The final night’s activities at the IFAJ Congress was a historic event for me. The only IFAJ President I’ve ever known up until this Congress was David Markey and this was when he turned the reins over to a new leader. I can tell you one thing. When you’ve got a group of people from countries all over the world …
Slovenia Minister of Agriculture
Greeting the IFAJ Congress at our first dinner in Portoroz was the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food, Iztok Jarc. He had a challenge because just prior to our dinner the weather changed completely and we had a drenching lightning storm. It forced the restaurant to make some major adjustments to the settings but finally we got everyone under cover …
Wood Pellets May Become Farm Product
Our first stop on the Tour III group yesterday was KWB, a company that manufactures biomass heating systems. Basically these are various size heaters using wood chips or wood pellets for fuel. I spoke with David Pock, the man who gave us an overview of their company philosophy and products. It seemed like a stretch to fit this visit into …
Packing Fresh Apples
On my first IFAJ tour stop I spoke with our host, Johann Scholler, Steirerfrucht. They are a fresh fruit packing facility. The main product is apples although they also handle pears and other fruit. Apples are the number one fresh fruit choice in Austria. After we left the plant we did visit a couple of different apple farms. We were …
Ag Community Invited to Attend AGROTAIN Grand Opening
Early next week AGROTAIN International, a division of Lange-Stegmann Company, will be holding a special grand opening event of new facilities in St. Louis and they want you to know that you’re invited to come on out. We had reporter Mike Rogers talk with Mike Stegmann, President, Lange-Stegmann, about the new facility and their grand opening. Listen to his interview …
IFAJ Member Survey Results
During the morning session here at the IFAJ Congress we were presented with the results of an online survey conducted for IFAJ by OEKonsult, Communication & Consulting. One of the presenters was Kristin Allwinger, Business Development. She says they had very good participation from IFAJ members and the goal was to find out how important various topics are to them. …
IFAJ Congress President Franz Fischler
The President of the IFAJ Congress 2008 is Franz Fischler, former Commissioner of Agriculture for the EU. Last year in Japan at the IFAJ Congress he promised us some fine Austrian wines. Tonight he made good on that with a toast at our dinner. Prior to the dinner I spoke to him and he said that attendance exceeded their expectations. …
IFAJ Congress Welcome
It’s the first day of IFAJ Congress 2008 activities and the good news is, our luggage arrived! This morning the Executive Committee is meeting and after lunch we’ll have an IFAJ delegates business meeting. I’m going to try to cover that. In the meantime, the welcome committee is greeting attendees in the lobby of our hotel. I spoke with one …
Ready To Call It An AgNite
Cindy and I were so impressed with AgNite that we just had to talk about it on this week’s ZimmCast. Let’s face it. Get over 5,000 people together and have the whole thing hosted by ag companies and organizations that don’t always see eye to eye and I’d say you’ve accomplished something! This week’s program includes an AgNite wrap-up with …
MOSES is Organic
MOSES is the Midwest Organic & Sustainable Education Service. At the Farm Progress Show, their outreach coordinator, Harriet Behar, visited the media tent. One of the first things I asked her was just what “organic” means. She says it’s a sustainable method of farming that uses on-farm produced inputs. “Only products that have met the organic regulations are allowed to …