Corn Growers Giving Away a Wii

Chuck Zimmerman

Chuck interviews Tricia Braid-TerryCorn growers nationwide are represented here at the Farm Progress Show by the Illinois Corn Growers Association. New ICGA representative Tricia Braid-Terry, former farm broadcaster, spoke with me today during our AgChat tweetup about all the things they’re doing in their tent.

To start with you can participate in a contest to Win a Wii. Lean more about that on their website. Tricia says they’re really focusing a lot of their information on carbon footprinting. In fact, you can follow some very large black footprints around their tent! They’re easy to find with 30+ foot high corn stalks and an E85 blimp hovering over the tent. They also help attendees with submitting comments to EPA about the RFS2.

She says that the National Corn Growers Association and Indiana Corn Growers are also participating in the exhibit. Indiana has their mobile biofuels unit on display.

You can listen to my interview with Tricia below:

Farm Progress Show Photo Album

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

Audio, Corn, Farm Progress Show

AgChat Tweetup at Farm Progress Show

Chuck Zimmerman

AgChat Tweetup at Farm Progress ShowHey AgChat fans. We had a tweetup today in the Country Financial tent this afternoon and many of us who have only communicated via Twitter got to meet face to face for the first time. Here’s most of our group.

What is AgChat? Learn more by visiting AgChat or looking back through post via Twitter Search.

AgChat was started by Michele Payn-Knoper, Cause Matters. I finally got to meet her and we discussed why she started the Twitter conversation about agriculture and what she believes it is accomplishing.

You can listen to my interview with Michele below:

AgChat at Farm Progress ShowThis evening AgChat was moderated live from our hotel, Decatur Conference Center, and a number of AgChatters showed up in a room where we had good internet access.

The topic was biofuels. Responses to questions show there is still a lot of misunderstanding about the production of fuels like ethanol and biodiesel and the truth about tax credits vs. subsidies and more.

Farm Progress Show Photo Album

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

Farm Progress Show

BASF at FPS09

Cindy Zimmerman

BASF Mike Hofer at FPS09BASF was hoping that Farm Progress Show 2009 would be the big kick off for Kixor, but registration by EPA remains “imminent.”

BASF Kixor fanStill, Kixor is the new star of the BASF exhibit at the FPS09, complementing the company’s powerhorse fungicide Headline. Kixor product manager Mike Hofer says they are getting to really talk with growers in the Midwest to show them the new class of chemistry to control broadleaf weeds in a wide range of crops. “Of local interest has been mare’s tail,” Mike says. “The family of products powered by Kixor is very effective from a burndown perspective on mare’s tail.”

Mike says they do expect registration for Kixor in the United States this month – really, any day now – but it has already been approved in Argentina and Chile and the first product was sold last week in Argentina. Growers at the Farm Progress show are able to listen to experts talk about the efficacy of Kixor-powered products, which include Integrity for corn, Optill for soybeans and Sharpen for a wide range of crops, as well as Treevix for fruit and nut crops. They can also see the results of the product on plot tours at the show.

See photos of BASF at Farm Progress Show here on Flickr.

Listen to or download an interview with Mike here:

Audio, BASF, Farm Progress Show

AgWired Live TV From Farm Progress Show

Chuck Zimmerman

Growth EnergyZimmComm New Media is live and on location at the Farm Progress Show. We’ll have a live feed up a lot of the time. We’re mainly focusing on the press conferences when we can.

Right now we’re apparently overloading the internet access system here so I’ve shut down our live feed at least for a while. In the meantime enjoy our photos. We have a Farm Progress Show Photo Album started and will be adding to it periodically during the show.

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

Farm Progress Show

Growth Energy Calls For COOL For FUEL

Chuck Zimmerman

General Wesley ClarkGen. Wesley Clark, Growth Energy, made a major announcement this morning at the Farm Progress Show. The organization is calling for country of origin labeling for fuel. I would call that the “COOL for fuel” initiative! Hey, we do it with food, why not fuel?

General Wesley Clark, Co-Chairman of Growth Energy, today called on the United States Congress and the White House to take action to dramatically enhance the market transparency of the nation’s fuel supply by requiring a national standard of country of origin labeling (COOL) for fuel.

The Label My Fuel initiative would create a COOL standard similar to requirements already in place for common consumer items, including apples, beef, cars and coffee. The goal is to help create consumer awareness of the costs and national security implications of the nation’s addiction to foreign oil.

Clark also unveiled Growth Energy’s labelmyfuel.com, which showcases the costs of American dependence on foreign oil, and serves to rally grassroots support for Congressional action on COOL for fuel legislation.

Farm Progress Show Photo Album

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

You can listen to the press conference below:

Audio, Energy, Ethanol, Farm Progress Show

Get a Rustler From New Holland

Chuck Zimmerman

New Holland RustlerThe first big news at the Farm Progress Show was the announcement by New Holland, our sponsor, of their new utility vehicle called The Rustler. Carly is seen here in the driver seat of the one we have on display in the media tent.

New Holland announces a new product for the hardworking rancher, farmer or property owner and the hardplaying outdoor sports enthusiast: the Rustler™ utility vehicle. Equally at home at work or play, Rustler™ utility vehicles combine rugged performance with an ultra-smooth ride for “go-anywhere, do-anything” confidence. No matter what you do, a New Holland Rustler can be built for you!

In fields and woods, over ruts and rocky roads, through mud or snow, Rustler UVs get the job done. Whether hauling supplies, pulling trailers or transporting people and gear, Rustler UVs can be configured to meet the need: they are offered in two-passenger or four-passenger versions, with gas or diesel engines, 4×2 or 4×4 axles, and with a wide variety of options and accessories.

Full news release here.

Farm Progress Show Photo Album

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

Farm Progress Show, New Holland

USB’s See For Yourself Tour A Huge Success

Joanna Schroeder

Last year, the United Soybean Board wanted soybean farmers to learn more about how their checkoff program was helping their bottom line. Thus, the See For Yourself program was created. After a successful first year, the program was continued, and this year, 10 soybean farmers representing eight states, went on a trip to see how the soybeans they grow are being used throughout the world.

Ohio soybean farmer Christopher Gibbs (seventh from left) and United Soybean Board Audit and Evaluation Chair Jim Stillman (sixth from right) take time out from a walking tour of downtown Guadalajara, Mexico to pose with the rest of the See for Yourself participants for a group photograph.

Ohio soybean farmer Christopher Gibbs (seventh from left) and United Soybean Board Audit and Evaluation Chair Jim Stillman (sixth from right) take time out from a walking tour of downtown Guadalajara, Mexico to pose with the rest of the See for Yourself participants for a group photograph.

This year, the group started in St. Louis and from there went to Guadalajara, Mexico. I wasn’t on the trip but I had a chance to talk with two growers who were. Jim Stillman, USB’s Audit and Evaluation Chair and a soybean farmer from Emmetsburg, Iowa and Christopher Gibbs, a soybean farmer from Maplewood, Ohio.

Gibbs heard about the program online. He said of his experience, “I didn’t have any real examples of how the soybean dollars were being used, and this trip gave me a real opportunity to see this first hand. I think the goal of this trip was met.” He encourages anyone who is interested in learning more about the program to apply for next year’s trip.

Stillman gave me the rundown on everything they saw and did which you can hear in the interview below. “All the farmers were very impressed and quite in awe of all the things the soybean board is doing in the international markets. We will call on these farmers throughout the year,” said Stillman, “to have them talk about their experiences.”

You can hear about Christpher Gibbs’ and Jim Stillman’s expereinces first-hand in the back-to-back interviews below.

Soybean, USB

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Phyllis Parks, CPA, CVA, an accountant from Danville, IL, was elected to serve as the president of the Farm Financial Standards Council.
  • Arenus recently donated a supply of their joint health product, STEADFAST EQUINE, to NARHA centers nationwide.
  • The new Genome Alberta GenOmics Facebook application will be a one stop source for genomics and other related ‘omics’ news including nutrigenomics, metabolomics, and metagenomics.
  • The Illinois Soybean Association (ISA) is launching the 2010 Yield Challenge, slated to kick off after Labor Day and continue through next year’s growing season. Applications are due by April 1, 2010.
    Zimfo Bytes

    Farm Progress Show Ready To Kick Off

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Farm Progress Show 2009It’s that time. Time for the 2009 Farm Progress Show. I know a lot of people and a lot of work has been going on in Decatur, IL already and I’ll be on location tomorrow afternoon. Cindy and Carly will be going to their first FPS. It looks like they’ll have some great weather. That’ll be a change.

    Before we head out I’d like to thank our sponsors for this year’s AgWired coverage. They are New Holland and BASF. Over on our Precision.AgWired.com website we’ll have coverage sponsored by Ag Leader Technology.

    It’s going to be a busy show. I’ve got a list of events and Tuesday is just going to be a back to back day of photos and interviews. So keep it right here if you can’t make it.

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

    Farm Progress Show

    Regulatory Czar Nominee Could be Nightmare for Ag

    Cindy Zimmerman

    Americans for Limited Government (ALG) has mounted a campaign against the nomination of Cass Sunstein to be the White House’s “Regulatory Czar” in order to prevent a “litigation nightmare.”

    ALG President Bill Wilson sent letters last week to farm organizations urging them to actively oppose the nomination. “What concerns me and I am sure will concern you is Mr. Sunstein’s extreme positions on animal rights,” Wilson wrote in his letter to the agricultural sector. “If put into law or regulation, these radical stands will destroy agriculture and threaten America’s ability to feed itself much less do any exporting of agricultural products.” Wilson says Sunstein favors granting legal rights to animals and “further regulation” against hunting, animal testing and farming.

    To make their point in a pretty funny way, ALG released this “Farce Side” cartoon (with apologies to Gary Larson, creator of “The Far Side”). While the cartoon is amusing, Sustein’s extreme animal rights beliefs could prove to be very serious indeed if his nomination is approved. As an example of Sustein’s views, read his “The Rights of Animals: A Very Short Primer” – a very scary treatise in which he says “there is no good reason to permit the level of suffering now being experienced by millions, even billions of living creatures.”

    Sunstein has been nominated to be Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the White House Office of Management and Budget. This post is also known as the “Regulatory Czar,” since all major regulatory actions by the federal government are subject to review by this office. The current status of his nomination is that it will require 60 votes in the Senate to invoke cloture after Senate Republicans earlier this month blocked a unanimous consent resolution to approve Sunstein without any roll call.

    ALG is recommending that farmers and ranchers and all Americans who want “to have the right to choose what to eat and purchase at the grocery store” to urge their senators to vote against Sustein’s nomination.

    Animal Activists