Syngenta Learning Centers in Iowa This Week

Chuck Zimmerman

Syngenta Learning CentersGuess where I’ll be learning this week? Try northern Iowa and the Syngenta Learning Centers Media Briefing and Demonstration Day. This is going to be an in-field discussion with hands-on demonstrations. Kind of reminds me of how I spent part of my day today. In 103 degree heat in a soybean field counting pods! I hope it’s cooler in Iowa.

I’ll begin posting from the event on Tuesday afternoon from Milford, IA. With Iowa growers facing new opportunities and challenges as the ethanol surge continues to impact corn prices and acreage this should be a timely event. Syngenta has designed their trials to take a local look at different corn-on-corn management practices, and they’ve assembled a team of third-party experts and area Syngenta team members to work with participants in the field.

Syngenta Learning CentersThese Syngenta Learning Centers are designed to explore management practices and learn what methods work best to boost profit potential under local conditions such as soil types, weather patterns and pest pressures.

Yep, we’ll be out standing in our field again this week. Just like these folks were at an event earlier this season. Photo courtesy of Syngenta.

Some of the topics we’ll be covering include: “Farming for the 21st Century”, biofuels strategy, corn and soybeans management strategies and breaking the yield barrier with genetics and technology. I’ll see you there.

Agribusiness, Syngenta

Hot Day At The Fair

Chuck Zimmerman

Cindy and LauraIt was a nice hot day in Missouri yesterday and I didn’t do any blogging. I did get some home duties caught up though like weeding and taking care of some plants around the house. I also got an extra bird feeder and a bird bath. They need a place to cool off too. I also did collect some blog content though.

Here’s Cindy and Laura McNamara at the MO State Fair. Cindy and I went to Sedalia to see Alice Cooper and Blue Oyster Cult. Laura is blogging the state fair and you should check out her work at The Fair Fan Blog. She’s becoming a very accomplished professional blogger and we’re really glad to have her writing for AgWired.

Beef HouseI’ve got to mention the Beef House since that’s where we ate before the concert. This place was packed as usual. I went for the full meal deal which is a steak with salad and baked potato.

The Beef House sits right next to the Beef Showcase which is sponsored by the Missouri Beef Industry Council, our first client when we started ZimmComm several years ago now. Fortunately they have air conditioning in these buildings or this guy wouldn’t have looked so comfortable working over a hot grill.

If you’re interested in what Alice Cooper looks like today then use this link to see one of my concert pictures.

Ag Groups

Zimfo Bites

Laura McNamara

  • In the second phase of the Royal Heritage Center project – Hall of History – Livestock Publications Heritage Center will be joining with the American Royal to showcase the evolution of livestock publishing through interactive displays in the Royal Museum. The fun and festivities will also celebrate the 2007 Inductees in to the Hall of Honor: Larry Atzenweiler – Hall of Fame Award and Stanley E. Stout – Headliner Award. The funds raised during the “Royal Gala” will be used for the ongoing improvement of the Livestock Publications Heritage Center at the American Royal in Kansas City, MO. Please mark your calendar for the Livestock Publication Council Royal Gala Fundraiser Friday, October, 19, 2007 at the American Royal Headquarters from 6 PM – 10 PM. The event will feature a silent auction, a live auction, entertainment and the 2007 Honoree Ceremony. Fundraiser Tickets are $75.00.
  • Wyffels Hybrids, a regional seed corn company covering Illinois, Iowa, Southern Wisconsin and the Ohio River Valley, announces the promotion of Adam Ploog to Region Manager for the Northeast Iowa area. Ploog assumes the Region Manager position following three years serving as a district sales manager in the same region. In this position, he will oversee eight district sales managers and continue to work closely with local growers. “As a company, we are thrilled to be able to promote one of our own who has excelled within Wyffels,” said Brian Humphries, national sales manager for Wyffels Hybrids. “His extensive industry knowledge and proven leadership skills will continue to benefit our customers and the company as a whole.”
  • On September 8, actress Emily Deschanel and Farm Sanctuary, the nation’s leading farm animal protection organization, will host a glamorous evening of entertainment and education, bringing together celebrity supporters, key legislators and animal advocates, in honor of farm animals and those leading the movement to protect them from abuse. The event will also raise funds for our coast-to-coast rescue and advocacy efforts to end factory farming abuses and provide safe refuge for farm animals in need. Honorary chairs for this event include Ellen DeGeneres, David Duchovny, and Forest and True Whitaker. Celebrity hosts will present numerous awards to civic, social and political leaders, who have taken a stand for farm animals.
Zimfo Bytes

Farm High Speed Internet Access Doubles

Chuck Zimmerman

National Agricultural Statistics ServiceThe latest Farm Computer Usage and Ownership report from USDA’s NASS was posted today with very little fanfare but I think it is very important to agricultural marketers! Following is the main summary of the report but there’s lots of data in there if you want to study and use it. I’m highlighting some key points in it for you.

High-speed Internet access methods, such as DSL, cable, satellite, and wireless, have become much more available to Internet users in the farm sector since 2005. The proportion of operators using DSL doubled in 2007, at 27 percent, compared with the 2005 level of 13 percent. Cable, satellite, and wireless were each reported as the primary access methods on 7 percent of those U.S. farms with Internet access; with satellite and wireless methods both at virtually double their 2005 levels. Dialup was again the most common method of accessing the Internet, with nearly half (47 percent) of U.S. farms still using it, down from 69 percent in 2005.

A total of 55 percent of U.S. farms now have Internet access, compared with 51 percent in 2005. Sixty-three percent of farms have access to a computer in 2007, compared with the 2005 level of 59 percent. The proportion of U.S. farms owning or leasing a computer in 2007, at 59 percent, is up slightly from 55 percent in 2005. Farms using computers for their farm business increased 3 percentage points from 2005 to 35 percent in 2007.

In 2007, 80 percent of U.S. farms with sales and government payments of $250,000 or more have access to a computer, 78 percent own or lease a computer, 66 percent are using a computer for their farm business, and 75 percent have Internet access. For farms with sales and government payments between $100,000 and $249,999, the figures are: 70 percent have access to a computer, 66 percent own or lease a computer, 51 percent are using a computer for their farm business, and 61 percent have Internet access. For farms with sales and government payments between $10,000 and $99,999, 62 percent reported having computer access, 57 percent own or lease a computer, 36 percent use a computer for their farm business, and 53 percent have Internet access.

For crop farms, 64 percent have computer access and 37 percent use a computer for their farm business in 2007, up 4 and 3 percentage points from 2005, respectively. Internet access for crop farms has increased to 56 percent in 2007, compared to 52 percent in 2005. For livestock farms, 62 percent have computer access and 55 percent have Internet access. The use of a computer for farm business has increased to 33 percent for livestock farms, up 3 points from 2005.

Internet, USDA

Ag Institute of Florida Knows New Media

Chuck Zimmerman

Ag InstituteI love it when I see a group “get it.” I mean get this new media thing.

The Agriculture Institute of Florida is having Josh Hallett as a speaker for their upcoming annual meeting. You do know who Josh is don’t you?

Downloading podcasts and checking blogs may not be standard practices for farmers, but that may soon change. As more people rely on the internet to gather information, receive news and express opinions, internet-based “social media” technologies offer unique opportunities for agricultural organizations to connect with an increasingly non-farm public, both as customers and to convey key messages about the industry.

These technologies will be the focus of the Agriculture Institute of Florida’s 2007 Annual Meeting, set for Wednesday, Oct. 10 at the Hilton Daytona Beach Oceanfront Resort in Daytona Beach. Josh Hallett of hyku, LLC, an internationally recognized expert on new media communication technologies, will serve as this year’s keynote speaker. For over 10 years, Hallett has worked with public relations practitioners and corporate communicators worldwide on integrating these tools into their organization’s public and media relations strategies.

“So much of what we do in our business depends on how information is shared,” explained AIF president Heather Nedley, who also serves as the director of the Polk County Farm Bureau. “Those methods of communication seem to change daily, so we look forward to Josh sharing his expertise on emerging media trends.”

Ag Groups

Lots of Corn in Latest USDA Forecast

Chuck Zimmerman

USDASince I know how much this kind of information affects so many of you (me too) I thought you might want to see the latest USDA crop forecast information. Remember that you can hear an analysis of it each month from the Minneapolis Grain Exchange podcast. Of course if you subscribe to the USDA NASS news feed you might already know this.

U.S. farmers are expected to produce the largest corn crop in history in 2007, according to the Crop Production report released today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). Corn production is forecast at 13.1 billion bushels, 10.6 percent above the previous record of 11.8 billion bushels set in 2004.

Based on conditions as of August 1, corn yields are expected to average 152.8 bushels per acre, up 3.7 bushels from last year. This would be second highest corn yield on record, behind the 160.4 bushels per acre produced in 2004. Growers are expected to harvest 85.4 million acres of corn for grain, the most since 1933 and 14.8 million more acres than last year.

Yield forecasts are higher than last year across the Great Plains, central Corn Belt and Delta. Meanwhile, hot, dry conditions led to lower expected yields across much of the northern and eastern Corn Belt, Ohio Valley, Tennessee Valley, Southeast and Atlantic Coast. Read More

Uncategorized

Pfizer Suggest Paradigm Shift

Chuck Zimmerman

Dr. Gordon BrumbaughOne of the Pfizer Animal Health specialists we met this week at their media event in Kalamazoo was Dr. Gordon Brumbaugh. He’s an anti-infective specialist in their Cattle-Specialty Veterinary Operations.

The theme of his talk was a “Paradigm Shift.” Basically he wants to challenge producers to think in new ways now that there are products on the market that work very differently than even just a few short years ago. The examples used were products like Excede and Draxxin which stay in the animal’s tissue much longer offering longer protection for bovine respiratory disease. Instead of treating every 3 days producers now need to wait longer and let the animal recover without costly extra treatments that may be unnecessary.

He likened the change in animal health product technology to telephones saying we don’t use the same phones today we did 50 years ago and we should apply that same thinking to how we treat animals.

You can listen to my interview with Dr. Brumbaugh here: pfizer-vmrd-07-brumbaugh.mp3

Or if you’d like you can download it here: Download MP3 FileDr. Gordon Brumbaugh Interview

Animal Health, Audio

Growers Attend IFT Food Expo on ADM

Laura McNamara

NBC producer Meredith Reis with wheat field farmer Jay ElkinArcher Daniels Midland Company sponsored a growers delegation at the Institute of Food Technologisit Food Expo in Chicago. ADM says their sponsorship was meant to highlight the critical role grower-suppliers play in ensuring food quality and safety.

To recognize the critical role suppliers play in ensuring food quality and safety, Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE: ADM) sponsored a visiting grower delegation on Monday, July 30, during the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) annual Food Expo in Chicago.

Growers from Illinois, Minnesota and North Dakota attended IFT as guests of ADM. While at the show, the growers attended a luncheon with executives from ADM and IFT, during which they received a food industry overview and learned more about ADM’s efforts to ensure food quality and safety. In addition, the growers attended a presentation at the ADM booth and learned more about products developed by ADM using their food crops. They also had an opportunity to walk the tradeshow floor and talk with other exhibitors. Read More

Ag Groups, Farming, Food

Beauty of North Dakota Gets National Spotlight

Laura McNamara

NBC producer Meredith Reis with wheat field farmer Jay ElkinYou can’t really argue that the waving wheat in the photo isn’t a beautiful amber color just like the national song talks about. That’s why North Dakota was featured on NBC’s Today Show, when the show ran a feature on the beauty of America.

Early this morning, North Dakota producer Jay Elkin was featured in a story produced by the New York based NBC Today Show. It was part of ‘America The Beautiful,’ a series highlighting areas that are unique and majestic throughout the fifty states. Read More

Farming

Zimfo Bites

Laura McNamara

  • California cucurbit growers can now rely on a new disease control option with the recent registration by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR) of Sovran™ fungicide from BASF for use in cucurbit vegetables. “Cucurbits are particularly susceptible to powdery mildew, and Sovran works well in controlling this disease,” said Reed Barrett, Marketing Associate for BASF. “Sovran provides complete coverage of the plant, protecting all leaf surfaces from disease infection at a great value to the grower.” Cucurbits—such as cantaloupe, chayote, Chinese waxgourd, citron melon, cucumber, gherkin, gourds, Momordica, muskmelon, pumpkin, summer squash, winter squash, watermelon and zucchini—now join grapes, pecans and pome fruits, such as apples and pears, on the Sovran label.
  • The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has signed a cooperative agreement with the American Angus AssociationSM. A ceremonial signing was held today to recognize the cooperative efforts of both groups in the education of the premise registration process and enrollments. Under the agreement, educational efforts will include on-site educational discussions through the Association’s Outreach Seminars and other educational programs, print advertising, direct mail as well as e-mail communications. In addition, with the assistance of ABG, Inc., online training programs will be available to cattle producers across the nation. The online program will describe the value and benefits of registering premises and the steps necessary to complete an enrollment.
  • Vistive St. Louis, Mo., has issued a challenge grant in support of the Progressive Agriculture Safety Day program. Funds generated through the Vistive£ grant will be used to develop family health and wellness lessons (obesity prevention) to supplement the existing farm safety programs. The grant will match contributions from other corporations and organizations dollar-for-dollar (up to $25,000) when those contributions are ear-marked for health and wellness lessons. “The funding received through the Vistive£ challenge grant will help the Progressive Agriculture Foundation create a family-based program which will help parents teach their children about health and wellness and also help the parents understand how to be healthier at the same time,” says Randy J. Bernhardt, executive director of development, Progressive Agriculture Foundation. “This family-oriented program will supplement the existing programs directed specifically toward children, and we plan to have the curriculum finalized by fall 2008.
Zimfo Bytes