The PrecisionAg Institute has announced the recipients of the 2009 PrecisionAg Awards of Excellence. This is the third annual presentation of these awards, designed to celebrate the people and programs that have helped agriculture realize the full benefits of technology to improve agronomy, efficiency, and stewardship in crop production. Click here for a list of winners and their profile.
Plant Bioscience Limited and Becker Underwood have announced the signing of an agreement granting Becker Underwood exclusive global marketing rights to patented new seed treatment technology. The technology provides a radical new approach to protecting major food crops from pest attack.
AgCareers.com reported an increase in the number of U.S. jobs posted and applications received in the first quarter of 2009 compared to the first quarter of 2008. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported an 8.5 percent national unemployment rate in March.
This evening the CMA Music Festival had a storm issue at the LP Field concert. The second act was Reba McEntire and she was just getting started when they had to clear the field. We got to see Brooks & Dunn and then a couple songs by Reba. It was very disappointing and I’m sure most fans stayed underneath the stands in the hopes that they might restart the program. We decided not to wait and returned to our hotel. It was a nasty storm and we had tornado watch to go with it.
In the morning I’ll join Michael Peterson, Joe Jobe and Gene Hemphill as we go visit Dave Nemo for his show on XM/Sirius Radio so there will be a lot more to come from this year’s Fan Fair!
Post Update: The show did restart long after we left, probably around midnight and finished before 3am. I’m pretty sure it was only the hard
In this week’s program we’re going to hear all about how well the New Holland Celebrity Tractor Race, hosted by Michael Peterson, is working for the company. I sat down with Gene Hemphill, New Holland Public Affairs, and we talked about this project that we’ve been involved with for 4 years now. Gene says he and Michael took the idea to the CMA about a year before the first tractor race and were welcomed to become CMA Music Festival participants. The event has grown to the point that, outside of the evening concerts, it’s now one of the top attended events during the festival.
You’ll hear Gene say that this project has accomplished a lot of things for New Holland as it has developed. Besides just the race event and all the celebrities New Holland is also able to support the FFA, work with Joe Jobe, CEO of the National Biodiesel Board and Chuck Leavell, keyboardist for the Rolling Stones and interact with people who fit the ideal demographics for the company and its products.
Cindy was with us so she got a photo of Gene talking to the ZimmComm Golden Microphone.
This week’s program ends with some Michael Peterson music. It’s a song titled, “Down On The Farm” and even if you’ve heard it before, it’s worth hearing again. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.
The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired which you can subscribe to using the link in our sidebar. You can also subscribe in iTunes
Michael Peterson recruited Carly to ride on in the parade with him here at the CMA Music Festival.
So she hopped on and joined the FFA members who rode in the sunshine as we kicked off another country music extravaganza.
While Carly was riding, Cindy was multitasking in the back.
Here in the picture you can see her shooting with my Flip Mino HD while shooting some still photos.
In case you’re wondering if that really works, there are pictures in the photo album from Cindy when I took this photo of her.
Then you can watch a clip of the video she was shooting below. In it Michael hops off the trailer for a quick live interview.
We’ll be on location here all week so you can expect to see and hear more interviews when and where we find them. We’re taking it slow this morning though since a major storm just moved through and it was not a good time to be outside. Hopefully it all clears up soon.
Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is a major focus for Boehringer Ingelheim, which sponsored a press conference at the recent World Pork Expo to talk about some of the latest in PRRS-control strategies.
Dr. Reid Phillips, with BI’s Swine Enteric Technical Services, says they strive to encourage collaborative research in the field and continue to evaluate their modified live vaccine (MLV) and the role it plays in PRRS control. “We know that the vaccine has been effective in a prophylactic model 3-4 weeks ahead of exposure for mitigation of infection,” Reid told me. “We are also looking at using the vaccine in a therapeutic model, reducing the amount of virus transmitted within positive populations.” He says the early evidence of that looks very good, which would mean lowering the risk of the virus moving within regions.
Reid says BI is a family-owned company that is committed to overall animal health and they have been focused on PRRS research since 1994. “We want to do whatever it takes and we believe we are making progress,” he said.
Listen to or download my interview with Reid here:
New Holland and Michael Peterson showed their support for the FFA here at the CMA Music Festival once again. The officers of the Westmoreland FFA chapter rode with Michael in the kickoff parade. Before we got started I interviewed them. They’re north of Nashville about 45 minutes.
They were pretty excited to ride along with Michael behind a new New Holland tractor. They describe the FFA as a basic youth organization for agricultural education. They’re happy to have the chance to promote their program and show their support for agriculture. They’ll be working in the New Holland booth in the Chevy Sports Zone during the rest of the Festival.
You can listen to my interview with Westmoreland FFA here: cma-09-ffa.mp3
The CMA Music Festival is underway in Nashville, TN. My good friend Michael Peterson was a crowd pleaser in the opening parade this afternoon. He and I found a cool place for an interview after the parade.
Michael and I agree that it seems like there are even more people here than last year. It was a big crowd lining Broadway for the parade in the heat and humidity. He’s looking forward to another great New Holland Celebrity Tractor Race on Sunday.
I’ve got over a hundred photos being uploaded to Flickr right now and I’ll be posting a link to it soon in an online photo album. Check them out: 2009 CMA Music Festival Photo Album
McGill University and Becker Underwood have signed a commercial licensing agreement granting Becker Underwood exclusive rights to patented nitrogen-fixing technology developed by a team of McGill researchers.
A new report by the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) shows direct-to-consumer farm marketing in the United States is growing faster than total agricultural sales—the two categories increased 104.7 percent and 47.6 percent, respectively, from 1997 to 2007.
Designed to help growers in California find crop solutions specifically approved by the state regulatory agencies, farmers can now learn more about the Stoller technology and products available in their area.
AgWired goes country this week at the 2009 Country Music Association’s annual summer Music Fest, commonly known as Fan Fair. Once again we’re sponsored by New Holland to cover their activities which culminate on Sunday with the Michael Peterson/New Holland Celebrity Tractor Race. You’ll be able to watch live video of the race, announced by AgriTalk’s Mike Adams, here via AgWired Live TV starting at 10:30am this Sunday.
It looks like the competition for the race is already heating up as evidenced by this excerpt from the latest National Biodiesel Board news release:
National Biodiesel Board CEO Joe Jobe returns for his third appearance in the New Holland Celebrity Tractor Race, now in its fourth year as a popular feature of the Country Music Association’s (CMA) 2009 Music Festival, June 10-14, 2009 in Nashville, TN. The race involves “celebrities” from many professions driving a New Holland compact tractor through an obstacle course of road cones, each trying to complete the course in the least amount of seconds.
Jobe, who placed 3rd in the 2008 race, has his eyes set on moving higher in the ratings. One of his main challengers from 2008 is his friend and biodiesel supporter Chuck Leavell, environmentalist, conservationist, author, and 27-year keyboardist for the Rolling Stones. Leavell placed 5th in 2008, but only seconds on the clock separated the two friends. His eyes are also set on placing higher. Adding to the action is country music artist Michael Peterson, also a strong biodiesel supporter, who is hosting the competition for New Holland.
“New Holland is once again taking an industry-leading role in its support of biodiesel,” said Jobe. “They have already led the industry in supporting 100% biodiesel in all of the engines they manufacture, but they are not resting on those achievements. They continue to promote the biodiesel for its benefits to the nation’s energy supply, food supply, and agricultural sector.”
Cindy, Carly and I will all be on location starting this evening so you can count on lots of photos, interviews and videos this week from the home of country music.
NOVUS International signed an agreement last week at World Pork Expo with Chr. Hansen to provide the direct fed microbial BioPlus 2B® for swine producers in the United States.
BioPlus 2B® contains two strains of Bacillus (Bacillus licheniformis and Bacillus subtilis). These Bacillus strains can improve the intestinal microbial balance of swine. Safety studies have proven that BioPlus 2B® strains are totally safe to animals and humans. The data was compiled into more than 5,000 pages to get final approval in the European Union for all swine categories. It makes BioPlus 2B® the most extensively documented microbial for swine.
“This partnership compliments our GEMS nutrition program and gut health management portfolio,” stated Dan Meagher, Vice President, Americas. “NOVUS International is focused on providing producers, nutritionists and veterinarians with ways to optimize pig health and performance.”
BioPlus 2B® is an effective means of helping balance bacterial populations in the intestinal tract to improve performance regardless of life stage. BioPlus 2B® is an effective DFM that increases live weight gain and improves feed conversion efficiency when used in nursery and grow-finish applications. BioPlus 2B® also helps improve overall intestinal health, improved average daily gain (ADG) and decreased mortality.
“The cooperation with NOVUS International immediately broadens our access to the swine market in the United States. We expect strong growth in sales with this cooperation”, explains Dr. Bill Braman, VP Marketing and Sales Animal Health & Nutrition, Chr. Hansen NA.
I interviewed Dan Meagher (pronounced like mayor) at WPX last week and he talked about the deal with Chr. Hansen.
This evening the CMA Music Festival had a storm issue at the LP Field concert. The second act was Reba McEntire and she was just getting started when they had to clear the field. We got to see Brooks & Dunn and then a couple songs by Reba. It was very disappointing and I’m sure most fans stayed underneath the stands in the hopes that they might restart the program. We decided not to wait and returned to our hotel. It was a nasty storm and we had tornado watch to go with it.
In this week’s program we’re going to hear all about how well the New Holland Celebrity Tractor Race, hosted by Michael Peterson, is working for the company. I sat down with Gene Hemphill, New Holland Public Affairs, and we talked about this project that we’ve been involved with for 4 years now. Gene says he and Michael took the idea to the CMA about a year before the first tractor race and were welcomed to become CMA Music Festival participants. The event has grown to the point that, outside of the evening concerts, it’s now one of the top attended events during the festival.
You’ll hear Gene say that this project has accomplished a lot of things for New Holland as it has developed. Besides just the race event and all the celebrities New Holland is also able to support the FFA, work with Joe Jobe, CEO of the National Biodiesel Board and Chuck Leavell, keyboardist for the Rolling Stones and interact with people who fit the ideal demographics for the company and its products.
Michael Peterson recruited Carly to ride on in the parade with him here at the CMA Music Festival. 
In case you’re wondering if that really works, there are pictures in the photo album from Cindy when I took this photo of her. 
Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is a major focus for 
Dr. Reid Phillips, with BI’s Swine Enteric Technical Services, says they strive to encourage collaborative research in the field and continue to evaluate their modified live vaccine (MLV) and the role it plays in PRRS control. “We know that the vaccine has been effective in a prophylactic model 3-4 weeks ahead of exposure for mitigation of infection,” Reid told me. “We are also looking at using the vaccine in a therapeutic model, reducing the amount of virus transmitted within positive populations.” He says the early evidence of that looks very good, which would mean lowering the risk of the virus moving within regions.
New Holland and Michael Peterson showed their support for the FFA here at the CMA Music Festival once again. The officers of the Westmoreland FFA chapter rode with Michael in the kickoff parade. Before we got started I interviewed them. They’re north of Nashville about 45 minutes. 
The CMA Music Festival is underway in Nashville, TN. My good friend Michael Peterson was a crowd pleaser in the opening parade this afternoon. He and I found a cool place for an interview after the parade.
AgWired goes country this week at the 2009 Country Music Association’s annual summer Music Fest, commonly known as Fan Fair. Once again we’re sponsored by 
BioPlus 2B® contains two strains of Bacillus (Bacillus licheniformis and Bacillus subtilis). These Bacillus strains can improve the intestinal microbial balance of swine. Safety studies have proven that BioPlus 2B® strains are totally safe to animals and humans. The data was compiled into more than 5,000 pages to get final approval in the European Union for all swine categories. It makes BioPlus 2B® the most extensively documented microbial for swine.
“This partnership compliments our GEMS nutrition program and gut health management portfolio,” stated Dan Meagher, Vice President, Americas. “NOVUS International is focused on providing producers, nutritionists and veterinarians with ways to optimize pig health and performance.”