Charleston|Orwig Named A Top Wisconsin Workplace

Jamie Johansen

Lyle Orwig Leadership Award_May 17 2013For the fourth consecutive year, Charleston|Orwig, Inc. has been recognized as one of the Top Workplaces in Wisconsin. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s award program honors companies that rank among the best for their commitment to providing an outstanding workplace.

Charleston|Orwig ranked eighth among companies with fewer than 150 employees. They were recognized for providing a family-like atmosphere where dogs are welcomed on Fridays, employees manage a company food garden and co-workers can rely on each other professionally and personally.

Lyle Orwig, chairman and founding partner, received a special award for leadership. The award was based on standout scores regarding employee confidence in company leadership.

“We congratulate Lyle on this special honor,” said Marcy Tessmann, president, Charleston|Orwig. “He is widely regarded as one of the most trusted individuals people encounter. As a founding partner, Lyle established a culture of mutual respect and collaboration which has flourished for 20 years.”
“We’re equally honored to receive the Top Workplace award,” added Tessmann. “It exemplifies our belief that bringing talented people together in a great work environment enables us to produce innovative, results-driven work for our clients,” added Tessmann.

Charleston|Orwig is a full-service communications consultant, providing integrated marketing and reputation management to food system clients from agriculture processing and distribution to the point of retail.

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AFBF Pleased with Immigration Bill Progress

Cindy Zimmerman

afbf-logoThe immigration reform bill passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday retained the farm labor provisions that the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) supports.

“We believe this bill will help ensure an adequate supply of farm labor but also will provide an increased level of surveillance of high-risk areas along our borders,” AFBF president Bob Stallman said in a statement. “We know that one of the best ways to improve border security is to create a legal, workable way for farm workers to enter our country. If we do not have to waste resources locking up lettuce harvesters, we can focus on keeping those with criminal intentions out of our country.”

At last week’s NAFB Washington Watch, AFBF Director for Congressional Relations Kristi Boswell said they are pleased to see progress on the bill. “I’m cautiously optimistic,” she said. “The energy is there, the effort has been bipartisan and I think that makes everyone feel more comfortable that this bill isn’t just going to get passed without fully vetting it.”

Boswell says they are carefully watching to make sure that the ag piece of the bill, which was negotiated between agriculture and farm labor interests, remains in the legislation. “From agriculture’s view specifically, we have a lot of sympathies. People are understanding that we are relying on an undocumented work force and we are having shortages and we also have a broken H2-A visa program,” she said.

Listen to or download interview with Boswell here: AFBF's Kristi Boswell

2013 NAFB Washington Watch Photo Album

Find more NAFB Washington Watch audio on AgNewsWire.AgWired.com.com

AFBF, Audio

Zimfo Bytes

Talia Goes

    Zimfo Bytes

  • broadhead has been named to the Minnesota Business 100 Best Companies to Work For list for the second year in a row.
  • Twelve southern Minnesota John Deere dealerships merged into one large operation on May 1, under the corporate name Kibble Equipment.
  • Case IH Dealer Titan Machinery is partnering with the North Dakota State College of Science in Wahpeton, N.D., to educate, train and provide hands-on internships to students in a two-year diesel technology program.
  • DuPont Pioneer President Paul Schickler urges leaders from across government, business and non-profit organizations to invest in youth to solve the greatest challenge of tomorrow’s generation – feeding 9 billion people.
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North and South American Corn Growers Unite

Cindy Zimmerman

As most agricultural eyes were on progress of the farm bill last week in Congress, some very prominent farmers were in another nation’s capitol below the equator signing a new agreement to create an alliance between North and South American corn growers.

maizeall-signLeaders of the U.S. Grains Council (USGC) and the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA), joined with maize producers of Argentina and Brazil (MAIZAR and ABRAMILHO) to form MAIZALL—The International Maize Alliance with the goal of addressing key issues concerning food security, biotechnology, stewardship, trade and producer image. The MAIZALL alliance was launched as part of the MAIZAR 2013 Congress meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

“Food Security is a priority for every country,” said Pam Johnson, NCGA President. “Countries can be food secure without being self-sufficient by establishing relationships and building trust with exporting countries to be long-term, reliable suppliers of quality feed and food supplies.”

The primary focus of this new alliance is emphasize the need for better consumer understanding of production agriculture, including the benefits of biotechnology and advancing the global acceptance on the capacity to produce maize for feed, food and fuel. MAIZALL will also conduct outreach to governments and stakeholders on the need for trade-enabling biotechnology policies and regulatory procedures.

Read more from USGC and see a set of photos here.

Biotech, Corn, Farming, NCGA, USGC

AgFanatics Talk Planting Progress

Cindy Zimmerman

agfanatics-2Planting progress is on the minds of the AgFanatics.

In episode #31, the AgFanatics talk with MaxYield Cooperative’s, Karl Setzer, to get his take on the markets and what he’s been witnessing in the northwest part of Iowa. Karl also shares his thoughts on corn planting progress in his area.

Episode #32 features guest host Graham Utter discussing how his own planting progress is coming along, as well as corn and soybean price projection possibilities for the next few years.

The AgriVisor AgFanatics podcast is updated twice weekly and can be found on Itunes or right from the front page at www.agrivisor.com.

Farming, GROWMARK, Markets

Alltech Symposium Tweetup

Chuck Zimmerman

Alltech Symposium TweetupIt was tweetup time at the Alltech International Symposium last night at the Lexington Brewing location downtown. We had a big crowd show up to meet each other in person and enjoy some fun and fellowship.

Alltech played a lot of what I would call farmer agvocacy film clips, many of which I had never seen. Most were funny and it ended with a few of the past winners of the Alltech Farming Film Festival competition winners. There’s a new competition by the way so get your creative juices flowing and consider entering your own video.

2013 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

Agribusiness, Alltech

Discussing Different Topics at Alltech Dinners

Chuck Zimmerman

Alltech Symposium Discussion DinnerAt the end of the second day’s program here at the 2013 Alltech International Symposium a series of discussion dinners are held on a variety of topics. I chose Crisis Management which ties in to a full session on the topic that I participated in earlier in the day. I’ll have more on that in a later post.

Our dinner on Crisis Management used the “Horsegate” problem as the example to stimulate discussion. We had quite a bit of disagreement in the room which did make it interesting.

Each table was given a few questions to talk about and then share with the rest of the room under the direction of a moderator. Then we had open discussion in which anyone could speak up. One of our attendees (Trent Loos) made a comment that Horsegate was not a crisis but an opportunity as evidenced by the fact that both horse meat sales/consumption and beef increased significantly since this alleged crisis started. So if I understood him correctly, the industry shouldn’t consider this a crisis. The perpetrators of the crime that was committed are no longer in business and no one died or even got sick. On the other side of that idea there were a number of people who talked about damage to the reputation of the industry and that it is a serious matter or crisis situation. This is just one of several ideas debated in the session. It is what makes this such a great idea!

2013 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

Agribusiness, Alltech

Re-imagining Nutrition

Maggie Seiler

alltech-symposium-13-9The emerging change in the culture of nutrition was one of the topics of discussion in the afternoon session of the Alltech International Symposium. The session featured areas of research that are revolutionizing the world of nutrition. Among the interesting topics discussed were the use of enzymes as a feed additive for beef, neonatal nutritive programming in chickens and feeding of trace minerals to swine. Dr. Jules Taylor-Pickard told attendees that they should expect the entire blueprint of nutrition to shift by 2020.

Dr. Karl Dawson, Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer at Alltech, was the host of the session. I caught up with him after the session and asked him what producers should consider when evaluating their nutrition strategies. When discussing what producers should do, he said, “They need to get ready to understand those changes, and nutritionist are going to be challenged to take those into account and produce better animals.”

Listen to the whole interview with Dr. Karl Dawson here: Nutrition Changing

2013 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

Agribusiness, Alltech

Syngenta Unveils New Crop Research Facility

Joanna Schroeder

Syngenta has unveiled its new crop research facility at the company’s RTP Innovation Center, located in North Carolina. The $72 million Advanced Crop Lab allows company researchers to simulate any agricultural climate and precisely measure plant inputs. This technology will help farmers grow more food with fewer resources.

Syngenta Young Corn“Our new Advanced Crop Lab allows us to bring together components of all research where we can create environments for multiple crops from multiple regions — simultaneously,” said Michiel van Lookeren Campagne, head of biotechnology for Syngenta. “Individual controls of temperature, light and carbon dioxide levels, as well as humidity control in many growth chambers, provide tailored environments that allow our talented researchers to work on specific grower challenges. In addition to innovative facilities, being in RTP, we have access to some of the greatest scientific minds to help farmers grow more from less.”

The research facility houses 30 climate-controlled growth environments in all-glass greenhouses. Syngenta can simulate conditions from Iowa in one room and from Africa next door. This flexibility will allow company researchers to focus on developing agricultural traits that optimize crop yields, use resources efficiently and resist various stresses that farmers face every day across the globe.

Syngenta Climate Controlled Room

“Syngenta invests more than $1.25 billion annually to directly focus on solving challenges for farmers. As we consider global food security, the research conducted in our new crop lab will be essential to meet that demand,” said Vern Hawkins, Syngenta North America region director.

Design elements of the new facility include insulated glass walls that provide a virtually shadowless indoor environment, a liquid “fertigation” system to feed and water the plants and an automated roof-washing system. The building is Green Globes Certified, which recognizes the company’s sustainable construction processes. In constructing the new facility, Syngenta reclaimed a former industrial site and recycled more than 85 percent of those materials.

Agribusiness, Research, Syngenta

Food Branding Important in Reaching Consumers

Maggie Seiler

alltech-symposium-13-8One of the Tuesday morning sessions at the Alltech International Symposium included a Food Branding Panel. The panel was made up of individuals with experience in the restaurant business, retail, local foods, social media, and science. According to Dr. Mark Lyons, Vice President of Corporate Affairs for Alltech, the panel was a really good opportunity to talk about miscommunications and issues with sharing information about a company’s product with consumers.

While discussing the problems surrounding food branding by companies, Lyons said, “We are not really engaged. We are scared. We’re concerned. We jump to a lot of conclusions that actually are incorrect.”

The panel talked a lot about the miscommunications and mistakes that are made when communicating between brands and consumers. David Wescott, Vice President of APCO Worldwide and the social media panelist, left the audience with a message for 2020. He said companies must break out of their communities and embrace their customers in order to survive.

Listen to the full interview with Dr. Mark Lyons here: Dr. Mark Lyons's Remarks

2013 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

Agribusiness, Alltech