National Beef Cook-Off Kicks Off

Melissa Sandfort

The 29th National Beef Cook Off is kicking off a recipe contest for everyday home cooks and entertaining enthusiasts nationwide. Submit your best beef recipes online for a chance to win $25,000 cash and a trip to the Metropolitan Cooking & Entertaining Show in Washington D.C.

Great taste, ease of preparation, originality and use of broadly appealing ingredients are a winning combination for recipe entries. And best of all, home cooks can increase their chances of winning by submitting multiple recipes in all four of the following contest categories:
The 5:30 PM Dinner Crunch — This category will focus on easy-to-prepare beef recipes for busy weeknight meals using ingredients commonly on hand at home.
Retro Recipes Revived — For this category, home cooks can improve and modify an American classic or old-time family favorite recipe to be more convenient, healthier, or both for today’s busy families.
Fuel Up with Beef — Recipes in this category will feature convenient and healthy beef recipes using one of the 29 Lean Beef Cuts for people with busy lives.
Stir Crazy Solutions — Home cooks won’t go stir-crazy when they have a chance to create a unique stir-fry recipe using one of the 29 Lean Beef Cuts along with fresh vegetables and grain ingredients.

Cook-Worthy Winnings
Four category winners (one per category) will receive $3,000 in cash on or about July 15, 2011. One grand prize winner will receive $25,000 plus an all-expense paid trip to the Metropolitan Cooking & Entertaining Show in Washington D.C. on Nov. 5, 2011 where they will be announced as the grand prize winner. Their winning recipe will also be demonstrated on the show floor for attendees to enjoy.

Click here for complete contest rules and entry forms.

Beef

Save the Best for Next Year

Melissa Sandfort

Today, most farmers have other occupations to supplement their income. They farm, they run a trucking operation, they sell anhydrous, they sell seed corn, they run a grain elevator. I think I just described my brother to a “T” as one of his other duties as assigned is a seed corn dealer. Every year, people come to him to buy enough seed for the next planting season.

But it wasn’t always this way.

This is a hand-crank corn sheller used by my great-grandfather back in the late ‘teens and early ‘20s. It was mounted on a wooden box so the corn would drop down into it. If you insert the cob in the basket at the top, turn the crank, then separate and keep the more uniform kernels, you’d have enough to plant a crop the following year.

An efficient sheller would get about 10-15 bushels of shelled corn per hour, or approximately 10 seconds per ear.

That sure is different than calling up my brother and having him deliver enough seed to plant 2,000 acres of corn.

Until we walk again …

Uncategorized

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Syngenta Seeds, Inc., has released 17 new NK brand soybean products, featuring more varieties with Syngenta’s Aphid Management System.
  • The Georgia Peanut Commission will be holding a mail-ballot referendum March 15 – April 15, 2011 for peanut farmers to vote on increasing the assessment paid by growers from $2 to $3 per ton.
  • Advanta US is improving and consolidating its sorghum seed production, processing and storage into its Hereford, Texas facilities.
  • Denise Athy of Visalia, Calif., has joined AgriTech Analytics as a marketing representative.
    Zimfo Bytes

    Donate To U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance

    Chuck Zimmerman

    If you’ve been wondering how you can support the newly formed U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance the wonder no more. You can now make donations online.

    You can support the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance and its goal to bolster the image of agriculture and enhance public trust in our food supply. Use the “Donate” button below to contribute to the cause.

    We will:

    * Enhance consumer trust in the U.S. food production system.
    * Maintain and enhance the freedom of U.S. farmers and ranchers to operate in a responsible manner.
    * Strengthen collaboration.

    Donate to USFRA

    Ag Groups, USFRA

    ARC Meeting Highlights

    Cindy Zimmerman

    Warm and sunny Ft. Myers was a wonderful place to spend a few days last week for the 2011 Agricultural Relations Council annual meeting, especially since most of us were from places that have had too much cold and snow this winter. The weather was fabulous and the program was outstanding – a great combination.

    The leadership of ARC is energetic and believes that public relations for agriculture is more important that ever. “Agriculture public relations is a different kind of an animal,” said Mace Thornton with the American Farm Bureau Federation, who is the new president of ARC. “This is the organization that really specializes in bringing PR people to the table in agriculture so we can talk about common challenges and discuss strategy and tactics.”

    Mace says the organization is experiencing a resurgence in popularity and membership growth, after hitting a low about five years ago. ARC now has over 80 members – twice what it had about this time last year, and Mace credits the strong support of leaders like outgoing president Deron Johnson of Rhea and Kaiser. Mace and Deron are both pictured here during the Golden ARC award ceremony. That award program is also experiencing new interest after being revived last year.

    We really enjoyed a great program during the meeting, starting with a panel discussion on Florida agriculture’s water and fertilizer issues. We also heard from the University of Florida’s Center for Public Issues Education on measuring the effectiveness of social media (more on that later) and from Gary Myers, former owner of Morgan and Myers, about Strategic Thinking on PR.

    After a sunset dinner cruise on Thursday night, the business meeting was held Friday morning and followed by a great tour arranged by Gary Cooper of Southeast Agnet. The group visited Worden Farms, an 85-acre certified organic family farm in Southwest Florida, and Longino Ranch, a diversified citrus and cattle operation near Arcadia. There we enjoyed a Florida cracker cowboy meal of fresh venison appetizers, perfectly grilled steaks, homemade beans and can’t-get-it-anywhere-else boiled swamp cabbage. Just mmmm, mmmm GOOD!

    The ranch was a great example of diversified agriculture and environmental stewardship. Not only do they produce cattle, citrus and timber on the operation, but they also maintain a preserve for endangered gopher tortoises.

    Listen to my interview with Mace about the ARC meeting here: Mace Thornton Interview

    2011 ARC Meeting Photo Album

    ARC, Audio

    AgWired and Raven Industries iPod Touch Winner

    Chuck Zimmerman

    During the Western Farm Show AgWired along with iPhone App sponsor Raven Industries held a drawing for an iPod Touch. I’d like to thank everyone who stopped by to enter.

    So now that the show is over we have picked our winner. And the winner is:

    Jerry Trautman a farmer from the Kansas City area. Congrats Jerry. Your new iPod Touch will be delivered to you as soon as we can get it there.

    I have thoroughly enjoyed this year’s Western Farm Show. The attendance was strong even with challenging weather conditions at times but that’s what you expect and farmers showed they were quite capable to manage.

    2011 Western Farm Show Photo Album

    Western Farm Show

    Making Precision Ag Pay

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Precision ag was the topic of several educational seminars at the Western Farm Show. The presenter was Lucas Haag, Kansas State University Research and Education. The seminar going on in the photo focused on improving profitability. That’s something that any farmer would like to know. I think Lucas continued the discussion with some of the attendees long after it was over.

    I spoke with Lucas about the message he had on profitability. He makes a distinction between technologies that have a quick payback and those that have a more long term payback. He says hardware like auto steer and auto swatch are ones that provide a quick payback. But in the longer term the data collection becomes more important. He encourages recording field yield data for example because that type of information helps make farm based decisions that can save money.

    Lucas did get in a good plug for K-State and says that they offer opportunities for both students and adults who would like to learn more about using precision ag.

    You can listen to my interview with Lucas here: Lucas Haag Interview

    2011 Western Farm Show Photo Album

    Audio, Education, Precision Agriculture, Western Farm Show

    Apply for Green Mountain College’s Summer Farm & Food Program

    Joanna Schroeder

    For those interested in becoming involved in exploring traditional techniques and cutting edge research in sustainable agriculture should consider applying for Green Mountain College’s summer program. In its third year, the 12-credit summer intensive program Farm Life Ecology: A Field and Table Intensive, runs for 13 weeks from May 23-August 19. For the first time the College is also offering half-sessions for 6 credits from May 23-July 2 and July 7-August 19.

    “Modern agriculture is heavily reliant on fossil energy sources, and we’ll need to find ways as a society to incorporate more energy-efficient solutions to growing food,” said farm manager and program director Dr. Kenneth Mulder. “Students in this program get a chance to manage our campus farm while gaining a rigorous foundation in sustainable agriculture.”

    Over the past three years, the college’s Farm & Food Program has received nearly $250,000 in grant funding to further develop their fossil-free agriculture initiatives.

    “The Farm and Food Intensive combines a rigorous classroom experience with individual research projects and hands-on farm work,” Mulder continued. “Students also get a chance to participate in some pretty exciting research that will teach them to run farms that are productive, profitable, and environmentally sustainable.”

    While in the program, students will manage all aspects of Green Mountain College’s 22-acre Cerridwen Farm while receiving a curricular focus in three core areas: the fundamentals of organic crop and animal management; efficient integration and management of diverse farm systems; and development and utilization of appropriate technologies in agriculture. In addition, their home base will be the Solar Harvest Center where the students prepare communal meals from produce they grow and harvest from the farm.

    Phillip Ackerman-Leist, Director of the College’s Farm & Food Project and Associate Professor of environmental studies added, “Cerridwen Farm has become an agricultural lab of sorts, and our students contribute to that research. Like traditional ag programs students will learn a lot about agricultural practices and systems. They’ll also learn how to be part of the current food revolution that is transforming farming and how we view food.”

    Agribusiness, Education, Sustainability

    Western Farm Show Update

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Day two of the Western Farm Show is concluding. I spoke with Jeff Flora, CEO, Southwestern Association, about how the show’s going. He’s very happy with it. Although the weather could cooperate better.

    Jeff says that the first night of the Championship Tractor Pull exceeded expectations for attendance and tonight should be even better. I can attest that the traffic was much higher today and as I’m writing this is still strong.

    You can listen to my interview with Jeff here: Jeff Flora Interview

    2011 Western Farm Show Photo Album

    Audio, Western Farm Show

    AgWired Gadget Grips

    Chuck Zimmerman

    One of the items Western Farm Show folks are collecting from the AgWired booth are “gadget grips” that you put on the back of your iPod or mobile phone to keep it from slipping off your dashboard or some inclined surface. They’re great and something we’ve received the most positive feedback over the last several years.

    You’ll be able to find them at our booth at the April NAMA Convention just so you know.

    2011 Western Farm Show Photo Album

    Western Farm Show