Moroccan Shepherds

Chuck Zimmerman

Corn MissionBesides the rocks I think I saw more shepherds today than almost anything else as we drove around Morocco. The fields and hills are covered with them. There were children watching a flock, women, men, groups of people. You name it. Sheep are pretty much everywhere. When we drove into Casablanca this afternoon, a town of over 4 million, I even saw one tied up outside a bar off the sidewalk on the main thoroughfare we were driving on.

One of my tweeps asked me what kind of predator issues they have and I just don’t know. Never thought to ask about it today. I would guess that dogs and other wild animals are a threat though.

We spent a long day visiting a new feedlot operation, new port facility, grain storage facility and having the best seafood lunch I’ve ever eaten. The photo album is up to date and I have some video about to be loaded so there’s plenty more to come. BTW. It’s not easy taking photos through the window of a van at highway speed as I’m sure some of you know. But not all of my photos today were taken that way.

USGC Corn Mission In Morocco Photo Album

International, USGC

Happy Anniversary Alimet

Cindy Zimmerman

novusNovus International is celebrating 25 years of ALIMET feed supplement production with long-standing partner Ascend Performance Materials.

Over the last 25 years, Novus and Ascend, including its predecessors Solutia Inc. and Monsanto, have grown the ALIMET production facility in Chocolate Bayou, Texas to the largest liquid methionine manufacturing plant in the world. More than 600 Novus and Ascend employees and executives recently participated in a celebration of Alimet’s success at the Chocolate Bayou site.

“The people at Chocolate Bayou are not only helping to feed the world, they are helping to meet the world’s protein demand and to support sustainable agricultural practices.” stated Giovanni Gasperoni, Executive Vice President, Marketing and Sales, Novus International.

Currently, ALIMET is sold in more than 90 countries around the globe for inclusion in aquaculture, beef, dairy, pork and poultry rations.

Novus International

Farm Broadcaster of the Year Unemployed

Cindy Zimmerman

Just a couple of weeks ago, former NAFB president Ken Root was grinning from ear to ear as he accepted the coveted Farm Broadcaster of the Year award from the National Association of Farm Broadcasting. This week, he was unceremoniously let go by a company that has a reputation for not appreciating the work of talented and respected farm broadcasters. But Ken is still smiling!

On his Facebook page, Ken wrote: I’m in the unemployment line! Clear Channel terminated my employment yesterday afternoon. I finished my reports, packed my belongings under supervision and toured the building shaking hands with my former co-workers. I am greatly relieved and moving on.

This is not the first time that Clear Channel has terminated a highly respected farm broadcaster. While the company owns several properties – both networks and stations – that serve the agricultural community, they just don’t seem to understand the importance of that. Ken is a wonderful person, a fabulous on-air talent, and a great farm broadcaster. His audience in the WHO listening area is the loser here because he not only informed, but entertained – and not just farmers, but the general public as well.

Best of luck, Ken. You are an original and one of the very best in the business.

Media, NAFB

Broadhead + CO Agency For BIVI Cattle Brands

Chuck Zimmerman

Broadhead+CoBroadhead + CO has landed the cattle brands business for Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica beginning immediately.

Broadhead + Co will provide Boehringer Ingelheim with marketing communications strategy for both dairy and beef industry animal health products, including those newly acquired from Fort Dodge Animal Health, such as Pyramid, Triangle, Cydectin, Today and Tomorrow. These products strengthen the Boehringer Ingelheim biologicals product portfolio and expand product lines into the dairy mastitis market.

Agencies, Agribusiness

AGMasters Conference Report on Global Ag

Cindy Zimmerman

Here’s another report from the AGMasters Conference blog, this one written by University of Illinois Ag Comm major Alyssa Eade:

Although to many farmers across the Midwest it may seem that agriculture in the US is struggling, Murray Wise, CEO and Chairman of the Westchester Group, is enthusiastic about the future of agriculture. Wise spoke on the future for global agriculture and food production in the year 2010 and beyond, here at the AGMasters Conference. “There is no other country that does it like we do,” said Wise of agriculture in the United States. I had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Wise more about his thoughts on global food production, ethanol and the future of the family farm. You can listen to my interview with Murray below.

Audio

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • The Corporation for National and Community Service, USDA and the White House joined together to launch the United We Serve: Feed A Neighbor initiative to help combat hunger this winter. The new initiative raises awareness of hunger issues and equips American with the resources to mobilize against the hunger crisis.
  • Agri-Pulse Communications has launched expanded information on the firm’s newly redesigned Web site.
  • “Marketing to Farm Businesses” is an intensive three-day course designed for managers responsible for developing and/or implementing marketing programs to farm businesses and/or businesses that sell to farmers. The registration deadline for the Guelph session of Marketing to Farm Businesses is Friday, Dec. 18. This course is scheduled for Jan. 19-22, 2010, at the Delta Hotel in Guelph.
  • AGCO announces that Jason Marx has been named vice president, Parts Division, North America for AGCO and Jeff Terlep is the new director of sales with the Parts Division.
    Zimfo Bytes

    Moon Over El Jadida

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Corn MissionHere’s the moon over the Atlantic as seen from my hotel room here in El Jadida. Last night we met with the local area USGC representatives and ate a very good Moroccan meal. I’ve never eaten lamb that tasted so good. We learned what a growing market Morocco is for U.S. grain and will be seeing evidence of that in our meetings through the end of the week.

    Today we’re going to visit a feedlot operation which is supposed to be a model for the region and was started with assistance from the Grains Council. We’ll also be moving to Casablanca where we’ll be staying for the next couple days. It looks like most of my posting time will be at the hotel during the evenings but I should be active on Twitter during the day.

    USGC Corn Mission In Morocco Photo Album

    USGC

    Book Review – Out at Night

    Joanna Schroeder

    Out at NightI’m thinking about eating dinner and if I were susceptible to drama then I’d rethink my dinner plans. I just finished reading the novel “Out at Night,” a work of fiction by Susan Arnout Smith, that uses genetically modified organisms (GMO) as its basis for murder and mayhem. Now, I don’t profess to be able to discern between fact and fancy when it comes to GMO crops, but for the most part, it appears that the circumstances in the book are fancy.

    So here’s the plot. As the world converges at the largest agricultural convention in Palm Springs, California, a man is murdered and set on fire in a genetically modified soy field that is to be unveiled during the conference. As the story unfolds, there is a crazy environmental organization staging rallies and protests and planning to take down the event during the closing session. But is the murder tied to the environmental organization or is there another factor in play?

    Now I must concede that readers of this book will not get unbiased information surrounding GMO crops but much of the circumstances surrounding the plot, for example countries that won’t accept GMO crops, are in fact reality. In addition, Smith doesn’t portray the work of environmentalists in a positive light -she chooses to portray the most left-wing of the bunch. This in and of itself wouldn’t be a problem for agriculture or the environmental movement, but while this is a work of fiction, many readers will take the plot to heart. On the flip side, using the extremes in both industries makes for a more tension-filled plot.

    On that note, and being a more educated reader regarding agriculture and the environmental movement than most, the book was a fast-paced thriller and I was entertained from beginning to end. If you can put your personal opions aside on these issues for a few hours, I promise you’ll be entertained.

    Uncategorized

    Optimizing Corn Yields Report from AGMasters

    Cindy Zimmerman

    Since the students did such a great job of blogging the AGMasters Conference, I am just going to re-post a few of their posts here, instead of doing it myself. See photos from the conference on the AGMasters Photo Album

    This one was written by Megan Ott and Jared Roskamp:

    Participants from this year’s AGMasters Conference had the privilege to gain insight on the efforts in genetics and agronomy efforts to increase corn yields. Greg Luce from Pioneer Hybrids provided coming news on improvements in corn production. With a growing population and growing demand of food production, farmers have to realize they need to produce more on what land we already have. This provides a great demand and challenge for producers in agriculture to increase our yields to feed the world.

    Luce stated “One of the most important things we can do as producers is to have the right products on the right acres to optimize our yields.” In order to raise optimum yields, producers are at the advantage of having the improved genetic selection for seed corn. With new technology developed including stress tolerant corn, higher populations can be planted as a result of this new development.

    With a competitive seed market as we have today, companies are developing diverse products in order to keep up with the growing demand in the agriculture industry. Such genetic diversity is there to select superior hybrids that exhibit drought tolerance, high nitrogen efficiency and even disease and insect resistance.

    Listen to or download the interview with Greg Luce below:

    Audio, Corn

    Student Bloggers Covering AGMasters Conference

    Cindy Zimmerman

    AgmastersI am working with a number of talented young student bloggers covering the AGMasters Conference at the University of Illinois and they are doing an awesome job of audio interviews and posting on the conference blog.

    The bloggers include Crop Science majors Ross Recker (pictured interviewing Emerson Nafzinger) and Jared Roskamp. They have both done great interviews, first time ever! Also working hard are Ag Comm majors Megan Ott and Alyssa Eade. And doing triple duty blogging, tweeting and working the conference is Crop Sci major Caitlin Allen.

    Please check out the conference blog and see the great work these young people are doing. They could be working for you someday (or you for them!)

    See photos from the conference here on the AGMasters Photo Album

    Listen to Ross’ interview with Dr. Nafzinger about the potential for 300 bushel corn here:

    Uncategorized