I Farm to Feed the World

Joanna Schroeder

During the Farm Progress Show, Bayer CropScience kicked off a new initiative called, “I Farm to Feed the World,” in an effort to raise awareness about the need to decrease global hunger amidst a growing population. I spoke with Mark Wrucke about the program and he said, “We’re a global organization and we realize ag has some real challenges coming. The population will continue to grow yet we’re really farming most of the arable land that available right now.”

He continued, “So it’s critically important we maximize our yield and grain quality on every acre we produce. It’s also critically important we maintain the lowest possible footprint in doing so.”

During the show, farmers from around the globe made pledges that they would maximize yields and grain quality while helping to minimize environmental impact. For every pledge, Bayer would donate $5 to one of four local food banks in the area mainly covered by Farm Progress. The pledges raised $6,680 for the food banks.

Knowing the challenges, I asked Wrucke what some of Bayer’s technologies were that would help to solve them. He said, “We’re very proud of the fact we consider ourselves to be the innovation company. We feel the best way to address these challenges in the future is through research.”

Bayer has released 28 new products in the marketplace in the last 10 years and will launch another nine new products by the end of 2012. Wrucke said many of these new products will have a much lower use rate and will be much less toxic to the environment.

To learn more about the “I Farm to Feel the World” initiative as well as to learn about their new products in the pipeline, listen to my interview with Mark Wrucke. You can also visit their website at www.bayercropscience.us.com. I Farm to Feed the World

Check out our Farm Progress Photo Album.

Audio, Environment, Farm Progress Show, Farm Shows, Food

Online Voting: Trees For Troops

Melissa Sandfort

Supporting military troops and their families this Christmas is just a few clicks away. Trees for Troops, a program of the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation, makes the holidays a little brighter for military personnel and their families by giving them fresh, full-sized Christmas Trees grown by American farm families.

Trees for Troops is competing with charities nationwide through the Pepsi Refresh Project for a $250,000 grant. Pepsi gives out $1.3 million each month to top vote getters, in amounts ranging from $5,000 up to $250,000. Farmers and ranchers can help support both U.S. military families and U.S. agriculture through this worthwhile national cause.

America’s farm and ranch families can help Trees for Troops deliver an additional 5,000 trees to military families by casting a daily vote in the Pepsi Refresh Project. Click here, then create an account with your name, email and birthday so you can quickly login each day to vote. And, you can also vote from your mobile phone by texting 102662 to Pepsi (73774). Voting is open the entire month of September.

Uncategorized

Lady Gaga Gags PETA

Cindy Zimmerman

Lady Gaga definitely won the prize for most outrageous outfit at the MTV awards on Sunday night with an all-meat ensemble complete with hat, shoes and purse that people are still talking about. The sound of Hollywood vegans and vegetarians gagging was music to the ears when she walked up on stage in the outfit to accept the award for Best Video of the Year from Cher, who had to hold Gaga’s meat purse.

miscIt had to have grossed out MTV host and dedicated vegan Ellen DeGeneres, who interviewed Lady Gaga about the stunt and why she did it. Her reasoning was not entirely clear, but supposedly had something to do with homosexual rights. “Well, it is certainly no disrespect to anyone that is vegan or vegetarian. As you know, I am the most judgment-free human being on the earth,” said Gaga. “However, it has many interpretations but for me this evening. If we don’t stand up for what we believe in and if we don’t fight for our rights, pretty soon we’re going to have as much rights as the meat on our own bones. And, I am not a piece of meat.”

Of course, it offended PETA, which thinks that Lady Gaga is “over the top.” This from an organization that is all about being over the top when it comes to drawing attention to itself. They decided that the dress must “smell like the rotting flesh it is and likely be crawling in maggots.”

MTV was kind enough to give us all the details about the dress from the designer Franc Fernandez, grilling him with such burning questions as “Did it smell? Was it bloody? Was it heavy? Was Lady Gaga comfortable?”

The cut of meat he used was what he called “matambre” – which is basically flank steak in Argentina, although it is said to translate literally as “shoe leather.” He used 50 pounds of the meat to make the entire ensemble, with very little leftover. According to Fernandez, Lady Gaga said the meat smelled “sweet” and the dress was heavy but comfortable. And he says it was not bloody at all to work with or wear. “It’s actually very clean meat, very sturdy and strong and doesn’t run at all. It’s the meat you use to make a roast, where you roll it in a tortilla and put it in the oven. Hence, the shoes — that’s why they were wrapped in butcher twine.”

Interestingly, most of the so-called “polls” on websites like the Huffington Post about the outfit were pretty evenly split over whether it was offensive or awesome. Miss Gaga also recently wore a meat bikini on the cover of Vogue Hommes Japan. Maybe the meat industry should start a new clothing line.

Beef, Food, Wackos

IFAJ Congress 2011

Chuck Zimmerman

Mark your calendars now for the IFAJ Congress 2011.

In 2011, we’re inviting you to come and experience New World agriculture for yourself. Be there as the world’s leading agricultural journalists assemble for the first IFAJ congress in Canada in more than 40 years.

* Experience agriculture in the Great Lakes region – one of the most fertile and productive farming regions on Earth
* Learn how immigrant farmers – many from the Netherlands, Switzerland and Germany – have found prosperity in Canada
* See research-driven innovations and cutting-edge agricultural practices and theories in action
* Enhance your journalism and communication skills and get access to opinion leaders and decision makers at professional development sessions

IFAJ

Karen McMahon Receives Ruth White Media Award

Chuck Zimmerman

When she’s not working as editor for Farm Industry News she may be collecting for the Lutheran Ladies. She’s Karen McMahon, pictured on right at Ag Media Summit.

Well Karen has just received a big award. She was presented with the Ruth White Media Award from the Mid American CropLife Association (MACA).

The award is given to members of the media for their distinguished service to agricultural chemicals and MACA activities. It was presented during MACA’s annual meeting held September 7-9 in Des Moines, IA.

McMahon has been editor of Farm Industry News (FIN), a Penton Media publication, for 10 years. She first worked on FIN in 1998 as senior editor, and prior to that, she was managing editor of Penton’s National Hog Farmer for five years.

Media

Elanco Animal Health Gives You Plenty To Think About

Chuck Zimmerman

There’s plenty to think about when you “launch” in today’s new media world. How about a blog, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube account? That’s what Elanco Animal Health has done with their Plenty To Think About blog, etc.

. . . the thinking person’s guide to feeding a hungry planet, sponsored by Elanco Animal Health.

The Plenty to Think About blog was inspired by global response to a 2009 white paper, “Food Economics and Consumer Choice,” authored by Elanco Animal Health President Jeff Simmons. The paper focused on the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s statement that the world needs to produce 100% more food by the year 2050 and that 70% of that food must come from efficiency-enhancing technologies. “Response to the white paper from producers, retailers and the business press indicated that hunger, food prices and agricultural sustainability are high priorities for individuals, farmers and businesses across the global food supply chain,” Simmons said.

Plenty to Think About also recently launched on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Agribusiness, Elanco

National Farm Safety & Health Week

Chuck Zimmerman

We’re coming up on National Farm Safety & Health Week. With the 2010 harvest upon us it’s a good time to think safe. The folks at the National Education Center for Agricultural Safety have a farm first aid kit you can purchase.

To hear some reasons why you should think safe you might enjoy a video clip from Cattlemen to Cattlemen featuring an interview with Mike Deering, NCBA. Mike also wrote about the subject on the NCBA Blog, Beltway Beef. You can participate in an online discussion on the subject of farm safety tomorrow evening. It’s the topic for this week’s AgChat, which I’ll be guest moderating. Please join us from 8-10pm ET. There are many mechanisms to participate with but a good one is Twubs.

Ag Groups, Audio

Soybean Growers Can Expect Plenish From Pioneer Hi-Bred

Chuck Zimmerman

You may not find a bottle of Plenish high oleic soy oil on your local supermarket shelf just yet but that doesn’t mean there isn’t some taste testing going on. At the Farm Progress Show Pioneer Hi-Bred conducted a cooking demonstration and had samples of food cooked with the product outside their exhibit.

Farmers want a soybean with strong agronomics and increased demand. Enter Plenish™ a Pioneer® brand soybean with an enhanced oil profile and increased oil stability. Plenish™ high oleic soybean oil will have 0g trans fat and 20 percent less saturated fats than commodity soybean oil and 75 percent less saturated fat than tropical palm oil.

There are currently more soybean acres cultivated in North America than any other oilseed crop, making Plenish™ high oleic soybean oil a cost-effective and sustainable trans fat solution.

I learned more about it from Russ Sanders, Marketing Director. He says Plenish represents a significant re-making of soybean oil. They’re making it “like olive oil” from the standpoint of taste and health benefits. It will begin appearing in fast food and snack food products in coming years. It will allow labels to carry the no trans fats label. For farmers, Plenish, will come in Pioneer Y Series genetics.

You can listen to my interview with Russ here: Interview With Russ Sanders

Farm Progress Photo Album

Agribusiness, Audio, Farm Progress Show, Pioneer, Soybean

Concerns With Proposed GIPSA Rule

Chuck Zimmerman

During the recent USDA/DOJ public workshop on competition in the livestock industry I spoke with Dr. Stephen Koontz, Associate Professor, Colorado State University. He has a degree in agricultural economics from University of Illinois.

Proposed new rules from the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) was the main topic of conversation and Dr. Koontz has some concerns. He says these rules are an attempt to clarify vague language in the law that has been troubling, especially from a legal standpoint. However, when you look at the proposal he says it not only covers production contracts for the poultry and pork sectors but beef as well. It was disappointing to him to see the cattle industry “lumped in with everybody else.” This is because the cattle industry is very different than the other industries and in fact, so is the pork industry. To just treat them all as one is very troubling he says. Another thing that bothers him is how the proposed rules treat production contracts. He says that there is good research showing the benefit of these contracts to producers and consumers and the proposed rules “treat them in a very heavy handed way.” The rule basically says that if there is any preferential pricing in a contract that it has to be documented and justified. He says that opens the packing industry to the potential of having to explain every premium and discount and then it opens them up to legal action. It adds costs and risk which ultimately will be passed along to the cow/calf producer and then the consumer.

His take on the proposed rule is summed up by a friend of his at Oklahoma State University who says, “If you look closely at the rule it’s the simple, easy to understand, wrong answer.” He says it’s being pitched as “big vs. little” but he sees it more as targeting the good producer who is innovative, who is trying to do something different and now whatever they are trying to do has to become public knowledge and that “stomps pretty hard on creativity and innovation.” Interview With Dr. Stephen Koontz

Audio, GIPSA, University

Chicken Whisperer Promotes Healthy Flocks

Cindy Zimmerman

If you want to raise chickens in your backyard, the Chicken Whisperer is the man for you!

chickenKind of reminds me of the old radio spoof Chickenman – “He’s everywhere, he’s everywhere!” Mild mannered Andy Schneider has made himself into the go-to expert on raising backyard poultry. He is host of an Internet radio show and is also a contributor for Mother Earth News Magazine, Grit Magazine, and Farmers Almanac. He’s been featured on CNN, HLN, FOX, ABC, CBS, NBC, NPR, as well as in The Wall Street Journal, TIME Magazine, The Economist, USA Today, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, New Life Journal, and countless other local and national publications and has recently signed a book deal. Schneider broadcasts his radio show at noon every weekday online from his home office, and occasionally on Saturday takes the show on the road. He claims regular listeners from the Netherlands and Australia, among other far-flung destinations. A recent guest to his chat room was from Taiwan. “It’s become, which is really cool, a worldwide show!” he said. He’s also on Facebook, Twitter and is founder of the 1,200-member Meetup group for backyard chicken fans in the Atlanta area.

To top it all off, he is the official spokesperson for USDA’s Biosecurity For Birds program, an outreach campaign geared toward educating backyard poultry owners about keeping their birds safe from infectious poultry diseases. He really is everywhere!

Watch it here:

Poultry, USDA, Video