Having Great Time In Nanjing

Chuck Zimmerman

Zachary Larson, Borlaug Summer Intern, is on location at Nanjing Agricultural University and providing us with updates this summer of his trip. Here’s his latest. You can also find a photo album he’s got started here: Borlaug Summer Intern Photo Album. The internship is being sponsored by the Iowa State University Plant Sciences Institute.

I would have to say that the last week has been one of the best I have had here in China, and it has made me fall in love with Nanjing, doing lab work, and the inevitable heartbreak that will come when I will have to leave Nanjing in just a week.

Beyond an ordinary week, I have had the chance to meet my best friend , see the craziness of the Nanjing train station, and get a better handle on my lab work as I finally get past some of the initial errors.

As far as my recent lab work, I have been doing rather well. While I am still very inexperienced, I have finally gotten a handle on solely running PCR, gel, and DNA extraction experiments without too much contamination or lab error. To be honest, I know that my lab work has offered no useful data to Wang Jia, the student I have been working with. But, I realize the most important thing that I can take away from my experiences and apply to other labs is that scientific research is pretty much worthless without knowing how to do the basics of the experiment and repeat the experiment without a large margin of error or difference.Read More

Education, International, University

Touring Conservation In Action

Chuck Zimmerman

I am going to find out how agriculture protects water quality and improves
soil health at this year’s Conservation Technology Information Center, Conservation In Action Tour. The tour will take place in the Virginia/Maryland area and looks like it is at capacity. Yesterday was the last day to get registered but you can probably still get in if you call today.

I just spoke with CTIC Executive Director, Karen Scanlon, who says this has become the organization’s marquee event. We’re going to “visit farms and farmers in east central Virginia who run profitable operations and provide communities with valuable ecosystem services.” That sounds like fun to me. I’ll be getting to know CTIC and its members and thought a great way to start was a conversation with Karen about their mission and what we’ll be doing on the tour.

Karen Scanlon Interview
The Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC) is a national, public-private partnership that envisions agriculture using environmentally beneficial and economically viable natural resource systems.

CTIC, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, is comprised of members of ag industry, ag publications, ag associations, conservation organizations and producers and is supported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service and other public entities.

It is our mission to champion, promote and provide information about comprehensive conservation and sustainable agricultural systems that are beneficial for soil, water, air and wildlife resources and are productive and profitable for agriculture.

My coverage of the tour is being sponsored by CTIC and AGROTAIN. Thank you!

Ag Groups, Conservation, CTIC, Sustainability

Ag Leader Technology Mission Precision 3

Chuck Zimmerman

We’re getting closer to the Ag Media Summit and the invites are coming in fast and furious. My favorite so far has to be from Ag Leader Technology (sponsor of Precision Pays).

Mission Precision II Recruits,

Ag Media Summit is fast approaching and Ag Leader is asking you to complete yet another mission. Visit the following link for your top secret video message and rendezvous information.

This mission is critical to readers – we need you!

http://www.agleader.com/flash/mission.html

Ag Leader Technology
Mission Precision Headquarters

I was a Mission Precision II Recruit btw.

Ag Leader, Ag Media Summit, Agribusiness

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Ag Leader Technology, Inc., released SmartPath – a new “drive and guide” guidance pattern. This pattern is available with any of Ag Leader’s manual guidance, assisted steering or automated steering products.
  • Big Iron’s unreserved online auction on June 23rd hosted bidders from 31 different states and 4 different countries. In the three days prior to the auction closing, the website had 440,868 views. Auctions are held on the second and fourth Wednesday of every month.
  • The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association has launched its first ever blog, Beltway Beef.
  • The AGCO Cash program, is available again in its “Field Rewards” campaign. By purchasing a minimum of $250 in qualifying parts, growers will receive AGCO Cash redeemable at participating AGCO Parts dealers between July 12 and Aug. 27, 2010.
Zimfo Bytes

NAFB Member Lyle Romine Passes Away

Cindy Zimmerman

Some sad news to pass along from the National Association of Farm Broadcasting.

lyle romineLong-time Farm Broadcaster Lyle Romine of Fargo died this morning of cancer. He was 59 years old.

Lyle was Farm Director of the Fargo based American Ag Network, a regional network serving forty radio stations in North Dakota South Dakota and Montana.

Lyle was born and raised in Devils Lake, North Dakota. He is survived by his wife Terrie of Fargo, and a son and daughter-in-law, of Bozeman, Montana. A private memorial will be held at a later date.

Lyle was a member of NAFB for 29 years and he will be fondly remembered by hundreds of NAFB friends around the country.

NAFB

SMS Text Messaging Growing According To Commodity Update Survey

Chuck Zimmerman

Commodity UpdateThe folks at Commodity Update have found that SMS text messaging has really gained ground among farmers and agribusiness. To prove it they had Millennium Research conduct a survey of farmers and found some very interesting information. I think this information should help agrimarketers feel comfortable about investing more in mobile, personal and direct forms of communication with members and customers!

“Mobile is the fastest-growing segment of the marketing mix, and now agricultural companies are leveraging this direct channel to build relationships with top customers,” says Joel Jaeger, president and founder of CommodityUPDATE, the leading provider of agricultural information to mobile phones.

Jaeger and his two brothers created the concept that became CommodityUPDATE in 2006 to gain access to market information in the field. The brothers, who run farming operations in Colorado and Belize, soon realized a need for the offering beyond their own operations. They began cultivating a new mobile communications channel that would engage farmers like no other. Today, producers receive CommodityUPDATE primarily through sponsored subscriptions. Companies leverage the channel to send supplemental messages, such as agronomic alerts, to growers.

Growers place unparalleled value on those CommodityUPDATE messages, according to survey data recently compiled by Millennium Research, Inc. in Minneapolis:
• 91 percent of farmers indicated the information they receive is important or very important; roughly the same suggested they would recommend the service to another farmer
• 80 percent correctly recalled the company that sponsors the CommodityUPDATE subscription, on an unaided basis
• 65 percent felt “more connected” to the sponsoring company Read More

Uncategorized

E-85 Fuelfinder App From Renewable Fuels Association

Chuck Zimmerman

The Renewable Fuels Association just announced a new iPhone app – E-85 Fuelfinder (opens iTunes) to help flex-fuel drivers access the latest, most accurately geo-coded E85 stations throughout the United States. Can you say, E85 fuel? There’s an app for that! Hurry to get yours since it won’t be free for long.

This application will also work on the iTouch and iPad. The RFA will sponsor a free download for the first 500 users.

The E85 FuelFinder allows iPhone and iPad users all over the country to map out E85 (85% ethanol, 15% gasoline) stations most accessible to them, no matter their current location or destination. With the database embedded in the iPhone itself, this application is useful, even if the user is in a no-service zone. In addition, users have the ability to add a station as a “favorite” for quick and easy accessibility, view or update the price per gallon of E85 fuel at specific locations, access driving directions through Google maps, and directly contact a specific station via telephone. The cost of the application is $1.99, which you can download here, and is also available on the App Store. Read More

Ag Groups, Ethanol, RFA, Technology

BASF Launches Top Plots Video Series

Chuck Zimmerman

BASF has launched a video series called Top Plots on YouTube. What do you think?

BASF announces launch of “Top Plots” vlog featuring growers around the country telling stories of life on the farm.

Episode 1: In this first installment of the Top Plots Video Series, watch as David Hartz shares:
– This history of his family farm.
– His planning process for the year.
– The reasons behind his decision to use Headline® fungicide for an in-furrow use on soybeans and Stamina® and Charter® fungicide seed treatments.
-His decision to use Kixor® herbicide technology for the first time this spring.

Agribusiness, BASF, Video

Cargill Children’s Farm

Chuck Zimmerman

Botanica, The Witchita Gardens is receiving $100,000 from Cargill which will be used in the creation of the “Cargill Children’s Farm.”

. . . an interactive, interpretive, multisensory area within “The Downing Children’s Garden.” The project is part of a multiphase, 27-acre expansion for Botanica. The first phase of this expansion is the Downing Children’s Garden, which is scheduled for completion in 2011. The Cargill Children’s Farm will help children learn about, and better understand, rural farm life, including sustainable agriculture, responsible water utilization and good environmental stewardship.

“The Cargill Children’s Farm will allow every visitor to connect with nature through a themed area that will teach people about gardening, tending and harvesting crops,” stated Jody Horner, president of Cargill’s U.S. meat business based in Wichita. “This will be a fun, safe, interactive place for children, teachers and parents to learn about where their food comes from and how it is produced. Given Cargill’s historical roots stemming from origins in the Midwest grain business 145 years ago, this is a perfect fit for our community support and we’re delighted to be involved.”

You can follow the progress on the Downing Children’s Garden on their blog, Peepholes In The Fence.

Agribusiness, Education

Boelte Bull Welcomes You To Ag Media Summit

Chuck Zimmerman

I just got my flight information entered into the Boelte-Hall airport pickup invitation for the Agricultural Media Summit. The folks at Boelte are once again welcoming AMS attendees and getting us where we need to go. I’m really looking forward to seeing industry friends and colleagues the end of next week.

Be sure to get your picture taken with “Boelte Bull” at the Welcome Cruise Sunday night. Then stop by our InfoExpo booth Monday or Tuesday for a game of darts with a chance to win a prize. We’re looking forward to seeing you in St. Paul!

Don, Terry, Paul and Ralph
Boelte-Hall, LLC

Ag Media Summit