Ethanol, EPIC and Indy

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast-112 - Ethanol at IndyThis past weekend I got to spend some time in the home state attending the XM Satellite Radio Indy 300. It was historic because it was the first race powered by 100% ethanol fuel. No matter who won, ethanol won. In fact, if you checked out the coverage on ESPN2 they called it the Ethanol Indy 300.

While I was there I interviewed Bobby Rahal, Rahal-Letterman Racing, for his thoughts just before the race kicked off. You can hear him in this week’s program. Of course he might have had a few choice words after the race too since one of his driver’s, Jeff Simmons, spun out in lap 93. I also spoke with Jack Alderman, Chairman of E Energy Adams, an ethanol plant under construction in Adams, NE and a brand new member of EPIC, my coverage sponsor. Jack says they joined EPIC because the industry needs a promotional champion and small ethanol plants can’t do it themselves.

BTW. This is my first ZimmCast fully edited in Garage Band on the Mac. I did it using 4 tracks of audio and after getting some more self-training time in. I think I’m getting more acclimated to to the Mac world everyday.

You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: Listen To ZimmCastZimmCast 112 (8 min MP3)

Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:

zimmcast112-3-28-07.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, Ethanol, ZimmCast

IFAJ Star Prize Contest

Chuck Zimmerman

IFAJ Star PrizeIf you’re an agricultural photographer then it’s time to enter the IFAJ Star Prize contest.

The entries are now open. You can find out more information by visiting the IFAJ website or emailing Katharina Seuser.

The competition closes May 1, 2007. The IFAJ Star Prize is sponsored by John Deere.

IFAJ

Growing Goodness Online Community

Chuck Zimmerman

Growing GoodnessHere’s a new website/community called Growing Goodness or the Farmers Market Channel. It looks like supporters of Farm Aid are behind it since when you open the site you get a Farm Aid YouTube video clip. If you’re looking for a good example of an online community you might want to check it out. There are a number of links to organic farm websites for example. You can visit their Vlog here.

Growing Goodness™ is a community-based broadband TV network for viewers with extremely passionate interests—beyond what cable television can provide.

Our mission is to create more public awareness and active interest
in our local farmers markets.

• Explore the U.S. farmers market world
• Generate farmers market awareness and active interest
• Increase understanding of community affairs and events
• Foster lifelong skills for good living
• Spotlight excellence in goodness

Farmers Market Channel™
Hosted by the community members our Farmers Market Channel™ spotlights farmers, locally grown produce and neighborhood farmers markets.

Post Update: I heard from Keith Gengler who originally brought the site to my attention that my story has one little correction as follows: Thanks for the blog story (http://agwired.com/2007/03/27/growing-goodness-online-community/) every little bit helps. Farm Aid is not behind this project not as of yet anyway… we are simply reporting on their most amazing and generous contributions. Our PRIMETIME content changes frequently. Growing Goodness is a grass-based movement and is powered by the Growing Goodness community as seen listed and linked throughout the site.

Ag Groups, Farming

Beach on a Phone

Chuck Zimmerman

Ft. Lauderdale BeachThis picture shows you why I miss Florida. This is Ft. Lauderdale beach on Sunday where I went for a power walk in the sand.

That’s one of the reasons I didn’t post much after Saturday’s late night, rain-delayed, IRL race.

Sometimes you just need a little relaxation. All I had with me was my Palm Treo but it does pretty good in sunlight.

Uncategorized

ABEF Online Auction Nears Deadline

Chuck Zimmerman

ABEFThere’s only one more day left in the NAMA Agribusiness Educational Foundation (ABEF) online media package auction. If you haven’t looked at it, now’s the time.

I think it’s interesting that all the media packages are print with the one exception of an NAFB News Service donation. Don’t we have any farm broadcasters willing to submit a schedule to support the ABEF?

Thank you for your interest in the On-line ABEF Silent Auction. The On-line auction includes media packages and service items only. All other items donated to the Silent Auction, including art, wearables, sports, entertainment, logo items, etc. will be sold at the onsite Silent Auction in conjunction with the 2007 Agri-Marketing Conference & Trade Show, April 11-13, in Dallas.

All proceeds from the Silent Auction support the NAMA Student Careers Program which involves 37 collegiate chapters across the U.S. This program provides scholarships and the Student Marketing Competition in conjunction with the Agri-Marketing Conference, and the Outstanding Student Chapter and Advisor awards.

To view the media and service auction items click on view by “Company” or by “Media Type” on the left. Then click on the item of interest to you in the list. A full description of the item will appear in this window. Click on the “Show Bids” button to view all of the bids on this item. Click on the “Place Bid” button to make a bid on the item. You will receive an e-mail confirmation of your bid.

NAMA

20 Years of Colossal Pork BBQ

Chuck Zimmerman

Great Pork BarbeqlossalThere’s been a lot of years of BBQ pork goodness at World Pork Expo. This year the Great Pork BarbeQlossal will celebrate a milestone.

The Pork Checkoff’s 20th annual Great Pork BarbeQlossal contest is the Saturday of World Pork Expo, which runs June 7-9 in Des Moines, Iowa. This annual contest highlights barbeque techniques from across America.

“More than 90 teams are expected to compete in this year’s Great Pork BarbeQlossal contest,” said Jay Foushee, a pork producer from Roxboro, N.C. “To celebrate 20 years, we are going to recognize all the past BarbeQlossal winners and invite them back to compete again. We have yet to have a repeat winner.”

Due to popular demand, the Big Green Egg scramble competition is back. On Friday evening, six selected teams will be provided with a mystery basket that includes a mystery pork cut. The teams will grill on a Big Green Egg grill and compete for the grand prize of a Big Green Egg grill.

For the Checkoff’s Great Pork BarbeQlossal contest, teams will highlight grilling and barbeque techniques in at least one of the four cooking categories: Whole hog; shoulder; loin/loin end and ribs. In order to earn grand champion honors and a share of the $37,000 in cash and prizes, contestants must cook a shoulder, loin/loin end, ribs and an entire hog with a dressed weight of 45 pounds or more cooked while in one piece or in two halves.

Ag Groups, Pork

Mac Conversion Update

Chuck Zimmerman

AppleHello from South Florida. This has been my first trip with the Macbook Pro and I thought it would provide a good context for an update on my conversion experience. First of all, I thought that in a week or so with the new box I was pretty well prepared for this but it has been a challenge. When you’re on location doing “live” posting of images, video and audio you’ve got to be able to edit, upload and post fast. Almost as fast as say an Indy car at full throttle.

My biggest challenge has been audio editing. The built-in Garage Band software isn’t quite as intuitive as I thought and then there’s the file conversion factor. I start with an MP3 file and need to end with an MP3 file. To use Garage Band I have to convert the file to edit it, then convert it back to post it. I don’t like that. I’ve also found the conversion process a hassle since there are so many settings in each program to deal with. I was using iTunes to do the converting and found out that I have two different iTunes libraries on my hard drive. I have no idea why. So I downloaded the free audio editing software, Audacity. Then I found out it needs an extra MP3 plugin with I had trouble finding and installing. It took me 30 minutes to figure out how to download/install/use the software and this was done in a working newsroom with high performance race cars screaming by outside. I’ve also found some compatibility issues between the MP3 files created in Audacity and some other programs. So, I’m still working on this issue.

For image editing I’m using Photoshop Elements and that works great as I mentioned before. For video, I only shot one little video clip but editing it with iMovie HD was a snap. Very cool tool. It uploaded to YouTube and works just fine. The only thing was I was missing some kind of little plugin for Quicktime that took me about 45 minutes to find and download. My little Casio Exilim shoots .avi files and all I could get to start with was a white screen with audio until I found this little plugin through an online user forum. Works great now though.

So there you have it. I made it through my first road test with the Mac and survived. Now my last issue besides the audio editing thing is being able to use my Sprint broadband account with the Mac. I think I know the answer to it but I haven’t got it taken care of yet.

Uncategorized

Eldon White Leaving NAMA For Texas

Chuck Zimmerman

TSCRAHere’s a news flash for you. I guess it’s appropriate that we have the NAMA convention in Dallas this year! I will have to come back and add a picture of Eldon for you. I know I’ve got one somewhere in my photo archive at the home office. I’m getting ready to travel home from south Florida today. So Eldon is going back to the livestock association management business. I say congratulations and look forward to working with him one more time at this year’s NAMA convention.

Eldon J. White was introduced March 25 as the new executive vice president of Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association during the group’s 130th annual convention in Fort Worth. He is expected to assume his new duties in May. Currently, White is the executive vice president of the National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) based in Overland Park, Kan. He has 28 years of agriculture related association management experience, including nearly 16 years serving as the chief staff officer for up to six associations concurrently. “We conducted a comprehensive search to come up with the right individual to lead this association to the next level,” reported TSCRA President C.R. “Dick” Sherron. “Eldon White has extensive association experience, he was raised on a cattle ranch and he’s worked for the National Cattlemen’s Association and the American Sheep Industry Association.”

White was raised on a stocker operation outside of Ogden, Utah. His dad was an order-buyer for a commission company, and White learned the business early by going with him to sort cattle. The family ranch also bred registered Quarter Horses for racing and during his high school years, Eldon worked as a jockey.

Ag Groups, NAMA

Dan Wheldon & Ethanol Win Race

Chuck Zimmerman

Dan WheldonWell, my man Jeff Simmons may not have won the race but ethanol still came out a big winner. Did any of you watch the ESPN coverage? I’ve heard that they spent lots of time talking about the fuel.

Here’s the winner of the first Indy car race of the year, Dan Wheldon. It’s the third time in a row that Dan has won the race. He did it in dominating fashion too and afterward said it was a lot of fun running the race.

I recorded the press conference with Dan afterward and was able to ask him how he felt about racing with 100% ethanol. He said that Honda deserves a lot of credit but that any time you can do something to help the environment, it’s a “good thing.”

You can listen to the whole press conference here: Listen to MP3 Dan Wheldon Press Conference (10 min MP3)

Or you can just listen to my Q&A with Dan: Listen to MP3 Dan Wheldon About Ethanol (15 sec MP3)

Audio, Ethanol

Ethanol Car Has A Short Night

Chuck Zimmerman

Jeff Simmons and FianceThe Team Ethanol car driven by Jeff Simmons is out of the race after what looked like a slide coming out of a turn which turned the car around and then two other cars crashed into it. Fortunately no one was seriously hurt. Jeff is seen here with his fiance just prior to the race.

I’m going to stick it out though since no matter who wins tonight, ethanol will be the winner.

Remember to check out my XM Satellite Radio Indy 300 Photo Album.

Ethanol