Wells Fargo Moving Into New Ag Territory

Cindy Zimmerman

ZimmCast 393The name Wells Fargo is forever linked with the image of a six-horse stagecoach thundering across the American West, loaded with gold. The California-based company, founded in 1852 by Henry Wells and William G. Fargo, also has a rich history in agribusiness. In fact, Wells Fargo has extended more credit to U.S. food and agribusiness than any bank, mostly in California but now moving eastward.

wellsfargoTo lead the expansion into new territories in the Midwest and East, Wells Fargo has named Rob Yraceburu to a new position as head of its National Food & Agribusiness Division. We talked with Rob for this edition of the ZimmCast to find out more about his background, the importance of agriculture to Wells Fargo and what they will be offering for farmers in areas east of the Rockies in the coming months.

Listen to my conversation with Rob here: Wells Fargo's Rob Yraceburu

Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsors, GROWMARK, locally owned, globally strong and Monsanto, Roundup Ready Plus, for their support.

Agribusiness, Audio, ZimmCast

Cornbread Goodness

Chuck Zimmerman

Martha White Cornbread Contest WinnerMmm. Cornbread. How many ways can you make it or add it to a recipe? This lady obviously knows what she’s doing and it paid off.

Lorie R. of Buckatunna, Miss., was presented with the cast iron skillet crown as the grand prize winner of the 2013 Martha White ®/Lodge® Cast Iron National Cornbread Cook-Off for her original main dish recipe, Roasted Poblano Chicken Posole with Floating Corn Cake Islands . Her winning recipe earned her $5,000 cash and a 30-inch stainless steel gas range (a $3,250 value) from FiveStar® Professional Cooking Equipment, a division of Brown Stove Works, Incorporated.

Lorie’s grand prize winning dish features the addition of roasted poblano peppers, providing a distinctive twist to this hearty traditional Mexican soup. Crisp corn cakes, made from a batter of Martha White Buttermilk Cornbread Mix and whole kernel corn and cheese, float on top of each bowl of soup, creating a delicious combination of flavor and texture.

” Martha White and the National Cornbread Festival® are committed to preserving the celebration of Southern food,” said Linda Carman, Martha White baking expert. “We are so proud of all the winning recipes which help create special family moments any day of the week.”

The National Cornbread Cook-Off was held in conjunction with the National Cornbread Festival® in South Pittsburg, Tennessee. Ten finalists recreated their original, main dish cornbread recipes made with Martha White Cornbread Mix in Lodge® Cast Iron cookware for the chance to win cash prizes. A panel of experts, including food writers and television personalities, took on the difficult task of selecting three winners after tasting all of the dishes.

Corn, Food

Most Readers Not Far From the Farm

Talia Goes

Our latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “How many generations are you removed from the farm?”

Our poll results: Thirty percent say they are “One Generation, My Parents are Farmers,” 23% are “Two, My Grandparents Were Farmers,” 22% say “None, I’m a Farmer,” nine percent are not farmers but work in the ag industry, seven percent have “No Direct Farm Connection,” and three percent say “Three, My Great-Grandparents Were Farmers,” “More Than Three,” or “Other.” It is safe to say that most of our followers are not far removed from the farm, if at all!

chart

Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, “Are so-called “ag gag” bills fair?” In the wake of undercover videos at animal agriculture operations that have shown abuse, and especially those that were compiled over a period of time, edited and then released to the public without doing anything to stop the abuse or take it to the proper authorities, several states have passed legislation making that illegal. Most of the laws simply require mandatory reporting of animal cruelty when it happens but opponents have labeled them “ag gag” laws that would suppress efforts to document and publicize animal abuse. Those in favor prefer to call them “See Something, Say Something” bills. Do you feel that the so-called “ag gag” bills are prohibitive? Will these laws hamper efforts to stop animal cruelty? Does this impede our efforts for transparency in the food systems? Let us know.

ZimmPoll is sponsored by New Holland Agriculture.

Farming, ZimmPoll

Zimfo Bytes

Talia Goes

Zimfo Bytes

Meet Our First Agri-Blogger Intern

Cindy Zimmerman

maggie-seilerWe are so pleased with the response to our new agri-blogging internship program. It was tough to choose just one for the summer semester, but we finally decided on Maggie Seiler – a sophomore at Kansas State University dual majoring in agricultural communications and journalism and animal sciences and industry.

Maggie grew up on a dairy operation outside of Wichita and has worked for the Kansas Dairy Association and the Kansas Center for Sustainable Agriculture and Alternative Crops, as well as serving as an Agricultural Ambassador and an officer for the Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow. She is very interested in the agriculture use of social media.

“Blogging and the use of social media platforms is becoming an increasingly important part of journalism and the agricultural industry,” Maggie said in her application. “I really appreciate the ability of online platforms and blogs to provide the vital information from agriculture industry meeting to members of the community that cannot physically travel to events. ZimmComm is a company that stays on the cutting-edge of industry developments sharing them with producers. I would really like to be a part of this movement and especially focus on increasing my knowledge of using online platforms to reach out to agriculturists.”

We are not wasting any time getting Maggie on the agri-blogging highway. She will be joining Chuck next week for the 2013 Alltech Symposium in Lexington, Kentucky and you can expect to meet her at other events this summer.

Welcome, Maggie!

Education, Media, ZimmComm Announcement

Coca-Cola Supports Florida Citrus

Cindy Zimmerman

coke-citrusOrange juice is the “Real Thing” in Florida and Coca-Cola is helping the industry keep brightening our days with glasses of sunshine.

The Coca-Cola company is committing $2 billion to support the citrus industry in Florida by planting of 25,000 acres of new orange groves in the Sunshine State.

Under the agreement with with Cutrale Citrus Juices and Peace River Citrus Products, growers will plant 5 million new trees on land that previously held citrus groves or are now idle in Polk, DeSoto and Hendry Counties, and Coca-Cola will buy the fruit. The investment is expected to create approximately 4,100 new jobs and add more than $422 million per year to Florida’s economy.

coke-putnam“Citrus is synonymous with Florida, but the industry has faced many challenges in recent years, particularly the growing threat of citrus greening,” said Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam.

Citrus greening is a bacterial disease that poses an existential threat to the state’s $9 billion citrus industry. The disease is spread by the Asian citrus psyllid and causes trees to produce misshapen and bitter fruit. Infected trees generally die within three to five years. The disease is present in every citrus-producing county in Florida and in more than half of the state’s groves. The Florida Legislature recently appropriate $9.5 million to support research and the fight against citrus greening across the state.

Agribusiness, Citrus

The Glass Walls Project

Jamie Johansen

aaa-13-044_edited-2Speaker after speaker during the Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit reminded us that transparency is no longer an option for the livestock industry. To prove that the agriculture community has nothing to hide, groups have opened their doors to share how your food is made.

Senior Vice President for Public Affairs & Professional Development at the American Meat Institute, Janet Riley, was one of those speakers who shared how her organization is bridging the divide between producer and consumer. I got the opportunity to talk with her and she gave more insight into AMI’s Glass Wall Project.

“For far too long the animal rights activists have said if slaughter houses had glass walls everyone would be a vegetarian and I didn’t believe it. Then Cargill really gets a lot of credit for the inspiration when they allowed the Oprah show into their plant. It went so well. It was just a very honest dialogue, they didn’t shy away from anything. So I started talking to Temple Grandin and I said will you be willing to host some videos and just explain in your own works how we slaughter livestock. She was delighted to show people what we do and how she has influenced what we do. She picked two plants that were representative of the beef and pork industries. Both agreed to open their doors to us. Then we decided that we would produce these videos in Temple’s own words. We wanted authentic transparency and so we just allowed Temple to explain in the best way she could how we process livestock into meat at each step of the way. It was a really interesting experience. Every now and then I would say consumers might not understand why we do this, could you explain it? And then she would.”

The beef and pork processing plant videos can be viewed at AnimalHandling.org, along with more information on meat processing. AMI is looking into producing a turkey processing video next. These videos are a great educational tool and open doors for progressive dialogue.

Listen to or download my interview with Janet here: Interview with Janet Riley

Listen to or download audio from Janet’s complete presentation here: Janet Riley - American Meat Institute

Check out photos from the event: 2013 Animal Ag Alliance Stakeholders Summit Photo Album

Coverage of the Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit is sponsored by National Pork Producers Council and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association
Animal Agriculture, Audio, Beef, Food, NCBA, NPPC, Pork

Farm Credit Idea Share

Chuck Zimmerman

Farm Credit Idea ShareIt’s time to discuss some ideas at the 2013 Farm Credit Idea Share in New Orleans. I’m headed that way today and will be participating on this panel tomorrow morning. Let me know if you’ve got some ideas to share on this topic and I’ll include them in my presentation.

Meet the New Media
Panelists: KayDee Gilkey, Northwest Ag Information Network |Dan Looker, Successful Farming | Chuck Zimmerman, AgriBlogger | Emily Zweber, AgChat Foundation

Moderator: Becca Yaklich, AgriBank

From newsrooms to newsfeeds, the way people consume the news has changed. A panel of ag media influencers will share their perspective on how today’s landscape impacts story development, how news outlets are using social media, how they like to work with PR professionals and what you can do to help tell your organization’s story.

There are a lot of questions being posed to initiate discussion at the event. Here are some of them.

What do you think the world needs to know about American agriculture? What does Farm Credit and American agriculture look like to you? What does Farm Credit mean to you and to the generations of American farmers and ranchers we’ve served for almost 100 years? What are your aspirations for Farm Credit in the future? Next week at Idea Share, we will ask you to consider these questions and answer them in a way you never have before. Write it on your body.

You can follow along with what’s happening at Idea Share using the #IdeaShare2013 Twitter hashtag.

Agribusiness, Media

Protecting Farms & Promoting Animal Care

Jamie Johansen

aaa-13-072_edited-1Protecting animals, farms, food and consumer confidence was the theme during the Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit. More and more states are taking legislative matters when it comes to protecting farmers. And that was a hot topic addressed during the recent event held in Arlington, Virginia.

Joe Miller, General Counsel for Rose Acre Farms, spoke to attendees on farm protection legislation and how it actually promotes animal care. Misconceptions with these legislations have been that farmers have something to hide, but Joe helps explain that they are designed to shelter farmers from unlawful accusations. He also stated the need to better understand our consumers and not expect them to simply understand us.

“Some of the drivers have been the 80 videos that have been taken since 1990. Undercover videos taken without any knowledge of the people involved. The problem is it causes a lot of damage to these company’s reputation. They have no way to respond to these. These are farms, they don’t have PR departments and they can’t respond to this. But yet there is a lot of damage done. These is no proper response available for these people so legislation is being driven from the standpoint that we are trying to protect honest, hard working people in business and stop people from trying to harm them. That’s what is driving this legislation.”

Joe also added that states should consider adding a vicarious liability statement to their legislation. This would enable you to press charges against any company or organization that used footage taken illegally. If this clause isn’t added, then the only person held liable is the videographer and they typically have nothing for you to gain.

Listen to or download my interview with Joe here: Interview with Joe Miller

Listen to or download audio from Joe’s complete presentation here: Joe Miller - Rose Acre Farms

Check out photos from the event: 2013 Animal Ag Alliance Stakeholders Summit Photo Album

Coverage of the Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit is sponsored by National Pork Producers Council and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association
Animal Agriculture, Audio

WTO Launches New Trade Monitoring Database

Talia Goes

WTOThe WTO launched a new trade monitoring database, which provides detailed information on trade measures implemented by WTO members and observers since October 2008. The database can be accessed through the WTO website.

The trade policy data is taken from the regular trade monitoring reports prepared by the WTO Secretariat. All information is submitted to the relevant WTO member for confirmation; if not confirmed, this is clearly indicated within the database.

The database will be updated each time a new trade monitoring report has been discussed by WTO members. The most recent update was completed on 15 October 2012. The next is expected at the end of July 2013.The information contained within the database can be displayed in a number of ways, including by implementing country, by country affected by the measure, by type of measure, and by products affected.

Agribusiness, Trade