- The Progressive Agriculture Foundation is partnering with the Common Ground Alliance (CGA) to develop curriculum to educate residents of rural America about underground utility safety and the importance of safe excavation practices. The information will be delivered during Progressive Agriculture Safety Days. “The CGA works hard to ensure public safety and environmental protection when working with underground utilities,” says Randy J. Bernhardt, executive director-development, Progressive Ag Foundation.
- The American Phytopathological Society (APS) is pleased to announce the results of the 2007-2008 officer election. Barbara Christ was elected vice president and will serve as APS president in 2009-2010. Michael Boehm was elected councilor-at-large for a three-year term. The new officers will begin their terms at the conclusion of the society’s 2007 meeting that will be held jointly with the Society of Nematologists (SON). The meeting will take place July 28 – August 1, 2007, at the Town and Country Resort and Convention Center, in San Diego, Calif.
- Responding quickly to the needs of American small businesses, the National Propane Gas Association and 14 other trade associations formed a joint coalition to fight the new U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) chemical security regulations. “These rules have a disproportionate impact on agricultural businesses and farmers,” said Jim Thrift, VP for the Agricultural Retailers Association. “The agricultural community not only has to comply with the new rules on propane but a number of other common agricultural chemicals used in food production and farming.”
Rich Schell Starts Schellacres.com
Joining the agriblogging ranks is Rich Schell, author, attorney and writer on food and agriculture from the Chicago area. Rich is “the immediate past president of The Chicago Farmers, taught Law for Illinois Agricultural Entrepreneurs at Joliet Junior College and has spoken at the Illinois Organic Production Conference, Illinois Specialty Growers, World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Organic Trade Association.”
You can find him at Schellacres.com where he’s written a very nice post about yours truly. Thanks Rich. Here’s a line from that post that shows me he “gets it.” It’s a great time because just as farm demographics are shrinking media options are expanding dramatically, and broadband access is expanding across rural regions.
He’s also getting ready to start podcasting and when he does I’ll let you know. We’ve been chatting about this new media thing for a while now and I’m glad to see him launching off into the blogosphere. Here’s a little bit more about Rich.
He grew up in Polo, Illinois as part of a farm family and focuses his law practice on the agricultural, food and publishing industries, counseling clients on intellectual property, immigration and international business transactions, among other matters. He started Schellacres.com as a way to connect agricultural and food entrepreneurs, green, biofuel, and fiber businesses, as well as international agribusinesses, with the business and legal expertise needed to help their enterprises grow.
AgraGate Climate Credits Corporation Announced
Farmers now have a new revenue stream to tap into courtesy of AgraGate Climate Credits Corporation. This brand new company has been formed by the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation. It was just officially announced this morning. Cindy has already had a chance to interview their CEO, Dave Krog.
AgraGate Climate Credits Corp. was created to expand the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation (IFBF) Carbon Credit Aggregation Program, which began in 2003. With more than 1,000,000 acres aggregated from American farmers, ranchers and private forest owners in 16 states, AgraGate is the nation’s leading supplier of carbon credit aggregation services to agriculture. We’re committed to helping producers take advantage of the new market in four ways. AgraGate will:
- Provide essential services that educate farmers, ranchers and forest owners about the financial opportunities available to them through carbon credits.
- Provide a means for participants to easily register their credits.
- Manage the trading program in a way that will provide superior results for participants.
- Manage a credit database system that provides highly reliable credit tracking, reporting and certification.
You can learn all about AgraGate in Cindy’s interview with Dave (9 min): agragate-krog.mp3
AgraGate Climate Credits Corporation will be sponsoring all my coverage here on AgWired at the upcoming Agricultural Media Summit! We’ll be learning more about them and what this means to producers together. I participated in their announcement today and have even more information coming shortly so stay tuned.
Tasty Food and Wine From The Valley
They’ll be saluting agriculture on the west coast very soon. Any announcement that contains phrases like “menu of local produce and bold red wines” catches my attention. So check out the Taste of The Valley Food and Wine Show.
The Salinas Valley, located on the Central Coast of California and known as the “Salad Bowl of the World,” will be the setting this September for the 2007 Salute to Agriculture fresh produce, food and wine show.
The annual vintner and culinary event begins Wednesday, Sept. 12, with an exclusive limited-seating, multicourse dinner pairing produce and wine to be served under a canopy overlooking the picturesque Salinas Valley. This new VIP Pairing Dinner will feature a Mediterranean-fused menu of local produce and bold red wines from the San Antonio Valley wine region, the newest viticulture area of Monterey County.
On Thursday, Sept. 13, the annual Agricultural Leadership Awards Luncheon will honor an outstanding leader in the produce industry, with a menu highlighting fresh produce and wine. An invitation-only VIP bus tour for food editors, writers and specially invited legislators on Friday, Sept. 14, will give an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the Salinas Valley’s innovative growing and processing facilities and the area’s bountiful vegetable fields.
Friday’s grand finale will be the Taste of the Valley Food and Wine Show, featuring local growers, vintners and award-winning chefs preparing new and vintage menus made up of Salinas Valley produce and wines. The evening event also includes the second annual Earth to Eats series of chef demonstrations that will combine celebrity chefs and wine experts with the region’s bounty to create healthy menus.
Talking Live With Jay
Live With Jay is a weekly program on Hot Talk 1510 in Kansas City, MO. I was in KC recently and met show host Jay Liebenguth. He recorded an interview with me for his show which aired last Thursday. In the interview we talk about how ZimmComm New Media got into this whole blogging and podcasting thing.
Jay says that he’s fascinated by people who have the entrepreneurial spirit and his show focuses on learning what they do and why. Here’s how he describes the show: “Live with Jay is a weekly discussion about business issues that face the ownership and management of all sized businesses in the Kansas City metropolitan 
area. It’s all about the journey. Celebrating the highs and the lows, the ups and downs and all the decisions in between.”
The program ends with music from the Podsafe Music Network and Boom Boom Beckett. The song is “Summertime.” It’s a jazz number that fits right in on a hot summer day. I hope you enjoy it.
You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: 
ZimmCast 129 (30 min MP3)
Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:
zimmcast129-7-23-07.mp3The 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.
Paulsen AgriBranding and Blogging
I’ve mentioned Paulsen Marketing before but don’t think I’ve made direct mention of a recently developed division of their company called Paulsen AgriBranding. Thanks to Bryan Bjerke for bringing it to my attention.
While visiting their website I noticed their blog and the fact that they’re kind of farming in the office.
Bryan will be attending next week’s Ag Media Summit so I’ll see him there. See you there too!
Photos From The Field
There’s a reason I like to have a camera with me at all times. Yesterday was one of those.
The Bambi Twins here were playing along the edge of a soybean field. I had seen them last week when Cindy and I were out in a soybean field doing some work. This week they were not as skittish. I stopped and had a chance to shoot quite a few photos until I started to walk up to them. That’s when their white flags showed.
A little further down the road some corn was being watered. It just looked like a cool shot so I took it.
We’re not dangerously dry in mid Missouri but we could use a little rain. Some farmers don’t take chances though.
These look way better on a wide screen too. I think I’m going to enter the bambi one in a local photo contest and start a new Flickr set for shots like these.
Flying With Captain Evan Slack
For those of you who might have been wondering if I made it back from Denver the answer is yes. Captain Evan Slack is a great pilot. We ran around some clouds and “weather” on the way to Kansas City. One of the choices as we got near Salina, KS was north or south. We went south and it was the right decision. I think that’s an experienced pilot’s instinct kicking in.
One thing is for sure. You get a much better view than on a commercial airline. You also get to help out the pilot when he needs something from the back seat. This next picture is Denver from the air soon after we took off from the airport where Evan keeps his plane.
We had to cross a little warm front with some unbelievable clouds that were so close you could reach out and touch them.
This is when I remembered my little camera again and made a short video clip for you.
I didn’t think you wanted to hear the engine noise so I added a part of one of Evan’s interviews he did at the Cattle Industry Summer Conference from his Friday midday show.
Zimfo Bites
- Pro-Act Microbial has launched an updated version of its website. The new layout is even easier to navigate and includes more facts about their services in the agricultural and aquaculture markets. The most notable new addition to the Pro-Act site is a video. The eight-minute video explains the basics behind their system and shows the many economical and environmental benefits of using it in a dairy farm environment.
- Merial announced today that Accelerated Genetics and Select Sires Inc. are now providing information from the comprehensive IGENITY® profile on all sires in their beef lineups. The scores from the IGENITY profiles for these sires can be found on both companies’ Web sites. “We commend Accelerated Genetics and Select Sires for taking an important step forward in providing more information to their beef customers,” says Dr. Stewart Bauck, Director, Strategic Marketing, IGENITY. “Now, with the IGENITY profile, those customers can make more confident sire selection decisions.”
- Lynn Harrison, a pork producer from Elk Mound, Wis., has been elected president of the National Pork Board. Harrison, serving his second three-year term on the Pork Board, will serve a one-year term as president beginning Aug. 1. Steve Weaver, a pork producer and National Pork Board member from Elk Grove, Calif., was elected to serve a one-year term as vice president. The elections took place during the National Pork Board’s summer meeting in St. Louis, Mo. Harrison and his wife, Pat, operate a 10,000-head hog farm in northwest Wisconsin. Harrison is a long-time member of the Pork Board’s Environmental Committee and served as the board’s vice president this past year.
Baxter Entertains Beef Board
It’s getting near time for me to close up shop at ZimmComm New Media’s temporary Denver headquarters. The Cattle Industry Summer Conference is almost at an end. If you want to get a good overall summary of what happened from a Beef Board perspective then visit Beef Board Meeting.com.
At last night’s CBB dinner we were entertained by Mr. Cowboy Poet, Baxter Black. I think just about everyone got their picture taken with him. He’s the volunteer voice of the Beef Board and they loved him.
You can listen to one of Baxter’s stories here: cisc-07-black-3006.mp3