Ag Sec. Vilsack Addresses AFBF Annual Meeting

Chuck Zimmerman

U.S. Ag Secretary Tom VilsackAfter it was announced today that Tom Vilsack has agreed to serve a second term as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture he addressed the American Farm Bureau Federation annual meeting. He started out talking about the challenges in rural America and “urged farmers and producers take advantage of innovation, job creation partnerships and to share their story of a modern, innovative, inspiring rural America to new audiences.”

“Rural America is leading innovation in this country today,” said Vilsack. “Rural areas can benefit tremendously through the bioeconomy, whether producing cutting-edge new products or advanced biofuels from crops and plant products. We are learning more about what can be made from wood and forest products. We are discovering groundbreaking medical benefits associated with many homegrown products – and much more.”

Sec. Vilsack highlighted accomplishments at USDA during his first term and called on Congress to pass a five year farm bill now.

You can listen to or download Sec. Vilsack’s speech here: Sec. Vilsack Speech

Post Update: After the closing general session of the convention Sec. Vilsack held a press conference.

You can listen to or download Sec. Vilsack’s press conference here: Sec. Vilsack Press Conference

2013 American Farm Bureau Convention Photo Album

AFBF, Ag Groups, Audio, USDA

Agriculture To Be On Display at Smithsonian

Chuck Zimmerman

American Museum of Natural HistoryThink about putting your farm on display in a museum. You can. The American Farm Bureau Federation is working with the Smithsonian to create a new exhibit focused on agriculture.

This spring, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History is reaching out to farmers, ranchers and American agri-business to build a collection that reflects modern agricultural practices. Curators are seeking stories, photographs and ephemera to record and preserve the innovations and experiences of farming and ranching.

In partnership with the American Farm Bureau Federation, the museum is announcing this initiative to the farming community today during the AFBF’s 94th annual meeting in Nashville. The first donation will come from Tennessee Farm Bureau member Pat Campbell, of Cleburne Jersey Farm, a multi-generational dairy farm founded in the 1870s in Spring Hill, Tenn. Campbell will give a selection of photographs, a computer cow tag and reader unit to show the change in dairying from a hand-labor intensive process to a modern computer-run operation. The donation will also include his personal recollections about how changing technology has altered his work life and has led to greater efficiency and safety.

I visited with Patrick today to found out what he is donating to the collection.

You can listen to my interview with Patrick here: Interview with Patrick Campbell
Coinciding with National Agriculture Day on March 19, the museum will unveil a new Web portal where the public can upload stories about technologies and innovation that have changed their work lives; stories about precision farming, traceability, environmental concerns, governmental practices, irrigation, biotechnology and hybrid seeds. For details, visit http://americanenterprise.si.edu.

2013 American Farm Bureau Convention Photo Album

AFBF, Audio, Education

Dupont Pioneer Invests in My American Farm

Chuck Zimmerman

My American FarmMy American Farm, the American Farm Bureau Foundation’s online interactive education program, received a huge investment from Dupont Pioneer that was announced at the beginning of the annual meeting here in Nashville. It is a $250,000 investment that will support new games and resources, increased outreach to K-12 stakeholders and a mobile application.

I learned more about it by speaking with Susan Bunz, vice president of policy and outreach for Dupont Pioneer. She says that the company actively promotes science education with a goal of attracting more students to study and pursue careers in sciences including agriculture.

During the stage presentation one lucky state farm bureau – North Dakota – received an interactive My American Farm kiosk to use at events around the state.

You can listen to my interview with Susan here: Interview with Susan Bunz

2013 American Farm Bureau Convention Photo Album

AFBF, Ag Groups, Agribusiness, Education, Pioneer

American Farm Bureau Foundation Book of the Year

Chuck Zimmerman

Cat UrbigkitThe American Farm Bureau Foundation has awarded its sixth annual “Book of the Year” award to Cat Urbigkit for her book “The Guardian Team: On the Job with Rena and Roo.” Cat is being interviewed in the photo by farm broadcaster Bob Middendorf.

Cat is a western Wyoming sheep rancher who raises livestock protection dogs and burros. Her award winning book is aimed at 3rd and 4th graders and is a photo essay of a mix of animals she raised together while shooting photos of them as they grew up. It’s a true story about agriculture that is meant to educate youngsters. She says it’s more important that ever to create good educational materials for children today.

You can listen to my interview with Cat here: Interview with Cat Urbigkit

2013 American Farm Bureau Convention Photo Album

AFBF, Audio, Education

Zimfo Bytes

Talia Goes

Bayer, Food, Syngenta, Zimfo Bytes

Cotton Trade Dispute Update

Cindy Zimmerman

bwcc13-ncc-adamsExtension of the 2008 farm bill raises questions about resolution of the cotton trade dispute with Brazil, according to Dr. Gary Adams, Vice president of economics and policy analysis for the National Cotton Council.

“I think we have to figure out how Brazil reacts to a one year extension (of the farm bill),” Gary said in an interview at the Beltwide Cotton Conferences, noting that the framework agreed to with Brazil in 2010 allowed the United States time to adopt new WTO-compliant cotton policy in a new farm bill. “Is Brazil going to accept a short term extension and see how things play out? We just don’t know the answer to that question.”

Gary says the U-S cotton industry has been facing a slightly different challenge from another country as well recently. “We’ve been dealing with a trade dispute with Peru for the last 6-8 months,” he said. “Countries can initiate their own countervailing duty investigation if they’re concerned that imports into their country are causing harm to their domestic industry. That is what Peru initiated last summer.”

That investigation is proceeding and Adams expects they will know more by the end of March.

Listen to my interview with Gary here: Gary Adams interview

Thanks to Randall Weiseman of Southeast AgNet for providing the photo!

2013 Beltwide Cotton photo album

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Audio, Beltwide Cotton, Cotton

Stoneville Offers Two New Cotton Varieties

Cindy Zimmerman

bayer-logoWith weed resistance exploding across America’s farmland, Bayer CropScience has introduced two new Stoneville cotton varieties for 2013 that give cotton growers more tools to fight weed resistance and rotate herbicide chemistries on their farms.

bwcc13-bayer-nicholsSteve Nichols, U.S. Agronomic Services Manager for Bayer CropScience, gave the media an overview of the new varieties during the Beltwide Cotton Conferences last week.

Nichols explained that the ST 4946GLB2 is an early-medium maturing GlyTol LibertyLink Bollgard II variety with exceptional yield potential. “It’s widely adapted across the entire cotton-growing region. That speaks a lot about the stability and the consistency of the performance of it,” adding that it has offers root-knot nematode tolerance. “We’re looking for more varieties with different maturities to give that root-knot nematode tolerance, and this is going to deliver that.” Plus, he said it will have tolerance to the Liberty herbicides.

The other variety, ST 6448GLB2, gives a full-season capability. “It’s the first variety that we’ve really had that meets that full-season market for the South Region. So this variety fits very well in the South Delta, the Georgia market and even into South Carolina,” Nichols said. It also has a dual-herbicide technology that gives growers, especially in Georgia, a tool against resistant weeds.

Nichols added that the development of the Bayer CropScience Agronomic Services, providing hundreds of field trials, helps his company make these kind of developments in cotton varieties to match the right varieties for the right fields.

Listen to Steve tell us about the new Stoneville varieties as well as the role of Bayer CropScience Agronomic Services: Steve Nichols, Bayer CropScience

Audio, Bayer, Beltwide Cotton, Cotton

Keeping the Media in High Cotton

Cindy Zimmerman

bwcc13-ncc-staffMarjory Lynch Walker and T. Cotton Nelson have staffed the news room at the Beltwide Cotton Conferences for many, many of the event’s 58 year history and while they are not sure what the changes in store will mean for media attendance, they are looking forward to moving ahead.

“Media attendance has always been healthy here. We’ve had as many as 50-60 members here,” Cotton told me, adding that attendance has continued to be strong over the years, even as less growers have been attending. That’s why Cotton says they appreciate Monsanto’s sponsorship of the news room. “Their support has allowed us to have the equipment in here, a big room, food for the media – just to make it a really good working environment for the media.”

Cotton notes that there will still be lots of information to get out to producers with the revamped schedule for Beltwide next year. “We realize the transfer of technology by the news media of the information that’s presented here is great for cotton growers,” he said.

Listen to my interview with Cotton here: Cotton Nelson interview

2013 Beltwide Cotton photo album

beltwide-fmc

Audio, Beltwide Cotton, Cotton, FMC, Media

FMC Committed to Cotton

Cindy Zimmerman

bwcc13-fmc-stuDespite changes planned for Beltwide Cotton Conferences in 2014 that mean no more technical exhibits, FMC Corporation remains committed to involvement in technology transfer within the cotton industry, according to Product Manager Stu Throop.

“Needs are changing just as the industry’s changing,” said Stu, pictured here on the left with some of the FMC team at Beltwide. “The anchor to this is the technology exchange and that’s the part that’s going to be maintained and expanded on in the future.”

Stu says the cotton industry is important to FMC. “We have a history in the cotton industry going back to the beginnings of our company,” he said. “We were able to come in cotton with a series of new brands as the boll weevil eradication program was implemented and cotton acres increased … we just happened to have the right chemistry at the right time.”

With the advent of resistent weed strains, Stu says FMC been able to develop new products to help cotton growers remain competitive. “We’re playing a role in weed pest management in cotton and we’re very excited about some of the chemistries still to come.”

Listen to my interview with Stu here: Stu Throop interview

2013 Beltwide Cotton photo album

beltwide-fmc

Audio, Beltwide Cotton, Cotton, FMC

AFBF President Meets the Press

Chuck Zimmerman

AFBF President Bob Stallman Press ConferenceFollowing the morning opening session of the American Farm Bureau Federation convention, President Bob Stallman held a press conference. Lots of good questions on just about every issue including labor, budget, farm bill, political climate and more. I asked him about measuring the success of the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance which he chairs and mentioned in his speech today. Bob says that USFRA from the beginning has made it of prime importance to have measurable goals. He says that this past fall a research project showed that USFRA has scored well in terms of how it is influencing the discussion of food and food production. That same study showed ways to improve too.

Post Update: You can download or listen to Bob’s press conference here: Bob Stallman Press Conference

2013 American Farm Bureau Convention Photo Album

AFBF, Ag Groups