Greg Guenther Receives Award From St. Louis Ag Club

Chuck Zimmerman

Greg Guenther Receive St. Louis Ag Club Agribusiness Leader of the Year AwardAt today’s St. Louis Agribusiness Club lunch meeting Illinois farmer Greg Guenther received the Agribusiness Leader of the Year Award. Greg is pictured with SLAC President Laurie Hiler (left) and his wife.

I spoke to Greg afterward (on my iPhone) and he says it was a pleasant surprise. He’s says it’s nice for folks to acknowledge the time he’s put in as a volunteer leader over the years. Since Greg is also head of GLB Consulting LLC, a company that provides seminars in bioenergy investing I asked him what he thought the new year and new administration means to that industry. He believes we’re going to see a definite commitment to biofuels out of the new administration and congress. He’s concerned however about the trend toward “next generation” biofuels and what that will mean for farmers who have invested in increasing yield and production of corn to make ethanol.

You can listen to my interview with Greg here: slag-guenther.mp3

Ag Groups, Audio, Energy, Ethanol

Greased Lightning Awarded By AFBF and New Holland

Chuck Zimmerman

Gene Hemphill and Daniel ProughAs a gadget, I mean cool tools, kind of guy I thought this was a great invention idea and it won an award at the American Farm Bureau Federation convention.

Daniel Prough of LaGrange, Ind., earned the grand prize in the Farmer Idea Exchange competition at the American Farm Bureau Federation’s 90th annual meeting.

Prough won a year’s use of a New Holland TV-145 bidirectional tractor. New Holland has provided a year’s free use of a tractor to the grand prize winner for 19 of the 20 years the program has existed.

Prough’s invention, an illuminating grease gun, is a xenon flashlight mounted on a heavy-duty pistol grease gun. Having the flashlight mounted on the grease gun makes it much easier to pump the gun and hold the grease tip at the same time.

Gene Hemphill, New Holland, says that Dan calls it GREASED LIGHTNING. He used his new iPhone to send me the photo of him (left) with Dan by the way! I’m telling you, they are a handy tool too.

Ag Groups, Agribusiness, Equipment, New Holland, Tractor

Defining Sustainability

Chuck Zimmerman

KeystoneAn alliance of agricultural groups and companies has put together a report to help people understand sustainability. Yes, that word that everyone seems to have a different definition for.

The report released today by the Keystone Alliance, provides a definition of economic and environmental sustainability focusing on “meeting the needs of the present while improving the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” The Environmental Resource Indicators report was released at the American Farm Bureau Federation annual meeting by Field to Market, the Keystone Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture.

I interviewed two people today for a release the organization sent out via our AgNewsWire.AgWired.com. Sarah Stokes Alexander is Director of Sustainability Programs, Keystone Center and Project Director, Field To Market Initiative. She describes the organization.

You can listen to my interview with Sarah here: keystone-alexander.mp3

Marty Matlock is the area Director of the Center for Agricultural and Rural Sustainability, University of Arkansas. He talks about the report and trends they found.

You can listen to my interview with Marty here: keystone-matlock.mp3

The Colorado-based Keystone Center examined five resource indicators: land use, soil loss, irrigation water use, net carbon emissions and energy use.

Corn growers in particular posted impressive gains, boosting per-acre productivity by 41 percent while reducing per-bushel land use by 37 percent, per-bushel soil losses by nearly 70 percent, and water use an average of 27 percent per bushel. Energy use dropped an estimated 3 percent per acre and 37 percent per bushel, with greenhouse gas emissions down 8 percent per acre and 30 percent per bushel.

Field to Market members include: American Farm Bureau Federation; American Soybean Association; Bayer CropScience; Bunge; Cargill, Incorporated; ConAgra Foods; Conservation International; Cotton Incorporated; DuPont; Fleishman-Hillard; General Mills; Grocery Manufacturers Association; John Deere; Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences; Mars, Incorporated; Monsanto Company; National Association of Conservation Districts; National Association of Wheat Growers; National Corn Growers Association; National Cotton Council of America; National Potato Council; Syngenta; The Coca-Cola Company; The Fertilizer Institute; Kellogg Company; The Nature Conservancy; United Soybean Board; and World Wildlife Fund.

Read the report here.

Ag Groups, Audio

AAAE Conference in May

Chuck Zimmerman

AAAEAfter more years in agricultural communications than I care to remember I keep finding organizations that are new to me. This one is the American Association for Agricultural Education.

Goals of AAAE
Serve as an advocate for improvement of teaching and learning in agriculture.
Provide a forum to address issues in agricultural education.
Provide an approach to identifying, prioritizing, and organizing research in teaching and learning.
Provide opportunities for individual and organizational growth, development, and renewal.
Provide opportunities to communicate the results of research and other scholarly activities.
Provide opportunities for collaboration within and outside of agricultural education.
Provide for recruiting, inducting, and mentoring people into the profession.

The AAAE 2009 National Conference will be held in Louisville in May. I see they’ve started a Wiki to allow members to update information.

Ag Groups

Administration Achievements and IFAJ 2009/AMS Update

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast-203 - Achievements and ProgressU. S. Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer held a conference call with reporters to discuss accomplishments of the Bush administration. We were on the call and I thought I’d share a segment with you in this week’s program.

Sec. Schafer Press ConferenceI’ve been pointing out the increased investment in rural broadband through the Rural Development department here on AgWired since we got started and the Secretary mentioned it in his remarks.

Since 2001 this administration has shown its commitment to rural America by investing an average of $14 billion a year in rural development, 36 percent higher than the level of spending when we took office. Those investments have created 2 million new jobs, they’ve expanded broadband service, upgraded health care and emergency response services, and supported renewable energy and energy efficient projects.

I hope we’ll see continued investment in rural broadband with the new administration.

Greg LampIn this week’s program I’ve also got an update on the IFAJ 2009 Congress/Agricultural Media Summit from Greg Lamp, Corn & Soybean Digest. There are updates to the schedule, including post-Congress tours on the Congress website and according to Greg plans are moving along smoothly.

You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: Listen To ZimmCastZimmCast 203 (13 min MP3)

Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:Interview with Greg Lamp - ZimmCast 202

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

Audio, IFAJ, USDA, ZimmCast

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • MetaFarms, Inc. announced the launch of Report Manager, a new application within i-Production that enables users to customize, schedule, email and fax reports.
  • Pfizer Animal Genetics has made new advancements in Arthrogryposis Multiplex diagnostics to improve its testing capacity. Investments in equipment and an improved testing methodology enable Pfizer to run larger numbers of samples more efficiently.
  • Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A. announced that its Chilean subsidiary Soquimich Comercial S.A. and Anagra S.A. signed a memorandum of understanding oriented to implement the merger of the two companies.
  • The USDA informed the American Soybean Association that Secretary Schafer has signed a memorandum recommending that USDA’s Office of Inspector General conduct an audit and, as appropriate, investigation of the National Soybean Checkoff Program based on the petition filed by the ASA on Dec. 10, 2008 to ensure that soybean checkoff dollars are being managed and invested as prescribed by law.
    Zimfo Bytes

    Driving Green in 2009

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Welcome to another week in the world of agribusiness. To kick it off I thought I’d share one of the latest video clips on the John Deere Drive Green Utility Tractor Show blog. I’m really having fun with this project and it’s going to keep me busy. I’ll be in Houston later this month as we kick off the “Year of the Utility Tractor.” After messing with Final Cut Express export settings I think I’ve finally landed on the ones that work best with the new YouTube HD. It sure looks better than anything I’ve been able to post onto YouTube before.

    This is a short video presentation by Jim Stoffregen on the new 5E Limited Series Tractors.

    You can listen to Jim’s presentation here: drive-green-5e-limited-series-tractors.mp3

    Or watch him here:

    Agribusiness, Audio, John Deere, Video

    Satellite TV For Your Car (or Tractor?)

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Kurt has a great post on our Precision Pays website that I thought I’d share with you.

    How about this for an extravagant non-ag precision gizmo? Among the many high-tech product launches at the recent SEMA (automotive specialty products) show was this AT&T Cruisecast satellite TV for your car–through a unique roof-top antenna developed by AT&T and RaySat.

    For a list price of $1,299 and a monthly fee of $28, the current system will offer 22 channels of satellite TV and 20 satellite radio channels–but the sky is the limit on this technology (and I imagine Internet access may be in its future). It’s designed for rear-seat auto video screens, but I wouldn’t put it past some techies to make it work for anything from tailgates to tractor uses.

    AT&T says it will available this spring at auto dealerships and in auto aftermarket channels.

    Equipment, Precision Agriculture

    More About U.S. Soybean Federation

    Chuck Zimmerman

    I just got off the phone with Missouri soybean grower, Warren Stemme, who is the Vice President of the newly formed U.S. Soybean Federation. I wanted to learn more about the USSF so I could share with you.

    U. S. Soybean Federation

    Warren says the USSF is just getting started so there is no staff yet although they plan to put a lobbyist in Washington, DC as soon as possible. For the time being, the organization is being handled by the Minnesota Soybean Association office with Jim Palmer, MSA Executive Director, as the acting CEO. Warren says a very positive element of the new organization is equal representation for each state association that joins. He also says that the American Soybean Association’s recent call for an audit of the United Soybean Board has caused “strained relationships between those two groups.” He says the USSF supports the current soybean checkoff. He says their goal is to “move forward in a positive manner.”

    You can listen to my interview with Warren here: ussf-stemme.mp3

    You can also download the interview with this link: Warren Stemme Interview (mp3)

    Ag Groups, Audio, Soybean

    iPhone Apps I Like

    Chuck Zimmerman

    It seems like a growing number of people I run in to have an iPhone. So I’ve been getting some questions about the apps that I’m using. I thought I’d just list them for you and invite you to post your own. These are links to the apps in the iTunes Store.

    NetNewsWire: Great news feed reader which syncs with your online and computer accounts.
    Facebook: Pretty much a full service mobile version.
    WordPress: Let’s me post onto my blogs from anywhere I have a connection!
    12seconds: Let’s you post a 3 picture slide show with audio to your 12seconds.tv account.
    Pandora: My music whenever and wherever I want.
    Speakeasy: Audio recorder. Great quality. You’ll be seeing me use in on location.
    iBreviary: Provides the Liturgy of The Hours, daily prayer of the Church. Updated daily.
    The Weather Channel: Better weather than built in wx app on phone.
    Darkslide: Let’s me upload photos to my Flickr account (including into sets).
    Twitterific: Where I tweet from most often.
    AIM: Not using this much but a great IM app.
    Google Mobile: Quick access to all my Google accounts/services.
    Google Earth: You have to see it to believe it.

    Equipment