Wind Farmers

Chuck Zimmerman

Farm Foundation Mark WillersBiofuels like ethanol and biodiesel weren’t the only energy alternatives on the program at the Farm Foundation Transition To A Bio Economy Conference. We also had a presentation on wind energy from Mark Willers, Minwind Energy.

Mark says Minwind Energy was formed by a group of local farmers and businessmen in southwest Minnesota. He’d like people to understand that the electrical grid in the United States needs to be upgraded due to continuing increases in the use of electricity and how that is accomplished and funded is going to be an important issue. He thinks Americans want and need an energy policy that’s focused on efficiency. He says that Congress has extended production tax credits for wind turbines and that’s been helpful.

I thought he made some interesting points about how much news and discussion focuses on liquid fuel like gasoline when the largest energy use in America is from electricity. This is the sector of energy use that wind makes its contribution into.

You can listen to my interview with Mark here: ff-global-09-willers.mp3

You can download the interview with this link (mp3).

You can find photos from the conference here:
Transition To A Bio Economy Conference: Global & Trade Issues Photo Album

Ag Groups, Audio, Energy, Farm Foundation

Biodiesel Good Fit For Carbon Reduction

Chuck Zimmerman

Farm Foundation Joel VelascoThe legislative guru for the National Biodiesel Board is Manning Feraci. He was on the Farm Foundation Transition To A Bio Economy Conference program.

He gave us an update on the current state of the biodiesel industry and the need for stable policies coming out of DC. He says that he sees some real opportunities now as some of the energy bill mandates are being implemented. He says it’s also a good time to get some structural reforms to the biodiesel tax incentive that will make it work better. I asked him about the carbon issue and he says that biodiesel is such an efficient fuel that it makes the product a good fit in helping obtain green house gas emissions reductions.

You can listen to my interview with Manning here: ff-global-09-feraci.mp3

You can download the interview with this link (mp3).

You can find photos from the conference here:
Transition To A Bio Economy Conference: Global & Trade Issues Photo Album

Ag Groups, Audio, Biodiesel, Energy, Farm Foundation

Take NAMA Pre-Conference Cause Marketing Survey

Chuck Zimmerman

National Agri-Marketing AssociationHere’s a call to action to help Steve Drake out. He’s doing a breakout session at the NAMA Convention on cause marketing. Like me, he wants some feedback before getting there. So . . .

Please take his Cause Marketing Survey for the 2009 Agri-Marketing Conference Presentation.

He will appreciate it. And thank you to everyone who has taken my pre-conference survey.

NAMA

Talking Social Media in DC

Chuck Zimmerman

USGC SessionHere’s my happy group of social media students at the U. S. Grains Council office in Washington, DC.

Pictured are Marri Carrow, USGC, Melissa George Kessler, NAWG, Mike Deering, USGC and Steve Mercer, U. S. Wheat Associates.

We’ve been talking RSS, blogs, podcasts, Twitter, Facebook and more all morning. Like many ag groups today, these are looking at ways to incorporate social media into their communications and outreach efforts.

I’ll be heading back to ZimmComm World Headquarters shortly and still have some interviews to post from the Farm Foundation conference I attended earlier this week. So, I’ll try to get caught up with that in between if possible. It’s been a great trip to DC and I’ll be back here for the NAFB Washington Watch in just a couple weeks.

Ag Groups

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Even amid the ups and downs of corn production in 2008, Halex GT corn herbicide from Syngenta delivered impressive weed control results versus glyphosate –in 2008 trials it controlled 98 percent of lambsquarters, 98 percent of velvetleaf, 97 percent of common ragweed, 99 percent of waterhemp and 97 percent of Palmer amaranth.
  • Tom LeBeau has been selected as the new Certified Hereford Beef LLC chief operating officer.
  • New Holland Agriculture has appointed GT Group as its new distributor in Georgia. The contract hand-over ceremony between GT Group and New Holland Agriculture will take place during a two-day event from March 26 to 27 in Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital.
  • Nitamin Steady Delivery plant nutrition technology was tested in soil and foliar applications. Soil-applied Nitamin Nfusion fertilizer shows a 29 bu/A yield increase and better N efficiency. Nitamin 30L fertilizer in foliar applications increased yields by up to 28 bu/A in a Missouri study.
    Zimfo Bytes

    Vilsack’s Busy Day

    Cindy Zimmerman

    Tuesday was a busy day for Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

    He started the day by attending the National Agriculture Statistics Service lock up briefing prior to the prospective plantings report release first thing in the morning.

    Tom VilsackThen, he testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture about the Administration’s plans to bring reform to USDA and discussed how the President’s budget will revitalize rural America. During his testimony, the secretary used the opportunity to make three announcements of actions being taken to help producers struggling with the recent downturn in commodity prices.

    Vilsack announced that: 1) USDA will begin making Milk Income Loss Contract payments (MILC) to dairy producers; 2) USDA will be spending $117 million to make bonus purchases of walnuts, pork, turkey, and lamb; and 3) USDA is extending the sign-up deadline for the new ACRE program to August 14.

    Then, yesterday afternoon, Vilsack held a telephone press conference with reporters where he answered questions on a number of topics. After that, not sure what he did – but it definitely was a full day. Agriculture secretary is no job for slackers!

    Listen to Vilsack’s opening statement here: vilsack-announcements.mp3

    USDA

    Stoller USA offers Yield Boosting Technology

    Joanna Schroeder

    stoller-usa4While attending this year’s Commodity Classic, I had a chance to talk with Ed Shoup of Shoup Brothers Farms, who has both a hog operation and grows corn in Orville, Ohio, to chat about some of the ways he is increasing yields. He is pictured here on the left in the Stoller booth with Dan Denman of Cortland, OH and Steve Wiser of Carlton, PA. Ed was kind enough to let me in on a few of his secrets. His first line of defense isBio-Forge®, an antioxidant offered by Stoller USA. In a nutshell, Bio-Forge balances hormones in the plants to optimize growth and allow them to better handle stressful situations such as drought, floods or freezes – ultimately helping to increase yields.

    “Bio-Forge has been very beneficial. When we use it with products such as Headline or Quilt we’ve seen an excellent response. It has given us more of a boost,” explained Shoup. “The product helps our ears fill out better and the corn is less resistant to insect problems, and when we have a healthier plant, it helps us get through some of the stress.”

    Another positive trait is that Bio-Forge helps topical applications work better. When Shoup uses Bio-Forge with strobies (strobilurin fungicides), he sees a return on investment through better yields. “The yield boost we get is what we really like. The icing on the cake is when we can reduce our molds and know that we have higher quality feed going into our hogs,” said Shoup.

    His second secret is Stoller USA’s  PowerPlus™, which is a great product for him, especially with the rising costs of Nitrogen.  He explained that when he applied the nitrogen with PowerPlus it made the nitrogen work better. The plant better utilizes the nitrogen and he saw better uptake on components like potash and phosphorous. This was a double win for him because the addition of this product helped him reduce his nitrogen costs.

    Listen to my interview with Ed here: cc-09-joanna-stollerusa.mp3

    Commodity Classic

    Carbon Is New Ag Commodity

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Farm Foundation Joel VelascoI think Joel Velasco, Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association, had the quote of the day here at the Farm Foundation Transition To A Bio Economy Conference.

    He said that “carbon is the new agricultural commodity” and that “our incentive is to produce less of it and get paid for it.” So, grow a crop, sell it and maybe earn some carbon credits? Who knows where all that will wind up.

    Joel wanted people to know that biofuels can not only help mitigate climate change but build energy security. In Brazil they’ve managed to increase the use of ethanol from sugarcane to where they’ve displaced fifty percent of their liquid gasoline. They don’t have gas stations anymore he says, they have “fuel” stations. He says price is the key to the development and use of ethanol and today ethanol is half the price of gas in Brazil.

    You can listen to my interview with Joel here: ff-global-09-velasco.mp3

    You can download the interview with this link (mp3).

    You can find photos from the conference here:
    Transition To A Bio Economy Conference: Global & Trade Issues Photo Album

    Ag Groups, Audio, Energy, Farm Foundation, International

    AgCareer Spotter Specializes in Ag Jobs

    Cindy Zimmerman

    Ag CareerA new website is helping to spot the latest job opportunities in agribusiness.

    AgCareerSpotter.com is an industry specific on-line career center targeting the agriculture industry to “make the job search, recruitment and hiring process simpler, faster and more cost effective.”

    AgCareerSpotter is part of the larger Careerspotter.com, which was created by recruiters and agricultural online business veterans with over 30 years of industry experience to provide industry specific, on-line recruitment and job search technologies.

    Agribusiness

    How Biofuels Policies Affect Trade

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Farm Foundation Seth MeyerSeth Meyer is with the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI). He’s also a speaker here at the Farm Foundation’s Transition To A Bio Economy Conference.

    He talked to us about how biofuels policies are affecting commodity prices and trade but he says there are a lot of other factors affecting export volume. For example, he says that even though we’ve been using more corn to make ethanol we’ve still been able to increase the amount of corn we’re exporting at the same time. However, whether we have biofuels policies or not other factors will come into play like weather, the price of oil and foreign demand.

    You can listen to my interview with Seth here: ff-global-09-meyer.mp3

    You can download the interview with this link (mp3).

    You can find photos from the conference here:
    Transition To A Bio Economy Conference: Global & Trade Issues Photo Album

    Ag Groups, Audio, Energy, Farm Foundation, Farm Policy