Yield Barrier Breaker

Chuck Zimmerman

Virgil SparksWhen it comes to breaking the yield barrier Virgil Sparks, Soybean Product Development, Syngenta Seeds is the man. His talk at the Syngenta Learning Centers event in Iowa this week was titled, “Breaking the Yield Barrier With Genetics and Technology.”

He says that one of the main things he wants people to know is that Syngenta is very serious about accomplishing what his talk’s title says. He says they’ve seen some step changes in the products they have by bringing together the gene pools of the Golden Harvest, Garst and Northrup King brands. Looking down the road he says that there may be less number of products but higher quality products.

You can listen to my interview with Virgil here: learning-centers-sparks.mp3

Or you can download the interview using this link: Listen to MP3 Virgil Sparks Interview (4 min MP3)

Syngenta Learning Centers Photo Album

Audio, Soybean, Syngenta

Fall Family Fun on The Rock Ranch

Laura McNamara

Mike Leetch Mark your calendars for September 15th, when The Rock Ranch kicks off its Fall Family Fun Days. Scheduled events include a art, square dancing, music and more.

The Rock Ranch, a 1,250-acre cattle ranch owned by Chick-fil-A® Founder S. Truett Cathy, kicks off its “Fall Family Fun Days” on Sept. 15 with its unique blend of “agritainment” (a mix between agriculture and entertainment). Fall Family Fun Days at The Rock Ranch feature a wide variety of interactive, educational and family-based events, activities and programs for its guests.

September 15: Grand Opening Weekend featuring the grand opening of the new “Get Lost in a Good Book” corn maze, a birds of prey program and a reptile show. September 22: The Rock Ranch Bluegrass Festival: national and regional featured acts will include the Lovell Sisters, Cedar Hill and Peachtree Station, amongst others. September 29: Blue Ribbon Country Fair with activities including old-fashioned contests such as quilting, photography, children’s art, and best-tasting pies, etc. October 6: The Rock Ranch Square Dance featuring a live square dance band and caller, who will teach common square dance steps. October 13: Wagon Wheel Weekend Arts and Crafts Festival: variety of vendors from around the region will feature hand-made arts and crafts. October 20: The Rock Ranch Hot Air Balloon Rally sponsored by Ferrell Gas: hot air balloons will have a competition flight and display “evening glows”. October 27: All Souls Day Christian Music Concert in association with Atlanta’s J93 featuring popular Christian artists. November 3: Pumpkin Destruction Day: join the fun by assisting in the destruction of any unsold pumpkins or bring your own to recycle.
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Uncategorized

Remember The 6 Inch Rule

Chuck Zimmerman

Mike LeetchWhen it comes to growing corn Mike Leetch, Technical Services Representative, Syngenta says remember the soda can rule. That is that you don’t want your corn to be full of weeds when it gets to about 6 inches high. He also says you can use a beer can too. The reason for this is that studies show that yield will be severely impacted if this happens.

He highly recommends the application of a pre-emergence herbicide and an in-season 2 pass program. He says that if the corn doesn’t have to compete with weeds growers can see up to a 20 bushel per acre advantage and that converts to a lot of money. Mike also talks about some new technology that’s going to be available from Syngenta soon. Mike is pictured here talking to growers at the Syngenta Learning Centers program in Milford, IA.

You can listen to my interview with Mike here: learning-centers-leetch.mp3

Or you can download the interview using this link: Listen to MP3 Mike Leetch Interview (4 min MP3)

Syngenta Learning Centers Photo Album

Audio, Syngenta

Ag Investment Co. Seeking to Expand

Laura McNamara

Ag Processors Alliance has offered a proposal to acquire AGP. The proposed transaction would give AGP owners the ability to seek opportunities in today’s agriculture landscape.

Ag Processors Alliance, LLC, an Omaha-based company, has delivered a letter of intent to acquire Ag Processing Inc. (AGP), an Omaha-based cooperative currently owned by local and regional cooperatives and individual members in several Midwestern states. The letter of intent was delivered to AGP’s board of directors and management this morning.

The proposed acquisition, valued at up to $850 million, would provide AGP cooperative members with the liquidity that the current co-op structure does not provide, except at very low prices relative to the book value of AGP. Read More

Ag Groups

Plans for New Beef Task Force

Laura McNamara

Pennsylvania Governor Ed RendellPennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell announces the creation of Pennsylvania Beef Task Force in an effort to improve the state’s beef and cattle industries.

Pennsylvania’s beef industry will begin to explore ways to enhance profitability and promote itself through the creation of a task force, Governor Edward G. Rendell said today.

“The beef and cattle industries in Pennsylvania include 28,000 producers and contribute $1.9 billion to our economy,” the Governor said. “By establishing a task force, we can improve the industry for everyone involved – producers, processors and consumers – from pasture to plate.”

The task force is modeled after the highly successful dairy and fruit task forces, which were formed in 2003 and 2005, respectively, by Governor Rendell. Since 2003, the dairy task force has helped farmers increase profits by $82 million and contribute $185 million more to the state’s economy.

“In order to do what is best for the industry, we need input from those in the field,” said Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff. “Once we assemble the industry partners, we can begin breaking down possible barriers to new markets and improve profits.”

The Department of Agriculture is seeking representation on the task force from all stakeholders in the beef and cattle industry. Task force members will be responsible for defining goals and working to achieve those goals. As the department and the beef and cattle industry begin this task force, the public can share thoughts, ideas and recommendations with Michael Pechart at 717-705-2122 or mpechart@state.pa.us.

Beef

Zimfo Bites

Laura McNamara

  • Penton Media’s Farm Industry News®, The Corn and Soybean Digest®, National Hog Farmer® and Hay & Forage Grower® were named as award winners by the American Agricultural Editors Association (AAEA) at the annual association awards banquet held in Louisville, KY during the Agricultural Media Summit. Dale Miller, editor of National Hog Farmer, won a gold award for his personality profile, “Wendell & Dell Murphy: Dedication Sustains Murphy Family Ventures.”
  • Penton Media’s BEEF® and National Hog Farmer® received multiple awards at the Livestock Publications Council (LPC) awards banquet held in Louisville, Ky. during the Agricultural Media Summit. BEEF won five first place honors, while the publication’s Cow-Calf Weekly won for electronic newsletter. National Hog Farmer won a gold medal in the Published Editorial Photography category for its “Environmental Stewards” insert. BEEF and National Hog Farmer each received six silver awards. BEEF placed second for non-association publication.
  • Monsanto Company welcomes the news that the Brazilian National Biosafety Technical Committee (CTNBio) approved the company’s MON 810 insect protection event, known in the United States as YieldGard(R) Corn Borer, for future commercial use in corn in Brazil. The regulatory process in Brazil is a multi-step process, and while other steps are still required, the Committee’s decision brings the technology closer to reality for Brazilian farmers. Corn is the third most planted crop in the world and Brazil ranks third in the world based on harvested area. Corn hybrids that include the MON 810 event express a naturally occurring protein called Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt, that helps the corn plant protect itself from feeding damage caused by harmful insects, including corn borer. Using biotechnology traits to help the plant protect itself from insect damage helps farmers increase yields and reduce the application of pesticides.
Zimfo Bytes

New Leadership at Bader Rutter

Laura McNamara

Nesh Malinovic Vice President, New Media Bader Rutter & Associates is bringing a new Vice President on board.

Nesh Malinovic has been named Vice President, Media Director at Bader Rutter & Associates.
Malinovic comes to the agency from Kelly, Scott & Madison in Chicago where he was an associate media director.
Originally from London, England, Malinovic has nearly 20 years of strategic media experience, working for multiple agencies, including Oglivy & Mather, Carat UK and The Media Shop. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of London.
Bader Rutter & Associates is an integrated marketing services agency headquartered in Milwaukee, with additional offices in Chicago and Lincoln, Neb.

Public Relations

Member Website Training

Chuck Zimmerman

EPICIt’s another road warrior day as Cindy and I move our youngest to college. That means some light posting until tomorrow.

Yesterday was a little light too because much of it was spent doing website training at the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council offices. We re-built their member website recently and Elizabeth, Joanna and I finally found time to all be together in one room at the same time. Their member website is continuing to develop but it’s a great example of what you can do with a WordPress blog site.

By the time we were done I had compiled a list of about 10 new features and changes we’re going to be incorporating into the site. The site already allows EPIC to update it very easily and frequently without having to contract an outside firm and pay big bucks to make simple changes. Now that they’re all up to date on how to post, etc. I’m sue we’ll see even more regular fresh content for members to read (and subscribe to).

Uncategorized

John Deere Applies Force to Corn Rootworm

Chuck Zimmerman

Ron DeFauwSyngenta wasn’t the only company on hand at their Learning Centers program in Milford, IA. So was John Deere and their Central Insecticide System.

Here’s Ron DeFauw, John Deere Seeding Group, talking about a brand new way to apply Force Insecticide. Think of the box version of wine that you put in your refrigerator and you’ll have a pretty good idea what the new box formulation of this corn rootworm control product looks like. Ron says the product will be available this fall and that you should see your John Deere dealer for more information.

He says benefits of Syngenta’s Force CS include the fact that there’s no worry over getting granulated product or dust on your hands and the boxes are lightweight and easy to load and move. Another benefit comes after you’ve applied the product through your John Deere NT equipment. The boxes don’t have to be returned to the dealer. You can easily dispose of them.

I’m sure we’ll be hearing more about this new product at next week’s John Deere product launch and I’ll be there to bring it all to you here.

You can listen to my interview with Ron here: learning-centers-defauw.mp3

Or you can download the interview using this link: Listen to MP3 Ron DeFauw Interview (2 min MP3)

Syngenta Learning Centers Photo Album

Agribusiness, Audio, Corn, John Deere, Syngenta

Pfizer’s Looking For the 3 Millionth

Chuck Zimmerman

Pierre BertrandLast week Pfizer made two announcements involving their SelectVAC preconditioning program. Although he wasn’t at the media event I attended, Cindy got to interview Pierre Bertrand, Pfizer, Senior Marketing Manager for Bios and SelectVAC by phone.

He talks about the fact that Superior Livestock Auction has chosen SelectVAC as the preferred health program for calves sold through their auction and the second announcement which involves the American Angus Association. The organization, along with Pfizer Animal Health are announcing a marketing alliance for two premier feeder calf programs. The collaboration pairs AngusSource, an age-, source- and genetic-USDA Process Verified Program (PVP) for Angus-sired cattle, with SelectVAC, from Pfizer Animal Health.

SelectVACPierre says that Pfizer also announced a reward for the 3 millionth enrollment in the SelectVAC program. Pfizer will mark the milestone by awarding that producer with a year’s worth of free SelectVAC products for their entire herd (up to a maximum of $5,000 in value).

You can listen to Cindy’s interview with Pierre here: pfizer-selectvac.mp3

Or if you’d like you can download it here: Download MP3 FilePierre Bertrand Interview

Animal Health, Audio