Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack made a trip to Kansas City to visit with farm broadcasters during the 70th National Association of Farm Broadcasting Annual Convention. The Secretary centered his comments around the RFS announcement, record levels of exports, drought issues and of course, the farm bill. Vilsack started off by thanking all the farm broadcaster for the work that they do …
EPA Unveils 2014 RFS Renewable Fuel Volumes
Today the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its proposal for the 2014 Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs) as part of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) for the amount of renewable fuels to be blended into gasoline and diesel. The EPA has proposed to set the cellulosic biofuel category at 17 million gallons, biomass-based diesel at 1.28 billion gallons, advanced biofuel at …
ASFMRA Providing Continuing Education
One of the first persons I met at the Agronomics Vision 2014 conference was JoAnn Wall, Central Coast AgAppraisal, Inc. JoAnn moderated a technology panel during the conference this year. We had a great conversation about the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers in which she is actively involved. JoAnn is an accredited rural appraiser and says the …
BASF Gives Back to NAFB
The National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) is blessed with the support of many agricultural companies and organizations and BASF is one of the best. Our wonderful friend Pat Morrow (aka Queen of Half the Universe) took their support of the organization to another level this year by being elected to the board as an Allied Industry Council representative. “I …
NAFB Reporting Award to Honor Stewart Doan
Since the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences took exception to the use of the word “Oscar” for NAFB’s annual reporting awards that had been presented since the 1970s, a new name has been bestowed for the awards that will pay tribute to one of organization’s past presidents who passed away last year. During the NAFB Foundation luncheon, chairman …
New ASFMRA President
The new president of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers is Jim Rickert, AFM, ARA co-owner of Western Agricultural Services. I visited with him at the Agronomics Vision 2014 conference taking place in Reno, NV, to find out what his goals are for his year as president. Rickert, AFM, ARA is the co-owner of Western Agricultural Services, …
John Deere Opens MyJohnDeere Platform
At today’s NAFB Trade Talk, John Deere’s had a big announcement about their MyJohnDeere platform collaborating software developers and companies. Cindy spoke with Product Marketing Manager for John Deere Intelligent Solutions Group, Chris Batdorf, during the fast-paced event. “Last summer we introduced a product called Wireless Data Transfer and that helped to do away with the USB stick and seamlessly …
Farm Credit Sponsors NAFB Social Media Corps
Farm Credit sponsored the Trade Talk Social Media Corps for the first time ever and brought them to NAFB 2013. The team is made up of seven students from colleges all over the nation who are all majoring in agriculture communications. Farm Credit’s National Communications Director Margaret Fogarty took on the task of heading up the students and teaching them …
NAFB Foundation Goal is $10k
The National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) Foundation has a booth here at the 2013 Convention in Kansas City, which is being manned by Lois and Richard Brand, parents of NAFB Executive Director Tom Brand. “People have an opportunity to donate to the foundation which provides scholarships for potential farm broadcasters,” said Lois. The scholarships help students interested in the …
Monsanto Innovation to Meet Global Demand
This morning Dr. Robert Fraley, Monsanto Executive Vice President & Chief Technology Officer, took the stage at Agronomics Vision 2014. His task was to address “Meeting Global Demand Through Innovation in Agriculture.” It is a task he enjoys since that’s what Monsanto has always done! Dr. Fraley talked about the projects and technologies that Monsanto is working on to support …