Harvest is over

Melissa Sandfort

Harvest season is behind us yet last night as I looked out our front window, this harvest moon graced the night sky. I did a little research about it and once every four years, it occurs in October in the northern hemisphere. Currently, the latest possible harvest moon is on October 11.

So I guess what I saw wasn’t a harvest moon, but just a brightly lit yellowish full moon.

It took my husband and I about 20 minutes of researching camera settings to get this just right so it didn’t look like a ball of fire against a black canvas. Thanks to Google, we figured it out.

That’s one of the many joys of living in the country – I feel like the moon and stars are closer to Earth here, unclouded by city lights and smog.

Until we walk again …

Uncategorized

John Deere Can Combine Sets World Record

Cindy Zimmerman

The John Deere Can-Do combine has officially set a world record.

afbf annual hawaiiThe John Deere “Can Do” project in November 2011 created a full-sized combine made entirely from food – 308,448 cans of food and 11,268 bags of food to be exact. According to Guinness® World Records, Project “Can Do” is by far the largest sculpture ever built from canned food, more than doubling the number of cans used in the previous record set two years ago.

The combine can-food sculpture depicting John Deere’s new S-Series Combine harvesting corn measured 60 feet wide, 80 feet long and 16 feet tall and weighed approximately 170 tons. It was created by John Deere to recognize the vital role that America’s farmers play in feeding the world and showcase how new equipment and technologies are helping farmers perform that role more productively and efficiently than ever.

The world-record can-food sculpture was built November 12-17 by a team of 450 John Deere volunteers including employees, retirees, employee families and friends. The structure took more than 1800 hours to build and contains more than 15 different kinds of canned food. In addition to the cans of food, the sculpture contains 11,268 bags of popcorn, peas and beans.

The sculpture was on display at the John Deere Pavilion in Moline, Illinois, until December 12 when it was dismantled and all the food was donated to River Bend Foodbank. River Bend serves families in the Quad Cities and 22 counties in Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois.

John Deere

McCormick Company Opens Indy Office

Melissa Sandfort

McCormick Company, a fully integrated communications agency, has announced plans to open an office in the Indianapolis area to further enhance service to clients in Indiana and nearby states. Norm Cosand, a leader in the art and science of marketing strategy, has joined McCormick as a vice president/group director and will manage this new office. Cosand will continue to provide branding, database and digital marketing expertise to his current clients, while offering strategic counsel to McCormick clients.

Most recently, Cosand provided integrated-marketing counsel to a broad range of agriculture, financial services and healthcare organizations through his company, Cosand Strategic Marketing in Indianapolis. Before that, he was chief executive officer of The Jackson Group in Indianapolis, and was a vice president at both Price/McNabb, Charlotte, N.C., and Marketing Technology Inc., Philadelphia. Cosand also held senior manager positions at Crow’s Hybrid Corn Company, Milford, Ill., and Callahan Seeds, Westfield, Ind. A Purdue University graduate, Cosand has served on several non-profit boards and as a director for Central Restaurant Products, Indianapolis.

McCormick Company’s new office in Indianapolis is expected to be operational by the second quarter of 2012.

Agencies

Agri-Marketing Conference in Jacksonville in 2014

Chuck Zimmerman

The NAMA Executive Committee has been meeting in Jacksonville, FL at the Hyatt Riverfront, location for the 2014 Agri-Marketing Conference. This morning we got a tour of the facilities to see where everything from registration to the student competition rooms will be located. The hotel sits on the St. John River and is a beautiful location for the event.

After the committee meeting today I visited with NAMA President, Beth Burgy, Broadhead. We talked about the conference being in Florida in 2014 and the work that the executive committee is doing. This was my first meeting as a member of the committee and we cranked out a lot of work the last two days.

Listen in to my interview with Beth and learn more about what’s going on with NAMA: Interview With Beth Burgy

Audio, NAMA

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Vitasoy-USA announced the appointment of Susan Rolnick as Vice President, Sales & Marketing.
  • Beck’s Hybrids is hosting 53 grower meetings across Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky and Michigan throughout January and February.
  • ANIMART announces the recent promotion of Ed Salettel to Operations Manager.
  • The American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture presented its fifth annual “Book of the Year” award to Chris Butterworth for “How Did That Get In My Lunchbox? The Story of Food.”
Zimfo Bytes

LightSquared Proposal Poll Results

Chuck Zimmerman

In our latest ZimmPoll we asked the question, “What do you think of the LightSquared broadband internet proposal?” This controversial issue has pitted GPS services and hardware manufacturers against those who want better broadband internet service in their area and agriculture is only one of the industries that could be impacted. Interestingly, our poll results were mostly against the proposal until one afternoon when almost all of the “positive” results were posted. That suggests that there was a concerted effort to impact the results. So here they are. We had 73% say that the proposal would be Good for ag/rural America and 23% say it would be Bad for ag/rural America. What do you think about that?

Our new ZimmPoll is now live. We’re asking the question, “Do you think there’s currently an “Ag Bubble”?” Let us know what you think.

Post Update: After getting a text message asking me what an ag bubble is, I offer the following definition from Wikipedia that might help him understand.

An economic bubble (sometimes referred to as a speculative bubble, a market bubble, a price bubble, a financial bubble, a speculative mania or a balloon) is “trade in high volumes at prices that are considerably at variance with intrinsic values”. It could also be described as a trade in products or assets with inflated values.

ZimmPoll is sponsored by Rhea+Kaiser, a full-service advertising/public relations agency.

ZimmPoll

AFBF President Pleased With Policy Direction

Cindy Zimmerman

afbf annual hawaiiBob Stallman of Texas was re-elected to serve another two year term as president of the American Farm Bureau Federation after a long voting delegate session to set policy direction for 2012 as the organization’s 93rd annual meeting wrapped up on Tuesday in Honolulu.

The business session of the AFBF meeting lasted all day Tuesday covering a wide variety of policy issues, most important being farm bill recommendations. “I think we kept a very forward looking policy in place,” Stallman says. “When the question came up about supporting direct payments, that was soundly rejected.”

Stallman says the basic principles of the proposed Systemic Risk Reduction Program (SRRP) for farm policy were kept, but the name of the concept was rejected. “Maybe we’ll come up with something better,” he said.

Stallman summarizes the day in his final remarks to the media here: AFBF president Bob Stallman

Be sure to check out the AFBF 93rd Annual Meeting Photo Album as well as all audio and video from the annual meeting here on AgWired and feel free to download and use whatever you wish.

Aloha!

AFBF, Audio

AFBF YF&R Winners

Cindy Zimmerman

afbf annual hawaiiWinners of the Young Farmers & Ranchers Achievement Award, Discussion Meet and Excellence in Agriculture competitions were announced Monday at the American Farm Bureau Federation’s 93rd Annual Meeting. Young farmers and ranchers from around the country competed for the awards by demonstrating knowledge of and achievement in agriculture, as well as commitment to promoting the agriculture industry.

Ben and Jennifer Moore of Tennessee won the Achievement Award, which recognizes young farmers and ranchers who have excelled in their farming or ranching operations and exhibited superior leadership abilities.

Heather Barnes of North Carolina won the Discussion Meet, where participants are evaluated on their ability to exchange ideas and information on a predetermined topic.

Andy and Ellie Holt of Tennessee won the Excellence in Agriculture Award, which recognizes young farmers and ranchers who do not derive the majority of their income from an agricultural operation.

All the winners receive their choice of either a 2012 Chevrolet Silverado or 2012 GMC Sierra, courtesy of GM and paid registration to attend the 2012 AFBF YF&R Leadership Conference in Grand Rapids, Mich., in February.

Photo courtesy of AFBF.

AFBF 93rd Annual Meeting Photos

AFBF, Farming

AFBF Voting Delegates in Session

Cindy Zimmerman

afbf annual hawaiiThe important business of the American Farm Bureau Federation annual meeting has been underway today as voting delegates have been considering hundreds of resolutions for the organization’s policy priorities in 2012.

Most of the morning session was taken up with resolutions ranging from opposition to the Renewable Fuels Standard (which was defeated) to strongly urging Congress to balance the budget, which was approved. The afternoon session is considering the meatier issues of farm bill policy proposals.

AFBF president Bob Stallman will meet with the media after it’s all over to report on just what the delegates decided for the 2012 marching orders of the nation’s largest general farm organization.


AFBF 93rd Annual Meeting Photos

AFBF

Mike Miller Named Senior VP for NCBA

Melissa Sandfort

Mike Miller has been appointed senior vice president of Global Marketing and Research at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA). Most recently Miller was chief operating officer of Cattle Fax.

In his new role Miller will be responsible for staff leadership of NCBA departments focused on developing and executing the plan of work funded with beef checkoff dollars. Those departments include Planning and Evaluation; Market Research; Research, Education and Innovation; Issues Management; Consumer Marketing; and Channel Marketing. Miller will take over his new responsibilities Jan. 30.

Miller has been COO of Cattle Fax since 2007, analyzing company operations to meet Cattle Fax objectives, and directing and coordinating the organization’s financial and budget activities. He also served as Cattle Fax director of research and business development from 1996 to 2006. He was a marketing consultant for Elanco Animal Health in 2006-07, and served as a sales associate for Rhone Poulenc Ag Company from 1990-96. Miller received his B.S. degree in agriculture business from Colorado State University.

Beef, NCBA