Trees For Troops Delivers

Chuck Zimmerman

Trees For Troops Camp Pendleton StopJust a week ago I posted an interview about the Trees For Troops program that’s being coordinated by the Christmas Spirit Foundation which is distributing trees that are donated by Christmas tree farmers. That effort is certainly underway and I got some photos, including this one of their stop at Camp Pendleton in California and the following one of their stop in St. Louis, MO.

The program began in Columbus, Ohio, when FedEx picked up about 200 trees from the Ohio Christmas Tree Association’s “Operation Evergreen.” FedEx provided international transport to Qatar from FedEx Express’s Indianapolis Hub. In addition to the international transport, the Trees for Troops program will collect and deliver about 3,500 freshly harvested trees to military bases in the United States along three regional routes (Western, Central, and Eastern) between Nov. 28 and Dec. 9. FedEx Freight will provide the pick-up and delivery service for the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation, the philanthropic branch of the National Christmas Tree Association (NCTA).

Trees For Troops St. Louis Stop“During a time of year when friends and family gather with loved ones, we must also remember the servicemen and women stationed overseas this holiday season,” said Douglas G. Duncan, president and chief executive officer, FedEx Freight. “With this small gesture, we want to extend a special thank-you to our brave troops and their families.”

Ag Groups

International Pressure On Domestic Farm Programs

Keith Good

FarmPolicy.comThe long awaited sixth W.T.O. Ministerial Conference will be held in Hong Kong, China, next week (Dec. 13–18).

According to the W.T.O. webpage, “This sixth conference will be vital for enabling the four-year-old Doha Development Agenda (D.D.A.) negotiations forward sufficiently to conclude the round in 2006.”

Embedded within the trade talks is the increasingly controversial issue of American and European farm subsidies.

Recently, in separate individual cases before the W.T.O., the world body issued decisions finding that some U.S. cotton support programs, as well as parts of the EU’s domestic sugar policy, violated certain aspects of international trade agreements.

The outcome of these cases has under girded the current round of multi-party trade talks. As added negotiating leverage, some countries may imply that insufficient movement in current trade talks may result in other commodity specific litigation that could bring additional pressure for domestic farm policy reform.

In a report released last Wednesday, Oxfam International noted that programs impacting corn, rice and sorghum could potentially face a similar fate as cotton in a W.T.O. litigated process if the programs are not changed.

Similarly, the Cato Institute noted in a report released this week that, “U.S. farm programs for a variety of commodities may be suppressing market prices in violation of the WTO Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures.”

And just yesterday, DTN writer Chris Clayton reported that, “The United States runs the risk of domestic farm programs getting ‘picked apart’ by trade cases from other countries challenging U.S. ag subsidies if a deal isn’t struck in the Doha Round of World Trade Organizations talks, USDA’s chief economist said Monday.”

Legal and political pressure placed on U.S. domestic crop programs from abroad seems certain to be a key factor in the 2007 Farm Bill debate.

Keith Good writes The FarmPolicy.com News Summary, an Email newsletter containing a summary of news relating to U.S. farm policy which is published most weekdays. For more information, go to www.FarmPolicy.com.

Farm Policy

USDA’s NASS Offering RSS News Feed

Chuck Zimmerman

National Agricultural Statistics ServiceUSDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service unveiled a newly designed website today. I went there wondering what’s new.

Technological enhancements include a new Google-powered search engine, an SVG interactive mapping application, an RSS news feed and XML technology. To complete the redesign effort, the site mirrors the look and feel of the official USDA web site. At the same time, the site continues to provide comprehensive statistical data on every facet of U.S. agriculture. Features such as the Quick Stats Agricultural Statistics Database offer the ability to search for data by commodity, state(s) and year(s). National, state and county level data can then be downloaded for easy use in a database or spreadsheet.

I was impressed to see RSS. They don’t have everything set up as an RSS feed yet but they’re working on it. You can bet I’m already a subscriber. Government agencies like NASS really need to get on the RSS bandwagon. It sure makes it easier to keep up to date with their reports without having to depend on email or other forms of communications distribution.

Way to go USDA – NASS.

Uncategorized

AGCO Orange Doing Well

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast45 - Todd StuckeIn case you’ve wondered how those orange tractors are doing this week’s ZimmCast is an interview with Todd Stucke, General Marketing Manager, AGCO. I caught up to Todd at the recent NAFB convention.

I remember going to the first AGCO media event in Georgia. I actually drove a big Fendt. That was a fun event and I’m glad to hear that things are going well for the company. Todd talks about what’s new and why the brand is doing well.

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.

Agribusiness, Audio, Podcasts, ZimmCast

Blogging From The Road This Week

Chuck Zimmerman

CEC 2005 It’s going to be a long day tomorrow, starting at the 2005 Country Elevator/Feed Industry
Conference and Trade Show in St. Louis at Union Station. After a couple of meetings there, then it’s off to Atlanta and then Raleigh before getting back to the blogicile (like a domicile).

It’s presentation time for AgNewsWire.AgWired.com and other ZimmComm services like blogging and podcasting. So, maybe it’ll be an airport, maybe it’ll be a hotel but guess what, you’ll still get your daily dose of AgWired. I won’t let you down.

Ag Groups, Farm Shows

Biotech Conversations From Monsanto

Chuck Zimmerman

Conversations About Plant Biotechnology I just found out about this new Monsanto website called “Conversations About Plant Biotechnology, Discussions with farmers and experts around the world.” Yes, it’s a little long but it pretty much sums up what it’s all about.

The “conversations” are videos with farmers and experts. Like Juan (Johnny) Avelleneda from Argentina. You can watch a video of Johnny and also download this file (pdf) which contains his picture and a transcript of his presentation. There’s lots of them.

You can also sign up to receive notice when they have new conversations added to the site.

Agribusiness

Agromek In Denmark Next Month

Chuck Zimmerman

AgromekThere are farmshows all over the world. Here’s an interesting one. Want to sponsor me to go blog it? I’m game if you are. All it takes is a little financial support and daring to do something out of the ordinary.

Presenting the products of approx. 560 exhibitors, Agromek is the largest annual agricultural mechanization exhibition in Northern Europe. Cattle farmers and pig and poultry producers get an opportunity to study as well as compare the many different brands of machinery, installations and equipment for livestock housing mechanization at top level.

Crop growers will find a wide range of field work machinery and grain treatment plants. The exhibition includes also machinery and equipment for gardens/parks and for industrial feedstuffs production, as well as stands presenting production aids and agricultural services. Hall Q will present 200 examples of elite breeding stock and progeny groups.

Farm Shows

Nebraska Farm Bureau Should Podcast

Chuck Zimmerman

The Nebraska Farm Bureau is about to kick off its annual convention in Kearney. I bring this up because we have such good friends there and I don’t get a chance to write about state groups as often as I’d like. However, I want to use NEFB as an example of a group that I recommend start podcasting.

I know you’re saying “Not podcasting again.” But when you’re an evangelist you never give up on what you believe in.

I recommend podcasting to organizations like NEFB because they’re already producing their own audio. For example, you can listen to Tina Henderson’s first convention report which is available as an audio download from their website. It wouldn’t be much trouble to podcast that. Producing and hosting the audio is the hard part. By podcasting it members don’t have to be at their computer to listen. They can subscribe and if they have an iPod or other digital audio player, they can listen wherever they want. They’ll also get updates without even having to go back to the website.

So in a soon to be memorial line “Gentlemen & Ladies, start your iPods.” It’s farm podcasting and coming to a farmer’s iPod near you.

Oh, and Tina, you sound marvelous.

Ag Groups, Audio, Podcasts

Honey, I Grew Up On A Farm

Chuck Zimmerman

I Grew Up On A FarmJust in time for the Christmas season is another gift idea with a farm theme. This time it’s a children’s book, “I Grew Up On A Farm.” The book is written by Alan Lewis.

Believing he had a story that needed to be told, Alan Lewis decided to write a children’s book about his childhood growing up on a farm. With the ever-increasing numbers of houses being built in place of the farms that used to fill the landscape, Lewis felt something of that past way of life – the life of the American farmer – needed to be preserved for future generations. Lewis wrote the text and artist Bob Fletcher took Alan’s black and white family photos and expanded them into full-color pastel illustrations. I Grew Up On A Farm, the result of this collaboration, is being published by Moo Press of Warwick, NY.

You can purchase the book from Moo Press (Keene Publishing) for $19.95.

Publication

Ag Lobbyists See Power of Blogging

Chuck Zimmerman

Cansler, Venosdel and Associates, LLCOkay these guys got my attention. Yes they have specific agricultural experience but hey, they blog! They’re Cansler, Venosdel & Associates.

Cansler, Venosdel and Associates, LLC, a lobbying and consulting firm announced its formation this week in Washington D.C. The two principal partners are Paul Venosdel and Tim Cansler.

Here’s how they are employing new technology strategy into their own communication efforts: “So, we begin by focusing on combining individual client service with using the latest technology (virtual conferencing, blogs, and hand-held email) that produce instant communications and low overhead costs that, in turn, provides more valuable and measurable results for clients.”

These are lobbyists talking here. How about companies that want to communicate with their clients (farmers)? This is what got my attention. BTW. These guys specialize in ag.

Agribusiness