What I’ve Been Up To Lately…

Amanda Nolz

Diego It’s been a few weeks since I have had the chance to sit down and blog on AgWired. I can’t believe how crazy busy the summer got, and how quickly it is fading into fall. In the past two weeks, I was at the Minnesota and South Dakota State Fairs with cattle in tow, and it’s amazing how much time and effort goes into taking a few head of cattle to display at livestock expositions! Anyway, I thought I would share some of the highlights of the last couple of weeks, and now, it’s time to get back in the saddle and get down to the business of blogging!

While at the fairs, I took in cattle shows, Century Farm Awards, Beef Cookoffs, speech contests, town hall meetings, carnival food, concerts and more. In the upcoming weeks, I will share all of it with you. So, get ready for a fun recap of my state fair adventures. And, while we’re at it, why don’t you tell me some of your state fair stories? What have you been up to lately? What fairs did you attend, and what did you do while you were there? Can’t wait to hear all about it!

Uncategorized

Meals in the Field

Amanda Nolz

Print More than one-hundred Illinois farm families will be reminded to stay “Alert, Aware & Alive” as they enjoy a complimentary lunch meal delivered to where they are working during the September 20-26 National Farm Safety & Health Week. Farm Credit Services of Illinois is sponsoring the annual “Meals in the Field” program to help promote farm safety. Growing up with meals on wheels out in the field, I imagine that receiving meals while doing field work was a great hit amongst the participating farmers and ranchers!

The theme of the 2009 National Farm Safety & Health Week is “Rural Roadway Safety: Alert, Aware, & Alive.” From Monday through Friday, each of Farm Credit’s 20 branch offices selects at least one farm family to provide a lunch meal. The Farm Credit staff serves the lunch wherever the farmers are working that day – whether that is in the field, in the machine shed, or around the kitchen table.

MITF '09 B&W Agriculture continues to rank as one the most dangerous occupations and industries in North America and across the globe. Illinois farm-related deaths increased for the second consecutive year last year. Farm fatalities in the state numbered 33 from July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009 – up from the 29 deaths in 2007-2008. Roadway collisions were the second leading cause of death; tractor rollover is number one. Especially during the long harvest work days, farmers are reminded to take breaks and drink plenty of water to help them stay alert while operating machinery – both in the field and on the public roads.

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Novus Media Day Group

Chuck Zimmerman

Novus Media Day GroupHere is the happy group attending the Novus International Media Day. It includes Novus and media folks. We caught a helpful staffer walking by so we could all be in the photo.

The group is having a tour and dinner this evening at the Schlafly Brewery. We’ll gather again in the morning to learn about another focus of the company before heading out to their “Green Acres” research farm.

Novus International Media Day Photo Album

Novus International

Novus Building Builds Teamwork

Chuck Zimmerman

Don VondriskaOur tour guide for the Novus International headquarters building today was Don Vondriska, Director of Business Development , pictured on the left here speaking to attendees. As I’ve reported before when covering the facility grand opening, this is a LEED Platinum certified building and very unique. Don took us around and show how they’ve designed with the environment and employees in mind. Everything is open so you can see outside from just about anywhere. The staff leaders have the same size cubicles as everyone else. For those in labs downstairs, there are special pipes that bring sunlight into their work areas. Don says the design really helps with teamwork and collaboration. You’ll hear some chickens in the background because after the office/lab area we walked to an adjacent building where the company conducts some animal research on a small scale.

Don says they brought media in to help us better understand the diversity of products and science basis of the company. He sees future growth in a lot of different species and science based products that will include equine, companion animals and even humans.

Novus International Media Day Photo Album

You can listen to my interview with Don here:

Animal Health, Audio, Novus International

Novus Knows Pigs

Chuck Zimmerman

Felipe NavarroOne of the key targets for Novus International is the swine industry and to talk to us about it was Dr. Felipe Navarro. He started out asking each of us what our definition of “sustainable” is. He got a lot of different definitions. He has found that when talking about the subject it’s important to know how most of his audience defines it.

He says that the company is focusing on how to make producers more efficient. That’s a word you hear a lot here at Novus. Ways they can help a producer become more efficient will help their customers stay in business. Genetic improvements have made huge strides but now it’s very important to make sure they have good nutritional feed. He says they’re utilizing the strong scientific profile they have available in their research facilities to create solutions for their customers.

Novus International Media Day Photo Album

You can listen to my interview with Dr. Navarro here:

Animal Health, Audio, Novus International, Pork, Swine

Online During Novus Media Day

Chuck Zimmerman

AgWired at Novus InternationalThis photo is just to show you how important it is in today’s new media world to have electicity and internet access when you bring the media in for an event of any kind. Today I’ve been attending the Novus International Media Day which will conclude tomorrow.

As you can see, the ZimmComm big boy Macbook Pro is fired up and that’s how I’m able to post photos and interviews so quickly. Yes, I can edit one audio file while listening to the next presentation. Challenging? Yeah. But possible. So next time you plan your media day keep the new media in mind like Novus has done today!

Novus International Media Day Photo Album

Novus International

Biodiesel Alliance and Backers Supported by New Holland

Chuck Zimmerman

New Holland BiodieselNew Holland, one of the sponsors of our coverage of the Farm Progress Show was the first company of its kind to join The Biodiesel Alliance. To talk about it I spoke with Gene Hemphill, New Holland and Tom Verry, National Biodiesel Board. NBB was the founder of the Alliance.

The Biodiesel Alliance is a diverse coalition of organizations, agencies and businesses from across the nation who find common ground in their support for biodiesel fuel. Founded and managed by the National Biodiesel Board, the Biodiesel Alliance supports information sharing and opportunities to help advance the use of clean-burning, renewable biodiesel fuel that meets high industry standards. As a result, the Biodiesel Alliance is instrumental in helping others to recognize the benefits of biodiesel to human health, the environment, national energy security and the US economy.

Gene and New Holland have been big supporters of the biodiesel industry since the days when it was called soydiesel. The company has been innovative in warranting their tractors on blends of biodiesel fuel up to 100 percent. They’ve also encouraged their dealers to join the alliance and many, many people to join the Biodiesel Backers.

Tom says the number one issue facing the industry right now is the proposed RFS2 that EPA has put forth and for which they’re soliciting comments until later this month. The proposed regs require 1 billion gallons of biomass biodiesel by 2012. That should be accomplished mostly by biodiesel but EPA is penalizing biodiesel through its measurement of its carbon score from the controversial indirect land use issue. He says they’re failing to take into account things like increased efficiency and production of soybeans.

You can listen to my interview with Gene and Tom below:

Farm Progress Show Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the 2009 Farm Progress Show
is sponsored by: BASF and New Holland

Ag Groups, Audio, Biodiesel, Biofuels, Farm Progress Show, New Holland

Novus Increasing Animal Feed Efficiency

Chuck Zimmerman

Nasser OdetallahOur first main presentation at the Novus International media day was on poultry marketing and research by Dr. Nasser Odetallah, Global Product Manager Enzymes. He says the products he works on help improve feed utilization efficiency in poultry as well as swine and other animals including companion animals.

He really wanted to focus on the issue of efficiency and provided some interesting examples of how we have made major strides in feeding animals so that we produce much more food but with basically the same or less animals than just back in the 1950’s. In fact, we actually feed the animals less but they produce even more. This is critical he says when you look at the projection of how much food we need to produce to feed the world in the future and to eliminate hunger and starvation. A figure he provided was that there are 6 billion people in the world and 1 billion of them go to sleep hungry and that 1 billion are not in North America or Europe, the majority live in sub-Saharan Africa, China, India and other impoverished areas. He says Novus see the world as one and they’re working specifically to alleviate hunger in those areas.

He also stressed how important food safety as a result of the increased production with the use of their products is to Novus. He also makes a point how we all have a responsibility to make better use of our resources to contribute to developing a more sustainable world.

Novus International Media Day Photo Album

You can listen to my interview with Dr. Odetallah here:

Audio, Novus International, Poultry

The Sustainable Novus

Chuck Zimmerman

Scott FleetwoodJournalists attending the Novus International media day were greeted by Scott Fleetwod, Executive Director, Global Marketing and Products. I sat down with him right after his opening remarks to discuss what he hopes we accomplish here today and tomorrow.

To start with, Scott says they’ve divided the whole marketing division of the company to one that “faces the company” called the Product Group and one that “faces the customer” called the Marketing Group. The product group develops the products while the marketing group interfaces with the consumer.

He reminded us that the company was a spinoff from Monsanto back in the mid 80’s and has grown tremendously since then. Since many of their products are targeted to animal nutrition and health he says that he believes there will be recovery in the animal industry starting with beef and even in dairy within the coming year. The company also see great opportunities to improve animal food production in developing countries where the bulk of the hungry and starving people are today.

While we’re here we’ll get to tour this new company headquarters facility which was built with sustainability in mind. Sustainability is a key work here at Novus. We’ll probably use it a lot in our coverage of the event.

I have started a photo album from out event which you can find here: Novus International Media Day Photo Album

Listen to my interview with Scott here:

Agribusiness, Audio, Novus International

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Emily Winegar, 14, of Aubrey, Texas, took home her first AQHYA World Champion in Youth Reining. Winegar and Red Berry Wine owned by Green Valley Ranch earned the win with a score of 215.5.
  • Alltech was featured as one of eight green companies by Inc. magazine.
  • Syngenta is launching the new NK-1 Class Soybeans for the 2010 planting season.
  • Blake Martin, a 27-year-old row crop and dairy farmer from Kouts, Ind., has been awarded a free lease on a Versatile 375hp four-wheel drive tractor for his entry in the Versatile Simple & True Challenge.
  • The 2009 Abraham Lincoln National Agriculture Awards were presented Tuesday, Sept. 1, during the Farm Progress Show in Decatur, Ill. Click here for the full list of winners.
    Zimfo Bytes