World Pork Expo Wrap Up

Cindy Zimmerman

Despite the challenges facing the hog industry, there were still thousands of producers who attended World Pork Expo earlier this month in Des Moines. Officials estimate attendance was about 14,625, down from 2008, but it was expected due to the impact of the H1N1 virus on international travel.

WendellEven though there were less international visitors at Expo this year, the number of exhibitors was about the same as last year and they were pleased that to find that those pork producers they visited with were interested in products that would help them increase profitability in tough economic times. I talked with Novus International Director of Product Management Wendell Knehans about some of their products, such as dietary anti-oxidants, that help produce healthier animals.

“Take it from a human perspective,” Wendell said. “Most of us know that anti-oxidants like blueberries and green tea are a good way to maintain good health and that applies to animals as well.”

Since it isn’t very practical to feed pigs blueberries and green tea, Wendell says Novus has developed products that offer a combination of anti-oxidants that provide important benefits for producers.

Listen to an interview with Wendell here:

Audio, Novus International, Pork, Swine, World Pork Expo

Ethanol Champion Bob Dinneen

Chuck Zimmerman

Bob DinneenHe preached a powerful sermon this morning. He’s the Reverend of Renewable Fuels. He’s Bob Dinneen, CEO, RFA. Bob was on our program at the opening general session of the Fuel Ethanol Workshop. This is the 25th FEW and Bob has attended 21 of them now!

As always, Bob provided a very positive outlook by starting out looking at the industry’s accomplishments in the last year.

“Look at last year – in the face of a deepening economic downturn, negative 3% growth and rising unemployment, the U.S. ethanol industry grew by 34%, 0pening 31 new plants and adding an additional 240,000 new jobs!

We produced more ethanol last year than ever before, some 9 billion gallons, and we added new markets in the southeast and northwest where the RFA had worked with the oil industry and state governments to tear down regulatory barriers to blending.

As our industry grows, we are transforming our nation’s motor fuel market, and we are transforming the rural landscape of America.”

Bob touches on carbon, critics, food vs. fuel, land use, market expansion and cellulosic. He concluded by saying:

“We may have troubles, but we in the ethanol industry have a great story to tell, a compelling case to make, new opportunities to seize, and new markets to win over.

Don’t let anybody tell you that the ethanol industry is somehow responsible for despoiling rainforests and increasing carbon. We are the only way gasoline refiners can lower the carbon footprint of their product today.

Don’t let anyone tell you ethanol is a government boondoggle, we are creating new hope, new markets for farm products, new jobs for willing workers and new opportunities for entrepreneurship in communities where people need new pathways to a better life.

Don’t let anybody tell you that the world must choose between food and fuel. Our industry is helping humanity to achieve its historic dream of an affordable, and sustainable, abundance of all the necessities of life.

And don’t let anybody tell you that cellulosic ethanol is somebody’s pipe dream. It is as real as the people in this room.

If we stick together, do our work well, and stay focused on the future, our potential is unlimited – in the near-term, the long-term, and as far as our eyes can see and our minds can imagine.

Thank you all for listening, and for the honor of being one of you.

2009 Fuel Ethanol Workshop Photo Album

You can listen to Bob’s speech below:

Audio, Ethanol

Novus Joins Sustainable Ag Platform

Cindy Zimmerman

SAINovus International is one of three companies that have just been accepted as members of the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative platform. The others are General Mills and Cayuga Marketing.

NovusSAI Platform is an organization created by the food industry to communicate worldwide, and to actively support the development of, sustainable agriculture involving the different stakeholders of the food chain. According to SAI, the three new members will be actively participating in SAI Platform’s activities, and in particular its working groups on arable crops, coffee, dairy, fruit, water and agriculture.

Novus International, Sustainability

Ken Colombini New Director of Communications for NCGA

Chuck Zimmerman

Ken ColombiniHe’s become a master Twitterist and blogger. He’s Ken Colombini, the new Director of Communications for the National Corn Growers Association. Please join us in welcoming Ken to his new position.

“Ken has been a valuable member of the award-winning NCGA Communications team during the past two years,” said NCGA Vice President for Marketing Fred Stemme. “He has a great grasp of the issues and I’m pleased that he accepted this new opportunity and challenge.”

Before joining NCGA in October 2007, Colombini held several communications positions at Anheuser-Busch, serving finally as director of governmental and environmental communications. He started his career as a newspaper reporter, editor and columnist in California, where he also worked as a speechwriter to the governor and as chief spokesperson for California State Parks.

Reporting to Colombini in this role are Mark Lambert, senior communications manager; Christina Koboldt, marketing manager, who oversees communications regarding events and other programs; Janice Tolley, communications manager in the NCGA Washington office; Jennifer Hausman, online marketing manager and webmaster; Beth Musgrove, graphics and presentation designer; and Mary Quigley, administrative assistant.

Ag Groups, Corn, NCGA

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • AFBF sent comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on the development of a national broadband plan by the FCC. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 passed by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama earlier this year requires the FCC to develop a comprehensive broadband plan by Feb. 17, 2010.
  • Dairy producers, through their checkoff investment, have launched a consumer awareness initiative to educate consumers about the nutritional and economic value of dairy products, as well as the contributions that America’s dairy producers make to their community, economy and the environment.
  • BASF has provided online technical bulletins due to excessive rainfall and delayed planting increasing stress and disease potential in corn and soybeans.
    Headline corn in wet weather
    Headline soybeans in wet weather
    Corn solutions guide
    Soybean solutions guide
    Zimfo Bytes

    Talking Ethanol This Week

    Chuck Zimmerman

    FEW 2009From Farm Bureau to fuel, I’ve transitioned over to my next event on the agriblogging highway.

    The 25th Annual Fuel Ethanol Workshop & Expo is underway in Denver, CO and I’m on location for the next couple days to bring you news, interviews and photos, most of which will be posting onto our Domestic Fuel website. I attended the opening reception this evening and met with many industry friends in a great social setting in the trade show. I saw Mike Bryan, CEO, BBI International, as I was leaving the reception and he seemed very pleased with the start of this year’s event. BBI is the organization that puts on this event each year.

    Special thanks go to the Renewable Fuels Association for making our coverage of this event possible. RFA has been a long standing client of ZimmComm New Media and we really enjoy working with them.

    Things will get kicked off tomorrow morning with the opening general session and I’ll be there. So expect to see information being posted throughout the day.

    Celebrating a quarter century of excellence, the 25th annual FEW will offer cutting-edge content, unparalleled business development opportunities, and a lively tribute to industry progress. From its inception in 1985, this globally recognized event has helped facilitate the ethanol industry’s evolution by providing world-class programming that includes spot-on technical workshops and invaluable networking forums alongside the largest, most widely attended expo in the business.

    Ethanol

    Car of the Heartland To Promote The American Farmer

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Car of the HeartlandThis afternoon I saw the unveiling of the Car of the Heartland, the official Car of the American Farmer. This is a concept car developed by Furniture Row Racing. They’re looking for industry partners to help them make the car a reality on the NASCAR tracks in 2010, starting with the Daytona 500.

    The unveiling was done to the participants in the American Farm Bureau Federation Public Relations Conference. Prior to seeing the new car we received a very in-depth tour of the Furniture Row Racing garage. Furniture Row races the #78 car in NASCAR. It was very interesting to see cars in various stages of development and speak with the engineers who work on them.

    One of the key developers of the Car of the Heartland concept is Pat Driscoll, Corporate Relations, Furniture Row Racing. Pat is a former farm broadcaster friend from way back and it was great to see him again. I spoke with Pat about this new project after the cloth was pulled off the new car. He says the car is really a new model for NASCAR. For one thing the car will not sport a multitude of corporate logos. It will solely promote the American farmer with the intent of displaying different visuals of the agriculture that’s local to the area in which a race track is located. The goal is to help the American consumer better understand where their food comes from. Pat says they’re currently communicating with 31 different organizations about partnering with them on the project.

    I’ve created a photo album from the unveiling so you can see multiple views of the car: Car of the Heartland Photo Album

    You can listen to my interview with Pat here:

    AFBF, Audio

    News Media In Transition

    Chuck Zimmerman

    AFBF PR ConferenceOne of the sessions here at the AFBF Shining at the PR Summit was titled, “News Media in Transition.” I thought I’d hear stories about how tv and newspapers were utilizing new and social media mechanisms to “transition” to how consumers want to get news and information. Instead I would characterize the comments as being very defensive and actually blaming shoddy reporting today on social media and citizen journalism.

    We had a tv news reporter on the panel who says that when it comes to blogging, “I won’t do it.” He admits he’s old school and I think overlooks the value of providing his reports in a mechanism that makes it easier for me to get them. He is confusing unbiased reporting (what’s that?) with opinionating. I think you can use a blog to report news without adding personal perspective. However, I think that consumers want to know the opinion of people they respect and admire and that could very well be a tv reporter.

    This same reporter called his Facebook friends, “My little Facebook friends.” That sounded kind of demeaning and dismissive to me. I don’t think he meant it that way but when he said “Everyone has a Twitter/Facebook account” as if somehow there’s something wrong with that it really showed a resistance to change and transition which I think clearly shows why traditional media outlets are struggling so much.

    It has been a great session here today. We’re about to go on a tour which I’ll be posting about later.

    AFBF

    Country Classic on Display at CMA

    Cindy Zimmerman

    clint erickson boomer 8NThe CMA Music Festival in Nashville featured some well-known country legends like Reba McEntire and the Judds, so it was a perfect place for New Holland to display its own country classic, the Boomer 8N.

    “It’s a retro going back to the Ford 8N and we are very proud of that heritage of ours going back to the 40s and 50s,” said Clint Erickson, New Holland business manager for Tennessee, Alabama and Florida. The tractor, which was just launched earlier this year at the National Farm Machinery Show, was on display for all four days of the CMA Music Fest and at the New Holland/Michael Peterson Celebrity Tractor Race on Sunday.

    The slogan for the 8N is “The Legend Returns” and Clint says it attracted a lot of attention at the festival with many posing for pictures with the shiny, sweet ride. Find out more at www.8n.com.

    Listen to or download my interview with Clint here:

    New Holland, Tractor

    Who are the Next Generation of Food Producers?

    Amanda Nolz

    Most ranch kids can trace their heritage back to a long lineage of food producers. In past generations, if a kid’s father were a rancher, he or she would more than likely grow up to be a rancher, as well. Yet, today’s generation may have many ancestors of ranchers in their family trees, but because of the many challenges facing producers today, they often opt to pursue big city careers in favor of returning to production agriculture.

    bilde According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), there are two times as many farmers over 65 as under 35 in the United States today. In addition, it is estimated that one-quarter of the nation’s farms will change hands in the next decade. Yet, it’s a rare occasion for a young person to return to production agriculture, which is why a young person like Seth Zilverberg is making the news. Seth is a fellow Limousin breeder, and I recently chatted with him and his mother about his move back to his family’s cattle operation. Here is what his mom, Peg, has to say about young people in production agriculture.

    We are so proud of Seth and happy to have him home. I wish there were more young people returning home to production agriculture, and I think it’s so disappointing to know that more often than not, these kids are encouraged to pursue outside opportunities. So many people told Seth he was ‘too smart’ to return home to the farm, and I think that’s the biggest mistake of all.

    So, who are the future of food producers? Where is the next generation going? How can we help beginning farmers? What’s your story? Do you come from a farm background? How many generations of agriculturalists are in your family? What are your plans for the future? Inquiring minds want to know?

    Food