CCI Celebrates 50 Years

Chuck Zimmerman

Hunter MoorheadI just love these pictures from the Cotton Council International 50 year reception. They did this in Washington, DC at Union Station. What I like is the little “cotton tree” that frame the speakers like Hunter Moorhead here.

CCI President David Burns, a North Carolina producer, said that at CCI’s inception in 1956, the industry was in crisis: stocks were the highest in recent memory, man-made fibers were on the move and exports were the lowest they had been in a decade. That year U.S. cotton exporters shipped a total of only 2.2 million bales. “By comparison, today’s global mill demand for cotton is more than four times greater than in 1956,” Burns said. “For the 2005-2006 marketing year, the U.S. is projected to export nearly 17 million bales, which translates to more than a seven-fold increase in exports compared with 1956 and represents around seventy percent of current U.S. production.”

Thad CochranKeynote speakers at the event included: The Honorable Thad Cochran, Chairman, Committee on Appropriations, United States Senate; and Hunter H. Moorhead, Special Assistant to the President for Agriculture, Trade and Food Assistance.

Ag Groups, Cotton

College To Career Workshop

Chuck Zimmerman

Drake & CompanyIf you’re new to the professional world of agribusiness you can find help. For example, you might consider the “How to Manage the Transition from College to Work” seminar coming up August 10 at the Drake & Company headquarters in St. Louis.

The seminar will be conducted by Eric Spell & Erika Brandt of AgCareers.com. It’s also sponsored by Alpha Zeta. I hope that Eric and Erika have blogging in their presentation since it can be a big help to anyone wanting to move their career forward (if done right). Here’s the registration form. (pdf)

BTW. Alpha Zeta has a blog.

Uncategorized

AEM Moves Into New Office Building

Chuck Zimmerman

Association of Equipment ManufacturersA picture can almost be as good as being there. Almost. The Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) just put the finishing touches on a new office building. They held an open house in June to “not only showcase its new headquarters office to attendees but also educate them – in a fun and informal way – about AEM and the industry segments it serves.”

The new AEM office is located in the former Allis-Chalmers tractor manufacturing plant in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin suburb of West Allis. The industrial renovation of the plant site has won awards for blending modern design with the character of the past such as exposed brick and other structural elements of the original facility.
“We wanted to use this opportunity to share our enthusiasm for our work and workplace with our members as well as our industry, business and community associates and friends,” stated AEM President Dennis Slater.
Entering the new AEM office, visitors are greeted by dozens of detailed machinery models of all sizes and types, many of them decades old. Slater emphasized that while AEM has a rich heritage of more than 100 years of service, it is focused on the future and its leadership role helping members and the industry meet the challenges of the global marketplace.

Ag Groups, Equipment

Learn About Nutrients For Life

Chuck Zimmerman

Nutrients For LifeThe fertilizer folks want the general public to know more about the societal benefits of modern agriculture. One of the ways they say they’re doing that is by creating supplemental educational materials for middle and high school science curriculums. Those materials will be used for the first time this fall.

I’m guessing by the letter I just received from them in the mail that they’re looking for additional support too. If you’re interested please visit them online.

Ag Groups

Pork Industries Move Forward with Livestock ID

Chuck Zimmerman

Harry SiemensThe president of the Canadian Pork Council says Canada, the United States and Mexico are moving in the same direction when it comes to developing systems for tracking the movement of livestock. Livestock identification and traceability was one of the issues discussed recently as representatives of the Canadian and US pork industries gathered in Winnipeg for the annual meeting of the Canadian Pork Council.
CPC president Clare Schlegel says, despite developing some differences in the systems, the Canadian, American and Mexican industries all recognize the need for coordination. Read More

International, Pork

Cattle Industry Summer Conference Photos

Chuck Zimmerman

After any event I blog I like to upload my pictures to Flickr. I probably should look at some new ways to use them. I’ve got thousands in there now but they are categorized into sets at least.

You can see a selection of my photos from this past week’s event in Reno by visiting this link: Cattle Industry Summer Conference Photo Album

Beef

Mobile Broadband

Chuck Zimmerman

Sprint Broadband CardYou might think that with only this one post today that it’s a kind of lazy day in Holts Summit. I wish. For the RW, it’s time to mow the yard, weed and trim, run errands, get in a proper workout, help with house cleaning and cook supper. While supper is cooking I am taking the time to do a little bit of computer work.

For example, I’m setting up this new Sprint Connection Card on my notebook. Sprint now has their EV-DO broadband working in most major cities and to get that high speed internet connection you need a card like this. My old one just won’t cut it. However, with a 2 year agreement these are cheap. Then I’ve got an unlimited data account for $59.00/mo. I am usually in Sprint service just about everywhere so I’m hoping this will save on those $5 to $11/day connections you get hit with everywhere (airports, hotels, etc.). I’ll bet I’ve spent twice this monthly fee in the last month for example. So . . . we’ll see how it works. They promise great high speed connections and I’ve heard good things about it.

I’ll get to try it this coming week in Raleigh, NC and then in Portland, OR.

Internet

Evan Davies Now EVP For McCormick

Chuck Zimmerman

Evan DaviesIt looks like Evan Davies is getting a whole new level of responsibility at McCormick Company. He’s just been named Executive Vice President.

Davies has being instrumental in directing and managing the DuPont/Pioneer account team since joining the agency in 2002. In addition to those duties, he has played a vital role in managing overall client services for the agency, specifically in the areas of tracking, compliance and accountability. Davies is based in the company’s Kansas City office.

“Evan has further elevated our tradition of high-quality client service and has had an integral role in helping us achieve several milestones in growth since joining the agency,” says Mark Perrin, McCormick President. “In the past 18 months alone, we’ve expanded to include a Canadian office, international media relations capabilities and most recently, launched Aquarium, a stand-alone company and one of the first of its kind in the Midwest to utilize a nontraditional toolbox of new or participative media solutions to engage customers.”

Congratulations Evan.

Agencies

Farm Credit Turns 90

Chuck Zimmerman

Farm CreditUsually you don’t brag about being 90 years old but the Farm Credit System is. Actually their birthday will be July 17. To let the world know, the Farm Credit Council just sent out a Talking News Release through AgNewsWire.AgWired.com.

Rural America’s customer-owned partner, the Farm Credit System, celebrates its 90th anniversary of service on July 17, the date when President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Farm Loan Act in 1916.

Today, with more than $108 billion in loans financing agriculture and its related cooperatives, rural homebuyers, small community water and waste disposal systems, rural electric and telephone systems and the export of U.S. farm commodities, the Farm Credit System is the oldest and largest financial cooperative in the nation.

“For 90 years, the Farm Credit System has served agriculture and rural America as a dedicated, reliable, competitive, and customer-owned source of credit and related services. We look forward to a bright future for U.S. agriculture and America’s rural communities,” said Wayne Lambertson, a Maryland farmer who currently serves as Chairman of the Farm Credit Council, the System’s trade association.
 (Full Release)

You can listen to one of the soundbites from Wayne here: Listen To MP3 Wayne Lambertson (mp3 file)

Agribusiness

DTN Gets Weather Customers

Chuck Zimmerman

DTN MeteorlogixIt must be nice to pick up 20,000 customers just like that. That’s what DTN Meteorlogix just did by obtaining the customers of Surface Systems, Inc.

DTN, the world leader in weather forecasting, display and decision support technology, today (July 11) announced the acquisition of Surface Systems, Incorporated (SSI) weather forecasting customers. DTN will integrate SSI’s weather forecasting customers into its weather business, Meteorlogix. Additional terms of the agreement were not disclosed. DTN will provide services to existing SSI weather forecasting customers, making available DTN’s state-of-the-art weather and pavement forecasting systems, innovative satellite, online and mobile weather display systems and patented weather-monitoring alerting technology. SSI, a division Quixote Corporation, will retain the manufacturing, sale and maintenance of weather and pavement hardware sensor technology.

Media, Technology