For Robert Jacobs, it’s about maximum output. Robert is the Chairman for the Propane Education & Research Council Agriculture Advisory Committee. He headed a panel at the 2007 Propane Technology Forum that demonstrated the different ways propane application can be applied to agriculture, including heat remediation, heat defoliation of crops, heat sanitation and pest control. I spoke to Robert about …
Texas Railroad Commission Highlights Propane Technology
The Railroad Commission of Texas is the organization hosting the 2007 Propane Technology Forum here in Austin, TX. Propane is a key interest of the commission’s Alternative Fuels Research and Education Division. I spoke to Director Dan Kelly about some of the highlights of today’s featured speakers. You can listen to my interview with Dan here: Kelly_Dan.mp3 Dan expanded on …
Putting the Heat on Cotton
Paul Funk is one of the experts at the 2007 Propane Technology Forum who has taken all the talk about innovative propane research a step further. Paul is a scientist with the USDA-Southwestern Cotton Ginning Research Laboratory. He is among the first to put heat defoliation of cotton with propane into practice. Paul and I discussed what he’s encountered out …
Propane Heat Remediation Ideal for Organic Farmers
Paul Funk’s heat defoliation of cotton isn’t the only way propane-generated heat is being used. Temp-Air scientist Raj Hulasare says propane heat remediation is an ideal solution for treating bins, silos, and other storage vessels for pests. He adds that propane heat remediation is a particularly viable option for certified organic farms, which are restricted from using many chemicals to …
Pest Control with Propane
Several experts in the propane industry mentioned the innovative use of propane as an insecticide at the 2007 Propane Technology Forum, but Robert McGee with Texas A&M Agriculture Research is the expert whose presentation focused solely on propane’s capability to eliminate pests. In a brief interview, Robert and I reviewed the main idea of his presentation. You can listen to …
Interview with BASF Ag Products President
BASF Agricultural Products division president Michael Heinz is in a good mood because prices for farm products are higher and farmers are spending more money on their input costs to increase production. “It makes us very excited because when the farmer is in a good mood, in general, we are in a good mood,” Heinz says. This optimism was the …
Global Press Conference
I have been an ag journalist for 25 years and never participated in an event quite like the global press conference for BASF here in Germany. Michael Heinz, President of BASF’s Agricultural Products Division, and Dr. Klaus Welsch, head of the European Crop Protection business, were the headliners at the event and the main news was how BASF sees the …
Propane Heat Sanitizes
Raj Hulasare with Temp-Air introduced the application of propane heat remediation at the 2007 Propane Technology Forum and Scientist Terry Smith with Mississippi State University has applied that concept to his research in dairy sanitation. Terry and I discussed how propane heat sanitation offers dairy producers a chemical-free option when maintaining the health of their dairy cows. You can listen …
NAMA’s New CEO
I talked the new CEO of the National AgriMarketing Association, Jenny Pickett, into taking a few minutes out of her busy schedule to talk to me for this week’s program. If you don’t know Jenny then listen in and hear about her plans for NAMA. For one thing Jenny says that NAMA is going to focus on more chapter leader …
Maple Leaf Meats in Brandon gearing for twin shifts….
With the addition of a second shift at its Brandon, Man processing plant, Maple Leaf Foods will ramp up in slaughter capacity over the next six to eight weeks. According to Maple Leaf spokesperson Jeanette Jones, the current hog slaughter capacity of 45,000 to 50,000 hogs per week will climb to at least 75,000 per week by the end of …