Philly is CheeseSteakTown.com

Chuck Zimmerman

Miss CheesesteakNow that’s what I’m talking about. Just read the description of the perfect cheese steak sandwich. You’ll find that and a lot more on the new CheeseSteakTown website.

Most Americans live in normal cities and towns and lead normal lives — they go to work, they pay bills, they watch TV. But here in the City of Brotherly Love, every day is an adventure — a passionate and never-ending quest to find the perfect cheese steak, a foot-long sandwich packed with steaming grilled beef, smothered in fried onions and dripping with golden Cheez Whiz.

Mr Cheesesteak“New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris and Rome? Been there, done that. Just give me a cheese steak and I’ll take Philly over all of them. This is the most fun, most colorful, most user-friendly, most amazing city anywhere.” So says the man known as Big Cheese, a native Philadelphian and former touring rock musician who, along with two Philadelphia-born friends — a published cartoonist (Ozzard of Whiz) and a national talent agent (Fried Onion) — has launched www.CheeseSteakTown.com, the first-ever website to celebrate Philadelphia’s famous sandwich and its unique “Cheese Steak Culture.”

“If you want the insider’s run-down on every great cheese steak place in Philly, it’s all here,” Ozzard of Whiz explains. “We have a full-page article about each one, complete with photos — and a monthly Top Ten list as voted by visitors to www.CheeseSteakTown.com.”

Get your entries in for the Mr. and Miss Cheesesteak contest too.

Food

Food Waste Fuels Cheese Production

Laura McNamara

I blogged about food fighting cancer. Now, I’ve found out about one plant that’s using food to create more food. The Fairview Swiss Cheese Plant in Mercer County, Pennsylvania is using biogas from food waste to produce steam that will help process milk into cheese.

The Fairview Swiss Cheese Plant soon will be partially powered with biogas made from its own waste products.

The plant, owned by John Koller & Son Inc. in Mercer County, broke ground Thursday on the renewable energy project, which converts food waste into gas, said Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff.

The $2.2 million project involves constructing an anaerobic digester that will use cheese whey from the plant and cone batter waste from the Joy Cone Co. to make 40 million cubic feet of biogas annually — the equivalent of 28 million cubic feet of natural gas.

The biogas will be used in a boiler to produce steam and electricity for processing milk into cheese that in turn will offset the purchase of fuel oil and electricity produced from fossil fuels. The wastewater from the digester will flow to a treatment facility where the solids will be removed and clean water discharged.

The project is a collaborative effort between the local county government, Fairview Swiss Cheese Plant, Joy Cone Co., and Penn State Cooperative Extension of Mercer County.

Food, Technology

Eat for the Cure

Laura McNamara

Eat for the CureMembers of the Missouri Farm Bureau like to say “If you eat, you’re involved in agriculture.” With that in mind, it seems the latest campaign to fight breast cancer is very much involved in agriculture.

When running was no longer enough, this weight-loss support group turned relay team, wondered what their next way to raise funds for breast cancer research would be. Maria Fernandez and the members of TeamGDT thought not everyone runs, but everyone eats; their new cookbook, “Eat for the Cure”, was a great answer to not only raise awareness but to touch the lives of those that have been affected by breast cancer.

While training for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure the team, now 60 members strong, collected the recipes they traded when they were trying to help each other lose weight. It wasn’t until one of the support group’s members announced that she’d been diagnosed with breast cancer that finding another way to fundraise and educate those about research became a top priority. “When you’re trying to lose weight, food is a major topic of conversation. As we began our mission to help the Komen Foundation, turning the many recipes we shared throughout the years on our message board, it just seemed natural for this to be our next project to honor those in the group and in our lives,” says author and charter team member Maria Fernandez.

“Eat for the Cure” is available for download or purchase. All proceeds go to the Komen Foundation, and Fernandez says of the cookbook, “This is our way of giving back.”

Food fighting cancer. Now that’s an idea. It would be an interesting challenge to see what else the agriculture industry could play a part in. We already know how agirculture is impacting domestic fuels…

Agribusiness, Food

RFD-TV Dreaming of a Mulberry Christmas

Laura McNamara

RFD-TVWhy is it that Christmas hype always seems to come before Halloween hype? Well, I’m jumping on the bandwagon with this post about RFD-TV‘s exciting news about which group will be putting viewers in the Christmas spirit throughout the network’s programming in November and December.

Mulberry Lane, the Midwest’s most popular sister group, will perform their 2007 Christmas show at RFD-TV The Theatre in Branson, Missouri with 20 performances scheduled during the months of November and December. The extended run will begin with three matinee performances at 3pm during Veteran’s Day weekend, November 9, 10, & 11, and then continue weekly with 7pm shows set on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings through December 5. In addition, a 3pm matinee show will be performed on Tuesdays.

Mulberry Lane, a sister act who grew up singing and playing music together, is a heartland favorite. The songbird sisters have sold over 550,000 albums, including the critical and fan favorite CD, “A Very Merry Mulberry Christmas.”

Mulberry Lane’s 2-hour Christmas show will anchor the extensive holiday lineup for the 2,000 soft-seat theatre opened by RFD-TV in March of this year. In addition, the theatre’s fall/Christmas bookings include individual appearances by Ronnie Milsap, Roy Clark, and Lorrie Morgan, along with the network’s Penny Gilley Show scheduled in the venue for the weekends.

Media

Zimfo Bites

Melissa Sandfort

  • The National Pork Checkoff Board is accepting nominations to fill five, three-year terms as directors of the board. In addition, candidates are being sought for two open seats on the Board’s Nominating Committee to serve two-year terms starting in 2008. Nominees may be submitted by state pork producer associations, farm organizations and anyone who pays the Pork Checkoff, which includes pork producers and pork importers. Any person who is a producer and has paid all Checkoff assessments due, or is a representative of a producer/company that produces hogs/pigs, is eligible to serve on the National Pork Checkoff Board. The 15 positions on the Checkoff board are held by pork producers or importers who volunteer their time. Please direct application requests and questions to the National Pork Checkoff Board either by mail to 1776 NW 114th St, Clive, IA 50325, by telephone to Lorraine Garner at 515-223-2637, or e-mail LGarner@pork.org.
  • Jim Russell, Missouri Agribusiness Association (MO-AG) president for the last 25 years, has announced he is retiring from his presidency position in the upcoming year. The MO-AG Board, staff and members want to thank Jim for his years of service and dedication to the association. Jim’s leadership and experience will be greatly missed by Missouri ag retailers. Consequently, MO-AG is currently accepting résumés for President/Executive Officer. Resumés may be submitted to MO-AG’s legal counsel: Newman, Comley & Ruth, P.C., Attention: MO-AG Search Committee, P.O. Box 537, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0537. Deadline: Résumés must be received by Nov. 15, 2007.
  • Join the Secretary of Agriculture and distinguished guest speakers at USDA’s 84th Outlook Forum, “Energizing Rural America in the Global Marketplace”, an annual conference for industry and government leaders, farmers and ranchers, and other agricultural experts. The forum will be held Feb. 21-22, 2008 at the Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel, Arlington, Va. Register and learn more here. Early registration is $300.
Zimfo Bytes

Getting Some Ethanol Truth

Chuck Zimmerman

Cellulosic SummitNext week I’ll be in Washington, DC for the Cellulosic Ethanol Summit. Thanks to the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council and the Renewable Fuels Association for sponsoring my coverage which will primarily be on Domestic Fuel. It’s going to be interesting to see how far along we really are towards having the cellulosic process commercially viable. If it is “here and now” then it should take the wind out of the sails of the whackos who still try to foster a food vs. fuel debate.

Kernals of TruthSpeaking of food vs. fuel, the South Dakota Corn Utilization Council has started a program called “Kernals of Truth.” Here’s what it’s all about:

Kernels of Truth: Learn more about the facts behind food, fuel and farming in South Dakota. Prices at the grocery store are higher. But the truth is, corn prices have little effect on the retail price of food. Find out more about the costs associated with food production and why our leadership in ethanol production and dried distillers grains is a major reason why livestock producers across the state have a plentiful and economical source of feed. That helps keep food prices lower, not higher. Really.

The program got the attention of the Associated Press and their story was picked up by Forbes.com. Helping the SDCUC is Paulsen Agribranding. I know that because they wrote about it on their blog.

Ethanol

Case IH Magnum Has a Good Design

Chuck Zimmerman

CASE IH MagnumYou not only have to be “muscular” but you really need to look good out in the field. That’s what you’ll be in a Case IH Magnum.

For the first time in the company’s history, Case IH has been honored with a prestigious Good Design™ Award from The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design. The Case IH Magnum tractor was voted one of the winning designs in the transportation category.

Other winners in the category include the NASA Lunar Lander, the Mitsubishi Eclipse Spider, the BMW F8005 Motorcycle, the BMW Z4 Coupe, and the Camcopter® S-100 UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle.

“We were judged against some of the best transportation companies in the world — and out of this world, when you factor in NASA,” says Mike Bunnell, one of the company’s tractor vehicle engineers who designed the next generation Case IH Magnum tractors. “That’s pretty impressive competition.”

Bunnell says the Magnum won the award because “it successfully combines style and extreme functionality. It’s stylish and looks great, but it’s also a rugged, muscular tractor,” he adds. “So the design has to integrate a lot of necessary functions, such as air flow, cooling, high visibility and operator comfort, to name just a few. Based on what our customers are telling us — coupled with this renowned Good Design award — we succeeded.”

Tractor

Wal-Mart Selling Broadband Internet Access

Chuck Zimmerman

WalmartAccording to a story on Business Week, Walmart will begin selling broadband internet access. That would be of the satellite variety. They’ll begin re-selling Hughes Communications satellite service right away. It’s not a huge market but one of the barriers to satellite access has been price. The bet is that the price will go down now that the big dog is selling it.

The story says that currently only “about 10% of Americans have no access to DSL or cable broadband.” That’s still a lot of people and a lot of them are in rural areas. So farmers without access to DSL or cable, take heart. Another option is surfacing at a store near you.

According to a story on Webpronews.com:

Wal-Mart will offer satellite broadband in 800 stores and pricing will start at $60 a month for 700Kbps download speeds up 2.0Mbps. The company is also rumored to be testing a service similar to Best Buy’s Geek Squad.

Internet

NAFB Convention Hotel Sold Out

Chuck Zimmerman

NAFB ConventionThe National Association of Farm Broadcasting has had to make arrangements for extra rooms at hotels nearby the Westin Crown Plaza since as of today it’s sold out for their convention. Contact the office if you still need to make a reservation.

If you’re an Allied Industry Council member then they’d like your opinion on some things prior to the convention. You can find the form here. It’s short so please let them know what you think.

It’s hard to believe it’s almost time for another NAFB Convention. I don’t want to think about how many I’ve been too. This year I’ll be blogging the meeting and on Friday I’ll be conducting a professional improvement session on new media. I think we’ll have some fun with it.

NAFB

Florida Farm Bureau Leader Blogs

Chuck Zimmerman

FFB President's BlogThe President of Florida Farm Bureau Federation is blogging. He’s John Hoblick and you can find him here. Here’s an excerpt:

In this first post, I will focus on the Florida Farm Bureau Annual Meeting at the Hilton in Daytona Beach.

I am looking forward to it.

You are planning to be there, aren’t you?

Our 66th annual meeting will celebrate another successful year for the Federation. It is also the final step in the adoption of the policies that will guide us in 2008 as we work to improve farmers’ incomes and better the quality of rural life.

John, you’re off to a good start. Within the week we’ll know if you’ve got an inner blogger though. There are some who have tried it and . . .

I also notice that my old friend Kay Richardson is giving it a go too. Way to go Kay.

Ag Groups