The crop protection and specialty pesticide industries are celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Ag Container Recycling Council.
The International Production & Processing Expo will serve as the umbrella name for the new U.S. Poultry & Egg Association, American Feed Industry Association, and American Meat Institute 2013 Expo in Atlanta.
China’s future economic performance and the potential implications for U.S. and global agriculture will be examined at the Farm Foundation Forum on Wednesday, March 14, 2012. Email julie@farmfoundation.org for more.
A free mobile app that tracks agricultural commodity markets, weather and news is now available for the Android platform. Get AgReader for Android free.
The farm and ranch families of Farm Bureau last year raised more than $556,273 and donated more than 10 million pounds of food to the program operated through Feeding America, a total of nearly 13 million meals. In addition, farmers and ranchers tallied 10,159 volunteer hours assisting hunger groups through Harvest for All in 2011.
Members of Farm Bureau’s Young Farmers & Ranchers program spearhead Harvest for All across the country, but all facets of Farm Bureau contribute to the effort. For the first time, 20 state Farm Bureaus heeded the call to action. The joint effort between Farm Bureau and Feeding America is a national community action program through which farmers and ranchers can help ensure every American enjoys the bounty they produce.
Since Harvest for All was launched nine years ago, Farm Bureau families have gathered more than 49 million pounds of food, logged nearly 60,000 volunteer hours and raised more than $1.8 million in donations. Combined, the food and money donations amount to more than 55 million meals.
Commodity Classic is a family affair in more ways than one. I think I saw more cute babies this year than ever. This was a photo I couldn’t resist. You can find others in our online photo album too.
It’s time for the ZimmComm team to take a break since the media room is closing and I think we’re last ones in it. But that doesn’t mean that there won’t be more coverage of this year’s show. We’ve got to edit some photos and interviews and will get to that just as soon as we can.
What’s really new for NAWG is a brand new scholarship program with BASF just announced at the Classic, and CEO Dana Peterson says they are happy about the scholarship but sad about the circumstances that brought it about. “We are pleased to join with BASF to honor a longtime friend of wheat, Mr. Jerry Minore. He passed away just recently from a sudden illness and we were sorry to see him go,” Dana said.
Because Jerry just passed away less than a month ago, the details on the scholarship are still being developed, but Dana says they will be announced soon and available on the NAWG website.
Dana says they are thrilled with the record turnout of over 6,000 producers at Classic this year and pleased to celebrate their fifth year being one of the commodity groups that join together for the event.
I also spoke with U.S. Wheat president Alan Tracy at the wheat industry booth and he told me how excited they are about export opportunities in Asia, noting that they just celebrated their golden anniversary in Philippines. “In Asia, we continue to do very well,” he said. “I just returned from the Philippines where we celebrated the 50th anniversary of our having an office there in Manila.”
Alan says the Philippines have become at least the 5th largest market for U.S. Wheat. “This year it’s going to be 95% of their wheat comes form the United States,” Alan said, adding that the export market makes up about half of the U.S. crop in a given year.
One of our sponsors here at Commodity Classic, BASF, gets involved in supporting the event in so many ways. One of them is to sponsor this year’s combined American Agricultural Editors Association and National Agri-Marketing Association reception. Pictured (l-r) Beth Burgy, Broadhead and NAMA President; Nadine Keutzer, BASF; Amy Ogburn, Padilla Speer Beardsley and Greg Horstmeier, DTN/The Progressive Farmer and AAEA President. As a member of both organizations I think I can speak for fellow members in saying how much we appreciate BASF’s support.
Beth made a point of saying that this combined event with AAEA is due to NAMA efforts to reach out and work with other industry organizations. This is part of the new strategic plan that we’re trying to implement starting this year. I am serving on the NAMA Exec Committee and was glad to see this collaboration come about.
During the NCGA Awards banquet at the 2012 Commodity Classic, Billy became the 17th member of the Walter Goeppinger Recruiter Hall of Fame, an honor which comes with a classy new blazer.
Billy led the way in recruiting new members for the NCGA in 2011, adding 811 Missouri corn growers and helping to push NCGA to a record membership of 37,l30. He also helped Missouri Corn get first place for both the largest number of new members and the largest percentage increase for the year.
Billy is pictured here in the center between Mickey Peterson of Minnesota, one of the first Hall of Famers, and NCGA president Garry Niemeyer.
The United Soybean Board’s CEO, John Becherer, got a little bit of love from everyone attending the Osborn Barr reception at Commodity Classic. John is receiving this year’s National Agri-Marketing Association Agribusiness Leader of the Year Award which will be officially presented to him during next month’s Agri-Marketing Conference in Kansas City. However, Osborn Barr which has worked with USB for many years invited in a number of current and former board members and others for a special recognition of John here in Nashville at Cellar One.
The highlight of the event was a new rendition of the song Ring of Fire. Accompanying the band to sing the new lyrics were the current USB Chair, Vanessa Kummer and other past Chairmen. I just happened to capture the moment on video for your viewing pleasure. I know John will really appreciate this. You’re welcome John and congratulations on your very deserved award! You’ll hear Lance Burditt, Osborn Barr, explain why John is so deserving of this award. In the photo John is responding to all the love by making a few comments.
Fighting herbicide resistant weeds depends as much on the proper application techniques and equipment as it does on using the right products.
BASF Crop Protection has partnered with application technology specialist Dr. Bob Wolf, retired Professor Emeritus of Kansas State University, to help growers get the most out of their pesticides by using best application practices with the On Target Application Academy.
Dr. Wolf says the program focuses on research and education of applicators to “maximize control of weeds and minimize spray drift.”
One of the educational tools he uses is a spray table that is designed to allow applicators to actually see the differences between spray nozzles, the droplet size and drift produced. “I encourage them to put water in their sprayer on a day when they’re not busy, turn the sprayer on, get out and walk along and do some comparisons,” he said.
On Target Application Academies will be held throughout 2012 at industry and state events. Sessions will be about two hours long and cover a number of topics including best practices for self applications, nozzle selection, adjuvants, calibration, sprayer set up, equipment clean out, and more. More information on dates and locations will be available from BASF representatives and on the BASF website.
Listen to or download an interview with Bob Wolf here: Dr. Bob Wolf
Watch Dr. Wolf’s demonstration of the spray table during the BASF “Science Behind” event held in conjunction with Commodity Classic in Nashville:
The general session of the Commodity Classic is not complete without a farm report containing market prices and the latest news. That was done once again this year by the President of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting. This year that’s Tom Steever, Brownfield Ag News.
BTW. Session emcee Mark Mayfield remarked afterward that the farm reporter is not supposed to be funnier than the comedian. Watch the video to see why.
We just got the All Clear on a tornado warning that happened at about 3:45pm. I was in the trade show area when it happened. I certainly hope the tornado that was sighted caused no damage or injuries. We’ve got some severe weather still on the outlook for later today too.
Everyone got herded into a very large and empty basement level ballroom in the area near the trade show. I had to risk the hotel staff wrath to go get my computer out of the media room so I could get this posted. Unfortunately, they said this will probably happen again this evening. We’ve got that to look forward to. Now it’s reception time!
The farm and ranch families of Farm Bureau 
What’s really new for NAWG is a brand new 
During the NCGA Awards banquet at the 
