The President of the Chicago Farmers is my good friend Colleen Callahan. I joked with her that I appreciated her wearing my Gators orange and blue but she’s actually going to an Illini basketball game later. Colleen conducted one of the presentations here at the Farmland Investment Fair in her role as USDA, Rural Development, Illinois Director. I spoke with …
New From Merial
This is one of the most familiar sights for ag journalists to see at a Cattle Industry Convention. You can believe that the company representative that is probably interviewed the most is therefore with Merial. In what seems to be becoming a tradition I interviewed Dr. Frank Hurtig during the convention to find out what’s new from Merial. He says …
SureVac From Ag Leader Technology
Earlier this week Ag Leader Technology added the patent-pending SureVac electric row shutoff to their lineup of planter section shutoff devices. Since I was at the Iowa Power Farming Show I stopped in and learned all about it from Chad Huedepohl. You can watch the interview or just listen to it below. Here’s the details: SureVac provides today’s precision farming …
Novus Stays Close to Customers
Novus International Executive Vice President of marketing and sales Giovanni Gasperoni, pictured here with a delegation from Thailand, seemed to know everyone at the International Poultry/Feed Expo in Atlanta last week and he greeted them all as close friends. His genuine and effusive personality reflects his passion for the business of animal agriculture and the people in the industry who …
Priority Setting For FY 2011 Beef Budgets
After all the committees meet during convention the leaders got together for a special extra meeting to set their priorities. This was done via a wireless electronic process. You can see CBB Board member Robert Fountain, Jr. (Secretary/Treasurer) holding up his device before they got started. I spoke about the process with Rick Husted who managed the session. He says …
Ag Leader Launches Blue Delta Dealer Network
Ag Leader Technology has announced the Blue Delta Dealer Network. At the Iowa Power Farming Show I spoke with Mike Olson to learn more about it. He’s pictured working in the booth here at the show. Basically, Ag Leader Technology has developed a new elite precision farming distribution network in an effort to bring more structure to a growing precision …
Iowa Power Farming Show
I’m attending my first ever Iowa Power Farming Show courtesy of PrecisionPays.com sponsor Ag Leader Technology. The first person I met this morning was show manager, Tom Junge. The show is conducted by the Iowa-Nebraska Equipment Dealers Association. Tom says they represent about 400 dealers and have been doing the show for 55 years. They have a show in December …
Dealing With Issues Management
Much of the work done at the Cattle Industry Convention is in committees. These meetings are open and as I’ve found over the years, a great learning experience to attend. I did a walk around during the main committee time as part of my work for the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and stopped in just as the Joint Issues Management Committee …
Linda Brake CattleWoman of the Year
You get to meet a lot of wonderful people in a media room, including the media. At the Cattle Industry Convention one of the interesting people I met was Linda Brake. She was named the 2009 Outstanding CattleWoman of the Year by the American National CattleWomen. Linda is from Arizona and seemed a little overwhelmed by the honor. The award …
New NAFB Leadership
Starting March 1, the National Association of Farm Broadcasting will have a new Executive Director. He’s Mark Vail and many of you know him from his career in farm broadcasting both on the microphone and in management. In fact, Mark was just serving again on the NAFB board! So they’ve got a new staff leader with strong roots in the …