Producers Talk About New Ag Community

Chuck Zimmerman

Daphne HoltermanIt’s one thing to say there’s a new ag community. It’s another thing to live in it as a farmer. At the NAMA Trends in Agriculture conference a panel of producers addressed this subject. The panel included a row crop farmer from Texas, a dairy producer from Wisconsin and the California Association of Winegrape Growers.

Their task was to share specific examples of how success and growth today require more than good agronomic practices. A lot of the discussion focused on the growing anti agricultural forces that are reaching consumers with messages that are not based on good science and often meant to obtain a political agenda. They all agreed that new technology offers communications channels that can help farmers tell their story.

I spoke with one of the panelists, Daphne Holterman, Rosy-Lane Holsteins, after the session. She says that they all realize that they can’t just be “a farm in our little neighborhood or rural communities anymore but we have to be a big player in a bigger pond.” She says it’s important to talk out about being the true environmentalists. The digital age is making this more necessary than ever.

You can listen to my interview with Daphne below.

Combined NAMA Trends In Ag/NAFB Convention Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the NAMA Trends In Agriculture Conference is sponsored by Paulsen Marketing.

Audio, Dairy, NAMA

BASF Headline Harvest Report – North Missouri

Cindy Zimmerman

Missouri farmers made some significant harvest progress last week, especially with soybeans. According to USDA, Missouri’s corn harvest increased 13 percent last week to 62 percent complete and farmers harvested 31 percent of the soybeans in the state last week, up to 64 percent complete as of Sunday.

headline harvest soybeansWe saw some of that progress being made in the state last week on our BASF Headline Harvest Report visits. Terry Smith in Chillicothe, Missouri was just about finished with his soybean harvest when Chuck visited with him on Wednesday last week. “We’ve been slow off and on because of the weather, but the early beans we got out helped a lot. They were ready early and the weather was better.”

This is the first year Terry has used Headline fungicide on his beans and he saw a nine bushel yield bump. “The plants were healthy, they grew a little taller. When they yield nine more bushels, that’s significant,” he said.

Here is a YouTube video of Chuck’s interview with Terry and some shots of him harvesting beans.

BASF, Farming, Video

Expert Advice From United Soybean Board

Chuck Zimmerman

USB Expert AdviceWelcome new AgWired sponsor, United Soybean Board. Over the coming weeks we’re going to learn more about their Expert Advice website module. You should check it out. The website contains a commenting section so please feel free to post your feedback and questions.

“Expert Advice” is a new addition to the official soybean checkoff Web site, that provides farmers with the answers they need from the experts who know. Readers can register on unitedsoybean.org to ask questions, offer perspectives and engage with experts and other farmers. Registration is quick and simple – taking a minute to register can save farmers hours searching on the web.

Four columnists contribute to the Expert Advice Column:

  • David Asbridge – “Market Production Analysis & Market Outlooks”
  • Michele Payn-Knoper – “Giving a Voice to Agriculture through Social Media”
  • Pablo Adreani – “South American Soybean Industry and its Impact on the World Market”
  • John Baize –“Soybean and Oilseed Industry Issues”

I’ll be featuring interviews with the experts and we’ll learn about what advice they have here during this harvest season.

Soybean, USB

Multiblogging at NAMA

Chuck Zimmerman

AgriBlogger as NAMA Blogger - Thanks John WalterThanks to John Walter, Successful Farming, you can see the @AgriBlogger in action, doubling as the NAMA Blogger.

Yes I can multitask. In fact, during the opening keynote presentation here I was also moderating today’s FuelChat session for the Renewable Fuels Association. I think I was only having to post via about 10 different social media channels. Piece of cake.


Combined NAMA Trends In Ag/NAFB Convention Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the NAMA Trends In Agriculture Conference sponsored by Paulsen Marketing.

NAMA

The New Ag Community

Chuck Zimmerman

Dave KohlOur opening keynote speaker at the NAMA Trends In Agriculture conference is David Kohl, Professor Emeritus, Agricultural Finanace and Small Business Management, Virginia Tech and President, AgriVisions, LLC. His topic is “Defining the New Ag Community.”

David set up his session with a number of facts and figures including the fact that 70% of North American farm ground will change hands by 2025 and that women and minorities will become major decision makers. Then since we’re all agrimarketers he started talking about the move to the digital world. He asked participants how many were involved in social networking and podcasting. Only a couple of hands were raised for podcasting. I think he was surprised by that. Yeah. Let’s go agrimarketers. Get your podcast on!

He offered the 10 C’s of going digital which include: Commitment, Collaboration, Consumers, Customers, Community, Connecting, Competition, Control, Communication and Cost & Capital Return. He offered a parting thought that “success in social media/digital is balance of high tech and high touch.”

I’ll be posting a video interview with David that’s being produced by Paulsen Marketing. I’d like to thank them for sponsoring AgWired coverage of this year’s NAMA Trends In Agriculture Conference once again.

You can listen to my interview with David below.

Combined NAMA Trends In Ag/NAFB Convention Photo Album

Audio, NAMA

NAMA Reaching Out To Members

Chuck Zimmerman

NAMA Board Mtg.The NAMA Trends In Agriculture Conference is underway in KC, MO at the Hyatt. The first order of business was the board meeting. You can see NAMA President-Elect Susie Decker, Farm Progress Companies, leading the group. I got there just as they were wrapping things up.

I actually interviewed Susie with my new SONY PCM-M10 but had a “whoops” and it didn’t record. So I caught board member Beth Burgy, Broadhead+Co, in the hallway and got it right.

Beth and Susie said that the board will be surveying members to find out what other professional organizations they belong to and what their preferred methods of communication are including Twitter, Facebook, etc. The idea is to find new ways to engage members “where they are.” It’s an initiative that will be playing out in the coming year.

You can listen to my interview with Beth below.

Combined NAMA Trends In Ag/NAFB Convention Photo Album

Audio, NAMA

Corn Down and Soybeans Up in New Crop Report

Cindy Zimmerman

USDA lowered its forecast for 2009 corn production and yields in the latest report out today, but increased the soybean estimate.

corn harvestCorn production is forecast at 12.9 billion bushels, down 1 percent from last month but 7 percent higher than 2008. Based on conditions as of November 1, yields are expected to average 162.9 bushels per acre, down 1.3 bushels from October but 9.0 bushels above last year. Despite the drop in yield from October, this yield will be the highest on record if realized. Total production will be second highest on record, only behind 2007. Within the Corn Belt, forecasted yields in Minnesota and Wisconsin increased, while Illinois, Iowa, and Michigan yields decreased.

Soybean production is forecast at a record high 3.32 billion bushels, up 2 percent from the October forecast and up 12 percent from last year. Based on November 1 conditions, yields are expected to average 43.3 bushels per acre, up 0.9 bushel from last month and up 3.6 bushels from 2008. If realized, this will be the highest U.S. yield on record.

The corn harvest continues to lag far behind normal. According to USDA, just 37 percent of the corn had been combined as of Sunday, compared to 82 percent average. Soybeans are doing better with 75 percent harvest compared to 92 percent average.

Analyst Brian Hoops with Midwest Market Solutions told reporters on the Minneapolis Grain Exchange crop call that many farmers are talking about leaving their corn in the field. “There’s a lot of producers in the northern part of the corn belt, North Dakota in particular, that are likely to leave the crop sit throughout the winter because of the concerns about dry down and the cost of drying the corn down manually.”

Farming, USDA

National Pork Board Responds to Jonathan Safran Foer

Amanda Nolz

13-books-eating-animals Last week, I was watching the Ellen DeGeneres Show because I knew she would be interviewing Jonathan Safran Foer, the author of “Eating Animals,” a gruesome attack against animal agriculture and a strong testimony for a vegan lifestyle. Recently, the National Pork Board responded to Foer’s statements, especially when he falsely linked H1N1 to a hog farm in North Carolina. Read on to learn more about this ongoing debate. To read the entire article and watch the video, link to the New York Times.

“This swine flu that’s now an epidemic, they’ve been able to trace it back to a farm in North Carolina,” he said. “A hog farm. Nobody knows this. Nobody talks about it. We’ve been told this lie that it came from Mexico.”

But Liz Wagstrom, a staff veterinarian at the National Pork Board, said the claim that the novel 2009 H1N1 virus originally came from swine farms in North Carolina is “patently false.” Researchers at that time did find an H3N2 flu virus in pigs there, she said, but it had a different genetic architecture than the current H1N1 pandemic virus circulating around the world. And those trying to link the H1N1 to factory farming “are using a scare tactic to try to cast a negative light on modern pork production,” Ms. Wagstrom said.

Pork, Research, Swine

“Environmentally Friendly” Food Myths Debunked

Amanda Nolz

Harvest-Pasture Head into a grocery store these days and consumers are offered aisles upon aisles of food choices. It’s been said that annually, food producers raise enough food to feed 144 people. With this efficiency, consumers can enjoy their favorite foods in abundance. As a result of our food surplus, new food options have become available, and as a result, conventional agriculture is under attack in favor of natural, organic and locally grown options. While I think it’s great and noble that consumers are trying to do better for themselves and the environment, I believe sometimes these food claims can be misleading. Apparently, others agree with me, as well.

In a recent meeting, Jude Capper, Ph.D., assistant professor of dairy sciences at Washington State University, told his audience of animal nutrition specialists that, “as a food industry, we must use a whole-system approach and assess environmental impact per gallon of milk, pound of beef or dozen eggs, not per farm or per acre.” Read on to learn more about his views on 1940’s agriculture verses today’s advanced food production.

As consumers increasingly aim to make environmentally responsible food purchases, they need to base their decision on sound science. However, according to a presenter at the 71st Cornell Nutrition Conference held in Syracuse, N.Y., the ‘intuitively correct’ food choice is often the least environmentally friendly option.

“Consumer demand for milk, meat and eggs is going to increase as the population continues to grow,” Capper says. “Therefore, the vital role of improved productivity and efficiency in reducing environmental impact must be conveyed to government, food retailers and consumers.”

Agribusiness, Technology

One Pass Biomass From AGCO

Chuck Zimmerman

AGCO Biomass One PassAGCO is one of the companies working on a prototype biomass harvest/transport system. At POET’s Project LIBERTY Field Day they demonstrated a pulled behind baler system to harvest corn cobs and stover.

Dean Morrell, Product Marketing Manager for Hay and Forage Harvesting, was on site and talked with me about their system. He says it’s a one pass system which utilizes combine technology and durable large square baler technology. He says the material doesn’t touch the ground and makes for a very clean bale product. They had to do some major customization on the equipment and they have two units out working in the field as part of the development process.

You can listen to my interview with Dean below.

POET Project LIBERTY Field Day Photo Album

Audio, Biofuels, Corn, Equipment, Ethanol, Technology