I finally had a chance to walk around a little today. One of the first exhibits I wandered through was John Deere.
I pulled out my little Wal Mart special video recorder and took this pic and the video coming up.
This is right at lunch time and the video starts at their STS Bullet Rotor display.
Here’s the video: 
John Deere Walk Through (2 min WMV)
Coverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Monsanto: 
Our USDA Under Secretary for Rural Development, Thomas Dorr was on hand here at the Farm Progress Show.
While I was interviewing him I could see cameramen taking pictures of us. So, I obtained their photos so you can compare them and vote on which one you like best. This first one is taken by Mike Wilson, Farm Futures.
The other photographer on the scene was John Herath, AgriTalk. He took this next one. Use the comment feature to post your vote!
Both of them were shooting with Nikons, my personal favorite. I have my new Nikon D200 with me and I’m still learning how to use it.
Enough about pictures. In my interview with Sec. Dorr we talked about renewable energy. I asked him to talk about the upcoming “Advancing Renewable Energy: An American Rural Renaissance” conference that USDA is conducing with the Dept. of Energy in St. Louis, Oct. 10-12. He lists the speakers that are confirmed and then talks about the latest USDA announcement on grants and loan guarantees from the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency program.
You can listen to my interview with Sec. Dorr here: 
Secretary Dorr Interview (5 min MP3)
Coverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Monsanto:
Secretary of Agriculture, Mike Johanns toured the Farm Progress Show today.
Afterward he met with the press. He basically summarized the action the administration is taking to help drought-stricken farmers and then talked about renewable energy and energy efficiency funding.
You can listen to Sec. Johanns here: Secretary Johanns Remarks (4 min MP3)
Coverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Monsanto:
Kelcy’s Mom (left) showed up today to see her daughter blogger in action.
In this picture they’re sitting in on the press conference with U. S. Secretary of Ag, Mike Johanns.
Deena Schroder brought us brownies with creme de menthe frosting. I don’t think I need anything else today. They are good. You’re going to get to hear from Kelcy’s Mom later when she posts the interview she did with her before they headed out to the corn combine demonstrations.
Coverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Monsanto:
Second Press Conference was held today at 9:30a, talking about Vistive with Monsanto!
Vistive is a low-linolenic soybean the is used for oils in food. Vistive soybeans contain three percent low-linolenic iol compared to eight percent for conventional soybeans. Many cooking oils are using low-linolenic oil because of the trans fat issue. In January 2006, all food products have to be labeled on how much trans fat there is in the product. Vistive is gaining a larger portion of the markets everyday. The speakers for the press conference were Kurt Wickstrom and John Hoffman, First Vice President of the American Soybean Association.
Monsanto have held the rights of Vistive to be only available exclusively to North American farmers for as long as they can support global demand- which farmers have this year and it is looking like they will next year too. New news effecting the Farm Progress Show directly is that all the oil used for cooking at all the vendor stands, are using Vistive Soybean Oil! If any of you are coming to the Farm Progress Show, you can look forward to eating some Vistive oil yourself!
I have two sound clips for the press conference: the first one is of John Hoffman talking about the amount of farmers using Vistive right now and the outlook for the future and the second one is of Kurt Wickstrom talking about the importance of Vistive soybeans.
Listen to John Hoffman here: John Hoffman (1 min. MP3)
Listen to Kurt Wickstom here: Kurt Wickstrom (1 min. MP3)
Coverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Monsanto:
During the Farm Progress Show, Monsanto’s seed partner, DeKalb is celebrating their 70th year anniversary.
DeKalb had been around since 1936! The picture is of the one of the advertisements DeKalb has done a long time ago. The picture has been very prominent for many of years and is well-known. As you can see in the ad, the logo is of an ear of corn flying out of the field. The winged ear represents a farmer lifting his mortgage.
What a great way to celebrate 70 years of accomplishment and achievement with DeKalb, than here at the Farm Progress Show.
Listen to my interview with Jason Hoag here: Interview with Jason Hoag (2 min. MP3)
Coverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Monsanto:
Monsanto is not only working with corn and soybeans, but also working with dairy farmers.
Dairy farms keep growing in size and instead of always hearing about farmers trying to get the largest yield out of fields, the same happens for dairy farmers. Sometimes, trying to make cows produce large amounts of milk can be challenging and Monsanto is taking great efforts to accommodate those conditions. They have produced RoundUp Ready Alfalfa, which makes the alfalfa pure and weed free.
There have been substantial increases in milk production due to the types of alfalfa fed to the cows causing a high demand in RoundUp Ready Alfalfa. The outlook for next year is looking good; RoundUp Ready Alfalfa may be hard to get to if it is not purchased early!
Listen to my interview with Chris Peterson here: Interview with Chris Peterson (2 min. MP3)
Coverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Monsanto:
One of the big announcements here at the show on opening day was from Bunge and Dupont who have a biotech alliance. Basically they’ve created a new brand, “Treus.” This is being done to “reflect their expansion of the companies’ soy collaboration beyond food and nutrition products to include industrial applications, biofuels and other opportunities.”
Low linolenic soybean oil produced from Pioneer® brand soybean varieties, and previously marketed as NUTRIUM Low Linolenic Soybean Oil, will now be marketed as TREUS™ Low Linolenic Soybean Oil.
I interviewed Troy Hobbs, Business Manager, Bunge/Dupont Biotech Alliance. He describes the changes in more detail and what this means for producers. Troy is pictured on the left of the Treus sign. On the right is Jason Klootwyk, Bunge, Asst. Commercial Manager, Grain Division.
You can listen to my interview with Troy here: Troy Hobbs Interview (3 min MP3) Note: I wasn’t using my regular recorder but the audio is acceptable.
Coverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Monsanto:
So, I just wanted to take a second and write about my whole experience so far. So I arrived at the Farm Progress Show yesterday at 2:00. I have never had the chance to come to the Farm Progress Show so this is all new to me. I was thinking… there’s going to be some really big tents and then just some vendors… but no… This place is way bigger!! As I came closer, you can see all the tents from the road and it was like a maze trying to get into the grounds. As for me, I had no clue where I was going so maybe it was a little bit harder, plus the rain didn’t help anything because I couldn’t go everywhere or otherwise I would have been stuck.
Chuck did a great job of teaching me how to use the programs so now, hopefully as you have read, I have been busy writing posts. I hope you enjoy my stories!! I’ve learned a lot more information about Monsanto, and the farm progress show in general. I can’t stress enough how much I thank them for giving me the opportunity for coming here!! After a fun filled day in the mud, last night Mica and Tami from Monsanto took me out to eat! We ate at Jefferey’s in Iowa City and as you can imagine, we walk in with jeans on and mud all over our boots and it would just happen to be a really ritzy place!! We walked in and Tammy asked if we could eat there because we weren’t dressed for the occasion at all so Jefferey’s staff put us in a separate room by ourselves!! The food was great (even though the beef was organic.) The steaks were cooked to a “T”!! As we proceeded to leave, I’m following Mica in her car back to the hotel and soon enough here are cop lights flashing… I’m thinking just my luck! So I pull over and I had a head light out so he pulled me over to tell me that… thank God I didn’t get a ticket!!
My time here has been eventful to say the least. Things I never thought would have happened have… I got to bed last night around 12:00a and I was up this morning at 4:30a. Short night for a long day. Parking was difficult this morning due to all the mud. I vigorously worked all day today working with Chuck. Hopefully as you have listened, I did my first interview! I was a little nervous for my first one, plus it didn’t help that I was interviewing intimidating people from Monsanto but I had a fun time doing it! I also had the chance to walk around a little bit, not too much though. The crowds were minimal today, for what I saw but I think the weather had a lot to do with that. I was talking with some fellow team members from Monsanto and they had 900 people go through their pipeline test plot by noon so I guess quite a few people were at the show today. I don’t get to see many of the people because I spend most of my day in the Media Tent.
As for now, I’m just sitting in my hotel room!! I am enjoying a nice night to myself, lying down. I hope to hear from you all tomorrow and be ready for several more posts!! Good night!
Coverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Monsanto:
You’ll find the sky over the show filled with advertising at times.
We’ve got balloons like this one for Ag Leader Technology. They look a lot better in the sunshine.
In addition to balloons we’ve got little lightweight sail planes (?) too. I couldn’t quite make out who this is for. If you know, post a comment.
I got a new little camera gadget to take video clips with. Here’s my first one. I think it works okay. This is a late afternoon street scene: Street Scene (1 min WMV)
Coverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Monsanto:
