Whoa, Nelly, Big Bud is Big

Joanna Schroeder

Whoa Nelly AgWired peeps. Have you seen how BIG Big Bud is?

Big Bud is the world’s largest tractor and one of the biggest draws at this year’s Farm Progress Show. He was built by hand (all the Big Bud’s manufactured were done one at a time, no assembly line was ever used) and topped out at 27 feet long, 20 feet wide, 14 feet tall and weighing 100,000 pounds. Big Bud is the baby of Ron Harmonn, birthed in 1977 in Montana. The inspiration was derived for the need for a better tractor to plant and grow cotton.

Until this week, Big Bud had been on display in a farm museum in Dyersville, Iowa (the home of the famous ball field from Field of Dreams). He was moved to Boone, Iowa by Crop Production Services (Agrium), a company that provides agricultural inputs to farmers around the country.

Steve Sopher, an area agronomist with Agrium told me that they brought Big Bud in to give growers a walk down memory lane, and that he did. Between 15,000 – 20,000 people came to see Big Bud in person over the three days. It is estimated that nearly 100,000 people were at Farm Progress from around the world, so you can bet that most spent some time checking out Big Bud – and they won’t forget his enormity any time soon.

For those of you who missed out on this amazing piece of history, Sopher said that he will be back at the 2011 Farm Progress Show. You can also watch this video.

And be sure to check out all the Big Bud views in our Farm Progress Photo Album.

AgWired coverage of the 2010 Farm Progress Show
is sponsored by: New Holland and

Cotton, Equipment, Farm Progress Show, Farm Shows, Tractor, Video

Farm Progress Show Wrap Up

Chuck Zimmerman

The 2010 Farm Progress Show is a wrap and even with some weather issues it was a good one. To wrap it all up I spoke with Show Manager, Matt Jungmann. He says that after 4 inches of rain on Tuesday night, what they accomplished on Wednesday was like a miracle. Since that overnight rain incident everything went very well. The Tuesday and Wednesday crowds topped the show when it was in Boone two years ago. Although we didn’t get to have field demos for the second two days Matt says Tuesday’s demos went great with corn harvesting at 150 bushels/acre. Matt says exhibitors are already talking about next year. I’m sure it will be a good one too!

You can listen to my interview with Matt here: Interview With Matt Jungmann

This doesn’t conclude our coverage of the Farm Progress Show. Joanna and I have a lot more stories to post for you.

Farm Progress Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the 2010 Farm Progress Show
is sponsored by: New Holland and

Audio, Farm Progress Show

I Scream for Ice Cream

Joanna Schroeder

You scream, I scream we all screamed for ice cream during this year’s Farm Progress Show. The weather may have been damp and somewhat dreary, but it didn’t stop the crowds from enjoying some homemade ice cream from Beekmans Homemade Ice Cream. They made vanilla, chocolate, peach, and raspberry delights right on site. All the ingredients came from local farmers in Boone and they even used solar power to charge the batteries.

Michelle Beekman, a Co-Owner, said that she has been with the company for six years, but it was started by her mother in 1998. She was also kind enough to let me watch her make a batch of ice cream and I caught the final moments on film. This particular batch was peach ice cream.

I however, have an infinity for raspberry so my perfect choice was raspberry swirled with vanilla and it was worth each and every calorie!

The Farm Progress Show might be over for this year, but you can still try out Beeckman’s ice cream at other Iowa events. Visit them at www.beekmanshomemadeicecream.com.

Farm Progress Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the 2010 Farm Progress Show
is sponsored by: New Holland and

Audio, Dairy, Farm Progress Show, Farm Shows, Video

American Soybean Association Update

Chuck Zimmerman

Commodity group leaders always make time to visit with the media at Farm Progress Show. One of them I spoke with yesterday was Rob Joslin, President, American Soybean Association. Rob is a soybean grower from Ohio. In the photo he’s on the left and speaking with Stu Ellis. I asked him about the issues that ASA is working on and the biodiesel tax extension is number one since with Congress allowing it to expire last year it has “virtually idled the vast majority of the domestic biodiesel industry” which he finds very disappointing.

You can listen to my interview with Rob here: Interview With Rob Joslin

Farm Progress Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the 2010 Farm Progress Show
is sponsored by: New Holland and

Ag Groups, ASA, Audio, Farm Progress Show, Soybean

PB&J Your Way Helps Feed the Hungry

Cindy Zimmerman

pbjAnyone who thinks a PB&J is boring or just for kids should try it with Bananas Foster or Chocolate Panini, or maybe strawberries and basil.

That’s just a few of the ten winning recipes in the Southern Peanut Growers “PB&J My Way” contest. The contest kicked off during March Peanut Month, pledging to donate one jar of peanut butter to Feeding America for each recipe submitted. They are donating 3,000 jars to the charity – that amounts to a whole bunch of creative PB&J recipe ideas!

pbj“Not only did this contest inspire imagination among peanut butter lovers,” said Leslie Wagner, executive director, Southern Peanut Growers, “it also gave participants a unique opportunity to make a difference by providing nutritious food to the people who need it most.”

SPG narrowed the recipe entries down to the top ten creative sandwiches. Rules were simple: include peanut butter, and offer a fresh perspective on the traditional treat. Below are SPG’s top three picks:

The Bangkok Peanut Butter Sandwich, submitted by Michael C. of California, with ingredients including Serrano pepper, soy sauce, coconut and mint leaves. The spread is layered over sliced bread and topped with cucumber slices and a hint of orange marmalade.

Peanut Butter, Strawberries and Basil Sandwich, submitted by Merry G. of California, simply peanut butter-covered baguette slices topped with freshly sliced strawberries and finished with a sprinkle of fresh, chopped basil.

Peanut Butter Ice Cream Sandwich, submitted by Dyan C. of Virginia, which is two dark chocolate cookies, smothered with peanut butter and vanilla ice cream to resemble a moon pie.

Check out all of the winners here.

Peanuts

New Holland NH2 Helping Achieve The Independent Energy Farm

Chuck Zimmerman

One of the coolest examples of new technology on display at the Farm Progress Show is the New Holland NH2 hydrogen powered tractor. Paul Trella, New Holland, told me all about it on video this morning. He says the tractor is part of their effort to help create the energy independent farm. The tractor is not in commercial production but it has been demonstrated on a short course. Paul says they’re hoping to have it run through some actual production work soon and that a model will become available in the near future. Here’s some information about it.

The basis:

A current T6000 tractor.

What is inside:

* A Hydrogen tank
* Fuel Cells System perfectly integrated into production tractor, with standard components
* Electric motor n° 1 – Power to traction
* Electric motor n° 2 – Power to PTO and auxiliaries

What is not:

* No diesel tank
* No combustion engine
* No exhaust pipe
* No gear box

Farm Progress Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the 2010 Farm Progress Show
is sponsored by: New Holland and

Agribusiness, Audio, Farm Progress Show, New Holland, Tractor

Success of Ethanol Important for Corn Farmers

Joanna Schroeder

“We need ethanol to be able to use up the excess corn,” began Iowa Ag Secretary Bill Northey during a press conference at the Farm Progress Show hosted by Growth Energy. “That’s what started ethanol in the 1980s. Farmers said we’re tired of $1.50, $1.30 corn prices and we’re going to build an industry to use of some of the surpluses.”

And build an industry they did.

Northey explained that the ethanol industry is vital to corn farmers who are producing more and more each year. He used Iowa as an example and said in 2001, when the state conducted an Ag Census, ag sales from all farms in Iowa were $12 billion, half in crops and half in livestock. In 2007, sales were $20 billion with the biggest change being the amount that went to ethanol.

It worked and now our country has a robust industry whose future is uncertain due to questions over major policies that support the growth of the ethanol industry. The ethanol tax credit is under fire and opponents to ethanol are also trying to eliminate the ethanol tariff. In addition, the industry needs more access to markets and passing the E15 waiver would help to increase market access.

“Certainly we need some of those incentives to continue. We need more than three months predictability with those incentives going off this December. We need a long-term vision of what can happen out there,” said Northey.

Growth Energy CEO, Tom Buis, seconded Northey’s call for more effective, long-term policy and said that Senator Reid (D-NV) has already called for a lame duck session on November 15th to address the future of energy policy in America.

On several occasions Northey stressed, “We need more access to markets. We also need predictability, and policies we understand around for several years.”

He concluded that farmers are doing the right thing, and the ethanol industry is doing the right thing, now we need the politicians to do the right thing.

You can listen to the Growth Energy press conference here. Growth Energy Press Conference During Farm Progress Show

Farm Progress Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the 2010 Farm Progress Show
is sponsored by: New Holland and

Audio, Corn, Ethanol, Farm Progress Show, Farm Shows

The Dirt On Seeds

Chuck Zimmerman

I remember when the idea of a company blog was just so “silly.” But really, it is amazing how the self publishing platform has grown. The latest entry coming to my attention this morning is The Dirt On Seeds by Syngenta Seeds. Joanna has conducted a couple of interviews with Syngenta here at the Farm Progress Show btw. We’ll feature those soon.

Syngenta Seeds, Inc. has launched a new agronomy blog, TheDirtOnSeeds.com. This blog gives growers local insights from nine Syngenta agronomists representing nine regions across the country. Posts will cover a broad range of corn producing states, including Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. 


In addition, unlike many other existing grower blogs, TheDirtOnSeeds.com encourages comments to posts that enable growers, farm managers, crop consultants and others involved in the industry to engage in an ongoing dialogue with each other and Syngenta agronomists.

“Syngenta prides itself on the relationships that we, as agronomists, have created with growers all across the country,” said Chris Cook, head of agronomy for Syngenta Seeds. “We hope this new blog will help strengthen and improve those relationships.”

Agribusiness

R-CALF President Says Livestock Pub Editors Should be Fired

Cindy Zimmerman

R-CALF USA is not very happy with the way “mainstream” livestock media editorialized about the DOJ/USDA workshop in Colorado last week that was primarily about the proposed Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) rule. In fact, if it were up to the president of the organization, he would “Fire Them All.” I guess hangin’s too good for ’em!

The “Op-Ed by R-CALF USA President Max Thornsberry, DVM, MBA” directly targets the editors of BEEF magazine, Drovers and Beef Today for what he calls “disparaging and immensely disrespectful” editorials they wrote about the proposed rule and the workshop, prior to it being held last Friday. He charges the editors with attempting “to discourage attendance or to draw attention away from the joint hearing on competition in animal agriculture.”

Dr. Thornsberry is very harsh toward the media in general, saying the beef industry publications just “want to appeal to the big, to those that represent the powerful.” He uses the word “disrespect” repeatedly, yet he clearly has no respect for the very competitive nature of the media business. “I think to be an editor of one of these magazines it should be a requirement to have to feed two pens of fat cattle a year and to independently market them,” he writes. “How can they speak with such contempt to those of us who make a living in the beef production sector, without any real knowledge of how the business operates within the United States today? It would be like me being the editor of Cosmopolitan.”

Maybe you should try that before you criticize, Dr. T. You have no idea what it is like to compete in the media world, which has its own version of packers in an industry that is progressively consolidating on all sides. And when it comes to ag media, you’d probably be surprised at how many of the reporters and editors have marketed their own cattle, either now or in a past life. They probably know more about the industry from more angles than the average cattle producer because that is their job.

Incidentally, I thought the editorials were way more fair than some of the GIPSA stories that we did here on Agwired. Sure, we did an interview with R-CALF to let them explain their position regarding the GIPSA rule, we did have live coverage of the R-CALF rally the night before the hearing, and we did live webcast the entire event so that anyone who wanted to listen could hear all viewpoints. You can thank the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association for all of that because they sponsored our coverage and contracted us to do a series of interviews with producers who are concerned about the proposed rule. Thanks to NCBA we were actually able to bring the workshop live with comments from both sides of the issue to over 800 people who could not attend, and audio from some of the panels is now available for listen or download. Thousands of other people have seen our photos, listened to our interviews and interacted with us on this issue. We would not have been able to do without NCBA’s support. Like the rest of the ag media, this website isn’t a hobby farm – we need to make money in order to stay in business.

Sorry, you can’t fire us, or hang us either – you can’t even sue us for not being fair. But, maybe a little respect would be in order.

GIPSA, Livestock, Media

Day Three of Farm Progress Show

Chuck Zimmerman

Day three of the Farm Progress Show is going to get off to a wet start. We’ve got rain on the way and had some overnight. I don’t think it will cause too many problems, especially if most of it goes south of us.

Joanna and I are back in the media tent working on some story posts. We did a lot of interviews yesterday and will be posting them through all of the next week.

Farm Progress Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the 2010 Farm Progress Show
is sponsored by: New Holland and

Farm Progress Show