The American National CattleWomen would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!
May your Christmas sparkle with moments of love, laughter and goodwill, and may the year ahead be filled with contentment and joy.
Merry Christmas from Tulare County Farm Bureau
A Merry Christmas from our friends at Tulare County Farm Bureau.
Tulare County Farm Bureau wishes our members, friends and supporters a very Merry Christmas and a bountiful harvest and prosperous new year in 2014!
In honor of the Christmas season, the Tulare County Farm Bureau will observe the following schedule during the next two weeks.
December 23, open 8 am to 5 pm
December 24, open 8 am to 12 pm
December 25 thru January 1, closed for the holidays
January 2, 2014 re-opens 8 am to 5 pm
Many valuable resources and information can be found online at www.tulcofb.org if you have questions during our closure.
Merry Christmas and Season’s Greetings!
Have A Happy Holiday’s from CTIC
Conservation Technology Information Center would like to wish you a happy holidays and invite you to the 6th World Congress on Conservation Agriculture, June 22-25, 2014.
Attend the 6th World Congress on Conservation Agriculture (WCCA) to learn, discuss and network about Soil Health and Wallet Wealth. Agricultural production systems are not sustainable unless they are profitable, and Conservation Agriculture (CA) holds the key to building and maintaining healthy soils and profitable farming systems.
Happy Holiday’s from Fuels America
Fuels America would like to with you all a Merry Christmas!
Fuels America would like to wish you and your family a happy holiday season! Thank you for your awesome work this year supporting renewable fuel and the Renewable Fuel Standard.
Thank you for your support of renewable fuels, the American workers who produce them, and the Renewable Fuel Standard. Happy Holidays!
Season’s Greetings from Alltech
We at Alltech wish you and your family a joyful festive season and the best of health and happiness in the new year.
2014 is a special year for Alltech and we’d like to share the excitement with you.
Celebrity Speaker Announced for AFBF Convention
The “beardless brother,” Alan Robertson, will be the keynote speaker at the general session during the American Farm Bureau Federation’s 2014 Annual Convention, January 12-15 in San Antonio. Alan stars on A&E’s hit reality show “Duck Dynasty” and is the oldest son of Phil Roberson, founder of the Duck Commander Company, the family’s Louisianan-based duck call business.
Before rejoining Duck Commander in 2012, Alan was a full-time minister at White’s Ferry Road Church of Christ in Louisiana for more than 25 years. He and his wife, Lisa, enjoy helping carry out the family’s commitment to spreading the gospel of Christ through their love of hunting and the great outdoors. He grew up hunting and fishing, helping to build the foundation of the company in the 1970s and 1980s.
More than 7,000 Farm Bureau members from across the nation are expected to gather in San Antonio for the 95th Annual Convention to hear from distinguished leaders and participate in a grassroots policy-setting process that will guide AFBF through 2014.
Stallman is the keynote speaker at the Sunday opening session. Alan will speak at Monday’s general session. Gen. Stan McChrystal, a retired four-star general and former commander of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan, will speak at the closing session on Monday afternoon.
Farm Bureau members can register for the 95th AFBF Annual Convention through their state Farm Bureau. Learn more about convention events and related activities at www.annualconvention.fb.org/. Download the mobile app and stay up-to-date on event news and schedule here: www.afbf14.quickmobile.mobi. Join in the Twitter chatter for the event using the official hashtag of the meeting, #AFBF14.
Ethanol is a Win for Illinois, A Win for Agriculture
Illinois State Representative Donald Moffitt knows agriculture. He grew up on a family farm, on which his son still farms (and Don occasionally helps). This has been a huge asset for him in his role as state representative because agriculture is the number one industry in both his 74th District as well as the state of Illinois.
Rep Moffitt was serving in this role seven years ago when Patriot Renewable Fuels broke ground on their ethanol plant (and in November they broke ground on a biodiesel plant) and I asked him what the feelings were like about ethanol during that time. He said there was a lot of excitement and there still is a lot of excitement.
“We’d been hearing about ethanol. We knew as farmers and producers we wanted to encourage the use of ethanol,” said Rep. Moffitt. “We were trying to get acceptance of ethanol years ago and finally one comes to our area with the construction of Patriot Renewable Fuels. So it was genuine excitement.”
The excitement went way beyond farmers, explained Moffitt. First there were the construction jobs to build the plant and that brought a lot of jobs and economic activity to the area. Once the plant was running, there were the permanent jobs and then he noted there is the benefit to the community such as value added benefits to corn, for example. Producers are now able to get a higher price for their corn.
“What do farmers do when they have a little more money? They spend it. They spend it in our local communities. They spend it on farm equipment. The spend it at the hardware store. They buy a new truck,” explained Moffitt. “So it’s a win-win for our state, for our community, for agriculture and we need to have this type of diversity.”
He added that something he rarely hears others talk about is that Illinois is leader in the railroad industry. Ethanol transports its products (both the fuel and the food/DDGs) in unitrains (80 plus cars) and these two industries complement each other. “Agriculture is bringing more business to the railroads of our state and that’s important too,” added Moffitt. “And then the railroads are helping agriculture by giving them access to markets farther away.”
Rep. Moffitt stressed that biofuels is a national security issue. “The production of biofuels is actually a national security issue. Because we don’t want to be dependent on foreign countries for our energy supply. Not all of them are friendly to the United States. But the American farmer is always going to be our friend. They are always going to deliver a product that they want to sell.”
Listen to my interview with IL State Rep Donald Moffitt here who talks about the connection between ethanol, agriculture and national security: IL State Rep Moffitt: Ethanol is Still Exciting
Check out the Patriot Renewable Fuels photo album.
BASF Announces Plans for 2014
BASF recently announced plans to expand its services and initiatives for growers and agricultural professionals worldwide in 2014 through a significant investment in the development of new IT tools.
“The initiatives that were announced reflect the very strong commitment by BASF to the agricultural industry to provide modern tools to help growers get the most out of every acre,” said Nevin McDougall, BASF Senior Vice President Crop Protection North America.
BASF has also announced a partnership with John Deere to jointly develop a suite of integrated precision farming and farm management solutions for farmers. “We see the partnership allowing us to integrate BASF’s expertise in agronomics and crop protection and biotechnology with John Deere’s strengths in agricultural machinery, equipment, precision ag, and data management,” Nevin said. As part of the agreement, BASF will offer a new service for field scouting and agronomic decision support. John Deere will provide a new application for sprayer setup as well as integration of field data via its collaborative farm management portal ‘MyJohnDeere.com’, which will enable growers to better manage their farm operations.
Nevin says BASF says the goal is to launch the first joint integrated tools by the end of 2014 in key agricultural markets with additional markets to follow.
Listen to or download my interview with Nevin here. Interview with Nevin McDougall, BASF
Zimfo Bytes
- The University of Illinois announced it has achieved the $2 million fund raising goal for the Dr. James F. Evans Endowment in Agricultural Communications that will extend the contributions of the program into the future.
- Seed World Media is excited to announce the launch of American Seed Magazine – a publication aimed directly at America’s top crop producers.
- Farm Journal Media announced the acquisition of “American Countryside” from its founder, producer and well-known journalist, Andrew McCrea.
- Advanced production techniques, informed growing practices and improved seed varieties helped corn growers achieve high yields in the National Corn Growers Association 2013 National Corn Yield Contest.
