The Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) has a new executive director. She’s Toni Nuernberg, who comes to EPIC from ACA International in Minneapolis where she worked for 29 years, the last 12 as chief operating officer of ACA International Holding Company Inc. and its for-profit subsidiaries.
Nuernberg says when she decided to make a career move she was looking for an exciting new industry with lots of potential. “Clearly the ethanol industry is that and so much more,” she says. “The thing that struck me about it was that every person that I talked with about this position from the CEOs of the member organizations to the staff was their passion and the excitement that they feel about this industry.”
You can find out about her background, her goals and ideas for moving EPIC and the ethanol industry to a new level in their latest Fill Up Feel Good podcast, a program ZimmComm produces.
You can listen to it here: epic-podcast-2-4-08.mp3
Do you know Joe? As in Sloppy Joe? This is “The Joe You Know.” Well 
In England they think 
I know we’ve heard a lot from Gene Hemphill here on AgWired the past few days but well we should. Here’s my interview with him from the trade show floor at Commodity Classic. In it we talk about his support of the ag media including sponsoring the media room. Gene says they’ve been doing it since Commodity Classic started and before that individually at the organizational meetings of the groups involved with Classic.
and 
There aren’t too many people in agricultural marketing who don’t know Gene Hemphill, Industry Affairs, New Holland. You probably know that we honored him at the media reception at Commodity Classic. This week’s program expands on that theme. Gene is a friend as well as a client and beloved by all of us in the media who have worked with him for so long. For all the attention he’s getting for “partially retiring” I can’t wait to see what happens when he really retires!
Kip Cullers of Missouri is not only a great corn and soybean grower, he has become one heck of an entertaining speaker. He’s really fun to be around, but he is totally serious about helping other growers meet their optimum potential for yields.
Kip says with prices where they are today, growers should make every effort to maximize soybean yields. “Soybeans now are $15, so – my gosh – you can spend a little and make a bunch. It’s simple economics.”
Besides hearing from a researcher and a farmer we also heard from Commodity Classic Learning Center sponsor Bruce Battles, Agronomy Marketing Manager, 
I think growers appreciate hearing from other growers, even if they also sell Garst Seed. At the Commodity Classic Learning Center session on Maximizing Yield in Continuous Corn, north central Iowa grower Mike Missman talked about his experience with corn on corn.
There were 145 media representatives covering Commodity Classic. Here’s some of them at the Sec. of Ag Schafer press conference. We all have significant needs for things like internet access, phone lines, work spaces, convenient food/beverages, privacy, a meeting place, secure room for equipment and help finding our way around. That’s why it is so important and appreciated to have companies like New Holland sponsor a media/press conference room at events like Commodity Classic.