Corn Growers Thank Boehner for his Leadership

John Davis

boehnerSpeaker of the House John Boehner has announced his retirement, effective Oct. 30, 2015. The National Corn Growers Association thanked Boehner for being a friend to agriculture, with NCGA President Chip Bowling saying:

“We are grateful for Speaker Boehner’s leadership in so many areas, including service on the House Agriculture Committee, and his work for a more transparent and productive Congress. We note this announcement comes the day after Pope Francis addressed a Joint Session of Congress, at the speaker’s invitation, calling politics ‘an expression of our compelling need to live as one, in order to build as one the greatest common good: that of a community which sacrifices particular interests in order to share, in justice and peace, its goods, its interests, its social life.’ Speaker Boehner has always striven to live up to these words, and we hope Congress will also take this message to heart. We ask Congress to set aside partisan interests and work together to solve important issues such as the federal budget, tax reform, and investing in our roads and bridges. Let’s come to the table with constructive solutions to move our country forward.”

Corn, NCGA

Alberta Farm Writers Get Together

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast 486This week’s program comes to you from Calgary, Alberta where I have been attending the 2015 Canadian Farm Writers Federation Annual Conference. Alberta is new territory for me and on Friday we started out with a day of farm tours. I’ve got videos from each of my tour stops to share this coming week.

LIsa GuentherThings got down to business on Saturday. After the CFWF business meeting I spoke with organization president Lisa Guenther. She talks about the program and some of the things CFWF deals with in terms of membership and the industry their members report on.

Lisa has also just published her first novel, “Friendly Fire,” which you can purchase on Amazon. At our closing banquet she autographed a copy for me.

Listen to this week’s program here: Canadian Farm Writers

I have a lot of photos from the conference uploaded but more to come as soon as I get back to ZimmComm World Headquarters: 2015 CFWF Annual Conference Photo Album

Subscribe to the ZimmCast podcast here.

Coverage of the Canadian Farm Writers Federation 2015 Conference is sponsored by
Coverage of the Canadian Farm Writers Federation 2015 Conference is sponsored by Case IH
Audio, Media, ZimmCast

What Kind of Farmer Were You Meant to Be?

Kelly Marshall

#Thankful4AgWhat type of farmer were you born to be?  Bayer CropScience is hosting a fun, interactive quiz that will both give you the answer to that question and allow you to be part of sharing food with those in need at the same time.

Each time someone takes the quiz and shares the results, or uses the hashtag #Thankful4Ag, Bayer CropScience will donate $1*, or 11 meals to Feeding America, up to 330,000 meals. Additionally, along each stop of Luke Bryan’s Farm Tour, Bayer CropScience will present a $2,000 check to the local Feeding America food pantry.

This 3rd annual #Thankful4Ag campaign is run in conjunction with Luke Bryan’s annual Farm Tour, sponsored by Bayer Corporation.  It will run from September 24-October 31 and will be helping 48 million Americans living in food insecure households.

Should you be an Idaho potato grower or a South Georgia kale farmer?  Today playing around on the Internet can hep a good cause!

Agribusiness, Bayer, Food

US Equipment Exports Decline by 16%

Kelly Marshall

US ExportsThe first half of 2015 showed a drop of 16 % in the exports of U.S.-made agricultural equipment as compared to 2014.  In total $4 billion were shipped to global markets.

Exports to Europe dropped 31% and South America was down 30%.  Markets in Asia grew by 19% and sales were up in Central America as well.

The second quarter of 2015 marked the 6th consecutive quarter that U.S. agricultural equipment exports and imports experienced year over year declines. This is an interesting difference from the construction equipment exports, which have experienced growth in imports. A logical explanation may be that the domestic market demand for construction is still stable, while the U.S. farmer lacks resources or incentive to buy new equipment. Looking at specific equipment categories, the only category for which exports grew were components, while exports of Dairy/Milking machinery remained stable.

Our Agritech Business Barometer, a global report from the Agrievolution Alliance that indicates the worldwide climate for agricultural equipment, does not come out until next month. However, we can assume that the lower commodity prices are taking a toll on farmers in other countries as well. Aside from the low commodity prices, a stronger U.S. dollar is plaguing U.S. manufacturers, making them less competitive. In September 2015, the Broad Weighted Trade Index for the US Dollar, provided to us by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, had grown 18.2 percent compared to January 2014 and 21.5 percent compared to January 2013.

You can review AEM’s Agricultural Equipment Global Markets Export report for more details.  AEM members may access the export report as well as the Agrievolution report on the AEM website, Market Intelligence section.

Agribusiness, Equipment, Exports, International

New Holland Hero from South Africa

Cindy Zimmerman

cnh-expo-gerryGerry Manuel from Harare, Zimbabwe truly embodies the “Feeding the Planet” theme of Expo Milano 2015 and the New Holland “Seeds of Life Series” at the Sustainable Farm Pavilion.

Born and raised in a family of farmers in Zimbabwe Gerry runs the Juggler Investments P/L Farm, founded and owned by his younger brother, in Harare. The 22 acre farm produces tomatoes, potatoes, onions and cabbage, as well as some other crops and livestock. “We specialize in intensive horticulture,” he said. “I’m on limited land so I have no room for failure.”

Gerry is very glad he has been given the opportunity to share his experience as a small acreage farmer with the rest of the world and talk about the challenges of feeding a growing world population. “We have to step up our game, come to the plate and try and meet those needs because that’s a very tall order,” he said. “We have to get better, more efficient, use new technology, use innovative methods – whatever we do we have to get to producing high levels.”

Listen to Chuck’s interview with Gerry here: New Holland Hero Gerry Manuel of Zimbabwe

2015 New Holland Heroes & Bloggers Days

Audio, Farming, International, New Holland

Research Reveals Consumers’ Transparency Wants

John Davis

foodintegrity1New research is revealing consumers’ attitudes towards transparency from today’s food system. The information will be revealed at the upcoming Center for Food Integrity (CFI) Food Integrity Summit, Nov. 17-18 in New Orleans.

“Transparency is no longer optional. It’s a consumer expectation for those in today’s food system,” said Charlie Arnot, CEO of The Center for Food Integrity. “We are going to take an in-depth look at what that means and how to go about achieving it.”

As part of the research, a quiz posted on the CFI Facebook page invites consumers to discover their “food personality” by answering questions about their favorite weekend restaurant or typical lunch. They’re also encouraged to provide additional feedback on food system transparency at www.TransparencyTable.org by answering open-ended questions like, “What do you want to know about the food you and your family eat?” and “What would you like food entities to be more transparent about?”

Results are being collected through Oct. 1. The comments will be combined with quantitative data from CFI’s annual consumer research to develop transparency best practices for the food system.

“This year’s study determines exactly what consumers want to know about their food and how they prefer to access the information,” Arnot said. “We’ll also introduce a transparency index that can help companies determine their level of transparency and implement steps for improvement.”

Organizers say this will be a hands-on conference with concrete advice on how to become more transparent.

Food

CROP Hunger Walk Organizer to Receive Humanitarian Award

John Davis

melby1A man who walked so others could eat will be recognized with a humanitarian award. This news release from the World Food Prize says the Rev. Russell “Russ” Melby, a long-time Iowa organizer of Church World Service CROP Hunger Walks, will receive the 2015 Robert D. Ray Iowa SHARES Humanitarian Award will be presented to the during the Iowa Hunger Summit on Oct. 13 in Des Moines, Iowa.

From 1984 until his retirement in 2014, Rev. Melby involved almost 500,000 Iowans, who together raised over 12 million dollars to alleviate hunger. A quarter of all funds raised in Iowa are returned to local food pantries, and the remainder reduces global hunger by providing emergency aid during famines and supporting families around the world to transition from dependence to self-sufficiency. CROP Hunger Walks are community celebrations that bring people from many different perspectives and faith traditions together to fight hunger in over 80 communities across Iowa.

“Rev. Melby and CROP Hunger Walks are tremendous proof of the belief, shared by Dr. Borlaug and Governor Ray, that the struggle to end hunger should bring together people of all perspectives and walks of life,” said Amb. Kenneth M. Quinn, President of The World Food Prize. “By working together and building on our great humanitarian heritage, Iowa can eradicate hunger from our state and rise to the greatest challenge in human history – feeding the estimated 9.7 billion people who will share our planet by 2050,” the Ambassador added.

The Iowa SHARES Award has special meaning for Russ, who, in 1985, was invited by the Des Moines Register to represent the Protestant faith community at discussions of a possible fundraiser to alleviate famine in Ethiopia. “I was asked if Church World Service wanted to be involved,” Russ recalls, “and though I was a rookie at the time, I said ‘Yes, we’d love to be’. Then I called our headquarters – we had never done something like this before – and said ‘I hope this is okay!’” This initiative grew into the Iowa CARES program, which, inspired by the Iowa SHARES program, raised over $800,000 in under a year to feed starving refugees in Ethiopia.

More information, an agenda and registration is available at www.iowahungersummit.org.

World Food Prize

Zimfo Bytes

Talia Goes

Zimfo Bytes

  • The Iowa Corn Promotion Board (ICPB) is the recipient of a newly issued patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
  • On October 1, 2015 employees and partners of Fresno-based Stoughton Davidson Accountancy Corporation join K·Coe Isom, the nation’s leading business consultants and CPAs in food and agriculture.
  • United Fresh Produce Association is pleased to announce the two recipients of the 2015 Frieda Rapoport Caplan Family Business Scholarships: Alex DiNovo, DNO Produce, Columbus, OH and Seth Hansen, Kingsburg Orchards, Kingsburg, CA.
  • The 2015 Austrailian Society of Agronomy C.M. Donald Medal has been awarded to Professor Graeme Blair in recognition of this lifelong commitment to plant-soil research and teaching at the highest national and international level.
Zimfo Bytes

2015 NAMA Fall Conference

Chuck Zimmerman

NAMA Fall ConferenceThe 2015 National Agri-Marketing Association Fall Conference is underway in Denver. Daily reports are once again being posted to YouTube by Max Armstrong. His first one is below.

Like many of us who would like to be at the conference I’m following when I can on social media. Isn’t it great? I hope so.

Even though you may not be at the conference you can still support the Agri-Business Education Foundation.


Ag Groups, NAMA, Video

Where the Sidewalk Ends

Melissa Sandfort

20150924_093457By Shel Silverstein

When I was young, I loved to go to “work” with my dad. Mind you, while he was really working, I was sitting in the old hay loft, writing and reading poetry. One of my all-time favorites was the collection of Shel Silverstein poems, and this one in particular:

There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we’ll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we’ll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.

For at the end of our driveway (not the sidewalk, but you see the comparison) is this beautiful Little Bluestem grass. It’s before the lake road begins, where the grass grows soft and whispery, where the sun burns bright, and the turkeys rest from their flight to cool in the lake-mist wind.

I didn’t know when I was 8 that I’d make my home in a place taken straight from my favorite poem.

Until we walk again …

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