Follow the Peanut Tour Blog

Cindy Zimmerman

ga peanut tourThe 23rd Annual Georgia Peanut Tour is being held this week to provide producers with the latest information on peanuts while giving a first-hand view of industry infrastructure from production and handling to processing and utilization.

But, for those who can’t be there – they can follow along on the Georgia Peanut Tour blog.

For the second year in a row, master blogger Joy Carter with the Georgia Peanut Commission will be blogging all the events starting with the Hot Topics Seminar on Tuesday with food safety experts discussing production practices, quality management, and outbreak investigations. The tour includes a cross section of field conditions in South Central Georgia, peanut harvest clinics, production research at the University of Georgia Tifton Campus, peanut handling and grading facilities as well as a focus on biofuels, equipment and implements, trailers and dryer, dome storage and handling, shelling and blanching.

Peanuts

Discussing Eminent Domain

Amanda Nolz

Tomorrow, I’m headed to the home of longtime friends Mike and Sue Sibson, cattle ranchers from western Miner County. They have asked me to come view their operation and help tell their story. The Sibsons were one of several South Dakota families to sign on to a lawsuit last year trying to prevent TransCanada from using eminent domain to seize easements from landowners along the proposed Keystone pipeline route.

A South Dakota political blog, Madville Times, did a feature on the Sibson’s struggles. Here is an excerpt…

MSdriverpipe The Sibsons refer to their land, now sliced in half by the Keystone Pipeline, as their “homestead” of 30-some years. “Homestead” is a powerful word. It recalls where our people came from: traveling across wild land, picking one spot out of a million possibilities, staking survival—financial and physical—on their best guess that this patch of land might produce a good crop. Our ancestors came in response to a simple promise from the government: build a house, grow crops, tough it out, and the land is yours.

The Sibsons thought the land they worked for was theirs. They chose a spot twelve miles out of town, built a home, paid the bills with corn, wheat, and cattle. By sweat and wits, they earned their farm. They figured it was theirs, plain and simple…until last year, when a foreign corporation said, “No, actually, we can claim your land anytime we want,” and the government to which the Sibsons pay their taxes replied, “Yup, sure can.”

“I’m one of the only guys who can say he had a 2000-mile pipeline shoved up his ***,” says Mike Sibson.

This got me to thinking about the big subject of eminent domain and how it has an impact on land owners. From your experiences, what’s your take? What are your thoughts? Do you know someone who has been touched by eminent domain? I will report back with the full story later on. Thanks for your thoughts…

politics

Atrazine Turns 50

Chuck Zimmerman

Syngenta At Farm Progress ShowAs many of you may know, Atrazine is celebrating its 50th birthday. To learn more about it and what it means I spoke to Chuck Foresman, Syngenta Manager, Weed Resistance Strategies and Sherry Duvall Ford, Syngenta, Head, External Communications. We were at the Farm Progress Show in the media tent.

Chuck says that the product helped farmers back in the late 50’s and sustains its usefulness today. It’s used on many acres and particularly those devoted to conservation tillage. He says over the years farmers have learned a lot about how to use it and continue to see great value in it. One thing he mentions that is interesting is that even when Syngenta came to the market with a new class of herbicide called Callisto they found that using them together they work better than separately. He says Atrazine is found in over 40 different mixes today to control weeds in corn.

I asked about concerns that people have about the safety of Atrazine and Sherry says it’s probably the most studied products on the market. She wants the public to know that drinking water is completely safe where Atrazine is concerned. They work very closely with EPA on this.

Chuck points out that a looming threat in the field is glyphosate resistance and Atrazine plays a role to control many of the weeds that glyphosate controls so the they work to sustain each other. You can find a lot more information on the Syngenta Atrazine website.

For 50 years, farmers around the world have relied on atrazine — one of the triazine family of herbicides — to fight weeds in corn, grain sorghum, sugar cane and other crops. And for good reason: it’s still one of the most effective, affordable and trusted products in agriculture today.

Syngenta believes in atrazine, its effectiveness, its safety, its importance to agriculture – in the U.S. and worldwide.

You can listen to my interview with Chuck and Sherry here:

Agribusiness, Audio, Corn, Farm Progress Show, Syngenta

Catch Me On The Road!

Amanda Nolz

amanda1 It’s looking like things are going to continue to stay busy for me in my first year as an agriculture writer and speaker. In addition to my work on the ranch, I have been traveling across the country speaking to various agriculture groups on hot topics such as the next generation of food producers, online social networking, agriculture advocacy and more. Here is a list of my upcoming events; I would love to catch up with you on the road, if our schedules allow. Let me know if you’re in the area! And, if you’re in need of a speaker for your next meeting or event, just give me a holler! Hope to meet some of you soon!

Sept. 16, 2009 – SDSU Beef Leadership Experience Opening Keynote, Brookings, SD; Address to SDSU animal science freshmen on the importance of getting involved. I will also be speaking to the Block and Bridle group that evening to expand upon the same topic.

Oct. 9-11, 2009 – 2010 National Beef Ambassador Contest, Fort Smith, AR; I will present the inspirational keynote to the ambassador contestants, as well as present a workshop to the CattleWomen on online social networking.

Nov. 21, 2009 – Agriculture Banquet, SD Department of Ag, Pierre, SD; keynote address, “What Happened to the Next Generation of Agriculturalists?”

Jan. 30-31, 2010 – North Dakota Farm Bureau Young Farmers and Ranchers Conference, Minot, ND.

Feb. 12-13 – Great Lakes Regional Dairy Conference, Frankenmuth, MI.

Advertising

MOSES Helping Organic Farmers

Chuck Zimmerman

Midwest Organic & Sustainable Education ServiceAt this year’s Farm Progress Show Eric Hatling, Development and Communications Coordinator for the MOSES, the Midwest Organic & Sustainable Education Service, visited with me about the organization. It sounds like their has continued to grow.

Eric says that since last year the organization continues to grow. He says they had almost 2,700 people attend their Annual Organic Farming Conference and Organic University. He says they exist to help farmers who want to grow organic become successful. The next annual conference is scheduled for Feb. 25-27 in Lacrosse, WI with over 60 workshops on all aspects of organic and sustainable farming.

You can listen to my interview with Eric here:

Ag Groups, Organic, Sustainability

Penn & Teller on Dr. Borlaug

Chuck Zimmerman

There is absolutely no way I can improve on what Penn & Teller say about Dr. Norman E. Borlaug. This video has been out for a while but I just saw it for the first time and I’m still laughing. Penn Jillette narrates this video and let’s just say he expresses my thoughts on Greenpeace wackos perfectly with the word, BS. It’s worth watching to the end and as far as I’m concerned it’s an awesome tribute to Dr. Borlaug. (Warning: there are a few choice words in the video that may not sit well on sensitive ears.)

I may not agree with them on other issues but this one is dead on the money.

Food, Video, Wackos

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • New perspectives on rural economic growth will be discussed at the Farm Foundation Forum on Tuesday, Sept. 15.
  • The National Corn Growers Association has added two new managers, Susan Powers and Cathryn Wojcicki Dixson, to fill vacant positions on its award-winning communications team as it works to promote the image of corn farmers and the importance of U.S. corn and corn products.
  • The public is invited to help dedicate Iowa State University’s BioCentury Research Farm on Sept. 22, 1:30 p.m. at the farm, which is located at 1327 U Avenue, about 5 miles east of Boone.
  • The Westchester Group is pleased to announce that Roderick (Rory) Robertson has joined the company as executive vice president. Rory will be establishing a new office in Fresno, Calif.
    Zimfo Bytes

    Dr. Norman E. Borlaug Passes Away

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Dr. Norman BorlaugNobel Peace Laureate, Dr. Norman Borlaug has passed away. You can find more information from The Borlaug Institute. He’s pictured with his Nobel Peace Prize.

    Norman E. Borlaug, the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize winner for developing high-yielding, disease-resistant wheat used to prevent famine in developing countries throughout the world died today in Dallas, Texas.

    Borlaug, whose career was dedicated to employing science to combat international hunger, was Distinguished Professor of International Agriculture in Texas A&M University’s Department of Soil and Crop Sciences. He was 95.

    In 2007, he accepted the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor of the United States. This capped a string of major awards and honors throughout his scientific and humanitarian career.

    “We all eat at least three times a day in privileged nations, and yet we take food for granted,” Borlaug said in recent interview. “There has been great progress, and food is more equitably distributed. But hunger is a commonplace, and famine appears all too often.” Even at age 95, Borlaug still traveled internationally working tirelessly for improvements in agricultural science and food policy. He regularly could be found in his office on campus in College Station advising students and providing counsel to fellow faculty members on research and scholarship.

    Memories and thoughts celebrating the life of Dr. Borlaug can be submitted by clicking here. *This website is external to Texas A&M but is moderated by the Borlaug Institute.

    The family has requested that in lieu of flowers, memorials be made to:

    Borlaug International Scholars Fund
    401 George Bush Drive
    College Station, TX 77840

    This fund is for land-grant university degree training of future leaders in agriculture and food security from developing countries. This fund will be administered by the Texas A&M Foundation, a non-profit organization.

    Education

    NAFB To Study Farmer Internet Usage

    Chuck Zimmerman

    National Association of Farm BroadcastingYou know how much farmers like to be studied don’t you? Yeah. You’ve got that right. Well now the National Association of Farm Broadcasting is conducting a new survey of how farmers use the internet and what types of information they get from it and how. Most recently we saw results of a similar study by Nicholson Kovac and of course there’s lots of data in the USDA NASS survey. And if you contact your Successful Farming representative they’ll share data from their study that was available earlier this year.

    More information is always better and with a lot of information circulating about how marketers are moving their budgets online, this should be good information for ag media planners to have. I do hope questions are asked about social networking mechanisms like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc. We know from other studies that farmers are reading blogs and listening to podcasts while even producing their own. The social networking phenomenon is taking place in ag and I have no doubts we’ll see that verified by this new study.

    NAFB is initiating its third major national research study in four years, with the Internet Ag Information Usage Study commissioned with Ag Media Research, Sioux Falls, S.D.

    Building on the National Producer Media-Use Wave Study of 2008, the new project is asking large farmers and ranchers about their Internet access practices and preferences for agribusiness information, including use of the mobile Web. The survey, to query 1,200 national producers, also asks about the relative value of different types of agribusiness information as delivered via the Web.

    Media veteran Ted Haller has consulted on the project, including seeking input toward the questionnaire from leading industry marketers and agencies. With most industry research closely held or proprietary, NAFB again will make public the outcomes of this new survey.

    Results are to be introduced during the November Annual Convention, Nov. 11-13 in Kansas City.

    Internet, NAFB

    Farm Podcaster Tool From Apple

    Chuck Zimmerman

    iPod Nano VideoThe iPod Nano just became a farm podcaster tool. Now you can not only record audio with a built in microphone but video as well. It also has a built in speaker so you can listen to your recording right away.

    If you still listen to terrestrial radio the new Nano now does FM.

    Say you need to take a quick break from listening to your favorite radio station. iPod nano lets you pause it with a click. Another click and you’re listening to your station again. You can even rewind as far back as 15 minutes, then fast-forward to catch up to the live broadcast.

    Equipment