Masters of Beef Advocacy Commencement Ceremony

Amanda Nolz

MBALR Yesterday, I had the opportunity to take part in the Checkoff’s Masters of Beef Advocacy (MBA) Commencement Ceremony, where I was the afternoon speaker. My speech was titled, “Discovering the Power of Social Media,” and I challenged the graduates to use these online tools to share the agriculture story.

Troy and Stacy Hadrick, Advocates for Agriculture, also spoke during the morning session, as well as Daren Williams with the MBA program. Workshops included developing your elevator speech and drafting a letter to the editor or response comment in an online forum. Following the conclusion of the workshops, diplomas were passed out to all of the graduates, including myself!

700 people have completed the MBA course, which consists of six hour-long online courses, with exams and homework assignments. This is a great way to brush up on your beef industry factoids, so you’re ready to have a conversation with the next consumer you chat with. If you’re interested in participating in this program, link here for more information.

Beef

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • New Holland Agriculture received two prestigious 2009 GOOD DESIGN™ awards for the Boomer 8N compact tractor and the SideWinder II armrest.
  • USDA reports commercial red meat production during December totaled 4.148 billion pounds, including a new record high for the month in beef production. 2009 red meat production totaled 49.264 billion pounds, down 2% from 2008’s 50.225 billion.
  • KIOTI Tractor is pleased to announce the appointment of Brent Baer as territory manager in the Canadian province of Ontario.
  • Producers interested in growing biomass crops can eliminate financial risk through the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP).
    Zimfo Bytes

    John Becherer USB CEO Honored By St. Louis Ag Club

    Chuck Zimmerman

    john-bechererUnited Soybean Board CEO John Becherer (left) received the 2009 Agribusiness Leader of the Year award from the St. Louis Agribusiness Club.

    According to Dale Ludwig, executive director of the Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council, “John leads one of the most successful farmer-checkoff programs in the world.” Ludwig, a senior staff member of a Qualified State Soybean Board, nominated Becherer for the award. The St. Louis Agribusiness Club represents farmers and others involved in one of the richest agricultural regions of the world.

    Becherer describes himself as a consensus builder and views his position at USB as an opportunity to continue his career-long interest in helping farmers farm more profitably.

    “This well deserved honor reflects highly upon John’s leadership, but also to the level of commitment this organization has to U.S. soybean farmers,” says USB Chairman Phil Bradshaw, a soybean farmer from west-central Illinois. “For 15 years, John has provided guidance in leveraging checkoff dollars and complying with the federal law that established the national soybean checkoff. He helped to spearhead QUALISOY, an industry-wide effort to help market the development and availability of healthier soybeans and soy oil, and helps lead SOY 2020 to create a long-term vision for the U.S. soy industry.”

    Becherer was raised on a dairy farm in central Wisconsin and has always maintained strong ties with the agricultural community. John has more than 20 years of management experience and holds a master’s degree in agricultural economics.

    Ag Groups, USB

    Bioavailability is Key to Chelated Trace Minerals

    Cindy Zimmerman

    novusWhen it comes to chelated trace minerals, Dr. Jim Richards with Novus International is a serious expert, and this is no simple subject.

    “When you chelate a trace mineral, you basically react it with an organic mineral called a ligand,” says Jim, who is Novus Manager of Cell Biology Research. Now, that likely means very little to the cell biology illiterate, but it means a lot to poultry. “You’re basically feeding the bird a form of mineral that’s much more absorbable than you get with your trace mineral salts.”

    That is what is known as bioavailability. “With a higher bioavailable form of trace mineral, more will be absorbed and less will be excreted out in to the environment, and that is the real point of feeding a chelated trace mineral,” Jim says. Because it’s more available, it’s more efficient and better for the environment, in addition to being better for the animal and the producer.

    Jim gets into a whole lot more detail about this subject in the latest issue of Feedstuffs, which he is proudly displaying in this photo. For a quick explanation about it and what Novus is doing in the field, listen to or download my interview with Jim from the International Poultry Expo in the player below.

    2010 International Poultry Expo photo album

    AgWired coverage of International Poultry Expo is sponsored by:
    Novus

    Animal Health, Audio, Novus International, Poultry, Poultry Expo

    History of Poultry Feed Management

    Cindy Zimmerman

    The International Poultry Scientific Forum is held in conjunction with the International Poultry Expo each year and is sponsored by the Southern Poultry Science Society, the Southern Conference on Avian Diseases, and the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association. As part of that event, Novus International hosts a luncheon and speaker for the attendees on a topic of general interest to the poultry science community.

    novusThis year, it was “Historical Perspectives in Poultry Feed Management,” presented by well-known poultry science expert Dr. Steve Leeson from the University of Guelph, pictured here on the right with Dr. Scott Carter, Novus Poultry Market Manager, on the left. Dr. Leeson entertained the group with some great historical photos of poultry management through the years. According to Leeson, the commercial poultry industry as we know it pretty much started in the ’60s, as the broiler industry developed and the egg and meat industries began to diverge. Talking about feed management, he noted that producers early on were feeding poultry diets consisting of corn, soybean meal, milk, fish meal, meat meal and some raw vegetables. “They were looking for the vitamins that really hadn’t been recognized and we couldn’t buy them artificially,” he said. Milk was an especially important part of the diet to deal with health issues in flocks.

    As poultry science began to develop as a specialty field, researchers found that key nutrition requirements could be met in other ways, which helped the industry expand and become much more productive and efficient.

    Download (mp3) my interview with Dr. Leeson or listen to it here: ipe10-novus-leeson.mp3

    Scott says Novus chose a historical perspective for this year’s topic as a way of taking a look back in order to move forward. “We’re at a really critical junction right now as we’re going to need to produce twice as much food in 2050 as we do today,” Scott said. “Poultry is going to be a key part of helping to feed the world by 2050.” Increasing productivity and efficiency even more will play an important role in meeting that goal.

    Novus is also celebrating two significant anniversaries this year of products that have been part of the historical progress in poultry feed management. “It’s our 30th year for Alimet and our 50th year for Santoquin in the marketplace as nutritional tools that have helped us improve performance,” said Scott.

    Download (mp3) my interview with Dr. Scott Carter or listen to it here: ipe10-novus-carter.mp3

    2010 International Poultry Expo photo album

    AgWired coverage of International Poultry Expo is sponsored by:
    Novus

    Animal Health, Audio, Novus International, Poultry, Poultry Expo

    Mapping Cattle Industry Attendees

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Cattle Convention MapThis is an interesting display in the entrance hallway to the Cattle Industry Convention.

    It’s a large map of the United States with a bowl of pins so you can pinpoint where you’re from. It’s early but there are already a lot of pins from all over the country.

    I’ll try to remember to get a final shot of it so we can see just how diverse the attendance of people in the cattle industry is here in San Antonio.

    I’ve also started a photo album which you can find here: Cattle Industry Convention Photo Album

    Cattle Industry Conference

    CBB and NCBA Officer Previews

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Tom Jones Bill DonaldThe combined meetings of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and Cattlemen’s Beef Board have started here at the Cattle Industry Convention in San Antonio. To kick off our coverage I conducted a short interview with an officer from each organization.

    Pictured are Tom Jones, CBB Secretary/Treasurer (left) and Bill Donald, NCBA Vice President. I caught up with them prior to their joint officer’s mtg. this afternoon. The basically get together to go over the schedule and make sure everyone is on the same page so all the programs and meetings run smoothly.

    Tom says the Beef Board will be dealing with the challenge of reduced revenues coming into the Checkoff. But he says that when the industry comes together they find ways to work through the challenges. He’s heard that attendance is expected to be up here at this year’s convention. Some of the highlights of the work the Checkoff is doing, according to Tom, are issues management and foreign marketing where he sees potential for even more work. He hopes they’ll be able to do some things to “put a little more money in the bottom line of our producers and help beef demand all over and that’s what we’re here for.”

    You can listen to and download (mp3) my interview with Tom here: cic-10-jones.mp3

    Bill says this convention is where NCBA will “take the next step” on governance goals as outlined by the task force that’s been working on the issue for the past 18 months. They’ll report here at the convention and a vote will be taken on it Saturday. Bill says it will make them “more inclusive, more efficient and more effective” in representing producers across the country. It’s a major step in the ongoing evolution of the organization. He echoes Tom’s comments about attendance being up and says “We’ve got the eyes of the entire U.S. cattle industry looking at us.”

    You can listen to and download (mp3) my interview with Bill here: cic-10-donald.mp3

    Ag Groups, Audio, Cattle Industry Conference, NCBA

    Welcome to Poultry Expo 2010

    Cindy Zimmerman

    novusThe 2010 International Poultry Expo/Feed Expo is getting underway here in Atlanta with associated conferences today, including the Poultry Scientific Forum, Pet Food Conference and Animal Agriculture Environmental Sustainability Summit.

    Our sponsor, Novus International, is hosting a seminar/luncheon for expo attendees entitiled “Historical Perspectives in Poultry Feed Management,” presented by Dr. Steve Leeson from the University of Guelph. About 200 are in attendance, with a good portion of those among the international guests for the expo. I will be interviewing him after the presentation to get a nice summary of how the poultry industry developed in the area of nutrition and feed over the past century or so.

    2010 International Poultry Expo photo album

    AgWired coverage of International Poultry Expo is sponsored by:
    Novus

    Feed, Novus International, Poultry, Poultry Expo

    Want Yield Increases? Then You Need Healthier Roots.

    Joanna Schroeder

    There was an unintended theme during the Ag Associates Conference in Houston today–root health.  I heard from several researchers, consultants and growers from all over the world that most farmers concentrate on plant health above the ground but don’t spend enough time learning about the plant under the ground. For StollerUSA, root health is one of their biggest areas of research.

    A plant’s root health is very important, I learned, because stronger roots aid the plant against various stresses such as drought and disease, but also improve the quality of the crop as well.

    Dave Alexander, with Agri-Science Technologies and Mike Molnar with Town & Country Ag had a brief but informative conversation about the importance of root health, and with a little cajoling and a big smile, I convinced them to “go on air” to teach us about root health and nutrition.

    This is only a snapshot of the research that was discussed during the 17th annual Ag Associates Conference today and I’ll be bringing you more details throughout the week. But if you’re too excited to wait, you can sit in StollerUSA’s Founder and CEO, Jerry Stoller’s lesson on root mass.

    Ag Associates Conference Flickr Album.

    Agribusiness, Video

    Merial Media Room

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Cattle Industry Convention Merial Media RoomThanks go to Merial for sponsoring the Cattle Industry Convention media room once again. The media room “officially” opens tomorrow morning but somebody had to be first in. That would probably be Grace Webb who has already stocked the bowls on the tables with chocolate.

    The action really gets going tomorrow and picks up on Wed. I’ll be here all week doing some Beef Board Blogging so you’ll be seeing a lot of posts from the world of agribusiness.

    Cattle Industry Conference