The heads of both the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency spoke to the National Farmers Union (NFU) convention in Wichita Monday. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced $97 million in programs to support the continued development of farmers markets, farm to school efforts and rural economies and will also expand risk management tools for specialty crops and …
Thirsty Land Documentary in Production
The director of The Great American Wheat Harvest documentary is back in action with a new project called Thirsty Land. Will there be enough water to survive? “Thirsty Land” is an exciting new documentary that tells the story of drought, its impact on agriculture, communities and the global food supply. “The story of drought needs to be told! Our global …
Monsanto Offers New Cotton Varieties for 2015 Season
While at the 2015 Mid-South Farm & Gin Show, our own Chuck Zimmerman had a chance to chat with Monsanto’s Keylon Gholston, Cotton Product Manager with Monsanto, who provided insight into new cotton technologies and products that will be beneficial to growers. Keylon was excited to further explore the 2015 varieties that Monsanto released in December; “We really want to …
Catching up With Anna Leigh Peek
While wandering around this year’s Mid-South Farm & Gin Show Anna Leigh Peek found me. Anna worked with Cindy and me on-location at the 2014 National Farm Machinery Show to gain experience as an agriblogger. It’s always great to see her. She graduated from Auburn and is now working for Monsanto as a consumer engagement specialist working with our good …
Mississippi State University Utilizes Drones
Robert Moorehead, Director of Geosystems Research Institute and Northern Gulf Institutes at Mississippi State University, was at the 2015 Mid-South Farm & Gin Show to showcase the research being done on harnessing UAV technology on farm.. Moorehead had a chance to chat with Chuck Zimmerman about their use of UAVs and drones. Geosystems Research focuses on agriculture; they utilize UAV …
USA Rice Federation at 2015 Mid-South Farm & Gin Show
The USA Rice Federation is the commodity association that represents all industry aspects (growers, millers, merchants) of the rice industry; they have members in all 6 major rice producing states. While at the 2015 Mid-South Farm & Gin Show, Randy Jemison, Director of Louisiana Field Operations for USA Rice Federation, spoke with Chuck Zimmerman about their role in supporting rice …
EPA and USDA Heads to Keynote NFU Convention
Members of the National Farmers Union will hear from both Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and EPA administrator Gina McCarthy on Monday at their convention in Wichita. NFU’s Chandler Goule says registration is open to anyone for the organization’s 113th annual meeting. “We’d love to have more people come, listen to our grassroots debate,” said Goule. In an interview at Commodity …
Schmacon Inventor Ready for Retail
The inventor of Schmacon, Howard Bender, accepted a challenge to do better than the turkey bacon he and a friend were eating one day. So he invented “Beef’s Answer to Bacon – Schmacon.” If you attended this year’s American Farm Bureau Federation convention you might remember being able to sample it. You can read his full story here (pdf). Smokey, …
Corn Yield Contest Winner Keeps Pushing
It got a little repetitive at the Commodity Classic corn banquet announcing the national winners of the Corn Yield Contest when Randy Dowdy of Valdosta, Georgia won six of the 18 categories. But Dowdy did make history last year with nearly 504 bushels per acre in his irrigated plot using DEKALB DKC 62-08, and he thinks he can do even …
Annual Commodity Outlook w/ Richard Brock
While at the 2015 Mid-South Farm & Gin Show, Richard Brock, of Brock Associates, gave his annual Commodity Outlook update to conference attendees. Brock’s session was packed with attendees hoping to gain insight into commodity markets. When asked about key takeaways for producers, Brock encouraged growers to shift acres to cotton if they’re in a cotton producing area as he …