Have You Checked Your Character Today?

Amanda Nolz

IMG_2623 Call me biased, but I think my sister Kaley is one of the coolest kids on the planet. We have nine years in age difference, but it doesn’t seem to matter. We are like two peas in a pod. She is into the same stuff I was as a kid: showing cattle and giving speeches. Yesterday, my mom and my sisters, Kaley and Courtney, went to Sioux Falls, S.D. to attend the 70th Annual Sioux Empire Fair to watch Kaley compete in the 4-H CHARACTER COUNTS! speech contest.

Kaley-TalkingLike any good, older sister, I taped her speech and critiqued her when she was finished. When she didn’t make it to finals, I encouraged her to find areas of improvement and give it a shot next year. For the remainder of the day, we watched the other speeches, attended the free pork luncheon for Ag Appreciation Day and then ditched the fair to head to the mall shopping (it was an all-girl trip, what did you expect?) Anyway, it got me thinking. We get so involved in our day-to-day tasks, chores and errands, do we often slow down to make sure our character is in check? Do you have your respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, trustworthiness and citizenship with you at all times? CHARACTER COUNTS! is a great program to ask ourselves those questions to make sure that we are the best we can be.

For more information on this program, link here. And, Kaley…Happy Early Birthday! You’re almost a teenager! The big 13! I’m proud of you, little sister!

Education

Golden Rule of PRRSv Control

Cindy Zimmerman

Boehringer IngelheimBoehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Inc. (BIVI) is passionate about pigs, which is why working with producers to control PRRSv is so important to them.

Dale Polson, with technical resources in the swine segment of BIVI, was first up on the company’s annual swine health seminar in Carolina Beach today and his presentation talked about the “Golden Rule” of PRRS control. “Transmit unto your neighbor as you would have your neighbor transmit unto you,” Polson said. In other words, “To maximize PRRS control, it can’t be just what you do, it has to be what you and your neighbor do.” That means a coordinated regional control initiative.

Dale applies the Stockdale Paradox – “Confront the brutal facts, but never give up” – to the PRRS situation. “PRRS is a tough disease, probably the hardest one we have ever faced,” he said. “Confronting the brutal facts is facing the need to cooperate but never giving up is then doing the work, because it is a lot of work to do right.”

BIVI swine health seminar photo album

Dale summarizes the main points of his presentation in this interview:

Audio, Boehringer Ingelheim, Pork, Swine

Ag Economist Flinchbaugh to Chair Farm Foundation

John Davis

BarryFlinchbaughIt only seems fitting that a group known for encouraging original thought and innovative ideas for the agriculture industry would pick a man known for his irreverent style and sharp intellect to lead them. Professor of agricultural economics at Kansas State University, Barry Flinchbaugh, is now the Chair of the Board of Trustees of Farm Foundation.

Farm Foundation included some biographical information about Flinchbaugh in its announcement… and that information certainly explains why he has been picked for the information:

Flinchbaugh has taught at Kansas State since 1971, focusing on national agricultural and economic policy. He is much sought after as a speaker, and has authored more than 100 publications, including an agricultural policy textbook. On three occasions students of the KSU College of Agriculture have given him the Outstanding Teacher Award. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Pennsylvania State University, and a Ph.D. at Purdue University.

Flinchbaugh chaired the Commission on 21st Century Production Agriculture authorized in the 1996 Farm Bill. He has led Kansas Agricultural People-to-People tours to the Soviet Union, China, the South Pacific and Africa. Flinchbaugh is a member of Rotary International, serves on the Board of the Kansas City Board of Trade and KARL Inc. He is a recipient of the prestigious Hildreth Award for career achievement in public policy education, as well as distinguished service awards from the American Farm Bureau Federation and the American Agricultural Editors Association.

As you might remember from our coverage of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists Congress/Ag Media Summit on Domestic Fuel and AgWired.com, Flinchbaugh was involved in the “Great Debate” with former Texas congressman Charlie Stenholm. You can also check out some pics from that summit on Flickr.

Farm Foundation

BIVI Swine Health Seminar Starts With a Bang

Cindy Zimmerman

Boehringer IngelheimThe annual Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Inc. (BIVI) North Carolina Swine Health Seminar started off with a seafood supper and fireworks on the beach Thursday night.

Boehringer IngelheimThe location is beautiful Carolina Beach at the Courtyard Marriott and the weather was beautiful this evening. The event will include a day long business session on Friday featuring the latest in swine health information for producers – and then a day of fun on Saturday for fishers, golfers and beach goers.

I’ll be #oink tweeting from the sessions on Friday – be sure to re-tweet and show support for our nation’s pork producers!

The BIVI swine health seminar photo album has been started and will be updated on a regular basis.

Boehringer Ingelheim, Pork, Swine

Old MacDonald’s Farm

Amanda Nolz

IMG_2654 Yesterday, I attended the 70th Annual Sioux Empire Fair in Sioux Falls, S.D. While there, I stopped at the infamous Old MacDonald’s Farm, the destination for urban kids to come learn about farm life. I had a minute to chat with FFA member Gabrielle Emmett about her experiences in working at the barn. Here is what she had to say…

“Through FFA and the Old MacDonald’s Farm project, I have been able to work alongside some great people while growing as an individual,” said Emmett, who is also active in cross country, National Honor Society, National Forensics League and Floriculture and Agriculture Issues in FFA. “Old MacDonald’s farm is a lot of work, especially setting up, lining up animals and cleaning up afterwards, but I think it’s a clean, well-organized, safe environment for kids to learn about farms and ranches.”

At each station of the barn hung different agriculture facts for young people to read as they viewed the farm animals. Did you know that there are 3,700,000 cattle in South Dakota compared to 750,000 people? Did you know that a dairy cow producers 200,000 cups of milk in her lifetime? These are a few examples of the educational tidbits included in the display. For Emmett, the best part of the day is watching the kids interact with the animals.

“The little kids really enjoy visiting the Old MacDonald’s farm at the fair,” said Emmett. “It’s really rewarding to watch kids look at big farm animals for the very first time. It seems like the parents really enjoy the display, as well. It’s really an eye opener to realize that this is the only exposure some people have to the agriculture industry, and we are happy to provide that opportunity to the community.”

Education

IFAJ Post Congress Tours

Chuck Zimmerman

IFAJ South TourAt the conclusion of the IFAJ Congress and Ag Media Summit there were a number of tours.

Thanks to Denny McClintic I have a photo of the group that went on the South Texas tour. He also sent a few more which have been added to the IFAJ Congress/Ag Media Summit Photo Album. I think I have more coming from the other tours which will be added to the album when I receive them.

Looks like this group had a good time.

Ag Media Summit, IFAJ

Hunt Junkies Goes To Devils Country

Chuck Zimmerman

My main man Russell Graves has been putting his new Canon 5D Mark II digital SLR to good use in the production of his Hunt Junkies show. He needed a new camera after his previous one met with the “untimely death” referred to in his description of the latest episode. I talked Russell into attending the recent Ag Media Summit and had planned to be there to introduce him around. That didn’t work out but I hope you got to meet him if you were there. He’s a good writer and photographer.

A long time coming, this latest episode of Hunt Junkies is the first ever fishing episode and takes place in the beautiful Devils River country of Southwest Texas. Adventure, fun, and even an untimely death 😉

Hunting, Video

BIVI Swine Health Seminar

Chuck Zimmerman

BI logoCindy is on her way to North Carolina and the Boehringer Ingelheim, Swine Health Seminar. I am jealous since I got to cover this event last year and it’s a really good one.

So, expect to find out what’s going on with BIVI over the next couple days and hopefully we’ll see some tweets from @FarmPodcaster. Which reminds me. Like we did with showing support for dairy producers on Sunday by using the #moo hashtag in our tweets, this Sunday it’s time to show support pork producers by using the hashtag #oink in your tweets on Sunday. Let’s show the Twitterverse our support for pork! As @AFBFMace puts it in one of his tweets, “Going 2 make twttr #oink at 9 am EST, Sun. Aug. 16. Set yr alarm. Goal: It’s H1N1, not Swine Flu. Spread the wrd.”

Boehringer Ingelheim, Pork

Ag Leader Booth In My Office

Chuck Zimmerman

Ag Leader Technology Brief CaseAg Leader Technology brought their Ag Media Summit booth to my office today via UPS. It’s true. Editors attending the Ag Media Summit found a briefcase in their hotel room and had to go to the Ag Leader Technology booth to crack the code to open them. The theme was, “Mission: Precision II, Operation Crack the Code.”

So, I just received mine today and it contains a number of items like coffee mug, memory stick, t-shirt, etc. And it all comes in a nice briefcase! Very handy and I would call it a stand out item.

Ag Leader Technology is a new long term sponsor of our Precision Pays website btw. We’ll be working with them over the next year to help bring new and useful information about the latest precision farming techniques and equipment to farmers and I’m sure some of that will find its way to AgWired too.

Thank you Ag Leader Technology and Lessing Flynn.

Ag Media Summit, Agribusiness, Precision Agriculture

Plant Disease Experts Prepare for Ug99 Wheat Stem Rust

Cindy Zimmerman

APSPlant disease experts at the American Phytopathological Society annual meeting are preparing to potentially do battle with a new strain of wheat stem rust.

APSWashington State University plant pathologist Tim Murray says wheat stem rust has been in the United States since the early 1900s but this new strain could pose new problems. “The Ug99 strain is a new strain of this fungus that emerged in Africa in 1999,” he said. “That fungus has since spread in West Africa and there is concern in the United States that if it eventually gets here it could cause problems.” Over 80 percent of the wheat varieties currently grown globally are susceptible to the disease.

Scientists in the U.S. are working together coordinating a surveillance program to watch for the fungus, similar to the Asian soybean rust program. “It’s very similar to Asian soybean rust with the rusty red color on the plants and both spread by aerial spores,” Tim said.

No time frame for when, or if, the fungus could arrive in the U.S., but Tim says they are working on a recovery plan and they are investigating which fungicide will be most effective on it. “There are materials registered now that can be used,” he said.

Listen or download to an interview with Tim Murray here:

Agribusiness, Research, Wheat