The trade show at the 2012 Commodity Classic is officially underway here in Nashville, TN. Of course things got started with a ribbon cutting where representatives from each of the four participating commodity groups made brief welcoming comments. We’ll hear more from them at tomorrow’s general session that also includes a speech from U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack. There’s …
Historic Gathering of Agriculture Secretaries
This is one Agricultural Outlook Forum I really wish I could have attended just to see most of the past and present Secretaries of Agriculture gathered on one stage together to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Pictured here are the eight secretaries who took part in a panel at the forum last Thursday moderated by …
State of the Ethanol Industry Broadcast
Hello from the 2012 National Ethanol Conference. At approximately 8:10am eastern time we’ll be broadcasting live the State of the Industry Address from Bob Dinneen, President/CEO or the Renewable Fuels Association. Just click on the player below to start the broadcast in your browser. We will record the address and post the recorded version afterward. Post Update: Thanks to all …
NFMS Championship Tractor Pull
The ZimmComm team is on the way back to world headquarters but still has a lot of National Farm Machinery Show to share. I spent a little while at the 2012 Championship Tractor Pull last night and am adding some photos from there right now. We’ll be posting some more stories and interviews over the coming days so check back …
Ag Leader Technology Previews New System at NFMS
Ag Leader Technology was giving growers at the National Farm Machinery Show a preview of the coming-soon INTEGRA™ planter down force monitor and control capability. The heart of the system is a hydraulic down force actuator (as compared to other pneumatic airbag systems), engineered by Dawn Equipment. The actuator is the fastest on the market, allowing the INTEGRA display to …
Musical Animals
Kurt Floyd is attracting all kinds of attention with his wooden noise making creations here at the 2012 National Farm Machinery Show. Kurt said to me, “Welcome to the swamp” and if you watch the video clip below you’ll understand why. At this show he’s got crickets, pigs and frogs and you can hear what they sound like in our …
Orange County Choppers Paul Sr. Unveils Biodiesel Bike
The big news today at the National Biodiesel Conference was the unveiling of the biodiesel bike built by Paul Teutul, Sr., Orange County Choppers. The bike was built in partnership with CIMA Green. Today the bike debuted on stage driven by former NBB Chairman, Ed Hegland. Then Paul Sr. himself drove it onto the biodiesel vehicle showcase floor where he …
NAFB President at Cattle Industry Convention
National Association of Farm Broadcasting president and poet laureate Tom Steever of Brownfield Ag News impressed the 2012 Cattle Industry Convention with yet another of his original poems. Like he did at the American Farm Bureau convention, Tom wowed the crowd in his own special way. His poetic composition for the cattle industry was on the timely topic of dust …
Better Beef Sales Launched at Cattle Convention
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the Beef Checkoff have partnered with Merck Animal Health to launch new online retail-training program for Better Beef Sales. The need for more training of meat-counter employees became evident after Merck Animal Health conducted a series of consumer panels that revealed consumers identify the staff behind the counter as experts. “The consumer that goes …
The Techie Talkers
Agriblogger was one of the “techie talkers” at the first ever NCBA Communications workshop, organized by Mike Deering and Mary Geiger of the NCBA Washington staff, prior to the kick off of the 2012 Cattle Industry Convention in Nashville Tuesday. State cattle and beef organization staff involved in communications were invited to the workshop and about 40 from around the …