Ag Secretary Vilsack at World Dairy Expo

Chuck Zimmerman

It’s opening day at World Dairy Expo. We’ve got beautiful weather and we’ve got a special visitor.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack is holding an open town hall meeting. Here he is being welcomed by Wisconsin Secretary of Agriculture, Ben Brancel.

I’ll update this post with audio from the session here as soon as I can after the meeting is over. It is an hour and a half meeting and then the media will have a chance to visit with him.

The Secretary’s will also be doing a walk through of Expo today as well.

Post Update: You can listen to Secretary Vilsack’s Town Hall at World Dairy Expo or download here: Sec. Vilsack Town Hall

You can listen to and download his presser right after the session here: Sec. Vilsack with Press

2012 World Dairy Expo Photo Album

Audio, USDA, World Dairy Expo

Expiration of the 2008 Farm Bill

Melissa Sandfort

The National Corn Growers Association has joined with other agricultural organizations on the following joint statement on the expiration yesterday of the 2008 farm bill:

The 2008 law governing many of our nation’s farm policies expired on Sunday, September 30th, and the 2012 Farm Bill needed to replace it is bottled up in Congress. While the Senate and the House Agriculture Committees were both able to pass their versions of the new farm bill, the full House was unable to do so. While expiration of farm bill program authorities has little or no effect on some important programs, it has terminated a number of important programs and will very adversely affect many farmers and ranchers, as well as ongoing market development and conservation efforts.

Congress will return in mid-November for a lame-duck session prior to final adjournment in December. We will work to have the first order of business for the House of Representatives be to consider a new Farm Bill. We are urging our members to seek out their House members between now and the elections and remind them of the consequences of not having a new bill in place prior to adjournment at the end of the year.

American Farm Bureau Federation
American Pulse Association
American Soybean Association
National Association of Conservation Districts
National Association of Wheat Growers
National Barley Growers Association
National Corn Growers Association
National Council of Farmer Cooperatives
National Farmers Union
National Milk Producers Federation
National Sunflower Association
United Fresh Produce Association
USA Dry Pea & Lentil Council
U.S. Canola Association
Western Growers Association

AFBF, Agribusiness, ASA, Farm Bill, NAWG, NCGA

Ruhland named 2013 Eisenhower USA Fellow

Melissa Sandfort

On Sept. 27, General Colin L. Powell, USA (Ret), Chairman of Eisenhower Fellowships, announced that the organization will send eight U.S. citizens abroad in 2013 as Eisenhower USA Fellows. Among the eight selected Fellows is Polly Ruhland, Chief Executive Officer of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board.

The fellowship provides Ruhland with the resources and programmatic support to create and execute an intensive four- to five-week program studying differentiation of U. S. beef in Japan and Taiwan. Working closely with beef checkoff contractor U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF), Ruhland will meet and work with key industry contacts to evaluate techniques and messages that would help U.S. producers better distinguish U.S. beef in both markets.

Agribusiness

World Dairy Expo Preview

Chuck Zimmerman

Let’s get a preview of this year’s Expo which I will be covering this week. Before heading out on an SCR Dairy Farm Tour this morning I spent a little time in the media room and visited with Janet Keller, Communications & Public Relations Manager, World Dairy Expo.

Janet says the show has a very large commercial exhibits increase with over 850 exhibitors! One of the areas that has made it possible is the New Holland Trade Center. This is a tent at the Alliant Center that has 26,000 square feet of space to house new exhibitors. The animals are settled in with over 2,500 dairy cattle registered for showing this year. Opening day has some added excitement with the planned visit of U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. I’ll be covering that and have some audio for you here soon afterward.

You can listen to my interview with Janet here: Interview with Janet Keller

Here’s where I’ll be posting photos: 2012 World Dairy Expo Photo Album

Audio, Dairy, World Dairy Expo

NAFB Foundation Offers Farm Broadcast History Prints

Cindy Zimmerman

The National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) Foundation has commissioned the first of a series of high quality artwork entitled “Farm Broadcasting Through the Decades” to celebrate the role of farm broadcasting in the lives of farmers, ranchers and rural communities.

“We want to highlight the relationship of farmers with farm broadcasting,” says Ken Anderson, President of the NAFB Foundation. “The voices of farm broadcasters have been counted upon and trusted by generations of farmers for more than 80 years.”

The first painting in the series is a pastel called “Harvest Forecast” and was crafted by Gin Lammert, an exceptional artist from Pulaski, Iowa. Set in the 1930’s, it depicts a farmer sitting by an open window, listening to his radio, as a thunderstorm moves toward a ripe wheat crop. “Since I do pastels with my fingers, and not a brush, I could feel the tension of the moment for the farmer,” says Lammert.

The NAFB Foundation will produce 250 signed and numbered prints of Lammert’s work that will be offered this fall to broadcasters, industry and collectors to commemorate the first decade of farm broadcasting. All donations will help further the mission of the foundation, which is to “support efforts to add value to the farm broadcast industry through education, promotion, marketing and research”.

You can order the first print online now. Print will also be available for purchase at the NAFB Convention November 7 – 9 in Kansas City, Missouri.

NAFB

Senator Roberts Urges FDA to Approve Aflatoxin Waivers

Cindy Zimmerman

Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS) is urging the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to quickly approved waivers to allowing blending of corn with aflatoxin to increase the feed supply for livestock producers hard hit by ongoing drought.

In a letter sent to FDA’s Department of Health and Human Services last week, Roberts noted that aflatoxin is impacting the quality of the corn that would normally be used for livestock feed in many drought stricken areas. “At certain levels, aflatoxin can cause fatalities when fed to livestock and poultry, but in trace amounts, it is not harmful to use in feed. However, the Food and Drug Administration does not permit elevators and grain handlers to blend loads of corn to ensure that aflatoxin levels are safe for feeding purposes,” said Roberts.

“Given the shortage of feed available this year and the extreme hardship this shortage is causing in the livestock and poultry sectors, I strongly urge the Food and Drug Administration to quickly review any corn blending waiver requests received for livestock and poultry sectors,” he added. “I understand that acceptable aflatoxin levels for the dairy industry are significantly different than for other livestock and poultry sectors, and I also urge you to consider this difference in providing waivers.”

Senator Roberts is ranking member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry.

Feed, Livestock, Poultry

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

Zimfo Bytes

A Look Ahead at NAMA 2013

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast 367The gavel has been passed and on January 1 Paul Redhage, FMC Agricultural Products, will be the new President of the National Agri-Marketing Association. During the NAMA Fall Conference I got to visit with Paul.

Paul is looking forward to having fun in 2013 and says that the whole networking aspect of NAMA will mean we’ll all learn a lot from each other. There is a lot of room for growth in the membership of NAMA so one of Paul’s major focuses is to build on the work of the membership committee to continue to create awareness of the organization and what it offers.

Paul says the executive committee will continue to work on the strategic plan by taking a new look at it and put in place some ways to measure how we’re doing. He says there are many other things to work on and that includes professional development. Listen in on our conversation to hear what Paul sees ahead in 2013.

Listen to this week’s ZimmCast here: A NAMA Look Ahead

2012 NAMA Fall Conference Photo Album

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.

Agribusiness, Audio, FMC, NAMA

Get 2013 Agri-Marketing Conference on Your Calendar

Chuck Zimmerman

Here’s a heads up for the 2013 Agri-Marketing Conference. It will be held once again in Kansas City, MO. We’re going to be “Forging New Frontiers” from April 17 to April 19 at the Sheraton Crown Center.

To get a little bit of a preview of what the committee is doing I visited with Scott McClure, Brighton Agency, during the NAMA Fall Conference. Scott is Chair of the conference committee and says they’ve been working on the program identifying key speakers, etc. The surveys from this year’s conference are being used to make sure attendee feedback is taken into consideration. He says the challenge is to build on the excellent conference this year.

You can listen to my interview with Scott here: Interview with Scott McClure

2012 NAMA Fall Conference Photo Album

Agencies, Audio, NAMA

What Future Agriculture Leaders Need

Chuck Zimmerman

Breakfast in China, afternoon presentation in Minneapolis at the NAMA Fall Conference. That was the schedule on Wednesday for Alltech’s Aidan Connolly!

Aidan was the closing keynote speaker for the conference with a presentation called, “Through the Lens of a Leader.” His task was to look at what agriculture is facing today and what lies ahead. You get a clue of what one of those things is when you consider his travel schedule. Agribusiness is a worldwide business now and that means dealing with different languages and cultures. Aidan says “agriculture has never been so key to the world” and “food is a conversation that everyone wants to have.” He says that future leaders in agriculture need to be ready to travel, understand what’s going on in China, Brazil and India, have a sense of curiosity and a willingness to use new technology.

You can listen to my interview with Aidan here: Interview with Aidan Connolly

2012 NAMA Fall Conference Photo Album

Agribusiness, Alltech, Audio, NAMA