Issues, Engagement and Impact

Amanda Nolz

Immediately following my presentation on Thursday’s Partner Program at the 2010 Great Lakes Regional Dairy Conference, I served as the moderator for a student panel titled, “Issues, Engagement and Impact.” The panel featured university students sharing how they have become engaged on the front lines to speak up about industry issues and the impacts of their actions.

Participating on the panel were three outstanding college students including: Greg Thon, Celeste Laurent and Bailey Albright. As moderator, I asked them several important questions pertaining to the agriculture industry today such as: What do you think are the biggest misconceptions consumers have about where their food comes from? What are the biggest challenges facing young people today?

How can we combat animal right activist activities? What goals do you have for the future? What opportunities are out there for young people in agriculture? How do you feel about the Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board? What advice do you have for high school students involved in agriculture? How do we educate our state policy makers?

These three young people fielded these questions with the ease and poise of seasoned pros. All three will be looking for jobs in the agriculture industry in the near future, and I think they could be your next employees! Look them up!

Ag Leader, Education

Video Tour of New Holland Exhibit at NFMS

Cindy Zimmerman


2010 National Farm Machinery Show Photo Album

There’s so much to see at New Holland exhibit at the 2010 National Farm Machinery Show that I had Dennis Hann take me on a tour and explain a little bit about everything. It ended up being just a few minutes longer than the 10 minute limit for YouTube, so I split it into two parts. Definitely worth watching.

National Farm Machinery Show, New Holland, Tractor, Video

Seeing Old Friends at NFMS

Cindy Zimmerman


2010 National Farm Machinery Show Photo Album

nfmsYou never know who you are going to run into at the National Farm Machinery Show, but I am sure this young man has been to many of these shows over the years.

Many of our Agwired readers will recognize Mr. John Harvey, who was with DuPont for numerous years and very active with NAFB. He has been living out his passion in his golden years as president of Classic Tractor Fever and I have to say he looks marvelous. The years have certainly been a friend to him. Gene Hemphill snapped this photo of us and John scampered away before I had a chance to interview him, but it was great to see him again. I think he looks even younger than the last time I saw him at least ten years ago!

I am heading to the Sunshine State for a couple days of fun with daughter Carly, my sister and niece at Disney World before covering the National Ethanol Conference, but ZimmComm reporter John Davis will be taking over for me and covering the last couple of days here at NFMS. I will still get a couple more posts on before I’m done here and more later.

AgWired continuing coverage at the National Farm Machinery Show sponsored by:
New Holland

National Farm Machinery Show, New Holland, Tractor

New Holland Exec on State of the Industry

Cindy Zimmerman


2010 National Farm Machinery Show Photo Album

nfmsI had a chance to chat about the state of the farm machinery industry with Dennis Hann, manager of North American Strategic Planning for New Holland, at the 2010 National Farm Machinery Show. He told me that, even though some segments of the farm economy are suffering, they were seeing serious buyers at the show this year.

“We see three different product segments,” Dennis says. “The under 60 horsepower tractors, that follows automotive, trending wise, so that’s the toughest of all the industries because a lot of that is discretionary income. The dairy/livestock area, tractors in the 60-140 horse and our hay tool line, that industry was off about 24% last year as an industry. We grew share, but the industry’s down and we believe that will continue to be depressed in 2010. What’s really surprised us is the cash crop, the combines, the 140 plus horsepower tractors and 4 wheel drive continues to be very strong.”

Dennis also talks about some of New Holland’s various products, including the new Rustler and the 9090 combine, and their commitment to the biodiesel industry. Listen to or download his interview below.

Audio, National Farm Machinery Show, New Holland

On the Sheep and Goat Radio Hour at NFMS

Cindy Zimmerman


2010 National Farm Machinery Show Photo Album

nfmsI happened to be in the right place at the right time to be a guest on “The Sheep and Goat Radio Hour” live with Ray Bowman from the National Farm Machinery Show on Thursday.

Ray is executive director of the Kentucky Sheep and Goat Development Office and does this live internet show every week on America’s Web Radio, which is pretty cool. He is very into social media as a communicator and follows us on Twitter. Ray did his whole show live from the media room on two cell phones, grabbing various guests to interview and talking about the NFMS. It was a really impressive use of the latest technology and he was a pleasure to meet.

AgWired continuing coverage at the National Farm Machinery Show sponsored by:
New Holland

National Farm Machinery Show, New Holland

Greetings from Great Lakes Regional Dairy Conference

Amanda Nolz

I’m joining you today from Frankenmuth, MI, where I’m attending the 2010 Great Lakes Regional Dairy Conference as a speaker. This afternoon, I spoke at the Partner’s Program on social media. I provided tips and tricks for sharing the agriculture story through elevator speeches, blogs and social media networks like Facebook and Twitter.

I spoke about the challenges I face on my family’s cattle operation, in trying to make the transition back home. I discussed ideas for interacting with consumers and sharing those challenges to give them a better idea of who we are and where we come from. I offered ideas for making habits to tell the positive story about the food production story with consumers.

Overall, it was a great session, and I really enjoyed working in the Partner’s Program. There is nothing better than great people, educational sessions and free ice cream and chocolate milk!

Media, Social Networking

Joliet Junior College

Chuck Zimmerman

Bill JohnsonJoliet Junior College and specifically the Weitendorf Agricultural Education Center was the location of the Chicago Farmers Farmland Investment Fair. I spoke with one of their faculty, Bill Johnson (pictured left), about the school. Bill is one of the many volunteers who work to put on the Fair.

He says that the College started that state’s first ag program in 1954 so it has the oldest ag program and it’s still the largest. They draw students from all the surrounding states. He says they’ve got 102 acres of farmland on the campus which is operated by the ag department. The Weitendorf Center is located across the highway from Chicago Motor Speedway. He says this is the third year they’ve held the fair in the facility.

You can listen to my interview with Bill below.

Chicago Farmers Farmland Investment Fair Photo Album

Audio, Education, University

New Holland Workmaster Debut

Cindy Zimmerman


2010 National Farm Machinery Show Photo Album

nfmsNew Holland’s new WORKMASTER™ tractors bear a trusted name, and the same important qualities that made the original WORKMASTER tractors so popular in the 1960s.

The new Workmaster made its debut right out of the box and off the boat here at the National Farm Machinery Show. I talked with Mike Stolitca, New Holland sales manager for Kentucky, about this dependable, basic workhorse. “We are very excited to have this tractor here, first tractor in North America for the Workmaster series,” he told me. “This provides a reliable, efficient tractor at an affordable price.”

Mike says this tractor is great for hobby farms and smaller operators looking for a good chore tractor. Some of the features that allow for ease of operation include an 8×8 shuttle transmission and a comfortable, open operator station.

Listen to my interview with Mike here:

Audio, National Farm Machinery Show, New Holland, Tractor, Uncategorized

Lee Greenwood at National Farm Machinery Show

Cindy Zimmerman

AgWired continuing coverage at the National Farm Machinery Show sponsored by:
New Holland

2010 National Farm Machinery Show Photo Album

nfmsSyngenta sponsors the Championship Tractor Pull at the National Farm Machinery Show, which kicks off each year to Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA.” This year it kicked off to Lee Greenwood performing his signature song live at the arena and on Thursday morning he was in the Syngenta booth, signing CDs for fans and helping Syngenta kick off a new campaign called “Weeding Out Hunger.”

“This is a very important event for the tractor pull and for Syngenta, there’s a great cause here and that’s feeding America,” Lee told me in a real quick interview as he was signing autographs. You can here more from Lee on today’s AgriTalk from the NFMS.

nfmsI learned more about the campaign, which is associated with Halex GT herbicide, from Carroll Moseley with Syngenta Crop Protection. “We directly affect and feed the population by controlling weeds in corn, this is a product for glyphosate-tolerant corn,” he said. “What better way to relate it to another direct way to impact people more needy than others than to have this Weeding Out Hunger campaign where we are contributing to feeding America affiliates across the United States.”
Find out more about the campaign at WeedingOutHunger.com.

Listen to back-to-back interviews with Lee and Carroll in the player below and here’s a little video from the Syngenta booth.

Audio, National Farm Machinery Show, New Holland, Syngenta

A Message From NFMS For HSUS

Cindy Zimmerman

nfmsAs I was leaving the first day of the National Farm Machinery Show, the message on this young man’s shirt caught my eye.

“I didn’t climb to the top of the food chain to become a vegetarian.”

Ain’t that the truth?

I am heading in for the second day at the show today and the weather is better so I expect traffic will be a little heavier going in this morning. Thanks to John Deere for coverage of the first day of NFMS – check out the posts from yesterday to learn about some of what they have on display and especially what’s NUE. The rest of the show our coverage this week is sponsored by New Holland. Green and blue go well together!

Check out the photos here on the
2010 National Farm Machinery Show Photo Album

AgWired coverage of opening day at the National Farm Machinery Show sponsored by:
john-deere

John Deere, National Farm Machinery Show, New Holland