Did You Back-Up Your Safe Deposit Box?

Melissa Sandfort

Okay, so you probably can’t back-up your files in a safe deposit box unless you make photocopies of them and put them in … you guessed it … another safe deposit box. This is an old-timer version of a PDA, or an iPad, or whatever hand-held device is small enough to fit in your plaid shirt pocket and hold all the data you can dream of and more.

But back in the late 1800s, this was where all farm records were kept. This was from my great-great grandfather John Henry (a good, strong farmer’s name) who passed away in 1936. On the top is engraved what appears to be a social security number, but after doing a little research, it must have been his son’s SSN because they didn’t start issuing them until 1936. John Henry died before he even “became a number”. All of the numbers that mattered to him and to his farm were kept in this steel safe deposit box.

From the safe deposit box, we’ve grown to notepads and pencils to electronic ear tags for livestock and computer farm management software.

Recently, I bought myself a portable external hard drive for backing up my computer files. But I looked down and realized it’s plastic. (Right? It’s made of plastic and a little metal.) So if our house goes up in flames, it does me no good unless it’s where? That’s right. In my fireproof safe deposit box! Maybe we haven’t come as far as I thought.

Until we walk again …

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Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • EMD Crop BioScience is introducing Ratchet for the 2011 growing season, providing corn and soybean growers with an easy-to-use foliar product that taps into the breakthrough performance advantages of LCO (Lipo-chitooligosaccharide) Promoter Technology.
  • Farm Market iD announced it has made available farm data on over 36,000 growers in California, updated with information from all 58 counties, for the 2010 growing year.
  • Pioneer Hi-Bred has announced that it has received approval of Optimum IntrasectM insect protection allowing corn growers in the United States and Canada to significantly reduce their structured above-ground refuge.
  • Early registration is now open for the Animal Agriculture Alliance’s annual Stakeholders Summit. Celebrate the 10th anniversary of this unique educational event by joining other food and feed industry leaders in Arlington, VA on May 5-6 to explore the theme: “United We Eat: Securing Animal Agriculture’s Future”.
    Zimfo Bytes

    USDA Deregulates Corn Amylase

    Cindy Zimmerman

    SyngentaSyngenta Seeds announced today it has received full deregulation from USDA for corn amylase (Event 3272), the first corn output trait designed to help ethanol industry become more efficient, profitable and environmentally friendly.

    Syngenta Seeds plans to sell corn containing Event 3272 under the “Enogen” seed brand. “Enogen corn is a breakthrough product that provides ethanol producers a proven means to create more value per gallon while offering targeted corn growers an opportunity to cultivate a premium specialty crop in a contracted, closed production system,” said David Morgan, president of Syngenta Seeds. “Also, Enogen corn can substantially reduce the energy and water consumed and the carbon emissions associated with ethanol production.”

    The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) is happy with USDA’s decision.

    “Corn amylase is the first processing output trait to be scrutinized by our regulatory system,” said NCGA president Bart Schott, a grower from North Dakota. “The potential importance of output traits to growers and industry will only increase as other output traits are developed.”

    Corn amylase is approved in Japan, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Australia, Taiwan, and the Philippines. Amylase was found to be safe for food and feed by the Food and Drug Administration in 2007.

    Corn, NCGA, Seed, Syngenta, USDA

    Farmer Co-op Council Testifies on Wall Street Reform Act

    Cindy Zimmerman

    Implementing legislation aimed a reforming Wall Street could have an impact on farmer cooperatives.

    ncfcAs the Commodities Futures Trading Corporation (CFTC) implements provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act involving over the counter (OTC) derivatives, the Commission must ensure that farmer co-ops can continue to effectively manage risk and offer hedging tools to their farmer-owners, a representative of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives (NCFC) said during a hearing in Washington this week.

    The comments were made by Ed Gallagher, president of Dairy Risk Management Services, a division of Dairy Farmers of America, and vice president of risk management for Dairylea Cooperative, at a House Committee on Agriculture hearing looking at implementation of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

    “Due to market volatility in recent years, cooperatives are increasingly using OTC products to help them diversify their exposure by customizing their hedges,” Gallagher testified. “In addition, OTC derivatives offer cooperatives the ability to provide specialized products to farmers and ranchers to help them better manage their risk and returns. A co-op can aggregate its owner-members’ small volume hedges or forward contracts and offset that risk with a futures contract or by entering into another customized hedge via the swaps market.”

    For an example, Gallagher discussed the ways in which his co-op helps their dairy farmer members hedge against increases in feed prices. Without the co-op involvement, he emphasized, individual producers would be unable to mitigate this risk effectively.

    “Many producers are not able to use the futures markets to hedge input risk because of the larger volumes underlying the relevant futures contracts,” Gallagher said in his written testimony. “Furthermore, corn and soybean contracts do not trade on a monthly basis—while most of our members purchase feed on a monthly basis.”

    A wide variety of farmer co-ops, including those in the grain and livestock sectors, use OTC derivatives to offer similar products.

    Cooperatives

    R+K Adds To The Team

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Rhea KaiserAgWired ZimmPoll sponsor, Rhea + Kaiser, has just added almost a dozen new folks to the team in the areas of account services, public relations, media and project management. The expansion follows the agency’s acquisition of new clients and expanding partnerships with several current clients.

    “We’re always looking for great people who have the critical strategic focus needed for our success and the success of our clients,” said Diane Martin, CEO of Rhea + Kaiser. “We’re pleased work is steadily increasing enabling us to attract individuals who are smart and passionate about what we do and about our clients’ businesses.”

    Recent great additions to the R+K team include: Jayma Appleby, senior account executive, PR; Kim Berns, senior account executive; Diane Chastain, project management lead; Sarah Galdi, assistant account executive; Karen Harley, media buyer; Greg Lammert, senior account supervisor, PR; Christina Leggio, media accountant; Marcy Miller, senior media planner; Stephen Samelko, account executive; Rebecca Silva, assistant account executive; and William Rongey, senior account executive.

    “We’re optimistic about 2011,” said Martin. “We have great clients who value the thinking our teams are bringing to the table and who are empowering us to do great work on their behalf.”

    In addition to the new hires above, there are several open positions still waiting to be filled. Interested? Check out http://www.rkconnect.com/Careers.aspx.

    Agencies

    Novus Announces TREVERA

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Jared HuxWe always ask, “What’s new?” when conducting interviews and during the recent International Poultry Expo, our sponsor, Novus International had some news.

    I spoke with Jared about DHA, an omega-3 fatty acid. He calls it the king of the omega-3 fatty acids. Besides being very healthy for humans it also is for poultry. It helps promote growth and the nutritional value of eggs and meat. According to Jared the “new” comes in with their product TREVERA. This is an algae based omega-3 DHA which they just launched. He says you can find omega-3 eggs in the grocery store now and that you should look for ones that say DHA.

    You can listen to my interview with Jared here: Interview With Jared Hux

    2011 International Poultry Expo/International Feed Expo Photo Album

    AgWired IPE/IFE coverage sponsored by: Novus

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

    National Ethanol Conference App

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Apps for trade shows and conferences are becoming more and more popular. The next one I’ll be using is the National Ethanol Conference App in Phoenix.

    * Get 24 hour access to unique, on-the-go information, maps and networking.
    * Organize your schedule.
    * Navigate using the conference map.
    * Stay in the know with important alerts and the most up-to-date event schedule.
    * Download speaker and sponsor information.

    Download the App! It’s FREE.

    Instructions:

    For iPhones, iPod Touch and iPad: From your phone, visit the App Store and search for NEC 2011.

    For Blackberry, Droid and all other smartphones: From your phone, point your mobile browser to http://m.core-apps.com/nec2011 (the system will determine your phone type for proper download for your device). Then bookmark this page on your phone for easy future access.

    Apps, Ethanol

    Zimfo Bytes

    Melissa Sandfort

      Zimfo Bytes

    • The Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection is inviting Wisconsin dairy producers who are interested in serving the state’s dairy industry and shaping its future to serve as a director on the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board.
    • During the recent National Association of Conservation Districts Annual Meeting, members elected a new officer team and approved a set of guiding principles for the 2012 Farm Bill.
    • Advanta’s sunflower business unit will be moving from Fargo, N.D. to the company’s U.S. headquarters in Hereford, Texas.
    • The Sorghum Checkoff announces the release of three online sorghum profitability calculators (found under the ‘sorghum production’ tab) that allow sorghum growers to determine the value sorghum can offer their operation.
      Zimfo Bytes

      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