USDA Extends Census Deadline

Talia Goes

USDA-LogoFarmers and ranchers across the country are heeding the call to have their voices heard and their farms represented in the 2012 Census of Agriculture. With 1.4 million Census forms returned, the USDA is thanking everyone for speaking up for their communities, their industry and their future by sending in their Census form. For those who missed the deadline, USDA reminds producers that their farm is important and needs to be counted. As a result, Census forms are still being accepted.

Conducted every five years by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), the Census provides detailed data covering nearly every facet of U.S. agriculture. It looks at land use and ownership, production practices, expenditures and other factors that affect the way farmers and ranchers do business. The deadline for submitting Census forms was February 4, and many farmers and ranchers have responded. However, those who did not respond by the original due date will receive another copy of the form in the mail to give them another opportunity.

Farmers and ranchers can return their forms by mail or online by visiting a secure website, www.agcensus.usda.gov. Federal law requires all agricultural producers to participate in the Census and requires NASS to keep all individual information confidential

Agribusiness, USDA

NCBA Sustainability Press Conference

Jamie Johansen

cic-13-57-editedDuring the 2013 Cattle Industry Convention today NCBA held a press conference to announce the preliminary results of the Beef Industry Sustainability Assessment.

Dr. Kim Stackhouse, NCBA Director of Sustainability, shared how the beef checkoff-funded assessment is a holistic look at the entire beef value chain. This is the first time any food value chain has ever documented the economic, environmental and social fingerprint.

“This comprehensive analysis will provide a roadmap for the journey toward a more sustainable beef industry. The U.S. beef industry is one of the most complex biological, economic and social chains in the world. As such, measuring these complex, interrelated systems is difficult but critically important to the future stability and profitability of the industry.”

The assessment was conducted by NCBA, a contractor of the Beef Checkoff Program. BASF Corporation and the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service also played a huge role as sub-contractors to help assemble and interpret the data.

Stay connected to this year’s Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show on Facebook and follow the happenings on Twitter using the hashtags #CIC13 & #NCBA13.

Check out audio from the entire press conference: Sustainability Press Conference

You can find photos from the event here:Cattle Industry Convention & NCBA Trade Show Photo Album

Audio, BASF, Beef, Cattle Industry Conference, NCBA, USDA

Pre-Conference Tour Highlights at CIC

Jamie Johansen

cic-13-18-editedThe opening general session and trade show may not open until later today, but that doesn’t mean cattlemen and women from across the county haven’t already put their ‘Boots on the Bay.’ The 2013 Cattle Industry Pre-Convention Agricultural Tour, sponsored by SFP, took place earlier this week in the sunny state of Florida.

Participants on the tour visited the Florida Cattlemen’s Museum Exhibit and Cracker Country, along with Barthle Brothers Ranch, a diversified cattle operation. Next, they stopped at Crystal Springs at Two Rivers Ranch, a environmental education sanctuary. Taking advantage of the warm weather they also got to make a stop at Wishnatski Strawberry Farms in Plant City, Fl. And maybe the most coveted stop of the tour was the Keel and Curley Winery, where blueberry wine is the specialty.

Stay connected to this year’s Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show on Facebook and follow the happenings on Twitter using the hashtags #CIC13 & #NCBA13.

You can find photos from the event here:Cattle Industry Convention & NCBA Trade Show Photo Album

Beef, Cattle Industry Conference, NCBA

Zimfo Bytes

Talia Goes

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Harvest PR & Marketing, Inc. has awarded its fifth annual Seed to Succeed nonprofit PR grant to the Partnership for Food Safety Education.
  • Iowa Farm Bureau Federation is pleased to welcome Nathan Katzer as their new Farm Business Development Manager.
  • National NAMA will be hosting a producer panel at the Cattle Industry Convention in Tampa, Florida.
  • Industry veteran Peter Peerbolte has joined Becker Underwood as a product manager for the company’s corn, cotton, alfalfa, wheat, sorghum, rice and vegetables products.
Zimfo Bytes

One Goal App For Poultry Industry

Jamie Johansen

ippe-13-221-editedNo one can argue that technology makes things easier and for poultry veterinarians and nutritionists, Novus International has a new app, called One Goal, to do just that.

At last week’s International Production & Processing Expo, Dr. Marco Quiroz, poultry veterinarian for Novus, shared how the app can revolutionize how information is gathered in the field allowing vets and nutritionists to establish and monitor preventive medicine and nutritional programs for their clients.

This app for mobile devices is a portable and convenient health assessment tool. It creates a database for the clinical history of a poultry company and can be used in every field visit to monitor bird health. The One Goal platform is currently running in the United States, but spreading worldwide.

Marco was on hand during the expo to answer questions and give personal demos for attendees. In the following interview he shared how this new technology can save vets time and energy and responses from those who already have it in their hand.

Check out my complete interview with Marco: Interview with Marco Quiroz

You can find photos from the event here:International Production & Processing Expo Photo Album

Sponsored by Novus International Inc

Apps, Audio, IPPE, Novus International, Poultry, Poultry Expo, Technology

John Deere Displays JDLink at AG CONNECT

John Davis

agconnect-13-jd-bakreOur friends at John Deere made good use of their time at the premier show for technology, innovation and education, AG CONNECT Expo, showing off some of their latest equipment. Swarupa Bakre, Associate Brand Manager for John Deere’s Intelligent Solutions Group talked to Chuck about their JDLink technology, a telematics solution to communicate important information gathered by the equipment and send it back to the user.

“It captures all your machine health, field data, performance and any number of variables,” and transfers the data by cellular network to a website. Swarupa said that producers can then go to the website and look at what they need to know about their machines to make their operation more efficient. “They have a ton of information at their fingertips.”

Swarupa added the whole system helps to do things like simplifying and scheduling maintenance and even setting up anti-theft tools.

You can listen to Chuck’s interview with Swarupa here: Interview with Swarupa Bakre

2013 AG CONNECT Expo Photo Album

Sponsored by JohnDeere

Agribusiness, Audio, John Deere

Krone CEO Praises AG CONNECT, Promotes Products

John Davis

agconnect-13-kroneThe recent AG CONNECT Expo can certainly be considered a success, especially if you talk to some of the exhibitors who attended.

“We have a group of customers coming into this show, who are coming into here for education, taking part in the 50 educational sessions, and almost every one of them have been booked out,” said Rusty Fowler, President/CEO of Krone NA, adding that every customer coming to his booth is a serious buyer looking to see how technology can help the operation. “And that’s what this show is all about, and it’s working.”

And Rusty said they’re making to sure to show these buyers Krone’s latest technology, including their 1100-horsepower BiG X forage harvester with a 12-row corn head. “This is the top of the line technology in forage harvesters, in fact, the largest one in the world. [You can fill] a 40-foot trailer with corn silage in about three and a half minutes.” Plus, it comes with all the newest bells and whistles, including telematics, remote diagnostics and plug-and-play GPS technology compatible with many GPS applications. Throw in some of Krone’s newest top-of-the-line balers, and Rusty said they have a whole showcase that fits perfectly with AG CONNECT.

Rusty said they’re already looking forward to the next AG CONNECT Expo in 2015. “I told the folks who manage this show that we’ll need more space in 2015. It’s the best show experience [our potential customers] have ever had.”

You can listen to Chuck’s interview with Rusty here: Interview with Rusty Fowler

2013 AG CONNECT Expo Photo Album

Agribusiness, Audio

New Holland Initiative Supports Ethanol

John Davis

agconnect-13-new-hollandWe’re coming up on the one-year anniversary of New Holland‘s commitment to ethanol and corn growers through their initiative with Growth Energy. Started in March 2012, the company’s manager of Cash Crop Product Specialists, Jim Moellenberndt, told Chuck at the recent AG CONNECT Expo that the ethanol initiative has been growing in popularity.

“[We’re] getting the news out that New Holland is supporting farmers through Growth Energy,” Jim said. “It’s kind of grassroots, and it’s just been snowballing out there.”

Jim added that New Holland is the only equipment manufacturer supporting Growth Energy, and farmers appreciate it. “There’s been a lot of farmers that have actually come up and thanked us for this. It’s something they’ve been trying to get the word out, and the more [we can dispel] the myths about ethanol, the better off we are.”

You can listen to Chuck’s interview with Jim here: Interview with Jim Moellenberndt

2013 AG CONNECT Expo Photo Album

Agribusiness, Audio, Ethanol, New Holland

Claas Rolls Out New Lexion 780 at AG CONNECT

John Davis

agconnect-13-claasFarmers this fall will see a new combine that sets itself apart from the competition in its efficiency. During the recent AG CONNECT, Chuck caught up with Claas product specialist Christopher Girodat, who talked about the improvements they’ve made in the company’s new Lexion 780 over the old 770 model.

“We have a new feeder house drive system, which allows you to have more horsepower going down to the actual feeder house to drive those bigger corn heads. We have a new dynamic cooling for our engine compartment cooling system, and we also have a new rear axle on this unit,” Christopher said.

Fuel efficiency is also a big feature, along with a more efficient Accelerated Pre-Separation (APS) threshing system combined with the ROTO PLUS separation system to increase grain retention.

The build schedule starts in a couple of months, so units will be available for this year’s fall harvest.

You can listen to Chuck’s interview with Christopher here: Interview with Christopher Girodat

2013 AG CONNECT Expo Photo Album

Agribusiness, Audio

A Look Back at Milestones in Biodiesel Industry

Chuck Zimmerman

National Biodiesel Conference Joe JobeThe ZimmComm team is in action at various locations like the National Ethanol Conference, Cattle Industry Convention and I’m currently covering the National Biodiesel Conference. We’re really enjoying seeing so many of our friends.

The opening general session of this year’s National Biodiesel Conference was a fantastic look back at 20 years of the National Biodiesel Board and 10 years of this conference. After some opening educational sessions the first general session took place.

You can listen to all of Joe Jobe’s (CEO of NBB) opening speech here: Joe Jobe Opening Speech

We’ll have more to share from today’s activities as time permits!

2013 National Biodiesel Conference Photo Album

Ag Groups, Audio, National Biodiesel Conference