Hello and welcome to another ZimmCast. This week I’m going to feature a couple of the interviews I did at last week’s NAFB Washington Watch Issues Forum.

Up first after opening comments is Mark Maslyn, Executive Director, Public Policy, American Farm Bureau Federation. He’s seen here getting all fired up in an interview with Tricia Braid Terry, RFD Radio. That’s what we need in our nation’s Capitol these days, passionate spokespersons for agriculture.

Mark speaks about the mixed results of the opening month’s of our new administration. He says some things are encouraging and some are troubling which you might say about most administrations. On the troubling side he mentions the environment and proposed increased rules and regulations. Climate change regulations are something he thinks should not be ruled on until a lot more questions are answered. On the encouraging side he’s pleasantly surprised at moves on international trade.

Next up in the program is an interview with Ken Hobbie, President/CEO, U.S. Grains Council. I hadn’t spoken with Ken in quite a while so I asked him to tell us what’s new with USGC. We started off talking about the potential impact of H1N1 on demand and Ken says he hopes that consumers will listen to the fact and we can move past it. Another thing that Ken says they’ve invested a lot in is distillers dried grain promotion internationally.

This week’s program ends with music from the Podsafe Music Network. It’s a song titled, “Pearls and Swine”, by Drunken Prayer. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast 218 (20 min MP3)

Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:Interviews with Mark Maslyn and Ken Hobbie - ZimmCast 218

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