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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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.
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.
If you’d like to pull for agricultural education then you might want to do it at this event coming up in Illinois.
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.
This year’s 
Charles Johnson is the newest addition to join the TOP PRODUCER editorial team as the magazine’s national editor. The magazine has promoted another staff member, Linda Smith, to executive editor.
On the way to the Iowa Speedway last week I was driving along behind Alan Slunecka who was taking the EPIC mobile learning center to the track. All of the sudden he slowed way down. 
Since it’s been another wild week of alternative fuel blogging I thought I should point you to a relatively new alternative fuel blogger. She’s Kimberly Taylor at the 
This was a cool story out here at the Iowa Speedway today.