Advocate for Agriculture

Cindy Zimmerman October 9, 2008

Dr. Jay Lehr has the title of Science Director for an organization called The Heartland Institute, which is a national nonprofit research and education organization with the goal to “discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems.”

He is also an entertaining and passionate speaker who believes in spreading the good news about agriculture to places that are far removed from the farm – like the streets of San Francisco. He spoke about the importance of being an advocate for agriculture to agribusiness corporate leaders meeting in St. Louis at the AEM AgExecutive forum Thursday.

“People don’t understand agriculture and they believe the myths that they hear. They don’t even understand what fertilizer is, they think that we are despoiling the land when in fact we’re the best environmental stewards,” Dr. Lehr said.

He encourages people in agriculture to be pro-active in talking about modern farming and he is particularly interested in promoting precision ag. “The average person thinks that farming today is the same as it was in his grandfather’s day and it’s changed dramatically – using global positioning systems, geographic information systems and variable rate technology, automatic steering – which allows us to reduce our inputs by being more accurate.”

Listen to an interview with Dr. Lehr here:
aem-forum-lehr.mp3

You can also download the 9:30 interview with this link: Dr. Jay Lehr interview (mp3)

Check out the Flickr Photo Album from the AEM AgExecutive Forum here.

AEM, Agribusiness, Audio

Preview of AG CONNECT

Cindy Zimmerman October 9, 2008

A preview of the new generation of ag show – AG CONNECT 2010 – was offered to ag executives meeting Thursday in St. Louis.

Sara Truesdale Mooney has the job of show manager for this ambitious new ag show being organized by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers and she says they have taken a very deliberate approach in developing AG CONNECT.

“We conducted a lot of research with producers,” Sara told me. “And from that research we developed a number of event features that would be unique to AG CONNECT.”

Some of those features include networking, the ability to interact with product specialists and engineers about equipment and new products, more information about precision farming and new technology. Sara says they are really developing a one-stop shop ag show. “We’re going to be putting on a world class agribusiness event that is not just exhibits, not just an equipment show – it’s new products, innovations, technologies, services, inputs – everything you need for your business.”

All of the information about AG CONNECT is available on-line at agconnect.com.

Listen to an interview with Sara here:
aem-forum-sara.mp3

You can also download the 8:00 interview with this link: Sara Truesdale interview on AG CONNECT 2010 (mp3)

Check out the Flickr Photo Album from the AEM AgExecutive Forum here.

AEM, Agribusiness, Audio, Equipment

Ag Secretary Addresses AEM Ag Executives

Cindy Zimmerman October 9, 2008

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer discussed some of the big issues facing agriculture today and in the future during an address to agribusiness company executives meeting in St. Louis Thursday for the Association of Equipment Manufacturers AgExecutive Forum.

Two primary issues he addressed were trade and renewable energy, as well as the importance of the financial rescue plan passed by Congress last week, which he said was absolutely necessary although he expects it will take some time for it to work. “It’s sort of like reining in a team of runaway horses,” Schafer said. “You gotta really haul back on those reins hard for a long period of time before they start calming down.”

Schafer says the agriculture sector is in strong financial shape, with high commodity prices helping farmers to pay down debt and the competitive dollar boosting ag exports to record levels. “Despite increases we have seen in the cost of fuel and fertilizer and other inputs, we expect net farm income to post an all time high again this year at a little over $100 billion,” Schafer said.

Listen to Schafer’s address here:
aem-forum-schafer-speech.mp3

You can also download the 24:00 speech with this link: Ed Schafer speech to AEM AgExecutive Forum (mp3)

And you can also see the recorded video from the live webcast this morning here.

Check out the Flickr Photo Album from the AEM AgExecutive Forum here.

AEM, Audio, Equipment, USDA

A New Frontier From John Deere

Chuck Zimmerman October 9, 2008

One of our field stops at the John Deere Drive Green event was focused on the Frontier line of tractor attachments.

In this video clip you’ll see our presenter tell us about Frontier and how John Deere acquired the line to allow them to provide more options to their customers.

He also points out some of the new items they have out this year, including some that target the equine market.

John Deere Drive Green Photo Album

Equipment, John Deere, Video

New John Deere Tractor Overview

Chuck Zimmerman October 9, 2008

I hope you enjoyed Cindy’s live webcast this morning from the AEM AgExecutive Forum in St. Louis. I’ve held off some posts from my location for that. She’s got recordings of Sec. Schafer’s speech and the panel discussion that followed on AGCONNECT 2010.

So, let’s get on with stories from the John Deere, Drive Green event. The Director of Tactical Marketing for John Deere is Larry Christenson, seen here being interviewed by Ron Hayes, Oklahoma Farm Report, during our day in the field with the new utility tractors.

I interviewed Larry after Ron and got an overview of what’s new from John Deere. As you’ll hear Larry say, it’s “The Year of The Utility Tractor.” He says they have about 2,400 dealers come here to participate in riding and driving their new equipment. He says this rural lifestyle customer is very important to their company and that’s why they’ve placed so much focus on it this year. When it comes to communicating with this market, he says their dealer network is a key component in their plan.

If you’d like, you can listen to my interview with Larry here: drive-green-08-christenson.mp3

You can also download it with this link: Larry Christenson Interview (mp3)

John Deere Drive Green Photo Album

Audio, Equipment, John Deere, Video

Next Generation of Ag Show Panel

Cindy Zimmerman October 9, 2008

Joining in progress – I joined the panel a few minutes late, but here are the people you are hearing and seeing – left to right.

Doug DeVries, Deere and Company; Doug Griffin, AGCO; John Koetz, Case IH; Rusty Fowler, Krone NA; Gary MacDonald, MacDon Industries; Dick Brown, Krause Corp.

The topic of this discussion is the AGCONNECT 2010 trade show. Here’s the recording of the presentation:

AEM, Equipment, Video

Set Up for AEM Forum Webcast

Cindy Zimmerman October 9, 2008

Okay – here we are set up at the AEM AgExecutive Forum in St. Louis for a live webcast on Ustream – AgWired Live TV.

This is the first time I have used this tool – free live webcasting. I have a great internet connection here in the Renaissance Grand hotel and a really great set up in front of the podium. I must give credit to the hotel AV technician who has been the best I have ever dealt with. Too often we have two or three AV techs who are either incompetent or just don’t care. This guy – and I will get his name and post a photo later – has been amazing.

I do have photos started from last night’s reception, but I am not real pleased with them. I am using Chuck’s D200 because we have three events next week and John Davis will be using the camera I normally use. So, I am still getting used to the “big boy” camera.

The plan now is to webcast Ed Schafer live at 8:00 central – I will then upload the recording of his address during the break and live webcast the panel on The Next Generation of Ag Show starting at 9:15. That’s the plan – stay tuned.

Here is the recorded video of the Secretary’s address:

AEM, Equipment, Video

Deere Exec to Host AgExecutive Forum

Cindy Zimmerman October 8, 2008

The host for the Association of Equipment Manufacturers AgExecutive Forum in St. Louis this week is Doug DeVries, Senior Vice President of Ag Equipment Marketing for Deere & Company – shown here doing a little pre-event prep work on Wednesday night. Doug heads up AEM’s Ag Executive Council which represents the farm machinery segment of the equipment manufacturers organization. He passed up being in Sarasota this week for the big Deere event that Chuck is covering to be at this event because of it’s importance to the industry.

“We’re going to have a broad range of discussions about a number of issues around what’s happening in the industry today,” Doug told me. That includes economic issues, renewable energy, commodity prices and more.

Doug says he is really looking forward to introducing plans for the new AG CONNECT 2010 expo. “We’re really excited about AG CONNECT as the first AEM-sponsored, agricultural equipment show that is brought to our customers by the industry and for the industry,” he said. “We believe it will be a different type of experience for people.” He is most excited about the global focus of the expo and the educational opportunities they plan to offer.

Listen to an interview with Doug here – and tune in for AgWired Live TV from the AgExecutive Forum Thursday starting at 8:00 am central with Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer followed by a discussion about AG CONNECT with Doug and several of his industry colleagues who are helping to plan and support the new show.

aem-forum-08-devries.mp3

You can also download the 4:00 interview with this link: Doug DeVries Interview (mp3)

AEM, Audio, Equipment, John Deere

New Mower Attachment From John Deere

Chuck Zimmerman October 8, 2008

At today’s John Deere product launch we went to classes on utility tractors. I think we had about 6 different stations where we could listen to presentations and then get to ride and drive on our own.

One item that got a lot of attention today was the new easily detachable underbelly mowers for these utility tractors. After you drop them on the ground there are just 2 latches to undo and then you can back off over top of the mower. There’s no need to pull the heavy mower out from under the tractor. Then you just drive back on top of the mower and it automatically latches itself back on to the tractor.

I shot a short video clip at the demonstration station where this new product was being showcased.

I’ll have a lot more content from today’s event but it’s late and Cindy will be on live blogging the AEM AgExecutive Forum in the morning while we’re in presentations from John Deere representatives here at the hotel.

John Deere Drive Green Photo Album

Equipment, John Deere, Tractor, Video

AgExecutive Forum Ready to Roll

Cindy Zimmerman October 8, 2008

Tomorrow this room will be filled with executives from agricultural equipment companies and associated industries, here in St. Louis for the Association of Equipment Manufacturers AgExecutive Forum. And AgWired is set up to webcast some of the proceedings live starting at 8 am central time with an address by Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer.

AEM Vice President of Ag Services Charlie O’Brien says the purpose of the forum is to bring leaders in the industry together and provide them with the latest information about factors that are impacting the business.

AEM hold the forum every year but one of the main differences about this year is the focus on plans for AG CONNECT 2010, a new ag trade show that has been developed by many leaders in the farm equipment industry who are members of AEM. “It’s a concept that has been talked about for awhile and now it’s actually coming to be,” Charlie told me. Some of those who have helped in the development of AG CONNECT are among the largest ag equipment manufacturers in the world.

Listen to an interview with Charlie here – and tune in for AgWired Live TV from the AgExecutive Forum starting at 8:00 am central.

aem-forum-08-obrien.mp3

You can also download the 3:00 interview with this link: Charlie O’Brien Interview (mp3)

AEM, Audio, Equipment

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