Farm Journal Television announces the launch of “Outdoors on the Farm,” a new, national 30-minute weekly program showcasing farmers and ranchers who utilize their land for more than crop and livestock production. What started as a grassroots effort by a group of young people to support American family farmers and ranchers, has become an official non-profit organization. I Love Farmers…They …
Vilsack Defends GIPSA on AgriTalk
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack defended the proposed Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) rule during a segment on Agri-Talk yesterday, after an economic study was released showing that implementing the rule as proposed would cost 104,000 jobs and $14 billion to the economy. Vilsack says it is “unfair and inaccurate” for livestock and meat groups to say that no …
Hoosier Ag Today Awards 4H Scholarship
Hoosier Ag Today (HAT) is encouraging young people to get into the communications field for agriculture. For the second year, HAT has sponsored the 4H Communications Scholarship award in Indiana. This year’s winner is Katherine Gambill from Vigo County, Indiana. HAT founder and longtime NAFB farm broadcaster Gary Truitt says they chose to sponsor the scholarship program because agriculture needs …
New Study Shows GIPSA Rule Would Cost Jobs
An economic impact study conducted by John Dunham and Associates concludes that the administration’s proposed rule on livestock marketing could leave approximately 104,000 Americans without jobs and a resulting $14 billion reduction in the National Gross Domestic Product (GDP). USDA’s Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) proposed the rule on June 21, 2010 and it is currently in the …
Alltech Improves Crops
Most people think of animal health when they think of Alltech. But did you know that they are also involved in plant and crop health? I learned this at the recent Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games when VP, Aidan Connolly (pictured right), introduced me to Molly Dugan. Molly told me all about Improcrop, a subsidiary of Alltech. She says that …
Quarry Integrated Communications Has A Sharpened Focus
Continuing my series of conversations with agrimarketing agency leaders this program features Bob Wilbur, Senior Vice President, Quarry Integrated Communications. Quarry was the sponsor of my coverage of the recent NAMA Trends In Ag conference for which I thank them very much. Bob says they “see the world changing.” Those changes are changing what they do and how they do …
NAMA Leader Forum
Hey members of the National Agri-Marketing Association, especially you in leadership at the chapter or national level or who want to be. NAMA now has the Leader Forum. Created just for NAMA leadership, the Leader Forum is designed to help you share ideas and learn from others. Leaders like you from around the country are talking about membership, programming and …
Celebrate Agriculture With Butterball
Butterball wants kids to celebrate agriculture just in time for the big fall turkey dinner holiday! Butterball, LLC has partnered with Weekly Reader to develop “Celebrate Agriculture” – a compelling set of classroom learning materials designed to educate children about the importance of responsible agriculture. Butterball’s “Celebrate Agriculture” Weekly Reader program will provide educational materials to more than 200,000 teachers …
Zimfo Bytes
The 2010 Minnesota Agri-Growth Council Annual Meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 4 at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced that USDA plans to open a centralized data collection and processing center near St. Louis, Mo. as part of the agency’s efforts to streamline operations and better serve the statistical needs of agriculture and rural America. …
NASS Using iPads in 2011 To Collect Data
Straight from the USDA Blog we find out that the National Agricultural Statistics Service will begin using iPads to collect data in 2011. Now how cool is that? There are benefits as you’ll read in the post. It looks like they’re already employing them since in the photo you can see Don Phillips, NASS interviewer, using an iPad for data …