Telling A Dairy Story

Chuck Zimmerman

LuAnn TroxelDairy farmer LuAnn Troxel is one of the attendees here at the Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit. She’s also President of the Indiana Professional Dairy Producers. This is LuAnn chatting with speaker, Frank Luntz, just before his presentation this morning.

LuAnn is one of my Twitter (@DairyLu) friends that I have had the pleasure to meet here. She is hungry for the kind of information being presented here about telling the story of agriculture. She wants to be completely open and honest in her presentation of dairy farming. The program has been fantastic according to LuAnn. She especially liked Dr. Frank Mitloehner’s presentation. When she gets home after getting her “catch up” work done, she hopes to maintain and build on connections she has made her.

You can listen to my interview with LuAnn here: LuAnn Troxel 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, Dairy

Some Truths About Sustainability

Chuck Zimmerman

Frank MitloehnerThe S word came up during the Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit in a big way during a presentation by Dr. Frank Mitloehner, Agriculture Air Quality Center Director, University of California, Davis. That word is sustainability. He talked about research he conducted that debunked the “Livestock’s Long Shadow” report that was published by the FAO in 2006. That report had major errors with the biggest being miscalculations of data when comparing greenhouse gas emissions between livestock and human transportation.

I spoke with Frank to get an executive summary of his remarks. During his research he found a lot of interesting things and shares some in our interview. One that stuck out for me was his finding that in Mexico it takes 5 dairy cows to produce the same quantity of milk as one in the United States. Our dairies have become models of efficiency and it’s a great story to tell. You can find copies of Dr. Mitloehner’s research online.

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

Animal Ag Alliance Stakeholders Summit Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the 2011 Animal Agriculture Alliance Summit is sponsored by NCBAAgWired coverage of the 2011 Animal Agriculture Alliance Summit is sponsored by United Soybean
Ag Groups, Animal Agriculture, Audio, University

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

    BASF Stamina F3 Cereals Seed Treatment Receives EPA registration

    Cindy Zimmerman

    Stamina® F3 Cereals fungicide from BASF Crop Protection has received EPA registration for seed treatment use on small grains, including wheat, barley, rye, oats and triticale.

    basf“Stamina F3 Cereals arms our growers with an effective seed treatment for their small grain seedlings,” said Don Guy, Marketing Manager, BASF Cereals Portfolio. “As one of our SeedSolutions treatments in our cereals offering, Stamina F3 Cereals delivers excellent disease control, convenience of use and low-dusting application. Stamina F3 Cereals has a red colorant and its higher application rate makes it very suitable for on-farm applications. Stamina F3 Cereals also complements Stamina® F3 HL fungicide seed treatment, which is designed specifically for commercial application.”

    Stamina F3 Cereals delivers the benefits of three active ingredients that work together to provide broad-spectrum seed and seedling disease control in small grains. These three active ingredients, F500® (the same active ingredient in Stamina and Stamina F3 HL fungicide seed treatments, Headline® fungicide and TwinLine® fungicide), triticonazole (active ingredient in Charter® fungicide and Charter® F2 fungicide seed treatments) and metalaxyl (active ingredient in Acquire® fungicide seed treatment) have proven performance as shown in BASF’s current Crop Protection Solutions and SeedSolutions offerings. Seed treatment application with Stamina F3 Cereals has been associated with more rapid and increased emergence of seedlings under certain cold conditions.

    BASF, Seed, Wheat

    His Royal Highness, Prince of Sustainability

    Cindy Zimmerman

    In addition to meeting with President Obama, His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales gave the keynote address at “The Future of Food” conference at Georgetown University, sponsored by the Washington Post.

    Since the prince has “tried to farm as sustainably as possible for some twenty-six years” he was about the closest to an actual farmer that the conference had on the agenda (see Chuck’s previous post). On the Royal Website, there is a page about the Prince’s farm which is “a completely organic system” he developed “to demonstrate the environmental and commercial benefits.” Among the farm’s produce is organic mutton. “The Prince is enthusiastic about restoring mutton (meat from a two-year-old sheep), to the dinner tables of the nation after speaking to struggling sheep farmers who found they could no longer get a decent price for older ewes. To this end, The Prince launched the Mutton Renaissance campaign.” I am not making that up.

    So, HRH believes that we can feed nine billion people on this planet with a food system that is “not dependent upon the use of chemical pesticides, fungicides and insecticides; nor, for that matter, upon artificial fertilizers and growth-promoters or G.M.” and he provided His Royal Vision of a “sustainable food production” system during his address in Georgetown.

    “For me, it has to be a form of agriculture that does not exceed the carrying capacity of its local ecosystem and which recognizes that the soil is the planet’s most vital renewable resource,” he said, adding that “genuinely sustainable farming maintains the resilience of the entire ecosystem by encouraging a rich level of biodiversity in the soil, in its water supply and in the wildlife – the birds, insects and bees that maintain the health of the whole system. Sustainable farming also recognizes the importance to the soil of planting trees; of protecting and enhancing water-catchment systems; of mitigating, rather than adding to, climate change. To do this it must be a mixed approach. One where animal waste is recycled and organic waste is composted to build the soil’s fertility. One where antibiotics are only used on animals to treat illnesses, not deployed in prophylactic doses to prevent them; and where those animals are fed on grass-based regimes as Nature intended.”

    Read the whole speech here.

    Environment, Sustainability, Wackos

    Full Day At Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders SummitDay one of the Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit is coming to an end. We’ve got a reception with silent auction to support the organization’s intern program and I’m sure I’ll collect a couple more interviews. We’ll begin again in the morning so you can count on more from here then.

    In the meantime check out photos from today’s sessions: 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

    Cattle Farmer And Social Media Expert

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Debbie Lyons-BlytheCattle rancher Debbie Lyons-Blythe talked social media at the Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit. We follow each other on Twitter. Find her @DebbieLB. She was here to encourage people not to be afraid of social media and make some suggestions on how to use it to advocate for agriculture. She starting blogging and considers her blog, Life On a Kansas Cattle Ranch, the center of her social media universe with Facebook and Twitter being some of the planets revolving around that center. She does think there is fear out in the country to use these mechanisms but believes more and more farmers are starting to use social media.

    You can listen to my interview with Debbie here: Debbie Lyons-Blythe 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, Social Networking

    College Aggies Online Awards Announced

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Jacob NyhuisThe winner of the College Aggies Online scholarship competition is Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, represented at the Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit by Jacob Nyhuis. In the photo Jacob is accepting the school’s $750 award. The award also included his costs to travel to the Summit. I interviewed him after the presentation and you can hear him talk about participating in the program below.

    College Aggies Online is a joint program between the Animal Agriculture Alliance and the American National CattleWomen, Inc. The goal is to help college students utilize social media tools to share agriculture’s story. The program was started last fall and has attracted 600 college students from more than 50 universities

    Members have earned points by posting blogs, photos and videos related to agriculture and by participating in Aggie Homework agriculture advocacy challenges via Twitter, Facebook, and e-mail.

    With 765 total points, the individual high score went to Jessie McClellan of the Casper College Ag Club in Wyoming. She will receive a $250 scholarship. Jacob Nyguis of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Georgia came in second place with 655 points and will be awarded $100.

    Members of Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College’s Cattlemen’s Club formed the top-scoring club with 3,030 points. The group will receive a $750 scholarship and a trip to Washington, D.C. for one representative to attend the Alliance’s Stakeholders Summit in April. Casper College’s Ag Club came in second place with 2,525 points and will receive $300. Other high-scoring schools included Pennsylvania State University, Western Kentucky University, and the University of Missouri.

    You can listen to my interview with Jacob here: Jacob Nyhuis 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, Social Networking

    Nebraskans Believe Farmers Take Care of Animals

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Sen. Tom CarlsonProtecting and growing agriculture amidst the activist conflict was the topic of the first panel discussion at the Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit. Nebraska Senator Tom Carlson was a panelist and he made it very clear that animal rights activists are not welcome in his state. He says that when these groups come into a state, they don’t know the state and they try to paint all of agriculture with a broad brush. The fact is that farmers love their animals and take very good care of them. He uses an anecdote of how during a winter blizzard farmers were out in the severe weather taking care of their livestock and HSUS was no where to be seen. He also pointed to research that found that ninety percent of people in Nebraska believe the livestock industry is important and ninety four percent trust farmers to take humane care of their animals!

    The Senator believes the mission of the Church is number one and the mission to raise food to feed people follows and is a noble mission. He says activists just want to stop killing animals for food. They really aren’t in favor of the humane treatment of animals for food. He says this conference helps bring out how important it is for different agricultural interests to come together in the face of a common threat.

    You can listen to my interview with Sen. Carlson here: Sen. Tom Carlson 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 Activists, Animal Agriculture, Animal Health, Audio

    Government Regulations Top Of Farmers Minds

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Sen. Pat RobertsKansas Senator Pat Roberts, ranking member, Senate Agriculture Committee, addressed the Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit. He spoke to a number of issues that included the farm bill and burdensome and troubling government regulations. Sen. Roberts is seen here receiving some cowboy cookie mix from our moderator, Jason Shoultz, America’s Heartland.

    I’ll add some audio from his remarks later since I’ve got that recorder in use. However, I did get to ask him one question in the hall on his way out. I asked about anything animal agriculture interests should know when it comes to farm bill discussions and how things were going with efforts to curb unnecessary regulations from the EPA. He says that talking to farmers and ranchers around the country right now they don’t even bring the farm bill up. They’re most interested in regulations which he says they’re dealing with bill by bill. He thinks it’s premature to discuss the farm bill until hearings are held around the country and they determine a “number.”

    You can listen to comments from Sen. Roberts here: Sen. Pat Roberts Interview

    Listen to Sen. Roberts full comments here: Sen. Pat Roberts Full Remarks

    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