasters, it’s a hug fest for me,” Pat says. That’s one reason why they are so pleased to be able to be major sponsors at the convention by supporting the broadcast center and providing internet access for broadcasters.

Listen to my interview with Pat here: Pat Morrow with BASF

The other reason is purely professional. Farm broadcasters are a great way for BASF to get information about new products and offerings out to growers. I talked with Dr. Dan the Man about two new herbicides for 2012 to help growers manage resistant weeds such as glyphosate-resistant Palmer amaranth and waterhemp – Zidua® and OpTill® PRO. “Zidua herbicide is a brand new active ingredient currently waiting EPA registration,” Dan said. “It is a unique chemistry that has very broad spectrum control of grasses and small seeded broadleaf weeds.” Dan says Zidua will provide the longest lasting residual control for Palmer amaranth and waterhemp in the market. Hence the name – Zidua, as in residual.

OpTill Pro herbicide was specifically developed for soybean growers to control a broad spectrum of grass and broadleaf weeds, including waterhemp. “We’ve taken our OpTill herbicide, powered by Kixor, and we’ve added Outlook® to it,” said Dan. “This makes OpTill Pro a premium residual option that provides burndown and residual control to help soybean growers start off clean and stay clean throughout the season.”

Listen to my interview with Dr. Dan here: Dr. Dan Westberg

2011 NAFB Convention Photo Album

Lindsay’s father and mother – Lowell and Donna – her brother Lance and his wife Nikki were there to see her honored by her peers in a night of “laughter through our tears.” A number of NAFB past presidents paid tribute to Lindsay, and new president Tom Steever wrote a poem that reflected Lindsay’s words to live by on her Facebook page. Here’s some of his tribute.

On the phone she said to me,
I’ll explain this if I can,
I place my trust in God, you see,
and I know He has a plan.

So as we leave this banquet, let us not be blue,
Because Lindsay, this toast is given especially for you.

2011 NAFB Convention Photo Album

They are (pictured left to right): President-Elect Mark Oppold, RFD-TV; President Tom Steever, Brownfield AgNews; and vice president Janet Adkison of KMZU Radio, Carrolton, MO.

Also elected to positions on the NAFB board for 2012 were: Lisa Adams, Sage Virtual Communications, as Allied Industry Council representative; Kyle Bauer of KFRM/Kansas as Southern region VP; Chase Adams of KBHB/South Dakota as Western region VP; Brian Winnekins of COW 97 in LaCrosse, Wisconsin as Western region director; and Jason Vance of Farm Progress Companies as Southern region director. Eastern region officers remain the same – Meghan Grebner of Brownfield as VP and Gale Cunningham of WYXY-FM/Illinois as director.

Lots of photos in the Flickr album – check it out!

2011 NAFB Convention Photo Album

Pictured are at least part of the gang of guys who conspired to beat out the NAFB girls team for the Lake of the Ozarks weekend donated for the third year by Al Johnson and Sara Wyant of Agri-Pulse. The weekend had been a two year tradition for the girls, but the boys raised the stakes this year and thus raised more money for the foundation.

The boys are smug now, but just wait – we don’t waste time being bitter, revenge is a dish best served cold.

2011 NAFB Convention Photo Album

The 2011 Horizon Award winner is Julie Root of RFD Radio in Illinois. Julie has been farm broadcasting for a grand total of two years and has already proven to be a great talent for the industry.

And the 2011 Farm Broadcaster of the Year is Greg Akagi – our immediate NAFB past president and 18 year farm broadcast veteran with WIBW/Kansas Ag Network.

Congratulations to both!

The photo album now has close to 600 photos in it – be sure to check it out! All photos can be easily downloaded with just a couple of clicks.

2011 NAFB Convention Photo Album

AgLeader’s Katie Monroe (center) says they were thrilled to join the companies and organizations who support the NAFB. “It’s a great opportunity to talk about our new products and how precision farming can help growers,” Katie said, noting that one of their main topics was AgLeader’s new Versa display which includes all of the most popular year-round precision tools in one small package.

AgLeader Technology also joined with Alltech to sponsor the NAFB Foundation Auction reception on Thursday night.

Listen to by interview with Katie here: Katie Monroe with AgLeader

2011 NAFB Convention Photo Album

Senator Conrad Burns of Montana founded the Northern Ag Network in the 1970s before getting into politics. He was only the second Republican ever elected from the state of Montana, serving for 18 years in the Senate.

The lovely Colleen Callahan, whose married name is actually Burns (no relation to Conrad), becomes the first woman to be inducted in the NAFB Hall of Fame. She was the first female NAFB president and currently serves as Illinois State Director for USDA Rural Development.

I videoed Conrad’s comments after receiving his award and stripped off the audio. Not the best quality, but I am glad I caught it. Some great comments here. Conrad Burns at NAFB

2011 NAFB Convention Photo Album

The Dix Harper Meritorious Service Award was presented to the recently retired John Vasicheck of Red River Farm Network, who has been a member of NAFB since 1994 and has had not one, not two – but THREE NAFB past presidents on staff at RRFN.

The New Holland Oscar in Agriculture was presented to Tony Purcell, Agri-Business Director for Texas State Networks. This is the 4th time Tony has won the Oscar in his 45 year career.

The Herb Plambeck Awards for Creative Excellence were presented to Bayer CropScience and agency BBDO for the Poncho/VOTiVO corn seed treatment spot, while the United Soybean Board and Osborn&Barr received the best series award for the “Beyond the Elevator” campaign.

2011 NAFB Convention Photo Album

“This discount and contribution program will further enhance the charitable efforts accomplished by the Fisher House Foundation,” said Abe Hughes, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for New Holland Agricultural Business in North America. “Agriculture has always been one of the backbones of America and it is very fitting that our industry steps forward once again to contribute to not only the courageous members of the Armed Forces, but also to a great role being taken by the Fisher House Foundation.”

I spoke with Abe during the NAFB convention. You can hear more about the programs in our interview: Interview with Abe Hughes

2011 NAFB Convention Photo Album

The secretary led with USDA’s announcement today on record growth of U.S. agricultural exports in 2011. “I’m pleased to report that we reached a record amount of $137.4 billion of agricultural exports,” Vilsack said. “This is $22.5 billion higher than the export number last year and testimony to the extraordinary productivity, quality and affordability of what American farmers and ranchers are producing, growing and raising.” He noted that agriculture supports 1.15 million jobs in the economy – 1 out of every 12 jobs in the country are connected to agriculture.

Other topics Vilsack addressed included trade, government regulation, rural development, Farm Bill, cutting the deficit, GIPSA and more.

Listen to or download the secretary’s comments here: Tom Vilsack at NAFB

2011 NAFB Convention Photo Album

One of the three was unable to attend the Foundation awards luncheon. He is Nathan Vickers, a graduate student at Columbia University in New York. Nathan is from a southwest Missouri farm family and received his undergraduate degree from Truman State University in Kirksville before heading to the Empire State to continue his education and he now has another $4000 to help with those expenses.

Texas Tech University junior Lauren Bogle (pictured here on the right) is the other $4000 NAFB scholarship winner. Lauren grew up on a crop and livestock operation in New Mexico and is majoring in Agricultural Communications.

Carah Hart (left) is this year’s recipient of the Glenn Kummerow Memorial Scholarship of $5000. Carah is a junior at the University of Missouri-Columia where she is pursuing a degree in Agricultural Journalism. She dreams of becoming a farm director for a Midwest radio station or network.

The scholarships are funded by donations to the NAFB Foundation and the major annual fundraising auction here at the annual meeting, which will be held on Thursday evening.

2011 NAFB Convention Photo Album

Mark believes that as broadcasters continue to integrate digital and social media technology, it will completely redefine the meaning of radio. “The reality is, we are all media,” Mark says. “The biggest thing broadcasters have to leverage are the relationships we have between our consumers and our advertisers in our presence.”

Mark is also sharing his insights during a break out session on Wednesday afternoon.

Listen to Chuck’s interview with Mark here: Interview with Mark Ramsey

2011 NAFB Convention Photo Album

Our thanks to BASF for providing so much at the NAFB meeting to help farm broadcasters continue to provide “Insight for Agriculture – Every Day” – even when they are on the road and away from the studio. Not only is BASF sponsoring the broadcast room, as always, they are also sponsoring the internet access – which is absolutely necessary and no small expense at any convention.

The photo album is up and will continue to be updated throughout the meeting all week. Stay tuned!

2011 NAFB Convention Photo Album

I’d like to invite any of you to email, post in comments here or DM me on Twitter, your questions about using smartphones for broadcast purposes. I’ll be conducting a session on this topic on Wednesday, November 9 at 3:15pm in the Roanoke Room at the Westin Crown Plaza. Other sessions include two presentations by Mark Ramsey, Using Photo & Video to Enhance Your Work and Gadgets and Streaming. You can find them on the schedule. Hope to see you there.

Make your donation of $100 or more to the NAFB Foundation, and your name will be entered in a chance to win an iPad 2 tablet!

The real reason you should donate is because the NAFB Foundation helps ensure a strong future for the farm broadcasting profession and industry. The NAFB Foundation is the nonprofit charitable and educational arm of NAFB. It is focused on enhancing the value of agriculture, food production and rural lifestyle through the various forms of broadcasting, while assisting and benefiting industry partners, students, future broadcasters and the general broadcast audience.

So when NAFB president Tom Steever or one of the other officers calls and asks you to donate this year, just say yes. And you might win a new iPad.