Pollinator Advocate of the US Award

Jamie Johansen

The Pollinator Advocate Award recognizes individuals who have contributed significantly to pollinator protection, conservation, and issue outreach resulting in increased awareness of the importance of pollinators and pollination. The 2014 Pollinator Advocate of the United States Award will be given to Julie Zahniser and The American Bee Project of Ft. Pierce, FL. Honey bees require proper nutrition gained through a …

Ag Groups, Bees

A Year’s Supply of Bacon Up for Grabs in Wisconsin

Jamie Johansen

Organizers of the Madison Bacon Festival, a Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival event, recently announced two sizzling contests – the Wisconsin Bacon Royalty Contest and a Bacon Eating Competition. Wisconsin’s bacon-enthusiasts can enter the contests beginning October 13. Applications will be narrowed down to a total of 20 finalists who will each receive FREE tickets to the Madison Bacon Festival taking …

Ag Groups, Food

Drive with Caution During Harvest Season

Jamie Johansen

It’s harvest season in Georgia and more farm equipment will be heading out across the state as farmers transport equipment and produce between fields and processing areas. Because farm equipment is designed to be used primarily in the field and not for typical highway speeds, motorists can be caught off guard when traveling rural roads this time of year. The …

Ag Groups, Harvest

Join the Farming Conversation on BeckAgConnects

Jamie Johansen

In agriculture, we see a lot of pushback from consumers who are more and more removed from the farm. If you’ve not put yourself out there as an agricultural advocate, it might seem intimidating. What do you say about growth hormones or GMOs or pesticides? How do you get started? To address this challenge, USFRA and Beck Ag collaborated to …

Ag Groups, Media, USFRA

Farm to School & Cooperative Efforts

Jamie Johansen

In celebration of the United Nations’ 2014 International Year of Family Farming, this month National Farmers Union (NFU) is highlighting the importance of family farmers and local communities, as well as some of the tools available to help family farmers increase their economic footprint and clout. A great deal of emphasis is placed this month on cooperatives and farm to …

Ag Groups, Education, Farming

Cheese, Cheese & More Cheese

Jamie Johansen

A gourmet breakfast was prepared for us during the media talk event at the 2014 World Dairy Expo by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board’s executive chef, John Esser. The meal was of course full Wisconsin cheeses. Chef Esser also prepared an omelet full of morel and leek jack cheese and a pancake packed with foenegreek gouda cheese and bacon. Another …

Ag Groups, Audio, Dairy, Food, World Dairy Expo

More Than 60,000 FFA Members to Converge in Louisville

Jamie Johansen

The 2014 National FFA Convention & Expo is right around the corner and the AgWired team will be there to cover it all. Here is a little preview of what you can expect to see at this year’s event to take place for the second year of its three-year run in Louisville, KY. on Oct.28 through Nov. 1. The convention …

Ag Groups, Education, Events, FFA

University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo

Chuck Zimmerman

During my trip to Italy last week one of our memorable stops was the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo. That sounds like a foodies idea of a college! However, I have to note that the University was started by Carlo Petrini, founder of the Slow Food Movement. He has a rather interesting background according to this post in Wikipedia. …

Ag Groups, Agribusiness, Audio, Food, International, New Holland, Video

Get on Board with CAST

Jamie Johansen

Join the Council of Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) today and your membership will begin immediately and extend throughout 2015. That means you’ll enjoy three months of membership benefits for free. Benefits include Friday Notes, CAST’s weekly signature electronic newsletter, covering all things agriculture, immediate access to CAST’s highly respected publications and “members only” website and much more. An online …

Ag Groups, Technology

My American Farm App

Cindy Zimmerman

If you want to play My American Farm on your smartphone or tablet, there’s a new app for that. The American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture has released a new version of its popular My American Farm app for iPads, Android tablets and Kindle Fire. The app is available for download on iTunes, Google Play and Amazon. The new version …

AFBF, Ag Groups, Apps