USDA MyPyramid Podcast – Almost

Chuck Zimmerman

MyPyramid PodcastUSDA is almost podcasting on its MyPyramid website. I say almost because of this line on their podcast page: “Check back every month for a new video podcast.” Oops. That completely misses the point of podcasting which is about me watching when/where I want and being able to subscribe so I don’t have to go back to a certain web page to see if there’s a new episode.

I think it would also be a good idea since they’re doing video to load them to YouTube. Oh, wait, I did that myself:



Do you want to succeed with your New Year’s Resolution? Today, the first in a series of MyPyramid PodCasts on MyPyramid.gov, designed to help the public make better food choices, was launched by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (CNPP).

This first “PodCast,” featuring CNPP Executive Director Dr. Brian Wansink, focuses on portion sizes and small steps the public can take to keep their New Year’s Resolutions to avoid unwanted pounds and inches during the holiday season. “As people turn more and more to the Internet for advice and guidance, we have a greater opportunity to introduce helpful steps to improve the nutritional health of all Americans,” said Dr. Wansink.”

Podcasts, USDA, Video

Cotton Board Members Appointed

Melissa Sandfort

cotton-board.jpgActing Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner announced the appointment of 17 members and 17 alternate members to the Cotton Board, as well as one vacant alternate member position in Mississippi created by a resignation.

Beginning Jan. 1, the Cotton Board will consist of 37 representatives of cotton producers and importers, their alternates and one consumer advisor. The members and alternates named will serve a three-year term, ending Dec. 31, 2010.

The re-appointed members are: V. Larkin Martin, Courtland, Ala.; Van F. Murphy, Quitman, Ga.; Jimmie G. Johnson, Vanduser, Mo.; Robert D. Robbins, Altus, Okla.; Arthur W. James, Jr., Sumter, S.C.; Willie L. German, Somerville, Tenn.; Jackie L. Burris, Wellman, Texas; Craig D. Shook, Corpus Christi, Texas; Kenneth W. Dierschke, San Angelo, Texas; Nancy A. Marino, Upper Brookville, N.Y.; Werner Bieri, Maysville, Ga.; John D. Clark, Los Angeles, Calif.; Yvonne M. Anderson, Minneapolis, Minn.; A. Mark Neuman, Champaign, Ill.; and Peter M. McGrath, Plano, Texas.

The newly appointed board members are: Dwight W. Menefee, Lake Arthur, N.M.; and Gary E. Ross, Yardley, Pa.

Click here for the full list of appointees.

Cotton

ViaGen Offers Easier Tracking of Cloned Livestock

Laura McNamara

ViaGenTo be honest, I haven’t really given much thought whether my milk or meat comes from a farm animal that’s unique in every way… or whether it has come from a cloned specimen. That’s probably because there isn’t a significant amount of cloned livestock out there… yet. Now that ViaGen is offering a program that tracks cloned animals with ease, though, I think I might be interested in knowing when I’m eating the real thing, or the carbon copy.

The following is a statement by Mark Walton, President of ViaGen, and Dave Faber, CEO of TransOva:

ViaGen and TransOva Genetics, the national leaders in the livestock cloning industry, have developed the supply chain management program to track cloned livestock. This system will allow marketers to provide consumers with truthful and accurate labels.

Our companies worked with more than 20 groups in the food industry chain to develop a program that addresses the marketing needs of their customers.

This proactive effort, to track clones from birth to death, will be managed through a third party registry. Each time the animal moves from one owner to another, it will be documented in the national registry. It works in the same manner as process-verified food systems like the Certified Organics Program; meat certified Halal; or coffee that is labeled Fair Trade.

With fewer than 600 clones in existence today, consumers can be confident that this system will provide them with reliable information about the status of food products from clones.

Ag Groups, Agribusiness, Farming, Livestock, Technology

Traditional Eggs Best For Environment

Chuck Zimmerman

United Egg ProducersI want to make sure that everyone knows that I’m all for a clean environment and doing things to make it so. However, I am so tired of hearing about the man made global warming hoax that I have no words to describe it. But hey, if you can use it to your advantage, why not? If there’s anything about 2007 that I will most remember it’s how gullible the public can be when it comes to something that’s so accepted and promoted by the mainstream media. At least I guess they’re gullible. How about you? Do you believe that all of the sudden the Earth is in terrible peril and we’re all going to die unless we somehow all change our lifestyles, yadda, yadda, yadda? You don’t see most of the stars changing theirs although I did read somewhere that Paris Hilton is going to start turning off the lights when she leaves a room.

I’m sorry, got carried away. This post started because of an announcement from United Egg Producers about a study that shows that cage eggs (the good kind) don’t warm the globe as much as those other kinds.

A study conducted by Adrian Williams, PhD., senior research fellow at Cranfield University in the United Kingdom, found that the traditional cage egg production currently used by most U.S. egg farmers decreases the industry’s effects on global warming by 10 percent, while converting to all free-range egg production would increase the effects on global warming by 10 percent and converting to all organic egg production would increase the effects on global warming by 40 percent.

The research examined the energy and food levels for farm production on 10 different agricultural and horticultural commodities such as potatoes, tomatoes, beef, milk, poultry, and eggs. In addition to the varying production findings, the study found that egg production as a whole is less harmful on the environment than other livestock. Egg production takes less global energy thus producing less greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The study was funded by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs in the U.K.

Ag Groups

Agricultural New Media Growth in 2007

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast-152 - Happy New YearThis week’s ZimmCast is a happy new year program. Cindy sits in with me and we look back over the growth that took place in agricultural new media in 2007 that we’ve been blessed to be a part of. Here’s some statistics you might be interested to know:

  • We manage 20 blogs now – 5 of our own, 15 for clients, 11 of which we produce regular content for, 7 of them new in 2007.
  • We manage 9 podcasts – 3 of our own, 6 for clients, 4 of them new in 2007.
  • We traveled 223 days in 2007, almost 2/3 of the year doing agriblogging and farm podcasting work. In almost 50 cities and 5 countries.
  • We’ve now got 6 freelancers doing regular work for us.

In our report we pretty much focus on the work we’ve been involved in but that doesn’t mean there hasn’t also been a lot more growth in agricultural new media that’s being done by other companies and organizations. I try to keep you updated as I find out about who’s doing what and how. So if you’ve got a new farm blog or podcast please let me know so I can let others know.

Me at my MacI just got my passport renewed so I’m ready to go wherever business leads me in the coming year. That’s going to be the Beltwide Cotton Conference in Nashville next week.

I also just got my Mac back after being without it for 5 days. I had to get a card slot mechanism repaired. That meant shipping it off but they sure turn it around fast considering the holiday. I also had to work on my pc notebook over the last holiday but it was a good refresher course in all things Windows. I’m not on Vista yet by the way and have no immediate intentions of getting into those problems.

This week’s program ends with music from the Podsafe Music Network. It’s called “Happy New Year” by Colie Brice. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: Listen To ZimmCastZimmCast 152 (20 min MP3)

Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:zimmcast152-1-2-08.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

Audio, ZimmCast

Zimfo Bites

Melissa Sandfort

  • Farm Equipment magazine is recognizing David Kahler (former CEO of Ohio-Michigan Equipment Dealers Assn.) with a special “Distinguished Service Award” during the 16th Annual National No-Tillage Conference on Thursday, Jan. 10, at the Netherland Hilton Hotel, Cincinnati, Ohio. Kahler spent his entire 38-year career advancing the interests of equipment dealers, the last 20 as CEO of the association serving Ohio and Michigan. For more information or to register for the half-day event, contact Bree Greenawalt (breeg@lesspub.com), 800/645-8455, ext. 408.
  • Ford Motor Co. has licensed its technology for soy-based flexible seat foam to Deere & Co. and Sears Manufacturing Co., so those companies can develop it for John Deere farming equipment and other applications. Ford says the soy-based foam is more environmentally friendly than petroleum-based foams, and soy foam reduces carbon dioxide emissions and takes less energy to produce.
  • Following recent publicity surrounding recalls of consumer products, Americans are increasingly concerned about product safety. According to an analysis of 1,000 American adults by legal information services provider Thomson West, Eagan, MN, 61 percent of Americans are worried or very worried about product safety, 55 percent of Americans say they are more worried today about product safety than they were a year ago and 73 percent of Americans have owned a recalled product. For more study results, click here.
Zimfo Bytes

Top Chef Host Gives FoodFit.com Top Cooking Tips

Laura McNamara

FoodFit.comHealthCentral‘s FoodFit.com wants to introduce consumers to the world of international cuisine and cooking. That’s why the Website is featuring cooking secrets from Top Chef Host Padma Lakshmi.

Have you tried a little cardamom with your ice cream? How about crushing up Persian Omani lemons to give your stew a little kick? In an exclusive interview with HealthCentral’s FoodFit.com, award-winning chef and renowned cookbook author Padma Lakshmi dishes on her favorite recipes, spice staples for every pantry and the little things that can transform an ordinary meal to extraordinary.

FoodFit.com, a leader for up-to-date information on good food and health, is featuring three of Lakshmi’s recipes from her new book, Tangy Tart Hot & Sweet, as well as advice from the pioneer chef on how to achieve healthy and flavorful cooking in a home kitchen. A champion of fusion cooking that melds ingredients from around the world, Lakshmi brings her unique vision to FoodFit’s robust community of passionate home cooks who care as much about flavor as their health.

Food

Happy New Year

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCommHappy New Year from ZimmComm New Media. It’s going to be a great 2008 and we’re looking forward to seeing you somewhere on the agricultural marketing highway.

In case you didn’t get or somehow missed your December ZimmNews you can still download and read it (Word doc). The end of the year was a busy one although we’ve had a break in the action this past week.

Cindy and I and all the ZimmComm crew wish everyone a fantastic year.

ZimmNews

Peanuts Promote Healthy Weight for Youth

Laura McNamara

The Peanut InstituteOverweight children can lose weight by incorporating peanuts into their regular diet. At least, that’s what research published in the December issue of Pediatrics suggests.

High risk overweight adolescents, ages 10-15 can lose weight while substituting an ounce of peanuts or peanut butter for other less healthy snack choices. The study, “Weight Loss in Overweight Mexican American Children: A Randomized Controlled Trial” describes the “Family Lifestyle and Overweight” (FLOW) Prevention Program, which is in a school setting. It is being conducted by Baylor College of Medicine and the United States Department of Agriculture- Agricultural Research Service (USDA/ARS) Children’s Nutrition Research Center in Houston, Texas.

This study is highly significant because it is one of the first to show that the highest risk minority group, Mexican-Americans, can successfully lose weight and improve blood lipids in a school-based intensive intervention program. This is an important feat considering 37 percent of Mexican-American children in the US are overweight and obese, which is even higher than the 34 percent of overweight children in the general population.

FLOW participants lost statistically significant amounts of weight at 3 months and were able to keep it off through 6 months, which is not often seen in weight loss programs. The intervention group also significantly reduced total and ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol levels at 6 months compared to the control group adolescents.

For more information, visit the Peanut Institute Website.

Ag Groups, Food, Publication, Research

Pennsylvania Youth ‘Gear Up for the 21st Century’

Laura McNamara

Pennsylvania Department of AgricultureThe 2008 Pennsylvania farm show is featuring youth who are “Gearing Up for the 21st Century.” Seven chapters from Future Farmers of America will be showcasing agricultural advances at the 2008 Pennsylvania Farm Show‘s Agricultural Technology Display competition.

In its third year, the theme of this year’s competition is “Gearing Up for the 21st Century.” Students are allowed to use their own materials and props — including farm equipment — to develop a display and demonstration that showcases advances made in agriculture. The exhibits will be on display in the Expo Hall of the Farm Show Complex.

Each of the seven participating Future Farmers of America (FFA) chapters will receive $500 for participating and will have the opportunity to win another $500 in prize money awarded by judges, as well as a $250 “People’s Choice” award decided by show visitors. Winners will be announced on Saturday, Jan. 12, in the Expo Hall.

Last year’s winner was the Manheim FFA Chapter display, which highlighted problems associated with an increasing world population. The display showed population growth over the last few decades, from three billion in 1960 to more than 6.5 billion in 2007, and a ticker counted the increase of the population per second.

Ag Groups, Farm Shows, Farming, Technology