Ethanol at AgNite

Cindy Zimmerman

RFA at AgNiteOne of the very cool things about the AgNite event in Minnesota this week was the way it united all aspects of the agriculture industry. The 50 sponsors included agribusinesses, corn growers, food processors, livestock, dairy and poultry producers, and the ethanol industry. Some of these groups have been at odds with each other in recent months over the impact of ethanol production on grain and feed prices, but for one glorious night they all got together and put aside their differences to showcase our nation’s unparalleled ability to produce food, feed, fuel and fiber.

The Renewable Fuels Association was a gold level sponsor of the event, thanks to the involvement in the Minnesota Agri-Growth Council of members like Randy Doyle of Al-Corn Clean Fuel in Claremont. “We are producing fuel as well as food here in Minnesota and that’s a great story to tell,” Randy says. “We’re creating a domestic source of energy. All we’re doing is harvesting solar energy. Those corn plants out there are the best solar collectors we’ve found and our job is just to turn it into liquid fuel that we can use in our cars.”

Unfortunately, I never got a photo of Randy at AgNite, but I did get an interview, which you can listen to here: agnite-alcorn.mp3

Be sure to check out the AgNite Photo Album for 200 pictures from the event.

AgWired coverage of AgNite is sponsored by: and

Audio, Ethanol

Feeding America

Chuck Zimmerman

George BraleyYou may be familiar with an organization called Second Harvest. Now you need to know it by the name, Feeding America. The new name was announced September 1. George Braley (front left) is their Senior Vice President of Government Relations and Public Policy. He was one of the people on hand Tuesday at their regional network member, Second Harvest Heartland, to bring attention to the needs of hungry Americans. He says the name was changed to better reflect their mission and to better relate with Americans.

George says AgNite provided a great opportunity to bring attention to the name change and also to Hunger Action Month. He says this month is being celebrated by food banks and other anti-hunger organizations.

Besides the food packing event held in conjunction with the RNC, he says they also conducted one in Denver at the DNC. He says hunger is an issue from which you can draw support from both parties.

According to George, Feeding America distributes over 2 billion pounds of food a year with a goal of 3 billion. Much of it comes from private donations but a lot comes from state and national government programs too. He says they have a team on the ground in Louisiana to see how to best provide food aid to needy people. If you’re interested in helping their efforts, here’s where you can learn more.

Listen to my interview with George here: agnite-08-braley.mp3

Be sure to check out the AgNite Photo Album for 200 pictures from the event.

AgWired coverage of AgNite is sponsored by: and

Audio, Food

Princess Kay of the Milky Way at AgNite

Chuck Zimmerman

Kristy MussmanHelping educate the people attending AgNite was Princess Kay of the Milky Way. She’s Kristy Mussman, a 3rd generation dairy farm family member.

She’s still pretty overwhelmed by her selection as the 55th Princess Kay. “It’s an unbelievable feeling, knowing that one day I was just a dairy farmer’s daughter and then going through all the processes for dairy princesses and knowing that not only do I represent my family but I also represent the 4,700 other dairy farmers across the state of Minnesota. I am blessed to have that opportunity.”

Kristy says AgNite is a great opportunity since there are so many people attending who are willing to hear what people in agriculture have to say.

Listen to my interview with Kristy here: agnite-08-mussman.mp3

Be sure to check out the AgNite Photo Album for 200 pictures from the event.

AgWired coverage of AgNite is sponsored by: and

Ag Groups, Audio, Dairy

Chris Novak New Pork Board CEO

Chuck Zimmerman

Chris NovakThe National Pork Board has a new CEO. He’s Chris Novak from Indiana. He says it’s “like coming home for me.”

Novak has served as executive director of the Indiana Soybean Alliance and Indiana’s corn organizations. He led the merger of two soybean organizations and helped build partnerships between Indiana’s soybean, corn and livestock commodity organizations. He also worked to secure passage of a new state corn checkoff.

“This is a challenging time for the U.S. pork industry because of the volatility in the markets, but also a time of great opportunity,” said Steve Weaver, a pork producer from Elk Grove, Calif., and president of the National Pork Board. “That is why I and my fellow National Pork Board members are so excited to have someone with Chris Novak’s experience and abilities to work with us in meeting those challenges and identifying those opportunities on behalf of all U.S. pork producers.”

Ag Groups, Pork

AgNite Was Incredible

Chuck Zimmerman

AgNite CrowdAgNite was really an incredible event on several levels. The participation on the part of the agricultural community was impressive with over 50 companies and organizations involved. The Minnesota Agri-Growth Council staff was awesome. From 3pm to 3am it was non-stop activity, with people like Cindy and me needing assistance. The staff smiled throughout it all. There’s too many people to thank but I would like to thank Leslie Shuler in particular since she has been our primary contact for the project. It was an event we’ll always remember.

This is a shot of the crowd in one area of The Depot, where the event was held. It’s just prior to the Styx concert. Styx was awesome btw and the crowd loved them. How old are those guys? We weren’t allowed to take pictures of them or you can count on the fact that you’d see one here. (I didn’t, really . . . ).

Special thanks go to AgStar Financial for making ZimmComm’s participation and our AgWired coverage possible. We’ve still got some more content to post, but for now, it’s time to head on home to headquarters.

Be sure to check out the AgNite Photo Album for 200 pictures from the event.

AgWired coverage of AgNite is sponsored by: and

Uncategorized

Hormel Provides Protein Punch for Hunger Relief

Cindy Zimmerman

CHS at AgNiteJoe Swedberg is Vice President of Legislative Affairs of Hormel Foods Corporation and currently chairman of the Minnesota Agri-Growth Council, the coordinators of the gala AgNite event held in the Twin Cities on the second night of the Republican National Convention.

Joe was also on hand earlier Tuesday during a potato-packing event held at Second Harvest Heartland to highlight the work that agribusiness does to aid the hungry in Minnesota, the nation and the world. “As a company we support Second Harvest and are the primary protein sponsors for Second Harvest,” Joe said. He says that Hormel was one of the primary sponsors for AgNite because “Minnesota plays such an important role in agriculture and we’re one of the larger agriculture-oriented businesses in the state.”

Listen to my interview with Joe Swedberg here:
agnite-08-hormel.mp3

Be sure to check out the AgNite Photo Album for 200 pictures from the event.

AgWired coverage of AgNite is sponsored by: and

Agribusiness, Audio

FFA Helping Educate at AgNite

Chuck Zimmerman

Sydney PlaceThe primary purpose of AgNite was to showcase and educate attendees about agriculture.

What better way than to have your state FFA officers on hand? One of them was Sydney Place who is Minnesota FFA State Reporter. Sydney had an exciting day because she not only attended AgNite but it was also her first day of college. She says,

“It is such an exciting time to be a part of agriculture right now. There are some challenges and some things that need to be worked on in agriculture right now but the exciting part about being an agriculturalist is you have the opportunity to find solutions to those problems.”

Listen to my interview with Sydney here: agnite-08-place.mp3

Be sure to check out the AgNite Photo Album for 200 pictures from the event.

AgWired coverage of AgNite is sponsored by: and

Ag Groups, Audio, Education

Agribusinesses Proud to Sponsor AgNite

Cindy Zimmerman

CHS at AgNiteCHS is a Minnesota-based, farmer-owned, diversified agribusiness that was a proud sponsor of the AgNite event held on the second night of the Republican National Convention in the Twin Cities.

CHS Governmental Affairs Director Jim Bareksten is a board member of the Minnesota Agri-Growth Council, which coordinated the gala event celebrating food, agriculture and bioenergy – all of which are important to this company. “We’re a Fortune 200 company, we’re owned by farmers, and it is good to be involved,” Jim told me. “When you have a group of 17 farmer-directors that lead our company and you bring up an ag event of this magnitude to them, some of them being from different parties, they all jump on board and say let’s promote agriculture.”

Listen to my interview with Jim Bareksten here:
agnite-08-chs.mp3

Be sure to check out the AgNite Photo Album for 200 pictures from the event.

AgWired coverage of AgNite is sponsored by: and

Agribusiness, Audio

Former Ag Secretary Attends AgNite

Cindy Zimmerman

John Block at AgNiteOne of the thousands who attended the non-partisan AgNite event held in the Twin Cities on the second night of the Republican National Convention was former agriculture secretary John Block, who is currently serving as co-chairman of John McCain’s Farm and Ranch committee.

Block was impressed and proud at the turnout at the event. “To me that suggests that agriculture really is important, although I think that people sometimes take us for granted,” Block said. “It’s exciting to see agriculture in the spotlight today, not just here at the convention, but in terms of whether farmers can produce enough food to feed the world and the fact is we’ve exported a record amount of food this year. We’re doing a terrific job in agriculture.”

The AgNite event was sponsored by the Minnesota Agri-Growth Council and featured the support of agribusiness organizations and industries nationwide.

Listen to my interview with John Block here:
agnite-08-block.mp3

Be sure to check out the AgNite Photo Album for 200 pictures from the event.

AgWired coverage of AgNite is sponsored by: and

Audio

Packing Those Potatoes

Chuck Zimmerman

Prior to the AgNite event Cindy and I attended a food aid packing competition at Second Harvest Heartland. The idea was to see how many bags of potatoes the teams could make in 5 minutes. Some of our expected dignitaries wound up with schedule conflicts but we still held the 5 minute bag packing drill.

Be sure to check out the AgNite Photo Album.

AgWired coverage of AgNite is sponsored by: and

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