If you had asked me a week ago what Bio-PDO is I wouldn’t have a clue. However, after helping distribute a news release for Pioneer this morning I now know that it’s a bio product made from corn and like a lot of biotechnology, it’s helping us reduce our dependence on oil while helping American farmers.
Commercial production of Bio-PDO™ from corn sugar is a significant milestone for agriculture and for Pioneer Hi-Bred International, according to company officials. Pioneer is a subsidiary of DuPont which today announced DuPont Tate & Lyle Bio Products, LLC, an equally-owned joint venture of DuPont and Tate & Lyle, the first commercial shipments of Bio-PDO™, from its $100 million facility here in Eastern Tennessee.. According to Pioneer President Dean Oestreich (oos-trick), Bio-PDO™ is a totally new corn-based product that can be used to make a variety of consumer products replacing petroleum-based propanediol. pioneer-oestreich-1.mp3
PERC Yourself Up
It’s back to work after a very nice Thanksgiving weekend. So let’s jump right into it with this week’s program. One of the interviews I did at the recent NAFB Convention was with Mark Leitman, Director, Agriculture Programs, Propane Education & Research Council (PERC). Thanks to Sarah Robinett, Osborn & Barr Communications for helping set me up!
There’s a lot of familiarity with checkoff programs like beef or pork but not as much with some others. PERC is funded through a federally mandated law which provides some significant funding which is used for research and promotion programs. I interviewed Mark to learn more about how his organization is structured and what they do with all that money.
Mark says the PERC is celebrating 10 years since it was signed into law. Mark says that they just completed a return on investment study that shows that even with the challenges facing the energy industry the propane checkoff is providing a very positive return to the dollars invested. He also pointed out that unlike other ag-related checkoff programs that are administered by USDA, PERC is administered by the Department of Energy.
One of the cool things that PERC did this year was experiment with podcasting. Mark says they feel like the podcast series they did worked well and that they’re looking into more uses of new media in getting their message out to the consuming public, which includes farmers since they have programs targeted to agriculture. mark-leitman.mp3
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All I Want For Christmas
I hope you’ve had a very relaxing Thanksgiving weekend. It has been an unbelievable warm weekend here in Missouri. So today it was time for a Katy Trail bike ride wearing these, connected to this, and listening to a little bit of this and this.
I know the pace is going to pick back up starting tomorrow so after this post I’m going to go sit down with my book and do nothing for a while until it’s time to heat up leftovers.
So what is on your Christmas list? Have you even thought about it yet? I’ve been asked so I thought of a couple things like one of these. Cindy told me not to even think about wanting one of these. One of the things I’d like is someone to teach me how to use my video editing software. I’d also be interested in upgrading to one of these if things work out.
So there you have it. Now you know what I want. How about you?
Going to Blog Green Week
It’s been a very nice Thanksgiving weekend so far. I’ve been playing catch up on a lot of things that were on hold with all the travel of the past several weeks.
Looking ahead we’re getting near farm convention time. A lot of state organizations are holding their annual meetings in December. I’m hoping you’ll let me know about them and how they’re promoting them so I can pass it along.
Looking beyond local, there’s a lot coming up after the first of the year. One of the meetings I’ll be going to in January is the International Green Week or Gruenewoche, which is held in Berlin, Germany. I attended a number of years ago and this is going to be fun to blog. I’m going to represent the AAEA at the IFAJ meeting which is held there each year. It’s a one day meeting but I’m going to stay for several days so you can get all the flavor of a world class food show.
If you’re interested in sponsoring my coverage of this event please give me a call. Your brand would be associated with all the coverage of this annual event and show how much you support the AgWired community in all of its diverse elements!
Wish I’d Stayed Home
It is a bright sunny day in Missouri to be “black” Friday. I made the serious mistake of going out early to visit one of my favorite retailers. I had to park in the parking lot of the hotel next door. By 10 minutes after opening time there were people already on their way out the door and on to the next one I guess.
I looked around and decided that I’m going to stick to online purchasing. It’s how I do most of mine anymore. The prices are usually better and the lines are just not much of a problem.
Have a Very Happy Thanksgiving
Our cornucopia runneth over with gratitude for our friends this Thanksgiving. We have done business with about 40 different entities this year, including 10 companies, 10 ag-related organizations, 14 agencies and two farm media groups! Not too bad for a little ole new media company. I’m very thankful to everyone we’ve had the honor to work with this year so far.
It’s late in the day and just about everyone I’ve emailed or called today is “out.” I think it’s time to be “out” too.
Best wishes for a glorious and grateful Thanksgiving holiday.
Going SMS Mobile
I’ll bet that farmers will use SMS Mobile right after they get done checking their email, news feeds and the weather. How many of them have a mobile device already? Anyone know?
Ag Leader Technology, Inc., a leading manufacturer of precision farming equipment and software announced SMS Mobile to its popular family of software, which already includes SMS Basic, SMS Advanced and the SMS Booklet Module. SMS Mobile is a powerful new software package that allows you to take SMS software to the field on a Windows-based mobile device. SMS Mobile supports a number of in-field logging options. SMS Mobile provides a boundary mode for defining or editing your field boundaries. SMS Mobile also provides a general logging mode that allows the logging and editing of points, lines, or polygons which is useful for logging things like tile lines or management zones. SMS Mobile can also log coverage data in coverage mode for tracking
field operations such as tillage or mowing. SMS Mobile will also feature a soil-sampling mode that will allow you to create and/or navigate to an area to pull soil samples (Available fall 2007).
White House Prefers Pennsylvania (Christmas Trees)
I got this story after the video feed had already been sent out this morning but I doubt I would have been able to receive it anyway. How about a link to it folks?
Anyway, the story is about Christmas. I know it’s not quite Thanksgiving yet. But the National Christmas Tree was cut today in Carbon County, Pennsylvania, and will be delivered to the White House on Nov. 27. That’s according to state Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff.
The tree was grown by Crystal Spring Tree Farm in Lehighton, the winner of the Douglas-fir competition in the Pennsylvania Christmas Tree Growers Association tree contest at the Pennsylvania Farm Show last January. Crystal Spring went on to win at the National Christmas Tree Association’s competition, earning the honor of supplying the National Christmas Tree. “Pennsylvania is a national leader in growing Christmas trees, and this is a terrific example of our state’s high-quality trees,” said Wolff. “Consumers who purchase Pennsylvania-grown Christmas trees at farms and retail locations are supporting our state’s economy.”
So I guess that Pennsylvania Preferred was an appropriate name for the state ag department’s promotional program this year when it comes to Christmas trees. I didn’t get the video of the tree being harvested today but you can watch one of their tv ads that shows Christmas trees.
More NAFB Awards
I was kind of out of it at the NAFB convention last week due to a very bad cold so thankfully I’ve been in receipt of some information I did not know. Post Update: Cindy just reminded me that I have neglected to mention that Pam Fretwell is the new president of NAFB and the ever so dainty Pam Jahnke was elected Vice President.
- The 2006 Dix Harper Meritorious Service Award was presented to Lyle Orwig, chief executive officer of Charleston/Orwig, an agricultural and communications firm based in Hartland, Wis.
- Buckeye Ag Radio Network’s Andy Vance of DeGraff, Ohio, received the Horizon Award. The award is given to young broadcasters who have less have less than five years of membership with NAFB, but show promise in the industry.
- Marlin Bohling of the Southern Farm Network based in Raleigh, N.C., received the New Holland Oscar in Agriculture Award. The Oscar represents excellence in thoroughness and audience service in reporting about agricultural issues.
New WFC Board
There’s a new leadership group at the Wisconsin Federation of Cooperatives.
If it’s a two state organization why does it have a one state name?
The Wisconsin Federation of Cooperatives (WFC), a two-state organization representing more than 800 Wisconsin and Minnesota cooperative businesses, elected a new board of directors this week at its annual meeting in La Crosse. Replacing outgoing Board Chairman Ed Brooks is Pete Giacomini (pictured), chief operating officer, AgSource Cooperative Services. Giacomini previously served as WFC board treasurer and is a member of the board of visitors for the UW-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. He is also an advisor to the board of directors for the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin.
See full list of new board members.