At the Ag Media Summit I stopped by the FMC booth in InfoExpo to find out what’s new. On hand was Matt Foster. Matt says they’re very excited to be launching Anthem herbicide in 2012. That’s a grass and broadleaf pre-emerge for both corn and soybeans that has both pre and post activity. I was out on field tour duty …
Jeff Smeenk Talks Environmental Ranching
Did you know that grasslands evolve by being grazed? And that taking grazing out of the equation damages the environment? I didn’t until I sat down with Jeff Smeenk, one of six Environmental Stewardship Award Program winners announced during the Cattle Summer Industry Conference. Smeenk explained that on his ranch, cattle serve the niche of grazing the land and helping …
Efforts to Reign in EPA Continue
I asked National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) President Elect J.D. Alexander some tough questions during the recent Cattle Industry Summer Conference. One such question was, “What is your favorite way to prepare your beef?” His answer – a bone in ribeye prepared on the grill. So I tried it out last night for dinner and boy was it tasty. OK, …
RCA Trellis Growing System Turns Acres Into Profits
The RCA (Rotating Cross-Arm) System from Trellis Growing Systems is turning marginal land into profits for many Midwestern farmers who have begun to plant a new cash crop – blackberries. Developed by Indiana grower Richard Barnes, the RCA System enables Midwestern growers to successfully and profitably plant blackberries by overcoming some of the traditional challenges associated with the crop. Barnes …
NCBA Helping to Create Export Markets for Cattle Producers
It often appears that a major role of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) is to play “defense” against all the bad policy, press and public opinion that exists. While this is a role of the organization, it is not its only function. I also learned during the Cattle Industry Summer Conference that they also focus on “offensive” tactics like …
Talking Bio-Forge ST With Stoller USA
Jeff Morgan, Stoller USA is standing next to his good friend and ours, Kip Cullers. Actually it’s a Kip cutout. Jeff was on the floor of InfoExpo to talk about Bio-Forge ST a new seed treatment product that he says is “farmer driven” and has taken off this year. He says the first question he gets from ag journalists is …
New Products From Monty’s
At the Ag Media Summit I visited with Monty’s Plant and Soil Products and Gary Coughlin. Thanks to whoever took the photo and posted it on the Monty’s Facebook page! So I asked him, “What’s new?” Gary says they’ve just released four new products, Corn Blend, Soybean Blend, Cotton Blend and Tobacco Blend. He says they all contain their humic …
Swine Health Updates at BIVI Seminar
The Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Swine Health Seminar in North Carolina offered updates in two important swine health areas – mycoplasma hyopneumoniae and PRRS. Dr. Erin Strait with Iowa State University talked about getting the most out of diagnostics for M. hyopneumoniae. “The biggest issue I usually see is over-interpretation of diagnostics and not understanding that those diagnostics are often skewed …
Hog Economics in the Biofuels Era
“Hog Economics in the Biofuels Era” was the topic of a presentation by Purdue University economist Dr. Chris Hurt at the Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Swine Health Seminar in North Carolina. Dr. Hurt says government policies like biofuels and even food stamps were built upon a “psychology of surplus” to increase prices. “We continue to see a psychology of surplus in …
Dr. Temple Grandin at BIVI Swine Health Seminar
Nobody talks common sense about animal welfare better than Dr. Temple Grandin of Colorado State University. If you are in the livestock industry, unless you live in a cave, you have heard of Dr. Grandin. In fact, a decent portion of the general public now knows this amazing woman, thanks to the HBO movie starring Claire Danes which celebrates Temple’s …