Sweetest Honey of the Hives

Laura McNamara

They’re calling it The Great American Honey Hunt. The American Honey Producers Association wants apiarists and backyard beekeepers alike to submit their best sticky sweetness to claim the ultimate honey pot.

Honey varietals are surging in popularity. Clover, alfalfa, sage, wildflower – more than 300 different types of honey – each with its own unique taste, color and fragrance – are available throughout the country. But where is the best honey in America made? California? South Dakota? Texas? Your home town? The contest is simple – send us your bees’ best. We’ll sample all of them and crown one winner in each size category.

President of the American Honey Producers Association (AHPA) Mark Brady says, “While honey remains a staple of the American diet, most grocery stores only carry blended honeys that have lost their unique character and flavor, due to blending with imported honey and, in some cases, are adulterated with artificial sweeteners.

“If people just knew about the real honey that’s being made in this country right now, even in their hometown, they’d understand all the great flavors they are missing and demand it be sold,” explains Brady.

Contest information and rules are available at www.hooplegroup.com.

Ag Groups, Farming

Ohio Equine Enthusiasts Unite

Laura McNamara

Members of the Ohio horse community are uniting in the face of economic instability. The equine industry in Ohio is forming an umbrella coalition to offer members more security.

In an attempt to overcome numerous challenges and what amounts to an economic crisis in several segments, members of this state’s horse community today announced the formation of the Ohio Equine Industry Coalition (OEIC). The organization, designed to include all breeds and disciplines, will represent an industry which accounts for an over $1.4 billion goods and services impact on Ohio.

“In today’s Ohio, more kids are growing up on concrete than on dirt and kids are more likely to learn about computer programming than animal sciences,” said acting Steering Committee Chair Dr. John Mossbarger. “The OEIC is a critical step for the horse industry to tell its story to a wide audience.”

Facing issues such as increased environmental regulations, sale prices bottoming-out, a lack of large-animal and equine veterinary practitioners and development encroaching on riding trails, it will be critical for the equine industry to present a united front.

Ag Groups, Farming, Horses

Visiting John Deere AMS For Precision Pays

Chuck Zimmerman

John Deere AMS OfficesIt’s been a very interesting day on the road. I just finished up conducting some interviews at the John Deere Ag Management Solutions offices in Urbandale, IA. I’m going to be using them for a series of stories on Precision Pays.

There’s a lot going on in the precision ag world right now as pressure mounts to reduce input costs and increase productivity. Precision Pays is a project we’ve been working on with BCS Communications and John Deere to help distribute current information to help farmers improve their bottom line.

Marketing ManagerI thought I’d share the first interview in the series with Mark Theuerkauf, Marketing Manager. Mark and I talked about RTK. Our conversation helped me better understand how the tower or base station network functions to provide a growing coverage area where farmers can take advantage of the extreme accuracy that RTK offers. As Mark says, John Deere offers three levels of accuracy with RTK being at the top of the list.

You can learn more about RTK on the John Deere StellarSupport website. Mark says that there are considerations when using the network since it is contingent on line of sight with the local towers. He suggests that farmers work with their local dealer to find out how to incorporate RTK into their operation.

You can listen to my interview with Mark here: ams-office-08-theuerkauf-rtk-update.mp3

Agribusiness, Audio, John Deere, Precision Agriculture

Mike Wright New Dir. Global Marketing For Diamond V

Chuck Zimmerman

Mike WrightIt sounds like Mike Wright will be doing a little bit of traveling. Diamond V announced that he’s their new Director of Global Marketing.

In his role Wright will oversee sales and marketing efforts, with special emphasis on the dairy business.

Wright joins Diamond V with 17 years of feed industry sales and marketing experience. Prior to joining Diamond V Wright served as Business Manager for ADM Alliance Nutrition, where he was responsible for new business opportunities and marketing program development for key strategic products. Previously, he worked for ADM Animal Health & Nutrition, MoorMans Incorporated, Manna Pro Corporation and Countrymark Cooperative, Inc.

Mike understands the feed business and what producers need to stay profitable,? says Jeff Cannon, Senior Vice President, Planning and Business Development. ?He brings with him a wealth of industry expertise, and we?re excited for him to join our team.?

Agribusiness

Katherine Harmon Wins SPJ Award

Chuck Zimmerman

LPC/AAEA GamesThanks to University of Missouri graduate and former AgWired student blogger, Margy Fischer, Farm Journal
Machinery Editor, Test Plot Assistant Director for the heads up on this. This is from the text of an email announcement from Mizzou professor Bill Allen. He also sent along the picture of Katherine.

I just wanted to let you folks know that Journalism graduate student Katherine Harmon won a major award last weekend for a story she began reporting during the 2007 Sonja Hillgren/Farm Journal Ag Journalism Field Reporting Institute.

In Ames, Iowa, on Saturday (April 5), Katie was awarded first place in the In-Depth Reporting category of the annual Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence Awards for Region 7. (Region 7 covers Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska.)

Her story, “Murky Waters,” published Nov. 10 in the Columbia Missourian, detailed the evolving scientific understanding of Missouri River sediment and the impact that understanding is having on resource management, agriculture, public policy and people. (See http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2007/11/10/murky-waters/ to read the story.

Thanks to all of you for helping to make this achievement possible and for strengthening the wonderfully cross-fertilizing partnership of Ag Journalism and Journalism that Sonja represents.

Publication, University

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Protocols for the implementation of E. coli-safeguards have been adopted and implemented by VeriPrime, Inc., of Wichita, Kan. Certification assures traceability of the product to the last ranch of ownership, and use of probiotic feed supplements to protect against the presence of E. coli in cattle. Conformance with the VeriPrime Certified Safeguards is validated by independent third-party audits. There are currently over 3,000,000 head of cattle being fed in conformance with the newly approved VeriPrime safeguards.
  • The largest gathering of plant health experts from around the world will take place during the Centennial Meeting of The American Phytopathological Society (APS). The meeting will take place July 26-30, 2008 at the Minneapolis Convention Center, Minneapolis, Minn. More information, including online registration and full program, is available here. The advance registration deadline is May 1, 2008.
  • Jed Harms, president of Kemin AgriFoods North America, announces the promotion of Kristi Krafka to Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, Quality Assurance and Quality Control. In this role Kristi provides strategic and operational regulatory expertise and leadership for regulatory approvals and monitors the quality of Kemin products to achieve our commercial objectives.
Zimfo Bytes

Fun And Games

Chuck Zimmerman

LPC/AAEA GamesI’m not sure what Diane “Vanna” Johnson has planned for us in Johnston, IA tomorrow night but I’ll be there and you can count on learning more here on AgWired.

It’s a social gathering prior to the Midwest Regional Design & Writing Workshop which takes place at Pioneer’s headquarters on Thursday. I’ll be there for a while too.

Prior to and after all this agricultural journalism fun and seriousness I’ll be doing some interviews (ag journalism?) with the John Deere AMS folks and at Iowa Soybean Association for Precision Pays. It’s nice to stay busy don’t you know?

ACN, LPC

Grilling Green Grass Fed Beef

Chuck Zimmerman

The Farmer and the GrillAfter having been to South America and feasting on grass-fed beef, I say, give me some corn fed beef any day. I personally don’t care if the corn was genetically modified or not, treated with insecticides or anything else. So I’m not too sure about this green grilling book.

But, Cindy says she did a great interview with the author today and it’s really interesting. So I’m keeping an open mind. I think that growing grass fed for those who want it is fine but I don’t think it’s any healthier than the “regular” stuff.

So if you want to cook some grass-fed meat then here’s the cook book you need.

Just in time for the summer cookout season, the “green” food movement has a new cookbook/bible, The Farmer and The Grill: A Guide to Grilling, Barbecuing, and Spit-Roasting Grass-Fed Meat, and For Saving the Planet, One Bite at a Time.

The book was written by Shannon Hayes, a farmer who lives in Upstate New York, and runs a sustainable farm that raises and sells only grass-fed meats, including beef, pork, lamb and poultry.

The cookbook is broken down into six chapters, which are filled with both tasty recipes as well as important facts on the difference between factory and grass-fed meats.

Hayes points out that the average person cooking a steak is used to cranking up the gas or firing up the coals, just throwing it on the grill, and not thinking about it. Grass-fed steaks require a bit more thought and attention. Hayes recommends cooking slow, low off heat.

Beef, Publication

NAMA Bomber Update

Chuck Zimmerman

Guess Who This NAMA Bomber IsThe NAMA Bombers are still looking for a few good people to ride with them next week.

Don’t Miss Next Week’s Motorcycle Ride Adventure with the NAMA Bombers!

Next Tuesday, April 15, the NAMA Bombers Motorcycle Club will be hosting a relaxing ride through central Missouri. If you are flying into the Convention motorcycle rental is available through Blue Springs Harley-Davidson in Missouri.

“We have notified all local law enforcement that we are going to be in town. I don’t anticipate any trouble. We just want to be free to ride our machines without being hassled by the man!” says Dave Dibb, NAMA Bombers Sergeant at Arms.

If you are interested in participating in the ride e-mail jeremy@nafb.com. Support your local NAMA Bombers!

Can you guess which member is pictured here?

NAMA

Back to the Ag

Laura McNamara

After five months abroad, to the day, I am back in the USA! I arrived in Kansas City late last night and what a trip it’s been! I’ve had all kinds of adventures: from learning about the latest innovations with John Deere at Agritechnica in Germany, to strange Vietnamese cuisine, to jumping off cliffs and swinging off of bamboo swings in Laos and, literally, almost everything else you could imagine in between.

I must say, I’ve had an adventure of a lifetime… and I have Chuck and Cindy largely to thank. The ZimmComm team sent me to Germany to cover Agritechnica; the event which proved to offer me the amazing opportunity to take off on my 5-month international excursion.

I’m excited and eager to get back into the ag action here in the U.S. though! Chuck, Cindy and I are planning to work together during the upcoming NAMA event being held in Kansas City: The Leading the Charge Conference & Trade Show April 16-18. All of us will be busy little bloggers, learning about the latest trends, technology and issues of the ag industry. If you’re planning on attending the event, be sure to stop by the ZimmComm both to say hello… and to learn more about the agriblogging authority that ZimmComm has become!

In the meantime, you can check out some videos of my adventures below:

Swinging off bamboo swings in Vang Vieng, Laos

Training in Muay Thai (Thai boxing) in Phuket, Thailand

International, John Deere, Media, NAMA