Bob Stallman of Texas was re-elected to serve another two year term as president of the American Farm Bureau Federation after a long voting delegate session to set policy direction for 2012 as the organization’s 93rd annual meeting wrapped up on Tuesday in Honolulu. The business session of the AFBF meeting lasted all day Tuesday covering a wide variety of …
Preparing For 2012 Cotton Season With FMC
During the Beltwide Cotton Conferences I visited with Gerald Simmons, FMC Southern Business Manager, about some best management practices and things to consider when preparing for this year’s crop. He says the business has changed, especially technology, but that growers should also consider some of those “old” options they have. FMC has a broad portfolio now for cotton that growers …
John Deere Cotton Harvest Module Identification
John Deere talked up its latest application for cotton growers during this year’s Beltwide Cotton Conferences. Harvest Identification Cotton will continue to automate the production of a cotton module. This is tied into the 7760 cotton picker. The application will use the RFID tags that are embedded into the module wrap. These will be captured by an RFID reader on …
Dave Barry Leaves Farmers Laughing at AFBF
Growing up in south Florida, I have been a fan of humorist Dave Barry from the time he was still just the humor columnist at the Miami Herald before he hit the big time, so it was a thrill for me to see him at the American Farm Bureau Federation annual meeting. And while he was unknown to many of …
Kruse Receives AFBF Distinguished Service Award
The American Farm Bureau Federation Monday presented its highest honor, the Distinguished Service to Agriculture Award, to former Missouri Farm Bureau President Charles Kruse. “This is a tremendous honor to receive this award,” Kruse said, accepting the award from AFBF president Bob Stallman on stage at the 93rd annual meeting with his wife Pam and current Missouri Farm Bureau president …
Vilsack Announces USDA Streamlining at AFBF Meeting
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack revealed a plan for streamlining operations and cutting costs at USDA during an address to the American Farm Bureau Federation annual meeting on Monday. “The USDA, like families and businesses across the country, cannot continue to operate like we did 50 years ago,” said Vilsack. “We must innovate, modernize, and be better stewards of the taxpayers’ …
Missouri Rancher New Farm Bureau YF&R Chair
The new chairman of the American Farm Bureau Federation Young Farmers & Ranchers (YF&R) committee is a 4th generation cattle producer from Southwest Missouri who is enthusiastic and optimistic about the future of agriculture for his generation and those to come. “I want nothing more than for my children to be the fifth generation on the same property that my …
Get The AgFax
During the Beltwide Cotton Conferences I got to visit with and get to know AgFax with husband/wife partners Debra Ferguson and Owen Taylor. Owen conducted a conference session titled, “New vs. Old Information Sources to Clientele,” as part of the segment on social media in production agriculture. As a new media company, we can relate to that! AgFax is “Where …
Athena For Cotton
During the Beltwide Cotton Conferences my sponsor, FMC, featured two products for cotton growers, Athena and Mustang Max. I visited with Rusty Mitchell, to learn more about Athena. Rusty says Athena was originally developed for tree fruits and vegetable crops but realized it would have a great fit in cotton. It’s a pre-mix insecticide which was initially targeting spider mite …
Cotton’s First Forty Days
One of the resources available to cotton growers from the National Cotton Council is a pair of booklets on best management practices. They’re titled “The First 40 Days” and “Fruiting to Finish,” (pdf) To learn more about this project I spoke with Bill Robertson, Manager, Cotton Agronomy, Soils and Physiology, pictured toward the right in this photo. Bill says these …