Smokey Bear Is Tweeting

Chuck Zimmerman

Smokey BearIt’s birthday time for Smokey Bear (not “The Bear”).

The USDA Forest Service is preparing to celebrate the 65th birthday of an American icon – Smokey Bear – on Monday, August 10. The celebration will take place at the Whitten Building USDA headquarters in Washington D.C. The birthday party will also include the release of the new Smokey Bear Story “big book.” This bilingual (English and Spanish) illustrated educational book introduces Smokey Bear and fire prevention messages to a new generation of American children. Smokey Bear’s trademark message, “only you can prevent wildfires,” is one of the longest running PSA campaigns in U.S. history.

“Smokey Bear is one of the most beloved symbols in American history and his important message has been communicated to generations of Americans during the past sixty five years,” said U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell. “This new book will help mentor a new generation in carrying on Smokey’s message.”

Of course Smokey is tweeting. I’m just wondering how he does it with those big old paws of his.

USDA

Making Phones From Corn is Smart

Chuck Zimmerman

sprint phoneA phone made from corn? Apparently.

This morning Sprint CEO Dan Hesse announced the August 16th release of the Samsung Reclaim™. Speaking with the media from the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York City where the Nature Conservancy’s Design for a Living World exhibit is on display, Hesse introduced the new device – a messaging phone that offers environmentally conscious consumers a perfect blend of responsibility without sacrificing speed, style or must-have features.

The Reclaim is constructed from bio-plastic material (40 percent of the Reclaim’s outer casing is derived from corn). It’s RoHS compliant and free of potentially hazardous materials like polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and phthalates, and nearly free of brominated flame retardants (BFR).

It comes with an ENERGY STAR-approved charger that uses 12 times less power than the standard for standby power consumption. The typical thick paper user manual has been replaced by a virtual user manual. The packaging is 100% recyclable material, made with a high percentage of post-consumer waste content, and printed using soy inks.

via Mark on Corn Commentary

Corn

The Night Shift

Amanda Nolz

n1500180011_30097968_3801 I spent last night as the watchman, I mean watchwoman, over the county fair grounds during the Davison County 4-H Achievement Days being held this week in Mitchell, S.D. This job meant I had to keep the cattle, pigs, sheep and goats in their proper place, which is sometimes no easy task. Over the night, I tied up 15 calves, and I’m going to be sure to show a few unknowing 4-H members how to tie a rope halter today!

Anyway, in my overnight duties of watching over the 4-H livestock, I spent a lot of time doing several things: drinking coffee and catching up on blogging (two thumbs up for internet access in the barn!) It must have been the caffeine overdose, or the fact that it stormed, or that I was all alone in the dark, but I had a lot of time to reflect on life and write out some goals for the future.

Now, this may not be the direction you thought my ramblings were going to go, but I have some thoughts I wanted to run by you this morning. I need a website asap. Why? Because I want to promote my work as an agriculture speaker. I’m getting new jobs all the time, but I’m hoping to do more than word-of-mouth advertising. I would like a place to showcase my speech topics, workshops and writing highlights to help launch my speaking career.

So, this is where you come in. What makes a good website? What features keep visitors coming back for more? How extensive does a promotional website need to be? Should it tie in with my current blogging somehow? What should the website be called? How often does it need to be updated? Should it include a newsletter? It’s your turn to weigh in; I can’t wait to hear your thoughts! In the meantime, I’m off to catch a catnap between shows. I’ve still got another dose of night duty tomorrow, and I NEED to catch some shuteye!

Advertising, Technology

The 811 Sponsored By John Deere

Chuck Zimmerman

John DeereJohn Deere is bringing you the 811.

John Deere is a major sponsor of National 811 Day in the United States, August 11, a day set aside by the Common Ground Alliance (CGA) to promote homeowner, farmer and contractor awareness of underground utilities through the use of the national 811 call-before-you-dig phone number.

“Our customers are individuals who work the land and their safety is a high priority for John Deere,” said Samuel R. Allen, chief executive officer of Deere & Company. “It’s vital to call attention to homeowners, farmers and contractors that one simple call to 811 before they dig to prevent injuries, property damage and inconvenient outages of important services.”

The FCC-designated 811 number was launched in 2007 by the CGA to eliminate the confusion of multiple call-before-you-dig numbers that were being used across the country. As a result, homeowners, farmers and contractors can call one easy-to-remember number to have crews mark a requested site for underground lines prior to any excavation.

Agribusiness, John Deere

Reach Teach Learn

Chuck Zimmerman

AlpharmaAlpharma is continuing to reach, teach and learn with students after just announcing a fall essay contest.

Alpharma Animal Health will launch its inaugural student essay contest in select locations across the United States, the company announced today at Ag Media Summit in Fort Worth, Texas.

The essay contest is the latest initiative in Alpharma’s Reach Teach Learn (RTL) educational stewardship program. RTL also features an ag video contest for college and university students.

“We are excited to add another plank to our Reach Teach Learn platform,” says Jeff Mellinger, Global Leader, Sales & Marketing for Alpharma. “Supporting and promoting education makes communities stronger and fosters an environment that provides opportunities for our customers, employees and business in general to be more successful. Our essay contest is simply another step in that direction.”

The contest is a partnership between Alpharma, the Agriculture In The Classroom program and the American Farm Bureau.

Agribusiness, Education

Bumper Crops Still Possible

Chuck Zimmerman

Farm FuturesWith a little cooperation from the weather we might see some interesting corn and soybean crop results this year. Can you say feed and fuel in the same breath?

Bumper corn and soybean crops are still possible in 2009, despite a very unusual growing season, according to the latest Farm Futures survey of U.S. farmers.

Corn production could reach 12.545 billion, the second biggest crop in history, with soybeans setting an all-time high at 3.275 billion.

USDA reports 2009 production Aug. 12, in a widely anticipated release that features the agency’s first estimates based on in-field surveys, not statistical guesses. The government also will update acreage for corn in seven states where planting delays made its June 30 estimates uncertain.

Farm Futures found a 2 million acre drop in corn plantings from USDA’s June survey, with the total falling to 85.04 million. But farmers also reported above average yields of 160.3 bpa, compared to the current USDA statistical guess of 153.4. Farm Futures production estimate is 255 million above the July government forecast.

Farm Futures put the average U.S. soybean yield at 42.8 bpa, slightly higher than USDA’s trend forecast.

Media

America Needs Agriculture

Amanda Nolz

It’s going to cost WHAT to raise a child today? $221,190, you say? No kidding? With the rising cost of living, including raising children, it’s more important now than ever before for American families to have safe, inexpensive food for their dinner plates. With ballot initiatives sponsored by groups such as the Humane Society of the United States working to make production agriculture a volatile career, I fear much of our food with be imported from unsafe locations around the globe in the future. I don’t know about you, but I want safe, wholesome American food for future generations. Check out this interesting read and spread the word!

800px-USDA_logo USDA RELEASES ANNUAL STUDY WHICH NOTES THAT CHILD BORN IN 2008 WILL COST $221,190 TO RAISE

WASHINGTON, Aug. 4, 2009 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture today released a new report, Expenditures on Children by Families, finding that a middle-income family with a child born in 2008 can expect to spend about $221,190 ($291,570 when adjusted for inflation) for food, shelter, and other necessities to raise that child over the next seventeen years.

Food

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Mycogen Seeds is pleased to announce the addition of 29 new grain corn hybrids to its robust 2010 lineup.
  • Internet Radio has been taken to the next level with the launch of iBizRadio.com’s personalized business talk Internet radio station. This free Internet radio station allows listeners to schedule their own programming and learn from some of the best minds in business and technology.
  • Nufarm Ltd has strengthened and expanded its seed business by acquiring two U.S. based sorghum companies: Richardson Seeds Ltd and MMR Genetics Ltd.
  • Robin Winters has moved from sales and on-air production to farm director at WOWO in Fort Wayne, IN. He began his new position on June 1.
Zimfo Bytes

Riding into the Sunset

Joanna Schroeder

It’s been an amazing week here in Ft Worth for the largest ever IFAJ Congress and Ag Media Summit. We’ve had some fun times and made long-lasting new friends from around the world but its time to ride into the sunset and say goodbye.

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Thanks for letting AgWired be a part of your celebration with special thanks to Novus International, Pioneer and Successful Farming for sponsoring our coverage. You can check out pictures from all the events in our IFAJ/AMS 2009 Photo Album, and come back to AgWired.com often as we’ll be posting stories about the events during the next few weeks.

We’ll see you next year in Belgium. Cheers!

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AgWired coverage of IFAJ 2009 is sponsored by:
Pioneer-HiBred Successful Farming and Novus International

Ag Media Summit, IFAJ, Novus International, Pioneer

Kickin it up with Kixor

Joanna Schroeder

AgWired coverage of IFAJ 2009 is sponsored by:
Pioneer-HiBred Successful Farming and Novus International

Dan WestlakeThere’s been a lot of stampeding and kicking it up on the dance floor here in Ft. Worth this week during the IFAJ Congress and Ag Media Summit. And one company that is really kicking it up is BASF with their new product Kixor. Kixor is currently under development and is being designed for broadleaf weed control. Once it is perfected and available for producers, farmers will able to apply the herbicide prior to crop emergence for burndown or for season-long residual broadleaf control.

To learn more, I spent a little time at the campfire with Dan Westberg, Technical Services Manager for BASF.

“Kixor herbicide technology is a unique chemistry that is specifically designed by BASF to solve the toughest broadleaf weed control problems facing growers today,” explained Westberg. “If you look across the board there are a little over 70 broadleaf weed species. Many of those are resistance or hard to control.”

When the technology comes to market, it will have a wide range of crops it can be used on including corn, sorghum, soybean, wheat, all of the cereals, cotton, follow, treat fruit, and more.

One of the best attributes of Kixor will be the short amount of time for it to take effect – three to five days.

“Kixor herbicide technology will be very unique in that it has both burndown activity and also soil residual activity. So, depending on which crop it will have a very effective burndown and for some crops we can provide a very effective residual effect especially corn,” said Westberg.

IFAJ/AMS 2009 Photo Album

You can listen to my full interview with Dan Westberg here:

Ag Media Summit, Audio, BASF, IFAJ, Novus International, Pioneer