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

Good Gut Health for Poultry

Cindy Zimmerman

novusGut health is important for poultry producers, not just for the health and performance of their flocks, but also from the standpoints of food safety and animal welfare – probably two of the most important issues for the animal agriculture industry as a whole.

I talked with Novus International poultry veterinarian Dr. Marco Quiroz about the importance of poultry producers having an overall program for gut health. “As veterinarians, we try to do preventive medicine in poultry, we work with best management practices in operations. We have very well established, well designed and uniform programs,” he told me.

He says they do what they call “flock physicals” to monitor the health status of birds. “It’s like a quality control of the health of the birds,” Marco says. “We check all ages of production to make sure all the birds are healthy, especially in the digestive tract.” Since gut health can be affected by any number of factors, from feed to environmental to water, a good program has to look at all aspects of an operation and of the birds themselves to maintain top performance.

Listen to or download my interview with Marco about gut health in poultry and how Novus helps provide producers with the tools to maintain it.

2010 International Poultry Expo photo album

AgWired coverage of International Poultry Expo is sponsored by:
Novus

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

Poultry President Pleased With Expo

Cindy Zimmerman

novusThe president of the US Poultry and Egg Association is pretty pleased with the turnout at this year’s International Poultry Expo, which looks to be better than a year ago, despite the condition of the economy.

“This is our 62nd show here in Atlanta,” John Starkey told me during an interview in the media room overlooking the trade show floor. “We have 807 exhibiters and we’re still counting attendees but when we closed pre-registration we had a 1,000 more attendees registered than a year ago. So, that probably speaks to the mood of the industry, not that it’s boom times but it might be just a little better than a year ago.” The expo gets a huge number of international visitors with the majority from Canada and Latin America, followed by Europe and southeast Asia.

John says there are a number of challenges and opportunities facing the industry, from animal activism to feeding a growing global population. Listen to or download my interview with John 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

Apple Annouces iPad

Chuck Zimmerman

ipadApple just announced its newest creation – the iPad. There is an agricultural slant to this story. What is it? The continuing development of information technology that’s changing the way we market and engage our audience.

I can see me using one of these to participate in AgChat for example. Or do just about anything else I want to do on the web. Will it replace my Mac? No. Do I want one? Yes. I’m on the notification list for when they become available

A large, high-resolution LED-backlit, IPS display. An incredibly responsive Multi-Touch screen. And an amazingly powerful, Apple-designed chip. All in a design that’s thin and light enough to take anywhere. iPad isn’t just the best device of its kind. It’s a whole new kind of device.

The high-resolution, 9.7 inch LED-backlit, IPS display on iPad is remarkably crisp and vivid. Which makes it perfect for web browsing, watching movies, or showing off photos. It’s also been designed to work in any orientation — portrait or landscape. And because it uses a display technology called IPS (in-plane switching), it has a wide, 178° viewing angle. So you can hold it almost any way you want, and still get a brilliant picture, with excellent color and contrast.

Equipment, Technology

Fluidigm Inks Deal With Bayer CropScience

Chuck Zimmerman

Fluidigm LogoAgWired sponsor, Fluidigm Corporation has just announced a multi-year agreement with a new client, Bayer CropScience. Here’s some details.

Fluidigm Corporation today announced it has entered into a multi-year agreement with Bayer CropScience to supply integrated fluidic circuits (IFCs) and instrumentation to Bayer CropScience’s global operations. Bayer CropScience will be using Fluidigm technology to conduct marker-assisted breeding, genetic analysis in its molecular breeding program and quality control on its vegetable seeds.

“Fluidigm is delighted to be a global supplier to Bayer CropScience. Our technology is perfectly suited to help them develop and take-to-market the highest-quality seeds for field and vegetable crops,” said Gajus Worthington, president and chief executive officer of Fluidigm. “We are committed to helping Bayer CropScience meet the ever-increasing demands for high-quality food supplies throughout the world.”

While many seed producers are using molecular breeding techniques, the capacity of the available test systems has been limited. Fluidigm’s technology increases output more than ten-fold and reduces the cost-per-data point to a mere fraction obtainable with standard 384 well plates for “high-throughput” genotyping. “Until recently, breeders throughout the world could only dream of such a technique, yet now Fluidigm is making this a reality,” Worthington explained. Read More

Agribusiness, Technology

Beef Board Executive Committee Meets

Chuck Zimmerman

If you’ve never attended a committee meeting of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board then now’s your chance to take a peek inside. Here’s how things started out at this morning’s Executive Committee Mtg. of the CBB.

Cattle Industry Convention Photo Album

Cattle Industry Conference, Video

Annual Meeting Outlook From CBB CEO Tom Ramey

Chuck Zimmerman

Tom RameyThe CEO of the Beef Board is Tom Ramey, seen here providing information to CBB Chairman Lucinda Williams at the Operating Committee Mtg. I spoke with him this morning about the issues and work being done here from the staff perspective.

Tom says this annual meeting is where they go over the financial reports and audits from the last year as well as priorities that they would like the board members to consider as they plan the 2011 fiscal year. So a big part of the discussion is looking to the future in light of the reality of reduced revenues. He says the world is very different now than it was when the Checkoff began and specifically mentions the “digital world” we live in. This proliferation of new media channels has given greater voice to people who can have an impact on demand for beef. At the same time he sees some good opportunities to satisfy consumer demand for American been in foreign markets.

Cattle Industry Convention Photo Album

You can listen to or download my interview with Tom below:

Ag Groups, Audio, Beef, Cattle Industry Conference

There’s an App for IPE

carly

How many times have you gone to a conference and found yourself constantly having to pick up a new program because you lost the one you had?

IPEWell, the International Poultry Expo has made things easy this year with an iPhone app. The IPE app is free and gives attendees access to all events and exhibitor information right on their iPhones. The app is available from Apple’s app store by searching for “IPE”. It’s a great way of using the latest technology in a very practical way and giving attendees a paper-free way to always know how to find exhibitors or where the next event is being held. Pretty cool! I expect we will be seeing that a lot more at conventions.

2010 International Poultry Expo photo album

AgWired coverage of International Poultry Expo is sponsored by:
Novus

International, Novus International, Poultry, Poultry Expo, Social Networking, Technology

FeatherFest 2010

carly

featherfestRotten Egg or Egg-straordinary? This year the U.S. Poultry and Egg Association has partnered with Atlanta to find the city’s most popular and best poultry dishes. New to the International Poultry Expo, Featherfest is a week long culinary event that showcases 51 of Atlanta’s restaurants to see who can make the best appetizers, entrees, and desserts based on poultry meat or eggs.

Featherfest began on January 22nd and ends at midnight January 28th. Voters are also entered into a drawing to win a free iPod Nano and are encouraged to visit as many of the restaurants featured on the list as possible. To find the list and cast your vote on site look for the FeatherFest booth or the @tlanta booth located in the main lobby or the show floor, or you can enter online at www.atlanta.net/featherfest. The winner will be announced on Friday the 29th at the IPE.

2010 International Poultry Expo photo album

AgWired coverage of International Poultry Expo is sponsored by:
Novus

International, Novus International, Poultry, Poultry Expo