Novus Welcomes Baseball Great to Poultry Expo

Cindy Zimmerman

novusNovus International brought a game changing baseball great to the International Poultry Expo in Atlanta to symbolize their company strategy of changing the game in livestock productivity to meet the challenge of feeding a growing global population.

Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Gibson, who played for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1959-1975, was a big hit at the Novus booth, with hundreds lining up to get a photo and autographed baseball. We took about 500 photos in three hours, which we are slowly but surely adding to a separate Flickr photo album for easy downloading by the lucky ones who got to meet “Hoot.”

Novus International Bob Gibson Photo Album

novusGibson’s jersey number 45 was retired by the St. Louis Cardinals, and in 1981, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall Of Fame. In 1999, he ranked Number 31 on The Sporting News’ list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. In 2004, he was named as the most intimidating pitcher of all time from the Fox Sports Net series The Sports List.

This is the second year that Novus brought a baseball theme to the expo. Last year, it was the legendary Lou Brock, also a St. Louis Cardinal – a tribute to Novus’ hometown.

*Post Update* Just got around to adding this video – which actually turned out pretty good!

Novus International, Poultry, Poultry Expo

Novus International Announces Beef Industry Commitment

Chuck Zimmerman

Gary WinterNovus International announced its commitment to the beef industry today at the Cattle Industry Convention. They held a press conference this afternoon and I spoke with Gary Winter, Ruminant Sales Manager, North America afterward. I’m also posting the full press conference for you in case you’d like to listen in.

Gary has been with the company for about ten years. He says they’ve been getting a lot of interest from producers here and the trade show is providing them with a great opportunity to get their name out in front of them since there are a lot of beef producers who aren’t familiar with their name yet. He says they’ve had ingredients going into the beef business for a while but are just now launching their marketing campaign into the market. He points to products like Alimet, Mintrex and Agrado Plus as some of the names that producers can look to to increase herd efficiency.

You can listen to or download (mp3) Gary’s remarks here: cic-10-novus-winter.mp3

You can listen to or download (mp3) the full press conference here: cic-10-novus-press-conference.mp3

Cattle Industry Convention Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Cattle Industry Convention is sponsored by:
Novus

Agribusiness, Animal Health, Audio, Cattle Industry Conference, Novus International

Techniques for Increasing Corn Yield

Joanna Schroeder

Dr. Ron Heiniger with North Carolina State University is an expert in corn. For many years, he has been researching how to increase corn yields and some of the research he has done in his test plots are showing promising results – 300+ bushels per acre results. To put this number in perspective, the average bushel per acre yield for his area is between 120-125. “Our goal is to try to explore yield levels. The idea is yield equals profit,” said Dr. Heiniger. These results were unveiled during his presentation as part of StollerUSA’s Ag Associates Conference.

In order to achieve higher yields, Dr. Heiniger said that first he and his team knew that they needed to address stress as well as find ways to get their plants more productive. As a result, he said, “We learned what some of the key factors are such as plant population, intercept more light, and doing something for stress.” He continued that early growth roots become very critical as well as finding ways to combat heat and other stresses.

I asked him why root growth was so important and he told me that a stronger, larger root mass helps the plant combat stress as well as absorb nutrients more effectively. However, there are limited ways to do this including early fertilization and some products like Bio-Forge to help hormone stimulation and to get more root tips growing as well as get longer roots. He stressed that better root growth and getting a better way to intercept water is crucial. Especially since his area can be hot and dry for most of the growing season.

His research has looked at many ways to improve root health including when applications are most successful. He said they’ve looked at applying the treatments to seed, in-furrow, as a two-by-two band and even at different stages of the plant life. Although he is not ready to endorse which way is best, he stressed that what they have unequivocally discovered is that the treatments need to be applied as early as possible, meaning within the first few weeks of planting. “That really changes the game right off the bat.”

I asked him what he would recommend to growers to help them improve yield and he said first, in-furrow applications and second, if that is not an option, a seed application. He concluded by saying that, “Growers have a great opportunity to use some new innovative products.”

To learn more about his research, listen to my full interview with Dr. Heiniger or click here.

Ag Associates Conference Flickr Album.

Agribusiness, Corn, Research

How to Grow Scrumptous Blueberries

Joanna Schroeder

Dr. Micheal Orzolek, a professor in Pennsylvania State University’s horticulture department, can grow a mean blueberry. Orzolek has been involved in growing blueberries for the past few years. He has incorporated some of SollerUSA’s technologies to help rejuvenate the blueberry crop. Currently, he is using both a root applied and folio applied program with drip irrigation and early field tests have shown that this program has increased his yield between 50-100 percent.

DrOrzolekDuring the Ag Associates Conference in Houston this week, Dr. Orzolek shared his results to a crowd of more than 100 people from all over the world. He told me during an interview that specifically he uses Flower Power, which gets really good flower production and also uses Fruit Power which increased the size of the berries as well as made them more succulent.

I asked Dr. Orzolek why treating the roots was so important. He said, “Roots are important because the root caps produce two of the plant hormones we use in plant production and also because all the nutrients come in through the caps. The result,” he continued, “of healthier plants is that we have less diseases and insect problems.”

He mentioned that he is getting a much better crop production with a lot less inputs of insecticides and fungicides.

I asked him what he recommended for other growers currently growing blueberries or considering growing them. He answered that he should consider both soil and foliar treatments and especially stressed the use of the Fruit Power.

Well, it must work because people have been known to try to sneak into his test plots but you’ll have to listen to the full interview with Dr. Orzolek to hear the full story.

Ag Associates Conference Flickr Album.

Agribusiness

Qualisoy Improving Feed for Poultry

Cindy Zimmerman

novusPhilip Lobo and Mandy Heth are representing the Qualisoy program of the United Soybean Board here at the International Poultry Expo/International Feed Expo in Atlanta, talking to poultry producers about the ways they are working to make soybean meal even better for birds.

“We’ve just recently developed a special soybean that is going to deliver a soybean that has more energy for the feed and poultry industry,” Philip told me. They are starting poultry feeding trials soon and as long as it tests well they could have the variety available within five years. “This will help make our domestic livestock producers more competitive,” he said, which is important to the soybean industry, since 98 percent of all soybean meal produced here is fed to livestock and about 80 percent of the soybean is meal.

Listen to or download my interview with Philip in the player below.

2010 International Poultry Expo photo album

AgWired coverage of International Poultry Expo is sponsored by:
Novus

Audio, Novus International, Poultry, Poultry Expo, Soybean, USB

NCBA Trade Show Dog Races

Chuck Zimmerman

When I first walked in to the NCBA Trade Show this evening I thought I heard dogs barking. They were. They turned out to be Jack Russell Terriers racing in the back of the trade show area. So it was an iPhone YouTube moment.

Cattle Industry Convention Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Cattle Industry Convention is sponsored by:
Novus

Cattle Industry Conference, Video

Meet Wally at Novus International Booth

Chuck Zimmerman

Novus International Beef TeamWe’re going to get to know the Novus beef team even more tomorrow when they make some major announcements. They’re also sponsoring AgWired coverage of the Cattle Industry Convention.

At the opening of the NCBA Trade Show I stopped by their booth and spoke with Stephanie Gable. Stephanie also introduced me to Wally, the mechanical steer that you can see behind the team members in the photo. I’ll let her explain in the video I shot with my iPhone.

Cattle Industry Convention Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Cattle Industry Convention is sponsored by:
Novus

Agribusiness, Animal Health, Audio, Cattle Industry Conference, Novus International, Video

NCBA Tweetup

Chuck Zimmerman

NCBA TweetupWe had a great tweetup at the NCBA Trade Show this evening. The best things about them is getting to meet with people you’ve been communicating with via Twitter. Of course you know this if you follow AgWired. It’s not our first tweetup.

Here’s the group that got together. I’m sure you recognize some of them.

If you’re tweeting about the convention then use the #NCBA10 hashtag. If you’re tweeting about what the Beef Board is doing then use their hashtag which is #mybeef.

Cattle Industry Convention Photo Album

Cattle Industry Conference

NCBA President Gary Voogt Addresses Cattlemen

Chuck Zimmerman

Gary VoogtOne of our featured speakers at the opening session of the Cattle Industry Convention was NCBA President Gary Voogt.

Gary says it’s been an honor to serve as President of the organization for the past year. He logged about 200,000 miles and did a lot of hotel rooms nights. He says cattlemen have their work cut out for them this week. He says there are almost 5,700 attending the convention and it may be a record. He says history will be made and he urges support for the governance task force that will change the organization. I’m sure we’ll get more details about it. He says the industry needs to “live in one house.”

Cattle Industry Convention Photo Album

You can listen to or download Gary’s remarks below:

Ag Groups, Audio, Cattle Industry Conference

Beef Board Chairman Lucinda Williams

Chuck Zimmerman

Lucinda WilliamsAt the opening general session of the Cattle Industry Convention today we heard from Lucinda Williams, Chairman, Cattlemen’s Beef Board. This session also featured leaders from NCBA and ANCW which I will be posting separately.

Lucinda spoke about her observations from a year as Chairman of the CBB and offered a number of thoughts for consideration. You can watch her presentation in the video or download and listen in the player below:

Cattle Industry Convention Photo Album

You can listen to or download Lucinda’s remarks below:

Ag Groups, Audio, Cattle Industry Conference