One of our sponsors for the 2012 Conservation in Action Tour is John Deere. Making some opening remarks tonight was Matt Weinheimer, Division Sales Mgr., Mid-South. He says John Deere has been a member of CTIC since it was founded and he congratulates the organization on celebrating 30 years.
Listen to Matt’s remarks here: Welcome from Matt Weinheimer
2012 Conservation in Action Tour Photo Album
AgWired coverage of the CTIC Indian Creek Watershed Field Tour is sponsored by AGROTAIN
It was a big treat for this blues loving AgriBlogger to hear Watermelon Slim tonight at the 2012 Conservation in Action Tour opening reception. He told us before playing that he had farmed and felt a special connection to the audience he had tonight.
Bill “Watermelon Slim” Homans has built a remarkable reputation with his raw, impassioned intensity. HARP Magazine wrote “From sizzling slide guitar…to nitty-gritty harp blowing…to a gruff, resonating Okie twang, Slim delivers acutely personal workingman blues with both hands on the wheel of life, a bottle of hooch in his pocket, and the Bible on the passenger seat.” Paste Magazine writes “He’s one hell of a bottleneck guitarist, and he’s got that cry in his voice that only the greatest singers in the genre have had before him.”
I recorded one of his songs for you and when time allows have one on video to share later. His special style is fascinating. At one point he was using an empty Woodford Reserve mini bottle for his slide!
Listen to my Watermelon Slim here: A Taste of Watermelon Slim
2012 Conservation in Action Tour Photo Album
AgWired coverage of the CTIC Indian Creek Watershed Field Tour is sponsored by AGROTAIN
It’s registration time at the hotel desk for the 2012 Conservation in Action Tour. I spoke with Rex Martin, Syngenta, about the program we’re about to embark upon. Rex is the Chairman of the Board for the Conservation Information Technology Center and is pictured with CTIC staff.
According to Rex this is the 5th annual conservation tour conducted by CTIC. It’s a full day of farm stops to see different types of conservation with a focus on water management and wildlife habitat. He says we’ll visit a farm with some interesting history but also has one of the best water management systems he’s ever seen. We’ll also have time for networking with farmers as well as government officials and others who are very interested to see and learn more about conservation today.
Listen to my interview with Rex here: Interview with Rex Martin
I have started an online photo album for your enjoyment which you can find here. I’ll be adding to it when I can. 2012 Conservation in Action Tour Photo Album
AgWired coverage of the CTIC Indian Creek Watershed Field Tour is sponsored by AGROTAINOur latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “Which group should restaurants consider experts on animal care?” Recently many folks in agriculture participated in an online thank you campaign for Domino’s Pizza. Why? Because the restaurant chain made a decision based on good humane animal practices and did not give in to the demands of the animal activist group HSUS. According to our poll 48% said Farmers, 35% said Veterinarians, 16% said Ag Industry, 1% said Activists and no one selected Government. Sounds like good common sense response to me. So take notice all you restaurant chains. If you need advice and want to do the right thing for your customers and the folks who produce safe, humanely produced food, ask the experts and not people with an agenda.
Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, “Is Atrazine lawsuit settlement good for farmers?” A lawsuit against Syngenta related to the herbicide was has been settled with an offer of over $100 million by the company, even thought there has been no evidence of harm in drinking water caused by the product and the plaintiffs in the lawsuit acknowledged they had not commissioned any research on the subject or seen any new research to the contrary either. What do you think?
ZimmPoll is sponsored by Rhea+Kaiser, a full-service advertising/public relations agency.
When I hear that it’s time to get “back to the grind,” I think of going back to work. For the corn industry, Back to the Grind is the theme of the 2012 Corn Utilization Technology Conference.
With a theme of “Back to the Grind,” CUTC will feature the cutting-edge technologies and new uses that continually improve and dynamically change the corn industry.
The conference will debut a third tier of presentation options offering participants the opportunity to hear the latest on mycotoxin research. This new offering has been added to complement the work of the Aflatoxin Mitigation Center of Excellence, which continues to emphasis the importance of developing methods to mitigate and control mycotoxin development in all phases of production and processing.
So I’ll be going back to the grind again this year for the conference where I’ll be conducting interviews with researchers and presenters. Some of my coverage will be featured here on AgWired but most will be appearing on Corn Commentary, the award winning blog of the National Corn Growers Association.
Next week’s event is just one of several where you’ll find members of the ZimmComm team. Cindy will be attending a BASF media event and World Pork Expo and Jamie will be attending the Fuel Ethanol Workshop. We’ll be putting a lot of time on the agriblogging highway!
It’s time for the 2012 Conservation Technology Information Center’s annual Conservation in Action Tour. I’m heading out on the agriblogging highway bright and early in the morning for the Mississippi Delta region. CTIC is partnering with the Delta Farmers Advocating Resource Management (Delta F.A.R.M.) to host tour. Delta F.A.R.M. is an “association of growers and landowners who strive to implement recognized agricultural practices that will conserve, restore and enhance the Northwest Mississippi environment, recently celebrated 1 million acres enrolled in its conservation programs.”
I’d like to thank CTIC and AGROTAIN for once again making my coverage of this important event possible. I’ll be collecting interviews and photos from the tour which will take place on Thursday.
The Wisconsin Agri-Business Association is proud to announce the employment of Tom Bressner as the Executive Director of the new association.
Tom Bressner is a native of Pontiac, Ill., where he grew up on a corn/soybean/dairy farm, raising and showing Registered Guernsey Dairy Cattle Tom holds a B.S. Degree in Agri-Business Management from Illinois State University. Prior to working in Wisconsin, Tom spent over 30 years working for agricultural cooperatives, with over 23 of those years as general manager. Since March 2011, Tom has served as the Interim Executive Director of the Wisconsin Agri-Service Association. He currently lives in rural Moweaqua, Ill., but plans to relocate to the Madison area.
It’s quiet around here. And because I was going through withdrawal from the incessant watering and feeding I usually have to do, I decided to clean out the horse’s water tank and scoop the poo from inside the barn where they hang out in the shade. It was much more enjoyable this time because while the horses are gone, so are the flies.
Did I mention both of our girls are off meeting a new stud? That’s right, a stud of the same breed/color as Thelma and she must have liked him because she’s already pregnant again! Less than a month after having Surprise (the new filly), she’s with child again. I wonder if she’s tired yet.
Now if it would only rain so the grass would grow for her in our pasture while she’s gone.
So about April next year, we’ll have another new face in the pasture and I hope it’s as easy for her as it was with Surprise.
Until we walk again …
Editor’s Note: I hope to resume audio with my grandfather sometime soon. He’s been under the weather and didn’t think his voice was “blog quality”, so our interviews have taken a short hiatus. Hope to be back to AgWalking shortly!
USDA is pondering the future of crop report release times in light of movement toward 24-hour trading.
USDA is reviewing release times for several major statistical reports due to recent changes in market hours by major commodity exchanges. The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) and the World Agricultural Outlook Board (WAOB), the USDA entities responsible for the reports, will seek public comment on the release times and procedures of their key statistical reports. In the coming weeks, USDA expects to publish a notice in the Federal Register advising the public of the comment period. USDA is reviewing release times of the following statistical reports: World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates, Acreage, Cattle, Cattle on Feed, Crop Production, Grain Stocks, Prospective Plantings, Quarterly Hogs and Pigs, and Small Grain Summary. The current USDA release times of 8:30 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. ET will remain in effect until further notice.
“It is important that USDA continue to ensure the integrity of its report release process, particularly as global exchanges move closer to 24-hour trading,” said USDA Chief Economist Joe Glauber. “To this end, USDA is reviewing our procedures and will solicit public input to determine the needs of those who use our data.”
Some options being considered include changing the reports to the afternoon or running them on weekends to take them out of live trading time. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange just started electronic trading 21 hours a day and intends to offer expanded floor trading hours for CBOT grain and oilseed futures and options during major crop reports, pending CFTC certification. According to CME, the floor trading open would be “changed to 7:20 a.m. CST from 9:30 a.m. CST on mornings of specified reports beginning June 12, 2012 for the USDA WASDE and Crop Production reports.”
In a recent letter to the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the National Corn Growers Association requested a 30-day public comment period before grain traders are allowed 22-hour-per-day electronic trading of grain and oilseed futures contracts. NCGA believes it is important for CFTC to take input and further analyze the proposals from the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and the CME Group. “As currently formulated, both ICE’s plans for new contracts with greatly expanded trading hours and the CME Group’s plans to expand hours raise serious issues that potentially place the Nation’s corn growers at a marketing disadvantage,” wrote NCGA President Garry Niemeyer.
NCGA is concerned that extended trading hours could lead to “extreme” market volatility and problems for growers who track the futures to make marketing decisions.
