Iowa Corn Indy 250 Only Race On U.S. Corn Ethanol

Chuck Zimmerman

AgWired fans know that I’ve had an opportunity to cover quite a bit of Indy, as in Indy Racing League. In fact, it was the move by the IRL to ethanol as a fuel in their cars that got us started covering what was happening in the renewable fuels industry. This week I get back in action at the Iowa Corn Indy 250 in Newton, IA. I’ll be on location by Thursday with pre-race activities being conducted by the Iowa Corn Promotion Board.

For a preview I spoke with Craig Floss, CEO, Iowa Corn Growers and Iowa Corn Promotion Board. This week’s race is the only one of the season where the fuel is American made corn ethanol. The IRL switched to ethanol from Brazil once there was no longer a Team Ethanol car in the series. However, Iowa Corn Growers have made sure there’s still one race that uses an American product.

Craig says the race has provided Iowa corn growers with a great platform to publish messages about ethanol, food, fuel and the livestock industry all of which are import components of their marketing efforts to make corn “disappear.” This is year four and they’ve come back for more. The name recognition has really increased during that time both in Iowa and nationally.

You can listen to my interview with Craig here.

Ag Groups, Audio, Corn, Ethanol, Events, Indy Racing

Pork Producers, Choi: Korea Pork Trade Agreement Vital

John Davis

A hot topic at this year’s World Pork Expo was the pending free trade agreements that are awaiting Congressional approval. Don Butler, immediate past president of the National Pork Producers cited the agreements between the U.S. and Colombia, Panama and South Korea could make a world of difference for the pork industry in this country. In fact, Butler says the agreement with Korea, if approved, could add at least $10 a head to hog prices (compared to about a dollar or so the Colombian and Panamanian agreements would add). Download (mp3) Butler’s remarks about the agreements at World Pork expo – or listen in the player: wpx10-butlertrade.mp3

Later, during a stop at the media room, I was able to sit down with Jong Hyun Choi, the Minister to the U.S. for Economic Affairs in the South Korean Embassy in Washington, D.C. and get his thoughts on the pending agreement. He pointed out that the agreement were signed three years ago, but Congress has not given final approval to implement the provisions.

“It’s just about past time for the agreement to be ratified, approved by the U.S. Congress.”

He went on to say one of the main reasons for his visit is to promote the FTA and point out the huge benefits U.S. pork producers and South Korea could see once it is approved.

“Once this agreement is implemented, then the more than 20 percent tariffs (currently on U.S. pork) will be eliminated for frozen pork and within 10 years for fresh and chilled products. So, that implementation could provide a very commercially meaningful leg up for U.S. pork producers.”

Choi added that South Korea has just completed a free trade agreement with the European Union, while hog farmers in Chile have already been enjoying much lower tariffs for the past six years, increasing their market share in South Korea. That trend worries the NPPC, as Butler believes lack of ratification of the U.S.-Korea and other FTAs could end up shutting out American hog farmers from those markets in the next 10 years.

Choi agreed that Congress needs to get moving on this issue, and pork producing groups, such as the NPPC, will need to help push that.

You can hear more of my conversation with Minister Choi in the player below.

Check out all the World Pork Expo 2010 Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the World Pork Expo 2010 is sponsored by:
Novus and boehringer-ingelheim.

Audio, Novus International, Pork, Swine, World Pork Expo

All About Cooperative Communicators Association

Chuck Zimmerman

The Cooperative Communicators Association 2010 Institute is in full swing. I arrived this afternoon and met a number of the very important persons who are leading the organization like those pictured here.

For those of you who are not familiar with CCA check out my interview with Teri Ditsch, TJD Design, , Amber DuMont, Milk Producers Cooperative Association, Inc. and Allison Morgan, Tennessee Farmers Cooperative. They are all involved in the leadership of CCA and took a few moments to talk with me when I got checked in.

They told me that CCA is a group of communicators from across the county who work for or with cooperatives. Basically any type of communications work that you might do dealing with cooperatives would qualify you to belong. There are about 300 members and this is a professional improvement association with a regular publication, awards, webinars and this annual institute.

You can listen to my interview with these CCA leaders here.

Audio, Cooperatives

Positive PRRS Progress

Cindy Zimmerman

Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc. (BIVI) was proud to present some positive progress on the control and eradication of Porcine Respiratory and Reproductive Syndrome (PRRS) at World Pork Expo last week.

2010 world pork expoFirst, they held a PRRS Area Regional Control workshop on Wednesday and Thursday that was for producers and veterinarians to find out what they can do to implement ARC. On Friday morning, they presented the “science behind the success” of the program for the media.

Dr. Scott Dee with with Swine Disease Eradication Center at the University of Minnesota says area regional control and elimination is on the move. “We had one example last year in Minnesota, but now we have 8-9 different parts of the United States and even a province in Canada that are trying this, seeing if they can reduce the level of infection in their area,” Scott said. “We’ve got to work together to see what we can do to put the damper on this devastating economic disease.”

Another important program to help control the disease is nicknamed PADRAP, the Production Animal Disease Risk Assessment Program. Dr. Dee says BIVI has helped with that by training students to go out and conduct detailed disease and biosecurity risk assessments on hog operations and so far nearly 2000 swine operations have been evaluated.

2010 world pork expoDr. Jean Paul (JP) Cano recently joined BIVI as a professional services veterinarian after years in private practice and he says he is optimistic about the potential for controlling PRRS. “What it takes is collaboration and coordination between farms in the same area and sharing the risk of becoming infected,” he said. In addition to the biosecurity measures, JP says PRRS vaccination also plays a critical role in the control and eradication of the disease. “We think that vaccine is one more tool in the tool box that we have to fight this disease in the area regional control concept.”

Listen to or download back-to-back interviews with Dee and Cano in the player below.

World Pork Expo 2010 Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the World Pork Expo 2010 is sponsored by:
Novus and boehringer-ingelheim.

Audio, Boehringer Ingelheim, Pork, Swine, World Pork Expo

BASF and One Hungry Planet

Cindy Zimmerman

ZimmCast 262Sustainability was the focus of the 2010 BASF Agricultural Solutions media summit held last week in Chicago and as part of that event BASF released a new survey on attitudes toward farmland stewardship, and a new YouTube video highlighting how farmers are feeding a hungry planet.

BASF ChicagoI talked to Paul Rea, VP of BASF U.S. Crop Operations, about the survey and the video and decided it would make a good ZimmCast this week because it reflects what agriculture is up against and how companies like BASF are helping farmers face the future.

Paul says the survey, done by Padilla Speer Beardsley, found some significant perception gaps between growers and the general public when it comes to farmland stewardship. “The good news would be that farmers and most consumers say that stewardship practices are better today than they were ten years ago,” Paul says. The bad news is that nearly 23 percent of consumers believe stewardship practices are worse today than they were ten years ago, compared to just seven percent of farmers. A whopping 77% of farmers say stewardship practices are better now than 10 years ago, which of course they are.

So, clearly there is a disconnect that needs to be addressed and BASF believes social media is a way to get correct information out to the general public. That’s why they had “One Hungry Planet” produced for YouTube. “The video really does convey the amazing job that farmers and the ag industry has done in the last 50 years, much of it unnoticed,” Paul said. “To think that we’re producing 40 percent more corn from the same amount of land just compared to 20 years ago is incredible.”

The video is entertaining, yet educational, and packs a lot of facts in just four minutes. Take a look at the video and listen to or download this week’s ZimmCast is the audio player at the bottom of the post.

Hope you enjoy the song I picked to end the podcast called “Planet Earth” by James Larson from Music Alley. Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsors, Novus International, and Leica Geosytems for their support. The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired. Subscribe so you can listen when and where you want. Just go to our a Subscribe page.

Audio, BASF, Sustainability, Video, ZimmCast

AP Systems Hams it up at World Pork Expo

Cindy Zimmerman

2010 world pork expoThe folks at Automated Production Systems really ham it up every year at World Pork Expo, and this year the theme was Fiesta for their showcase roasted pig. AP – which offers a complete selection of swine production equipment including feeders and waters, ventilation and heating equipment, feed storage and delivery, flooring, confinement and more – has been dressing up their roasted pig for the crowd at WPX for the past four years. It takes about 10 hours to roast this porker to perfection after preparing it with apple juice and pineapple to make it as succulent as possible.

Jim Swisher (left) and his “hamigos” went all out with the Mexican theme and even had a pig pinata filled with treats for the kiddos. Check out the video to see what I mean.

You can also check out our World Pork Expo 2010 Photo Album to see more photos of the Fiesta pig and all the other activities at WPX10.

AgWired coverage of the World Pork Expo 2010 is sponsored by:
Novus and boehringer-ingelheim.

Video, World Pork Expo

Social Media On The Road

Chuck Zimmerman

It’s time to hit the agriblogging highway once again. I’m going to Minneapolis today and will be conducting a presentation tomorrow for the Cooperative Communicator’s Association titled, “Very Social Media.” You might think I’ll only be talking about Twitter but you would be wrong. I will start with blogs. That’s right. A blog is one of the first forms of social media and in my opinion it is still the work horse today.

So I’ll be helping the CCA members take their work to the next level. At least I hope so.

On Tuesday I’ll be in St. Louis for the Association for Communication Excellence in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Life and Human Sciences Annual Meeting. There my presentation is titled, “Social Media At It’s Best.” I don’t know if I am the best but I try and that is what’s really important.

The ACE 2010 program committee and Kansas host state committees invite you to meet us in St. Louis on June 14-17, 2010, for the ACE Annual Meeting and conference.

Then on Wednesday I’ll be in Madison for the American Farm Bureau Federation Public Relations Conference with a presentation titled, “Communications Gadgetry For Tackling The Social Media 2.0 Era.” I will be displaying gadgets but talking also about web and mobile applications that make you more productive social media guru’s.

After looking at the AFBF program brochure with a bratwurst and cheese image I’m not only getting hungry but thinking I’d better be working out extra hard this week to make up for the meals coming my way.

If your company or organization would like a presentation on social media or a training session then give me a call and let’s see if we can get it on the schedule!

AFBF, Ag Groups

Panelists Share Sustainability Insights at BASF Summit

Cindy Zimmerman

BASF Chicago“Holistic” and “durable” were two definitions for sustainable that were set forth by representatives of the food value chain, from farmers to food companies, who took part in a panel discussion at the BASF Agricultural Solutions Media Summit on Sustainability last week in Chicago.

Nevin McDougall, BASF senior vice president for crop protection in North America, was part of the discussion and he says it will take a holistic approach to bring more sustainable solutions to the grower. “The more that we can engage in dialogue with food processors, with those who are marketing end use food products to the consumer, with the growers, with other technology providers – the more dialogue and collaboration we have, I think we can identify better and more sustainable solutions for the grower,” Nevin said in an interview after the panel. “With respect to durability, I think it really speaks to the point that we’re looking for long-lasting solutions.”

Download (mp3) my interview with Nevin – or listen in the player: basf-chicago-nevin.mp3

Corn growers have been the hardest hit by those who criticize the sustainability of production agriculture, despite the fact that we are growing more on less acres using less inputs than ever before. Mike Geske, a Missouri farmer who serves on the board of the National Corn Growers Association, represented growers on the board and he was asked about those who attack the sustainability of ethanol based on studies that use outdated crop production figures to show a negative energy balance for the fuel. “I call those people members of the Flat Earth Ethanol Society because they’re denying science and they’re denying facts,” Mike says. He also drew a good laugh from the audience when he noted that ethanol is biodegradable and is the same as the alcohol we drink before it is denatured, “So if ethanol had been spilled in the Gulf, the fish would be putting on their party hats.”

Download (mp3) my interview with Mike – or listen in the player: basf-chicago-geske.mp3

BASF Ag Media Summit on Sustainability photo album

Audio, BASF, Corn, Ethanol, Sustainability

John Deere Military R-Gator

Chuck Zimmerman

John Deere not only makes Gator utility vehicles for farm, commercial and recreational purposes but for the military too. This is one of the new Military R-Gator (Autonomous Unmanned Ground Vehicle) which is rigged to be completely remote controlled and is equipped with a camera to send back what it is “seeing.” In the video clips I’ve posted you can see it in action.

• A COTS system, R-Gator can be operated in either manned or unmanned mode in day or night missions
• Example missions: 8-hour stationary silent RECON mode, point man reconnaissance, roving patrols, transportation of ammo/ supplies, casualty evacuation, remote deployment of smaller UGVs and UAVs, large scale IED disposition

I spoke to Dan Smith, Military Affairs Mgr. for John Deere. He gave us some history of utility vehicles in the military which started in the Vietnam War with the MULE. Today John Deere is a major supplier to the military. He says the the latest A-2 M-Gator will do 32 mph and is the unit that the R-Gator is built on. They’ll be available to the military in August. You can find my interview with Dan below the video clips.

In this clip you can see an optional unit that automatically unloads whatever you want the unmanned vehicle to deposit.

Audio, John Deere, Video

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • The 37th annual National Inventor of the Year Award will be presented to a DuPont research team for advancing sustainable agriculture and addressing the needs of the growing global population by discovering an advanced insect control product.
  • Erica Pagel, Director of Raw Materials Management for Foremost Farms USA in Baraboo, Wis., has begun a three-year term of service on the Professional Dairy Producers Foundation board.
  • DuPont announced that its Plenish high oleic soybean trait has been approved for cultivation in the United States.
  • Farm Progress Show recently launched a feature-filled online pre-show planning tool that gives visitors an interactive show map, exhibitor and event planning menus to help them easily design and map their show visit.
Zimfo Bytes