From the farm bill to educating consumers, the beef cattle industry shares many of the same concerns facing agriculture as a whole. I talked with a couple of producer representatives at last week’s National Association of Farm Broadcasting Trade Talk about hot topics for cattlemen going into 2013. Don Pemberton, Chairman of the NCBA Policy Division is also a beef …
A Rich History at The American Royal
The 2012 American Royal runs from Sept.9 – Nov. 17 and is chalk full of events for friends and family to partake in all promoting the wonderful world of agriculture. This event has such a rich history founded on the agricultural industry. In 1899 the very first American Royal took place in a tent at the Kansas City Stockyards as …
Heifer International at World Food Prize
The World Food Prize is all about feeding the world, especially the hungriest of the hungry in developing nations. One organization taking part in the 2012 World Food Prize last week was Heifer International, which has been helping hungry and disadvantaged people around the globe feed themselves for over 70 years. In this week’s ZimmCast, we hear from Heifer International …
Elanco Part of Global Harvest Initiative
The Global Harvest Initiative (GHI) is a private-sector voice for productivity growth throughout the agricultural value chain to sustainably meet the demands of a growing world. The initiative, established in 2009, includes agricultural industry stakeholders such as DuPont, John Deere, Monsanto and now Elanco. “This is the first time for Elanco joining this effort,” said GHI board member Claudia Garcia, …
Senator Roberts Urges FDA to Approve Aflatoxin Waivers
Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS) is urging the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to quickly approved waivers to allowing blending of corn with aflatoxin to increase the feed supply for livestock producers hard hit by ongoing drought. In a letter sent to FDA’s Department of Health and Human Services last week, Roberts noted that aflatoxin is impacting the quality of the …
New Executive Director at WLIC
The Wisconsin Livestock Identification Consortium (WLIC) recently announced the addition of Alan Clark as Executive Director. In his new role, Clark will be responsible for leading initiatives that strengthen the strategic plan of WLIC by providing operational oversight and direction in the use of financial, human and technology resources to effectively and efficiently achieve WLIC’s goals. Clark is a graduate …
Livestock 101 at NAMA Boot Camp
Animal agriculture seems to be under a constant fire from those who don’t understand it. During the recent NAMA Boot Camp, Dr. Dan Thomson, Assistant Dean of Outreach and Professor at Kansas State University Vet School, addressed the basics of the industry along with issues and challenges so agri-marketers could help educate the growing population of non-ag consumers. “I think …
Do The Right Thing
During the 2012 NAMA Boot Camp a highlight for me was a breakout session on crisis management. Daren Williams, Executive Director of Communications for NCBA, spoke with attendees about the ins and outs of dealing with crises in the agriculture industry. In my interview with Daren he shared his role of promoting the wonderful world of beef to consumers, how …
BIVI Improving Animal Welfare & Public’s Perceptions
Our friends at Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc. want to improve livestock health through preventive measures, while at the same time bridge the gap between producers and consumers who are more removed from production agriculture than ever before. The company has launched the Prevention Works platform to raise awareness and foster conversations between veterinarians, their clients and consumers. The goal is …
Senators Celebrate “Meat Mondays”
The offices of U.S. Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) today celebrated ‘Meat Monday’ with barbeque beef brisket, ribs, and sausage from Hill Country BBQ restaurant. For the senators from beef producing states, it was a response to last week’s USDA employee newsletter promoting “Meatless Mondays” that was accidentally approved and put on line, and subsequently removed but …