Here’s the Happy St. Patty’s Day crew of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting. I visited today and really appreciate them ordering up a beautiful sunny day for my drive.
The photo was actually taken yesterday and I talked Jennifer out of it.
Pictured are Stacia Cudd, Mark Vail, Susan Tally and Jennifer Saylor (not picture is Rose Marie Lawrence). They’re busy since Mark is the new boss and he’s asking lots of questions. As any new boss should.
U.S. Grains Council has officially opened a new international office in Panama City, Panama to serve Latin America and the Caribbean Region.
USGC Chairman Rick Fruth commented, “By establishing an office in Latin America and the Caribbean region, the Council is strategically positioning itself to defend U.S. markets while simultaneously enhancing the quality of life of our trading partners.”
Kurt Shultz (far left in the photo) was named the first director of the Panama City office. Shultz has worked for the Council since 1999 and previously served for seven years as USGC regional director for the Mediterranean and Africa before transitioning to his current post.
In addition to its new office in Panama, the U.S. Grains Council has international offices in nine other countries, including China, Egypt, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Taiwan, Tunisia and Jordan. See more photos of the grand opening here on the USGC’s Flickr photo album.
How do you like your PB&J?
Since March is National Peanut Month, Southern Peanut Growers (SPG) is celebrating with “PB&J My Way,” a national recipe contest looking for nutty new takes on the classic PB&J. For every peanut butter sandwich recipe received, SPG will donate a jar of peanut butter to hunger relief organization Feeding America.
No matter how you slice it, the PB&J is a classic. In a recent poll by SheSpeaks.com, nearly 50 percent of respondents said they opt for the traditional PB&J; 10 percent favor peanut butter and honey; 13 percent are with The King (Elvis, of course), making their peanut butter sandwich with bananas; and another 13 percent just reach for the jar, enjoying peanut butter sans the sandwich. The remaining 14 percent of respondents said their favorite peanut butter sandwich combo is unique to them – and those are the recipes “PB&J My Way” is seeking!
Easy to make and eat, a peanut butter sandwich has countless variations. Tell SPG what “PB&J My Way” means to you, and the organization will donate one jar of peanut butter to Feeding America for each recipe submitted, up to 4,000 jars. Feeding America is the nation’s leading domestic hunger relief charity, providing assistance through a nationwide network of food banks.
The top ten creative peanut butter sandwich recipes will also win enough peanut butter to enjoy for an entire year – that’s one case for each of the best recipes – and they will also be featured on www.peanutbutterlovers.com.
Click here to enter your favorite peanut butter sandwich recipe.
There’s a new sheriff in town. Sheriff Barry Nelson, John Deere. He wants you to love his Chip Foose 4020 and that’s an order son.
It’s a 1970 John Deere 4020. The tractor will be given away to one winner as part of the John Deere Big Buck Promotion. You may find rules to enter on the John Deere website.
The mild mannered public relations coordinator by day job, turned into one mean enforcement machine at Commodity Classic. He was guarding the Chip Foose designed 4020 model tractor along with sidekick, Deputy Kelly Schwalbe (left). They made sure no one took a peek under the veil over this promotional machine. I can tell you I wasn’t about to try!
So after the unveiling which you can still watch in the video clip below, I spoke to Sheriff Barry about the promotion and what the plans are. Barry says they entered into a partnership with Chip Foose to take an old 4020 tractor and put his special brand of design work on it. People can go to their local John Deere dealer to enter to win the tractor and it will also be part of this year’s Drive Green event. Barry says the project came out of a brainstorming session and a willingness on Chip’s part to do the work.
You can listen to my interview with Barry below:
I just spoke with the Liz Boyd, press secretary for Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm. I had called to obtain a short audio interview regarding the Governor’s decision to declare March 20, Michigan Meatout Day. I sincerely appreciate her calling me back so that we can better understand what in the world caused a Governor to make such a resolution.
Liz, however, refused a recorded interview saying it was “unwarranted.” She says that the Governor gets lots of requests to issue such proclamations and this was nothing unusual. She also told me that the request came from a local field representative for Meatout which is a program of FARM, Farm Animal Rights Movement. Their theme this year is, “Eat for Life – Live Vegan!”
Liz than told me the Governor would be issuing another proclamation making Saturday, March 20 a day to celebrate Michigan agriculture. When I asked if she realized that the Governor’s resolution urging citizens to not eat meat was detrimental to Michigan agriculture she acknowledged that it was but said that with March Madness she was sure that lots of burgers and hot dogs would be eaten on Saturday.
Amazing. I would characterize the conversation as “rushed” and had a feeling that she thought my questions and comments were “silly.” Unfortunately when the government takes this kind of thoughtless action it has negative consequences. Michigan’s farmers and ranchers deserve better and I hope they get it.
I would encourage you to let the Michigan Governor know your thoughts. Michigan Farm Bureau and the Michigan Agri-Business Association already have done so publicly. You can leave comments on her Facebook page.
Michigan Meatout Day? At first I thought this was a joke when I found a link to it on Facebook (from a Michigan State student comment on a page of someone I follow). But it’s right there on Governor Granholm’s website. And it’s for March 20 which is National Ag Day! I would urge everyone to let her know what you think about this idea. Hmm. I wonder who could be behind this? You can click on the image for a larger one.
I called the office and constituent line both at approximately 5:15pm eastern time but they had gone for the day. I thought it odd that the phone just rings. No answering machine or service I guess. Is that normal? I called the Washington, DC office and someone did answer who told me to call the constituents line. She said they must have gone for the day and to call them tomorrow which I will try to do.
Here’s what the Governor’s resolution says:
Michigan Meatout Day
Whereas, A wholesome diet of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains promotes good health and reduces the risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and other chronic diseases, which take the lives of approximately 1.3 million Americans each year; and,
Whereas, The number of those who choose to live the lifestyle of a vegan or vegetarian has increased and so has the availability and selection of meat and dairy alternatives in mainstream grocery stores, restaurants, and catering operations; and,
Whereas, Reducing the consumption of meat or not eating meat at all can significantly decrease the exposure to infectious pathogens such as salmonella, E. coli, and campylobacter, which take the lives of several thousand Americans and sicken millions more each year; and,
Whereas, The benefits of a plant-based diet can consist of increased energy levels, lower food budget costs, and simplified food preparation and cleanup; and,
Whereas, It is encouraged that the residents of this state get into the habit of healthy living by consuming a diet that is rich with vegetables, fruit, and whole grains, and by staying active;
Now, Therefore, be it Resolved, That I, Jennifer M. Granholm, governor of the state of Michigan, do hereby proclaim March 20, 2010, Michigan Meatout Day in Michigan. In observance of this day, I encourage the residents of this state to choose not to eat meat. Eating a healthy diet can be fun. Explore the different recipes that can be created by using fresh ingredients and by having a sense of adventure.
So she says, “I encourage the residents of this state to choose not to eat meat.” Is she vegan? What do Michigan’s farmers and ranchers think of this?
Commodity Classic is a gathering of farmers who grow many crops, including sorghum. I wanted to learn more about the organization that assists sorghum growers, the National Sorghum Producers, so I spent a little time with their Chairman, Gerald Simonsen.
Simonsen began by telling me about a great victory that had recently for sorghum growers. The organization has some issues with the formulas used to figure price election for crop insurance. After more than eight years working on the issue, they have gotten the methodology changed. In 2009, the price election was 77.8 percent of corn – in 2010, the price election will be 97.8 percent of corn.
“That’s a huge difference in coverage for producers,” said Simonsen. “On a personal note, on my farm, it means a difference of $35 per acre in crop insurance.”
While the National Sorghum Producers handles a lot of policy issues, they are also very involved in sorghum’s use for ethanol. Today, 1/3 of the sorghum crop goes into ethanol production. They may grow, however, as more research is dedicated to producing ethanol from sugar-based sorghums like sweet sorghum and cellulosic and biomass production using energy sorghums or forage sorghums.
While Simonsen doesn’t anticipate more sorghum production by “leaps and bounds” he does anticipate “a slow and incremental gain over the next few years.”
You can listen to my interview with Gerald below.
AgWired coverage of the 2010 Commodity Classic
is sponsored by: 
and 
Westfield Insurance has a blog called Grains of Knowledge. I really like the name and the content looks great. Yes, blogging is alive and well.
One of the things that struck me right away is their tagline, “News and insight from Westfield’s farm and agribusiness insurance team.” Just think about that a minute. “News.” Yes, news. It’s not just for the “media” anymore. In fact, I’ve been saying for a long time that we’re all media. Sounds like Westfield gets it so of course you can follow them on Twitter.
By the way, according to their top post they’re running a photo contest for Ag Week.
To celebrate National Ag Week, Westfield Insurance is hosting an online ag photo contest to honor America’s farmers, ranchers and agribusiness owners who work hard every day to produce safe, affordable food! Please review the rules below and submit your original ag-related photos of kids, animals, landscapes, or agri-business owners to grainsofknowledge@westfieldgrp.com. We will select one grand prize winner and two runners-up to receive a special prize!
With 202 companies exhibiting in 816 booths, the 2010 Commodity Classic Trade Show once again raised the bar on must attend industry events in agriculture. The show surpassed previous turnout for a Commodity Classic held in California with 1,369 growers attending and a total attendance of 4,330.
ZimmComm’s coverage of the 2010 Commodity Classic also raised the bar once again, setting a record for number of posts. Three of us covered the event in Anaheim, posting a total of 78 stories on Agwired, Domestic Fuel, Precision Pays and Corn Commentary, 58 of them with audio. We also uploaded nearly 1,000 photos and produced five YouTube videos – one of which has already been viewed over 4,200 times. There were too many tweets to count! Of the 202 companies exhibiting at the Classic, we did interviews with 26 of them, including our sponsors and all of the hosting commodity groups.
We would like to once again express our gratitude to sponsors BASF and New Holland on Agwired, and John Deere on Precision.AgWired.com for enabling us to cover this event for our readers.
See you next year in Tampa!
