The first six months of 2011, exports of U.S. beef and variety meat exports totaled over $3 billion, a 40% increase over the same time period in 2010 and something that has made beef cattle producers very happy this year. “It’s looking really good,” said National Cattlemen’s Beef Association president-elect J.D. Alexander of Nebraska during an interview at NAFB Trade …
Alltech Global 500 Coming Up Next Week
Coming up next week in Lexington, Kentucky is an event that dairy and beef producers should not miss. Since 2008, more than 800 of world’s most progressive dairy and beef producers have convened for the Alltech Global 500 to network and discuss the most relevant and challenging topics in the industry. This year, the Global 500 explores the future landscape …
Iowa Corn Caucus Grades Candidates on Farm Issues
The Iowa Corn Caucus released its report card for presidential candidates today, giving grades for different policy areas related to agriculture with an overall grade for each candidate. The highest overall grade went to Newt Gingrich, who scored straight As on every single policy issue. Second in the class was Rick Santorum, who had mostly A’s but faltered under farm …
The BASF Advantage Keeps Getting Better
It seems like there is always something new from BASF Crop Protection to make life a little better for farmers. At the National Association of Farm Broadcasting Trade Talk, I talked with Technical Market Manager Nick Fassler about what is new in the fungicide arena. You might remember that we just chatted with Nick earlier this year at Commodity Classic …
Update On Vault HP
At the NAFB Trade Talk I visited with Russ Berndt, Becker Underwood. We had visited earlier this year at the Ag Media Summit where we talked about their bio-based, growth-promoter for soybeans, Vault HP. Russ says that’s still the big news with Becker Underwood. Russ says they’ve had a big increase in sales this year which is the second year …
Increasing Corn Yield In 2012
Maximizing corn yields in 2012 was the theme of information shared during the NAFB Trade Talk this year by FMC. I visited with Gail Stratman (not pictured), FMC Midwest Technical Lead to find out what’s new with FMC. He says that as demand for corn continues to grow worldwide, farmers are trying to eke out every bushel they can from …
New Research On Benefits Of Atrazine
During the recent NAFB convention, AgriTalk recorded a panel discussion about new research on Atrazine. This herbicide, which has been on the market for more than 50 years is very beneficial from an economic and environmental standpoint in the production of corn, sorghum and sugar cane according to this new research. I interviewed one of those researchers, Dr. Mike Owen, …
Cattlemen’s Beef Board Update
The Cattlemen’s Beef Board is enjoying the best relationships with its contractors in years according to new CEO Polly Ruhland. I spoke with Polly, pictured on the right, at the NAFB Trade Talk session to find out how things are going after some of the recent changes. Polly says that the Beef Board is taking a look at the structure …
Meet New NAFB President
He looks very presidential in this photo doesn’t he? He’s Tom Steever, Brownfield and the new President of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting. Tom actually takes over officially on January 1, 2012. However, he has been serving as interim President following the tragic death of Lindsay Hill earlier this year. So that kind of makes Tom the “old” and …
Farm Family Purchase Decision Influences
During the NAMA Trends in Agriculture conference I visited with Sara Steever and Heather Covrig, Paulsen Marketing, about their new thought paper titled, “How Multi-Generational Farming Operations Make Major Purchase Decisions.” Heather says that purchasing decisions are becoming more and more important for farmers trying to meet the food needs of a growing population. So Paulsen conducted this study to …