My Mac

Chuck Zimmerman

My MacIs there anyone who doesn’t know what company this logo stands for? When I got home this afternoon from a blog training session in Kansas City I found that my Mac had arrived. You’ll notice that the apple is not lit up. That’s because I haven’t had time to turn it on yet and yes, I’m typing this on a PC.

As I go through my Mac conversion experience I thought I’d document it and periodically post some pictures and thoughts about it for you. I’m hoping this will be good for both of us. I’ve always thought of Apple computers as some sort of mysterious gadgets that geeky people used. If you’ve thought the same thing then maybe I can take some of the mystery out of it. We’ll find out together is this box is everything they claim it to be.

I’ve also created a photo album for the experience too. It’s just got a few unpacking photos in it right now but I’ll be adding to it periodically. I guess my first comment on the experience is when I visited the Apple store. I had an appointment with an advisor who spent a lot of time with me and not only answered all my questions but showed me how he’s personally using his Mac. When I started to unpack I was struck by how simple the unit is packaged. There’s not a ton of stuff here. You’ve got the box, the ac adapter, a remote control and a get started booklet. Simple. Not a lot of junk that seems to come with a PC. Score one for Apple in my opinion.

Well you know what I’ll be doing this weekend. I’m going to set it up myself and tranfer all my PC data to it. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Uncategorized

A Skateboard in Your Farm Plan

Chuck Zimmerman

Farm Plan Skateboard AdI guess this is a magazine ad for John Deere’s Farm Plan program. I’m not sure how many farmers are skateboarders but it caught the attention of Adrants which is where I saw it.

Adrants links to larger pictures of the ads. There’s one for Skateboards and one for Disco Ball.

You can catch Disco Ball in action on the Farm Plan website.

It’s nice sometimes to see creative that’s creative.

Advertising, Agribusiness, John Deere

WildBlue Down on the QuickFarm

Chuck Zimmerman

QuickfarmI haven’t heard anything from or about Wild Blue in a long time. I guess they’re doing okay though if they’re hiring Quickfarm to handle a customer web portal for them. This also makes you realize how important the rural market is to a satellite internet access provider. I wonder how many farmer customers WildBlue has.

WildBlueQuickFarm announced today an agreement with WildBlue Communications to provide content and hosting services through the WildBlue Customer Portal.

QuickFarm will provide WildBlue retail subscribers with robust market commentary, national radar weather with zoom and animation, commodity market quotes, Ag news, LDP information, cash grain prices and local news and agronomic information.

An always-on broadband Internet connection, WildBlue’s service offers access speeds that are up to thirty times faster than dial-up. WildBlue’s two-way broadband service provides high-speed data in both directions, upstream and downstream.

Agribusiness, Internet

Big Thinkers Thinking About NAMA

Chuck Zimmerman

NAMA Convention 2007The NAMA Convention Trade Show Committee is meeting right now. We’re hoping you’re “Thinking Big” and planning on being there this year in Dallas.

We’ve got some great plans coming together for the Trade Show. Right after the Best of NAMA you’ll be able to go downstairs to the show and enjoy several varieties of good wine and food, sponsored by DTN. Don’t forget to come look for your AgriMarketing Magazine toy tractor too.

Then we’ll be open for lunch on Thursday of the convention and have a unique game for you with an awesome prize. More on that later. We’re still looking for a sponsor for the Trade Show Lunch session. Interested?

Finally, on Thursday evening we’ll have the closing session and lets just say that you probably have never seen the kind of activity we have planned. It involves animals. It’s sponsored by NAFB. Again, more on that later.

I almost forgot to add that we’ll have a door prize at each session which will be a digital picture frame and one final session prize which will be a 30GB Video iPod!

NAMA

Alltech Symposium on Food, Feed or Fuel

Chuck Zimmerman

Alltech 2007 SymposiumIf you don’t have an invitation to the Alltech 23rd International Feed Industry Symposium, May 20-23, 2007 in Lexington, KY, then you need to contact your local Alltech representative. I’ll be there along with the whole International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) executive committee.

In fact, besides covering the event here on AgWired I’ll be conducting a blogging/podcasting workshop for the IFAJ. This is going to be fun. I hope they all speak at least some English.

The theme of this year’s Symposium is “The New Energy Crisis: Food, Feed or Fuel?” It’s a subject on everyone’s mind.

The shift in corn use toward fuel ethanol has wide-ranging implications for the animal feed industry in terms of feed costs, availability, and ration formulation. It also raises the crucial question of whether ethanol production might place an important human food source out of reach of the world’s population, particularly the poor.

As such, a special goal of this year’s Symposium is to look at how practices, products, and programs will ultimately affect how we utilize feed energy as well as protein ingredient resources.

Agribusiness, IFAJ

2007 PRRS Research Awards

Chuck Zimmerman

2007 PRRS Research WinnersThe folks at Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc. have announced the recipients of its 2007 Advancement in PRRS Research Awards.

This year’s selected research programs focus on the development of monitoring and sample diagnostic guidelines, risk factors and transmission of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS). Each year $75,000 is awarded to support three separate studies by independent swine researchers and practitioners in their investigation of new ways to diagnose, control and eradicate this costly swine disease.

The following are the 2007 award recipients and their research proposals recognized at the American Association of Swine Veterinarians (AASV) Conference in Orlando, Fla.:

Jeff Zimmerman, DVM, PhD, Iowa State University, Ames (pictured on left) – research award to develop an inexpensive and convenient method for PRRS virus monitoring; to evaluate the stability of PRRS virus; and to develop guidelines for handling and diagnostic monitoring of oral fluid samples.

Derald Holtkamp, DVM, MS, Iowa State University, Ames (pictured in middle) – research award to conduct a cross-sectional study of PRRS-positive swine breeding herd sites to evaluate the association between risk factors and a case definition based on number and severity of clinical PRRS episodes.

Bob Morrison, PhD, MS, University of Minnesota (pictured on right) – for his research proposal to estimate, quantify and compare PRRS virus transmission information between pigs of different PRRS vaccination status.

Agribusiness

Largest Combine in North America

Chuck Zimmerman

Lexion 595RThis is one big combine and it was on display at the Commodity Classic last week.

I really didn’t get much done in the way of video but Cindy got motivated and thought that something this big spinning on a pedestal was worth a minute of YouTube’s time.

So here’s what you’ve got. A minute of: The largest combine in North America, the LEXION 590R, is now available on tracks with the 2007 introduction of the LEXION 595R. Bob Armstrong, product marketing manager in Omaha, says the LEXION 595R uses the proven technology of the 590R—introduced two years ago and still the largest combine in North America—and provides the largest footprint of any combine harvester on the market. The 595R utilizes the Mobil-Trac System, providing more flotation than any tire combination available today at 10.5 PSI and the capability of road speeds up to 18 mph.

Commodity Classic, Equipment, Video

The NAMA Agribusiness Leader of the Year

Chuck Zimmerman

Dale LudwigThe word is out and the NAMA Agribusiness Leader of the Year is Dale Ludwig, Missouri Soybean Association. I just saw Dale at Commodity Classic and congratulated him. I guess we’ll see him in Dallas.

The National Agri-Marketing Association has named Dale R. Ludwig, executive director/CEO of the Missouri Soybean Association and the Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council, the 2007 Agribusiness Leader of the Year. This award, which is NAMA’s highest honor, will be presented at the Opening General Session of the 2007 Agri-Marketing Conference, “Think Big!,” April 12, 2007 in Dallas, TX. The award honors outstanding leaders in agribusiness, education, government service or other agribusiness related areas who exemplify excellence in agribusiness by their significant contributions to the industry.

Ludwig is a visionary leader with a proven record of building coalitions to improve Missouri agriculture. He helped forge producer/agribusiness partnerships that have positioned Missouri as a leader in biodiesel production. In addition, he pioneered the effort to identify new traits in soybeans through biotechnology and helped re-position the U.S. soybean commodity with competitive advantages over global competitors.

Ag Groups, NAMA, Soybean

WI Public Service Farm Show

Chuck Zimmerman

Wisconsin Public Service Farm ShowThe 47th Wisconsin Public Service Farm Show is coming up in just a couple weeks.

The show will be held on the EAA Grounds in Oshkosh, WI on March 27, 28 and 29. “For more than four decades, the Wisconsin Public Service Farm Show has provided an opportunity for the agricultural community to check out the latest farming equipment, machinery, tools and services.”

Landoll MaxLandoll says it will have some new equipment on display like the “To The Max” harrow that it acquired from Precision Planting.This product is designed to deliver uniform soil density for vigorously developing roots as a result of a vertical tillage system. The combination of notched cutting reels, rolling harrows and hydraulic cover boards allow the unit to prepare the perfect seedbed. The To The Max works the top inch of soil above the seed placement zone, to spread residue, dry the soil surface and crack surface crusts without changing the soil density. This allows seeds to germinate in warm, moist soil and get off to a healthy start.

Agribusiness, Farm Shows

NAMA Bombers “Thinking Big” in Dallas

Chuck Zimmerman

Little BikerGet your guessing hat on and see if you can figure out who’s in these pictures. I hope you’re looking forward to the annual NAMA convention. Thanks to NAMA Bombers member Jeremy Povenmire for the story.

The NAMA Bombers Motorcycle Club has announced that they will be hosting their “National Run” at this year’s NAMA Conference in Dallas. “We are really excited to get all of our members together in one place. The Minnesota, Kansas and Missouri chapters are all gathering on our machines in KC to make the trip to Dallas. Our President and Road Captain, “Iron Mike” Gustafson is handling the logistics of the trip. He promises to have a route planned so we can make good time and avoid any trouble with “the Man,” says Jeremy Povenmire, NAMA Bombers M/C member.

Baby ChopperStay tuned for more developments and updates to the annual gathering of the NAMA Bombers Motorcycle Club. Support your local NAMA Bombers!

These pics are of a member of the NAMA Bombers circa 1972-1974. E-mail your guesses to jeremy@nafb.com. The winner will be announced at the Convention.

I’m sure there’s a great prize for the winner and I have no clue who it is. Do you?

NAMA