- Mycogen Seeds announces the addition of four new hybrids to its sunflower lineup, with several protection options, including downy mildew and CLEARFIELD® resistance. “We are thrilled to offer these new hybrids in 2008, as they fit the needs of nearly all sunflower growers,” says Keith Porter, Marketing Specialist, Mycogen Seeds. “Because of our market versatility, a match can be made for those looking for advantages in the oil, bird food or confection markets.”
- FMC Corporation delivers three dependable methods of pest control for rice growers with a comprehensive portfolio of crop protection products consisting of Command 3ME herbicide, Aim EC herbicide and Mustang Max insecticide. Aim and Command work together to control problem grasses and broadleaf weeds in rice. A combination of Command followed by Aim delivers one of the most complete, effective weed control programs available in rice production today.
- First it was KFC, then New York City restaurants. More recently, Taco Bell, the Wal-Mart deli, Steak n Shake and Hardee’s took a stand. Now, the Indiana State Fair is removing all trans fat-laden cooking oils from its deep-fryers in what is believed to be the first policy of its kind for any fair in the country. “I’m glad this new zero trans fat oil makes the food healthier to eat, but frankly, I switched to this new oil because the food just tastes better,” said John Barto, owner of Barto’s Banquets & Catering, who has been an Indiana State Fair concessionaire for the past 18 years. “It adds to the quality of the food we serve.”
AEM Announces Winners of Student Ag Engineering Awards
Dozens of agricultural engineering students have received awards from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers this year. The awards are meant to honor those students particularly involved in their field.
The Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) honored the latest winners of AEM’s annual Student Engineering and Mechanization Awards during special ceremonies at the recent American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers’ (ASABE) yearly international meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The awards recognize outstanding initiative and accomplishment in ASABE student branch activities. AEM initiated the awards in 1935 as part of its commitment to excellence in agricultural engineering education.
Winners are ASABE student branches which have compiled the most outstanding record of activities during the previous year in areas including membership, meetings, programs and special member activities, including campus and community participation. ASABE helped establish student branches to provide undergraduates interested in agricultural engineering some insight into their chosen profession. Today, student branches are active at most universities offering professional training in engineering related to agricultural, food and biological systems.
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Dupont and Foss Helping Farmers and Ethanol Producers
Here’s more proof that our production of ethanol, especially using corn, is becoming a more and more efficient process. I find it amazing how much work is being done by so many companies that you never hear about in the mainstream media. Companies like Dupont/Pioneer and Foss North America are making some real strides in a very short time period.
DuPont and FOSS North America today announced an agreement that will help farmers and ethanol producers better understand ethanol yield potential of grain corn being delivered to ethanol plants. The agreement, announced during the Fuel Ethanol Workshop, provides FOSS rights to technology developed by DuPont. Under terms of the agreement, DuPont business Pioneer Hi-Bred is providing to FOSS proprietary Ethanol Yield Potential calibration technology for use in FOSS grain analyzers. The technology provides estimated ethanol yield in terms of gallons per bushel.
“This technology is a big step in helping increase ethanol output per acre,” said Dean Oestreich, vice president and general manager – DuPont and
president – Pioneer. “When used in FOSS instruments, it gives farmers and ethanol producers nearly instant ethanol yield results on each load of grain
brought to an ethanol plant.” The technology allows ethanol producers to use real-time data to manage the grain feeding their ethanol production process. Farmers will be able to take this information and combine it with their on-farm agronomic performance data to tailor the corn hybrids they plant to maximize their ethanol yield on every acre.
Cindy is attending the Fuel Ethanol Workshop in St. Louis and may have more to add on this later. You can find her posts from there using this link. Post Update: Here’s the audio from the Pioneer/FOSS press conference announcement here: pioneer-foss-media.mp3
Ethanol Powering IndyCars and Choppers
After spending another week on the road at the world’s largest tailgate party of corn growers, the Iowa Corn Indy 250 you get a ZimmCast about ethanol.
This week’s program starts out with an EPIC update from executive director, Tom Slunecka which we did in the media center at Iowa Speedway. Then you can hear what the Indycars sound like when they blow by you at 180 mph. I recorded that while I was shooting through the cutout in the outside track perimeter fence. What you’ll hear is from the cars only a couple of feet away on the other side of the barrier. Since they’re running on 100% ethanol I think they’ve totally answered any questions there are about the fuel’s performance value.
Next up you can listen to the introduction of the first ever chopper built to run on E85. This is a collaborative effort by Iowa Farm Bureau and Orange County Choppers. One of the OCC dudes did a ceremonial lap on it prior to the race.
The program ends with music from the Podsafe Music Network and a band called moisture fuel. The song is “Collide.” I think it’s appropriate since we’re talking fuel and there were a lot of collisions at the race on Sunday. Be ready to rock.
You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: 
ZimmCast 125 (20 min MP3)
Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:
zimmcast125-6-26-07.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.
Get Juicy Gossip on Meat
Beef, poultry, pork… pick your pleasure. The American Meat Institute is launching a new Web Site to demonstrate how the meat industry responds to consumers and constumers.
The American Meat Institute (AMI) today launched www.TheMarketWorks.org, a new web site showcasing how U.S. meat and poultry industry structure and practices are a response to signals from customers and make the U.S. meat and poultry supply the envy of the world. The site details the Institute’s opposition to legislative efforts to ban meat companies’ ability to own or contract for livestock.
According to the site, a number of bills have been introduced in Congress that would force divestiture of livestock by meat companies who own part or all of their livestock supplies; prohibit marketing agreements between packers and processors; require that a certain percent of livestock be acquired on the spot market; and create a ‘special’ duplicative prosecutor at USDA to look even more closely at these issues. Some groups and lawmakers are arguing for a “competition title” in the pending 2007 Farm Bill that would package these bills together.
“Legislative efforts to place restrictions on the marketing of livestock and meat will dismantle the progress that has created the most abundant and affordable meat supply anywhere in the world,” said AMI President J. Patrick Boyle. “Congress needs to let the market work as it has so successfully for so long. We are launching this new web site to help educate lawmakers, producers, consumers and the media about the potential damaging effect of these misguided legislative efforts.”
Included in the new site are 35 studies done over the last two decades that have concluded that the meat industry is dynamic and competitive and that both packers and producers benefit from their ability to enter into contracts.
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CNH Amasses Awards
CNH, an Illinois-based agriculture and construction equipment manufacturer has racked up a total of seven awards from the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers. It appears CNH excels at engineering innovative designs for its products.
CNH (NYSE: CNH) this week won seven awards — more than any other manufacturer — from the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) for the most innovative product designs to enter the market in 2006. The educational and scientific organization also singled out the company for a special award, having one product included in the Top 10 innovations from all previous winners since the program began.
CNH took AE50 honors, which were sponsored by ASABE’s Resource magazine, for the following:
— AFS Cotton Yield Monitor (Racine, Wis.) from Case IH, a unique Controller Area Network-based optical sensor, provides precise, real-time cotton flow information on a continuous basis while harvesting.
— Module Express 625 Cotton Harvester (Racine, Wis.) from Case IH, a cotton picker that combines three field operations into one, greatly reducing cotton harvesting cost through use of an innovative on-board packing system.
— Smart Sieve™ Grain Cleaning System (Zedelgem, Belgium), from New Holland, a patented self-leveling system that allows New Holland CS and CSX combines to separate high volumes of grain with minimum grain loss and maximum cleaning efficiency on side slopes of up to 25 percent, depending on the crop.
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Ham It Up… With The Cow That Loves Chicken
It’s a fun way to get a wad of cash… well, a Savings Bond for $1,000 to be exact. Chick-fil-A wants to get consumers involved in it’s “Eat Mor Chikin” campaign, so the food chain is hosting an online photo contest. When you spot that clever little cow urging you to opt for the chicken, start clicking those shutters.
It is often said that a picture is worth a thousand words, which is why Chick-fil-A(R) is encouraging its younger fans to do the talking for them by participating in its “Show us the Cow” contest. The online contest, announced today in partnership with Spot What!(TM) children’s books, invites youngsters to have their parents upload pictures that include the Chick-fil-A “Eat Mor Chikin(R)” Cow at various spots around the world. Once the pictures are uploaded to http://www.showusthecow.com/, the public can vote for their favorite photo.
From June 25 through Sept. 30, children age 10 and younger are encouraged to work together with an adult to take and submit photos featuring the “Eat Mor Chikin” Cows in a creative way — whether it’s in front of the Statue of Liberty or at a family picnic. The cows can be costumed, stuffed or even a paper cut-out, as long as they’re included in the photo. The Web site will provide details about uploading photos for the contest.
The Grand Prize Winner will receive a United States Series EE Savings Bond with a maturity value of $1,000, a catered party for their classroom, free Chick-fil-A Kid’s Meals for a year and a digital camera, among other gifts. Additional prizes will be awarded to the contestants of the 40 photos that receive the most votes, as well as to the top 10 finalists as selected by the judges.
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Pull For Agricultural Education
If you’d like to pull for agricultural education then you might want to do it at this event coming up in Illinois.
The “Pull for Agriculture Education” is classic event with a new twist. The Illinois Farm Bureau and the IAA Foundation have traditionally hosted separate shooting events, but are combining their efforts in 2007. This event will be a fundraiser for the Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom (IAITC) program. IAITC is dedicated to teaching Illinois school children about the importance of agriculture in their daily lives.
Join hundreds of shooters from the Midwest at the world class, state of the art, 1,600 acre World Shooting & Recreational Complex, Sparta, IL. The 1,600-acre complex features: a multi-purpose rec-reational facility, gift shop, and full service restaurant and lounge; 250 acres of water; 120 trap fields extending 3.5 miles; two sporting clay courses; a Cowboy Action Shooting corral; permanent exhibitor building and 1,000 campsites. Shooters participating in the IAITC “Pull for Agriculture Education” will enjoy a weekend of competition and camaraderie including trap shooting, sporting clays, games, team events, and much more.
You can register here.
Pickling Green Walnuts…
It’s an authentic midwestern delicacy… well, a recipe borrowed from England actually. Tony Barnicle of Mary’s Home, MO has been selling his “Pickled Black Walnuts” for about five years now. It’s his claim to fame when it comes to value-added agriculture. The mid-MO farmer plucks black walnuts from his trees while they’re still green, pickles them, packages them and puts them on the grocers’ shelves. He likens his “Pickled Black Walnuts” to an habanero pepper. You don’t pop the entire pickled nut into your mouth, but use it more like a garnish. 
He suggests using chopped pickled walnuts to marinate steaks with or crushed pickled walnuts in a classic dip. You can also slice them to garnish crackers and cheese or grind them up on your salads.
Tony says the delicacy dates back to 16th-century Britian, “Waugh and Dickens talk about drinking beer and eating pickled walnuts.”
Visit the Barnicle Farms Website to learn more about “Pickled Black Walnuts.”
Zeal for the Veal
This year’s “Battle for Manhattan,” an “Iron Chef” style culinary battle that features the fine, delicate taste of veal, was waged for its second year. It’s no surprise that it was Italian-inspired cuisine that captured the best tastes of veal.
As part of its “Go to Market” strategy, the checkoff-funded veal program held a cooking competition last week in New York City for top U.S. chefs, challenging them to develop original veal dishes using several new veal cuts. The competition was held at the Institute of Culinary Education and marks the second year for the event, officially titled, “The Battle for Manhattan.”
The new cuts are the result of a veal muscle profiling study. During this Veal Optimization Study, researchers looked at nine muscles from USDA Choice or higher carcasses. The study team included meat scientists from the University of Florida and the University of Nebraska, and was funded by the Beef Checkoff Program.
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