Grab your #2 pencil. Or wait – was it the #15 pen? Either way, I think I’ve forgotten how to write and I think I’ve forgotten what it really means to “pen a letter.” Grandma used to tell me to pay more attention in penmanship class, and I believe that’s almost gone the wayside as penmanship class has morphed into …
Zimfo Bytes
Developed by climatologist and meteorologist Mike Sandstrom, the Insect Migration Risk Forecast monitors the daily migration of damaging pests, such as corn earworm, from May through September. Members of the National Institute for Animal Agriculture elected five members to their first three-year term on its Board of Directors and re-elected three to their second term. The Mosaic Company has created …
Zimfo Bytes
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced support for telecommunications projects in Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, North Dakota, Montana and Oklahoma to improve broadband service to rural residents and businesses. Koch Agronomic Services has broadened its agronomic portfolio with the acquisition of the Nitamin and Nitamin Nfusion slow-release foliar- and soil-applied nitrogen fertilizers from Georgia-Pacific Chemicals. In connection with the Alltech 27th …
Waiting for the School Bell
Remember sitting in class toward the end of the day, just waiting for that final school bell to ring so you could escape those white sterile classroom walls? The hallways would fill up with bustling students, after-school conversation and the sound of locker doors slamming closed on yet another day. Spring Valley School was different. It was a one-room schoolhouse …
Zimfo Bytes
Bayer CropScience and DuPont announced that they have entered into a global licensing agreement for a canola herbicide tolerance trait. Verde Bio-Science has added a line of patent-pending EPA-registered and USDA-certified organic products available for licensing by others. GROWMARK announced it intends to purchase the assets of Select Seed, Camden, Ind. A new online tool to help farmers decide which …
Teixeira Joins International Agri-Center
The International Agri-Center announced that it has named Liza Teixeira as Director of Communications. In her role, Teixeira will manage communications for the International Agri-Center, World Ag Expo, California Antique Farm Equipment Show and the Heritage Complex. Teixeira graduated from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo with a Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural science with minors in both …
The Watering Hole
I took a pottery class once in college. I think I made a coffee mug or an ash tray with the help of one of my artistic friends. That piece of clay wouldn’t mold if I willed it to. But this piece of artwork was made to be both beautiful and functional. It’s a vintage whiskey jug or water jug. …
Do Vegetarians Have Smaller Brains?
Scientists at the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, have discovered that going veggie could be bad for your brain – with those on a meat-free diet six times more likely to suffer brain shrinkage. The study involved tests and brain scans on community-dwelling volunteers aged 61 to 87 years without cognitive impairment at enrolment, over a …
Zimfo Bytes
Osborn & Barr welcomes the return of Mark Green to the agency’s management team as vice president, director of strategic innovation. Farmers and ranchers may be spending more time online now than they did five years ago, but they may not be satisfied with their results, according to a recent study. A new resource developed by Iowa State University’s Corn …
Preserving a Piece of History
I have a pantry filling up with mason jars. And I have a brain filling up with ideas on what to put IN those mason jars. Applesauce? Rotel? Stewed tomatoes? Salsa? Before there were mason jars, there were clay pots for preserving. My grandmother’s grandma used these to store pickles and kraut in. They had loose lids, so there was …