Illinois Aerial Applicator Had Good Season

Chuck Zimmerman

During the National Agricultural Aviation Association convention I met Don Younglove, R&R Flight Services (not pictured), during the trade show. He’s got three planes and the business is located in Mendota, IL. He’s a big proponent of BASF products by the way!

I asked Don how business was this season and he says that it was good. It was a wet year in his area and that meant spraying a lot of Headline fungicide. He was enjoying the convention because the trade show allows him to talk with company representatives. I actually found him in the AgSync booth. He says that he converted his system to AgSync this year. He says the conversion was “a little tough” but by the end of the year he found that they sprayed more acres in less time than the year before.

You can listen to my interview with Don here: Don Younglove Interview

2010 NAAA Convention Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the NAAA Convention is sponsored by BASF.

Ag Groups, Agribusiness, Audio, BASF, NAAA

HSUS Boss Comments Criticized

Chuck Zimmerman

HumaneWatch.org made sure people know about the latest problem HSUS is having. They ran this full page ad in the Sunday New York Times. It criticizes the “recent claim of Wayne Pacelle, the President of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), that convicted dog abuser Michael Vick “would do a good job as a pet owner.” The ad condemns HSUS for supporting the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback’s ownership of dogs and urges all recurring HSUS donors to cancel their memberships and stop giving to the organization. I just love what Dave Martosko and company are doing in making sure people get the truth about this anti animal agriculture organization.

HumaneWatch.org points to the Eagles’ $50,000 donation to HSUS in 2010 as one possible motivation for Pacelle’s indefensible suggestion that Vick should be allowed to own more dogs. Despite the words “humane society” in its name, HSUS is not affiliated with local humane societies anywhere in America. It spends tens of millions every year supporting a staff of more than 700, lobbyists in all 50 states, and an $11 million executive pension plan. Yet during the past two years, HSUS shared less than 1 percent of its money with hands-on pet shelters.

“It’s absolutely shocking that the leader of America’s biggest animal rights group would side with a convicted dog fighting felon instead of with helpless pets,” said David Martosko, CCF’s Director of Research and the editor of HumaneWatch.org.

Within 24 hours of Michael Vick’s arrest for running a Virginia dog fighting ring, HSUS began raising money online to “care for the dogs seized” at Vick’s home. Wayne Pacelle later admitted to The New York Times that HSUS was not caring for the dogs. Pacelle also recommended that officials “put down” (kill) the animals. Despite HSUS’s wishes, most of those dogs have since been successfully rehabilitated.

Read the copy of the ad by clicking on this link Read More

Animal Activists, Wackos

A Mid-Winter’s Tale From Syngenta

Chuck Zimmerman

One of the Syngenta Seeds bloggers (Rich Lee) has written a holiday poem that ties in the delivery of seed. Here’s an excerpt. You’ll need to go to Dirt on Seeds to read the whole thing.

It was the season before spring work; all is covered in snow,

‘tis the time we are frozen, when nothing will go.

The tractors are tucked, all snug in the shed,

in the hope that warm weather soon was ahead.

And dreaming of green crops and new record yields,

I could almost smell the dirt from freshly-plowed fields.

Read rest of poem

Agribusiness, Syngenta

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

    Red Sky At Night

    Melissa Sandfort

    Have you ever heard of the saying, “Red sky at night, sailors delight. Red sky in morning, sailors take warning.”? Unfortunately, my husband took this picture in the morning, and I think it was cold and very windy that day. The saying held true.

    And, I don’t remember Nebraska being this windy when I was growing up. Maybe it’s the weather this year, but we’ve had an exceptionally high number of windy days. Or maybe it’s just me. Ever notice the difference in how you interpreted things as a child versus how you see them as an adult? When you’re younger, everything is bigger, more grand, even more fabulous than you ever imagined. And somehow, as we get older, we seem to lose our child-like fascination and the extraordinary become plain.

    I just read a series of articles in my Real Simple magazine (which by the way, is the best magazine out there, second only to all the ag mags I read, of course) about happiness. In the editor’s note, she says, “Think small, and just look around you.”

    So maybe I should quit focusing on the impending gloomy weather because of the old saying about the red sky, and just look around and appreciate the beauty of the morning landscape that my husband captured on the camera.

    Until we walk again …

    Uncategorized

    Save the Chestnut!

    Cindy Zimmerman

    Everybody’s heard about chestnuts roasting on an open fire, especially at this time of year, but how many of us have actually ever had any?

    Apparently, there’s a reason for that. According to the American Chestnut Foundation, the American chestnut tree once reigned over 200 million acres of eastern woodlands from Maine to Florida, and from the Piedmont west to the Ohio Valley, until succumbing to a lethal fungus infestation, known as the chestnut blight, during the first half of the 20th century. They estimate that four billion American chestnuts were destroyed by the disease.

    The American Chestnut Foundation was started in 1983 by a group of plant scientists with the goal of developing a blight-resistant American chestnut tree through research and breeding. Obviously, that requires funding and you can help by giving that hard-to-buy-for person on your Christmas list a really special gift this year – an Annual Sponsor membership to The American Chestnut Foundation worth two potentially blight-resistant chestnut trees!

    I am not kidding. According to ACF, a gift membership includes a subscription to the bi-monthly magazine, access to their most advanced, potentially blight-resistant Restoration Chestnuts for your own planting, and expert advice on growing and caring for American chestnut trees.

    If that is not cool enough, they even have a whole chestnut gift store – really! There’s books, posters, prints, handcrafted stuff made from chestnut wood, t-shirts, hats and more. Check it out at shop.acf.org. Guaranteed to be a Christmas gift they will never expect!

    Uncategorized

    WMBD Farm Broadcaster Raises Big Bucks for Food Bank

    Cindy Zimmerman

    Lots of people in central Illinois will be having a heartier and happier holiday thanks to the efforts of our dear friend Meghan Grebner, agribusiness director for WMBD and WIRL in Peoria.

    Megs has been so excited about this promotion where she partnered up with eight county farm bureaus and their young leaders and asked farmers from Central Illinois to donate a minimum of 10 bushels of corn or soybeans to their local participating grain elevators. The money from the donations was presented to the Midwest Food Bank in Peoria on Friday.

    “We raised a total of $28,700 for the Midwest Food Bank’s Tender Mercies Program, which is a packaged meal given to local food banks,” she told me in an email. The money will fund 57,400 packages of Tender Mercies and each package feeds anywhere between 4 and 6 people. That means the $28,700 that Meghan helped to raise will feed approximately 229,600 people! Wow!

    Doesn’t she look cute in this photo? It was taken by one of her colleagues at the radio group, Courtney Lynne Bickerman. Congratulations to all who helped out with this project. Great job, Megs!

    Media

    Obama Signs Bill Giving Death Tax Relief

    Cindy Zimmerman

    President Obama held a public signing ceremony for the tax bill passed by Congress this week that delivers early Christmas presents for everyone, giving farmers and ranchers good reason to be thankful this holiday season.

    Securing meaningful estate tax reform for farm and ranch families has been a top priority for the American Farm Bureau Federation. “We commend President Obama and congressional leaders for being committed to securing passage of this tax bill. It offers considerable relief that will help farmers, ranchers and rural communities in these difficult economic times,” said AFBF in a statement.

    National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) President Steve Foglesong says they are pleased to get the estate tax at 35 percent with a $5 million exemption, at least for two years. “I speak for all cattlemen and women when I express my gratitude to those members of Congress who understand the importance of keeping small businesses, including farmers and ranchers, from receiving a financially devastating death sentence on New Year’s day,” he said.

    The National Corn Growers Association is grateful for both the death tax relief and extension of the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit. “We are very happy to see the one-year extension of the ethanol blender’s credit and a two year reformed estate tax move,” said NCGA President Bart Schott of North Dakota. “These extensions were among the top priorities for our organization in 2010; failure to renew both would have done much to harm our nation’s rural economy and the future of America’s farms.”

    Among those in attendance     at the signing today were some 150 members of Congress, administration officials and key stakeholder and advocates who worked to pass the bill, including representatives from the ethanol industry. Renewable Fuels Association president and CEO Bob Dinneen and Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis were both in the audience at the bill signing.

    The biodiesel industry is especially pleased with passage of the new bill, which retroactively renews the biodiesel tax credit that expired at the end of 2009. “Reinstatement of this proven incentive helps provide the policy framework needed to meet the nation’s renewable goals, and the NBB sincerely appreciates the bipartisan cooperation and support that made extension of this worthwhile incentive possible,” said Joe Jobe, National Biodiesel Board CEO.

    AFBF, Biodiesel, Biofuels, Corn, Ethanol, NCBA, NCGA, RFA

    Happy Holidays From Rhea + Kaiser

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Rhea + Kaiser has produced a holiday card that showcases various personas you may be familiar with that include the Traditionalist, Holiday Homemaker, Kid-at-Heart, Holiday Prepster, Non-Traditionalist, Eco-Maniac, Fashionista, Office Party Over-Indulger, Ad Agency Creative Director and Ad Agency Client.

    Got a holiday card you’d like to share?

    Agencies

    New Media Statistics To Ponder

    Chuck Zimmerman

    If you need some current information about who is using new media and how then Pew Internet and American Life Project has a new report for you called, Generations 2010. This is a follow up to their Generations Online In 2009 report. I don’t really see any surprises in the report but you may find some. They highlight the fact that blogging is the only activity that is down in use among Millennials. However, they point out that the younger crowd is actually doing “blogging” via social networking sites. You also shouldn’t confuse posting onto your own blog with reading a blog. The study also found out that older demographics have increased their use of blogging.

    Here’s some other summary information that I have edited and highlighted:

    Millennials, those ages 18-33, remain more likely to access the internet wirelessly with a laptop or mobile phone. In addition, they still clearly surpass their elders online when it comes to:

    * Use of social networking sites
    * Use of instant messaging
    * Reading blogs

    Finally, the biggest online trend: While the youngest and oldest cohorts may differ, certain key internet activities are becoming more uniformly popular across all age groups. These include:

    * Search engine use
    * Getting news
    * Buying products
    * Downloading podcasts

    Even in areas that are still dominated by Millennials, older generations are making notable gains. Some of the areas that have seen the fastest rate of growth in recent years include older adults’ participation in communication and entertainment activities online, especially in using social network sites such as Facebook. Among the major trends in online activities:

    * While the youngest generations are still significantly more likely to use social network sites, the fastest growth has come from internet users 74 and older: social network site usage for this oldest cohort has quadrupled since 2008, from 4% to 16%.

    Podcasts, Social Networking