Jeff Simmons, driver of the Rahal-Letterman Ethanol Car was on hand today to talk about how things are going. I interviewed him just after the Ethanol Summit concluded.
USDA Sec Dorr Interview
The keynote speaker today at the Ethanol Summit here at the Indianapolis Speedway was USDA Under Secretary Tom Dorr (pictured to the right of NCGA Chairman, Leon Corzine).
Off To See The Race
So much to post so little time. But there’s lots more coming from Indiana this week. Time to head on over to the Brickyards. I’ve got an interesting stop on the way I may be able to tell you about sometime. One of those brainstorming a cool new idea in the delivery of information to farmers things.
Does Your CEO Blog
I just read an interesting article on e-Marketer titled, “Executives Not Quite Hot To Blog.” It reports on a study that found that “. . . only a small minority of top executives are convinced that corporate blogging is growing in credibility either as a communications medium, brand-building technique or a sales or lead generation tool.” Interesting. Not everyone buys into that viewpoint though.
Farmer Owned Ethanol Plant CEO
I hope you like to hear about the promotion of ethanol because we’re certainly going to have a lot of that over the coming days. In my lead-up to the Indy 500 I want you to meet the President of the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council. He’s Tom Branhan, CEO of Glacial Lakes Energy, a farmer-owned ethanol plant in Watertown, SD.
Webby’s Go To Aggy’s
They are called the “Oscars of the Internet,” and two ag groups have won one. They are the 10th Annual Webby Awards.
Rookie Driver Gets Milk
I won’t be in Indianapolis until tomorrow evening but agriculture was on display today. The fastest rookie was honored by the American Dairy Association of Indiana. He’s Marco Andretti and he’s winner number 32. I thought it was interesting that they pointed out that although ethanol has been getting a lot of attention they were the first ag commodity associated with the race.
Sugar Men
The Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida just appointed Roger Hatton, a lifelong resident of the Glades, to their board of directors at its May board meeting. He will fill the un-expired term of John Schlechter ending January 2008 following Schlechter’s announced resignation from the Board this month.
D&PL Acquires Syngenta Cotton Seed Biz
D&PL seems to be on a roll lately. They just acquired Syngenta’s global cotton seed business. Sounds like a big deal to me. Of course the financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The acquisition is comprised of operations and assets in India, Brazil, Europe, and certain cotton germplasm in the United States.
Learning To Bee Farm
When I was passing through Georgia last week I was invited to but didn’t make the “Learn elements of sustainable ag at lunch” outdoor seminar on “Beekeeping” in Jasper County. My brother went with a couple of his kids though and talked the extension agent into sending me a pic and some information. Actually she is still sending along a summary which I’ll add to this post when I get it. Thanks Dr. Jean C. Walter, Jasper County Extension CEC.