Willkommen to Germany

Cindy Zimmerman September 12, 2007

Hello from Germany. I am here in a cute little hotel in Speyer, feeling much better today after feeling pretty horrible last night. A long, delayed trip got me here just as everyone was ready to leave on the first leg of BASF visit, so I barely had time to change before heading out to see the BASF welcome center and do a bus tour around the plant, which is huge.

In the welcome center they have an interactive map of the plant site which allows you to see how big it is in relation to some of the world’s major cities, which was quite interesting – needless to say, it compares pretty favorabily. We could have spent hours wandering through the welcome center, but we really only had maybe a half hour. There is so much to see and so many interactive exhibits and videos. The new welcome center was just opened this year and already they have had 20,000 visitors! They get about 50,000 visitors normally to the site each year, mostly customers of BASF. The welcome center is open to the public.

View the Flickr Photo Album from BASF in Germany

BASF, International

Blogging From 3 Countries

Chuck Zimmerman September 11, 2007

This is a first for AgWired and ZimmComm New Media. Hopefully tomorrow you’ll see posts from three of us in three countries from three different events. Laura is in Texas, USA attending the Propane Technology Forum, Cindy is in Frankfurt, Germany attending a tour at BASF headquarters and I’m finally in Guelph, Canada where I’ll be passing along what I know about new media to a new crop of agricultural communications specialists.

One thing I can tell you is that the travel part of this deal is not what it used to be. I had one flight canceled today and wound up a little under 5 hours delayed getting in to Toronto. Cindy was traveling yesterday and had her first flight canceled, second one delayed I don’t know how many hours and finally got in to Germany just in time to start working with no break. I hope Laura’s flight was okay today.

My most interesting part of today’s trip was after going through Customs in Toronto I got directed to Immigration which was a fairly long wait. It turns out the Customs officer thought I needed a work permit which I did not since guest speaking doesn’t require one.

So, hopefully we’ll all be bringing you some interesting content from out and about internationally. It’s certainly a new media world!

Uncategorized

Propane Technology in Austin, TX

Laura McNamara September 11, 2007

Everything you wanted to know about propane will be available here on Agwired.com throughout the day tomorrow. I flew into Austin, TX today to cover tomorrow’s Propane Technology Forum being held at the Railroad Commission of Texas headquarters. The conference will focus on propane innovations for agriculture.

The one-day forum will feature presentations from propane industry leaders, researchers, and manufacturers, as well as equipment displays. A special session on agricultural uses of propane will discuss the use of propane for heat to sanitize grain storage structures, sanitation in poultry and dairy production, and cotton defoliation. Additional sponsors include the World LP Gas Association, ASOCIMEX (Mexican LP Gas Association), and Southwest Research Institute. The forum will include presentations on the following topics.

Agriculture Innovations
* Propane heat sanitation for grain storage
* Cotton defoliation with propane heat
* Flame sanitation in dairy and poultry operations

Additional Propane Innovations
* Propane-powered F-150 Roush truck
* Propane Vision school bus
* Solar/propane hybrid electricity generation systems
* PERC fuel quality studies
* Underground propane tanks

Farming, Propane

Monsanto World Headquarters Expansion Complete

Laura McNamara September 11, 2007

The Monsanto World Headquarters is now 40,000 square feet bigger. The global provider of technology-based solutions and agricultural products has completed construction of a new data center in Missouri.

Monsanto Company has announced it has completed construction of a new data center on the west side of its World Headquarters campus in Creve Coeur, Mo. The $21 million, 40,000 square-foot building will provide for the company’s growing global data and computation needs. The new center houses Monsanto’s vast computing network that supports areas of the business from analyzing data collected for molecular breeding to processing a customer’s seed order information.

“The data center is an integral part of our business, both in delivering high quality products for the farm and for improving the customer experience,” said Mark Showers, chief information officer for Monsanto. “Every day Monsanto scientists analyze terabytes of data collected from laboratories, field trials, and breeding stations around the world. This requires considerable speed and technology to quickly and accurately process such massive amounts of data into manageable, digestible information that we can use to make important business decisions like which drought-tolerant gene will be advanced to the next phase of the product pipeline.”
Read More

Agribusiness, Biotech, Research

Traveling to Guelph

Chuck Zimmerman September 11, 2007

It’s a travel day for me and a better one than Cindy had yesterday I hope. She’s on her way (maybe there?) to Germany but had flight cancellations and delays that were hard to believe and added many hours to her trip.

Me, I’m on the way to Guelph, Canada to teach a new media class for ag communications grad students tomorrow. You can expect to see some action from there of course.

International, University

NAMA’s New CEO

Chuck Zimmerman September 10, 2007

I talked the new CEO of the National AgriMarketing Association, Jenny Pickett, into taking a few minutes out of her busy schedule to talk to me for this week’s program. If you don’t know Jenny then listen in and hear about her plans for NAMA.

For one thing Jenny says that NAMA is going to focus on more chapter leader support. That sounds good since I know that finding the time to run a local chapter has become increasingly difficult in today’s agricultural marketing place. Jenny says that her background which includes working for an agency, along with her time on the staff, provides her with a good member perspective of the organization. She also gets in a plug for the upcoming NAMA Agribusiness Forum in our interview.

The program ends with music from the Podsafe Music Network. Since ZimmComm is “out and about” I’ve got “Travel Song” by a group called Causeway.

You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast 136 (15 min MP3)

Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:

zimmcast136-9-10-07.mp3

The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired which you can subscribe to using the link in our sidebar. You can also subscribe in iTunes

Audio, NAMA, ZimmCast

Zimfo Bites

Melissa Sandfort September 10, 2007

Novus International, Inc., announced it has formed a company doing business as Arenus to produce products for the equine, canine and human health markets. Arenus will initially produce and market its products in the continental U.S. beginning this year.The company’s initial product, STEADFAST™ EQUINE dietary supplement, has been designed by nutritionists and veterinarians specifically for horses with high-demand lifestyles. STEADFAST EQUINE dietary supplement helps to support and maintain Total Structural Health – including healthy joints, bones, hooves connective tissues, skin and coat. These structural components may be impacted over time due to the effects of athletic performance, environmental conditions and aging. While many equine health products may be useful in addressing one component of a horse’s framework, STEADFAST EQUINE dietary supplement takes a unique and multi-faceted approach in supporting the horse’s entire structural system.
Dow AgroSciences LLC announced it has secured exclusive rights to Chloroplast Transformation Technology (CTT™) from Chlorogen, Inc. This license will allow further work to be done which will enhance Dow AgroSciences’ animal health and agricultural biotechnology businesses.CTT™ is a unique method for expressing foreign genes in plant cells. While current methods involve placing a foreign gene in the cell nucleus, CTT transforms the genome of the approximately 100 chloroplasts within the cell. Each chloroplast contains about 100 copies of the chloroplast’s genetic material, so the amount of protein produced in a single cell is increased exponentially. In addition, because chloroplasts are inherited maternally, they are not found in pollen. This greatly diminishes concerns about spreading recombinant genes through pollen.“This agreement is another illustration of Dow AgroSciences’ commitment to provide differentiated solutions to customers globally through unique technology and capabilities,” said Daniel R. Kittle, Ph.D., vice president of Research and Development at Dow AgroSciences.
The Chicago Farmers “Trends in Farm Leasing” meeting will be held Sept. 17th. Join speaker Penny Lauritzen of Farmers National and Don McCabe of Soy Capital Ag Services. Topics to be covered are trends in lease arrangements, cash rent levels, returns on custom lease arrangements and options for variable lease arrangements.To register, call 312.388.FARM or visit the Web site. Reservations are due by noon on Thur., Sept. 13th. Cost for Members with Reservations: $25; Member Walk-ins: $30; Non-Members: $40.

Zimfo Bytes

Maple Leaf Meats in Brandon gearing for twin shifts….

Harry Siemens September 10, 2007

With the addition of a second shift at its Brandon, Man processing plant, Maple Leaf Foods will ramp up in slaughter capacity over the next six to eight weeks. According to Maple Leaf spokesperson Jeanette Jones, the current hog slaughter capacity of 45,000 to 50,000 hogs per week will climb to at least 75,000 per week by the end of October.

Here is Harry’s audio commentary on this issue. ss091007mav.mp3

Part of the increase in hog numbers will come as Maple Leaf continues with its stated plan to close processing facilities in other parts of the country – including its Marion Street facility in Winnipeg, which is scheduled to close Oct. 26 – and consolidate operations in Brandon.

Audio, International

Equipment Trader Insider Blog

Chuck Zimmerman September 10, 2007

I noticed recently that Equipment Trader has a blog called the Equipment Trader Insider.

In fact, their blog was one of many to pick up on AgWired coverage of the Farm Progress Show. They also linked to some other bloggers covering the show like Karlie Elliott, who is a junior at the University of Illinois, majoring in Agricultural Communications. She was there doing it for Monsanto. Monsanto also had Shane Roethle, Agronomist, blogging about their exhibit. What a concept. A company blogging about their activities. Who’d have thought that possible? Hmm?

Agribusiness, Equipment

Ethanol Wins IndyCar Season

Chuck Zimmerman September 10, 2007

Well, the 2007 IndyCar series is over and as we’ve been saying all season, “ethanol won.” I hope you had a chance to watch some of Laura’s coverage over on Domestic Fuel. She did a great job posting 31 times with most posts containing interviews. She’s also got 179 photos online in her photo album. Thanks to the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council for once again sponsoring our event coverage.

Obviously she was in victory lane after the race too. Here’s her take on the winner:

Just one word is fitting for Canadian Club Driver Dario Franchitti: Champion. Dario cinched the the 2007 Peak Antifreeze Indy 300 after Scott Dixon fell behind the Scottish driver in the last few hundred feet of the race after racing with Dario neck and neck. The win also secured Dario the 2007 IndyCar Series Title. The Andretti Green Racing teammate also won the Indy 500, the Iowa Indy 250 and the Richmond Indy Challenge, where he set both a track record and an IRL record. Rumor has it Dario will be switching to stock cars next season. A report on Yahoo.com confirms that sources say Canadian Club will replace Coors Light as the sponsor for Ganassi’s No. 40 Dodge in NASCAR and Dario will make the switch with Canadian Club. After winning the Championship Sunday, Dario consistently dodged questions about the move.

Listen to a clip of Dario’s comments at Victory Lane here:
Franchitti_Dario2.mp3
Listen to Dario’s comments about the race here:
Franchitti_Dario.mp3
Peak Antifreeze Indy 300 Photo Album

Ethanol

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