We have talked several times over the past few years with Dr. Scott Dee of the Swine Disease Eradication Center at the University of Minnesota about area regional control (ARC) and elimination of Porcine Respiratory and Reproductive Syndrome (PRRS), since he is one of the early advocates of using that approach to the virus. Scott was the moderator of last …
Bioportal Could Help Understand PRRS Genetic Diversity
One of the challenges of controlling PRRS (Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome) is the diversity in which the disease presents itself. “We can have several hundred different types of PRRS around and one of our main concerns is that every year we isolate new types of PRRS,” says Enrique Mondaca, a member of the Boehringer Ingelheim (BIVI) PRRS Area Solutions …
Farming And Flying With Brian Rau
Brian Rau is a farmer and an aerial applicator with Medina Flying Service Inc.. He’s also President of the NAAA. Brian welcomed everyone to this record breaking convention and I spoke with him afterward. Brian says he got interested in flying and aerial application because his dad flew combat missions and did aerial application for their farm. When he got …
NAAA Executive Director Optimistic About Future
The National Agricultural Aviation Association is all about safety, education and common sense legislation. That’s a take away from my interview with NAAA Executive Director Andrew Moore. Andrew says that things are going well. He expects the 2010 season to be a good one in terms of total aerial application hours flown. The convention is a record in terms of …
Air Force One Steward To The Presidents
At the NAAA convention welcome breakfast we got an inside look at what it’s like on Air Force One. Our speaker was Howie Franklin, 18 year steward of the President’s plane. He served under five Presidents and has hundreds of stories. I spoke with Howie after his presentation and got him to share one story that includes a situation he …
BASF NAAA Scholarships Announced
During the welcome breakfast at the NAAA convention the winners of the this year’s agricultural aviation scholarships were announced. The scholarships are part of the partnership that BASF has with the organization. Pictured are (l-r), Ben Cadenbach, Matthew Kollars, Dr. Gary Fellows, BASF and Brian Rau, NAAA President. I will have interviews with all of them for you during the …
New Technology From New Holland
The first interview I did during this year’s NAFB convention Trade Talk session was with Sean Dorosz. He’s being interviewed by an NAFB member in the photo while Gene Hemphill looks on. Sean had two main points to make. The first is their choice of Tier 4 engine technology. New Holland is using the SCR or selective catalytic reduction technology …
Change the Game Management
Resistance to change is normal, but there are ways to move people to make changes, without forcing them! Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica (BIVI) is hosting its third annual “Area Regional Control of PRRS” seminar in Chicago today, prior to the start of the 2010 International PRRS Symposium. Since the concept of ARC is a regional approach, it requires the participation of …
New Precision Products From John Deere
When it comes to what’s new with John Deere Dan Hawkins (pictured on right) was ready, willing and able talk about them at the recent NAFB convention Trade Talk Session. Dan works in the Ag Management Solutions group. He says that John Deere brought three main products to market this year that include JD Link, GreenStar 3 display and StarFire …
Alltech Investing In Children
Aidan Connolly, VP, Alltech, was not in the booth when I did a walking photo shoot of the NAFB convention Trade Talk session but I got to interview him later. Pictured are Billy Frey and Susanna Elliott. Congratulations go to Aidan for being named an Associate Professor at University College Dublin’s (UCD’s) School of Business, for a five year period …