New WTO Publication Releases

Chuck Zimmerman

World Trade OrganizationSince Keith Good won’t be posting today I thought I’d give you a taste of some world trade information from the WTO. They just released the latest edition of the World Trade Review. You can download the publication here in pdf format. In this issue you’ll find articles on:

Multilateralism compromised: the mysterious origins of GATT Article XXIV – KERRY CHASE

Reviewing dispute settlement at the World Trade Organization: a time to reconsider the role/s of compensation? – ARWEL DAVIES

Participation of NGOs before the WTO and EC tribunals: which court is the better friend? – MARCO M. SLOTBOOM

The WTO decision-making process and internal transparency – PETER NØRGAARD PEDERSEN

European Communities – Anti-Dumping Duties on Imports of Cotton-Type Bed Linen from India: Recourse to Article 21.5 of the DSU by India – GENE M. GROSSMAN AND ALAN O. SYKES

International

Angus Carcass Challenge Winner Announced

Chuck Zimmerman

National Angus Carcass ChallengeYou have seriously got to be “into” beef for this story. A real steak lover would like a good carcass challenge though. I don’t think I’d do very good at this competition. Heck, I didn’t do a great job on a roast I cooked in the crock pot this weekend. The family units said that eating it was a real challenge.

Basically, the National Angus Carcass Challenge is “an annual beef value contest, sponsored in 2005 by Certified Angus Beef LLC (CAB), Drovers magazine, Merial SureHealth, Farnam Co., Alltech and the American Angus Association’s AngusSourceSM program.” The awards for the competition were presented at the National Western Stock Show. If you want to know more about what all is involved you’ll have to contact the folks at CAB. They do take pictures though and I like that.

National Angus Carcass Challenge Grand ChampionGG Genetics, Ida Grove, Iowa, owned and fed the top entry in the 2005 National Angus Carcass Challenge. The 40 heifers set a NACC contest grid record of $108.18 with 100% Prime and Choice and 62.5% Certified Angus Beef® with no Yield Grade 4 and 5 discounts. Pictured left to right: Jim Riemann, Certified Angus Beef LLC; Tina Richards, Alltech; Kathy LaScala, Drovers; Diane and Mason Fleenor, GG Genetics; Jeff Schoen, Merial; and Ty Groshans, American Angus Association.

Ag Groups, Beef

A Yogurt Smoothie For Your Teeth

Chuck Zimmerman

I thought this was just too weird to be true until I saw the story in USA Today. Have you ever considered brushing your teeth with yogurt? Me either. But you can. With some fancy toothpaste from Breath Palette. Try the Smoothie Toothpaste Kit which comes in these flavors: Fresh Yogurt, Monkey Banana, Kiwi Fruit, Strawberry, Blueberry

See this story – “Yogurt cultivating unprecedented popularity.” The story also points to a bunch of other products containing yogurt from cereals to makeup.

Me, I think I’ll stick to some more traditional uses of yogurt for now. Besides, Cindy would think it weird if I started using yogurt makeup.

Food

Travel Time Once Again

Chuck Zimmerman

It’s back on the road this week. I’m off to Chi-town and Milwaukee for some great meetings and discussions. Lots of talk about this new media thing we’re doing you know. This means a little bit of light posting until probably tomorrow.

There’s still plenty to see and hear on AgWired. If you haven’t looked around you might want to visit the archives or type in some key words and see what comes up. The amount of content has certainly grown in the last year. Even I had no idea how much news and information relating to agricultural marketing there really is.

More to come soon.

Uncategorized

Team Ethanol Now With Rahal Letterman

Chuck Zimmerman

Ethanol Promotion and Information CouncilIf you’re going to switch teams, pick a good one. That’s what Team Ethanol driver Paul Dana did. The rumor was floating around until confirmation came today at an Indy Racing League press conference. Paul Dana will now be driving for Rahal Letterman Racing, which makes him a teammate to Danica Patrick.

Paul Dana - Photo courtesy of www.pauldana.com“This is a huge step up for us from a competitive standpoint because Rahal Letterman has such an excellent track record,” Dana said. “My teammates will be Buddy Rice, who won the Indy 500 in 2004, and, of course, Danica Patrick, who was Rookie of the Year last year.” Rahal Letterman Racing is co-owned by 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal and television talk show host and comedian David Letterman.

Team Ethanol is sponsored by the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council. Executive Director Tom Slunecka said they could not be more thrilled with the switch to one of the best and well-known IRL teams. “The Rahal Letterman team, having produced Indy car winners and having the sensation in race car and sports media Danica Patrick, is just a fabulous way for ethanol to get its name out to that many more people.” (Full Release)

You can hear the actual press conference annoucement here.

Ag Groups, Audio, Ethanol

XM Satellite Radio With Willie Nelson

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast52-Joe JobeThis is ZimmCast number 52. I know that means a year but in the early week’s I did a couple extra’s at an event. It took me a few weeks to get into the rythym. It’s close enough to a year though. My how time flies when you’re having fun.

This week I interviewed Joe Jobe, Executive Director of the National Biodiesel Board. Joe talks about the upcoming National Biodiesel Conference (I’ll be blogging from there). He describes the history, the agenda, who attends and the trade show. He also talks about the final event at the conference which will be a live XM Satellite Radio broadcast with Willie Nelson.

You can listen to this week’s ZimmCast here: Download MP3 File

The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired which you can subscribe to using the link in our sidebar. You can also now find the ZimmCast on CoolCast Radio or subscribe in iTunes.

Ag Groups, Audio, Podcasts, ZimmCast

Indy Racing League Podcasting

Chuck Zimmerman

DomesticFuelI don’t know how interested you are in renewable fuels like ethanol or biodiesel but you ought to see what Cindy’s been doing over at DomesticFuel. That’s a ZimmComm blog that we’ve been cranking up the production on. Cindy’s really developing a blogger’s habit there. What’s been interesting is seeing the response we’re getting and we haven’t even rolled out our first promotion for it yet. People are submitting ideas for stories and submitting comments! Take her recent post about the Indy Racing League podcasts as an example.

I know I’ve been a little slow on the posting scene this weekend but that doesn’t mean my fingers haven’t been wearing out a keyboard. You’ll be seeing the results soon.

Podcasts

Wild American Shrimp

Chuck Zimmerman

Wild American ShrimpIf you like shrimp like I do (gumbo, fricassee, etoufee, broiled, boiled, grilled, salad, cocktail, etc.) then maybe we all need to make sure we’re getting the “wild thing.” I mean Wild American Shrimp of course.

They’ve got a new campaign going which includes print and tv. You can see the new ad on their site in the media section.

I Want Wild American ShrimpHowever, I really like this idea. They have a download of this card you can print out and hand out at restaurants if they aren’t serving the real deal, er, shrimp. It says, “You see, I recently found out the shrimp I’m eating is of the imported pond-raised variety, and frankly, I was quite shocked to hear the news. Now that I know there’s a choice, I’d rather have certified Wild American shrimp in my recipes, which I’m sure you’d be happy to offer. Visit www.wildamericanshrimp.com to see how you can carry it.”

Food

Philom Bios $25K Giveaway

Chuck Zimmerman

Philom BiosHey farmers. If you’re a Philom Bios customer now you can enter a contest to win one of 10 prizes of $2,500 as part of Philom Bios’ 25th Anniversary prize sweepstakes. Simply log on to www.philombios.com to enter. It’s their way of saying thank you. They also just opened a new facility in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Don Atchison, Mayor of Saskatoon cut the ribbon along with Calvin Sonntag, President/CEO of Philom Bios and John Cross,
Chairman of the Board in front of hundreds of customers, employees, stakeholders, and shareholders. The $6.3 million facility will house Philom Bios’ manufacturing, research, agronomy, marketing and corporate employees, and will allow greater integration of the company’s activities under one roof as they continue with their on-going expansion.

Agribusiness

Announcements From BASF

Chuck Zimmerman

Clearfield SunflowersBASF announced a new Clearfield technology approval today.

BASF Agricultural Products has received approval from Canadian regulatory authorities that supports the introduction of the CLEARFIELD Production System into confectionary sunflowers in the United States. This latest approval is the final step in a three-step process for CLEARFIELD sunflowers which included approvals by U.S. regulatory authorities of CLEARFIELD sunflower oil for food use in 2003 and approval of LEARFIELD sunflower meal for feed use in the U.S. earlier in 2005.

Clearfield RiceBASF also made an announcement about its stewardship of Clearfield technology regarding a case with Louisiana rice growers.

BASF continues its commitment to protecting the effectiveness of its CLEARFIELD Production System, as demonstrated by the pursuit of a stewardship case involving rice growers in Louisiana. BASF successfully obtained a preliminary injunction against growers in Kinder, Louisiana, who admitted to farming over 700
acres of CLEARFIELD CL-161 rice without proper authorization from BASF. The order, which was obtained from the U.S. District Court in Louisiana, prevents the growers from planting or selling the harvested rice and from otherwise infringing BASF intellectual property rights in the CLEARFIELD rice technology. “This injunction was necessary to preserve the integrity and viability of the CLEARFIELD Production System for the overwhelming majority of rice farmers who have appropriately – and legally – used the technology,” said Jason Ward, CLEARFIELD market manager with BASF.

Agribusiness