Tasty Food and Wine From The Valley

Chuck Zimmerman

Salute To The ValleyThey’ll be saluting agriculture on the west coast very soon. Any announcement that contains phrases like “menu of local produce and bold red wines” catches my attention. So check out the Taste of The Valley Food and Wine Show.

The Salinas Valley, located on the Central Coast of California and known as the “Salad Bowl of the World,” will be the setting this September for the 2007 Salute to Agriculture fresh produce, food and wine show.

The annual vintner and culinary event begins Wednesday, Sept. 12, with an exclusive limited-seating, multicourse dinner pairing produce and wine to be served under a canopy overlooking the picturesque Salinas Valley. This new VIP Pairing Dinner will feature a Mediterranean-fused menu of local produce and bold red wines from the San Antonio Valley wine region, the newest viticulture area of Monterey County.

On Thursday, Sept. 13, the annual Agricultural Leadership Awards Luncheon will honor an outstanding leader in the produce industry, with a menu highlighting fresh produce and wine. An invitation-only VIP bus tour for food editors, writers and specially invited legislators on Friday, Sept. 14, will give an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the Salinas Valley’s innovative growing and processing facilities and the area’s bountiful vegetable fields.

Friday’s grand finale will be the Taste of the Valley Food and Wine Show, featuring local growers, vintners and award-winning chefs preparing new and vintage menus made up of Salinas Valley produce and wines. The evening event also includes the second annual Earth to Eats series of chef demonstrations that will combine celebrity chefs and wine experts with the region’s bounty to create healthy menus.

Farm Shows, Food

Talking Live With Jay

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast-129 - Live With JayLive With Jay is a weekly program on Hot Talk 1510 in Kansas City, MO. I was in KC recently and met show host Jay Liebenguth. He recorded an interview with me for his show which aired last Thursday. In the interview we talk about how ZimmComm New Media got into this whole blogging and podcasting thing.

Jay says that he’s fascinated by people who have the entrepreneurial spirit and his show focuses on learning what they do and why. Here’s how he describes the show: “Live with Jay is a weekly discussion about business issues that face the ownership and management of all sized businesses in the Kansas City metropolitan Live With Jayarea. It’s all about the journey. Celebrating the highs and the lows, the ups and downs and all the decisions in between.”

The program ends with music from the Podsafe Music Network and Boom Boom Beckett. The song is “Summertime.” It’s a jazz number that fits right in on a hot summer day. I hope you enjoy it.

You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: Listen To ZimmCastZimmCast 129 (30 min MP3)

Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:

zimmcast129-7-23-07.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.

Audio, ZimmCast

Paulsen AgriBranding and Blogging

Chuck Zimmerman

Paulsen AgriBrandingI’ve mentioned Paulsen Marketing before but don’t think I’ve made direct mention of a recently developed division of their company called Paulsen AgriBranding. Thanks to Bryan Bjerke for bringing it to my attention.

While visiting their website I noticed their blog and the fact that they’re kind of farming in the office.

Bryan will be attending next week’s Ag Media Summit so I’ll see him there. See you there too!

Agencies

Photos From The Field

Chuck Zimmerman

Bambi TwinsThere’s a reason I like to have a camera with me at all times. Yesterday was one of those.

The Bambi Twins here were playing along the edge of a soybean field. I had seen them last week when Cindy and I were out in a soybean field doing some work. This week they were not as skittish. I stopped and had a chance to shoot quite a few photos until I started to walk up to them. That’s when their white flags showed.

Irrigating CornA little further down the road some corn was being watered. It just looked like a cool shot so I took it.

We’re not dangerously dry in mid Missouri but we could use a little rain. Some farmers don’t take chances though.

These look way better on a wide screen too. I think I’m going to enter the bambi one in a local photo contest and start a new Flickr set for shots like these.

Uncategorized

Flying With Captain Evan Slack

Chuck Zimmerman

Captain Evan SlackFor those of you who might have been wondering if I made it back from Denver the answer is yes. Captain Evan Slack is a great pilot. We ran around some clouds and “weather” on the way to Kansas City. One of the choices as we got near Salina, KS was north or south. We went south and it was the right decision. I think that’s an experienced pilot’s instinct kicking in.

One thing is for sure. You get a much better view than on a commercial airline. You also get to help out the pilot when he needs something from the back seat. This next picture is Denver from the air soon after we took off from the airport where Evan keeps his plane.

DenverWe had to cross a little warm front with some unbelievable clouds that were so close you could reach out and touch them.

This is when I remembered my little camera again and made a short video clip for you.

I didn’t think you wanted to hear the engine noise so I added a part of one of Evan’s interviews he did at the Cattle Industry Summer Conference from his Friday midday show.

2007 Cattle Industry Summer Conference Photo Album

Cattle Industry Conference, Media, Video

Zimfo Bites

Laura McNamara

  • Pro-Act Microbial has launched an updated version of its website. The new layout is even easier to navigate and includes more facts about their services in the agricultural and aquaculture markets. The most notable new addition to the Pro-Act site is a video. The eight-minute video explains the basics behind their system and shows the many economical and environmental benefits of using it in a dairy farm environment.
  • Merial announced today that Accelerated Genetics and Select Sires Inc. are now providing information from the comprehensive IGENITY® profile on all sires in their beef lineups. The scores from the IGENITY profiles for these sires can be found on both companies’ Web sites. “We commend Accelerated Genetics and Select Sires for taking an important step forward in providing more information to their beef customers,” says Dr. Stewart Bauck, Director, Strategic Marketing, IGENITY. “Now, with the IGENITY profile, those customers can make more confident sire selection decisions.”
  • Lynn Harrison, a pork producer from Elk Mound, Wis., has been elected president of the National Pork Board. Harrison, serving his second three-year term on the Pork Board, will serve a one-year term as president beginning Aug. 1. Steve Weaver, a pork producer and National Pork Board member from Elk Grove, Calif., was elected to serve a one-year term as vice president. The elections took place during the National Pork Board’s summer meeting in St. Louis, Mo. Harrison and his wife, Pat, operate a 10,000-head hog farm in northwest Wisconsin. Harrison is a long-time member of the Pork Board’s Environmental Committee and served as the board’s vice president this past year.
Zimfo Bytes

Baxter Entertains Beef Board

Chuck Zimmerman

Baxter Black and MeIt’s getting near time for me to close up shop at ZimmComm New Media’s temporary Denver headquarters. The Cattle Industry Summer Conference is almost at an end. If you want to get a good overall summary of what happened from a Beef Board perspective then visit Beef Board Meeting.com.

At last night’s CBB dinner we were entertained by Mr. Cowboy Poet, Baxter Black. I think just about everyone got their picture taken with him. He’s the volunteer voice of the Beef Board and they loved him.

You can listen to one of Baxter’s stories here: cisc-07-black-3006.mp3

2007 Cattle Industry Summer Conference Photo Album

Ag Groups, Audio, Beef, Cattle Industry Conference

Beef Ambassador Blogs

Chuck Zimmerman

Amanda Nolz and Don HullmanI’ve interviewed Amanda Nolz more than once at a previous cattle industry meeting. Once was at last year’s winter meeting and once again last summer. Well, this ambassador for beef is now a blogger and I’m proud of her.

Amanda is pictured here talking with Beef Board Executive Committee member Don Hullman at one of the meetings here at the Cattle Industry Summer Conference. I hope you check out her blog at Chewing the Cud. Here’s a little bit about Amanda from her site: “A contagious passion for agriculture and a respect for the individuals involved motivate Amanda Nolz to tell her story. As a fifth generation rancher, she grew up on a Limousin cattle operation in southeastern South Dakota. After serving as the 2006 National Beef Ambassador, Amanda Nolz has grown into a strong youth voice in agriculture. Whether speaking with producers, educating consumers, or facing agriculture’s biggest adversaries, Amanda uses her energy and passion to tell the food production story.

With the help of agricultural activist Trent Loos, Amanda has extended her blog Chewing the Cud to the airwaves, which airs throughout the Midwest on Dakota Trails and Tales. She has been published in numerous agriculture journals and has traveled the country touting her message to different agricultural organizations. Amanda is a sophomore Ag Communications student at South Dakota State University and is spending the summer as an intern with the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service in Washington D.C.” You can hear her latest show here (mp3).

Chris Molinaro and Baxter BlackAnother beef ambassador who’s now a blogger is Chris Molinaro, pictured here with Baxter Black at last night’s CBB dinner. You can find Chris at Beef Matters.

Here’s a welcome message from Chris that you’ll find on her site: “My name is Chris Molinaro and I am one of your 2007 National Beef Ambassadors! Not only is it my responsibility, but it is my passion to promote the safe, wholesome, and nutritious product brought to you by the American beef producers! This blog will include my thoughts and view points on topics related to the beef industry, I will tell it like it is:the truth-the facts-and the REAL story behind the beef you eat!”

2007 Cattle Industry Summer Conference Photo Album

Beef, Cattle Industry Conference

New Driver For Team Ethanol

Chuck Zimmerman

Rahal-Letterman RacingSince I’ve written about Jeff Simmons so many times here I’ve got to let you know that he’s been replaced as the driver of the Team Ethanol car. It’s a tough sport. The new driver is Ryan Hunter-Reay. I wish Jeff and his fiance, Stephanie all the best.

So let’s all welcome new Team Ethanol car driver Ryan and hope he has an awesome start at the upcoming Honda Mid-Ohio 200 in Lexington, Ohio.

Rahal Letterman Racing today announces that American open-wheel and sports car race winner Ryan Hunter-Reay will take over as the driver of the team’s #17 Ethanol-sponsored car in the IndyCar Series, effective immediately.

“We have made important strides in our IndyCar program this year and we feel like this is something that we needed to do to maintain that pattern of improvement and growth,” said RLR co-owner Bobby Rahal. “Jeff stepped into a difficult situation last season and did a lot for our team and our sponsors, but we feel at this time, that this is the right move for the long-term future of Rahal Letterman Racing.”

Hunter-Reay worked his way up the American open-wheel ladder, having great success at every level. He began his career by winning six national karting championships before moving onto the Skip Barber program, where he was rookie-of-the-year in the Barber Dodge Pro Series in 2000. He moved to Toyota Atlantic competition in 2002, and led the series with three race wins and three poles, while also pacing the championship in laps led. The performance caught the attention of road-racing ace Stefan Johansson, who hired Ryan to drive for his first-year Champ Car World Series squad in 2003.

Ethanol

Florida Farm To Fuel

Chuck Zimmerman

Gov CristWhile I’m here in Denver at the Cattle Industry Summer Conference Cindy’s attending the Florida Farm to Fuel Summit. That makes for a nice contrast and a long distance romance. We call each other on our cell phones while we’re in our hotel rooms. She’s doing some posting from there on Domestic Fuel, like this one:

Government and industry leaders addressed a sold-out crowd at the second annual Farm to Fuel Summit in St. Petersburg on Thursday. Florida governor Charlie Crist told the group that fuels made from agricultural commodities have reached the tipping point in terms of public acceptance.

“It’s finally registered with everybody that this is something that is not only good for the environment, its good for our country, it gets us off of foreign oil, it is simply the right thing to do for America,” said Crist. “And as governor of Florida, I think we have a wonderful opportunity to lead in this regard, more than anybody else.”

“I love corn, it’s great,” Crist added. “But we have sugar cane here, and citrus waste, and one of the most amazing agricultural industries in America – in the world, really.”

Crist admitted that it is hard to find ethanol in Florida right now, but he hopes that will change soon. “The promise in this area is just limitless,” he says.

Crist also announced that he would be going to Brazil in November on a trade mission that will include discussions about how Florida can work with Brazil in biofuels production.

Listen to the governor’s remarks here: f2f-crist-speech.mp3

Audio