AFBF President Opens Annual Meeting

Chuck Zimmerman

AFBF President Bob StallmanAmerican Farm Bureau Federation President, Bob Stallman, welcomed everyone to the 94th Annual Meeting. I will update this post soon after the opening session for you to listen to if you missed it or need it for a broadcast or report.

Stallman reviewed accomplishments made by AFBF during the last year. He urged members to be in contact with their elected leaders and told them that no matter what they’ve read, they are relevant. In talking about the newly elected leaders he said, “We must let them know that our nation can no longer afford political drama, manufactured crises and self-serving jackass stubbornness.” That drew applause.

Commenting on the farm bill action (or lack of it) he said “Lest anyone wonder why we need a farm bill, we should remember the drought of 2012.” You’d think that would have prompted Congress to have taken action much sooner and more permanently than they did wouldn’t you?

You can find a copy of Bob’s speech here: Stallman Speech 2013 (pdf)

Post Update: You can download or listen to Bob’s speech here: Bob Stallman Speech

I have a photo album started and will be adding to it periodically throughout the meeting: 2013 American Farm Bureau Convention Photo Album

AFBF, Ag Groups

Many Voices One Vision at AFBF Annual Mtg.

Chuck Zimmerman

AFBF Annual MeetingIt’s time for the 2013 American Farm Bureau Annual Meeting and I’m on my way. Cruising above 10,000 feet right now and thank you GoGo InFlight wifi. Listen to AFBF President, Bob Stallman, talk about the importance of this meeting here (.mp3).

There are an estimated 6,000 farmers and ranchers expected to attend AFBF’s 94th annual meeting. Here’s the purpose of the meeting.

The purpose of the annual meeting is for voting delegates to adopt grassroots policies and select leaders to guide the organization throughout the year. After receiving approval from members at the local level, proposed resolutions are forwarded to state Farm Bureaus for consideration. Those policies with national implications that win approval at the state level are sent to AFBF for ultimate consideration during the annual meeting’s business session.

There are two live video feeds of speeches from the event that you can watch. They are:

  • AFBF President Bob Stallman Keynote Address, approximately 9:20 a.m., CST, Sunday, Jan. 13.
  • Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack Address, approximately 3:15 p.m. CST, Monday, Jan. 14.

I will be there recording them to post onto AgWired right after they finish too. So, look forward to lots of photos and interviews as I find them during this year’s meeting.

AFBF, Ag Groups

Agriculture Workforce Coalition Announced

Jamie Johansen

awcOrganizations from across the country joined forces to announce today the formation of the Agriculture Workforce Coalition. AWC’s goal is to become a unified voice of agriculture and seek legislation that will ensure America’s farms, ranches and all other agricultural operations have access to a stable and skilled workforce.

AWC is putting a framework together that includes both an earned adjustment in status for current experienced farm workers and a program to ensure that producers continue to have access to a workforce as current agricultural employees move on to other jobs. This will encompass employers with seasonal labor needs, as well as those who provide year-round employment opportunities.

“The continued production of labor-intensive agricultural crops and products in the U.S., ranging from dairy and livestock to fruit, vegetables and tree nuts, cannot be accomplished without vitally important labor provided by skilled and experienced farm workers,” said Chuck Conner, president and CEO of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives. “Without people to work on America’s farms and ranches, pick the crops or milk the cows, all other issues in agriculture become irrelevant.”

Without the support from 1.5 million hired workers each year, American agriculture would not be possible. Beyond the farm gate, each of these workers supports two to three full-time jobs in the food processing, transportation, farm equipment, marketing, retail and other sectors. Ensuring that farmers, ranchers and growers have access to the workers they need to maintain their productivity and competitiveness will help support continued growth in employment across the economy and in areas far removed from farm country.

“We have an unprecedented opportunity now that Democrats and Republicans are having a serious conversation about the critical need for immigration reform—an opportunity that cannot be wasted,” said Tom Nassif, president and CEO of Western Growers. “Agricultural employers have come together as never before in lock-step and agreement about a workable proposal that will serve the needs of farmers, workers and the American people. The time for immigration reform is now.”

Here are the organizations who have become part of AWC:
American Farm Bureau Federation
American Nursery & Landscape Association
Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association
National Council of Agricultural Employers
National Council of Farmer Cooperatives
National Milk Producers Federation
USA Farmers
U.S. Apple Association
United Fresh Produce Association
Western Growers Association
Western United Dairymen
Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform

Additional information on AWC can be found on their website.

Ag Groups, Agribusiness

NAAJ’s Excellence in Reporting on Agriculture Contest

Jamie Johansen

naajNeeding a little pat on the back for your newsroom’s work on issues related to agriculture and rural America? North American Agricultural Journalists are looking for your entires for the Excellence in Reporting on Agriculture.

You can’t give the excuse of your story not finding a home. There are six categories for contestants to choose from: news, spot news, features, columns/analysis, series and special projects. College students don’t have to worry about competing with the big dogs, there is a special category just for you.

The NAAJ is a professional, international group of editors and writers with a membership spanning the United States and Canada. Journalists eligible for membership are those who report or edit agricultural news for newspapers, magazines, wires and syndicated services and are independent of agricultural organizations and businesses. College students interested in a career in agricultural writing also are encouraged to join.

Most categories require you to be a NAAJ member. Those interested in joining can pay a $75 membership fee, but it must be received by January 28. Members may enter two entries per category and submit $10 per entry.

Members winning first-place vie for the Glenn Cunningham Ag Journalist of the Year Award. Winners will be recognized at NAAJ’s annual meeting banquet April 8 at the National Press Club in our nation’s capital.

Stories must be published in the 2012 calendar year and all entries must be received by the contest chair, David Hendee, no later than January 28.

You can find more information, contest rules and entry form here.

Uncategorized

Cooking with Cottonseed Oil

Cindy Zimmerman

bwcc13-cottonseed-1Cotton Incorporated held one of the best press conferences I’ve ever attended at the Beltwide Cotton Conferences this week – featuring a cooking demonstration with flavor-infused cottonseed oils and some kickin’ Texas Tea.

You might remember Chuck doing a post about these great Acala Farms cottonseed oils after World Dairy Expo last year. We got to find out more about them from Tom Wedegaertner, Director of Cottonseed Research and Marketing for Cotton Inc., who says that they are hoping the specialty oils will help increase public awareness of cotton as a food crop.

“Per capita consumption of cottonseed oil is about three pints per person,” Tom explains. “It’s a wonderful frying oil, has a very high smoke point, so a lot of restaurants use it in their deep fat fryers.” Tom says it’s also used in salad dressings because it has a very light, delicate taste that lends itself well to adding other flavors.

Listen to Tom talk about it here: Tom Wedegaertner interview

bwcc13-chefSan Antonio Marriott Executive Chef Donald Hoffman provided a demonstration and taste test for the media so we could find out for ourselves just how great these flavor-infused cottonseed oils are. First, he made Salmon Salpicon featuring the Jalapeno Lime and Cilantro flavored oils. He also made a BBQ sauce with Chipotle flavor on chicken breast sauteed in fresh-roasted garlic cottonseed oil.

You can watch Chef Donald demo the salmon recipe in the video below and if you want to find out more about these great tasting cottonseed oils, go to Acala-Farms.com.

2013 Beltwide Cotton photo album

beltwide-fmc

Audio, Beltwide Cotton, Cotton, FMC, Video

Zimfo Bytes

Talia Goes

    Zimfo Bytes

  • American Farmland Trust President Jon Scholl announced plans to step down this summer after a five-year term as the head of the nation’s leading farmland conservation organization.
  • Glysorita LLC, introduces two dry granular glyphosate formulations based on an ammonium salt, new to the United States market.
  • Deadline for Murray Wise Foundation Ag scholarships set for March 31.
  • Registration Now Open for Annual Farmland Investment Fair.
Agribusiness, Zimfo Bytes

America’s Farmers Grow Rural Education℠ Returns

Talia Goes

PrintA movement is underway to improve the math and science aptitude of today’s students. For the second year in a row, the Monsanto Fund is gearing-up to invest $2.3 million to strengthen math and science education in rural communities through America’s Farmers Grow Rural Education℠.

Now until April 15, 2013, farmers can nominate their favorite, local public school district. Administrators of nominated school districts can then submit grant applications through April 30, 2013 to enhance their math and/or science programs.

The America’s Farmers Grow Rural Education program is part of a broad commitment by the Monsanto Fund to highlight the important contributions farmers make every day to society. Following a successful pilot in Minnesota and Illinois, America’s Farmers Grow Rural Education debuted nationally last year in 1,245 counties across 39 states. Its reach has grown to include 1,271 counties this year.

America’s Farmers Grow Rural Education offers farmers the opportunity to nominate rural public school districts to compete for a grant of either $10,000 or $25,000. Nominated school districts can then submit an application for either grant amount. Winners will be announced in August 2013.

School districts that apply for a $10,000 grant will compete against other school districts in the same USDA-appointed Crop Reporting District (CRD). CRDs with fewer than five eligible school districts will compete against each other for a single, $10,000 grant. School districts that apply for a $25,000 grant will compete against schools that are located in the same state or designated region.

Grants will be awarded by the Monsanto Fund based on merit, need and community support. The America’s Farmers Grow Rural Education Advisory Council, a group of 30 farmer leaders from across the country, will select the winning grant applications. Advisory Council members were selected based on their passion for agriculture and education, as well as experience in rural school districts.

Education

New SMS Video Tutorials on YouTube Page

Melissa Sandfort

Insights Weekly

Some people were born with a voice destined for radio. Fortunately, Ag Leader training specialist Jessica Ahrens, who possesses all the qualities of a great broadcaster, decided to pursue a career in precision agriculture and is a member of the SMS Support Team! Many have heard her voice through a number of educational resources available including classroom training, free online webinars and the video tutorial series created to help growers use the software to manage their data.

Jessica tells us what you can find on the YouTube channel. Listen to Jessica explain

The SMS tutorial videos are fast and easy to access from home or the tractor cab through Ag Leader’s YouTube channel. No more shuffling through a mix of guidance, hardware and software videos on the Ag Leader YouTube channel – SMS tutorials now have their own home at http://www.youtube.com/agleadersmstutorials. This YouTube channel is solely committed to all things SMS. Let Jessica walk you through your SMS software, and then take a minute to “favorite” the channel in your browser – this is one site you won’t want to forget!

And you can access the videos anywhere! Listen to Jessica explain

Become a fan of Ag Leader on Facebook today, and get the latest precision ag videos on the YouTube channel. For more information about Ag Leader products and services, or to visit the blog site, go to www.agleader.com.

Ag Leader, Agribusiness, Video

NAMA Executive Committee Meeting

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast 379The executive committee of the National Agri-Marketing Association is hard at work on the business of the organization. At this quarterly meeting we review financials, committee reports, updates on the annual meetings, awards program and more. We’re also making sure we’re on the path laid out by the strategic plan.

NAMA Executive Committee MeetingI’ll have an update from our new President, Paul Redhage, FMC and Jenny Pickett, NAMA CEO, after our meeting concludes later today.

NAMA is in great shape financially and membership was up in 2012! Good news. How about considering becoming a member if you’re not? Young professionals have a special membership rate and if you become involved in your local chapter you’ll make friends and contacts within the industry that will be good for your career in many ways. Take a few minutes to join today.

Post Update: After our meeting concluded I had a conversation with Paul and Jenny that I’d like to share.

Listen to this week’s ZimmCast here: Looking Ahead with NAMA

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

The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired. Subscribe so you can listen when and where you want. Just go to our Subscribe page.

Ag Groups, NAMA

Get Schooled in Ants

Jamie Johansen

Lucky largeThe nationwide School of Ants has found a home at the University of Florida. The school is an example of citizen science, a project where anybody can collect and submit data for experts to review and compile.

Ants are collected from personal yards and neighborhoods and then entomologists identify each species and plot its location. These digital maps provide a snapshot of any distribution around the county.

“Knowledge of the presence of a species of ant might help for things like quarantine and control, if the species is a problem,” said founder Andrea Lucky, and assistant scientist with UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. “If we find a rare ant, or an ant that’s way outside its known range, we many want to keep an eye on it purely for academic purposes.”

The program originated at North Carolina State University in 2011, between Andrea and Rob Dunn, a biology assistant professor. The expansion and movement of the headquarters to Florida has the team excited due to it having more ants than any other state.

“We want to really focus on Florida,” Lucky said. “The ant populations are so diverse, and we’re eager to get a handle on what’s here.”

Identifying that the invasive Asian needle ant had spread beyond its original home has been one of the school’s biggest accomplishments. The pest kills native ant populations in hardwood forests and carries a painful stinger.

If you are interested collecting ant specimens and mailing them in, be sure and record the location and time the ants were collected. Volunteers can register at the school’s website.

You can also keep up with the program by following them on Facebook and Twitter.

Education, Research