RFA Ethanol Podcast

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

    Promoting Grain Bin Safety

    Cindy Zimmerman

    Grain bin accidents and fatalities on the farm have been on the increase in recent years, but more attention to some simple safety rules could reverse that trend.

    The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) and the research and education arm of the National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA) recently unveiled a new video to promote awareness about grain bin safety on the farm.

    The two organizations teamed up in November to develop the video in response to an increase in U.S. fatalities and injuries associated with entry into grain bins.

    “In 2010 we saw a record number of farmers becoming engulfed in grain bins and we decided it was time to have a proactive role in creating awareness about the serious nature of this issue,” NCGA President Bart Schott, a grower from Kulm, N.D., said. “We hope that this video makes farmers stop and think twice before the next time they put themselves in danger.”

    The new video, shot on location in several states, provides a wide range of information from prevention tips and background data on grain bin accidents. The project also involved interviews with professionals in the fields of grain bin safety research and rescue to provide as much information to viewers as possible.

    The video is available at NCGA.com and on NCGA’s YouTube channel and is also being distributed by NCGA to affiliated farm organizations. The NGFA also has made the video available on its website at www.ngfa.org, and will be encouraging its grain elevator members to distribute it to farmer-customers.

    You can also watch it here:

    Corn, Grains, NCGA, Safety, Video

    Blades Promoted at Successful Farming

    Cindy Zimmerman

    File this under “Former intern does even better.”

    Curt BladesSuccessful Farming magazine has promoted Curt Blades to national sales manager. In his new role, he will oversee and lead all advertising sales initiatives and research activities for the Successful Farming brands, including Agriculture.com and the Successful Farming Machinery Show. He was previously the sales and marketing manager with Successful Farming.

    “Curt has a proven track record of providing exceptional customer service and helping bring creative solutions to our marketing partners,” said Scott Mortimer, publisher of Successful Farming. “I am very pleased to announce his promotion and look forward to him leading all advertising efforts at Successful Farming.” Blades will also continue to oversee the research efforts of Successful Farming, and the new database venture SFMiD.

    “We will continue to be the most customer-oriented advertising sales and marketing team in agriculture,” said Blades. “I am thrilled to be given the opportunity to serve our customers and internal team in this new position.”

    As Chuck mentioned in a previous post, Curt started off his career in the agribusiness world as an intern with us at Brownfield Network – many, many moons ago. But, while we keep getting older, he still looks like that fresh-faced college kid to me!

    Uncategorized

    Getting to Know GROWMARK – MID-CO Commodities

    Cindy Zimmerman

    GROWMARK is a multi-layered cooperative with five wholly or partially-owned subsidiaries, six retail subsidiary divisions, and controlling interests in several related endeavors – all aimed at improving the profitability of its member-owners. As part of our series on getting to know GROWMARK, we’re getting to know not just the company, but the people who make it all happen.

    MID-CO COMMODITIES is a GROWMARK subsidiary that offers professional price-risk management services for all agricultural commodities, including market information analyzed by experienced commodity risk consultants, as well as providing futures and options execution on major exchanges.

    Bryce Stremming is one of MID-CO’s Commodity Risk Consultants. “What MID-CO keys on is basis trading within the grain industry and as the market moves up and down, you have different opportunities with the basis on whether it is improving or not,” Bryce told Agwired during a recent interview.

    Bryce says what is most important to him is what his customers want and need at any particular point in time. “What is their risk tolerance, what are they looking for, and making sure that we tailor our recommendations to what their comfort level is,” he says. “MID-CO views each customer as an individual and we always do what is in the best interest of the customer.”

    Get to know MID-CO, GROWMARK and Bryce a little better by listening to Chuck’s interview here: Bryce Stremming Interview

    Audio, Grains, GROWMARK