See It? Stop It! Animal Care Starts With You

Jamie Johansen

See it? Stop It!The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF), along with the Center for Food Integrity and the U.S. Pork Sector jointly launched “See It? Stop It! Animal Care Starts With You.” A campaign to give proactive demonstration of agriculture’s commitment to farm animal care. The initiative demands that if signs of animal abuse, neglect, mishandling or harm are seen, then we have an obligation to report it immediately.

Though these acts are uncommon, See It? Stop It! gives animal care providers resources to easily report what they witness.

Betsy Flores, NMPF’s Senior Director of Animal Health and Welfare, stated, “Care of animals could not be more important to farmers. Having a system in place to contact any of several authorities is imperative, and ‘See it? Stop it!’ provides that resource. This initiative combines well with the dairy industry’s National Dairy FARM Program: Farmers Assuring Responsible Management to ensure the well-being of animals in our care.”

“As the nation’s oldest animal protection organization, the American Humane Association (AHA) has a long history of involvement with programs that help assure proper animal care,” said Kathi Brock, National Director of the Farm Animal Program for AHA. “It is critical for farm management to set clear expectations for animal care and to have zero tolerance for animal mistreatment. We believe ‘See It? Stop It!’ provides the tools to help set those expectations and a mechanism for reporting abuse which supports the proper care of America’s farm animals.”

The U.S. pork and dairy industries have provided funding for the program and believe it is a great way to add to their already existing strong animal care programs.

“The Pork Quality Assurance® (PQA Plus®) program outlines best practices for proper animal care,” said Sherrie Niekamp, director of animal welfare for the National Pork Board. “The ‘See it? Stop It!’ initiative meshes well with the core principles of PQA Plus that pork producers have followed for more than 20 years.”

For more information about the program and an employer checklist, guidance for integrating the program into existing animal well-being programs, posters and employee training visit www.seeitstopit.org.

Animal Agriculture, Dairy, Pork

The Dinner Bell

Melissa Sandfort

IMG_7089Summer is coming, I can feel it. That may be wishful thinking, but a person can dream, right? A few warmer afternoons has me itching to be outside prepping my garden, dragging a hose around to water plants and mowing the yard. This time last year, I think I WAS mowing.

Spring weather beckons us outside and I don’t think it matters one bit to my family that dinner gets pushed back by at least an hour. Our son is at that age where he enjoys playing back by the wood pile, on top of the dirt pile and out behind the shed. But that presents another challenge: getting him inside for dinner!

But Santa had the forethought to bring our son something to solve that problem: the dinner bell. After a trip to the museum to see Santa where he rang BOTH big belfry bells, Braden was hooked and that’s the only thing he asked for. Santa delivered.

My husband put the skid loader auger attachment on last night and with Braden’s help, mounted the bell on its yoke right outside our front door. Braden rang it (again and again) and I need to ask my grandparents but I’m betting they could hear it ¼ mile away at their house.

I bet when he’s playing out behind the shed, the dinner bell will bring him running. Maybe someday I’ll have the heart to tell him that Grandpa produced the dinner bell for Santa from his stash of antiques.

Until we walk again …

Uncategorized

Zimfo Bytes

Talia Goes

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Four of Alltech’s crop science products have received approval from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Agri-Mos, Soil-Set, Crop-Set and Grain-Set are now registered as micronutrient fertilizers in the Canadian agronomic market.
  • The Georgia Peanut Commission board of directors has approved $292,500 in new research project funding for the 2013-14 research budget year.
  • Penton will announce its new agriculture group at the National Agri-Marketing Association’s Agri-Marketing Conference April 17-19 in Kansas City, MO.
  • Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference will be held April 23-24 at the Grand Wayne Center, 120 West Jefferson Blvd., Fort Wayne, Ind.
Zimfo Bytes

Winter Weather Affecting Drought Conditions

Talia Goes

Our latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “Do you support continuing the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS)?”

Our poll results: Fifty-seven percent say Yes, It’s Working, Twenty-nine percent say No, It’s Not Working, twelve percent ask What is the RFS?, and a small portion at two percent say Other. Over half of you support the continuation of the Renewable Fuel Standard. For those who ask what is the RFS? The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program regulations were developed by EPA in collaboration with refiners, renewable fuel producers, and many other stakeholders. The RFS program requires 36 billion gallons of renewable- fuel to be blended into gasoline by 2022.

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Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, “Has winter weather affected drought conditions in your area?” Drought conditions coupled with below average snowfall is resulting in low topsoil moisture. Do you think this will impact the 2013 growing season? Let us know.

ZimmPoll is sponsored by New Holland Agriculture.

New Holland, ZimmPoll

CHB Names 2012 Distinguished Chef

Jamie Johansen

ChefRobbiJenkins[3]Certified Hereford Beef (CHB) announces the title of 2012 CHB Distinguished Chef and this year’s recipient is truly dedicated to the brand. Robbi Jenkins, executive chef of Three Fires Steakhouse, Prairie Band Casino & Resort, Mayetta, KS. has many years in the culinary industry and very deserving of the award.

Originally from Mississippi, Robbi, received her degree in English and pursued other career endeavors, although cooking ran in the family and was always close to heart. Later in life she finally took on her calling and entered the two-year program at Washburne Culinary Institute & French Pastry School in Chicago.

She began her culinary career a the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Chicago and later moved to Lawrence, KS. to be closer to family. She worked in multiple establishments in the Kansas City area before taking the head chef position with Prairie Band Casino & Resort.

“When they brought in the CHB steaks and grilled them up, they were fantastic,” Jenkins says. “The flavor, marbling and tenderness were wonderful. Having been a chef for many years, I have had the opportunity of working with many brands of beef products, and I now know Certified Hereford Beef is the beef product I can hang my reputation on. It has proven to be the most tender and consistent product each and every time.”

“My colleagues have started calling me the Hereford queen,” she says. “And I’m very proud of it, and of our restaurant. I’ve been a cheerleader for the CHB product, and I’m sure it will bring great recognition for the brand, as well as for our restaurant.”

The CHB product is used in Three Fires Steakhouse menu many times including the steakhouse burger, filet, prime rib, strip steak, ribeye and T-bone entrees. Servers are educated on the product and avidly promote it as CHB.

Fenton Barnard, Kansas City Protein LLC procurement manager, nominated Robbi for the award with numerous letters of recommendation, her acclaimed resume and the Three Fires Steakhouse menu.

Beef, Food

Congrats to the 2013 Golden ARC Winners

Jamie Johansen

golden-arc-awardsThe Agricultural Relations Council’s (ARC) 2013 Golden ARC Awards Contest were recently announced at the organizations annual professional development meeting in Oklahoma City, OK. 14 Golden ARC winners and 18 Merit winners were awarded to elite agricultural public relations professionals.

This year the Golden ARC de Excellence Award was awarded for the best all-around entry in the campaign division. Congratulations to the American Farm Bureau Federation for receiving the acclaimed award for their public relations campaign, public affairs entry “Estate Tax Campaign”.

Agency Charleston | Orwig took home the most awards with five Golden ARC Awards and three Merit awards for clients Novartis Animal Health, Illinois Soybean, Smithfield Foods Inc. and the AgChat Foundation. Right behind them were Osborn Barr and Farmer Lumpe + McClelland, each winning seven awards.

“This year’s contest included many strong, creative entries with impressive measurable results,” said Amy Keith McDonald, contest manager. “In its history, the Golden ARC Awards Contest has established a precedent of being the most prestigious agricultural PR awards program in the nation.”

“The Golden ARC Awards Contest is unique in that it is the only award competition directed to agricultural marketing communications professionals that is not judged by our peers in agriculture,” she continued. “The competition is judged by public relations professionals who are not directly or indirectly linked to the entries.”

Members of the Florida Public Relations Association served as judges focusing on audience analysis, creativity, execution and campaign results.

Here you can find a complete list of the 2013 Golden ARC Awards winners: 2013 Golden ARC Winner

Advertising, ARC

ARC Learns About Oklahoma Ag Priorities

Chuck Zimmerman

Truffle Media NetworksI was not able to attend this year’s Agricultural Relations Council meeting in Oklahoma City but have been following along some of the social media posts like in the Ag Relations Council Facebook Group.

Here’s one example of what you would find there thanks to John Blue, Truffle Media Networks.

Shawna McWaters-Khalousi of the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, highlights what Oklahoma as a state is doing about promoting and advancing agriculture as one of their top industries.

Listen to to the presentation here: Agriculture's Priority in Oklahoma

This is a good example of the type of programs you’ll enjoy if you join ARC today and attend our next meeting. Yes, I am a proud member of ARC!

Ag Groups, ARC, Audio, Public Relations

New Monsanto – Dupont Pioneer Licensing Agreement

Chuck Zimmerman

MonsantoMonsanto and Dupont Pioneer announced today “a series of technology licensing agreements.” These agreements will expand the range of seed products they can offer farmers. The agreements include a multi-year, royalty-bearing license for Monsanto’s next-generation soybean technologies in the United States and Canada.

I spoke with Lisa Safarian, Monsanto, US Row Crops lead, to get some details.

Dupont PioneerSome of the details include:

Through these agreements, DuPont Pioneer will be able to offer Genuity® Roundup Ready 2 Yield® soybeans as early as 2014, and Genuity® Roundup Ready 2 Xtend™ glyphosate and dicamba tolerant soybeans as early as 2015, pending regulatory approvals.

DuPont Pioneer also will receive regulatory data rights for the soybean and corn traits previously licensed from Monsanto, enabling it to create a wide array of stacked trait combinations using traits or genetics from DuPont Pioneer or others. Monsanto will receive access to certain DuPont Pioneer disease resistance and corn defoliation patents.

There are quite a few dollars involved in the agreement that include four annual fixed royalty payments from 2014 to 2017 totaling $802 million for trait technology, associated data, and soybean lines to support commercial introduction. Additionally, beginning in 2018, DuPont Pioneer will pay royalties on a per unit basis of Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield® and Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Xtend™ for the life of the agreement for continued technology access, subject to annual minimum payments through 2023 totaling $950 million.

Additionally, the companies agreed to dismiss their respective antitrust and first-generation Roundup Ready® soybean patent lawsuits pending in U.S. federal court in St. Louis.

You can listen to my interview with Lisa here: Interview with Lisa Safarian

Agribusiness, Audio, Pioneer, Seed, Soybean

Smart Machine Technology Growing Bigger Farms

Chuck Zimmerman

Dr. Terry KastensDr. Terry Kastens is an Emeritus Professor from Kansas State University. He’s back to farming now and spoke during a Learning Center Session at Commodity Classic sponsored by John Deere. The session topic was “Better Data, Better Decisions: the ROI of Smart Machine Technology.

One of the first points Dr. Karstens makes is that every new technology requires an investment. That provides an opportunity for larger farms who can spread their investment out over more acres, or units of production. It’s the age old economy of scale thing. So, for this reason you would expect larger farms to adopt new technology quicker than smaller farms. That is in fact the case and he says that we can expect to see more consolidation in row crop farms analogous to what we’ve seen in the livestock industry.

Another point made in the presentation was that some technologies are adopted at a rapid rate and others at a much slower rate. In the precision ag sector an example of quick adoption is the use of yield monitors. But he says that making sense out of yield monitor data and actually varying rates of fertilizer as one example are being adopted much slower.

Listen to my interview with Dr. Kastens to hear more of his comments on this: Interview with Dr. Terry Kastens

Agribusiness, Audio, Commodity Classic, John Deere, Precision Agriculture, Technology

Got Meat Processing Sense

Chuck Zimmerman

Aggie Meat ClassHere’s a class I would love to attend. It’s the Aggie Processed Meat School Program. This program is not just for people who do meat processing but also those involved in quality control, business management, public relations and marketing. Here what you will learn if you attend.


By attending the Aggie Processed Meat School you will discover both the science and the art of making processed meat products. The first day will focus what you should consider when choosing the meat products and other ingredients to include in the processed meat item. That afternoon the participants will learn the art of making sausage. Then the next day experts will demonstration the production of whole-muscle processed meat items. Finally, participants will learn about ways to evaluate the finished product for quality and safety. Participants will be lead through a product evaluation much in the same way that is done in several of the product show competitions around the country.

Click here to register then type in Meat in the keyword search. The deadline to register is April 19th and enrollment will be capped at 60 people.

Education, Food, Meat, University