USFRA FoodSource Online Information Destination

Chuck Zimmerman

The U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance just unveiled USFRA FoodSource. It’s an online resource designed to provide accurate information, in a one-stop destination.

“USFRA recognizes that consumers have questions and want to learn more about how their food gets from the farm to their plate,” said Bob Stallman, chairman of USFRA and president of the American Farm Bureau Federation. “With so much information available to consumers today, we wanted to create one destination that compiled factual and unbiased information on food production. This new site, USFRA FoodSource, provides these resources and also adds the voice of farmers and ranchers responsible for raising and growing the food we eat. Our hope is that the information on this site continues to grow over time based on new inquiries received from the online community.”

USFRA FoodSource gives consumers the opportunity to learn more about how food is grown and raised by compiling information from third party experts, including researchers and scientists at leading universities, into one easy-to-navigate website. The site currently features nine topics related to food production, all aggregated in one online destination for the first time. These topics include: antibiotic use in farm animals, biotechnology in seeds, hormone use in farm animals, pesticide use, water quality, farm size and ownership, available food choices, food safety and animal care. Read More

Ag Groups, Food, USFRA

Revitalizing the REAL® Seal with New Website

Melissa Sandfort

As part of its efforts to revitalize one of the most recognized product symbols in the food industry, the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) announced that the REAL® Seal is undergoing a makeover. The first step in that process was taken Tuesday, with the launch of a revamped website: www.realseal.com.

The previous website existed primarily as a resource for dairy product manufacturers and marketers interested in putting the REAL® Seal on their packaging. The new website will contain more content to educate consumers about why they should look for the REAL® Seal on the foods they buy, while also continuing to provide information for those companies using the REAL® Seal to enhance their product marketing.

Effective March 15, 2012, the management of the REAL® Seal program was transferred from the United Dairy Industry Association to NMPF. This change was the result of an agreement between the two organizations that the transfer was the best opportunity to place a renewed emphasis on highlighting the importance and value of American-made dairy foods.

Agribusiness, Dairy

On Location with O.H. Kruse

Chuck Zimmerman

I’m on location today doing Mission Possible with the O.H. Kruse Grain & Milling Company. We’re starting out here at the Heritage Complex at the International AgriCenter.

Next up will be feed mill tours before the I get to the educational sessions and Buying Show exhibit area this afternoon.

Look for lots of interviews in the next few days as we learn all about this company and their marketing efforts.

I’ve got an online photo album already started and will be adding to it when I can: O.H. Kruse Photo Album

Agribusiness, Feed, O.H. Kruse

Syngenta Wants You To Thrive

Chuck Zimmerman

Syngenta’s Thrive magazine is now available in a digital format, an online flipbook. You can find it on the FarmAssist website.

“I am confident this move will help us in our quest to give even more ag professionals the information they need to succeed in today’s complex marketplace,” said Wendell Calhoun, Syngenta communications lead for Thrive. “Through interesting articles and eye-catching images, we will continue to update our readers on the latest Syngenta technologies and need-to-know trends that may impact their bottom lines.”

The current issue of Thrive covers a wide range of topics, including the growing importance of U.S. soybeans globally (“Ode to Soy”) and the Syngenta Leadership at Its Best® program, which helps train growers and other industry professionals to advocate effectively for agriculture (“Leading Out Loud”). In addition, the issue relays practical advice from the field on topics ranging from “Root Wellness” to the importance of “Clean Machines.” It also enables readers to peak into the 2013 season to see which new offerings are available (“Best in Show”), what impact the November elections may have on ag policies (“Election Impact”), and how Syngenta is balancing production and supply with projected demand to deliver superior products to customers when they need them (“A Complex Equation“).

Agribusiness, Syngenta

WFP Panel on Protein and Production

Cindy Zimmerman

One of the last panels of the World Food Prize Borlaug Dialogue on Friday was on the importance of food productivity to meet tomorrow’s demand and much of the focus was on increasing animal protein in the world diet.

Moderated by Margaret Zeigler, Executive Director of the Global Harvest Initiative, the panel included Elanco President Jeff Simmons, who we already heard from, as well as Chicago Council on Global Affairs Senior Fellow Robert Thompson, American Council for Fitness and Education CEO Susan Finn and Honduran farmer and professor Isidro Ochoa.

Thompson talked about why trade barriers need to be addressed in addition to increasing food productivity, Finn discussed the importance of protein in the diet, and Ochoa related his experiences in Honduras in increasing productivity, especially for dairy farmers. “We came together with best management practices, better health practices and feeding programs,” said Ochoa, noting that dairy producers are now delivering 8,000-12,000 liters of milk where it averaged about 50 liters just 14 years ago.

Listen to presentations by three panelists here: Panel on Increasing Productivity

Thompson, who is also currently on the faculty of Johns Hopkins University as a visiting scholar, really stressed the importance of opening up trade. “We need to reduce barriers to international agricultural trade so that those countries that have no hope of feeding themselves are able to take advantage of free movement of product through the international markets,” he said, noting that is most important for countries in south and east Asia.

Listen to my interview with Thompson here: Interview with Bob Thompson

Susan Finn says addressing hunger globally includes good nutrition for the most vulnerable times in life, in the womb and from the ages of 1-5. “It’s more than calories,” she noted. “It’s the quality of those calories,” and that means protein.

“Nutritionists talk about nutrient density and that means a lot of nutrients in a relatively small amount of food,” she said, adding that the egg that Jeff Simmons talked about on the panel is a perfect example of a nutrient dense food that contains nine essential amino acids, iron, zinc and more. “I think egg is probably the most perfect protein source.”

During an interview with Susan, I also asked her what she thought about the new school lunch guidelines – find out what she said here: Interview with Susan Finn

View the World Food Prize Photo Album here.

AgWired coverage of the World Food Prize is sponsored by Elanco
Audio, Elanco, Food, World Food Prize

Another Successful World Food Prize

Cindy Zimmerman

The only other World Food Prize symposium I have attended was in 2008 and I was very impressed this year with how much the event has grown in just four years.

Ambassador Ken Quinn, president of the World Food Prize Foundation, was thrilled with the program and attendance this year. “We’re again at about 1400-1500 people, and that doesn’t count the 600 who came for our hunger summit, so all week we’ve got well over 2000 people,” he said. Those attendees came from at least 70 countries around the world. They also had about 300 high school students and teachers attend.

Security was very tight at this year’s event, and not just because the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Princess of Dubai were present. It was because of some wackos who decided to “Occupy the World Food Prize” to protest “corporate exploitation of our food systems.” Quinn says they stepped up security to ensure safety for all. “It’s right that people can protest and tell their view, that’s what our country is all about,” said Quinn. “But not to the extent that people are disrupting and perhaps making it feel unsafe for our visitors.” Fortunately, the protestors were very small in numbers, but sadly, they did generate a lot of publicity.

The last day of the symposium had a focus on animal protein, which Quinn says is becoming critically important in feeding the world. “More and more people in the world are going to be wanting to eat meat and have animal protein,” said Quinn. “The nexus of food and health coming together. As Hippocrates said, let food be your medicine.”

Listen to my interview with Ambassador Quinn: Ambassador Ken Quinn interview

View the World Food Prize Photo Album here.

AgWired coverage of the World Food Prize is sponsored by Elanco
Audio, Elanco, Food, World Food Prize

2012 World Food Prize Laureate

Cindy Zimmerman

The 2012 World Food Prize Laureate is credited with revolutionizing food production through micro-irrigation to allow farmers to produce “more crop per drop.”

Dr. Daniel Hillel is pictured here during the World Food Prize ceremony last week flanked by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and World Food Prize Chairman John Ruan III. An Israeli-American, Dr. Hillel began his pioneering scientific work in Israel and laid the foundation for maximizing efficient water usage in agriculture, increasing crop yields, and minimizing environmental degradation.

I had a chance to sit down with Dr. Hillel for a few minutes to talk about what led him to his work in the field of micro irrigation and could have easily spent an hour or more listening to the 82-year-old weave his tale of moving from Los Angeles to the Holy Land when he was just a baby and living in a kibbutz as a boy.

“At age 8, I was given a spade and asked to go to the field and help to irrigate young saplings,” he told me. “As I stood there barefoot, feeling how the trickling waters running down the furrow softened the harsh clods and watching the frothing water irrigate the tender saplings, in the midst of this vast expanse of desolation, it just captivated me and that determined my professional life.”

As you listen to this story, you can really picture Dr. Hillel’s early life and feel it. It’s worth 15 minutes just to hear it. Read more about him from the World Food Prize.

Listen to my interview with Dr. Hillel: Dr. Daniel Hillel interview

View the World Food Prize Photo Album here.

AgWired coverage of the World Food Prize is sponsored by Elanco
Audio, Elanco, Farming, Food, Irrigation, World Food Prize

Effective Control of Resistant Weeds in Soybeans

Melissa Sandfort

Results from more than 300 soybean field trials conducted in 2011 and 2012 show soybean growers there’s hope for control of resistant weeds. Engenia herbicide, a technologically advanced dicamba formulation developed by BASF, demonstrated effective control of key broadleaf weeds including glyphosate resistant Palmer amaranth, waterhemp, marestail, and common and giant ragweed.

BASF anticipates the commercial launch of Engenia herbicide in the U.S. in 2014, in a complimentary time frame with the commercialization of dicamba-tolerant soybeans. BASF expects Engenia herbicide use on cotton in 2015 following the commercialization of dicamba-tolerant cotton.

Once registered, growers will be able to use Engenia herbicide as part of the dicamba-tolerant cropping system, currently in development, to protect yield potential and manage increasingly complex weed challenges.

Agribusiness, BASF

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Those interested in viewing the National FFA Convention & Expo will have both broadcast and digital viewing options, thanks to a new partnership between iHigh.com, Alltech and Rural Media Group, Inc., who have joined forces to launch MyRURALTV.com on iHigh.com.
  • The Iowa-Nebraska Equipment Dealers Association has introduced new themes for the Nebraska and Iowa Power Farming Shows: “MORE POWER TO YOU”.
  • The Illinois Soybean Association has launched an interactive Weed Management Map to help the state’s soybean farmers more effectively combat glyphosate resistance.
  • The National FFA has set a membership record: During the 2011-12 school year, 16,939 students joined the National FFA Organization and raised total membership to 557,318 students in seventh through 12th grades in the U.S., Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
Zimfo Bytes

Support for Plumpy’nut Increases

Joanna Schroeder

It was announced during the Borlaug Dialogue in Des Moines in conjunction with the World Food Prize 2012 last week, that the makers of Plumpy’nut, Nutriset, will contribute an additional $5.8 million over the next two years to combat severe acute malnutrition in the developing world. The main ingredients include peanuts, vegetable oil, sugar, vitamins, minerals, cocoa, whey and maltodextrin. Easy to digest, high in protein and high in calories, fats and carbohydrates, the product has helped to save many children’s lives.

The money will go to the members of the PlumpyField network, a network of 11 small, local private manufactures, two international nongovernmental organizations and more than 500 locally based employees. The network helps to produce and distribute Plumpy’nut and other products.

“Nutriset’s pledge to significantly increase our environment in our PlumpyField members will help to create local solutions to devastating food crises,” said Nutriset CEO Adeline Lescanne. “We hope the $5.8 million will provide our partners with the tools they need to combat current famines and help promote the nutritional autonomy of all afflicted regions of the world.”

View the World Food Prize Photo Album here.

AgWired coverage of the World Food Prize is sponsored by Elanco
Elanco, Peanuts, World Food Prize