FlexFuel Motors

Chuck Zimmerman August 31, 2006

A new exhibit out here at the Farm Progress Show was put together in just the last 45 days by FlexFuel Motors.

The man who’s the inspiration and work horse behind it is Tad Whitten, Motor Sports Management, Inc. Besides having a variety of vehicles on display that utilize ethanol or biodiesel, he built a replica of the first ethanol filling station which was in Nebraska. As you can see in the picture he’s found pumps and other original equipment and even built the building as close to as possible to the original as he could.

There’s a skit that runs every little while with volunteer actors reliving what a typical fill up would have been like. They talk about ethanol and then it ends with a speech about renewable fuels and why they’re doing this.

I interviewed Tad and you can listen here: Tad Whitten Interview (5 min. MP3)

I didn’t videotape the show but I did record it as best I could so you can hear the audio here: Ethanol Show (5 min. MP3)

Coverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Monsanto:

Audio, Biodiesel, Ethanol, Farm Progress Show

Out Sitting In Their Field

Chuck Zimmerman August 31, 2006

I know it’s kind of corny. Especially since it’s a corn field.

These guys brought their own transportation out to the field to watch today’s corn harvesting demonstrations.

There was a big crowd out too. The weather is just about perfect.

Coverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Monsanto:

Farm Progress Show

Biodiesel Fuels The Show

Chuck Zimmerman August 31, 2006

All the tractors out here have the chance to fill up with biodiesel.

If you’re going to grow a commodity to turn it into fuel then you should walk the walk.

These guys are doing just that.

Coverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Monsanto:

Farm Progress Show

Agriblogging Expert

Chuck Zimmerman August 31, 2006

One of the only reporters left working in the media tent this morning was our very own Kelcy Schroder. I think she’s doing a great job helping me cover the show here and I hope you do too.

If you like her work please use the comment feature on her posts to let her know.

We’re nearing the end of our day out here. I’m getting ready to add the last of my posts of the day before heading home.

Coverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Monsanto:

Farm Progress Show

Horse Whisperer

Kelcy August 31, 2006

For the most part, I’m pretty familiar with cattle but horses I don’t know so much about. I have had a few in my life time, broke my arm on one, so I’ve never had great experiences with them.

At the Farm Progress Show, the gentleman by the name of Craig Cameron was here demonstrating how to break a horse.

Amazing enough, I thought I would never see somebody break a horse in an hour! A random, wild horse was put into this round pen and Craig was suck with it by himself. He sure had a crowd around him too which probably didn’t help the horse matter out any. Craig never let the crowd, the horse, or anything get to him while he vigorously worked with the horse.

Craig did have some great key points to help horse trainers out: first of all, never get mad at the horse because they are only doing what they think they should be doing. Most of the time, they develop habits because of human behavior. The horses need to learn, so there has to be patience from the trainer and always wait for the horse. Take steps one at a time and if the horse has problems with something, stop and go back to it later.

I think the most important part of the demonstration that he pointed out is that you need to make your horses turn. Turn, Turn, Turn! Their heads lead where they go and if you can get control of their head, you have control of their body.

Craig did a great job of answering questions throughout the demonstration and make sure everybody had an understanding of what he was doing. Needless to say, he had the horse trained enough in one hour that he could ride it and wow was the crowds amazed at his wonderful work!

Coverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Monsanto:

Farm Progress Show, Horses

Cattle Handling

Kelcy August 31, 2006

For growing up on a farm and showing cattle since I could ever remember, I thought going to the cattle handling demonstration would be something of interest.

I thought I knew quite a bit about handling cattle from classes and my own experience, which I still do but companies have come out with a lot of new machinery to move cattle safely, quickly, and easier.

I’ve only known of this old squeeze chute that my dad has always used and wow, does that thing seem ancient now. Now all the squeeze chutes are run by hydraulics and have added features to help vaccinate the calves. Most of the chutes on display have head guarders, which move the calf’s head from one side to the other to hold it in place. You can see this in the pictures above with a calf in action.

Another thing they talked about is RFID, which is a labeled mechanism. An electronic chip is placed into the ear so you can read which calf it is, load data on your computer about the history of the calf and most importantly, when it goes to the slaughter house, consumers will know where the meat came from.

Coverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Monsanto:

Beef, Farm Progress Show

WILL AM-580 Booth

Chuck Zimmerman August 31, 2006

When I saw the WILL Radio booth their banner caught my eye since it says, “Podcasts and Radio on Demand.”

I know you can’t see it here in this picture but you can find their podcasts on their website.

How many other radio stations doing ag are podcasting?

Coverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Monsanto:

Farm Progress Show, Media, Podcasts

Ethanol Car On Display

Chuck Zimmerman August 31, 2006

It seems like the number 17 Team Ethanol Indy Car is all over the place. It’s here on display at the Farm Progress Show courtesy of the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC).

The man who’s been touring this around is Alan Slunecka, farmer and brother to EPIC Executive Director, Tom Slunecka. The vehicle here has a simulator attached and that’s been a big draw with the little and big (adult) kids.

I asked Alan how it’s going here at the show. He says the line has been long at times with people waiting their turn driving the car. As a farmer he’s very proud of the work being done in the renewable fuels area to make America independent of foreign oil. He doesn’t mind the hard work and long hours driving this demonstrator around the country to promote ethanol which he firmly believes is good for America, the environment and farmers like himself. He not only grows corn that’s turned into ethanol but feeds the by-product (DDG’s) to his cattle.

You can listen to my interview with Alan Slunecka here: Alan Slunecka Interview (3 min. MP3)

Coverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Monsanto:

Audio, Ethanol, Farm Progress Show

Monsanto’s Technology Chief

Chuck Zimmerman August 31, 2006

I finally got to tour the Monsanto exhibit last night. All I can say is “wow.” It’s got to be the coolest exhibit I’ve seen at this show. I know they’re my sponsor but you’d have to see it to believe it.

It’s kind of like an EPCOT exhibit at DisneyWorld. We started out in an air-conditioned room with our tour guide giving us the background. Then Monsanto’s Chief Technology Officer, Rob Fraley, (pictured) gave us a tour through plots of corn, soybeans, alfalfa and cotton that are all neatly labelled with informative signs. Yes, cotton growing here in Iowa. They have all of their current and some future products on display! It’s all certified by USDA too.

This is just an awesome display. They told us prior to the tour that by the end of the show they’ll have had more farmers tour and see their technology than go through their Chesterfield research facility near St. Louis in a year. That’s impressive.

I interviewed Rob Fraley after our tour and asked him to describe what they have on display. He also talks about what it’s like to be the CTO for a company like Monsanto. He describes where the company and industry is at in the biotechnology arena as similar to where we were at with computers in the 1960’s. In other words, we haven’t even scratched the surface yet on what’s possible.

You can listen to my interview with Rob Fraley here: Rob Fraley Interview (4 min. MP3)

I’ve decided that I’m going to return my little video camera I brought out here but I did use it last night while Rob was giving us a tourn. You can watch it here: Monsanto Exhibit Tour (2 min WMV)

Coverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Monsanto:

Audio, Farm Progress Show, Video

Satellite Radio At The Show

Chuck Zimmerman August 31, 2006

At the Chevrolet exhibit you’ll find XM Satellite Radio.

I know they’re putting these in new cars. Is anyone putting them in new tractors?

It seems like having a satellite radio receiver in your cab would make a lot of sense on a long hot day of work. How many of you AgWired farm fans have satellite radio.

Coverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Monsanto:

Farm Progress Show

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