How about a holiday greeting from Farm Progress? You can watch it online here.
Happy holidays from all of us at Farm Progress, Agriculture’s information leader. This holiday season we wish you a peaceful holiday and a prosperous new year. From all of us at Farm Progress we wish you every happiness this holiday season and prosperity in the new year!
Do I Know You?
It’s been a while since I went on an AgWalk and my apologies. Life happened. Christmas is almost here and I’ve been busy with decorating, an Elf named “Rope” (trust me, I didn’t come up with that one), frozen horse water and oh yeah, work!
But I have to share this story with you. My husband recently had his company Christmas party in Omaha. While out and about, he ran into a gal who was in town for an ag conference and in the midst of their conversation, he shared with her what I do for work. Her response? “Forgive me if I seem a little star-struck right now but ‘I Know Her!’ I follow her on AgWired!”
Just call me The Pioneer Woman. Don’t I wish?? But that’s how honored I felt when someone recognized my name and said she reads my articles. (And it wasn’t my aunt this time!)
I don’t know the impact I’m having, if any, but what I do know is that I am always excited to meet new people and the farmers and ranchers out there who work hard every day so that I can still have a job that I love. For that I’m grateful.
“Iowa Gal” – if you’re out there and reading this, thank you. I promise to be more diligent in AgWalking.
Until we walk again …
Get Your MBA and Promote Beef Today
The Missouri Cattlemen’s Convention kicked off the morning with the popular Cattlemen’s College. NCBA’s Executive Director of Communications, Daren Williams, presented to the group on defending animal agriculture.
We seem to always be fighting an up hill battle in the agriculture industry, so defending our passion and livelihood is vitally important. Beef has recently been under the spotlight and it was interesting to hear what Daren had to say about what the Kansas City Star.
What can everyone in the beef community do to promote their passion? Complete the Master’s of Beef Advocacy program and help share your story. Give presentations in your local community. Get online, comment and share. Maybe even participate in media interviews.
Listen to Daren’s compete presentation here: Daren Williams - NCBA
I also took the opportunity to talk with Kaity Holtman, Director of Communications for the Missouri Beef Industry Council, about what Missouri is doing to promote the Master’s of Beef Advocacy program. I can’t wait to get my MBA and join the other 3,600 graduates from across the country advocating for the beef community.
Listen to my interview with Kaity here: Kaity Holtman - Missouri Beef Industry Council
Check out all the photos from the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association here: 2012 Missouri Cattlemen’s Convention Photo Album
Season’s Greetings from RFA
Season’s greetings from our friends at the RFA. Burn a little ethanol in your tank this season and help out American farmers while reducing our dependence on foreign oil!
Wishing you a happy holiday season and a great New Year from the dedicated staff of the Renewable Fuels Association.
By Plane, Train or Automobile?
Our latest ZimmPoll asked the question, ” What will expiring biotech patents mean for agriculture?”
Our poll results: fifty-two percent said more options; twenty-one percent said don’t know enough about it; fourteen percent said export concerns; ten percent said nothing and three percent said other.
Learn more about this issue from Cindy’s coverage of last week’s ASTA CSS in Chicago.
Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, “How do you plan to travel this holiday?” The price of fuel and a plane ticket usually increases around the holiday, so will that change how you travel this year? Or does it really not matter – you’re getting there the quickest way possible! Let us know.
ZimmPoll is sponsored by Rhea+Kaiser, a full-service advertising/public relations agency.
Bohnenkamp Named ANCW Exec. Dir.
The American National CattleWomen, Inc. (ANCW) promoted “Telling the Beef Story” Program Manager, Sarah J. Bohnenkamp to lead the organization as their Executive Director/Chief Operating Officer. In this role, Bohnenkamp will have overall strategic and operational responsibility for ANCW’s staff, programs, expansion and execution of its mission.
Bohnenkamp has worked in the field of organizational development and leadership for 10+ years and has been with ANCW for nearly two years, leading the Beef Checkoff funded National Beef Ambassador Program and National Beef Speakers Bureau.
Bohnenkamp earned her degree in Speech Communication from Idaho State University and is a certified facilitator for many leadership development and sales programs. She lives in Parker, Colorado with her husband and 6-month old daughter. In her spare time she enjoys cow cutting, blogging about leadership, training and horses, and singing country music.
Merck Says Lookout for BRD in Cattle
Now that winter is upon us it’s time for cattle producers to take note of BRD (Bovine Respiratory Disease). At the recent NAFB convention I spoke with Dr. Eric Moore, Merck Animal Health, about this subject. He says this disease has plagued the industry since the beginning. “It’s one of the most costly conditions we have within our industry.”
There are multiple causes for BRD and it is often seen at time of stress on the animal like weaning or moving them. The signs are not always easy to see either. Eric says there has been an increase in the instances of the disease this fall and attributes the drought for causing an uptick in the disease this year. So I asked him what cattle producers can do and he says, “We have to prep that calf like we prep our kids.” That includes shots to help the immune system prior to the time of stress.
Listen to my interview with Eric: Interview with Dr. Eric Moore
2012 NAFB Convention Photo Album
Zimfo Bytes
- FMC Corporation announced that its Agricultural Products Group has signed a perpetual, global licensing agreement, along with distribution and services agreements with GAT Micro encapsulation AG covering a range ofadvanced crop protection products and proprietary formulation technologies.
- Leica Geosystems has introduced Virtual Vista, a new web-based platform that delivers a flexible data management solution to farmers.
- Wilbur-Ellis Company announced the promotion of Troy Johnson to vice president of Midwest Operations.
- Syngenta broke ground for the expansion of its Clinton, Ill., corn and soybean research and development facility.
New Communications Director at Animal Ag Alliance
Animal Agriculture Alliance President and CEO Kay Johnson Smith announced the appointment of Emily Meredith as the Alliance’s new Director of Communications.
Meredith, formerly of USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, joins the Alliance after receiving her J.D., with a concentration in food and drug law, from Seton Hall University in Newark, New Jersey.
As the Director of Communications, Meredith will develop, oversee and implement all aspects of the Alliance’s communications strategy, including social media initiatives.
During her time at USDA, Meredith served as a speechwriter for several agency officials. She also participated in managing communications relative to recalls, authored congressional testimony and participated in strategy sessions for issues management.
Meredith holds a B.A. in International Affairs and Journalism from the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Currently, Meredith is awaiting admission to the state bar associations of New York and New Jersey.
A Worldly Discussion on Beef
A highlight for my first trip to Alltech’s Global 500 was the discussion dinners. Being a beef producer myself, I was excited to attend one on the beef industry. How often do you get the chance to discuss and share ideas about farming with people from around the world.
After an intimate steak dinner with about 40 Global 500 attendees from various countries, Steve Elliott, Alltech USA, served as our moderator leading the discussion. The general question posed was how to improve efficiencies in the beef industry.
Discussion spiraled from, should we all be seeking an ideal beef animal, to should the consumer drive the demand or do we have an over abundance of beef cattle. I spoke with Steve after the event to get his thoughts on the topics mentioned and what he thought the overall take home message was.
“Tonight we wanted to see how as a group we could improve efficiences in the beef industry. We know tremendous variability is an issue. We had a very lively discussion on various things that the group thought we could do to help improve efficiency.”
“The challenge is how do we bring that variability down a bit and prop up the product that we offer the consumer because the consumer is king and they are going to make decisions on what products they buy.”
Listen to my complete interview with Steve here: Steve Elliott - Global 500
Check out all the photos from this years Global 500 here: 2012 Global 500 Photo Album