Another Record Breaking Harvest for All

Cindy Zimmerman

Farm Bureau families helped to feed even more hungry Americans in 2010.

American Farm Bureau reports that farm and ranch families of the organization raised more than $273,000 last year and donated more than 18 million pounds of food to hungry Americans as part of Farm Bureau’s “Harvest for All” program through Feeding America. That is the combined equivalent of more than 16 million meals!

The money raised, food donated and meal equivalents in 2010 all shattered program records. The Harvest for All Program was established in 2003.

In fact, the 18 million pounds of food donated by Farm Bureau families in 2010 was nearly three times as great as the 6.7 million pounds donated in 2008, the previous record. The $273,000 in funds donated in 2010 surpassed the 2009 level of $213,000, which was also a record. And the number of meal equivalents served at 16 million exceeded the previous high of 6.4 million, also set in 2008, by nearly 10 million meal equivalents.

Read more here.

AFBF

National Farm Machinery Show Underway

Chuck Zimmerman

We’ve got a good crowd out early at the National Farm Machinery Show. I did a walk around to take random photos while we were getting internet access fixed in the media room so there are a lot of new ones in there.

2011 National Farm Machinery Show Photo Album

My next step is to begin conducting interviews with sponsors and others. Time to hit the floor!

AgWired coverage at the National Farm Machinery Show is sponsored by:
New Holland

National Farm Machinery Show

iPhone and Android Lead Smartphone Pack

Chuck Zimmerman

When it comes to smartphone platforms our audience is using a mix with iPhone/Android/Blackberry on top. According to our poll 32% say they use iPhone, 32% are using Android, 28 % are using Blackberry and way back we have 5% saying Other and only 3% saying Windows. Interesting and I think we’ll have to ask this question again later this year since there are going to be a lot of changes in mobile phone carrier systems and phones. So, does this surprise you? About what you expected?

Our next ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, “What biofuel feedstock do you think has best future?” Let us know what you think and thank you for participating.

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

ZimmPoll

AHA Heart-Check Logo on Beef

Melissa Sandfort

Thanks in part to a partnership with the Beef Checkoff Program, the American Heart Association has listed three beef cuts as part of its Food Certification Program. This program places the association’s heart-check mark on food packages to helps healthy consumers over age 2 identify foods that meet criteria for saturated fat and cholesterol.

The three beef cuts that met the American Heart Association’s criteria for extra lean and now are certified to display the heart-check mark include:

— Boneless Top Sirloin Petite Roast (select grade)
— Top Sirloin Filet (select grade)
— Top Sirloin Kabob (select grade)

The American Heart Association’s heart-check mark is the one of the most trusted icons on food packaging today – and it continues to resonate with health-conscious shoppers, even in a challenging economy. In fact, more than 83 percent of consumers have an aided awareness of the heart-check mark, and nearly 75 percent of primary grocery shoppers say the heart-check mark improves the likelihood that they’ll buy a product.

This certification allows retailers to display the heart-check mark on fresh case beef packages, promoting the health benefits of a serving of these particular beef cuts to their customers.

To learn more about receiving the American Heart Association’s certification, please visit www.BeefRetail.org.

Beef

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Syngenta announced it has received full deregulation for its corn amylase trait from the USDA. Syngenta will sell corn seed with the amylase trait as Enogen corn seed.
  • John Deere is hosting Driver Green events at dealerships across the country, from February through July, for consumers to see and test drive the latest utility tractors and other equipment available from John Deere.
  • The next president of the National Chicken Council will be Mike Brown, currently senior vice president for legislative affairs of the American Meat Institute.
  • Keith Baioni, business manager of crop protection products for Jimmy Sanders, Cleveland, Miss., and Steve Muhlenbruch, agronomist for Farmer’s Cooperative Company, Dows, Iowa, were selected as Resistance Fighters of the Year for their leadership and advocacy efforts to manage glyphosate-resistant weeds in 2010.
    Zimfo Bytes

    World Ag Investment Conference Adds Passport Capital Speaker

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Here’s a last announcement about the May 9-10, World Agriculture Investment Conference. Leading investment groups from across the globe will be at the conference to discuss the opportunities and risks in agricultural markets.

    The meeting’s foremost speaker panel – addressing a delegation of institutional and private investors – has recently been strengthened by leading investment manager Ejnar Knudsen of Passport Capital.

    Mr. Knudsen has a wealth of experience in the field of agriculture investment and is currently responsible for Passport Capital’s investment management and research process for food, agriculture and commodity investments.

    Among the timely discussion in Chicago, Mr. Knudsen will share his thoughts on agricultural markets and where to hedge your bets, offering truly unique insight into a complex and often misunderstood market.

    What’s more, in build-up to this meeting you can now get free access a keynote presentation from our recent London event – BlackRock’s Richard Davis looks at equities versus commodities and key investment themes in the Agriculture space – please click here for the presentation.

    The World Agriculture Investment Conference USA is a unique forum designed specifically to network with key investors, hedge funds and Ag managers, and to effortlessly discover how best to develop the ideal Ag portfolio.

    Discounted tickets for Chicago are available until February 25th

    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.

    International

    Nufarm Forms Strategic Alliance in Mexico

    Cindy Zimmerman

    NufarmNufarm Americas is forming a strategic alliance in Mexico with Sumitomo Chemical Company’s affiliate Valent de Mexico (VdM) to distribute crop protection products.

    According to Nufarm officials, the company will provide selected products from its line of herbicides, insecticides and fungicides to VdM, which will offer those products through its well-established existing distribution channel.

    “Nufarm and SCC are working together in many regions of the world to explore alliances that can capitalize on each of our strengths and we are pleased to find this opportunity in Mexico,” says Robert Renes, Nufarm vice president for Latin America North. “The combination of our broad product line and VdM’s distribution channel relationships will benefit both companies and our customers.”

    Renes adds that VdM and Nufarm offerings are complementary; in Mexico, VdM has focused on specialty crops and branded products, while Nufarm is one of the world’s largest suppliers of herbicides for broad-acre crops as well as a wide array of fungicides and insecticides.

    VdM will have exclusive rights to sell certain Nufarm products to its distributors under private branded labels. Nufarm will continue its model of selling product to industrial customers. The final agreement is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter.

    International, Nufarm

    National Farm Machinery Show Preview

    Chuck Zimmerman

    National Farm Machinery ShowSomebody ordered some beautiful weather for this year’s National Farm Machinery Show. Sunshine and “warm” is the way I like it. I got on site early and got in some exercise just wandering around and seeing the show in set up mode.

    I checked in at the Kentucky Exposition Center and met Corinne Fetter, Director of Expositions, Kentucky State Fair Board. She says the good weather should “bring people out of the woodwork.” The exhibit space is sold out so there’s 1.2 million square feet to walk through. She says the “Superbowl of Tractor Pulls” will have five sessions over the next several days and there are only a limited number of tickets left.

    You can listen to my interview with Corinne here: Interview with Corinne Fetter

    I’ve got a photo album started which will be added to periodically over the next several days: 2011 National Farm Machinery Show Photo Album

    AgWired coverage at the National Farm Machinery Show is sponsored by:
    New Holland

    Audio, Farm Shows, National Farm Machinery Show

    Being A Social Media Marketing Ag Leader

    Chuck Zimmerman

    ZimmCast 292Last week we heard how one of the major ag groups is using social media. This week we’ll hear how one agribusiness “leader” is doing so. I spoke with Katie Beeler, Ag Leader Technology, about how the company is incorporating social media into the marketing mix. Ag Leader Technology is a long time sponsor of our Precision Pays website!

    In our conversation Katie describes how they measure effectiveness, ways they incorporate a blog (Precision Point), Twitter, Facebook and YouTube into their overall marketing plan. She also provides some tips for those just getting started.

    Hear how Ag Leader Technology is going social in this week’s program: ZimmCast 292 - Ag Leader Technology

    This week’s program ends with some music from Music Alley. It’s called “Young Leaders of Tomorrow” by Duwende.

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

    The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired. Subscribe so you can listen when and where you want. Just go to our a Subscribe page

    Ag Leader, Agribusiness, Audio, Precision Agriculture, Social Networking, ZimmCast

    Ag Lawyer Warns of Government Regulation

    Cindy Zimmerman

    The challenge to American agriculture to produce more food, fuel, and fiber on decreasing acreage continues to be challenged by governmental regulation, according to Gary Baise, agricultural lawyer with Olsson, Frank, Weeda, Terman, Bode, and Matz law firm in Washington, D.C.

    “Don’t think they (the EPA) can’t shut you down,” he said at the recent GROWMARK FS Green Plan Solutions “In Pursuit of Maximum Yields” conference in East Peoria. “There are policies in place and in the works that will restrict food production in the United States.”

    “EPA can absolutely shut you down, or make it so expensive in terms of coming into compliance that you have to go out of business,” Gary told me in an interview after his address. He specifically talked about water issues, and the Chesapeake Bay Initiative in particular. “According to one study, 48 percent of the land in the six states around the Chesapeake Bay, that’s in corn, soybeans, grain sorghum, would have to come out of production and go into pasture land and timber in order to reduce the amount of phosphorus and nitrogen running into the bay. I think that’s very serious,” he said.

    While Baise says EPA has taken many beneficial actions for the environment since its inception during the Nixon administration, he would say “at this point, it’s misguided, misdirected and ill-informed.” He believes the agency now refuses to take into account all the improvements and successes that agriculture has achieved through the use of new technology and advancements. “I don’t think that they think that we want to save money. We do not want to waste any of these expensive inputs. I don’t EPA takes that kind of commonsense into account.”

    Listen to my interview with Gary Baise here: Gary Baise Interview

    GROWMARK