World Pork Expo 2009 is underway here in sunny Des Moines. Agwired is set up in the Novus International tent on the main drag of the Iowa State Fairgrounds. We do have wireless internet access this year at the tent – yeah! – but are waiting for a power strip so I can plug in.
Got the Flickr photo album set up here. It will be updated a couple times a day with more photos, so keep checking back.
AgWired coverage of World Pork Expo made possible by Novus International
Having planted my own garden for the first time this year, I can relate to the promise this “GOOD FOOD GARDEN” has in the eyes of Washington D.C. students. This press release was provided by USDA. Here’s a feel good story for your Wednesday morning…
At a “ribbon planting” ceremony today, Share Our Strength(r), the leading national organization working to end childhood hunger in America, Food Network and Comcast, were joined by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to create and unveil an edible “Good Food Garden” that will bring healthy, fresh and nutritious food to children from underserved communities in the nation’s capital. The self-contained garden was planted at The SEED School in southeast Washington, DC (4300 C Street SE) and will remain there permanently as a working garden for the school children who will integrate the garden into the 7th grade civics and life science curricula.
Secretary Vilsack stated, “The USDA is committed to making healthy food accessible to children in need, and to improving the dietary habits of today’s youth. This garden stands as an example of what the USDA would like to see across the country. We believe children in underserved communities deserve a hands-on experience growing delicious, fresh fruits and vegetables.”
After missing it the last couple weeks I got to participate in tonight’s AgChat session on animal ag via Twitter. Here’s the questions posed.
Q1: Should we have a #farmfact and/or #foodfact day each week? Which day & which tag best for educating non-ag?
Q2: Should NAIS be voluntary or mandatory? Why?
Q3: Is it possible to be for MCOOL but opposed to mandatory NAIS? Why?
Q4: What are the existing humane standards for animal care and transport?
Q5: How has Prop 2 impacted animal ag in California?
Q6: What are the top technologies that have positively impacted the dairy and beef cattle industries?
It was another great session. You can read back through it via Twitter Search.
We need to thank Michele Payn-Knoper for once again being the “chat herder” for #AgChat. You can follow her on Twitter at @mpaynknoper. This week we had a co-host, Kathy Swift.
As you can imagine, our questions were sure to generate some discussion and show how many different opinions there are on this subject while also giving any non-ag folks watching some new perspective on issues they have no personal experience with.
If you participated or have read back through the discussion what do you think? Also feel free to check out AgChat on Facebook.
Our friends at Farm Foundation have teamed up with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) to put together a workshop on contract design in commodity markets.
The workshop, scheduled to run June 9-10, will bring together leading professionals and academic researchers, looking at the effects of futures contracts and how they affect futures prices and markets:
Topics to be covered in presentations and panel discussions include electronic versus open outcry trading in agricultural commodities futures markets, and the success of the U.S. ethanol futures contract. Review the workshop agenda on the Farm Foundation’s Web site.
Open to the public, the workshop will take place 1 to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, June 9, 2009, and 8 a.m. to noon on Wednesday, June 10, 2009, at the Waugh Auditorium, ERS, 1800 M St. NW, in Washington, D.C. There is no charge for the workshop but preregistration by Monday, June 8, is encouraged as seating is limited. Interested individuals may preregister via e-mail, providing name and affiliation to akirilenko@cftc.gov.
The Director of the ERS Market and Trade Economics Division, Sarahelen (Sally) Thompson, Jeffrey Harris, the Cheif Economist at the CFTC and Farm Foundation President Neil Conklin will address the workshop.
I am packing my bags and getting ready to head off to Des Moines for World Pork Expo 2009.
Once again this year, Novus International will be our primary sponsor for coverage of WPX on Agwired. We are also pleased to have the support of Boehringer-Ingelheim for part of our coverage as well. We sincerely appreciate our sponsors and hope you do to, because without them we would not be able to bring you the sights and sounds of big agricultural events like this.
This year is the 21st annual World Pork Expo, which is the largest pork-industry trade show and exhibition in the world, drawing tens of thousands of pork producers, exhibitors and visitors from across the country and around the globe. New this year are the dates for the event, moving from a late-week event to mid-week event, as requested by many of the producers and exhibitors that attend the show each year.
Also new this year at World Pork Expo will be our middle daughter, Carly, who will be attending with me as my assistant. She just graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in general studies and as she spends the next year figuring out if she really wants to be a physical therapist, we will be introducing her to the exciting world of agricultural new media! Dad is going over the new programs he installed on her Mac and introducing her to the sweet new Canon Power Shot G10 we got for her to start as a semi-pro photographer. Carly is very artistically inclined and very people-oriented, so we hope this will be a great experience for her. Just look for this beautiful face at WPX and say hi!
AgWired coverage of World Pork Expo made possible by Novus International
Have you heard of The Hand That Feeds U.S. program? This is an educational resource for urban media on the importance of U.S. agriculture to the security and future of our country. The project provides information relevant to our nation’s farming industry, while also seeking to combat the current misinformation campaigns about food prices and renewable fuels.
Columnist Jerry Lackey at GO San Angelo wrote an article, Farmers’ contribution to U.S. topic of awareness campaign, that discusses the benefits of The Hand That Feeds U.S. and how it can help politicians understand the impact regulations have on the agriculture industry and ultimately, our nation’s food supply.
In an open letter to U.S. media outlets, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D.; and ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., urged reporters to take the time to learn more about U.S. farm policy and the farm and ranch families that keep America fed.
Unbiased information is needed now more than ever because at no time in our history has the general population been less connected to the farm, the senators said as they endorsed newly launched educational efforts dubbed “The Hand That Feeds U.S.”
Based on the recently published U.S. Census of Agriculture, just more than 2 million people in our nation of about 300 million are classified as farmers, with far fewer still making a living off of the land and meeting the lion’s share of the food and fiber needs of our country.
Here’s a reminder about the 2009 CCA Institute. It’s not too late to register according to Terri Breon.
Tickets are still available to attend the Friday night “Fun Night” at the ball park. Join fellow CCA’ers as the Kansas City Royals take on the Cincinnati Reds at the newly renovated Kauffman Stadium! As a bonus, the night ends with fireworks and fountains! Tickets are still available at the low price of $27. For more information, visit http://www.communicators.coop/CCA/.
But, wait, there’s more yet!
Follow-up your ballpark fun-filled night with an Adobe Creative Suite 4 training session, led by Curt Cuscino. Cuscino, Adobe Trainer with House of Tears, will lead participants through the in’s and out’s of CS4, including Acrobat, Dreamweaver, InDesign, and Photoshop. This 11:00 – 4:00 p.m. is an additional training opportunity available for only $60 (that includes your lunch). Details are available online at http://www.communicators.coop/CCA/.
You can download the program here (pdf).
The latest news from Quarry Integrated Communications is about their joining “a select group of communications agencies worldwide in being recognized as a Certified Agency Partner by Eloqua, the category-defining marketing automation leader. Quarry is the first communications agency serving agrimarketers in North America to achieve this distinction.”
“Eloqua’s award-winning marketing automation platform, in concert with our own trademarked Relationship Builder™ system, will enable our clients to do more with less – while enhancing the overall customer experience,” says Bob Wilbur, Quarry senior vice president, Agri-Food. “Specifically, we can help marketers rapidly design and deploy highly-targeted campaigns to generate demand, monitor and track individual responses, and continuously nurture relationships based on their profile and activity. This also helps build alignment between sales and marketing by identifying and passing along only the most qualified ‘purchase-ready’ leads to the sales force.”
We’re all pretty comfortable making statements like “Did you Google for it?” Do you think we could start saying “Did you Bing for it?” Just doesn’t seem to have the same ring to it. Microsoft unveiled it’s new search engine over the weekend – Bing.
So, have you tried it? What do you think?
