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

    BASF Hosts Farm Futures Talk at Farm Progress

    Cindy Zimmerman

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

    BASF at Farm Progress Show Photo Album

    Arlen Suderman at BASF Tent Farm Progress 2009New dynamics are shaping the future for agriculture and farmers need to be watching the markets more closely than ever before to keep ahead of the game, according to market analyst Arlen Suderman with Farm Futures.

    “There’s a lot of money flow factors that drive the money, that tie what happens in grains to the bond market, the energy market, the value of the dollar,” Arlen said during a talk at the BASF tent during the 2009 Farm Progress Show. “That creates a lot of uncertainty, but there’s also reasons why it happens on a day to day basis.”

    Arlen talked about factors like crude oil, corn and soybean stocks, export demand and much more. “Part of the real key over the next six months is when do we get that first frost, that will be a major driver in the soybean market with demand being so strong and that will set the tone for corn and wheat as well,” Arlen said.

    Listen to or download a brief interview I did with Arlen right after his presentation:

    Audio, BASF, Corn, Farm Progress Show, Markets, New Holland, Soybean

    Agriculture on the eTeam

    Cindy Zimmerman

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

    Farm Progress Show Photo Album

    Growth Energy at Farm Progress 2009The ethanol organization Growth Energy had a strong presence at the 2009 Farm Progress show, stressing the strong ties the renewable fuel has to agriculture and rural America. “If you want to revitalize rural America, the production of renewable fuels and energy is the greatest economic opportunity that’s come along in my lifetime,” CEO Tom Buis told me in an interview. Tom’s lifetime in agriculture began as a grain and livestock farmer in Indiana, then moved to Washington DC as an agricultural advisor to members of Congress, and as president of the National Farmers Union prior to taking his current position earlier this year.

    Growth Energy was encouraging farmers to sign up for a chance to win a new, flex-fuel Ford F150 at the Farm Progress show – and urging them to join the eTeam, which CEO Tom Buis says is an important way farmers can play a role in getting the word out about the benefits of ethanol. “The eTeam is a way that everybody can get involved at whatever level to help do that, because it’s going to take a team effort,” Tom said.

    Tom Buis at Farm ProgressGrowth Energy also introduced a new initiative at Farm Progress called labelmyfuel.com, which we reported on live from the show as it happened. Organization co-chairman retired Gen. Wesley Clark says the concept of country of origin labeling for fuel makes sense from a national security perspective so people know where they are sending their money. “But beyond the national security argument, I think there is a strong case to be made for America’s own domestic liquid fuel, which is ethanol,” Clark said. “There’s no doubt that if people could see it at the pump, day after day, and choose if they want their money to go overseas or stay right here and bring prosperity at home and help America’s communities and farmers – it will stay right here.”

    Listen to back-to-back interviews with Buis and Clark here:

    Audio, BASF, Ethanol, Farm Progress Show, New Holland

    Novus Showcases Sustainable Culture, Global Vision

    Chuck Zimmerman

    NovusIt’s time to get back to work tomorrow and that will be from the Novus International Media Day, “Sustainable Culture, Global Vision.” During the next two days we’re going to get to learn a lot more about this company through presentations from each division and touring their new headquarters and their research farm.

    So you can expect tweets and posts and you know where to find them if you’re not already subscribing on your computer or phone.

    Agribusiness, Novus International

    USDA Rural Development at Farm Progress Show

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Colleen CallahanOne of the press conferences at Farm Progress Show featured USDA Rural Development. To start it out we heard from Colleen Callahan, Illinois State Director for Rural Development. The former farm broadcaster was very comfortable in the media tent on the other side of the podium! She introduced new USDA Rural Development Under Secretary, Dallas Tonsager.

    Dallas TomsagerTonsager used the opportunity to talk about new grants and loans especially in the area of energy and water systems. He says they should be awarding funds for broadband projects soon as well.

    Tonsager announced new energy grants and loans across the country totaling more than $13 million. He also announced a large grant and loan totaling $716,000 to South Lawrence Water Corporation as provided under the consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance and continuing Appropriations Act of 2009.

    You can listen to the press conference remarks below:

    Farm Progress Show Photo Album

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

    Audio, Farm Progress Show, USDA

    Grains Council Starts Council Cast Podcast

    Chuck Zimmerman

    USGC Council CastAdd another farm podcast to your list. The U. S. Grains Council has introduced Council Cast.

    A team of Egyptian nutritionists traveled to the United States this week for a short course at the International Grains Program at Kansas State University, designed to educate the participants on the inclusion of U.S. sorghum in feed rations. Chris Corry, U.S. Grains Council senior director of international operations, gives an overview of U.S. sorghum, the Council’s success with sorghum initiatives around the world, and its first-ever introduction to the Egyptian market. Mike Deering, USGC director of communications, spoke with Corry about this initiative funded by Council member United Sorghum Checkoff Program.

    You can listen to the program with this link. Now doesn’t that Mike Deering have a “radio” voice?

    Ag Groups, Audio, Podcasts, USGC

    AgWired Mobile Browser Version Now Live

    Chuck Zimmerman

    The mobile browser version of AgWired is now live. This means that if you open AgWired.com on your mobile phone you’ll get a very simple version of the website automatically. You can see what it looks like on an iPhone below and I’ve also tested it on a Blackberry. There’s no special “mobile version url” that you need to know either. Many companies have built special “phone friendly” versions of their websites but they usually require you to know a different url and they don’t necessarily offer as much functionality as this.

    It functions much like a feed reader if you’re familiar with them (and I hope you are). You’ll see a list of all the posts and pages on the AgWired homepage. It will show you their title and link to them. When you go to a post you’ll see the title, the text and the photos we have posted and the comment form if you’d like to post a comment. At the bottom of the page if you scroll down is a link to take you to your phone’s “regular” version of the website. This is handy on an iPhone which has a full fledged browser if you’d like to see the page in normal view. You can click back and forth easily.

    So, AgWired now loads fast on your phone and is very easy to read and use! It’s one more reason you might want to subscribe to Agwired Mobile, our text message service that delivers you a text message each time we do a post on AgWired (except during 8pm-8am central time). Visitors to the phone browser will be getting there from AgWired Mobile, our Twitter feed if they have a Twitter app on their phone, from their phone’s rss reader and by going to the site directly. I think we’ll have a lot of folks visiting and seeing the mobile version. Interested in sponsoring it? Contact Chuck Zimmerman now.

    We’ll be implementing this mobile browser version on energy.agwired.com, PrecisionPays.com and WorldDairyDiary.com by tomorrow as well.

    AgWired Mobile Version

    ZimmComm Announcement

    Farm Progress Show Photo Frenzy

    Cindy Zimmerman

    FPS 09There are acres of photos available on line in our Flickr photo albums from Farm Progress Show 2009. The ZimmComm media team of Carly, Chuck and myself took hundreds of photos around the show and picked the best for the albums. We have 433 in the regular show album so far (Chuck still needs to load a few more) and another 129 in the BASF photo album. Feel free to download and use any photos you would like – or any of the audio we have loaded on the site – no charge!

    FPS 09 New HollandIt was a busy three days and both the weather and attendance must have been record setting. This was my first show, but from what I understand, there has probably never been a show in history that had the kind of picture perfect weather we had all three days. It’s always either cold and rainy, dry and windy, or ridiculously hot. You just can’t complain about three days of blue skies, moderate temperatures and cool breezes!

    FPS 09 BASFWe still have LOTS more posts to do from the show, so we will be working on that over the long holiday weekend as Chuck and I celebrate our anniversary with a weekend at Lake of the Ozarks! We sincerely thank our sponsors BASF and New Holland for bringing you our coverage here on Agwired and AgLeader Technology on Precision Pays.

    Farm Progress Show Photo Album

    BASF at Farm Progress Show photo album

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

    BASF, Farm Progress Show, New Holland

    Farm Progress Show Drive Through

    Chuck Zimmerman

    While I was driving my golf cart through the Farm Progress Show yesterday I shot a short video clip so you can see what the crowd was like. You can also get a sense of how nice the weather was and is again today.

    Farm Progress Show Photo Album

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

    Farm Progress Show, Video