Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

    Do We Have Enough Farm Groups Or Too Many?

    Chuck Zimmerman

    The results are in for ZimmPoll #5. The question: “What do you think about the number of farm groups?” Our readers are not shy about letting us know their opinions and we appreciate that. The results: 33% say there are too many, 28% say the more the merrier, 25% say some are not needed but most are and 14% say there are just enough for everyone to have a voice. What do you think? Got a different answer?

    Our next ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, “What does “sustainability” really mean to the public? This ought to be interesting. 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

    Keynote Speakers for Animal Ag Conference Announced

    John Davis

    Leaders in research and industry will headline the upcoming 2011 Annual Conference of the National Institute for Animal Agriculture, April 11-14th, 2011, in San Antonio, Texas, as they talk about how to feed a world that’s expected to need nearly twice as much food in 2050 than what is needed today.

    To discuss this issue (and more), NIAA will feature Dr. Terry Barr, Senior Director of Industry Research, CoBank, Washington, DC; Dr. Frank Mitloehner, Agriculture Economist, University of California, Davis, CA; Mr. Charlie Arnot, Center for Food Integrity, Kansas City, MO; Dr. Peter Groot Koerkamp, Professor Biosystems Engineering / Agrotechnology & Interim Professor in Animal Production Systems, Wageningen University, Netherlands; Mr. Ian Reece, Rabobank, New York, NY (Invited); Dr. Molly McAdams, H-E-B Foods, San Antonio, TX (Invited); Mr. Mark Anstoetter, Shook Hardy & Bacon, Kansas City, MO; and Mr. Clint Hickman, Hickman Family Farms, Buckeye, AZ … plus, plenty of input and ideas from the folks attending the four days of seminars and meetings.

    If you’re involved in animal agriculture, it’s definitely an event you won’t want to miss.

    Register before March 1st and save 50 bucks off the $450 registration fee. More information is available here.

    Animal Health, Events

    BASF Headline and Kixor Named No-Till Products of the Year

    Cindy Zimmerman

    BASF Crop Protection products Kixor® herbicide technology and Headline® fungicide were named top no-till products of 2010 for weed and disease control at the 19th Annual National No-Tillage Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio last week. This was the first time that Kixor was eligible for the award, and marks the fifth consecutive year Headline has been selected as a product of the year.

    “BASF is committed to providing solutions that help growers protect – and even increase – yield potential by controlling tough broadleaf weeds, addressing yield-robbing diseases, and improving Plant Health,” said Paul Rea, Vice President, U.S. Crop Operations, BASF. “Kixor was widely successful in its first year as it offers growers a great resource for battling resistant weeds. Headline continues to offer growers the excellent disease control needed to provide Plant Health benefits and help maximize yield.”

    BASF

    Growmark Getting Social

    Chuck Zimmerman

    I’ve been spending a wonderful day at Growmark. Do you know who Growmark is? If not, don’t worry. In coming weeks and months we’re going to get to learn about them together. We’ll be making a more formal announcement tomorrow as Growmark becomes a major new sponsor of AgWired and Precision Pays!

    This morning we talked all about social media. Growmark has just launched a new website and is in the process of setting up and deciding how to manage social networking accounts like Twitter and Facebook. How to gauge effectiveness has been a big part of the conversation. Feel free to let them know what you think either here in comments or on Twitter. They would appreciate it.

    GROWMARK

    AGROTAIN Hosts Corn Yield Expert at AGCONNECT

    Cindy Zimmerman

    According to University of Illinois professor Dr. Fred Below, there are “Seven Wonders of the Corn Yield World,” and one of the most important is nitrogen.

    Dr. Below developed the “Seven Wonders” as a tool to teach farmers the relative importance of management factors that can impact corn productivity, ranking the top seven factors that can positively impact corn yields. “In our quest to grow 300 bushels and to improve crop management, we need to know those management factors that have the biggest impact on yield and make sure we manage those correctly,” he told me during an interview at the AGROTAIN exhibit during AGCONNECT Expo.

    Fred ranks weather and nitrogen as the top two corn yield world wonders. “These wonders interact with each other so that every single thing about nitrogen application and use by the plant is affected by weather,” he says. So, while farmers can’t control the weather, they can control nitrogen loss due to the weather. To that end, Dr. Below included SUPERU® (with AGROTAIN technology) as part of a high tech fertilizer package in his studies. “The AGROTAIN technology like SUPERU is designed to mitigate weather-induced nitrogen losses. This lets the plant respond to the nitrogen, rather than have it be lost,” he said. “So preventing nitrogen loss is number one on the list for achieving high yields.”

    The other five “wonders” on Dr. Below’s list include: hybrid selection, previous crop, plant populations, tillage and chemicals.

    Listen to my interview with Dr. Below here: Dr. Fred Below

    2011 AG CONNECT Expo Photo Album

    Fertilizer

    Western Farm Show Gearing Up

    Chuck Zimmerman

    ZimmCast 288In this week’s program we’re going to look ahead to the Western Farm Show by talking with Jeff Flora, CEO, Southwestern Association (owner of the show). The show will be held February 25-27 at the American Royal Complex in Kansas City, MO. This is the 50th annual show and ZimmComm New Media is happy to be a part of it. We’ll be exhibiting and I’ll be conducting two of the educational sessions, one on “Becoming an Agricultural Agvocate” with AgChat Foundation on Friday and one on Saturday on “Social Media – Tips & Tools.”

    In my conversation with Jeff he describes the Southwestern Association which owns and manages the show. It was founded in 1889 and represents equipment retailers in a multi-state area, working in the areas of legislation, communication and education. Jeff says they’re expecting a potentially record crowd this year since he’s seen so much interest, especially from exhibitors. There are going to be more than 500 exhibits which he says is higher than recent years.

    A first time highlight at this year’s show is the Friday/Saturday night Championship Tractor Pull which will be held in Kemper Arena. I’m planning to be there! Tickets for it are available here. So it sounds like a good time will be had in KC, MO. We hope to see you there.

    Listen to this week’s ZimmCast with Jeff Flora here: ZimmCast 288 - Western Farm Show

    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

    Audio, Farm Shows, Western Farm Show, ZimmCast

    Personifying Nature

    Melissa Sandfort

    Jack Frost
    Mother Earth
    Father Time
    Old Man Winter

    Nature is real and alive. It breathes its wintry breath on us, it heats up our souls, it’s the world’s eternal calendar. Fortunately, I live in an area where I get to enjoy all four seasons: I witness the growth of spring blooms, heat waves reverberating off the pavement in summer, the pallet of colors on fall trees, and right now, a man of nature more commonly known as Jack Frost.

    He typically is personified as nipping on our nose, but this week, he only made it as far as the front window of the house. His omnipresence tells me he’s just around the corner, waiting for the coldest of mornings to strike again.

    I recently returned from a winter Iceland also known as Atlanta, where daytime temperatures reached a balmy 31 degrees. When the plane landed in Omaha, it was 2 degrees with a wind chill of -10 and there were 12 inches of snow on the ground.

    I’m reminded again how alive and real nature is as I walk down to the mailbox the next day and Old Man Winter literally takes my breath away.

    Until we walk again …

    Uncategorized

    Zimfo Bytes

    Melissa Sandfort

      Zimfo Bytes

    • Dow AgroSciences and Pioneer Hi-Bred have resolved a dispute regarding the marketing of certain corn seed products sold through Pioneer’s PROaccess business unit. As part of the resolution, Pioneer will continue to distribute products through its PROaccess business unit, with modified packaging.
    • The Organic Materials Review Institute has approved Alltech’s application for Sel-Plex 1000.
    • National Association of Farm Broadcasting president Lindsay Hill recently launched CowsAndCoffee.com, a place to read the latest agricultural news while you sip your morning cup of coffee.
    • The American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture presented its fourth “Book of the Year” award to Cris Peterson for Seed Soil Sun: Earth’s Recipe for Food.
    Zimfo Bytes

    Average Cattleman Explains Farm Life To HSUS President

    Chuck Zimmerman

    I love Xtranormal movies. Just saw a tweet link to this one where an average cattleman tries to explain things to the president of the HSUS. It would be funny if it wasn’t so sadly true.

    Animal Activists, Animal Health, Farming, Video