Dr. Mike Boehlje Talks New Agriculture

Chuck Zimmerman

Dr. Mike BoehljeIf you’ve never heard Dr. Mike Boehlje, Center for Food & Agricultural Business, Purdue University, speak then you’re missing a good performance. He is passionate about his work. He just completed his presentation on “Farming in the 21st Century” here at the Syngenta Learning Centers media briefing.

He started out with the “e” word which is of course, ethanol. However most of his talk really was on this thing called “new agriculture.” Kind of sounds like new media doesn’t it? Dr. Boehlje had to fly home right after his talk but I talked him into a short interview on his way out the door.

He says there are a lot of things that make up new agriculture but some key areas include new marketing opportunities, a lot of which is being driven by the bioeconomy and in particular, biofuels. Then there’s new tehnology and new business models. He sees a generational shift whereby younger farmers are saying, “bring it on” when it comes to these new ways of farming. The number one question he says growers are asking him this year is “How do I solve this corn on corn thing, especially yield drag?”

You can listen to my interview with Dr. Boehlje here: learning-centers-boehlje.mp3

Or you can download the interview using this link: Listen to MP3 Dr. Boehlje Interview (7 min MP3)

Audio, Syngenta

Learning Centers Overview

Chuck Zimmerman

Jim ElliottThe first speaker on the program is Jim Elliott, AgriEdge, Agronomy Services Manager, Syngenta Seeds.

Jim really gave us an overview of the whole Learning Centers program. This is the 4th year now that Syngenta has been doing these programs and they expect over 5,000 attendees this season. He says that 90% of the people who attend say they gained knowledge that impacted their management practices. Attendees are growers, retailers and industry leaders.

These Centers are run from Pennsylvania to Colorado.

You can listen to my interview with Jim here: learning-centers-elliott.mp3

Or you can download the interview using this link: Listen to MP3 Jim Elliott Interview (7 min MP3)

Syngenta

Group Learning

Chuck Zimmerman

Syngenta Learning Centers GroupThe media briefing portion of our Syngenta Learning Centers event is now officially underway.

Getting us started was Tom Gahm, Syngenta. He pretty much gave us the overview of what the day will be like and who our speakers will be.

I see that we have a cookie and coffee break coming up. I think they’re really pushing the cookies at this facility. I got one when I checked in, there were two in my lunch right before we got started and now we’ve got a cookie break. I like cookies though.

Syngenta

Learning Kickoff at Syngenta Learning Centers

Chuck Zimmerman

Syngenta Learning CentersThe temperature here at Lake Okoboji is wonderful compared to at home. It’s cool, cloudy and we’ve got a nice breeze.

Perfect arrival conditions for the Syngenta Media Event that kicks off this week’s Learning Centers. We’ll be out in the field in Milford, IA tomorrow. Today it’s classroom time as we explore, learn and hopefully profit. I like the “p” word! I’m sure farmers do too.

Syngenta Learning CentersThe program is about to kick off here at The Inn Conference Center. We’ll be hearing from a number of Syngenta and industry representatives and I’m going to try to interview them all and post those here for you.

Helping make this happen are the fine folks from Gibbs & Soell, Gardner Hatch and Catherine Wang. I’m sure I’ll capture them on a picture soon. I think we have 8 speakers on the line up this afternoon so they’ll be busy making sure all of us media types get our interviews done.

Agribusiness, Syngenta

Zimfo Bites

Laura McNamara

  • Doctors, dietitians and scientists agree that seafood is one of the healthiest foods Americans can enjoy. The proteins, vitamins, minerals and omega-3 fatty acids in fish and shellfish greatly outweigh the risk of trace amounts of mercury. Recent research from The Institute of Medicine and Harvard School of Public Health confirms that eating fish, including canned tuna, is beneficial to all consumers — especially women and children. People who avoid eating fish because of mercury myths take the risk of missing out on health benefits that can include reduced risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, depression and Alzheimer’s disease. Mercury levels for most fish range from non-detectable to 0.5 parts per million (ppm). The 10 most popular commercial species have an average mercury concentration of 0.12 ppm or about eight times lower than the established U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) threshold of 1 ppm. Canned tuna is far below the FDA mercury limit with an average of 0.12 parts per million (ppm) in canned light tuna and 0.35 ppm in canned albacore tuna.
  • StollerUSA, a Houston-based company, has provided producers alternative solutions to important agricultural problems for more than 35 years. Jerry Stoller, president and CEO, founded StollerUSA in 1970. A notable agronomy expert, Stoller has been involved in international soil science research for more than 40 years and won the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in 1998. He became convinced that understanding and controlling a plant’s reaction to stress was an important key to unlocking each plant’s genetic potential. One innovative StollerUSA product, Bio-Forge™, an anti-oxidant with growth-enhancing properties, increases the yield potential of drought-stressed crops by affecting key genes associated with drought resistance. Flower Power™ is another example of StollerUSA’s ability to offer original solutions to common problems. Flower Power improves quality and increases yield by improving plant pollination.
  • Producers who use no-till or strip-till practices in their farming operations now have until September 15 to sign up for the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) agricultural soil carbon offsets program. Decades of data have shown that no-till and strip-till practices sequester carbon in agricultural soils. Producers who meet the eligibility requirements receive credit for their practices. The amount of carbon sequestered varies by region, but land in the central Corn Belt typically receives credit for 0.6 of a ton of carbon per acre. Producers must commit to maintaining their conservation tillage practices for a minimum of five years.
Zimfo Bytes

LPC Gala Rally

Chuck Zimmerman

AMS YMCAI didn’t use a picture of the YMCA at the Ag Media Summit but I did post the video.

If you didn’t have any fun at the Ag Media Summit then you should stop by the rally for the Livestock Publications Council annual Gala.

It’s time to rally the troops for the LPC Gala and have an end of summer get together for friends of LPC! Mark your calendars Wednesday night, August 29th O’Dowd’s Irish Pub (ZONA ROSA) – private room. Time: right after work, 5:00ish

Come for dutch treat drinks and, if you wish, stay for dinner. This is an informal gathering to put our game plan together for the Gala and see all of our LPC friends before the crazy fall sale season starts.

Ag Media Summit, LPC

Big Red WISS Now 24 Hours/Day

Chuck Zimmerman

WISS 1100I don’t produce my weekly ZimmCast with a broadcast purpose in mind but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t air somewhere. One of those somewhere’s is on the Big Red WISS AM 1100 in Berlin, WI.

They just announced that they’re now broadcasting 24 hours a day!

Hometown Broadcasting is pleased to announce that Big Red AM 1100 is now once again 24 hours with the advent of our translator W247AZ ….. 97.3 on the FM dial. 24 hours a day!

Media

Zimfo Bites

Laura McNamara

  • Garst Seed Company recently announced it is adding 47 new corn hybrids to its ’08 lineup, including hybrids with Agrisure® 3000GT — the first ever quad corn trait stack released by parent company Syngenta. Agrisure 3000GT offers a complete trait package, combining glyphosate and Liberty® herbicide tolerance with corn borer and rootworm resistance. It and other Agrisure® trait stacks are available in many Garst hybrids. Agrisure® CB/LL/RW — combining tolerance to Liberty (LL) herbicide with corn borer (CB) and rootworm (RW) resistance — has proven to exhibit higher yields than non-trait versions. In 2006 trials, Agrisure CB/LL/RW hybrids showed a 42-bushel yield advantage compared to the same genetics without RW or CB/LL traits. In addition to Agrisure traits, Garst will continue to offer growers the AgriEdge™ Corn program that combines premium genetics, traits and crop protection solutions to help maximize yields and profitability. The AgriEdge program gives growers the flexibility to choose which products work best on their farms. A wide range of crop solutions is available, but growers pay only for the technology they use. Syngenta reimburses them for the full value of the unused trait.
  • IRON Solutions, publisher for used equipment values, announces today that Buhler Versatile® tractors will be added to the Agricultural Official Guide. Since their formation, IRON Solutions has been the recognized authority in the industry, providing gold standard equipment data through their Official Guides to dealers, lenders and insurance companies. IRON Solutions’ print and web products provide historical transaction data for used equipment and real-time new equipment pricing. These products help customers make purchasing decisions, determine fair transaction values, guide dealers’ trade-in valuations and support responsible equipment financing. The addition of Buhler Versatile® tractors will be made available in September 2007 with the Fall Quarter Agricultural Official Guide book and electronic publications.
  • For 2008, NK is expanding its already diverse portfolio to include 23 new soybeans, all selected from extensive research at more than 800,000 soybean plots at eight Syngenta research centers throughout the United States. “This powerful soybean lineup provides growers with a broad range of options for the toughest disease, pest and weed issues that maximize yield performance in your fields,” says Jamie Leifker, NK marketing manager with Syngenta Seeds. The new additions include six salt excluder soybeans, which limit distribution of chloride to vital plant parts, improving performance in salty fields. Plus, six of the new soybeans have been designated Extra Edge™ High Protein soybeans, and five are Extra Edge High Oil soybeans. The Extra Edge soybean portfolio characterizes products that offer high levels of oil or protein, and meet recommendations from the United Soybean Board, which encourages growers to choose soybeans that fit processor needs.
Zimfo Bytes

Pfizer Research Dairy

Chuck Zimmerman

Pfizer DairySpeaking of Pfizer Animal Health . . . One of the people I met at their media event at the veterinary medicine research and development farm was Bill Loveland. Bill manages their research dairy.

Pfizer has a state of the art dairy facility that allows them to handle up to 128 animals at a time. Bill says the facility opened in 2004 and since then they’ve pretty much been in continuous study mode doing about 35 studies on topics like mastitis, reformulations and residues. He says most of the studies last from 2 to 4 months and that he’s got a regular staff of 4 people although they bring in more if needed. He’s really proud of their work in transitional cow studies.

I interviewed Bill at the end of our tour of the facility and you can listen to that interview here: pfizer-vmrd-07-loveland.mp3

Or if you’d like you can download it here: Download MP3 FileBill Loveland Interview

Agribusiness, Audio, Dairy

Behind The Scenes at Pfizer Animal Health

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast-132 - Pfizer Media EventHow many companies allow journalists to go behind the scenes and see the whole process of how a product is conceived and brought to market? Not many but that’s what Pfizer Animal Health did last week. I attended their “Delivering Solutions Through Research and Innovation” media event to which they invited cattle publication editors like Holly Martin, High Plains Journal and Bob Strong, Feedlot Magazine, who you’ll hear from in this week’s program.

Raegan WeberThe coordinator for our event was Raegan Weber, Pfizer Marketing Communications Manager (pictured). Raegan was very helpful and agreed to let me do an interview while we were on tour to discuss why Pfizer did this and what they hoped to gain by it. I think you’ll be interested to hear her perspective and especially what it takes to make an event like this happen. As you can imagine security was a major concern and I think Pfizer handled it very well.

I believe this event helped me understand the company much better and definitely taught me a lot about a serious animal health problem that Pfizer has invested significantly in creating producer solutions for. Holly and Bob agreed and you’ll hear them say that they’re coming away from the event not only with material for a story but a perspective that will help them write about the subject and the company in a much more informed way.

I want to thank Raegan and everyone at Pfizer Animal Health for inviting me along. Thanks also to Kenna Rathai and Lacy Carroll at Martin Williams for all their assistance too.

The program ends with music from the Podsafe Music Network and Brobdingnagian Bards. The song is “Health To The Company.”

You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: Listen To ZimmCastZimmCast 132 (22 min MP3)

Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:

zimmcast132-8-13-07.mp3

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

Agribusiness, Audio