2025 Tech Hub Live

Blueberry Juice Tops Antioxidant Charts

Laura McNamara

Health-conscious consumers looking to power up on antioxidants should look for blueberry juice. The Wild Blueberry Association of North America says the USDA’s database for antioxidant values in various foods names blueberry juice among the best sources for antioxidants. The juice is compared with others such as pomegranate, apple, prune, cranberry and Concord grape.

Using the Oxygen Radical Absorption Capacity (ORAC) testing procedure, the gold standard of antioxidant measures for detecting the free-radical scavenging ability of foods, blueberry juice had the highest ORAC score of 2,906 umol TE/100g.

The USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends anywhere from 2 1/2 to 6 1/2 cups or 5 to 13 servings a day of colorful fruit and vegetables depending on age, gender and activity level. According to Davis, a 4-ounce glass of 100% fruit juice equals 1/2 cup of fruit and counts toward daily fruit serving goals. “Try fresh, frozen, canned, juice or dried, because all forms count when you’re trying to add more fruits and vegetables into your diet. Make sure you get a colorful variety of fruits and vegetables, and when it comes to blue, eat at least 1/2 cup of Wild Blueberries or drink 4 ounces of Wild Blueberry juice every day,” said Davis.

The Wild Blueberry Association adds, that though wild blueberries weren’t taken into account, past studies show that wild blueberries contain more antioxidants that 20 other antioxidant-rich fruits. The ORAC database has become the most referenced source of antioxidant values for food.

Uncategorized

Cherries Fight Arthritis Pain

Laura McNamara

Forty-six million Americans have doctor-diagnosed arthritis. That’s one in five American adults. With that figure expected to rise more than 40 percent by 2030, it’s certainly not an issue to ignore. That’s where the cherries come in. The Cherry Marketing Institute is highlighting a new study by the University of Michigan that suggests tart cherries might help naturally reduce inflammation and ease pain from arthritis.

Scientists believe it’s the anthocyanins — also responsible for cherries’ vibrant red color — that are responsible for this anti-inflammatory benefit. Other studies indicate that anthocyanins may be beneficial for a range of inflammatory-related conditions, including arthritis.

Studies also suggest antioxidant-rich foods, like cherries, may help reduce levels of nitric oxide, a compound associated with osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Osteoarthritis currently affects 27 million Americans, with onset typically after 45 years of age.

Russel Reiter, Ph.D., nutrition researcher at the University of Texas Health Science Center, explained that cherries contain antioxidants that function in the same way as some types of pain medication. That’s great news as recent surveys suggest responders are more interested in eating and drinking foods that promote health instead of needing to seek medical treatment or to rely dietary supplements.

Ag Groups, Food

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • American Butter Institute (ABI) members elected new board representatives from three member companies: Cody Gruwell, United Dairymen of Arizona, in Tempe, AZ; Michael John, Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative Association, Inc. in Reston, VA; and Dean Van Tuinen from Darigold, Inc., in Seattle, WA. In addition, John Whetten, ABI’s President from 1999-2001 received the American Dairy Product Institute’s Award of Merit.
  • Research into the success of farm safety education efforts delivered by the Progressive Agriculture Safety Day™ program will help the program become even more successful in the future. Researchers from the University of Kentucky and the University of Alabama have joined forces with the Progressive Agriculture Foundation to conduct this new study in hopes of making a good thing even better. Funding for this work, entitled REACCH (Refinement and Enhancement of Agricultural Safety Curricula for Children) is provided through a grant from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
  • Ag Leader Technology, along with Holland Scientific, a leader in active light reflectance crop sensing technology, announced that Ag Leader has become the exclusive distributor for Holland Scientific’s second generation active light reflectance sensor products for use in production agriculture.
    Zimfo Bytes

    Spring Planting

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Spring PlantingI saw a lot of this from the highway today in between areas of rain. It looks like some work was getting done.

    It’s a long way up here to Minneapolis but the scenery is beautiful if you like rolling farm country and I do. It’s so tempting to stop and take pictures. This was one I couldn’t resist.

    So, I’m here to learn more about the Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association and I’ll do that by playing golf with them early tomorrow before coming back to the hotel to talk about new media (for profit). Keep an eye on my Twitter feed for updates during the day when I’m not at my computer.

    Farming

    Biodiesel Reigns in Food Prices, Boosts Livestock

    Laura McNamara

    Diesel consumers wanting to alleviate soaring fuel prices and high grocery bills should consider using biodiesel. The Missouri Soybean Association says biodiesel helps extend the nation’s limited fuel supply. Plus, it creates an abundance of livestock feed.

    The state’s House Transportation Committee recently held a hearing on legislation that would require all diesel fuel sold in Missouri to be blended with 5 percent biodiesel fuel. Dave Drennan, executive director of the Missouri Dairy Association, testified in support of the biodiesel legislation.

    “As more soybeans are crushed to meet the demands of biodiesel producers, more soybean meal is made available to livestock producers in greater quantities… By increasing the supply of soybean meal, biodiesel helps dairy producers keep costs down,” said Drennan.

    High fuel prices have also impacted dairy prices. According to the Missouri Department of Transportation, 85 percent of all products that are produced and purchased in the state are shipped by diesel-powered trucks. Despite local dairy production, Missouri is a milk-deficit state and imports 1.7 billion pounds of milk from other states each year.

    According to the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute at the University of Missouri, rising usage of soybean oil to produce biodiesel has strengthened soybean oil prices while weakening soybean meal prices. This means more livestock feed is available at lower prices. Soybean meal is created when soybeans are crushed to extract the oil needed for biodiesel. Soybean oil is the only part of the soybean needed to produce biodiesel. For every gallon of biodiesel that is produced, 4 gallons of livestock feed are created.

    Ag Groups, Biodiesel, Dairy, Livestock

    Zimfo Bytes

    Melissa Sandfort

      Zimfo Bytes

    • Ag Leader Technology recently broke ground on a building expansion at their facility in Ames, Iowa. The 96,000 square foot addition will more than double the size of the current facility and create approximately 58 new jobs in the Ames area.
    • Lew Lewis was recently promoted to Senior Key Account Manager for Kemin AgriFoods North America. In this role, Lew serves as the Kemin AgriFoods representative to Kemin customers in the areas of Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. Lew joined Kemin in 1998 as a commercial sales team member. Prior to joining Kemin, he served as a plant controller and then as a buyer for Ralston-Purina Co.
    • Downes-O’Neill announced the agenda for its 2008 Outlook Conference, which will be focused largely on what some analysts are describing as a looming crisis in the production, pricing, and distribution of food supplies across the globe. The 5th Annual Outlook Conference is to be held June 18-19 in Chicago.
    • Novus International Inc.,awarded the 2008 Novus Research Fellowship (NRF) last month. The recipient of the 2008 NRF award was Dr. Ma Deying from the Institute of Animal Nutrition, Northeast Agriculture University in Harbin, China. Dr. Deying’s winning proposal is related to alternatives to in-feed antibiotics in commercial poultry operations.
      Zimfo Bytes

      Blogging/Podcasting Exploding

      Chuck Zimmerman

      Social Media PlatformsJust in time for my presentation at the TOCA meeting tomorrow (Blogging and podcasting for profit. Sponsored by Ewing Irrigation and PBI Gordon) is this report from Universal McCann titled, “Power to the People, Social Media Tracker Wave 3.” (pdf-24MB) They’ve done this study globally 3 times now so it’s got some interesting comparative data in it. Basically folks, new media is where it’s at in today’s online world no matter what country you’re in or what your occupation or age demographic. So for those of you who still wonder why you should know more about this, your questions will be answered. If you still wonder then let’s just say you have gotten off the Cluetrain. Here’s some interesting points and I urge you to download the report with the link above to read the whole thing.

      • Social media is a global phenomenon happening in all markets regardless of wider economic, social and cultural development.
      • All social media platforms have grown significantly over the three Waves: Video Clips are the quickest growing platform, up from 31% penetration in Wave 1 to 83% in Wave 3.
      • 57% have joined a Social Network, making it the number one platform for creating and sharing content: 55% of users have uploaded photos, 22% of users have uploaded videos.
      • Blogs are a mainstream media world-wide and a collective rival to traditional media – 73% have read a blog, 45% have started a blog.
      • Social media has strong impacts over brand’s reputation – 34% post opinions about products and brands on their blog – 36% think more positively about companies that have blogs.

      Here’s the percentage of respondents who agreed with these statements:

      • 56% Blogging is a good way to express yourself
      • 36% I think more positively about companies that have blogs
      • 33% I have a favorite blog that I read regularly
      • 32% I trust bloggers opinions on products and services
      • 31% Blogging is an important way to socialize with friends

      There’s so much information in this report that I can’t even begin to point it all out. It’s all good. Just take some time, take a deep breath and say, “I will read it and I will try to “get it.” If you’re in agricultural marketing today then I hope you understand all the terms in the graphic at the top of this post.

      Via Podcasting News

      Podcasts

      Beef Sticks for Troops

      Laura McNamara

      U.S. beef is at the heart of the classic “American” dish and it can certainly be sorely missed when traveling abroad… especially in Southwest Asia. But, 1st Lieutenant Peter Shinn of the National Guard’s 185th Air Refueling Wing found one Iowa couple who’s trying to bring local beef to troops deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

      One Iowa couple is making sure U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are getting a taste of home. And they’re doing so with help from an extensive network of volunteers, and from the Iowa Air National Guard’s 185th Air Refueling Wing.

      Ted and Dee Ann Paulsrud of Danbury, both of whom are long-time members and leaders of the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association (ICA) are now leading an initiative to get Iowa beef sticks to U.S. troops in southwest Asia. The ICA took on that effort shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001. But the program proved costly, both in time and money, and ICA decided to drop the initiative a little over a year ago. Dee Ann Paulsrud, now widely known as “The Beef Stick Lady,” picks up the story from there.

      “It started a year ago in November [2006] when my husband was retiring off the Iowa Cattlemen’s board for District VII Director,” she told Brownfield. “They no longer were going to do it at the state level. They already had done it for four years and then, they were aborting the program. Well, we didn’t want to do that.”

      So the Paulsruds took up where ICA left off. And Dee Ann Paulsrud said they’ve developed an all-volunteer beef stick processing and distribution system, all aimed at getting Iowa beef to American fighting men and women in Southwest Asia.Read More

      Beef, Food

      Going To a TOCA Party

      Chuck Zimmerman

      TOCAThis week I’ll be attending the Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association annual meeting in Minneapolis. This will be my first experience with this group. I’m curious to find out who I’ll know there. Of course Den Gardner will be there. He also manages AAEA.

      The Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association (TOCA) serves communicators in the Green Industry by fostering an open exchange of information regarding issues that affect how we communicate to our various audiences.

      One of the things they’ve done which is very helpful to those of us who are doing presentations at the meeting is a survey of members. For example, I’ve got a pretty good idea how many of them have or contribute to a blog or podcast and subscribe to rss feeds. It’s a higher number than you might think. And the internet seems to be solidly in the lead as a news source.

      Uncategorized