I won’t be in Indianapolis until tomorrow evening but agriculture was on display today. The fastest rookie was honored by the American Dairy Association of Indiana. He’s Marco Andretti and he’s award winner number 32. I thought it was interesting that they pointed out that although ethanol has been getting a lot of attention they were the first ag commodity associated with the race.
In accepting the honor, Marco will join his father, 1984 Fastest Rookie Michael Andretti, to form the first father-son duo in the award’s history. In fact, had the program been around in 1965, the Andretti family would be celebrating a three-generation sweep. Marco’s grandfather, the great Mario Andretti, was the fastest rookie qualifier in 1965, his freshman year at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
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Sugar Men
The Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida just appointed Roger Hatton, a lifelong resident of the Glades, to their board of directors at its May board meeting. He will fill the un-expired term of John Schlechter ending January 2008 following Schlechter’s announced resignation from the Board this month.
They also announced the naming of George H. Wedgworth, the President of the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida, as the “Sugar Man of the Year – 2005.” Read More
D&PL Acquires Syngenta Cotton Seed Biz
D&PL seems to be on a roll lately. They just acquired Syngenta’s global cotton seed business. Sounds like a big deal to me. Of course the financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The acquisition is comprised of operations and assets in India, Brazil, Europe, and certain cotton germplasm in the United States.
The primary assets involved consist of conventional and transgenic germplasm containing Syngenta’s VipCot(tm) insect-resistant cotton genes. D&PL acquired a license to VipCot in 2004 and expects to commercialize varieties containing these traits in 2008 or 2009, subject to receiving regulatory approvals.
Learning To Bee Farm
When I was passing through Georgia last week I was invited to but didn’t make the “Learn elements of sustainable ag at lunch” outdoor seminar on “Beekeeping” in Jasper County. My brother went with a couple of his kids though and talked the extension agent into sending me a pic and some information. Actually she is still sending along a summary which I’ll add to this post when I get it. Thanks Dr. Jean C. Walter, Jasper County Extension CEC.
As I travel around the country and world I am constantly amazed at the volume of work being done in agriculture in so many places by so many people. If I had an editor in every state there wouldn’t be enough time in a week to post everything that’s going on in just one day.
EPIC Founder Interview
I’ll be heading east tomorrow to Indianapolis with one stop on the way. Just to keep you interested in the greatest spectacle in auto racing I’ve got an interview for you to listen to with ICM CEO, Dave Vander Griend. Dave is a founder of the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council. His company is a design/engineering firm for ethanol plants.
Dave got interested in the Indy Racing League partnership when he met the late Paul Dana. He talks about that relationship in the interview. I intereviewed Dave on Ethanol Day in Indianapolis. He has a great way of looking at why the promotion and development of ethanol as an alternative fuel is so important to the United States.
You can listen to my interview with Dave here: 
Dave Vander Griend Interview (7 min MP3)
Manage Your Horses
From the makers of CattleMax we now have EquineMax. It’s the “complete horse management software program” from Cattlesoft, Inc. You can see screenshots and a video overview here.
The Basic Edition keeps complete records including medical treatments, breeding records, unlimited pictures and pedigree information. The program also has income and expense tracking to simplify tax records and appointment reminders to ensure vaccinations are on time.Read More
Canadian Biotech On Display
In case you didn’t make it to BIO 2006 there’s another conference coming up in Toronto you might want to check out. It’s the 2nd annual Agri-Food Innovation Forum. If you are feeling “elite” then you can be one of the “elite gathering of researchers, academics and executives involved in bioproduct innovation in Canada and beyond.” Actually elite is a better word than exclusive.
Held in conjunction with the BIO World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing, the event will present distinguished experts and their vision, experience and success stories in this globally significant new market.
The Agri-Food Innovation Forum will take place at the Toronto Westin Harbour Castle Hotel, starting with a joint BIO-Forum Welcoming Reception the evening of July 11, followed by a half day Forum on the morning of July 12, with Canadian plenary speakers focusing on the 2006 theme: Celebrating Excellence in Canadian Industrial Bioproducts. At noon on July 12, the Forum wraps up and the BIO World Congress begins.
Some New Media Resources
For those of you wanting to know more about new media I recommend you obtain a new white paper written by Eric Schwartzman, founder of iPressroom titled, “New Media Marketing Communications.” Free with registration.
One of those new media options is podcasting and if you’re serious about wanting to learn more about it I recommend a conference like the Corporate Podcasting Summit. Of course you can call your friendly ZimmComm New Media rep (that would be me). This is just some of the cool stuff you’ll find on ZimmComm New Media.
Manage Your Farm Energy Risk
With all the buzz about energy and fuel costs small and limited resource farmers as well as any producers might be interested in USDA’s “Energy In Agriculture, Managing The Risk” conference in Kansas City, MO on June 27-28. You can register online for $90 before June 5. Here’s a draft agenda (pdf file). Some travel scholarships are available if applied for prior to May 30.Read More
Hot Dogging It
This is too good to pass up. In qualifying for the Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest, Joey Chestnut (pictured) downed 50 hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes. This was last week at the Las Vegas qualifier. It is an American record. You can see a complete story on ESPN. Something I just learned in researching this story is that there is an organization called the International Federation of Competitive Eating. In regards to the Joey Chestnut record, IFOCE President Richard Shea said “This is the greatest thing to happen in the history of American sports. Joey Chestnut’s accomplishment may change the course of a nation.”Read More