United Soybean Board Answering Grower Questions

Chuck Zimmerman

usb-expert-screenHow will the wet fall impact this year’s prices? How can I use social media to promote my farm? What are our competitors in Brazil doing right now? These are all questions you’ll find answered on the United Soybean Board’s Expert Advice Column. It’s part of the newly designed website and we’ve been featuring interviews with the experts who are writing the columns.

USB would like you to take a minute to register on the website and take advantage of all the information they have for growers including, seed selection tips, pest and disease diagnostic guides, a sustainability calculator and a directory with just about every new soy-based product your soybean checkoff has helped develop. You can customize the page too. Here’s how to register:

* Visit www.unitedsoybean.org, then click on login/register, located on the upper-left corner of the home page, to fill out your information fields.
* Congrats! Now you are ready to begin customizing your individual home page.
* Now, just click on add content in the upper-left corner. This will display your customization options.
* Add the modules that meet the needs of your operation, including localized weather, livestock and additional crop information.
* Click the X at the top of an individual module to remove it from your home page.
* To edit the module content, just click the diagonal pencil icon.
* Click the minus sign to minimize a module.

Visit www.unitedsoybean.org today and come back often for time saving updates that can help increase your profitability.

We’d like to thank the United Soybean Board for their support of the AgWired community!

Ag Groups, Soybean, USB

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

    Farmland Investment With Chicago Farmers

    Chuck Zimmerman

    ZimmCast 242With winter fast approaching it’s time to make your farm meeting plans. Make one of them the Chicago Farmers Farmland Investment Fair, February 6, 2010. I’ll be one of their seminar presenters with the topic of social media.

    chic-farmers-fair-10To learn more about Chicago Farmers and their annual program I spoke with the Chairman of the upcoming event, Jeff Martin, an Illinois “downstate” farmer. Jeff was in his combine working to get the last of his corn crop in before Christmas. I hope he makes it!

    Jeff says the Farmland Investment Fair was started back in the early ’80s when interest rates were high and with the idea of bringing investors together with farmers who had land to sell. He says the event still has that same basic purpose and has expanded to include other educational topics. There will be nearly 60 exhibitors and 15 different seminars on the program including:

    • Farmland Values
    • Traits of a Successful Farm
    • Managing Machinery Costs
    • International Investment
    • Farm Land Leasing
    • Biomass for Energy
    • Income from Small Farms
    • Rural Development
    • Social Media
    • Wind Farms
    • Acre Program FSA
    • 1031 Exchanges
    • Organic Farming
    • Climate Change

    To register as an attendee – visit www.chicagofarmers.org or call (312) 388-FARM. Direct questions to The Chicago Farmers Administrator’s office at (312) 388-3276 or you may speak to the Fair Chairperson, Jeff Martin, at (217) 792-3934.

    Thanks to AgWired Sponsor, Fluidigm, for their support of the ZimmCast.

    You can listen to this week’s ZimmCast below.

    The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired. Subscribe so you can listen when and where you want. Just go to our a Subscribe page.

    Ag Groups, Audio, Farming, ZimmCast

    Vote In Alpharma Student Video Contest

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Alpharma Student Video ContestIf you haven’t voted for your favorite video in the Alpharma, Reach Teach Learn Student Video Contest, now’s the time. Voting began on Monday, November 30 and goes through December 28, 2009.

    Earlier this fall ag students from across the country submitted short video clips depicting anything related to agriculture and food production. Students received a $25 gift card for each video accepted, up to 10. Students submitted more than 140 clips to the contest Web site. In the second phase of the contest, students used these clips, along with their own footage and media, to compile a video conveying the role of modern agriculture in American society.

    Video titles and submitting universities are as follows:
    • Perennial Wheat – Michigan State University
    • Naked and Hungry – University of Missouri
    • A Call to Farm – University of Florida
    • Agriculture: Who Cares? – Oklahoma State University
    • Corn and Its Many Lives – University of Wisconsin-River Falls
    • Agriculture is Our Soul – Sam Houston State University
    • The AgriQuiz – Ohio Northern University

    The video with the combination of the most votes and judges score will receive $5,000, with second and third place receiving $2,000 and $1,000 prizes, respectively. The winning videos will also be posted on YouTube and other social networking sites where visitors will be able to see the video and have a better understanding of how food is produced, as well as the care that is given to farm animals.

    Agribusiness

    Ag Council Ag Day Essay Contest

    Chuck Zimmerman

    ag-council-americaIt’s time once again for the Agriculture Council of America’s Ag Day essay contest. The contest is open to seventh- to 12th-grade students who are asked to submit an original, 450-word essay about the importance of agriculture. This year’s theme is “American Agriculture: Abundant, Affordable, Amazing,” and the deadline is Feb. 12. Teachers and parents are asked to encourage their students to participate.

    This year, the theme highlights the importance of agriculture and how the industry continues to overcome new challenges. These include keeping food affordable, meeting the demands of a growing population with fewer acres, working with legislative influences and addressing consumer concerns. Students may choose to specifically address one or more of these challenges in their essay. Agriculture has a touch point in each of our lives and is an amazing industry.

    This year’s national winner will receive a $1,000 prize and round-trip ticket to Washington, D.C., to be recognized during the Celebration of Ag Dinner held March 18 at Whitten Patio. At dinner, the winner will have the opportunity to join with industry representatives, members of Congress, federal agency representatives, media and other friends in a celebration of agriculture. Statewide winners of the contest also will be selected. Each state winner will receive a $100 prize.

    The entry form and information may be found online here.

    Ag Groups

    Holiday Greetings

    Chuck Zimmerman

    AEM Holiday GreetingIt’s Holiday Greeting time and the wishes are rolling in. Here’s the Association of Equipment Manufacturers saying Happy Holidays. I’m looking forward to spending a lot of time with them in January at their AG CONNECT Expo of which we’re a supporting organization.

    Do you have a holiday greeting card you’d like to share with AgWired fans? If so, please send them to me and I’ll do my best to feature them here over the next few weeks. Please don’t hesitate to send if it mentions Christmas too. I and everyone I know are okay with that. After all, it’s the reason for the season.

    AEM

    BIVI Vetera Protecting The Horse

    Chuck Zimmerman

    The equine group at Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica has produced a short video to help promote it’s new Vetera virus protection.

    Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc. (BIVI), announces the introduction of its Vetera™ West Nile virus family of vaccines, the only vaccines containing the North American Equine E159™ 2005 horse isolate representative of the virus that is most likely to infect horses today. The Vetera family of vaccines includes protection against West Nile virus; Eastern, Western and Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis; and tetanus, in a variety of combinations.

    Agribusiness, Boehringer Ingelheim, Horses, Wackos

    Zimfo Bytes

    Melissa Sandfort

      Zimfo Bytes

    • Pour-on dewormers commonly used by beef producers simply are not working like they used to, according to new research data from the USDA National Animal Health Monitoring System Beef 2007-08 cow-calf survey.
    • Bayer CropScience announced that it will launch a revolutionary new biocontrol seed treatment in corn, soybeans and cotton for the 2011 season.
    • San Diego-based biotech firm Cibus Global and Canada’s BrettYoung announced an agreement that will bring new, non-GMO canola traits to North America.
    • BASF announced that it has launched a special section of its Web site dedicated solely to offering in-depth information on seed protection for seed industry professionals.
      Zimfo Bytes

      Filament Marketing Shops For Tots

      Chuck Zimmerman

      shop-for-totsFilament Marketing went shopping for some toys and found them.

      In an effort to support the local community and share some holiday cheer, Filament Marketing, LLC hosted an afternoon of toy shopping, which raised more than $1,700 worth of toys which were then donated to the U.S. Marine Toys for Tots Foundation.

      Following the afternoon of toy shopping, participants gathered for a “show-and-tell” reception at a local restaurant before loading the toys up for drop-off at the Madison U.S. Marine Corps Reserve base. Companies represented in the effort included Bovance, Heartland Country Cooperative, Distillery Design Studio, Family Dairies, Horse Shoe Hill Brown Swiss, NMC, SprintPrint, Sunshine Genetics, Trans Ova Genetics, Vance Publishing and the Wisconsin Farm Report, in addition to Filament Marketing.

      “This was a fun way to share the holiday spirit,” says Ed Peck, president of Filament Marketing. “We thought this was the perfect year to start this tradition, given the challenging economy. We are proud to represent the passion and commitment agriculture has to all members of our society – especially those in need. We hope to continue and grow this effort each year, going forward.”

      Agencies

      IFAJ Star Photo Contest

      Chuck Zimmerman

      ifaj-2010-star-photoIt’s time to look into your photo archives and see if you’ve got a competition shot you’d like to enter into the 2010 International Federation of Agricultural Journalists Star Photo Contest.

      Special categories and great prizes for:

      best portrait
      best landscape or nature photo
      best production photo

      PLEASE NOTE EARLY DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 1, 2010

      For more information visit www.ifaj.org or contact coordinator Charl Van Rooyen at cvanrooy@landbou.com

      Sponsored by DeLaval

      IFAJ