National FFA Prepares for New Century Farmer Conference

Cindy Zimmerman

FFAThe National FFA Organization is now accepting applications for its 2011 New Century Farmer conference to be held July 24-30 in Johnston, Iowa.

The exclusive, highly competitive conference is open to college of agriculture students who intend to pursue careers in production agriculture after college. Those selected to attend the conference will be among the first in the nation to learn about the latest technological developments in the agriculture industry, and will receive business management advice from top industry leaders. The program will also help students begin to develop a nationwide network of industry professionals and colleagues to whom they can turn for support when they begin their own operations.

The deadline for applications is March15. Only 50 students will be selected to participate. Potential participants can learn more about the program and download an application at www.ffa.org/collegiate.

The conference is sponsored by Pioneer Hi-Bred, a DuPont business; Rabo AgriFinance; Case IH; and CSX Cooperation; as a special project of the National FFA Foundation. Successful Farming is a media partner of the conference.

Education, FFA

Drake & Company Adds Two

Chuck Zimmerman

Drake & Company has been adding to the staff as growth continues. The newest additions are Kathy Meyer and Teresa Lee.

Meyer started with DrakeCo on Jan. 10 as a Content Management Specialist. She will be responsible for writing, editing and distributing editorial content such as print articles, blog posts, e-newsletters and more for clients including the Dairy Calf & Heifer Association, International Fruit Tree Association and National Christmas Tree Association.

She brings more than 20 years of experience in PR, advertising and publishing. Her assignments have included Monsanto Company, DuPont Crop Protection, Pfizer Animal Health, the American Hereford Association and MFA Incorporated. Her extensive skills include strategic planning, media relations, special events, association sponsorships, crisis management, writing, editing and publishing.

Lee started with DrakeCo on Jan. 24. She will serve as executive director of Alpha Zeta, a 114-year-old honorary fraternity for agriculture and natural resources professionals, as well as assistant executive director for the Dairy Calf & Heifer Association. She will also work with the newly formed U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance, an unprecedented collaborative effort of more than 20 agricultural commodity organizations.

Lee brings 18 years of communications, marketing and administrative experience in both the association and corporate sectors to DrakeCo. She has worked with agricultural commodity and finance organizations as well as in the agricultural equipment and poultry industries.

Agencies

InvestAg Savills Report Released Prior to World Agriculture Investment Conference USA

Chuck Zimmerman

The World Agriculture Investment Conference 2011 in Chicago is drawing closer and the organizers have been working with Henry Wilkes at InvestAg Savills to bring you the “International Farmland Market Bulletin 2011”

InvestAg Savill’s “International Farmland Market Bulletin 2011” provides an interesting overview of international values and farmland as an asset class – it’s available to download here.

Henry Wilkes, CEO, Invest AG Savills will join the Ag Invest meeting’s foremost speaker panel in Chicago in May 9-10. In the timely discussion, Henry will provide a global perspective on agriculture investment strategies and regional land markets.

Following months of research, this forum has been designed specifically to help investors to walk away with the practical information and contacts needed to make an appropriate choice based on varying risk tolerances and return objectives.

This is a truly unique chance to network with key investors, hedge funds and Ag managers, and to effortlessly discover how best to develop the ideal Ag portfolio.

For more information please visit: http://www.aginvestconference.com/usa/

For additional information, registration assistance or questions, please contact George Kiley, Investment Director – World Agriculture Investment Series by email on gkiley@aginvestconference.com, or call on +44(0)207 3757 54

You can find the agenda here.

Agribusiness, International

OtterBox for iPhone and iPad

Chuck Zimmerman

Not only are we seeing more ag apps for mobile phones and tablets but we’re now seeing accessories for the devices too. This just came in from OtterBox.

The agriculture industry is making the shift from clipboards to handheld technology – mobile devices such as iPhones and iPads are more popularly used in feed lots, crop fields and meat plants to improve work efficiency. For rugged protection, OtterBox® offers a Defender Series® case to accommodate the iPhone® 4 on both the Verizon Wireless and AT&T networks. For convenient carrying and usability, OtterBox also introduces an accessory as part of the new Utility Series™ line of products. Now available, the Latch™ for iPad™. Read more in the press releases below.

Apple Addiction Spreads to Verizon: OtterBox Protects All iPhone 4 Users Read more

OtterBox Unveils Utility Series, Introducing the Latch for Apple iPad Read more

Equipment

Novozymes Completes Acquisition of EMD/Merck Crop BioScience

Joanna Schroeder

It’s official. Novozymes now owns EMD/Merck Crop BioScience. The acquisition was announced last December and completed this week.

“We’re excited to bring these two innovative companies together to help farmers produce more and better food, feed, fuel, and fiber while minimizing the environmental footprint,” says Thomas Videbæk, Executive Vice President of Novozymes.

Novozymes purchased the company because it felt it complemented it’s existing biological business. They believe that this acquisition will accelerate the development of new products and better meet farmers’ current and future needs for sustainable solutions.

“With the wider range of expertise and greater capacity for research and development, we’ll be able to introduce new products into the market quicker than before,” said Videbæk. “The acquisition expands our business reach, enabling us to deliver more value to more farmers globally.”

Agribusiness

Beltway Beef Improving Cattle Communications

Cindy Zimmerman

ZimmCast 290This week’s ZimmCast is with our good friend Mike Deering, Communications Director for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. We spent most of last week with Mike at the Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show in Denver, but he was too busy to do an interview there so I had to catch up with him over the phone after we got back.

We got to know Mike when he was with the U.S. Grains Council and have been very impressed with his media savvy, especially for such a young guy. He’s not yet 30 years old, but he really “gets it” when it comes to working with media of all types and using social media to communicate with membership and the general public. He is a tireless ball of energy, and along with his communications colleague Mary Geiger they turn out an amazing amount of content for NCBA.

When he went to work for NCBA last May, one of the first things he did was start the Beltway Beef blog for the organization, which has become a brand to identify the cattle organization’s work on behalf of producers.

Mike is also a darn good amateur auctioneer, as we found out at the convention when he worked the mic for the NCBA PAC auction during the second general session. I re-posted the video of him auctioneering below.

Learn more about Mike Deering, Beltway Beef and NCBA’s communications strategy in this ZimmCast: ZimmCast 291 - NCBA Communications

This week’s program ends with some music from Music Alley. It’s called “Cattle Swagger” by Thee Phantom 5ive.

Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsor, Growmark, locally owned, globally strong, for their support.

Audio, Cattle Industry Conference, NCBA, Video, ZimmCast

Activate Poultry Health With Novus International

Chuck Zimmerman

Jared HuxI think I mentioned recently that I still had some interviews to share from the International Poultry Expo with our long time and much appreciated sponsor, Novus International. It has been a very busy time going from Poultry Expo to a blizzard at home, the Cattle Industry Convention and then the National Biodiesel Conference! Now it’s catch up time and I want to start by sharing this interview with Andres Montoya, Product Development Manager, Poultry. He was right at home in Georgia where he’s based. I wasn’t the only one interviewing him as you can see in the photo.

We got started right away with the “what’s new?” question. What’s new is Activate.

ACTIVATE® nutritional feed acid is a combination of Gut Environment Modifiers and HMTBa. ACTIVATE is used for Salmonella reduction programs and as an alternative to antibiotics in vaccination windows and withdrawal diets.

You can listen to my interview with Andres here: Interview With Andres Montoya

2011 International Poultry Expo/International Feed Expo Photo Album

AgWired IPE/IFE coverage sponsored by: Novus

Animal Health, Audio, Novus International, Poultry, Poultry Expo

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Syngenta announced that the National Biosafety Committee (CTNBio) in Brazil has approved its triple corn stack Bt11 x MIR162 x GA21 for cultivation in the country.
  • As an Official Partner of NASCAR, the National Corn Growers Association will leverage its relationship to spread the message to NASCAR fans around the country about the role American farmers play in the development of ethanol.
  • Lucas Sjostrom joins Hoard’s Dairyman magazine as an associate editor beginning on Monday, Feb. 14.
  • Watch the CLAAS 760TT combine, sporting a 16 row head, combine 270 acres in 10 hours.
    Zimfo Bytes

    Commodity Prices Expected To Go Higher

    Chuck Zimmerman

    It looks like there’s a very high expectation among our various audiences that commodity prices will go higher. You haven’t sold all of last year’s soybeans have you! We asked the question, “Will commodity prices be higher or lower a year from now?” Overwhelmingly, 70% said higher while 21% said about the same and only 9% lower.

    Our next ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, “What smartphone platform do you use” The Apple iPhone is now available from Verizon. I wonder if this will change things. Let us know and thank you for participating.

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

    ZimmPoll

    Winter Weather Woes for Livestock

    Cindy Zimmerman

    Cattle producers around the country have been busy this winter trying to care for their animals in particularly harsh weather.

    cow snowIce, snow and freezing temperatures mean lots of extra work to feed and water cattle and there were lots of producers who were unable to make the trip to Denver last week for the Cattle Industry Convention because of that. There have even been reports of barns collapsing and killing cattle. USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) officials are reminding livestock producers throughout the Plains states and the Midwest that FSA programs may be available to assist them.

    “This is turning out to be a tough winter for many ranchers and farmers in the nation’s heartland, and learning about our FSA programs is an important step for producers to take,” FSA Administrator Jonathan Coppess said in a release last week. “We need producers to document the number and kind of livestock that have died as a direct result of these winter storms and timely notify their local FSA office of these losses. There may be situations where producers are transporting feed to their livestock. Producers should document these additional costs.”

    FSA administers several programs that help producers recover from livestock deaths that are beyond normal mortality rates, losses of purchased and/or harvested forage, and with the additional costs of providing or transporting feed.

    Here in mid Missouri, we still have a foot or more of snow in some areas after last week’s storm that dumped about 20 inches. The photo is from Brownfield Network’s Cyndi Young-Puyear who has a cow-calf operation with her husband Jim not far from the state capitol. She’s really proud of her little black and white striped calf and she reports on Facebook that the snow hasn’t slowed little “Oreo Speedwagon” down a bit!

    Livestock, USDA, Weather