No RFS Means Less Choice at Pump

Joanna Schroeder August 25, 2014

With oil prices on a roller coaster because of the deteriorating situation in the Mideast, Americans United for Change stress that Americans need the EPA to stand by a secure, safe, reliable energy source the U.S. has complete control over: clean-burning, homegrown renewable fuels. Preserving the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and cheaper choices at the pump for American consumers means more stability in gas prices, even in times of instability.

The turmoil in the Middle East is continuing causing volatility in gas prices. And with Labor Day around the corner, gas prices are expected to jump just in time for drivers to hit the roads. One solution to keep gas prices lower? Ethanol. As Jeremy Funk, communications director for Americans United for Change points out, the RFS would ensure ethanol is still available for consumers to choose at the pump.

Yet again, The U.S. Environmental Agency (EPA) has just announced the final biofuel volumes of the RFS for 2014 and it seems unlikely the EPA will announced its proposed RFS volumes for 2015 by mid-November as required.

“If anything should give the EPA pause before deciding to roll back the Renewable Fuel Standard as they have proposed, it’s the bubbling turmoil in Iraq,” said Funk. “That’s why the nation can’t afford to scale back the RFS now and put all our eggs in Big Oil’s basket.”

Funk explained that the oil industry has spent millions to rig the system against the homegrown competition. Those companies’ efforts — aside from leading to higher gas prices — would move American jobs overseas, reduce air quality, and contribute to climate change. That’s why American farmers, renewable energy leaders, veterans, nonprofit organizations, and others have come together to demand protection for the RFS. And Funk said they want consumers to join the fight for the RFS and demand lower gas prices and choice at the pump.

Biofuels, Ethanol

Congrats to FMC Anthem Contest Finalists

Cindy Zimmerman August 25, 2014

Pictured: Anthem finalists Lindsay Webber and Jessica Ronat, RFD-TV host Rachael Bernard, FMC’s Paul Redhage, Music Producer Tom Davis, finalists Leanna Crawford and Halle Reid

The final four in the 2014 FMC “Stand & Be Heard Anthem Singing Contest” were announced earlier this month and it is time this week to move into the next phase of the competition to choose this year’s winner.

FMC Strategic Communications Manager Paul Redhage says they just got back from Nashville where all four finalists recorded music videos at the famous House of Blues for a program that will air on RFD TV August 28. “Starting that same day, August 28 through September 28, it’s back to on-line voting to determine of those final four who is the grand prize winner,” Redhage said. The first 20 finalists were chosen by on-line voting, and nearly 50,000 votes were cast.

This is the third year for the contest, which Paul says they never expected to be as successful as it has been. “We just knew we wanted to do something for the youth in agriculture,” he said. “It’s grown in numbers of students participating each year and number of states represented.”

The four finalists are Halle Reid from New Mexico, Jessica Ronat from Illinois, and Leanna Crawford and Lindsay Webber, both from the state of Washington.

Find out more about the finalists and the success of FMC’s singing contest in this interview with Paul: Interview with Paul Redhage, FMC

Thanks to FMC for helping us to provide coverage this week of the Farm Progress Show, and make sure to cast your vote for the best Anthem singer, starting August 28.

Coverage of the 2014 Farm Progress Show is sponsored by

Audio, Farm Progress Show, FMC

Heading to Farm Progress Show

Cindy Zimmerman August 25, 2014

Nearly the entire ZimmComm team is on its way today to Boone, Iowa for the 2014 Farm Progress Show which starts tomorrow.

The largest outdoor farm show is bigger and better than ever and we are really looking forward to bringing you bigger and better coverage than ever before, thanks to our sponsors New Holland, FMC, GROWMARK, Ag Leader, John Deere and Bayer CropScience.

Our Hick Chick, Leah Guffey, talked with show manager Matt Jungmann last week to make sure everything was ready to go for the big show. “The streets have all been paved, everything is in good shape,” Matt says. “We added 13 streets when we were here last time, so now, like we did in Decatur last year, we’ve got the annex building just outside the main gate.”

Matt says it’s been cool this summer making field demos a bit of a challenge. “But we’re still confident that we’ve got a 60 acre field out there that’s going to be good enough to go,” he said. And don’t forget the Jerrod Niemann concert at the newly renovated ISU Harvester Plaza on Wednesday.

Admission for the show is $15 for adults and $8 for youngsters 13-17, and Matt says you can actually get tickets on-line, print them out and speed your way through the gate. Hope to see you there!

Listen to Leah’s interview with Matt here: Interview with Matt Jungmann, Farm Progress Show

Coverage of the 2014 Farm Progress Show is sponsored by

Audio, Farm Progress Show

New Holland Supporting Wheat Harvest

Chuck Zimmerman August 22, 2014

I got a taste of life on the custom wheat harvester road today in North Dakota. The New Holland Harvest Support team was called out to help the Rolands update some software on their CR8090 combine. Here’s the Roland team along with a couple members of the New Holland support team getting it done.

While we were waiting for some software to download I visited with Brandon Roland. He and his Dad Alan run a fleet of three New Holland combines. Brandon says the harvest support team is their “lifeline.” He says it’s easier for him to deal with the same person all season instead of different people in different locations as they move north through the harvest. I also learned that Brandon and his Dad were featured in the History Channel show, Harvest, back in 2011!

You can listen to my interview with Brandon here: Interview with Brandon Roland

By the way, in case you haven’t checked it out, New Holland sponsors High Plains Journal’s All Aboard Wheat Harvest which follows the harvest telling stories from the field.

New Holland 2014 Harvest Support

Agribusiness, Audio, Harvest, New Holland

Zimfo Bytes

Talia Goes August 22, 2014

Advanta US, a leading international supplier of proprietary agricultural crop genetics and seed, announces Tyson Meador has joined the company as eastern sales manager.
Filament Marketing, located in the heart of Madison, Wis. is excited to once again offer a marketing communications summer internship experience in 2015 in addition to a new media relations summer internship.
Mitsui Chemicals Agro, Inc. (MCAG), and Hokusan Co., Ltd. (HOK), announced the signing of an exclusive licensing agreement allowing Verdesian Life Sciences global access to its patented technology for suppressing mycotoxin contamination in wheat and barley, a significant problem for growers.
Nestlé, the world’s largest food company measured by revenue, announced new animal welfare standards for its supply chain, in partnership with World Animal Protection.

Zimfo Bytes

Versatility in Tractors at John Deere

Jamie Johansen August 22, 2014

John Deere’s 6 family of tractors is their most versatile tractor yet. They say it has ‘everything you need and nothing you don’t.’ Chuck’s at John Deere’s media product launch and spoke with Brad Tolbert, Division Marketing Manager for John Deere, at the event and they talked tractors.

“What we are excited to release here is our large chassis 6R’s. We have three new models there. They are all FT4 compliant, but that’s just the underlying piece. There is a lot of customer value that is built in to add to the top of the tractors we introduced in Indianapolis several years ago.”

After conducting focus groups, Brad said John Deere went in and changed the hydraulic valve stack. This increases the use of the tractor and makes it easier to hook and detach from implements. The focus group also said they wanted more visibility in the cab, so John Deere added wide-angle mirrors.

Brad said the 6R’s are available today. Contact your local dealer and they can hook you up. These tractors also have many add-ons that allow customers to customize them to fit their operations needs.

You can listen to Chuck’s interview with Brad here: Interview with Brad Tolbert

2015 John Deere Product Launch Photo Album

Agribusiness, Audio, Equipment, John Deere, Tractor

Dairy Carrie is Social Media Farmer of Year

Chuck Zimmerman August 22, 2014

Big time congratulations to Carrie Mess, known as Dairy Carrie, for receiving the first ever Social Media Farmer of the Year Award. The award is presented by Food Nutrition & Science and AgWired is one of the sponsors of this award. Carrie received her award at this weeks AgChat Cultivate & Connect Conference in Austin, TX. Her award includes a $2,500 donation to a charity of her choice.

Sponsored by leading food industry publication Food Nutrition & Science, this award recognizes farmers who have incorporated social media, digital media and internet strategies to achieve their business objectives including growing revenue, sharing information for more effective farming practices, and promoting positive awareness of the industry.

“Carrie has clearly used social media as a tool to help promote her farm, the industry and also as a platform for social change,” says Phil Lempert, editor of Food Nutrition & Science. “This is our first award and she’s a stellar example of how farmers can use social media to educate the industry and consumers and make change.”

Mess and her family run Mesa Dairy, a Lake Mills, Wisconsin-based dairy and crops farm with 100 milking cows, 120 young stock and 300 acres of crops. She initially began using social media to connect with other farmers around the country. Today, she posts three times daily promoting her business and sharing snapshots of farm life. She also uses social media for social initiatives. In 2011 during a drought, Mess solicited donations from Wisconsin farmers to fund seven semi-loads of donated hay to farmers in Oklahoma and Texas.

In addition, after an open letter to a corporate restaurant chain in her blog, The Adventures of Dairy Carrie (www.DairyCarrie.com), the company removed a marketing campaign that many farmers found offensive and now has aligned with an agricultural organization. Her blog has grown from 55,000 page views in 2012 to more than 1.1 million in 2013 and articles have been picked up by Huffington Post, The Guardian and local news stations.

The Social Media Farmer of the Year Award also is being sponsored by Monsanto, Bolthouse Farms, AgChat Foundation, Inc., and AgWired.com.

Ag Groups, Farming, Social Media

Yamaha Outdoors Partners with ACT Again

sara August 21, 2014

To learn more about the partnership between Yamaha Outdoors and the Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow, I spoke with Van Holmes, a Yamaha Outdoors representative at Ag Media Summit. For several years, Yamaha Outdoors has sponsored a scholarship to help cover costs for college students to attend Ag Media Summit.

“This year we received a number of great applications from five different chapters, and to show our appreciation to those chapters we’ve created these custom made helmets that we’ve presented to the chapters here at Ag Media Summit. One of the conversations we always have here at Ag Media Summit is how to continue to promote and raise awareness for safe, responsible use of vehicles. So, we thought hey, let’s make some really cool helmets and let the students help us talk about these cool helmets in a very positive way online.”

In addition to the five custom made college themed helmets, Yamaha Outdoors also had their brand new Viking VI outdoor vehicle on display. The six passenger vehicle was newly released in June and features many components that make it unlike any other model on the market.

To learn more, you can listen to my interview with Van here: Interview with Van Holmes

Ag Media Summit Photo Album

Coverage of the Ag Media Summit is sponsored by

Ag Media Summit, transportation

Zimfo Bytes

Talia Goes August 21, 2014

Zoetis welcomes Cheryl Marti as senior marketing manager for U.S. Dairy Genetics and Reproductives.
DuPont Crop Protection announced an agreement with Mitsui & Co., Ltd. (Mitsui) for DuPont to sell its global Kocide® and ManKocide® copper fungicide business assets to Mitsui.
The USDA’s National Animal Health Monitoring System has launched Cervid 2014, the first-ever national study of the U.S. farmed cervid industry, and the North American Deer Farmers Association welcomes the effort to expand knowledge and understanding about the deer industry.
The American Farm Bureau Federation, together with the Georgetown University McDonough School of Business Global Social Enterprise Initiative, announces the second in a series of free online business training webinars for rural entrepreneurs and Farm Bureau members.

Zimfo Bytes

New Brand Launches Coming Soon for Koch Agronomics

Jamie Johansen August 21, 2014

At the 2014 Ag Media Summit, Koch Agronomic Services was there to share with the media their new brand launches that will be formally announced at next week’s Farm Progress Show. Chuck spoke with Koch’s Wayne Jellinek during the event.

“Through our R&D and agronomy team we spend a fair amount of time listening to our customers in terms of product advances from both the product standpoint and innovative technologies across the entire nutrient platform. We will be talking about some brand launches as well as finalization of the market research we are looking at in terms of other services that could be offered.”

Chuck also asked Wayne to share how Koch is working with farmers in the conservation area. Wayne said their products help manage against various forms of nitrogen loss and different coding technologies they have recently acquired in the turf and ornamental business. He said conservation practices are common pressing questions they continue address and are fortunate to have the tools and technologies to help support those nutrient solutions.

You can listen to Chuck’s interview with Wayne here: Interview with Wayne Jellinek, Kock Agronomic Services

Ag Media Summit Photo Album

Coverage of the Ag Media Summit is sponsored by

Ag Media Summit, Agribusiness, Audio, Koch Agronomic Services

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