Missouri cotton farmer and Chairman of the National Cotton Council Charles Parker welcomed everyone to the 2012 Beltwide Cotton Conferences. His remarks kicked off the Beltwide Cotton Production Conference. Besides talking about this year’s conference Charles talked about the activities of the National Cotton Council during 2011. Following the opening remarks we heard about weather patterns in the cotton belt, …
Wild Weather Tops 2011 Ag Stories
Wild weather was the winner for the biggest ag story of 2011 according to our latest ZimmPoll. We asked the question, “What do you think is biggest ag story of 2011?” Wild weather got 40% or the response followed by Record farm land value – 17%; New free trade agreements – 16%; High commodity prices – 16%; Super committee “no”- …
The Environmental Footprint of Cotton
At the 2012 Beltwide Cotton Conferences the media received a preview of the Cotton Life Cycle Inventory & Life Cycle Assessment. This is a benchmark study for cotton sustainability. Cotton Incorporated announced today the completion of a comprehensive life cycle inventory and life cycle analysis of cotton products. The endeavor is part of the Cotton Foundation VISION 21 Project and …
Beltwide Kicks Off 2012 Ag Conference Season
This image greets you as you take the escalator down to the meeting room and registration floor for the Beltwide Cotton Conferences at the Orlando World Center Marriott. I got in too late to register but will get that taken care of early in the morning. While wandering around to get my bearings I did find the general session of …
Meet New Director-General of the FAO
Want to meet the new Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations? Yeah. Can’t say I’m really excited to but . . . His name is José Graziano da Silva and he’ll be holding a press conference which will be webcast tomorrow. The Brazilian agronomist and economist will discuss urgent food security issues and answer journalists’ …
ZimmPoll Year In Review
This is the first full year of our ZimmPoll so I thought it would be interesting to take a look back and share some statistics with you. I am frequently asked how many people responded and what their demographics are. The number of respondents is easy but knowing who they are and details about their life is not since there’s …
Pensacola Bay In The Morning
This morning I got to take two of my daughters fishing. We had a cold start but things warmed up as the sun got higher in the sky and the fish started biting. This oversize redfish was what we were after. By oversize I mean he was just over 27″ so he had to go back in the water. I …
Beef Tops On Holiday Table
It looks like beef wins in our latest ZimmPoll. We asked the question, “What is your Christmas/Holiday dinner entree?” Beef got 34% of the vote followed by Pork – Ham/Other cut at 27%, then Turkey at 24%, then Lobster and Wild game each got 7% and Fish at 1%. I guess you normally only have one at a time but …
Farm Program Atlas
The USDA Economic Research Service has a Farm Program Atlas online for your searching pleasure. The Farm Program Atlas is a web-based interactive mapping tool that displays payment and participation data on major farm programs and covered commodities at the county level — to visualize how these Federal farm programs vary across the United States. Users can select maps displaying …
Looking Ahead To Beltwide Cotton Conference
The first stop on the agriblogging highway for the ZimmComm team will be the 2012 Beltwide Cotton Conference in Orlando, FL. I’ll be attending courtesy of our sponsor, FMC. I’ll be getting there after going to the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, FL with daughter Chelsea. Great new year’s week coming up! The Beltwide Cotton Conferences (BWCC) speed the transfer of …