Talking Biodiesel and Tractors With Jay Leno

Chuck Zimmerman

Interviewing Jay LenoI think every guy in America would like to have a Jay Leno Garage. I got to tour his garage which is fully functional to do everything, including body work on his collector cars. After that and the taping of his show yesterday I got to interview him.

I’m here to work with the National Biodiesel Board and New Holland doing photography and of course some interviews. Jay has a New Holland Boomer tractor in his garage to move cars around and he’s got a prototype car built that runs on 100% biodiesel. You’ll hear him talk about the EcoJet as it’s called in my interview with him. He says it’s the perfect vehicle for the harvest season.

I asked Jay what he thinks about this home grown fuel and he can’t be more supportive. To him it just makes sense to develop a fuel source we can grow ourselves and reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

I’ll have more information about the whole event for you as soon as I have time to do some editing and posting. Today is a travel day back home.

Listen to my interview with Jay Leno here:

jay-leno-garage-07-leno.mp3
Ag Groups, Audio, Biodiesel, New Holland

Harry Siemens from Canada is Back with his observations

Harry Siemens

IMG_3942.jpgHarry Siemens – I’m so happy to be back posting to this website and work with Chuck Zimmerman. It’s been busy working with the my own website www.SiemensSays.Com and getting the number of people reading it into real positive numbers. I’m from Canada, but live only ten minutes from the North Dakota border in Winkler, Manitoba.

This has always given me a different perspective on things between our two countries. Sometimes producers on one side of the border don’t always agree with what happens on the other side, but my message to producers on both sides of the border is that we have far bigger enemies than each other. There are those who would like to see us do away with animal agriculture and meat production as we know of it today. There are those who would like to use the environment to stifle food production and the likes. We need to point our weapons at those collective enemies and work for the common good as food producers, feeding the world with the safest, healthiest, and cheapest food around.

Here is my daily audio commentary….

International

Ringing The CBOT Bell

Chuck Zimmerman

CBOT Floor in ActionHave you ever been to the floor of the CBOT? It’s a madhouse. More so than I remember. This picture doesn’t do it justice but then flash photography was not allowed. I’ve got to convince Cindy to let me invest in a low light lens!

I was there for the ceremonial ringing of the bell with Jeff Simmons as the guest on the platform. This is a very short sound file which will give you the flavor of what it sounds like each and every trading day.

CBOT ringing of the bell:

cbot-07-bell.mp3
Agribusiness, Audio

IndyCar Series Happy With Ethanol Relationship

Chuck Zimmerman

Terry AngstadtOne of the guys on the program yesterday at the Chicago Board of Trade Greening of Racing tribute was IndyCar Series President, Terry Anstadt. I interviewed Terry right before the program got started.

He says the partnership with ethanol fits in perfectly with their mission. “The Indianapolis Motor Speedway was built in 1909 literally as a test track to support the auto industry in technology and innovation,” he said. “That’s why the association with the ethanol industry, EPIC, the Rahal Letterman race team, Jeff Simmons is a perfect association for a business and series that is so aligned with technology and innovation as our cornerstone.”

Listen to my interview with Terry Angstadt here:

cbot-07-angstadt.mp3
Audio, Ethanol

USDA Under Secretary Dorr on Rural Broadband Proposal

Chuck Zimmerman

USDA Under Secretary Tom DorrLast week I mentioned that USDA was proposing new rules for rural broadband development. That’s high speed internet access for those of you who aren’t fully AgWired yet.

USDA Under Secretary for Rural Development, Tom Dorr, spoke at yesterday’s CBOT Greening of Racing event and I got to ask him to explain more about that. Secretary Dorr says that research has shown how important it is to rural communities to have good quality broadband from an economic standpoint.

Listen to my interview with Sec. Dorr here:

dorr-rural-broadband.mp3
Audio, Internet, USDA

Beef Quality Counts

Cindy Zimmerman

Elanco“In today’s consumer-driven environment, just one bad beef-eating experience has the potential for long-term impact for all segments of the food chain,” says Dr. Ken Prusa of Iowa State University.

I will be hearing about that from Dr. Prusa and colleagues Dr. Floyd McKeith, University of Illinois, and Dr. Keith Belk, Colorado State University, at a sensory briefing and wet lab for the media in Ames, Iowa, on Wednesday. FIT

The purpose of the event, sponsored by Elanco Animal Health, is to help us media folks learn about the importance of sensory research methods used to evaluate the potential impacts of FDA-approved products on beef, the questions it answers and the role it plays throughout the food chain. We are going to be participating in a real-life sensory panel training and evaluation as part of the experience.

Stay tuned for photos, audio interviews and even some video from this sensory experience! Read more on the Beef Quality Center website.

Beef, Elanco, Media

Posting From The Plane

Chuck Zimmerman

Storming at Denver AirportWell I’m sitting on a plane and going no where so why not post from my phone?

We’re in Denver and over an hour on the tarmac after over an hour delay to start with.

Hopefully I’ll have time to get some editing and posting done in the morning California time.

This is coming to you from my Treo.

Uncategorized

Ringing The Bell For Ethanol

Chuck Zimmerman

Ringing the Bell for EthanolHere’s Jeff Simmons (right) with CBOT Chairman Charlie Carey as they oversee the ringing of the bell to kick off trading this morning.

I guess the bell is an automated thing so it’s kind of a ceremonial deal to stand on the platform looking over the whole trading floor.

I’m on a Denver stopover with a flight delay so I at least got my photos from today’s event uploaded to Flickr for you to peruse. You can either use the Zimmages at the top right of this page or go to the CBOT Greening of Racing Photo Album.

Ethanol

CBOT Puts Ethanol Front & Center

Chuck Zimmerman

CBOT Ethanol Press Conference GroupThis is a quick post before I board a plane for Burbank out of O’Hare here in Chicago. This fine looking group is the speakers at this morning’s press conference at the Chicago Board of Trade. It was “tribute to the greening of racing morning.” The cars (Indy Cars) and speakers were set up on the plaza outside the CBOT building.

In the middle of the picture is Jeff Simmons, driver of the Team Ethanol car. He was here to ceremoniously ring the bell to begin trading on the CBOT floor. I’ve got lots of pictures and audio that I’ll be posting as soon as I can which may be tomorrow.

In the meantime I just wanted to let you know.

We had quite a few media in attendance and I think it was a very well-staged event.

Ethanol

Mac Conversion Update

Chuck Zimmerman

AppleIt’s been a while since I’ve given you a Mac update. This one got triggered because I’m writing an article on using a Mac for farm use for Country Guide.

It’s made me think through why I have a Mac and why I like it vs. my PC. I really think I can sum things up in these words, “The Mac is faster, simpler and easier to use.” It boots up faster. I was on my way to the airport last time and realized I didn’t know which airline I was flying on (symptom of frequent flyer disease). I reached over to my Mac which was off and within less than 60 seconds I had my answer. On my PC this would have taken about 3 minutes. I don’t know about you but every minute counts in my day.

Another thing I’ve got to say about the Mac has to do with antivirus software. I’m having lots of problems on my PC’s with Norton Internet Security 2007. It has cost me hours and I’ve even had to pay a tech to help get things resolved. On my Mac I’m not currently running any antivirus software. Here’s a big reason to have a Mac!

If you’ve been in an airport recently, look around. There’s more and more computers showing an Apple logo on them. I think I know why.

Uncategorized