At the Iowa Speedway yesterday, the Iowa Corn Growers Association held an outdoor press conference. They used it to help educate media about corn usage by placing banners on the side of a grain trailer showing the relative percentages of corn used for different purposes like livestock feed and ethanol.
I did a short interview with Gary Edwards, ICGA board member. Ken Root, WHO, also participated. Gary farms in Animosa, IA which is in one of the most flood impacted areas of the state. He says that although corn growth is behind schedule and there is a lot of land impacted, he expects that the state will still have a good crop. He wants people to keep in mind that last year they had a record corn crop and this year still has the potential to be one of the biggest. He says the water levels have gone down significantly already and he expects that a lot of those fields will dry out and be re-planted. He has no doubt that they’ll be able to provide all the corn needed for both food and fuel again this year.
I asked Gary if we were all going to starve by mid July and he laughed and said, “NO.” You’d think we were from some of the tv coverage I’ve seen.
You can listen to my interview with Gary here: iowa-08-edwards.mp3
I really like the idea of Rabobank producing an audio podcast of their news releases. (If you’d like this done for your company or organization then give the ag experts at ZimmComm New Media a call.)
Once this deal closes, 
Okay farm podcasters. You’ve got a new choice in recording gear. You’re already carrying an iPod right? Just add the 
This year’s Iowa Corn Indy 250 is over and as usual, ethanol won. Actually, Dan Wheldon, Target Chip Ganassi Racing won the race. You can see plenty of victory lane pictures in my photo album.
After today’s ethanol press conference the media were treated to rides out on the track in the Iowa Speedway Pace Car. I got to do one at Indy a couple years ago in a truck so this was different.
We had an inside look at ethanol press conference here at Iowa Speedway this morning. Participating were (l-r), Toni Nuernberg, 
The first practice session for the Iowa Corn Indy 250 is just about to conclude and Team Ethanol’s #17 car is doing very well. I’ve got another interview scheduled with him in about 45 minutes.
I finally got to meet the Team Ethanol driver, Ryan Hunter-Reay. Ryan was on hand at the Kum & Go pump promotion and posed here with the Highway Patrolmen who helped us with security and traffic and other drivers. He’s the tall guy on the left. Cindy and Laura have already had a chance to meet him. This is my first Indy race of the year though.