BSE Effects Continue in Canada

Chuck Zimmerman

Harry SiemensWhat do growing forages and BSE have in common you may ask? When the BSE crisis hit the Canadian cattle industry in 2003, most watched cattle producers struggle, what to do with their cattle, in some cases almost worthless. However, the effects of that crisis reached out to almost every segment selling into that industry.

“BSE certainly reduced our sales because the cattle producers didn’t have much income and so they weren’t buying very much seed,” Dave Dyck of Dyck Forages and Grass at Elie, Manitoba. “The last year, particularly in Manitoba and southern Saskatchewan, the wet spring dropped our retail sales even more.”

However, things are looking up. Dyck says there’s more interest this spring than last year at this time.
“I expected that, because we have some pent up demand to reseed some fields and put in some new hay and pasture fields,” he said. “Moreover, there are some improvements in the price of cattle. The cattle producers are probably feeling a little more encouraged to spend some extra money on some seed.”

However, the cattle industry in Canada will feel the effects of the U.S. closing the border to Canadian cattle for a long time. Keeping the border closed to live cattle over 30 months of age keeps a lid on the prices producers get for those animals.

Siemens Says

International

College Students To Blog Commodity Classic

Chuck Zimmerman

Mary IrelanMeet Mary Irelan, University of Illinois student and about to become, AgWired blogger. Actually, she’ll just be blogging her experiences as a first time visitor to Commodity Classic next week. Her trip is being sponsored by Monsanto as part of it’s Future Ag Journalists Fellowship program. Monsanto wants to make sure the future agricultural communicators get some “new media” training.

Margy FischerMeet Margy Fischer, University of Missouri student and also blogging her Commodity Classic experience right here on AgWired. Both Mary and Margy will begin blogging their trip next Tuesday. All their posts will be categorized by their name so you can easily find them, since they’ll be mixed in with my coverage of the event. Additionally, they’ll also be helping me with my coverage. I was very happy to find out that they will be bringing a digital camera and notebook computer. That’s what the ag journalist of the future must be equipped with.

This is very cool and I can’t wait to see what our Monsanto Future Ag Journalists have to say. The same goes for Monsanto Public Affairs Manager Mica DeLong. She says the opportunity will provide the students with a unique real-world media experience. Monsanto has a long- standing commitment to promoting youth involvement in agriculture by supporting programs such as Future Farmers of America, 4-H, Agriculture Future of America, Ag in the Classroom and other notable agriculture youth and leader development organizations.

“These students will make some new contacts and learn more about the agricultural industry at one of the largest and most widely recognized ag events of the year,” says DeLong. “ZimmComm has offered a unique opportunity for both students to write for AgWired, which gives them exposure to one of the newest forms of communications and can really broaden their knowledge.”

MonsantoI think Monsanto is one of the companies that’s “getting it.” They’re already video podcasting and now they’ve created an opportunity for students like Mary and Margy to create event coverage via a blog. Who would have imagined this a year ago when we got AgWired kick started?

Guess who ZimmComm will be looking for at graduation time.

Agribusiness, Commodity Classic

Protecting That Intellectual Property

Chuck Zimmerman

Dermot HayesOur last session of the day involves a discussion on intellectual property rights and how they benefit society.

Our presenter is Dermot Hayes, Iowa State University, Professor of Finance and Economics. Basically, as I hear it, higher protection for IP or intellectual property would benefit society in several ways, including encouraging companies like Pioneer to invest in new technology. Dermot conducted a study on this issue which is published in the November issue of the American Journal of Agricultural Economics.

Agribusiness, Pioneer

More High Speed Internet Access To Farmers

Chuck Zimmerman

Tom DoergeWhen we got to precision farming it was time for a tag team approach again. Getting this session started was Tom Doerge, Agronomy Research Scientist. Tom talked about using yield monitors and doing on-farm testing. He had some great photos of fields in which different treatments were applied side-by-side and in other patters. I will ask if these presentations are available.

Todd PrescottTag team member Todd Prescott got into the services Pioneer offers its customers who want yield mapping done for them. A certain amount of this information is or can be available via internet and computer. So, I asked him what kind of feedback he gets from growers about internet access. I was surprised and pleased to hear him say that farmer access to broadband is growing fast. He sees a lot of DSL becoming available and throughout the corn belt and soybean growing areas of the country. In fact, he’s spoken with growers who now have high speed options. He’s been hearing growers say they’ll have it installed and working as soon as they can now that it’s available in their area.

Agribusiness, Pioneer

Seed Treatments And Yield Results

Chuck Zimmerman

Jody GanderJody did a great job and I hope he earned himself a Pioneer logo blazer!

Jody Gander is an Agronomy Research Scientist for Pioneer. He spoke about all the different kind of corn and soybean seed treatments available to growers. I suggest going to the GrowingPoint website to get this kind of information on the types of treatments and how they affect things like yield.

Agribusiness, Pioneer

Media Staying Involved

Chuck Zimmerman

MediaI said there’s a lot of media here at the Pioneer event. I’m actually surprised that almost all of them have stayed through the whole event.

Here’s a couple of very interested reporters. Know who they are? Post your guess.

Agribusiness, Pioneer

Nitrogen Efficient Corn

Chuck Zimmerman

Paul GasparNitrogen utilization is a very important issue today. Ask Cindy, who’s editing our DomesticFuel site where we have regular input from a guy who has a problem with the fact that so much nitrogen fertilizer is put on crops that are turned into fuel today (corn most importantly). Here’s Pioneer’s Paul Gaspar, Agronomy Research Scientist, giving us an update on what Pioneer is doing to improve nitrogen efficiency in corn.

Agribusiness, Pioneer

Non-NAFTA Countries Key to Expanding Canadian Pork Exports

Chuck Zimmerman

Harry SiemensThe Canadian Pork Council suggests, in the face of stable North American consumption, it’s important for the Canadian pork industry to continue its focus on sales opportunities in non-NAFTA countries.

Last year Canadian pork set new records in terms of both the volume and value of its exports.
While exports to the United States, Canada’s largest export market, declined sales to other key markets, most notably Japan and South Korea increased dramatically.

Canadian Pork Council President Clare Schlegel suggests, with demand in Canada and the U.S. holding stable, we’ll definitely need to see sales continue to rise in countries beyond North America.

“Support is vital. We need a successful WTO round from a Canadian perspective,” said Schlegel in a recent interview. “Market access is absolutely critical and the lowering of tariffs into some of these countries. We know that some of our competitors are working very diligently on free trade agreements, bilateral agreements between two countries.”

He said one example is where both the United States and Chile would get preferential access over Canadian product, a definite problem for Canada. Thirdly, the industry needs continued support from the Canadian government, especially from the embassies abroad, and trade promotion programs.

We need to increase the desirability and presence of the Canadian image, particularly in markets around the world where we’re selling through to retail.

“There are exciting possibilities, particularly in Korea and maybe even in Mexico where we can increase our sales opportunity by increasing the Canadian brand and the Canadian presence,” said Schlegel. Last year’s strong performance is a clear indication we’re putting out a desirable, consistent, and tasty product. I congratulate the industry on its achievements.

Siemens Says

Uncategorized

Communicating Agronomy Research Information

Chuck Zimmerman

Steve PaszkiewiczNumber two on the program today is Steve Paszkiewicz, Agronomy Research Scientist.

Here’s Steve showing us a slide with all the agronomists that work for Pioneer around the U. S.

At the start of his presentation he discussed ways Pioneer is working to communicate information to growers like their Field Facts newsletter that is available on their GrowingPoints website. I interviewed Steve on the break and will add the interview as soon as I can.

POST ADDITION:

Here’s my interview with Steve. Steve says they take a multimedia approach to delivering agronomy research information that includes an internal internet system for the company and it’s representatives, printed materials that are mailed out and their GrowingPoint website which is available to their grower customers. He says it’s been interesting to see the continuing growth in grower use of the website and how they use different parts of the site depending on the season of the year.

You can hear my interview with Steve here: Listen To MP3 File Steve Paszkiewicz Interview (6:12 MP3 File)

Agribusiness, Audio, Pioneer

M-Series Is Driving Yield Enhancements

Chuck Zimmerman

Paul StephensWe’re back in the presentation room here at Pioneer. Today is research day. Lots of information about the research work that’s going on.

To get us started, Paul Stephens, Senior Research Scientist, talked about the M-Series soybean program. Probably most of you have seen one of their advertisements with the green soybean plant flexing its muscle. It’s all about improving yields.

Right now Paul is doing Q & A. He was just asked about the idea of a consistent 100 bushel/acre yield. He thinks that’s about 10 to 15 years away since he’s currently hearing about consistent 70+ bushel/acre yields.

Agribusiness, Pioneer