The Pioneer exhibit at Commodity Classic got lots of attention from pancake lovers with the Pioneer corporate chefs demonstrating the versatility of soybean oil for cooking.
I stopped by and happened to catch Adam Moore flipping flapjacks on the griddle and later was able to do a video interview with Chef Charlie Baggs who showed off the dishes they were making for the trade show crowd, including Chicken Marsala and a sweet Romaine and cranberry salad with feta cheese and a soy oil/mustard vinagrette dressing. Charlie is president and founder of Charlie Baggs, Inc., and he and his Chicago-based staff travel around the country doing this kind of gig for Pioneer and other corporate clients. Seems like a pretty sweet job!
DuPont business Pioneer Hi-Bred is helping to fund the effort with a $500,000 donation to the program, announced during the AFBF annual meeting.
“The American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture has identified a great opportunity for teaching the public about modern agriculture. Through science and productivity, farmers are feeding the world and bettering the lives of people every day,” said Frank Ross, vice president and regional director – Pioneer, North America. “We are pleased to partner on this initiative and support the cause of increased agricultural literacy.”
The My American Farm virtual education program is anticipated to engage millions of youth, teachers and parents over the next five years through unique educational experiences. The website, www.myamericanfarm.org, is a destination for children to be entertained by playing games while learning math, social studies, language arts and science in the context of agriculture and food production.
In this holiday shortened week the ZimmCast will feature two interviews I conducted at the recent NAFB convention to find out what’s new in the world of agribusiness from Trimble and Pioneer Hi-Bred.
I interviewed George Huber, Trimble, who talks about virtual reference stations and “the connected farm.” He says this allows you to get data to and from your vehicle while it’s working in the field. I also interviewed Jeff Schussler, Pioneer Hi-Bred, who talks about the work the company is doing with drought tolerance in corn.
Thanks to AgWired Sponsor, Fluidigm, for their support of the ZimmCast.
You can listen to this week’s ZimmCast below.
The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired. Subscribe so you can listen when and where you want. Just go to our a Subscribe page.
The man who got us started here at the Pioneer Hi-Bred Forage Media Day is Robin Newell. Cindy spoke to him about the “long look.” He says the Pioneer long look has four components that include: “We strive to create the best products;” “We deal honestly and fairly with our constituents;” “We represent our products vigorously;” “We help our customers get the most from our products.” He says the focus today on the development of corn silage and alfalfa and inoculants like their new 11GFT.
He also mentioned their focus on animal welfare since they keep many animals here at the Livestock Nurition Center. He says they have an animal welfare committee that even includes “local clergy.” He says that person helps provide a good moral and ethical backbone to the committee. Now that’s interesting!
The news here at the Pioneer Hi-Bred Forage Media Day is a new product. The 11GFT inoculant is the second in a series of products in the Pioneer fiber technology platform. This one will offer dairy producers another avenue to enhance forage digestibility which will reduce feed costs. The product was developed exclusively for grass and cereal silage and is the first of its kind. The company says other fiber technology products are currently under development.
Cindy interviewed Kyle Whitaker (pictured), Pioneer Hi-Bred Marketing Manager, Forage Additives, about the new product. Kyle says they see three key benefits that includes good basic fermentation, aerobic stability and fiber digestibility. He says they see the product used in silage markets across the U.S. with key targests in the northeast and far west.
We also have a photo album started for the event which will be added to later today but we’ve got some photos in there for you now: Pioneer Forage Media Day Photo Album
You can listen to Cindy’s interview with Kyle below:
The Pioneer Forage Media Day has started with class in session at their Livestock Nutrition Center near Des Moines, IA. We have a very good attendance from the ag media. Cindy (FarmPodcaster) stopped to pose at the entrance of the Center.
Right now we’re listening to the first presentation by Bill Curran on corn silage reearch. He’s giving us a complete overview of their process for testing and evaluating genetics of various hybrids.
During our breaks Cindy and I will be conducting interviews with the presenters which we’ll post primarily on World Dairy Diary but also here when appropriate as well. We’ll also be building up some new Forage Forum podcasts as well. So it’s going to be a busy day here.
We’ll also be doing some special tweets on the World Dairy Diary Twitter feed so keep an eye on it too. Please feel free to follow if you aren’t yet.
Pioneer Hi-Bred has invited ag media to attend a day filled with information on their forage products.
The Pioneer Livestock Nutrition Center (PLNC), Pioneer experts will provide the latest updates on technologies designed for producers and forage growers to get the most return on their investment.
Pioneer provides the entire range of seed genetics, crop-specific forage additives, revolutionary Corn Fiber Technology, silage know-how and local services – all dedicated to the goal of producing more nutritious feed for livestock.
Cindy and I are on location and will be covering the event throughout the day here and on World Dairy Diary.
AgWired coverage of IFAJ 2009 is sponsored by: and
SFP, formerly Specialized Fertilizer Products, wants everyone to know that wasted fertilizer is wasted money, and naturally, they have products for growers that can help them see a higher return on investment when added to their current fertilizer mix.
The first product is AVAIL, a phosphorus fertilizer enhancer that when added to the fields in the fall before they are plowed, will help plants absorb phosphorus more effectively. NutriSphere-N is a nitrogen fertilizer which is a key component to a successful nutrient management program.
“Both can be added to what you are normally putting on fields,” said Melanie Acklin with SFP. “Blend it in. Mix it in. Farmers can really see added efficiency from these fertilizers and ideally increased in yield potential and increased return on investment.”
The fertilizers can be applied in spring or fall but Acklin noted that as farmers are getting ready to plant winter wheat, adding AVAIL can help the crop in the spring, especially since a lot of things can happen over the winter like early frost.
Growers can learn more about the products by contacting their local fertilizer dealer or on SFP’s website.
Have you ever summited Mt. Everest? I haven’t but Lance Fox has. He is a technical service veterinarian for Alpharma, and his successes both in his job and in his personal life have trained him to become a natural role model for children across America as part of the Reach Teach Learn ag educational program.
“My role is to educate students and make them more aware of agriculture and agribusiness and share some of my personal adventures and experiences,” Fox told AgWired during the Ag Media Summit.
Climbing to the top of Mt. Everest was a 12 year dream for Fox and he has some great advice for our future leaders, “If you have a dream pursue it. Pursue your passion. If you work hard everything is possible.”
In its second year, the Reach Teach Learn program is designed to provide youth with the information they need to ensure that honest, educated decisions are made. The program consists of two main initiatives including a college student video contest and a high school student essay contest. College students will be able to use imagery to depict current ethanol agricultural practices while for the first time, younger students will provide their perspective writing of an essay on agriculture based on the book, “The Man Who Fed The World.” As far as you know, I’m not a high school student but I will be providing my insights about the book as well.
I was also able to chat with Jeff Mellinger, Global Leader – Sales & Marketing for Alpharma. “What we’re really trying to do is reach out to young people in the U.S. is to get them to understand the agriculture industry because they will be the spokespersons in the future. We want them to be more informed in making positive choices and viewpoints because they’ll be the future leaders in developing views about agriculture.”
Mellinger also noted that the ag industry is seeing a lot more public opinion that is not accurate and that they are trying to bring accuracy to the conversation. Agriculture, he says, is a positive industry and still important to the United States.
More than 12 states have signed up to participate in the essay contest and others are welcome to join. You can learn more about Reach Teach Learn on their website. BTW – in addition to my essay on the book, I’ll be submitting a video as well, right here on AgWired.com. Now this you won’t want to miss.
AgWired coverage of IFAJ 2009 is sponsored by: and
I sat down with Keith Dunn with the United Soybean Board (USB) during the Ag Media Summit to see what their main initiatives currently are. Dunn explained to me the importance of animal agriculture and how supportive the USB was of this industry.
“Currently in the United States 98 percent of the soybean meal goes for animal feed for poultry, beef cattle and dairy cattle,” explained Dunn. “So we feel that animal agriculture is very important to the industry.”
Other important elements of the USB program include its work with biofuels as well as a responding to a recent request for referendum. Less than 1/10th of 1 percent of the growers requested a referendum on the soybean checkoff and Dunn mentioned that it shows that soybean farmers are very confident in their soybean checkoff and the work that is being done.
Biofuels is a hot topic and one that is very important to USB. “We’re concerned with the new renewable fuels standard and we want to make sure these are based on sound science, factual and will work for the American people.”
AgWired coverage of IFAJ 2009 is sponsored by: and
A little over a year ago Monsanto made a commitment to people around the world to sustainable agriculture. The company is working on products that will produce more than double current yields while reducing the resources needed to grow the crops by nearly one-third. They are so committed that they launched a website to discuss this topic: www.producemoreconservemore.com.
I was curious to learn more about Monsanto’s initiatives in the sustainability department so I caught up with Kevin Eblen, Vice President Public Policy & Sustainable Yield for Monsanto.
“What we’re trying to to get the world and the public to see and know is that we have the capability to produce more food and conserve resources at the same time,” explained Eblen. “So we went on record saying in the core crops that we focus on as a company which is corn, soybeans and cotton, that we can double the yields of these crops by 2030 with the starting year of 2000. And at the same time, through the use of technology we have and others’ have, that we could conserve resources by one-third to produce each unit of corn, beans and cotton.”
Eblen mentioned that the UN has determined that the world will need to produce as much food in the next 50 years that has been produced in the last 10,000 years. That is why Monsanto is working with farmers around the world to help them grow crops that are both sustainable and profitable.
AgWired coverage of IFAJ 2009 is sponsored by: and
As farmers are getting ready to harvest soon, it’s never too late to begin to think about products for the upcoming year. Nufarm is one of the largest crop protection companies in the world and is primarily at post patent company. After another company’s patent expires, Nufarm brings a similar product to market typically at a better value for the end user.
I was able to learn more about Nufarm’s products during the Ag Media Summit when I sat down with Director, Branding & Marketing Services, Brian Rund.
“This year we introduced 13 new seed treatment products for all the major crops,” said Rund. “We have greatly expanded our product line for range and pasture weed control. We’re also in the process of introducing a very broad range of herbicides for small grasses.”
Nufarm would like everyone to know that they are a very committed player in ag business. “We’re post patent but we’re not generic,” said Rund.
AgWired coverage of IFAJ 2009 is sponsored by: and
The Cattlemen’s Beef Board (CBB) would like its producers to get to know them better, says Lynn Heinz, the executive director of communications. The organization serves all the 800,000 beef producers in the country, and is working with ag journalists to help them get their message out. In some cases this is with paid advertising, and in others it is to help them develop story ideas.
Since they are helping journalists come up with story ideas, I thought I’d ask him for a few ideas. So we discussed some of the key issues facing beef producers today.
“One of the things we’ve seen all summer with the economic situation, people have moved away from traditional steaks and those kinds of more expensive product. We’re working with retailers to help them feature those kinds of items. We’re helping consumers understand how to use something like the flatiron were they can still have the steak experience but at a lower cost.”
CBB is also working with exporters to meet the increased demand of Russia, Europe and Asia for middle meats. But this is the tip of the iceberg in terms of what CBB is doing to promote its beef producers. To hear more, listen to the full interview with Lynn.
AgWired coverage of IFAJ 2009 is sponsored by: and
There are a lot of agricultural policy concerns today and the Farm Foundation is taking an active role in helping DC adopt better legislation. The organization notes that agriculture is important and ag policy is important, and their role is to bring divergent views together and provide a forum for discussion. During these discussions, The Farm Foundation lets the best policies arise and then provides the outlet for policy makers to take advantage of these ideas. However, the organization does not lobby, but simply provides the best information for policy makers to use.
I asked Sheldon Jones what key issues they have been dealing with and he mentioned two: food prices and the agriculture’s role in feeding and fueling the world.
“A year ago when food prices were increasing and there were food riots around the world, we commissioned a study from three economists at Purdue on what are the real drivers to food prices. They reviewed literature, assessed the global demand for food and what were the driving factors including fuel, petroleum prices, world stocks, supplies of grain and more.”
AgWired coverage of IFAJ 2009 is sponsored by: and
Several student and young professional awards were given during the IFAJ/AMS summit and one of the most coveted awards, the Forrest Bassford Award was given to Whitney Wallace and is sponsored by LPC. Whitney will be a senior at the University of Missouri this fall and she is an active member of ACT – the AG Communicators of Tomorrow. She will be graduating next May with a degree in Agricultural Journalism with an Ag Economics minor.
I had the opportunity to spend a few minutes with Whitney, and she is a talented and well spoken woman who has already taken the ag communications industry by storm. For those companies looking for a rare talent, you’d better get in line now, because I suspect that Whitney will be off the market in a blink of an eye!
As such an active and young member of the journalism community, I asked her to give her fellow students some advice.
“Just like I tell the other students at Mizzou, you just gotta jump in an try everything you can. Because we have so many opportunities that we can pick and choose and find so many great little niches of places we can succeed.”
Now that everyone is home safe and sound from Ft. Worth, you’ll have a little time to read the new books by the IFAJ/AMS lunch speakers. Participants were first treated to a presentation by Julie Wainwright, who is the owner of Smartnow.com. She worked her way up to found Pets.com (how can you forget the sock puppet) and then undergo a very public bankruptcy right as the Internet bubble burst.
But after a few false starts and five big mistakes, she is now back on her feet and spreading encouragement to others. I can’t speak for everyone who attended, but her message definitely resonated with me which is why I’m looking forward to reading her new self-published book, ReBoot My Five Life Changing Mistakes and How I Have Moved On, available on Amazon.com.
While Wainwright’s presentation was fairly serious, on Tuesday we were thoroughly entertained by Scott McKain, who is the vice president of Obsidian Enterprises and the co-founder and principal of The Value Added Institute, a think tank that explores client loyalty. Speaking of which, how do you maintain client loyalty? Through being distinct. McKain has written exhaustively about this topic and is a best selling author.
There are Four Cornerstones of Distinction according to McKain including clarity, creativity, communication and customer experience focus. I don’t have time to go into details but his presentation was not only extremely funny, it was even more insightful. McKain very much believes in the mission of ag journalists, so much so that he has done two things. First, he has made his presentation available; and second, he has made the audio and e-versions of his new book, Collapse of Distinction: stand out and move up while your competition fails, available for free.
It’s been an amazing week here in Ft Worth for the largest ever IFAJ Congress and Ag Media Summit. We’ve had some fun times and made long-lasting new friends from around the world but its time to ride into the sunset and say goodbye.
Thanks for letting AgWired be a part of your celebration with special thanks to Novus International, Pioneer and Successful Farming for sponsoring our coverage. You can check out pictures from all the events in our IFAJ/AMS 2009 Photo Album, and come back to AgWired.com often as we’ll be posting stories about the events during the next few weeks.
We’ll see you next year in Belgium. Cheers!
AgWired coverage of IFAJ 2009 is sponsored by: and
AgWired coverage of IFAJ 2009 is sponsored by: and
There’s been a lot of stampeding and kicking it up on the dance floor here in Ft. Worth this week during the IFAJ Congress and Ag Media Summit. And one company that is really kicking it up is BASF with their new product Kixor. Kixor is currently under development and is being designed for broadleaf weed control. Once it is perfected and available for producers, farmers will able to apply the herbicide prior to crop emergence for burndown or for season-long residual broadleaf control.
To learn more, I spent a little time at the campfire with Dan Westberg, Technical Services Manager for BASF.
“Kixor herbicide technology is a unique chemistry that is specifically designed by BASF to solve the toughest broadleaf weed control problems facing growers today,” explained Westberg. “If you look across the board there are a little over 70 broadleaf weed species. Many of those are resistance or hard to control.”
When the technology comes to market, it will have a wide range of crops it can be used on including corn, sorghum, soybean, wheat, all of the cereals, cotton, follow, treat fruit, and more.
One of the best attributes of Kixor will be the short amount of time for it to take effect – three to five days.
“Kixor herbicide technology will be very unique in that it has both burndown activity and also soil residual activity. So, depending on which crop it will have a very effective burndown and for some crops we can provide a very effective residual effect especially corn,” said Westberg.
AgWired coverage of IFAJ 2009 is sponsored by: and
Small grain farmers and agricultural researchers were taken by surprise this year due to a huge outbreak of head scab. But many farmers were spared to much damage through the application of various fungicide products including those who used Caramba. Caramba is a fungicide developed by BASF and now for the first time this year available to producers and its benefit is to increase yield protection and reductions of DON levels in grain.
Dr. Gary M Fellows was able to sit down with me during the Ag Media Summit and tell me more about Caramba and Twinline.
“Caramba is the number one product worldwide for the control for head scab in small grains, and we launched it this year which was a good thing because this was the worst year for head scab that we’ve seen in the past 25 years,” said Fellows.
“The neat thing about Twinline is that its powered by Headline. What we’ve done is taken Headline and moved it up to the next level and that’s Twinline. And so we’ve actually increased it activity its given it a little longer in curative control as well as preventive control we’ve always had. In the trials that are starting to come off, the wheat harvest in the south is almost done, we’re seeing great yields in Twinline compared to all the other competitive products and compared to untreated.”
Although Twinline is only for small grains such as wheat they are working on a comparative product for corn but we’re going to have to wait to get the details.
We had several fellow journalists here at IFAJ and Ag Media Summit from Australia with us and they are not expecting a great wheat harvest. However, although not a record breaking year, the United States, says Fellows, should have a good harvest.
AgWired coverage of IFAJ 2009 is sponsored by: and
Time flies when you’re getting close to an event as exciting as the AG CONNECT Expo, who just celebrated its one year anniversary of “existence”. What does that mean you wonder? Last year the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) announced the first ever AG CONNECT show on January 13-15, 2010 in Orlando, Florida. This international show is designed for agriculture industry professionals to share global agricultural ideas and management trends. Participants will be able to interact with exhibits of the latest industry innovations, products and technology as well as a participate in a comprehensive education program and extensive networking opportunities with industry experts worldwide. And what better time for producers to head to Florida then just before they begin to prepare for Spring planting.
The Ag Media Summit was a perfect place for me to catch up with Charlie O’Brien, V.P. of Ag Services for AEM and find out the latest news about AG CONNECT and to learn why everyone should be there.
“It’s really an opportunity to bring agriculture together in one place. They have an opportunity from a trade show perspective to see the latest and greatest innovations and technologies that are available in agriculture. We also have a full complement of education that’s going on. We have more than 50 educational sessions that are available to the attendees. Those are trying to bring out the latest and greatest of what’s happening in agriculture. Agriculture is used whether its precision farming or farm management or succession farming. And we also have the opportunity for networking.”
Everyone who participated in A Media Summit had the opportunity to meet hundreds of journalists from around the world and AG CONNECT will be a great place for them to learn more about global agriculture. You can get more information about AG CONNECT and register at www.agconnect.com.
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 Pioneer exhibit at Commodity Classic got lots of attention from pancake lovers with the Pioneer corporate chefs demonstrating the versatility of soybean oil for cooking. 
and 
In this holiday shortened week the ZimmCast will feature two interviews I conducted at the recent NAFB convention to find out what’s new in the world of agribusiness from Trimble and Pioneer Hi-Bred.
The man who got us started here at the Pioneer Hi-Bred Forage Media Day is Robin Newell. Cindy spoke to him about the “long look.” He says the Pioneer long look has four components that include: “We strive to create the best products;” “We deal honestly and fairly with our constituents;” “We represent our products vigorously;” “We help our customers get the most from our products.” He says the focus today on the development of corn silage and alfalfa and inoculants like their 
The news here at the Pioneer Hi-Bred Forage Media Day is a new product. The 
The Pioneer Forage Media Day has started with class in session at their Livestock Nutrition Center near Des Moines, IA. We have a very good attendance from the ag media. Cindy (
The first product is AVAIL, a phosphorus fertilizer enhancer that when added to the fields in the fall before they are plowed, will help plants absorb phosphorus more effectively. NutriSphere-N is a nitrogen fertilizer which is a key component to a successful nutrient management program.
“My role is to educate students and make them more aware of agriculture and agribusiness and share some of my personal adventures and experiences,” Fox told AgWired during the Ag Media Summit.
I was also able to chat with Jeff Mellinger, Global Leader – Sales & Marketing for Alpharma. “What we’re really trying to do is reach out to young people in the U.S. is to get them to understand the agriculture industry because they will be the spokespersons in the future. We want them to be more informed in making positive choices and viewpoints because they’ll be the future leaders in developing views about agriculture.”
“Currently in the United States 98 percent of the soybean meal goes for animal feed for poultry, beef cattle and dairy cattle,” explained Dunn. “So we feel that animal agriculture is very important to the industry.”
“What we’re trying to to get the world and the public to see and know is that we have the capability to produce more food and conserve resources at the same time,” explained Eblen. “So we went on record saying in the core crops that we focus on as a company which is corn, soybeans and cotton, that we can double the yields of these crops by 2030 with the starting year of 2000. And at the same time, through the use of technology we have and others’ have, that we could conserve resources by one-third to produce each unit of corn, beans and cotton.”
I was able to learn more about 
“One of the things we’ve seen all summer with the economic situation, people have moved away from traditional steaks and those kinds of more expensive product. We’re working with retailers to help them feature those kinds of items. We’re helping consumers understand how to use something like the flatiron were they can still have the steak experience but at a lower cost.”
“A year ago when food prices were increasing and there were food riots around the world, we commissioned a study from three economists at Purdue on what are the real drivers to food prices. They reviewed literature, assessed the global demand for food and what were the driving factors including fuel, petroleum prices, world stocks, supplies of grain and more.”
I had the opportunity to spend a few minutes with Whitney, and she is a talented and well spoken woman who has already taken the ag communications industry by storm. For those companies looking for a rare talent, you’d better get in line now, because I suspect that Whitney will be off the market in a blink of an eye!
Now that everyone is home safe and sound from Ft. Worth, you’ll have a little time to read the new books by the IFAJ/AMS lunch speakers. Participants were first treated to a presentation by Julie Wainwright, who is the owner of 
While Wainwright’s presentation was fairly serious, on Tuesday we were thoroughly entertained by Scott McKain, who is the vice president of Obsidian Enterprises and the co-founder and principal of The Value Added Institute, a think tank that explores client loyalty. Speaking of which, how do you maintain client loyalty? Through being distinct. McKain has written exhaustively about this topic and is a best selling author.
There’s been a lot of stampeding and kicking it up on the dance floor here in Ft. Worth this week during the IFAJ Congress and Ag Media Summit. And one company that is really kicking it up is 
Small grain farmers and agricultural researchers were taken by surprise this year due to a huge outbreak of head scab. But many farmers were spared to much damage through the application of various fungicide products including those who used Caramba. Caramba is a fungicide developed by BASF and now for the first time this year available to producers and its benefit is to increase yield protection and reductions of DON levels in grain.
The Ag Media Summit was a perfect place for me to catch up with Charlie O’Brien, V.P. of Ag Services for AEM and find out the latest news about AG CONNECT and to learn why everyone should be there.
It's time to thank our farmers and ranchers for all their hard work to feed us.
