USDA announced today that 639 individuals and businesses in 43 states and the Virgin Islands have been selected to receive $35 million in grants and loan guarantees for renewable energy systems or to improve energy efficiency in farm and business operations. On hand to make the announcement here at the Farm Progress Show was our USDA Undersecretary for Rural Development, …
ZimmBite – USDA Crop Production Report
The USDA Crop Production Report is out. It forecasts reductions in corn, soybeans and cotton but wheat is pretty much unchanged. I expect we’ll see lots of spin today. ZimmBite – USDA Crop Production Report on 12seconds.tv
Pioneering Rural Internet
I interviewed two of my favorite people at the Ag Media Summit and have saved those interviews for this week’s program. First up, you’ll find Jerry Harrington, Pioneer Hi-Bred. He talks about how he helps agricultural journalists connect with agronomists so they can get the word out and help producers, “grow more corn and soybeans.” Then I talk with U. …
Cow Tunes
Cows wearing headsets. Uh. Right. I want to know if they can subscribe to farm podcasts. The same Global Positioning System (GPS) technology used to track vehicles is now being used to track cows. But Agricultural Research Service (ARS) animal scientist Dean M. Anderson has taken tracking several steps further with a Walkman-like headset that enables him to “whisper” wireless …
Florida Farm to Fuel Summit
Cindy and I got up early this morning and left Tampa for Orlando where we’re attending the Florida Farm to Fuel Summit. I think this is the third one. We missed our old friend Charlie Bronson, Florida Commissioner of Agriculture, although he’ll be here later this afternoon. We did see him on video though. Right now our U.S. Secretary of …
Research Needed For Ethanol Company Success
What we know and what we need to know was Peggy Caswell’s, USDA-ERS, topic here at the Farm Foundation Transition To A Bio Economy conference. She says we need to know things about how farmers or the providers of biofuels and feed stocks are going to have to change the way they do business. She used the example of having …
Talking Rural Policy
My good friend Tom Dorr, USDA Under Secretary for Rural Development, was our opening speaker for day two of Farm Foundation’s Transition To A Bio Economy conference. He was glad to see the golden ZimmComm microphone once again! We visited for a while before the session got started. He says that rural policy is more important and timely a topic …
USDA Rural Development Biofuels Assistance
We had USDA Rural Development represented here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference by Tony Crooks. He works with their rural business cooperatives program and has done a lot of work with communities in the area of ethanol and biodiesel. The challenge he says we have today in rural communities is the large capital outlay to get a …
Rural Development Secretary Keynote at CUTC
I really enjoyed getting to talk with our USDA Under Secretary for Rural Development, Tom Dorr, this evening. He was our keynote speaker at the CUTC. He told corn growers and all the attendees that they’re doing a great job. He also said that there are challenges ahead like the recent Grocers Association attack on ethanol. He says that’s making …
USDA Undersecretary Bruce Knight Speaks at BASF Media Summit
Wow. What a morning here at the BASF Media Summit. After doing some live video streaming, interviews, pictures and recordings we got to have lunch with USDA Undersecretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs, Bruce Knight. Bruce talked about the farm bill of course. He used a description from a story in the Washington Post which called the current proposal “an …