Coaching the Novus Team

Cindy Zimmerman

The key to a winning baseball team is a good coach and if Novus International was a baseball team, executive vice president of marketing and sales Giovanni Gasperoni would be that coach.

International Poultry Expo 09“Novus was born in 1991, so we celebrate our 18th anniversary this year,” Gio told me in an interview today. “When I came to the states in 1995, I was the only foreigner speaking with a funny accent in the whole company, today we have more people with funny accents in the company than speaking with English accents!” Which just shows how the company has expanded globally to help producers around the world be more productive to meet the protein demands of a growing population.

The Novus “all-star” line up of products has grown as well. “We started with two basic products – ALIMET and SANTOQUIN,” said Gio. In the last five years, they have diversified to offer a broad range of products to serve the needs of customers in not just poultry, but swine, aquaculture and ruminants in general.

“Health through nutrition, makes the animal healthier which makes them more performing, which is what helps our customers around the world,” Gio says.

Gio is passionate about the ability of Novus to serve their customers and ultimately the consumers of the world, by producing more food in a sustainable manner – definitely a winning strategy!

Listen to my interview with Gio here:
ipe-09-gio.mp3

You can also download the interview here: Gasperoni Interview (mp3).

International Poultry Expo Photo Album

AgWired coverage of International Poultry Expo is sponsored by:
Novus

Audio, Livestock, Novus International, Pork, Poultry, Poultry Expo

Headline Receives Plant Health Label

Cindy Zimmerman

BASF announced today that Headline® fungicide is the first fungicide to have EPA approved Plant Health claims on its label. State approvals are currently pending.

“We believe this is a new precedent for the agricultural community,” said Nevin McDougall, Group Vice President, North America, BASF. “Agriculture must rely on innovative products such as Headline to meet the increasing global demand for food and fuel, in the face of decreasing availability of land. BASF is proud to be a leader in crop protection innovation.”

BASF“For years growers have relied on the outstanding disease control and Plant Health benefits from Headline,” said Rick Chamblee, PhD, Technical Service Manager with BASF. “The research behind this registration underscores the commitment of BASF to helping growers get the most out of every acre by supporting the Plant Health benefits of Headline.”

Headline improves Plant Health by acting on three unique areas of the plant’s growth. These Plant Health benefits are improved growth efficiency, excellent disease control, and enhanced tolerance to stress conditions such as drought, heat, cold temperatures and ozone damage.

“The Plant Health benefits of Headline help plants focus their energy on producing more output,” noted Chamblee. “Over and over again, we see the yield advantage of Headline in a number of key crops.”

Headline is the most researched fungicide on the market, with more than 7,000 farm trials conducted on well over a million acres in the past seven years.

BASF

ZimmKids

Cindy Zimmerman

ZimmKidsAre these kids cute or what?

These are the ZimmKids – our Georgia nieces and nephews that I had a chance to spend some quality time with on my first night here in Atlanta. They surprised me by wearing the AgWired t-shirts we sent to them last year. So they’re a little large for them – that just makes it all the more adorable!!!!

ZimmKidsFrom left to right, these adorable ZimmKids are Bayli, Veronica, Luke (our godson), Eli, Mary and Paul Joey. I would give all their ages, but I am not entirely sure about that – let’s just say they range from about 3 to 17.

They are the offspring of Chuck’s little brother Paul and his lovely wife Laura who have been married for 20 years this year. I would add that all these kids are home-schooled and extremely well-behaved – a real joy to be around. They live in a little town about 40 miles east of Atlanta called Newborn with several horses, five dogs, 12 cats, some chickens and a rat. They are really living that rural lifestyle!

Uncategorized

Internet In The WildBlue Yonder

Chuck Zimmerman

Wild BlueThe NCBA Trade Show kicked off with an opening reception this evening at the Cattle Industry Convention. I’m planning on spending some time there during the next couple days.

It looks like the first session went well judging by all the traffic as I wandered around. I took a few photos which have been added to the photo album but couldn’t hang around for long. I thought the WildBlue booth was worth a look for those of you who have limited internet options out in the countryside.

Cattle Industry Convention Photo Album

Cattle Industry Conference, Internet

Seventh Inning Stretch

Cindy Zimmerman

International Poultry Expo 09It could be, it might be – it was a home run for Novus International’s Jeremy Lutgen and Michael Whitmer, shown here playing an interactive video baseball game during the Novus reception at the International Poultry Expo.

It was a great seventh inning stretch after a long day in the trade show trenches for everyone. Tomorrow will be the big day at the Novus booth when Baseball Hall of Famer and former St. Louis Cardinals player Lou Brock makes a two hour appearance to sign autographs for the poultry expo attendees. He is sure to be a hit!

International Poultry Expo Photo Album

AgWired coverage of International Poultry Expo is sponsored by:
Novus

Novus International, Poultry Expo

Cattle Industry Honors Terry Stokes

Chuck Zimmerman

The cattle industry honored Terry Stokes today for his service to NCBA. It was a very emotional presentation which included his being joined on stage at the opening session by the staff, including from many state affiliates. A highlight for Terry I’m sure was being presented with an American flag that flew in his honor at an Army post in Iraq for his assistance in providing our soldiers with NCBA logo materials and American made beef jerky, something that meant a lot to them at the time.

Honoring Terry Stokes

You can listen to Terry’s remarks here: cic-09-stokes.mp3

I’ve updated the photo album and there’s a lot in there to see so feel free to browse:Cattle Industry Convention Photo Album

Ag Groups, Audio, Cattle Industry Conference

This Ain’t Just Chicken Feed

Cindy Zimmerman

International Poultry Expo 09I have been to quite a few trade shows in my time and the International Poultry Expo could very well be the biggest I have ever seen, with nearly 900 booths. In fact, it ranks 58th out of ALL the trade shows in the United States – not just ag shows, all shows. That’s pretty impressive.

The man who makes it happen is show manager Charlie Olentine, who says the poultry expo has grown throughout its long history. “The show’s been here in Atlanta every year for over sixty years,” Charlie told me. “We’ve kind of grown up with the convention facilities in the city. We got our start in the lobby of one of the local hotels in the late ’40s.”

Three years ago, the poultry expo made a move to diversify by co-locating with the International Feed Expo, which has increased both their number of exhibitors and attendees. This year, despite the economy, Charlie says their numbers are only down about 10 percent from last year’s record attendance. “Last year we had about 20,000 people come through, this year probably about 18,000,” Charlie said. “We have a very strong international contingent, anywhere from 4-5,000, the majority of them coming from Latin America.”

Listen to my interview with Charlie here: ipe-09-charlie.mp3

You can also download the interview here: DHA Interview (mp3).

International Poultry Expo Photo Album

AgWired coverage of International Poultry Expo is sponsored by:
Novus

Audio, Feed, Novus International, Poultry, Poultry Expo

Novus DHA Gold is Rookie of the Year

Cindy Zimmerman

International Poultry Expo 09Keeping with the whole baseball theme we have going here, I’m calling Novus International’s DHA Gold “Rookie of the Year” because they have only recently begun to market this product which was developed by Martek Biosciences.

DHA is docosahexaenoic acid – which is way too hard for normal, non-scientific types to say, so DHA works for me! It’s an omega-3 fatty acid normally found in cold water fatty fish and in fish oil that is very healthy for us in a number of ways. So, what Martek did was find a way to get the DHA out of an algae and harvest it like an oilseed so they can put that beneficial omega-3 fatty acid, or “Life’s DHA,” into other foods besides fish – which are called “functional foods.”

International Poultry Expo 09I talked with two guys who know all about this product – Jared Hux of Novus (left) and Todd Willis of Martek.

According to Todd, DHA has numerous health benefits, including brain development, visual acuity and cardio-vascular health. “Life’s DHA can already be found in many different products such as functional beverages, milk, yogurts, and baked goods from companies like Coca-Cola, General Mills and Dean Foods,” he said. In addition, almost all infant formula sold in the United States contains Life’s DHA.

Jared says Novus saw the potential for Life’s DHA to be marketed to poultry producers under the DHA Gold brand to create value-added eggs and meat that have additional health benefits for consumers. “Last year, Novus and Martek entered into an exclusive global distribution agreement,” Jared says. “It’s an opportunity for the egg and protein community to expand into functional foods.”

This is really an interesting story and you can listen to that interview here: ipe-09-dha.mp3

You can also download the interview here: DHA Interview (mp3).

International Poultry Expo Photo Album

AgWired coverage of International Poultry Expo is sponsored by:
Novus

Audio, Novus International, Poultry, Poultry Expo

Producers Support Checkoff and Concerned About Economy

Chuck Zimmerman

CBB Executive CommitteeThe activity is picking up here at the Cattle Industry Convention. More media are showing up in the news room and I’ve been doing a little Beef Board Blogging. I think that from a Beef Board perspective the financial outlook is really the main conversation in the hallway and meetings I’ve sat in on so far.

This morning I interviewed both Dan Dierschke, Treasurer and Lynn Heinze, Executive Director of Communications for CBB.

Dan says they’re finding that collections are down considerably from expectations. He says that after looking at all the data available they’ve concluded that revenue will be down about $2.5 million. So, he says they’ve chosen to cut the current budget to compensate rather than move forward on a deficit basis. He does want producers to keep in mind that even with a pessimistic financial outlook there are still a lot of dollars being spent in support of Checkoff programs that are attempting to raise demand for their product.

You can listen to my interview with Dan here: cic-09-dierschke.mp3

Lynn discussed the new producer attitude survey in which he says that the survey shows that the current economic situation is impacting a lot of people. He says that support for the Checkoff has drifted down a little but that still almost 7 out of 10 producers know about and approve of the Checkoff. More importantly he says, the survey shows that producers continue to feel that the Checkoff has contributed to the overall advancement of the industry and to their bottom lines.

You can listen to my interview with Lynn here: cic-09-heinze-survey.mp3

Cattle Industry Convention Photo Album

Ag Groups, Audio, Beef, Cattle Industry Conference

MINTREX is Poultry MVP

Cindy Zimmerman

International Poultry Expo 09The 2009 International Poultry Expo is officially underway here in Atlanta at the World Congress Center where about 900 companies representing all aspects of the poultry industry have their products and services on display at the huge trade show. According to IPE, the show is the world’s largest display of technology, equipment, supplies, and services used in the production and processing of poultry and eggs and for those involved in feed manufacturing. All segments of the industry are represented here from feed milling, hatchery, and live production to processing, marketing, and support activities.

International Poultry Expo 09The cost of feed and minerals is one of the top concerns for the poultry industry right now – and that is where Novus International hits a home run for producers. I talked with Jim Richards (center), manager of cell biology research for Novus, about one of their all-star products for poultry – MINTREX, which is a highly cost effective source of organic trace minerals designed to optimize productivity and health and is the only mineral product on the market that provides residual methionine for nutritional use.

“We’ve been quite successful in lowering total trace mineral inclusion rates in diets and still see really good performance,” Jim says. “So you can feed less and the animal still does well.”

And if you can cut your mineral inclusion by 50 percent Jim says, “That’s a really good thing, for the producers to save money, a good thing for the environment – it’s a win-win all the way around.”

Listen to that interview here: ipe-09-richards.mp3

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

IPE/IFE Photo Album

AgWired coverage of International Poultry Expo is sponsored by:
Novus

Audio, Feed, Novus International, Poultry, Poultry Expo