NAFB Makes an Egg Souffle

Chuck Zimmerman

It’s not all business and hard work at the National Association of Farm Broadcasting convention. It can also be a hilarious educational opportunity. The Egg Lady, Jo Manhart, orchestrated an egg souffle making demonstration just prior to today’s luncheon. Four NAFB members were given separate jobs to get an egg souffle in the oven before the end of the William Tell Overture finishes. Do they do it? You’ll have to watch the video. According to Jo, the last time a group got it done was an FFA meeting in the 1980’s!

Conducting the music was NAFB President Tom Steever, Brownfield Ag News. See if you can identify the chefs in the video below.

Be sure to check out the 2012 NAFB Convention Photo Album for some great photos from this really funny demo.

Media, NAFB, Poultry, Video

BASF Survey Reveals Sustainability Attitudes

Cindy Zimmerman

BASF Crop Protection had great news to talk about with farm broadcasters at the NAFB meeting in Kansas City this week.

According to a new BASF survey, a majority of consumers and growers agree that modern agriculture can achieve two critical goals simultaneously: Feed the world’s growing population while demonstrating responsible stewardship.

More than 80 percent of the growers and nearly 70 percent of the consumers who participated in the survey were confident that growers will be able to strike a balance between producing enough food for the planet and preserving it for future generations. “Technology and knowledge advancements” were cited by both groups as the primary reasons for their confidence.

“Technology is and will continue to be the number one driver behind our ability to meet the demands of a growing population in a way that stewards resources,” said Paul Rea, Vice President, U.S. Crop Operations, BASF. “We know there is no room for failure—we have to make it happen. This is what drives our commitment to invest $2 million a day in research and development on innovations that will help growers preserve the land and maximize yields.”

Listen to or download my interview with Paul at NAFB here: BASF VP Paul Rea

I also got a comment from Paul on the recent announcement that BASF will be acquiring the assets of seed treatment company Becker Underwood. “We expect to close on that transaction here in the next few weeks and we’re very excited to bring their technology to our very extensive BASF crop protection technology,” said Paul. “We already have some very well established seed treatment technologies and there will be nice synergy between those products and what the Becker Underwood team has.”

Listen to or download Paul’s comments on Becker Underwood here: BASF-Becker Underwood

2012 NAFB Convention Photo Album

Audio, BASF, NAFB, Seed, Sustainability

Generational Differences Among Farmers

Melissa Sandfort

New research shows how the management style of younger dairy producers and corn growers compares and contrasts with that of their older counterparts. The survey, commissioned by McCormick Company, considered management practices, ownership structures, decision-making processes, business and transition planning, and the role of information — including digital media — in running respondents’ operations.

What the study found was that younger managers embrace the same values and reasons for farming, but they often consider new ways to get information and manage their operations.

McCormick’s goal is to share proprietary insights from this research with select companies seeking innovation as they connect with key customers.

An independent research firm interviewed more than 600 corn farmers and dairy producers, half of which were younger than 45 years of age. The vast majority of their farms were owned by two or more family generations; but one in four of the younger dairy producers were first-generation owners. Read More

Agribusiness, Corn, Dairy, Research

A Monsanto Ground Breaker

Chuck Zimmerman

Here’s Bruce Trautman, a Nebraska farmer and Monsanto Ground Breaker.

This season, Monsanto will be piloting the Ground Breakers program with its new drought-tolerant corn system, Genuity® DroughtGard™ Hybrids. Approximately 250 growers throughout the Western Great Plains region including South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado will have the opportunity to plant Genuity® DroughtGard™ Hybrids on their farm.

Through Monsanto’s Ground Breakers program, growers will be evaluating new hybrids with the drought trait, as well as hybrids with drought-tolerant germplasm derived from Monsanto’s breeding program. Genuity® VT Double PRO®, Genuity® VT Triple PRO® and Roundup Ready 2 Technology will serve as the agronomic trait platform for the drought-tolerance trait.

So Bruce was one of the ground breaking farmers and attended the NAFB convention to talk with farm broadcasters. He says Monsanto gave him the seeds for a hybrid plot with fourteen varieties. Those included Genuity DroughtGard seeds that performed 5-6 bushels better, very important during a drought year! He says this effort allowed him to see side-by-side comparisons right there on his farm and has helped him make better buying decisions for next year.

You can listen to my interview with Bruce here: Interview with Bruce Trautman

2012 NAFB Convention Photo Album

Agribusiness, Audio, NAFB

Getting Ready For Food Dialogues

Chuck Zimmerman

Put November 15, 2012 on your calendar to tune it to the USFRA Food Dialogues which will be streaming live from New York City. Yours truly will be there covering the event.

During the 2012 National Association of Farm Broadcasting convention I got an update on the U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance from board chairman Bob Stallman, President, AFBF. Here’s Bob doing one of his many interviews with farm broadcasters yesterday. It was two years ago that Bob made the announcement of the formation of USFRA.

Bob says it has been about fourteen months since USFRA has started running its active programs. The first goal was to get all the producer groups in the country to participate and they got most of them. Then the job was to bring in the checkoff programs and industry partners. Bob says, “We’re off and running. But we knew this needs to be a long term effort.”

You can listen to my interview with Bob to learn more about the progress of USFRA: Interview with Bob Stallman

2012 NAFB Convention Photo Album

Media, NAFB, USFRA

NAFB Creative and Broadcast Excellence

Cindy Zimmerman

Honors for creative and broadcast excellence were presented Thursday night at the NAFB annual meeting in Kansas City.

The Herb Plambeck Award for Creative Excellence was won in both categories by Broadhead. Broadhead’s work for the Mosaic Company received the Best Single award for the 30,000 feet spot. The TrichGuard series for Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica won for Best Series.

Finally, the last ever Oscar in Agriculture was presented to the niece of NAFB veteran Al Gustin, Sarah. Yes, you read that right – the last ever “Oscar” in Agriculture. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences suddenly realized this year, after 50 years, that NAFB uses the name “Oscar” for the annual award recognizing broadcast excellence. The academy sent a “cease and desist” order just a month or so before the meeting, but were magnanimous enough to allow us one last year – since the award was already made up! Every one who has an Oscar should post it on Facebook or Twitter and give the Academy grief! I plan to do that with mine when I get back home. I was fortunate enough to receive one of the old big pewter Oscars in 1991 and it still proudly displays on my desk.

2012 NAFB Convention Photo Album

Boehringer Ingelheim, NAFB

NAFB Night of Honors – Tears and Laughs

Cindy Zimmerman

The NAFB Night of Honors started with tears for the untimely loss this year of former president Stewart Doan inducted into the Hall of Fame. Stewart’s wife Leslie and two daughters Lauren and Sarah were on hand to see the industry pay tribute to this great husband, father and industry professional. So many of us still can’t believe he is gone – but not forgotten.

The second Hall of Famer honored was veteran broadcaster George Gatley of Western Agri-Radio Networks, who started his career in 1958 – the year after I was born. George has been the official photographer at NAFB forever and he made me feel good by calling me a “girl.” Thanks, George!

The Dix Harper Meritorious Service Award was presented to Mike Hansen, Agriculture Sales Director for the Rural Media Group (RFD-TV/Rural TV). Mike began his tenure with NAFB as Marketing Manager at the Omaha Stockyards and then at WOW-AM where he was Farm Director and Farm Sales Manager. He was a key player in developing the concept of Trade Talk at the NAFB Convention and served as chairman of the event for several years.

2012 NAFB Convention Photo Album

NAFB

Case IH Announces Axial-Flow Combine

Jamie Johansen

During the National Association of Farm Broadcasting convention in Kansas City, MO. I had the opportunity to talk with Nathan Weinkauf, Combine Marketing Manager for Case IH. He was really excited to share about their new Axial-Flow Combines that will be coming out in 2013. This new option for making farming easier for producers is a redesign of the industry-leading cab. It also has a new folding auger with an industry-exclusive pivoting spout option.

“We are talking about the brand new Axial-Flow 30 Series combine that will be coming out to our dealerships next march. We have been working for the last few years with our customers developing the next evolution for our new combine cab. We know our operators spend a lot of time in these machines and we want to make sure comfort, convenience, intuitive operations and harvest control are some of the key things we put into this industry leading cab.”

This state-of-the-art cab has more fingertip controls, docking stations for laptop, iPad and iPod, as well as power outlets within arms reach. To top it all off the new Axial-Flow cab is equipped with a portable electric refrigerator. This new cab might be more comfortable than sitting in your recliner infront of the TV.

Listen to my interview with Nathan here: Nathan Weinkauf - Case IH

2012 NAFB Convention Photo Album

Audio, Events, Farming, NAFB, Precision Agriculture

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • A Purdue University farm near the West Lafayette campus now has about 10 acres of certified organic land, putting researchers in a stronger position to help develop more effective organic farming practices.
  • Farm Journal Media will once again sponsor key educational and promotional activities at AG CONNECT Expo & Summit, scheduled for Jan. 29-31, 2013.
  • Woodruff Sweitzer has added Katana Ewbank as account manager.
  • Global food and agribusiness consultancy HighQuest Partners has recently launched the inaugural issue of Global AgInvesting Quarterly, a publication that seeks to be the best source of research, insights, and market observation available to all stakeholders interested in investing in agriculture related sectors.
Zimfo Bytes

WineHawk Rules the Sky with Precision

John Davis

One of the most popular displays at the recent American Society of Farm Managers & Rural Appraisers annual meeting along with the AgroNomics Conference and Trade Show was a company called WineHawk Labs. So popular, in fact, that Chuck could only catch up with them after he got back home! But he was finally able to talk with Pat Lohman, WineHawk’s VP for Business Development, who explained a little bit about the company’s hawk-looking drone for ag purposes.

“We make a two-pound, autonomous drone that is centered around data collection,” Lohman said. He added that while there is a lot of great technology out there that analyzes and collects data, WineHawk is different in that it is offering a better collection platform. “We can actually pick up imagery down to two millimeters per pixel, so we’re looking at a lot higher resolution shots than you’d find with satellites or manned aviation. Plus we can carry a multi-spectral camera.”

Plus, the system is pretty much autonomous… just launch it, and the WineHawk senses where to go and even comes back to its launch site and lands automatically before the batteries runs out. And if you think it looks like a real hawk, that’s on purpose. It will help scare away any birds that might eat your crop, especially fruit crops.

Listen to Chuck’s interview with Pat here: Interview with Pat Lohman, WineHawk Labs

2012 Agronomics Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the ASFMRA Agronomics Conference is sponsored by Halderman Farm Management.

Agribusiness, Audio, Precision Agriculture