Hunting With A Utility Vehicle Series

Chuck Zimmerman

With this post I’m starting a series of posts about deer hunting this season. I have been provided a couple of different utility vehicles to test out and write about the experience. I’ll be featuring photos and video during this year’s season in Georgia which started on October 21 and goes through mid January. Here’s one of the places I’m collecting photos that started with work days prior to this year’s season. This photo is a sunrise opening weekend from my stand!

The Crystal Pig Hunt Club members are myself, my brother Paul, Gary Cooper and newcomers Gatlin and Jordan. Several of Paul’s sons also get to hunt with us too. We lease almost 600 acres which have some pretty challenging terrain and trails. The property was clear cut before we started and planted in pines that are now about 12ft. tall. So trails are vital to our success. We’ve been working with the U.S. Forest Service on new fire trails around the border of the property this fall and that project should be completed today hopefully.

When it comes to vehicles we are testing a John Deere XUV8251 and a Can-Am Defender HD10. To say we’re thrilled to have this opportunity would be an understatement. I know that the AgWired audience has a lot of hunters in it and many, many of them are farmers. These vehicles have all kinds of uses on a farm and we’re putting them through the paces on everything from collecting firewood and filling feeders to hauling in deer.

BTW. It has been a successful season so far. I’ll write more about that in upcoming episodes of this series.

Can-Am, Hunting, John Deere

Animal Ag Bites 10/30

Kelly Marshall

  • The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association released their fifth video in its media campaign to promote comprehensive tax reform. This latest video spotlights sixth-generation Florida rancher Cary Lightsey, who was forced to sell one of his family’s ranches to pay a death-tax bill after his father’s passing.
  • The dairy checkoff has awarded the $3,500 James H. Loper Jr. Memorial Scholarship to Nora Faris, of the University of Missouri, and 12 $2,500 scholarships  to students enrolled in programs that emphasize dairy.
  • The American Gelbvieh Association‘s third annual commercial cattlemen’s educational symposium titled Cattlemen’s Profit Roundup will take place Friday, December 8, 2017 at 1:30 p.m. CST at the Hyatt Regency in Wichita, Kansas.  Members of the beef industry are invited to attend for free; lunch will be served at noon.
  • Christine McCracken has been selected as Executive Director, Animal Protein of the RaboResearch Food & Agribusiness team.  Her position will cover the North American poultry and hog sector.
AgWired Animal, Animal Bites

2017-18 National FFA Officer Team Elected

Cindy Zimmerman

2017-18 FFA National Officers: President Breanna Holbert, Wastern VP Gracie Furnish, Secretary Erica Baier, Western VP Bryce Cluff, Central VP Piper Merritt, and Southern VP Ian Bennett

Students from Arizona, California, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky and Oklahoma were elected to serve on the 2017-18 National FFA Officer team.

Breanna Holbert, an agricultural education major at California State University of Chico, made history as the first female African American elected as National FFA president. Her fellow officers include:

National Secretary – Erica Baier, agricultural education major at Iowa State University
Central Region VP – Piper Merritt, agricultural economics major at Oklahoma State University
Western Region VP – Bryce Cluff, agricultural technology and management major at the University of Arizona
Southern Region VP – Ian Bennett, majoring in plant breeding and genetics at the University of Georgia
Eastern Region VP – Gracie Furnish, career and technical education major at the University of Kentucky

Listen to an interview with Breanna from FFA: Interview with Breanna Holbert, FFA National President
Click for interviews, bios and hi-res photos of all the new officers.

Watch video of the officers being announced:


AgWired Animal, AgWired Precision, Audio, FFA, Video

Zimfo Bytes 10/27

Kelly Marshall

  • The World Food Prize Foundation announced the recipients of the 2017 John Chrystal and Elaine Szymoniak Awards. Francine Barchett, Nicholas Grandstaff, Akriti Bhattaria and Madeline Song received the award for their work as part of the 2016 Borlaug-Ruan Internship Program.
  • For the third year in a row Science Magazine has recognized Novozymes in the top 10 in its 2017 Top Employers Survey.  This year they have earned second place.
  • The National Wheat Foundation has been invited to take part in a series called FoodQuest which goes across the globe to look at some of the most popular food staples. The episode will air today, Friday, October 27 at 9:30am EST on the Food Network.
  • The Illinois Ag in the Classroom (IAITC) Program is reaching more students than ever before.  During the 2016-2017 school year more than 661,000 students received an agriculture lesson.
  • The Farm Foundation Forum on Wednesday, November 1 will explore the forces that drive soil and water conservation on farms today. It will begin at 9:00 a.m. at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. Register to attend in person or online.
  • The 42nd annual Georgia Peanut Farm Show and Conference is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 18, 2018, from 8:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. at the University of Georgia Tifton Campus Conference Center in Tifton, Georgia. The one-day show is free and open to all farmers and industry representatives to attend.
  • Nominations are now open for the Outstanding Georgia Young Peanut Farmer. The award application is available online at www.gapeanuts.com or by contacting Joy Crosby at 229-386-3690 or joycrosby@gapeanuts.com.
  • The American Farm Bureau Federation and seven other major farm groups are applauding the introduction of bipartisan legislation to improve the Agriculture Risk Coverage program. The bill would prioritize use of data collected from USDA’s Risk Management Agency to calculate crop yields, among other things.
Zimfo Bytes

Ethanol Politics Hold Up Northey Nomination

Cindy Zimmerman

Refinery state senators are hitting back against the Trump administration for bowing to pressure from ethanol supporters last week and abandoning proposed changes in the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) this week put a hold on the nomination of Iowa’s Bill Northey for USDA Under Secretary of Farm Production and Conservation, who was approved by the Senate Agriculture Committee last week along with Greg Ibach of Nebraska for Under Secretary of Agriculture for Marketing and Regulatory Programs. Ibach was confirmed by the full senate late Thursday but no vote was held for Northey

“Mr. Cruz has put that hold on for purely retaliatory reasons,” said Renewable Fuels Association president and CEO Bob Dinneen during a segment on Agri-Talk radio show on Thursday. “He doesn’t like what happened last week and the fact that Scott Pruitt has affirmed his support for the RFS.” Dinneen says there is no “policy justification” for the hold.

Meanwhile, Senator Cruz and seven other senators from refinery states sent a letter to President Trump this week asking for a meeting “to discuss a pathway forward toward a mutually agreeable solution” together with Midwest lawmakers. Like the ethanol state senators last week, these senators also played the jobs card, saying that there will be a loss of jobs around the country if reforms are not made to the Renewable Fuel Standard.

“This is nothing more than an attempt to roll back the president’s strong commitment to the RFS and undo the pledge issued last week by the EPA Administrator to assure America’s hardworking farmers that the biofuels market will continue to thrive,” said Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor.

Ethanol, politics

ZimmCast with Dr. Steve Brown, National FFA Advisor

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast 563This week’s program features a conversation with National FFA Advisor, Dr. Steve Brown. Jamie Johansen is involved in judging during the National FFA Convention but had time to sit down with Dr. Brown. According to Jamie, “Dr. Brown and my dad were state FFA officers together and then worked for the Missouri Department of Elementary & Secondary Education in Agricultural Education for decades together. Long-time friends and colleagues.”

Dr. Brown talks about changes in how to teach young people today. He remembers when computers became a tool and the advances in technology that have led us to today’s tools. Of course, social media is a component of those tools. One of the takeaways he hopes some of the convention attendees will walk away with is the desire to become agriculture educators.

Learn more about Dr. Brown and what is happening at this year’s convention in the program. You can also find photos from the convention here: 2017 National FFA Convention Photo Album

Listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast with Dr. Steve Brown

Subscribe to the ZimmCast podcast here. Use this url in iTunes or your favorite news reader program/app.

The ZimmCast

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Audio, FFA, ZimmCast

USFRA Supporting Food Evolution Movie

Cindy Zimmerman

The U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance (USFRA) is supporting a new film that offers an independent investigation into biotechnology that concludes GMOs may well be a force for good to feed the world.

Food Evolution, which is now streaming on Hulu, was commissioned by the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), and directed by Academy Award®-nominated director Scott Hamilton Kennedy.

“The GMO story is a metaphor for how important it is to use science to make decisions,” said Kennedy during a conference call with reporters Thursday. He says the audience reaction to the film during screenings has been very gratifying. “From the critics standpoint, we’re 100 percent on Rotten Tomatoes (reviews from) the top critics.” Kennedy adds that screenings around the world have helped change minds about the perception of GMO crops.

“We are interested in promoting the film in any way we can,” said USFRA CEO Randy Krotz. That includes college campus screenings, digital media, and educational materials.

Also on the call was USFRA board member and Illinois farmer Roberta Simpson-Dolbeare, who talked about the value of genetically modified crops to farmers and getting accurate information out to the non-farm public. “I think it’s up to us farmers to better educate them on GMO plants and why from a sustainable standpoint going forward in order to feed the world, we really have to depend on GMO crops,” she said.

Audio file: USFRA and Food Evolution film comments

AgWired Animal, AgWired Precision, Audio, Biotech, Food, GMO, USFRA

Secretary Sonny Attends First FFA Convention

Cindy Zimmerman

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue attended his first National FFA Convention this week and held a press conference to take questions about various topics, prior to addressing the group’s opening general session.

Perdue appeared at the press conference with six members of the FFA policy committee. “I’m looking at our House and Senate Congress behind me here,” Perdue joked.

The secretary was asked about the 2018 farm bill. “The ’14 farm bill made a lot of progress in helping to establish an insurance-based mitigation risk, I think you’ll see more of the same,” he said.

On the topic of USDA nominees and when Perdue will have a full complement of undersecretaries. “We’ve been slow in Senate confirmations…we’re getting them on board as we speak,” said Perdue, who noted that he expected a hearing for Sam Clovis as undersecretary of agriculture for research, education and economics “within the next week or so and we expect that to go well.”

Audio file: Perdue press conference at FFA

2017 National FFA Convention Photos

AgWired Animal, Audio, FFA, USDA

House Ag Chair Says Farm Bill on Track

Cindy Zimmerman

House Agriculture Committee Chair Mike Conaway (R-TX) says they are moving forward with work on the 2018 Farm Bill.

“Still on track for late for fourth quarter (this year) or early first quarter of next year,” said Conaway during a conference call with reporters Wednesday. “We’re going to be ready on the committee…when floor time opens up.”

Rep. Conaway was asked about trade, crop insurance, CRP, budget, nutrition programs, and more. Listen in here: Cong. Conaway call 10-25-17

AgWired Animal, AgWired Precision, Audio, Farm Bill

Forever Young Generation Presents Connected Consumers

Carrie Muehling

An aging population in many parts of the world is presenting challenges when it comes to food production. Longer life expectancy in many areas brings with it a rise in chronic health-related diseases, increases in healthcare costs and all of the challenges that come along with feeding the elderly.

Global trends show an increased focus around health and wellness in younger generations, according to Georgie Aley, CEO of the Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology. She says Millennials expect more, not only of themselves, but of the society around them.

“In 2017, my view is we’ve never had a more connected consumer than we have now,” said Aley. “The opportunity, the challenge that it does present for producers, or for anybody that’s in the business of food, is transparency. It’s trust. It’s consumer trust. And in an environment of political uncertainty, economic uncertainty, consumers want to trust. They want to trust in the people that are serving them in society. And some may say that producers, farmers, or food manufacturers are serving society by providing food. So, the challenge is, in looking at the future, is maintaining that trust and making sure that we are transparent in our supply chain.”

Aley told participants at the 2017 Youth Ag Summit in Brussels those involved in food production will need to engage with consumers and be in tune to their demands.

Listen to Jamie’s interview with Georgie Aley here: Interview with Georgie Aley, Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology

View and download photos from the event here: 2017 Youth Ag Summit Photo Album

Audio, Bayer, Food