Eggmeister is the Egg Mascot

Chuck Zimmerman

Thanks to the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association for providing a photo of the winner of the
name the International Poultry Expo egg mascot contest.

The International Poultry Expo’s egg mascot has been officially named Eggmeister! After receiving over 1,350 name submissions, the list was narrowed down to five names. On Thursday, January 26, the name with the most votes was announced during the 2012 International Poultry Expo in Atlanta, GA. The event was sponsored by the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association (USPOULTRY) and the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau (ACVB).

Dave Roets, Prime Equipment Company, submitted the winning entry. The iPad was presented to Roets by John Starkey, president of USPOULTRY. Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau’s Cookie Smoak, director of convention services; Ellie Westman Chin, vice president; and Mark Sussman, director of trade show sales, assisted in the presentation. The remaining four participants will receive a 2012 souvenir t-shirt.

For those who may not know Eggmiester’s story before he joined the International Poultry Expo, following is a brief history of Eggmeister’s life: Read More

Ag Groups, Poultry, Poultry Expo

Wrapping Up International Poultry Expo

Chuck Zimmerman

The 2012 International Poultry and Feed Expo exceeded expectations. Here are some statistics on this year’s event.

The 2012 International Poultry Expo and International Feed Expo drew over 20,500 poultry and feed industry leaders from all over the world. In addition, the show had 895 exhibitors as compared to 900 last year. Sponsored by U.S. Poultry & Egg Association and the American Feed Industry Association, the annual Expo is the world’s largest poultry and feed industry event of its kind.

To get a wrap up on the event I spoke with John Starkey, President, U.S. Poultry & Egg Association. He says, “It’s been a great show for us.” Holding on to about the same size as last year considering the difficult year many had in 2011 makes them very pleased. Looking ahead to having the American Meat Institute show co-located in 2013 has them pretty excited. He says that all three industry organizations will be taking their net revenues from the show and putting it back into the industry.

Listen to my interview with John here: Interview with John Starkey

2012 International Poultry Expo Photo Album

Coverage of the 2012 International Poultry Expo is sponsored by Novus International
Ag Groups, Audio, Poultry Expo

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Wheat Growers promotes Stephen Briggs to Senior Vice President of Agronomy and Corporate Marketing and Roger Krueger to Senior Vice President of Grain.
  • Terry Sekel joined Rural Media Group, Inc. as senior vice president of advertising sales; Andrew Eder joined as vice president of sales; Sandy Lawson as director of equine sales; and, Sally Stith-Burdette as account representative.
  • The National High School Rodeo Association has joined the Alltech Ag Network on iHigh.
  • First Lady Michelle Obama and U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack unveiled the final regulations for the nation’s school lunch program.
Zimfo Bytes

BASF Presents New Herbicide Research at Weed Science Meeting

Cindy Zimmerman

Weed scientists meeting in South Carolina this week got a look at a new product in the BASF Crop Protection pipeline to help in the war against herbicide resistant weeds.

BASFDuring the 65th Annual Meeting of the Southern Weed Science Society (SWSS), BASF presented research related to Engenia™ herbicide, the company’s next-generation formulation of dicamba.

“Engenia will be an important new tool for soybean growers battling herbicide- resistant weeds, like Palmer amaranth, waterhemp and marestail,” said Paul Rea, Vice President, U.S. Crop Protection, BASF. “Research presented at the half-day symposium at SWSS showed that Engenia will provide a valuable, new herbicide option as part of a comprehensive weed control system to help growers protect their crops from yield-robbing weeds.”

Engenia will be used with the dicamba-tolerant soybean system currently in development. BASF anticipates making the Engenia submission to the regulatory agency in the United States in 2012. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approval of Engenia is anticipated prior to commercialization of Monsanto’s Genuity® Roundup Ready 2 Yield® dicamba-tolerant soybean system. U.S. commercialization of the new system for soybeans is expected mid-decade with cotton, corn and canola to follow.

BASF, Crop Protection

Boehringer Ingelheim to Sponsor World Livestock Auctioneer Championship

Cindy Zimmerman

LMASold! To Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc. (BIVI) the platinum level sponsorship for this year’s Livestock Marketing Association 2012 World Livestock Auctioneer Championship (WLAC).

The WLAC, now in its 49th year, is considered to be the “World Series and Super Bowl” of the livestock auctioneering profession.

“We are very pleased to be working with a worldwide leader in cattle vaccine products, a company that shares our members’ concerns about livestock health,” said LMA President David Macedo of BIVI’s highest level sponsorship of the competition.

BIVI logo“We realized that the livestock auction market owner has a key role in the value that producers capture for the cattle they sell and has a significant influence on the health protocols that producers follow,” BIVI Brand Manager Monica Porter said. “We want to partner with LMA members to help educate cattle producers on ways to improve their end product through flexible health programs, like our Range Ready Quality Feeder Calf program.”

The 2012 WLAC will be held June 16 at Turlock Livestock Auction Yard, Inc., Turlock, Calif. Thirty-three contestants will compete at an actual livestock sale and three titlists will be selected – world, reserve and runner-up champion. The Championship will be broadcast live at LMAAuctions.com.

Boehringer Ingelheim, Livestock

Foundation for Agriculture Book of the Year

Cindy Zimmerman

Presenting accurate information to children about where their food comes from is the goal of the 2012 American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture “Book of the Year” – “How Did That Get In My Lunchbox? The Story of Food.”

afbf book of the yearAuthor Chris Butterworth received the Foundation’s fifth annual “Book of the Year” award during the recent AFBF annual meeting. The book shows young readers how each ingredient made its journey to their lunchbox with illustrations by artist Lucia Gaggiotti that highlight many aspects of farming and include information on food safety and nutrition.

Butterworth, a native of England, is the author of more than 70 nonfiction books for children, covering a diverse range of issues.

“There’s always something else to find out about, and writing about a thing is the best way to find out about it,” said Butterworth. “I started writing information books when my own children were little. I couldn’t find the sort of book I wanted them to read, so I wrote one of my own.”

The Book of the Year award is part of the foundation’s effort to identify “accurate ag books,” a data base that now includes more than 400 books for children, teenagers and adults. In addition to their accuracy, Book of the Year selections are educational, reflect farmers’ and ranchers’ love for the land and what they do, create positive public perceptions about agriculture, inspire readers to learn more and touch their readers’ lives as well as tell the farmer’s story.

AFBF, Education

Waiting For Massive New Feed/Food Safety Regulations

Chuck Zimmerman

The feed industry is facing “the mother of all laws,” the Food Safety Modernization Act. That’s according to Richard Sellers, American Feed Industry Association, one of the sponsoring organization this week for the combined International Poultry Expo and International Feed Expo. Pictured are staff members from AFIA including Richard on the left.

Richard says this law, which has not yet gone into effect, will create massive regulations for the feed industry and that it will be incredibly costly. Apparently FDA has until this summer to come out with the regs to go along with the law. The law was signed by President Obama a little over a year ago. Of course the industry has been proactively working on a safer feed and food supply for years with the Safe Feed/Safe Food Certification Program. Makes you wonder why we need more laws and regulations doesn’t it?

Listen to my interview with Richard here: Interview with Richard Sellers

2012 International Poultry Expo Photo Album

Coverage of the 2012 International Poultry Expo is sponsored by Novus International
Ag Groups, Audio, Feed, Food, Poultry Expo

Egg Products Inspection Act Amendment

Chuck Zimmerman

It’s now officially introduced in the House as H.R. 3798. It’s an amendment to the Egg Products Inspection Act. “To provide for a uniform national standard for the housing and treatment of egg-laying hens, and for other purposes.” And it’s very controversial within the ag industry. This proposed legislation which has been crafted as a result of last year’s agreement between HSUS and the United Egg Producers (pdf) has some pretty strong opposition according to a release from the American Farm Bureau Federation. “Other organizations joining AFBF in raising serious concerns about the bill include the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the National Pork Producers Council, the National Chicken Council, the National Turkey Federation and the National Milk Producers Federation.” The House bill is sponsored by Rep. Kurt Schrader [D-OR5] and co-sponsored by Jeff Denham [R-CA19], Sam Farr [D-CA17] and Elton Gallegly [R-CA24].

To learn why and how United Egg Producers worked with HSUS on this I spoke with Gene Gregory, President/CEO, UEP, seen on right with Rod Smith, Feedstuffs. Gene says the agreement came about from a proactive approach by UEP to HSUS to find a way to get rid of all the state ballot initiatives on this subject. The organizations have been adversaries in the past. Surprisingly, he says, they agreed. He says it’s all about trying to save the egg farming industry and UEP has worked to make sure it only addresses eggs and no other commodity. He says they would withdraw support if that were to change.

But, according to AFBF, “The flawed legislation, H.R. 3798, introduced by Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.), would set a dangerous precedent by establishing federally mandated egg production practices and banning a number of other proven science-based egg production methods, according to AFBF President Bob Stallman.” So there is some obvious industry disagreement on this issue.

Listen to my interview with Gene to get more of his perspective, especially as it relates to concerns of other ag groups here: Interview with Gene Gregory

2012 International Poultry Expo Photo Album

Coverage of the 2012 International Poultry Expo is sponsored by Novus International
Ag Groups, Audio, Poultry Expo

The Marcel Iron

Melissa Sandfort

If you are reading this post and you’re a female, think back over the years to all the things you’ve done to your hair. Possibly cut it, dyed it, crimped it, curled it, permed it, hot roller’d it, straightened it, and if you had really kinky hair back in the 70s, maybe even used a clothes iron to iron it straight. I’m guilty of quite a few of these things, except ironing my hair.

And to think, the art of hair styling dates back to the 1870s when the smooth, center-parted styles of the Victorian era went “out of style” and a Parisian hairdresser M. Marcel Grateau created a new, natural-looking wave by turning a curling iron upside down. In 1872, Marcel had introduced his famous Marcel wave using a heated iron that imitated the natural curl of the hair.

Basically, you heated these tongs in a kerosene lamp and it made curls instead of a crimp. The one pictured here on the top is a Marcel iron, the bottom two are curling irons, one with a folding handle to make it easier to carry when traveling. Same with the irons – they were heated in a lamp and done one curl at a time.

We’ve come a long way since the Marcel iron…my flat iron has a “boost” button that heats it up in 10 seconds. Seems that beauty took a little longer back in the 1800s.

Until we walk again …

Uncategorized

Novus/Verenium Collaboration Yields First Enzyme Candidate

Chuck Zimmerman

The collaboration between Novus International and Verenium has yielded its first fruit, “the selection of a next-generation phytase as the first enzyme candidate from the two companies’ strategic collaboration to advance toward commercialization.” The strategic partnership began in June of last year to develop a suite of new enzyme products from Verenium’s late-stage pipeline in the animal nutrition and health area globally. Pictured is Novus President/CEO Thad Simons (right) with Arne Solbak and Jonny Lyon, Verenium.

“This partnership has enabled us to create enzyme solutions for nutritionists, producers and others who want to optimize nutrition. This product is geared toward use in poultry, pork and aquaculture product,” notes Novus International President and Chief Executive Officer Thad Simons. “We’re pleased to be a valued partner in optimizing nutrition and, as a result, lowering feed costs for our customers through cutting-edge enzyme solutions like this one.”

Reducing the amount of phytate-bound phosphorus is key in helping livestock producers reduce the impact of animal production on the environment. The phytase enzyme being developed as part of this collaboration will help nutritionists and producers feed more efficiently and get the most out of their rations.

In addition to the next-generation phytase, the collaboration also has three additional products in late-stage development targeted at this market.

I spoke with Thad during the International Poultry Expo to learn more about the collaboration between these two companies. He also discussed the new Novus Triple S Bottom Line, Solutions, Service, Sustainability.

2012 International Poultry Expo Photo Album

Coverage of the 2012 International Poultry Expo is sponsored by Novus International
Agribusiness, Novus International, Poultry Expo, Video