Bobby Rahal Talks About Green Racing

Chuck Zimmerman

Bobby Rahal at National Press ClubIt’s been a while since I’ve been to the National Press Club. This was a fun event today.

For the first time ever an Indianapolis 500 winner spoke at the National Press Club today. Bobby Rahal spoke about “The Greening of Racing: Ethanol Powers the Indianapolis 500.″I’ll be there to watch it happen and chronicle it here and on Domestic Fuel.

Today Bobby put in another great performance as he spoke about his passion for racing and what the IRl is doing with ethanol.

Bobby said that he is proud of what the Indy Racing League has done to move to an environmentally friendly fuel because it means they’re focused on more than just entertainment and on what matters and is important to people in their everyday lives here in our country.

You can listen to an excerpt from his speech here:

nat-press-club-07-rahal.mp3

Of course I’ve created an online photo album from the event you are welcome to visit: Bobby Rahal at National Press Club Photo Album

Audio, Ethanol

Getting Ready For Lunch With Bobby Rahal

Chuck Zimmerman

Bobby RahalGood morning from Washington, DC. We were having a little server work done this morning (if you noticed). That’s done now.

I’ll be attending a lunch presentation with this guy in about an hour and will be back online this afternoon with some posts.

The greening of racing is a very interesting phenomenon and Bobby Rahal is going to talk about it. I’ll be recording his remarks and taking pictures. Of course you know that.

Ethanol

In The Coffee Zone

Chuck Zimmerman

Taisir YanisBefore hitting the road today I had to stop in for a meeting at my favorite coffee shop in Jefferson City. Taisir Yanis has some of the best brews you’re going to find at his place, Coffee Zone.

This post is actually a demo for the person I’m meeting with since it’s the best way I know to show someone what I do. It’s like my presentations. Why use PowerPoint when you can show live web sites?

So after some high level caffeine I’ll be on the road to Washington, DC for a National Press Club speech tomorrow by Bobby Rahal. See you there.

Food

AFBF Wants More Rural High Speed Internet

Chuck Zimmerman

American Farm Bureau FederationThe push to get broadband out in the countryside continues. Now I hope everyone realizes that there’s probably no place left you can’t get high speed internet if you want it. But the choices certainly are limited in many areas. Right here in Jefferson City, MO, we have only a couple choices. Now the American Farm Bureau Federation is getting in on the act. They know that rural America needs to be AgWired! I’m not sure which PEW Internet study they’re quoting from but it’s one of them. So, basically, they’re urging support for a Senate bill to provide incentives to build more broadband access in rural areas.

Rural Americans lag behind urban and suburban residents in the use and availability of high-speed Internet connections, according to AFBF. Twenty-four percent of rural Americans have high-speed Internet access at home, compared to 39 percent of urban and suburban residents.

“Access to high-speed Internet access is important to rural America. Broadband plays a critical role in health, education and economic development,” AFBF President Bob Stallman said in a letter to U.S. senators.

A 2006 report from the Commerce Department shows that broadband Internet access enhances the economic growth and performance of communities. A three-year study by the department indicates communities with broadband access significantly outpaced communities without broadband access in terms of employment, overall number of businesses and property values.

Farm Bureau is urging support for S. 1190, new legislation sponsored by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) that would provide $40 million annually for a competitive, matching grant program to improve access to broadband Internet service. If approved, 80 percent of funding for the program would come from the federal government, with state and private funds supplying the remaining 20 percent.

That lag of 15% they quote here may seem big but keep in mind that the 24% number is significant. You can be sure that when it comes to farmers at high income levels the number is significantly higher.

Ag Groups, Internet

May I See You Somewhere

Chuck Zimmerman

After a couple days to get caught up (right) it’s time to head out on the highway. Here’s a few of the places you’ll find me in May.

This Friday I’ll be in Washington, DC at the National Press Club covering a speech by Bobby Rahal, Rahal-Letterman Racing. He’ll be talking about the Greening of Racing. A topic near and dear to my heart.

I’m going to do my best to attend next week’s Gateway NAMA meeting in St. Louis. The topic is “Outlook of the Agricultural Industry through the Eyes of the National Corn Growers Association & the American Soybean Association. I’m very behind in keeping up our chapter website but I’ll try to get that taken care of over the next week. Anyone want to volunteer to help?

Then I’m going to be in Chicago the next week for an ethanol industry related event on which I really don’t have many details yet.

After that I’ll be attending an Elanco “sensory briefing.” You will learn more about that along with me.

Following that one I’ll be in Louisville for the IFAJ Board Meeting at which I’m giving a presentation on blogging and podcasting and attending the Alltech International Feed Industry Symposium. That’s all about “The New Energy Crisis: Food, Feed, or Fuel?”

Then it’s off to Indianapolis for the Indy 500, the greatest event in racing. You can count on Team Ethanol being there in force to celebrate the relationship that has led to the League switching to a renewable fuel source.

Finally I’ll be giving a presentation on new media at the Canadian Animal Health Institute annual meeting where their theme is “Harnessing Technology to Expand Markets.”

I’d say that makes for a pretty full month don’t you?

Elanco

D&PL Boll Box/AVICTA Complete Pak Giveaway

Chuck Zimmerman

D&PL WinnerIn this picture Harvey Hancock (center) is awarded his Boll Box of treated seed from Wes Joost, D&PL district salesman (left), and Robbie Long, Syngenta Seed Care Sales representative (right). That’s his prize from a D&PL seed treatment promotion.

Cotton seed costs for Harvey Hancock of Slaton, Texas will be slightly lower this planting season after winning a Delta and Pine Land Company Boll Box containing the D&PL variety of his choice treated with AVICTA Complete Pak seed treatment.

The giveaway was part of a joint seed and seed treatment promotion by D&PL, the nation’s leading provider of cotton planting seed, and Syngenta Crop Protection, which developed and markets AVICTA Complete Pak seed treatment. Hancock, who farms cotton in Crosby County, Texas near the Robertson Community, will take his Boll Box with DP 164 B2RF, a mid-full maturity variety from D&PL.

Hancock’s name was randomly selected from participants who responded to a mailing regarding leading D&PL cotton varieties and the AVICTA Complete Pak, which is a promotional combination comprised of AVICTA nematicide, Cruiser insecticide and Dynasty CST fungicide seed treatments.

Completely unrelated to this story is the fact that I Googled “D&PL” while creating this post and AgWired shows up as result #8 on the first page of results. That’s out of almost 30,000 results in fact. Not bad for a little old industry blog don’t you think?

Agribusiness

Carl Moberg Joins EMD Crop Bioscience

Chuck Zimmerman

Carl MobergEMD Crop Bioscience has added Carl Moberg to their marketing team.

As one of EMD Crop BioScience’s North American Marketing Managers, Moberg will concentrate on areas of expansion, specifically new, foliar-applied LCO Promoter Technology and other technologies for a variety of crops. As new crop onputs are introduced, Moberg will lead marketing efforts to get the yield and plant health-enhancing technologies in the hands of growers.

“Carl brings a wealth of knowledge to EMD Crop BioScience,” says Scott Fleetwood, Ph.D., EMD Crop BioScience Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “His background and experience in product development and marketing will bring a fresh perspective to EMD Crop BioScience’s rapidly-growing portfolio of plant health-enhancing products.”

Moberg comes to EMD Crop BioScience with 30 years of experience in the agriculture industry. He started with Terra Industries in 1976 and worked in credit, sales and marketing management. Moberg then joined Agriliance in 1999 where he most recently held the position of Director of Branded Product Marketing and was responsible for the development and marketing of all products sold under the AgriSolutions, Origin and RSA brands.

Agribusiness

Caterpillar Says Eat My Dust

Chuck Zimmerman

Eat My DustThis looks like a very creative way to engage your client and to help them generate some sales while having a lot of fun.

Apparently, car dealers aren’t alone in finding creative ways to set up test drives. Now construction equipment dealers are joining the fun.

Winners of the recent “Eat My Dust” Sweepstakes, sponsored by Caterpillar dealers in the southwest, not only won a NASCAR race weekend at Fontana (CA) Speedway in February – they tested a new Cat tractor by using the machine to actually build their own dirt race track. Once completed, participants raced around the dirt track in dune buggies.

“What a cool way to demo a new machine,” exclaimed Monty Fross, owner of Rocks ‘N Stuff, of Stockton, CA. “When it came time to race the dune buggy, I drove it to win. And I did.” In addition to bragging rights, Fross got to lead a parade lap around Fontana (CA) Speedway prior to the start of the NASCAR Auto Club 500 – from inside the new Cat tractor. “I had a blast waving and honking at all the kids as I circled the track,” said Fross.

The event was created by Rhea & Kaiser Marketing Communications for its Cat dealer clients. The promotion helped launch a new product, the Cat 414E Industrial Loader, to contractors within seven Cat dealer territories, explains Fred Nichols, management supervisor for Rhea & Kaiser.

The picture is of one winner in the Caterpillar “Eat My Dust” Sweepstakes preparing to race around a dirt track created by various test drives of the new Cat 414E Industrial Loader, behind.

Agencies, Agribusiness

Farmer Frank Wins First Place

Chuck Zimmerman

Farmer FrankThanks to the Ag Documentation Center for bringing this to my attention. It’s a really good piece of television photojournalism. In fact, it’s the #1 award winner of the Poynter Institute 2007 The Best of Television Photojournalism.

The first place winner is Jonathan Malat/KARE Minneapolis, Minn.

Jonathan follows Farmer Frank who has made the move to the city but can’t quit working “on the farm.” Visit the site to watch the video.

Media

10th World Agricultural Forum

Chuck Zimmerman

World Agricultural ForumThe World Agricultural Forum for 2007 will take place next week in St. Louis. The agenda says it kicks off with a reception on Monday, May 7.

They’ve got some interesting names on the program like Mariann Fischer Boel, Commissioner for Agricultural and Rural Development for the European Union. She’ll be doing the keynote address.

As you might guess biofuels are a major topic. Sessions on it include:

BIOENERGY: HOW DO WE RATIONALIZE INVESTMENTS IN AGRICULTURE TO AUGMENT FOSSIL FUELS?
HOW CAN WE MAKE BIOENERGY A SUSTAINABLE INVESTMENT WITHOUT AFFECTING FOOD SUPPLIES?
Are Biofuels an Option for Developed Economies?
How Do We Balance Conflicting Forces: The Debate on “Food and Fuel”?
What are the Social, Ethical and Environmental Issues in Bioenergy and Agriculture?
What affect does Biofuel Have on Smallholder Farmers?

Ag Groups