Cracker Cowboy Movie

Chuck Zimmerman

Like cowboys? Want to learn more about them. Then check out “Florida Crackers: The Cattlemen and Cowboys of Florida.” This is a movie produced by the Self Discovery Production Team and a man raised in the culture, who grew up as a working cowboy on a ranch near Fort Pierce, Florida. You can order a copy online now. The movie features some folks you may know if you’ve ever done some Florida agriculture tours.

Florida Crackers tells the story of this state’s little-known cattle culture, which dates back to 1521, when Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon landed in Florida and introduced the first cattle and horses to North America, thus setting the stage for the first American cowboys and cattle industry to be born.

Florida Crackers was filmed on some of the biggest and oldest ranches in Florida. One, the Adams Ranch of Fort Pierce, famous for creating the Braford cattle breed, received the 1999 Ranch of the Century award from the National Cattleman’s Beef Association.

A few of the prominent figures featured in the movie are: Mr. Bud Adams, the Carlton Family, “Alligator” Ron Bergeron, Ms. Iris Wall, Mr. Pete Clemons and former State Agriculture Commissioner, Charles Bronson.

For the first time ever, there are more people living in cities than in the country, and this movie has an important message that many people around the World are waiting to hear, about the core values of the Cracker Culture, who are true stewards of not just the land, but of a way of life, where integrity, courage, honesty and respect are normal.

Farming

Adding Sulfur? Watch Your Mixer

Chuck Zimmerman

You can make sure your mix is right when you get the Precision Laboratories Mix Tank App. And if you need a device to get it then get your entry in for the Mix Tank App iPod Giveaway. Here’s some advice about adding sulfur from the folks at Precision Laboratories:

Recent plant tissue testing has shown an increased need for sulfur in Midwest corn fields. Sulfur functions as a structural component of proteins and amino acids, a catalyst for chlorophyll production and as a nodulation enhancer in legume crops. With recent research showing a positive crop response to sulfur applications, retailers and growers are interested in adding sulfur to their corn fertility programs this season. But they may be heading for trouble.

One of the easiest ways to add sulfur in corn is to include ammonium thiosulfate (ATS) with urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) as a carrier for pre-emerge herbicide applications. But ATS can challenge the emulsifier systems used in most pre emergent crop protection products and cause incompatibility problems in your sprayer. These problems can reduce weed control, plug screens and nozzles as well as make clean-out more difficult and time-consuming.

Researchers from Precision Laboratories, the leading supplier of custom adjuvants and specialty chemistries, have screened numerous pre-emergent herbicide combinations with ATS, UAN and various compatibility agents. They found that while several compatibility agents worked well in UAN, most did not work well once ATS was added. Convert ™ compatibility agent was specifically developed for eastern corn belt customers to use in UAN and ATS tank mixes. On the market for more than 10 years, Convert has one of the highest rates of emulsification and will improve stability and eliminate compatibility problems associated with tank mixing UAN and ATS solutions. Read More

Farming, Precision Agriculture

GROWMARK Associate Program

Cindy Zimmerman

Learning about various aspects of the GROWMARK system and where they might best fit is the goal of the company’s associate program and Heather Miller is working into her third rotation in the program this summer.

growmarkHeather, pictured here on the left with GROWMARK Publications and News Specialist Karen Jones, has already spent six months in corporate communications, is currently working in government affairs, and will finish her 18-month associate program with a stint in marketing. “My very first project with GROWMARK was the re-design of GROWMARK.com. We hadn’t done anything with our website since ’95 when it launched so it was desperately in need of a face lift. ” Heather told me during the company’s media day recently. “That was a great first experience coming into the company because I got to learn a little bit about everything that we do.” Heather also worked on the launch of some of GROWMARK’s social media strategies.

In the government affairs division, Heather has been able to see how GROWMARK takes an interest on behalf of its members in legislative and regulatory action on both the state and national level. “We’re not just going to ag committee hearings. We have arms in energy, we do transportation issues, we cover a lot of labor and workplace environment issues,” she said.

Heather has an agricultural background and interned with GROWMARK in 2009 prior to being hired full time in June 2010. “The GROWMARK internship is a really excellent program,” she said. “We have about 50 interns every year and about a 70 percent retention rate – about 70 percent of interns then come back to be full time employees at GROWMARK after they graduate.”

Learn more about Heather and the GROWMARK intern and associate program here: Heather Miller Interview

Audio, GROWMARK

The Spike-Tooth Disk

Melissa Sandfort

Ever heard the saying, “It’s a tough row to hoe”? Sometimes it rains so hard around here that after the puddles dry up, it looks as though someone went through your front yard with a concrete compaction stomper. That makes for some tough hoeing when it comes to planting flowers or getting your garden ready.

I’m sure the same holds true when you look back at when, and why, this contraption was used: the spike tooth disk, otherwise known as a pasture renovator. This was tractor-drawn, with dirt or concrete blocks placed on the top trays as weights. This was used, as the name implies, to disk the soil prior to planting, or to revitalize pastures before fertilizing. When used on pastures, it would improve forage yield and animal performance and growth rate because the grass was given the opportunity to grow instead of competing with weeds for nutrients and water.

Even though the disk was pulled with a tractor, it was still a tough row to hoe. The ground had to be clean and free of weeds, which meant multiple trips across the field, increased fuel costs and time invested by the farmer.

I found this out back of the shed in the weeds. Looks like this area could use a little hoeing!

Until we walk again …

Uncategorized

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

    Animal Agriculture Alliance Summit Wrapup

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Kay Johnson SmithI got Kay Johnson Smith, Executive Vice President, Animal Agriculture Alliance, to wrap things up from the Stakeholders Summit. She says that the speakers focused on positive, proactive ways “we can reach the public and invite them in to our businesses without jeopardizing bio-security and food safety concerns.” She mentioned one speaker from a company that has live web cams of their hog barns to show the public what they’re doing.

    Kay is looking forward to next year’s Summit which will be during the first week of May. I hope to be able to make it!

    You can listen to my interview with Frank here: Kay Johnson Smith Interview

    Animal Ag Alliance Stakeholders Summit Photo Album

    AgWired coverage of the 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference is sponsored by NCBAAgWired coverage of the 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference is sponsored by United Soybean
    Ag Groups, Animal Agriculture

    New Chairman of Animal Agriculture Alliance

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Chris AshworthThe new Chair of the Animal Agriculture Alliance is Dr. Chris Ashworth, Elanco Animal Health. During his term he want to further distribute the message about how safe, affordable and abundant food is to citizens all across America. That includes showcasing farmers who produce pork, poultry, beef and fish. He says “We want to be able to make it even more safe and more abundant in the years to come.”

    Chris says there has been a lot of energy in this year’s meeting. That tells him that they’re very engaged in the program. In his summary comments he wants the people participating to think about the challenges in a long term sense. He sees a bright future for American agriculture.

    You can listen to my interview with Frank here: Dr. Chris Ashworth Interview

    Animal Ag Alliance Stakeholders Summit Photo Album

    AgWired coverage of the 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference is sponsored by NCBAAgWired coverage of the 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference is sponsored by United Soybean
    Ag Groups, Animal Agriculture, Audio, Food

    Communicating With A Non-Farm Audience

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Animal Agriculture AllianceWhat is the perception of farmers and ranchers? That’s the broader question that was being addressed by participants at the Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit according to Mary Kay Thatcher, American Farm Bureau Federation. She was one of the many people I had the pleasure to speak with.

    One of the things she got out of Frank Luntz’s presentation had to do with communicating effectively with non-farm people. She thought he gave great advice that included, “His whole thought process about making sure when we make comments to people, we don’t just jump in to our expressions of concern but we give them a little credibility first and say things like, “I get it, I see where you’re going,” and give them a chance to pause and then we can come up with our 45 second elevator speech.” A take away for her was the need to do better helping states deal with the threat that is coming from animal rights groups.

    Mary Kay also brought up the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance which AFBF is participating in and says it’s off to a great start. But like any other group dealing with these issues she says it will important to supply good information, messaging and coordination to state groups.

    You can listen to my interview with Mary Kay here: Mary Kay Thatcher Interview

    Animal Ag Alliance Stakeholders Summit Photo Album

    AgWired coverage of the 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference is sponsored by NCBAAgWired coverage of the 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference is sponsored by United Soybean
    AFBF, Ag Groups, Animal Agriculture, Audio

    Lessons From Europe

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Jim SumnerAt the Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit we got an international lesson from Jim Sumner, President, USA Poultry & Egg Export Council. Jim says we have to look out for our own government policies and regulations or “we’re going to end up as bad or worse off than our friends in the European Union.” Let’s face it, regulations have been burdensome for a long time and they haven’t gotten better. In fact, he says it seems like the government doesn’t want to listen sometimes.

    Jim says we need to address consumers so they better understand animal agriculture. He uses our cheap food costs as something that consumers need to realize and he doesn’t think the general public does. This was Jim’s first meeting with the Animal Agriculture Alliance and he calls it a “very dynamic group.”

    You can listen to my interview with Frank here: Jim Sumner Interview

    Animal Ag Alliance Stakeholders Summit Photo Album

    AgWired coverage of the 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference is sponsored by NCBAAgWired coverage of the 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference is sponsored by United Soybean
    Animal Agriculture, Audio, Poultry

    Food Marketing Words – Convenient, Safer, Healthier, Cleaner

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Frank LuntzSafer, healthier, convenient and cleaner. Those are words that Frank Luntz, Luntz Global, wanted people to take away from his remarks at the Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit.

    I was able to ask him one question afterward while he was signing books and that was what he hoped participants took away from his presentation. His answer, “I think it’s essential that they use the most effective words and phrases that connect to the America people in where they live and how they live. That you talk about not just affordability but convenience, safer, healthier, cleaner. When you show that you’re doing it so much better now than before and you’re going to do it even better in the future than you did it now, that’s success. That’s good communication. That’s what I hope they take away from my presentation.”

    Frank shared results of survey work he’s done that show how people of various demographics respond to certain words or phrases. It was very eye opening. For example, he found that people really don’t care much about the word sustainability. It just doesn’t have a meaning that’s clear since there are countless definitions. He recommended not using that word in marketing efforts. Here are some other tidbits that stuck out for me:

    Imagine is most powerful word in English language.
    You create miracles everyday.
    Consumers take responsibility for their own nutrition. They don’t depend on the food industry.
    Convenient is the word that makes consumers most interested in product.
    Only people under 30 or who went to Berkely like “organic.” Although he does think this category of food product will grow.

    You can listen to my interview with Frank here: Frank Luntz Interview

    Animal Ag Alliance Stakeholders Summit Photo Album

    AgWired coverage of the 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference is sponsored by NCBAAgWired coverage of the 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference is sponsored by United Soybean
    Ag Groups, Animal Agriculture, Audio, Food