Travel and BBQ Go Together

Laura McNamara

The online travel agency CheapTickets.com is bringing consumers the best in barbecue and travel this summer. The agency has teamed up with Rick Browne, host of PBS’ Barbecue America, to launch bbq.cheaptickets.com.

The new site, which features a blog written by Browne exclusively for CheapTickets, reveals undiscovered BBQ destinations around the U.S. In his blog, Browne highlights lesser known, but equally delicious, hidden BBQ gems in Portland, ME, Las Vegas and San Francisco, just to name a few.

And just in time for Fourth of July travel, the site offers budget-friendly vacation packages and sales that will ease the pinch of the pocketbook. Through the BBQ site, customers have access to CheapTickets’ Summer Sale which offers $50-off qualifying flight + hotel packages of three or more nights using the promotional code SUNSALE50(1).

Now, if we could just get the airlines to serve BBQ during the flight…

Food

Dog Wild for Hot Dogs

Laura McNamara

Okay. So who knew just how crazy Americans are for hot dogs? I didn’t. Apparently, Hatfield Quality Meats does. The family-owned meat company says on July 4th alone, Americans will chow down on 150 million hot dogs. That’s enough hot dogs, the company says, to stretch from Washington D.C. to Los Angeles… five times over. That’s just one day. Hatfield says that by the end of the summer, Americans will have eaten an estimated 7 billion hot dogs.

Hatfield Quality Meats will turn out more than 50 million hot dogs, or ‘franks,’ this summer alone. In addition to its traditional meat and beef franks, the company recently introduced new Authentic Deli-style Beef Franks, along with pre-marinated entrees such as Lemon Garlic Pork Loin Filets, Sweet Brown Sugar Ham Steaks and Southwestern-style Smoked Sausage — all for the grill.

What few people realize is that hot dogs — of all varieties — are considered sausages.

Click here for more hot dog triva.Read More

Food

Corn Field Driftwood

Chuck Zimmerman

Corn Field FloodingThis is not something you want to see in your corn field. River driftwood.

Actually that’s not the only thing wrong with this picture near Eddyville, IA. The water in the background is supposed to be the rest of the field, not the Des Moines River. It was an eye opener of a drive up to Newton, IA today. The worst flooding and fields I saw were in Iowa. Even fields with some very good looking corn had huge areas of dead or very yellow plants where it looked like water had pooled up for a while.

At least the sun was shining most of the way up. However, I did drive through a line of showers right after getting into Iowa earlier this afternoon.

Farming

Recording Natural Sound of Flooding

Chuck Zimmerman

Tricia Braid TerryThe brave farm broadcaster gets her feet wet collecting pictures and natural sound. What is the sound of flooding anyway?

Tricia “Brave” Terry, RFD Radio Network, literally took to her heels to check on the Mississippi River situation, “splashing my way down US Rte 54 between the river and the levee on the Illinois side. This was Monday at noontime. This area is the Sny Levee Reach. The levy here has four compartments and protects 125,000 acres, one of the largest districts in the country.”

You can click on the picture for a larger version.

Media

Rock and Roll Meets Tractor and Country

Chuck Zimmerman

Chuck Leavell and Michael PetersonWe certainly had a little bit of rock and roll getting together with country at the Michael Peterson/New Holland Celebrity Tractor Race. One of the contestants who held the lead for a while was Rolling Stones keyboardist, Chuck Leavell (left), seen here with Michael Peterson.

Chuck is a central Georgia tree farmer where he and his wife have 2,500 acres. He’s the proud owner of a New Holland 2410. I asked him why he participated and one of the things he likes is supporting FFA, which he feels strongly about. As far as a celebrity tractor race goes, he thinks it’s the coolest thing in the world. When he’s not on the road rocking and rolling with the Stones, he says you’ll find him on his New Holland out in the woods.

He’s also a big believer in biofuels like biodiesel and has a special interest in cellulosic ethanol production. That makes sense for a tree farmer.

Listen to my interview with Chuck: cma-08-chuck-leavell.mp3

Watch Chuck ride:


2008 CMA Music Festival Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the CMA Country Music Festival is sponsored by:
New Holland

Audio, New Holland, Video

EPIC Member Website Re-designed

Chuck Zimmerman

EPIC Member WebsiteWhile I’m on the subject of the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council, I realized that I’ve neglected to mention their newly designed member website.

I think it’s a great example of how a “blog” can be your primary website. EPIC staff, (occasionally, Cindy and myself), easily and frequently update the website with fresh information that their members want and need to know. Members can subscribe to it and there are plenty of pages of information that are also updated easily and frequently. It’s another ZimmComm New Media blog project that we’re pretty proud of. Elizabeth Hilpipre, EPIC staff, is becoming a master blogger and loves her new iMac btw.

Ag Groups, Ethanol

Speeding To Iowa Corn Indy 250

Chuck Zimmerman

Iowa Corn Indy 250It looks like the flooding in Iowa has not affected things at the Iowa Speedway where I’m headed this afternoon for pre-race activities for this weekend’s Iowa Corn Indy 250.

Iowa’s flooding disaster is not directly affecting scheduled events for the IndyCar Series weekend, June 20-22, at Iowa Speedway. The facility has immediate access to I-80 and is located on elevated ground near an adjacent airport. Racing fans who plan to attend the Iowa Corn Indy 250, especially those out-of-state, are encouraged to proceed with plans to attend the event.

Over the next several days I’ll have some stories here, but mostly on our Domestic Fuel site. Our coverage of the activities is once again sponsored by the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council.

Ethanol

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • 2008 Farm Progress Hay Expo, its 22nd annual show, will be held June 25 and 26 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The show site is located just south of Ossian, Iowa, at the Knutson Farms and Winkler Farms. Admission is free; parking is $7 per vehicle. For more show information, click here.
  • Ag Leader Technology has established the Ag Leader Technology Precision Agriculture Scholarship within the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering at Iowa State University. Five Ag Leader scholarships will be awarded annually starting in the 2008-09 school year. Students can apply for the scholarship online.
  • The CHS Foundation has awarded $25,000 in scholarships to high school students pursuing careers in the agriculture industry. An independent, external committee selected recipients based on essays, career goals and extracurricular activities. More information on all CHS Foundation scholarships is available here.
  • Neogen Corporation announced the formation of its new subsidiary in Mexico, Neogen Latino America SPA. The new company, headquartered in Mexico City, will distribute the company’s food and animal safety products throughout Mexico.
    Zimfo Bytes

    Deere Goes Greener

    Laura McNamara

    John DeereDeere equipment isn’t the only thing that’s green about John Deere. The ag company has announced its plans to reduce its total global greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent per dollar of revenue from 2005 to 2014.

    The company has committed to the reduction goal in conjunction with its participation in
    the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Leaders program, which Deere joined in
    2007.

    John Deere locations worldwide will implement energy-saving projects to meet the target. Climate Leaders is a voluntary industry-government partnership that works with companies to develop long-term comprehensive climate change strategies. Participants set a corporate-wide greenhouse gas emissions reduction goal and annually report their progress to the EPA. Through program participation, companies create a credible record of their accomplishments, reduce their impact on the global environment, and identify themselves as corporate climate leaders.

    John Deere’s energy management program began in 1973 and requires company operations to implement energy-conservation initiatives and track energy use. In response to international global-warming concerns, Deere added a worldwide greenhouse gas emissions inventory program in 2003.

    Deere says its direct greenhouse gas emissions come from operations such as foundry, heat-treat, painting, powerhouse, and testing. Indirect emissions, Deere says, result from demand for electricity or steam.

    Environment, John Deere

    Deere Funds Innovation Center

    Laura McNamara

    John DeereA $1 million grant from John Deere will fund the development of a new John Deere Technology Innovation Center at the University of Illinois. Illini students and faculty will use the center for studies and research in agriculture, business, engineering and information technology.

    The new facility, which is expected to be ready by July, is located in the
    University Research Park in Champaign, Illinois and will create an accelerated
    innovation environment to assist Deere in utilizing advanced electronics, mechatronics,
    advanced sensors and control systems technology.

    Deere said the new technology innovation center in Champaign will expand its
    capabilities to respond to the rapidly changing environment for John Deere’s customers
    and businesses through leveraging the capabilities of the University.

    John Deere says the new center will serve as a satellite facility for the company’s Moline Technology Innovation Center, which is located on John Deere’s World Headquarters campus in Moline, IL.

    Ag Groups, Education, John Deere, Technology