It’s going to be interesting to see how the word “ethanol” is used at the upcoming International Poultry Expo which we’ll be covering right here on AgWired. Apparently it’s not a pleasant word at Pilgrim’s Pride. The company just announced a Chapter 11 filing and according to a story on AgWeb it sounds like they’re blaming their troubles on, you guessed it, “ethanol.”
Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NYSE: PPC), together with certain of its wholly owned subsidiaries (collectively, the “Company”), today announced that in an effort to address certain short-term operational and liquidity challenges, it filed voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas (the “Court”). The Company’s operations are expected to continue as normal throughout the bankruptcy process while it develops a reorganization plan to resolve its temporary operational and liquidity issues. The Company’s operations in Mexico and certain operations in the United States were not included in the filing and will continue to operate outside of the Chapter 11 process.
I don’t know about you but I’m just constantly amazed at how many companies and even industries are blaming their woes on ethanol. Just take the grocers who are blaming high food costs on ethanol even though the price of corn has dropped significantly. They still haven’t dropped their prices. I’m guessing there’s a lot more to this story than just a short lived bump in corn prices.
eplantspace.com Social Networking Site
The urge to connect socially online continues to grow. I am constantly surprised at who I’m connecting with online via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. I have new friends and contacts on each of them every day, in fact, several times every day. That’s why I find it interesting when a company or organization tries to create their own social networking site. Take BBI International for example.
BBI International Inc. has officially launched its ePlantSpace Web site, a social networking platform dedicated to connecting plant managers and other members involved in the ethanol industry.
Mike and Kathy Bryan, co-founders of BBI International, conceived the idea for ePlantSpace because they wanted to rekindle relationships with industry members. They are hopeful that those involved in the ethanol industry will do the same.
I wonder how it will work out. My guess is that there are already many of their target audience connected socially online. I think I understand why BBI is trying this. However, since Cindy and I have been so involved in the ethanol business we’re connected with many of those in the industry, including plant managers through what I guess you can call “mainstream” sites, several of which have groups set up for this same purpose. Additionally, we connect with them via our news blog which has an open rss feed, Twitter feed and podcast.
What do you think? Is it worth the time and investment to create your own social network at this point?
Food and Agriculture Policy Summit
Farm Foundation and Farm Journal Media are co-hosting a big event in Washington DC this week. The Food and Agriculture Policy Summit features three days of programs focused on the wide range of domestic and global issues facing the food system and agriculture today.
“For a number of years, Farm Journal has sponsored an annual policy forum in Washington DC and this year we decided to join forces,” said Farm Foundation president Neil Conklin.
The policy summit actually kicks off today with the Farm Journal Forum on “What Will Change Bring? Impacts of a New Congress and Administration in the New Era of Agriculture” which continues through Wednesday.
Wednesday afternoon will be a joint event between both Farm Journal and Farm Foundation – “A Conversation with the Secretaries. “We’ve invited all nine of the living past Secretaries of Agriculture to participate in a conversation to talk about what advice they might give a new secretary of agriculture and just what their perspectives are on the challenges we face today,” said Conklin. (Pop quiz – can you name them all? Here is the answer)
On Thursday, Farm Foundation examines long-range policy options in the conference: “Agriculture and Food Policy: A Strategic Approach.” This conference examines the challenges for food and agricultural policy to feed a growing world over the next 30 years.
John Davis will be providing coverage of this event on both AgWired and DomesticFuel.
Listen to my interview with Neil about the event here: summit-conklin.mp3
JackPlot™ National Competition Blog
We’re very happy to announce the JackPlot!™ National Finals Competition blog. This is a new project for ZimmComm, working with the folks at Winfield Solutions for CROPLAN GENETICS® Seed. In case you don’t know about JackPlot!™ then you can find out more here.
Cindy will be the JackPlot!™ blogger this week in Las Vegas. Here she is checking out our JackPlot!™ game before she takes off for the competition.
Sixteen crop producers from across the country will travel to Las Vegas during the first week of December to participate in the JackPlot™ National Competition and Sweepstakes – a competition focusing on crop production insight and expertise, sponsored by CROPLAN GENETICS® seed and based on the The JackPlot!™ agronomic board game.
Participants in the Dec. 4-6, 2008, JackPlot™ national competition will be teamed with CROPLAN GENETICS® expert agronomists and will compete for “bushels” of production by answering agronomic questions.
The December tournament is the culmination of the JackPlot!™ National Competition and Sweepstakes, which began with the release of the JackPlot!™ game in February 2008.
For more information about the JackPlot!™ Game National Competition & Sweepstakes in Las Vegas go to www.jackplotvegas.com, where you can even vote for your favorite player. For more information about the Answer Plot® or CROPLAN GENETICS® brand products, visit your local CROPLAN GENETICS® seed dealer or go to www.answerplot.com or www.croplangenetics.com.
Full Release (Word doc)
What’s New With BASF
Let’s go back to the NAFB Convention and Trade Talk for this week’s program and learn what’s new with BASF.
To find out I interviewed Amber Shirley, Technical Services Specialist and Craig Lindholm, Marketing Manager – Seed Treatment. You’ll hear them both talk about plant health.
Here in this picture is Amber getting interviewed before I got my turn. She talks about the BASF cereal fungicide portfolio. As she puts it, “Plant health is the talk of the town.” She says fungicides are important for disease control, increase in growth efficiency and increase in drought tolerance. Craig talks about seed treatments of course and says they’ll have 11 products available by 2011. He says that you want to get that seedling started off healthy.
The program this week ends with music from the Podsafe Music Network. This one is called “Drive” from the Common Ground. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.
You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: 
ZimmCast 197 (13 min MP3)
Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:Interview with Amber Shirley and Craig Lindholm - ZimmCast 197
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
Ken Wurdeman Joins Ervin Group
Ken Wurdeman has just joined Ervin Group, an agency in Omaha as Director of Public Relations.
A former broadcast journalist, Wurdeman is a native of Nebraska and brings more than 25 years of experience in agricultural, insurance and healthcare marketing communications to Ervin Group. Wurdeman previously worked at Swanson Russell in Omaha, serving as public relations counsel for agricultural and financial services clients.
Ervin Group’s clients include Lindsay Corporation, Zimmatic, Alegent Health, GreenLeaf Genetics, and iNet Solutions/Farm Centric.
AGROTAIN Excited About Agriculture
Another new exhibitor at NAFB Trade Talk this year was AGROTAIN International. You might remember us covering the grand opening of their new stabilized nitrogen production facility and urea storage center in St. Louis a couple of months ago.
I talked with president Mike Stegmann at NAFB about how the new facility is doing and just what they have to offer the agriculture industry. “I’m real excited about the state of agriculture right now,” Mike said. “I know that we can look forward to seeing a bit of a rocky path but agriculture is an exciting place to be. We know we have to continue to do a better job environmentally and Agrotain provides a great environmental benefit.”
Listen to my interview with Mike here: nafb-08-agrotain.mp3
Get Ready for AgConnect Expo
NAFB Trade Talk is a great way to get new information out to farm broadcasters and that is what the Association of Equipment Manufacturers did this year at the event, talking about the new AG CONNECT 2010 expo.
Charlie O’Brien, vice president of agricultural services for AEM, had the chance to talk about the progress being made on the new show, which will debut in Orlando January 13-15. Charlie says they are working with a number of groups now who want to be involved in the show and hold their annual meetings as part of the event. He is especially excited about the global aspect of the expo. “We have more and more products being exported around the world,” he says. “So it’s a sharing of information back and forth from around the world.”
Listen to my interview with Charlie here: nafb-08-aem.mp3
Zimfo Bytes
- Pro-Act Microbial announces a company name change to Pro-Act Biotech. Pro-Act Biotech is still focused on providing microbial treatment systems for CAFOs and already supplies other products and services, such as manure solids separators, digester technology and more.
- The Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin (PDPW) Annual Business Conference, “Adding Passion, Multiplying Profits”, March 17-18, 2009 at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wisc., will include speakers Ron “Gus” Gustafson and Adam Timmerman, NFL star.
- Caterpillar and Rhea + Kaiser Marketing Communications were recognized during the eighth annual Marketing Communications Awards, conducted by the Construction Writer’s Association (CWA) in October. Rhea + Kaiser received a first place award in the Advertising category for its Cat Compact Equipment “Reflections” campaign for Caterpillar. The agency also received an honorable mention in the Public Relations category for the Cat Chopper Auction campaign.
- The Christmas Spirit Foundation has tracked consumer moods over a four-year period, and now presents the data in comparison to the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
A Loos Thanksgiving Parade
Trent Loos will do a lot to get attention. Like drive his FoodLink Chuck Wagon (a wagon named after me!) in a parade that’s being televised nationally. I wonder if they’ll put him in his sponsoring museum someday.
The Loos Tales FoodLink Chuck Wagon took to the streets of Chicago on Thanksgiving morning using history to bring attention to the modern food production system and the progress made over the past century as a result of the application of science and technology.
“As a first-time participant in the McDonald’s Thanksgiving Parade, the Loos Tales FoodLink Chuck Wagon represented the vital role that today’s U.S. food producers play in providing nutrients and assuring national food security,” said Sarah Muirhead, editor and publisher of Feedstuffs.
The Loos Tales FoodLink Chuck Wagon was presented in the parade by the Museum of Science & Industry of Chicago.
At the helm of the century-old chuck wagon was Loup City, Neb., rancher and broadcast personality Trent Loos. A native of Quincy, Ill., Loos can be heard daily on more than 100 radio stations across the nation and is a regular columnist in Feedstuffs and a partner on Feedstuffs FoodLink, an initiative aimed at telling the story of America’s food production.
Joining Loos on the buckboard was Korean War veteran Tony Gallagher, a former Chicago resident whose eight years of military service and 23 years with the CIA earned him eight purple hearts.
“Like the American soldier, the American farmer/rancher is a critical link to our nation’s security. For only through continued domestic food production can food security and independence be maintained for American consumers,” said Loos.