Biofuels Symposium In China

Chuck Zimmerman

World Biofuels SymposiumThey managed a great conference on ethanol recently in Kansas City. Now it’s time for a broader conference in China. They are BBI International. I just wish it didn’t conflict with deer season in Missouri!

BIOFUELS – AN ENERGY SOLUTION

Exciting new energy legislation, that includes biofuels provisions, will become law in China in January 2006. This Symposium will address China’s need to meet the anticipated demand from the new legislation and the latest information about biofuels production and use.

Keynote Speaker: Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, Chair, U.S. Governors’ Ethanol Coalition

SYMPOSIUM TOPICS
China’s energy situation
Biofuels: New production technologies
Market development
Research & development
Environment & air quality
Coproducts
Feedstocks
Government policy & energy strategies

For more information visit their website at World Biofuels Symposium.

Agribusiness

Bunge Invests In China

Chuck Zimmerman

BungeJust as our Sec. of Ag departed on his trip to China, Bunge announced their plans to grow into the country. Looks like trade will be picking up with this huge new market area.

Bunge Agrees to Purchase Soybean Processing Plant in China

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., — Bunge Limited (NYSE:BG) today announced that it has agreed to purchase a controlling interest in an integrated soybean crushing and refining plant in the port city of Rizhao, Shandong Province, China, from Sanwei Group Ltd. The plant, Bunge’s first in the country, will link Bunge directly to customers in the expanding soybean meal and oil markets in the Shandong region. Sanwei will retain a minority interest in the newly created joint venture company.

For more information contact Stewart Lindsay.

Agribusiness

Back In The Blogosphere

Chuck Zimmerman

Ave Maria UniversityI’m back. After 9 days, 5 of them driving. I thought I could get more posted while on this trip but it just didn’t work out that way. It was a family thing and spending time shooting fireworks with my nephews & nieces in Georgia or at a reception with in-laws in Florida was just more important. The main reason for the trip was to move my oldest daughter to south Florida. She’ll finish her college career at Ave Maria University in Naples. It’s a pretty cool place. They’re in a temporary campus while they build a new college and town nearby. Very amazing place.

So, it’s back to the blogosphere for me. I’m sure I’ll find something to post out of the several hundred emails I’ve saved over the last week!

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Sec. of Ag In China & Africa

Chuck Zimmerman

Mike Johannes In ChinaI thought my 3,000 plus miles in the last 9 days was a lot of travel but our Sec. of Ag Mike Johannes is doing much more. He’s travelling in China and Africa July 9-21 for multilateral and bilateral meetings on agricultural trade and development. Although it doesn’t have frequent postings he is writing a travelogue of sorts. I kind of think a blog would be a better way to do it but then what do I know? Here’s an excerpt from his latest post.

Monday, July 11, 2005 Posted 2:00 AM BEIJING, CHINA

I’ve been to China a number of times over the past several years. Each time I return I see significant changes. First of all, China’s economy is expanding rapidly. The pace of development is tremendous; that’s especially true in the larger cities. This is an economy to be reckoned with. It is certainly not an economy to turn away from — China is simply too good a market for our agriculture products.

It is important that I travel internationally to raise important issues with our international counterparts. One reason I am in Beijing is to work through some issues related to our ability to export beef into the Chinese market. We had a significant breakthrough. The Chinese agreed to send a technical team that will be in the U.S. this October. That is a very positive development. Full post

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Changes To MBIC Website On This Week’s MBIC Report

Chuck Zimmerman

Missouri Beef Industry CouncilIn this week’s MBIC Report, executive director Steve Taylor, discusses changes being made in the organization’s website to make it more user friendly and to add to the amount of content available.

You can listen to the MBIC Report here Download MP3 File

The MBIC Report is a weekly podcast of AgWired which you can subscribe to using the link in our sidebar.

Ag Groups, Audio, Podcasts

European Trip Discussed On CornTalk

Chuck Zimmerman

Missouri Corn Growers AssociationMCGA CEO Gary Marshall just returned from his second trip to Switzerland in the last couple months. While there he met with the folks at Syngenta’s headquarters office. He also stopped in France to meet with French corn growers. Learn about his trip in this week’s CornTalk program.

You can listen to CornTalk here Download MP File

CornTalk is also a weekly AgWired podcast which you can subscribe to using the link in our sidebar.

Ag Groups, Audio, Podcasts

Distinguished Young Holstein Breeders

Chuck Zimmerman

Holstein Association USAButtles Named Holstein Association 2004 Distinguished Young Holstein Breeders

BRATTLEBORO, Vt., June 28, 2005- Andrew and Lynette Buttles, Lancaster, Wis., have been selected as the 2004 Distinguished Young Holstein Breeders by Holstein Association USA. They were honored at the National Holstein Convention in Portland, Maine on Tuesday, June 28.

Distinguished Young Holstein BreedersAndy and Lyn have both been involved in the dairy industry for many years. Andy graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Madison with a bachelor’s degree in Dairy Science. Lyn grew up on a dairy farm in Pennsylvania and earned her bachelor’s degree in Dairy Science from Penn State and has her master’s degree in Dairy Nutrition from University of Wisconsin – Madison.

For more information contact Lisa Perrin.

Ag Groups

1.4 Minutes To Select Your Pork

Chuck Zimmerman

National Pork BoardI know I’m not your average consumer and this information is about those folks. I see a package of pork I want and I just grab it! Not too much thinking goes into my decisions.

DES MOINES, Iowa (July 2005) – In an effort to help retailers merchandise and move more fresh and processed pork, the National Pork Board is determined to find out one thing: What motivates consumers to purchase pork? The Point of Decision 2 (POD2) research conducted by the National Pork Board recently was geared to find out just that, and much more.

A major finding from the POD2 research is that consumers spend 1.4 minutes on average making a pork purchase. Pork purchases were primarily determined by cut of meat and cooking method. Seventy-nine percent of consumers purchasing pork inspected multiple packages and 77 percent spent time reading package information.

For more information contact Cindy Cunningham.

Ag Groups, Pork

Watching A Hurricane Pass By

Chuck Zimmerman

Hurricane DennisAs if moving a daughter to another state wasn’t enough to deal with we had to drive right into this little storm! The photo is courtesy of The Weather Channel. We’re on the ocean side of the sunshine state but still have high winds and a lot of rain.

Stay tuned to AgWired for more information after getting all the belongings unloaded.

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Editing From The Road

Chuck Zimmerman

Cindy Editing AudioI know we haven’t posted much the last couple days but it’s move a daughter to college week and we’ve been on the road. But just to show you that work is getting done here’s Cindy editing audio for one of our clients. We’re in Georgia at the moment and spent some time on the phone today interviewing corn growers about rootworm and corn borer problems and protection.

This is the great thing about blogging. You can blog from wherever you are. Fortunately this place has DSL! We’ll get caught up on things by the first of next week.

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