POTNAFB Interviews POTUS

Cindy Zimmerman

The president of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting had the opportunity to interview the President of the United States today about a new report on the rural economy and farm policy.

NAFB President Tom Steever of Brownfield Ag News not only asked President Obama about the Council of Economic Advisers report – Strengthening Rural Communities: Lessons From a Growing Farm Economy – but they also chatted about the 2012 Farm Bill.

Tom did his usual sterling job – congrats to him, Brownfield and NAFB for getting this opportunity.

Listen to the POTNAFB/POTUS interview here: NAFB President Interviews President Obama

Audio, Farm Bill, NAFB

“Decade of the Bean” Focuses on Higher Yields

Melissa Sandfort

Building on the successful launch of Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield trait technology, Monsanto Company is poised to deliver a dozen new soybean traits in the next decade, helping farmers boost yield to meet the growing global demands for soybeans.

The 2010s have been coined the “Decade of the Bean” because Monsanto has a mix of 12 biotech and breeding traits in its soybean research and development pipeline that are targeted to give farmers the tools they need to help maximize their yield opportunity. Global demand for soybeans is driving the need for farmers to increase yields, and Monsanto has made significant investments in soybean breeding and biotechnology and in improving agronomic practices.

Advances resulting from the company’s new product soybean pipeline support Monsanto’s goal of helping farmers double crop yields by 2030 to meet this growing world demand. These innovations will be available only in varieties containing the company’s second-generation soybean trait technology – Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield.

Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield trait technology and advanced breeding techniques deliver the offensive punch while traits like aphid-tolerance and Phytophthora root rot resistance discovered via breeding efforts provide the defensive characteristics that protect yield. With tools like marker-assisted breeding and soybean chipping technology, Monsanto’s R&D organization is bringing products that are expected to deliver high-yield potential every year.

Agribusiness, Biotech, Soybean

Those Funny Canadians!

Cindy Zimmerman

“I’m Sexy and I Know it” has to be one of the most parodied songs ever, but here’s a new one with a dairy farm theme from a couple guys in Sussex, New Brunswick – “From Sussex and I know it.” Already almost 400,000 views since May 31!

Dairy, Video

Wrapping Up Conservation in Action Tour

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast 353It’s time to wrap up my coverage of the 2012 Conservation in Action Tour. To do so I’m sharing a couple of interviews I did at the end of the tour.

To start with you’ll hear Danny Murphy, Mississippi soybean grower and First Vice President of the American Soybean Association talk about what he saw and learned during this year’s tour. Then you’ll hear Pauley Bradley, John Deere, who is also on the board of the Conservation Technology Information Center, talk about why this year’s tour was “the best tour ever.”

Listen to this week’s ZimmCast here: Conservation in Action Tour Wrap-up

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.

2012 Conservation in Action Tour Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the CTIC Indian Creek Watershed Field Tour is sponsored by AGROTAIN
Ag Groups, ASA, Audio, Conservation, CTIC, John Deere, ZimmCast

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

    Future Pork at the Expo

    Cindy Zimmerman

    From the whole hog on down to the pork bellies, there’s tons of pork served each year at World Pork Expo, but there’s also plenty of future pork on the hoof around as well.

    The annual WPX Junior National show features young people, who might possibly one day be pork producers, and young hogs, who very likely will one day be pork. And it’s a beautiful thing! You can see some photos of the champions and a list of all the winners in each category on the National Swine Registry website and on the NSR blog.

    The gestation stall issue was a shadow hanging over the expo this year, just the latest in attacks against the pork industry totally led by HSUS, which even tweeted under the #NPPCWPX hash tag this week – “It’s time the pork industry make plans for getting rid of gestation crates. Pigs & farmers both deserve better.”

    If it were up to HSUS, there would probably be no Junior National, or any Pork Expo, for that matter. Reporter Sandhya Dirks of Iowa Public Radio did a story today titled “Is the Agriculture Industry Being Bullied?” about an aspiring young livestock producer who feels he may not have a future in the industry because of HSUS. In an interview with the reporter, HSUS president Wayne Pacelle denies that he wants to eliminate animal agriculture, but then goes on to compare livestock farming to slavery.

    “Who’s really the bully when people are taking advantage of animals?” Pacelle says, adding that he doesn’t think the differences between animal rights activists and animal agriculture one of those things where “the truth is in the middle.” “I don’t think the truth was in the middle when our nation fought about child labor or slavery,” he said.

    Pacelle also accuses the aspiring producer of adopting “the party line” and predicting that the young man’s attitudes will be totally different in five years, “because there’s no future in holding the line on confinement crates.” Sounds like a threat to me.

    The young people who raise livestock for shows pamper those animals and often become very attached to them, but they know very well that they will someday be food on someone’s table. I’m reminded of a line from a very funny video from a British TV program that shows vegetarianism from the other point of view – “Pigs are expensive, pink and annoying – they’re also delicious.”

    2012 World Pork Expo Photo Album

    Pork, Swine, World Pork Expo

    2012 “Olym-Pigs” at World Pork Expo

    Cindy Zimmerman

    In honor of the big summer games coming up in just a few weeks, Automated Production Systems (APS) made the 2012 “Olym-Pigs Feastival” the theme for their annual World Pork Expo show pig this year.

    As always, the folks at APS went all out for the roll out of the roast hog on Thursday afternoon of the expo, with a torch procession and events such as “shuttle pig” and the balance Jim Beam. APS always has a great time with this, after spending all day cooking not only their hog, but also a couple of others for exhibitors.

    Watch the 2012 Olym-Pigs procession here:


    2012 World Pork Expo Photo Album

    Pork, Swine, Video, World Pork Expo

    Finding Balance Between Business and Environment

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Trudy FisherAt the closing dinner for the 2012 Conservation in Action Tour, Trudy Fisher, Executive Director of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality spoke to our group. Trudy told us that she’s a farmer’s daughter and has farming experience herself. For that reason, the things we were seeing and hearing about on the tour are near and dear to her heart.

    Trudy told the group that they don’t have to sacrifice aggressive farming practices and tremendous business opportunities to protect the environment and that “we can do it right and we are doing it right.” It’s all about finding the right balance between what’s good for business and what’s good for the environment. She says that “if we continue to do this right future generations of farmers will be able to carry on the long tradition of feeding the world from the heart of America.”

    Listen to Trudy’s remarks here: Trudy Fisher Remarks

    2012 Conservation in Action Tour Photo Album

    AgWired coverage of the CTIC Indian Creek Watershed Field Tour is sponsored by AGROTAIN
    Ag Groups, Audio, Conservation, CTIC, Environment

    Zimfo Bytes

    Melissa Sandfort

      Zimfo Bytes

    • African tobacco farmers concluded the two-day International Tobacco Growers Association Africa Regional Meeting by issuing a declaration of opposition to the proposals that threaten the region’s jobs and local economies.
    • Conley Nelson, a farmer and pork production executive from Algona, Iowa, was elected president of the 15-member National Pork Board.
    • Tiago Bonomo has been appointed President and CEO of McCormick USA.
    • AGCO launched a 150 hectare (371 acre) farm and learning center near Lusaka, Zambia.
      Zimfo Bytes

      Whopper of a Pork Burger at Pork Expo

      Cindy Zimmerman

      It may not qualify for the Guinness Book of World Records, but it will feed a lot of hungry people.

      A 260 pound pork burger was cooked at World Pork Expo on Thursday by Gary Vinsand, owner of Vinny’s BBQ in Dakota City, Iowa on behalf of Hog Slat and the National Pork Producers Council. “I made one two years ago that was 240 pounds of meat, this one’s 260,” Gary said. As far as he’s concerned, that’s a record, even though the Guinness Book of World Records won’t consider it. “They won’t recognize it because they lump it in with a hamburger,” he said.

      After a team of heavy lifters carefully slid the monster pork burger on to a 40 pound bun, Gary cut it up to donate much of it to AmeriCorps Vista’s central Iowa shelter. “We serve upwards of 100,000 meals throughout the city in a given year,” said volunteer Amy Olson, who was on hand for the event.

      Listen to or download audio from the video below with Gary and Amy here: World's Largest Pork Burger



      2012 World Pork Expo Photo Album

      Audio, Video, World Pork Expo