This morning I got to take two of my daughters fishing. We had a cold start but things warmed up as the sun got higher in the sky and the fish started biting. This oversize redfish was what we were after. By oversize I mean he was just over 27″ so he had to go back in the water.
I hope you’re having a great holiday week. Cindy and I, along with our daughters are enjoying some time in the west Florida area. But we’re still working some too. I like this combination.
It looks like beef wins in our latest ZimmPoll. We asked the question, “What is your Christmas/Holiday dinner entree?” Beef got 34% of the vote followed by Pork – Ham/Other cut at 27%, then Turkey at 24%, then Lobster and Wild game each got 7% and Fish at 1%. I guess you normally only have one at a time but I like them all!
Our new ZimmPoll is now live. We’re asking the question, “What do you think is biggest ag story of 2011?” There were a lot of big ag stories so we had to pick a few that stood out for us. Let us know what you think.
ZimmPoll is sponsored by Rhea+Kaiser, a full-service advertising/public relations agency.
It may not be another world record, but Kip Culler’s soybean yield of of 108.8 bushels per acre this year was enough to win him another place in Missouri’s 100 Bushel Club.
The southwest Missouri soybean rock star took first place in the irrigated category for this year’s Missouri Soybean Association yield contest, while Steve Riegel of Washington won the conventional category with a yield of 86.3 bushels per acre. Both used Pioneer® brand Y Series soybean varieties, as did Steve Turner of Hopkins who was the runner up in the conventional category with a yield of 83.3 bushels per acre.
Kip set the world soybean yield record in 2006 with 139 bushels per acre, then beat that the following year with a yield of 154.57 bushels per acre. When another grower achieved a yield of more than 100 bushels per acre in 2008, the 100 Bushel Club was formed and Kip was inducted. Last year he broke his record again with 160.6 bushels per acre. So, while Kip is likely pretty disappointed with his 2011 beans, it’s still a winning yield and pretty stunning considering the weather conditions this year. Congrats, champ!
McCormick Company has been chosen as the agency of record for the United Sorghum Checkoff Program (USCP).
According to McCormick, they will serve USCP from the company’s Amarillo, Texas, location with assistance from staff in the Kansas City office.
USCP is headquartered in Lubbock, Texas, and is a producer-funded organization with focus on crop improvement, high-value markets and renewable fuel opportunities for grain and forage sorghums.
The USDA Economic Research Service has a Farm Program Atlas online for your searching pleasure.
The Farm Program Atlas is a web-based interactive mapping tool that displays payment and participation data on major farm programs and covered commodities at the county level — to visualize how these Federal farm programs vary across the United States. Users can select maps displaying county-level data for nearly 100 variables. Each map may be viewed for the entire country or users can use a zoom tool to focus on a single region, State, or county. When viewing a program map, users may also click on a single county to view a table of data on all the variables associated with the program for that particular county.
With these tools, users can:
The first stop on the agriblogging highway for the ZimmComm team will be the 2012 Beltwide Cotton Conference in Orlando, FL. I’ll be attending courtesy of our sponsor, FMC. I’ll be getting there after going to the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, FL with daughter Chelsea. Great new year’s week coming up!
The Beltwide Cotton Conferences (BWCC) speed the transfer of new technology to U.S. cotton producers and other industry members with the goal of strengthening U.S. cotton’s competitive position in the world marketplace and enhancing industry members’ profitability.
Coordinated by the National Cotton Council (NCC) and its cooperating partners, this annual forum is recognized as the global champion for cotton technology transfer. Four days of individual reports, panel discussions, hands-on workshops and seminars are designed to enlighten industry members about the latest research developments and their practical applications in cotton production and processing.
I know I said I’d only post about holiday ornaments and decorations before Christmas but what’s two extra days after? I hope all of you had a blessed, safe holiday. Our son was thrilled when he saw Santa had eaten the cookie we left out and that the commercials he’d seen weren’t true – there was still room in the stocking for gifts from Santa.
So on one final holiday note, here’s a German-made Santa that my grandmother has. It’s probably around 80 years old as well. I asked about the significance and I guess back in the early 1900s Germany was a large toy-making country.
To me, he looks a little like a gnome but maybe that was Germany’s take on the bearded man. And he looks a little cranky. But after squeezing down dirty fireplaces all night, I’d be cranky too. Ah, to believe in the magic of Christmas. That’s what having children has taught me – to believe in magic, that you’re never too old to imagine, and that dreams do come true.
Until we walk again …
It was just over a year ago that I started doing a series of interviews with the leadership at agricultural agencies. I started out with Diane Martin, President/CEO, Rhea + Kaiser and thought it very appropriate to talk with her again to see how things have been going at the agency.
To start off, Diane says that things are going well with the celebration this year of a couple of milestones with various clients like GROWMARK – 30 years and Bayer at 26 years. Another development is the agency diversification into different industries like construction equipment and higher education. Diane says they’ve also been going through a cultural revolution internally. One example is a renewed effort to liven up client presentations so they become more enjoyable and educational.
There are a number of additional changes that have taken place at the agency during the last year. To learn more about them listen in on my conversation with Diane: Rhea + Kaiser a Year Later
Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsor, GROWMARK, locally owned, globally strong, 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.
