All About Bees

Chuck Zimmerman

Alltech Becky TimmonsHow much do you know about bees? Want to know more? Then listen to this excerpt from Becky Timmons closing session presentation at the Alltech International Symposium. She gave us some very interesting statistics.

For example, the average honeybee will live about one month. A hive of bees must fly about 55,000 miles to make a pound of honey. Just in China there about 6 million colonies of bees and about 200,000 beekeepers. Very interesting stuff. Bees are critical to agriculture and a lot of work is being done to understand the pests and factors that harm bee and beehive health.

All About Bees

2014 Alltech Symposium Photo Album

Agribusiness, Alltech, Audio

Donate to the AMS/ARC Silent Auction

Jamie Johansen

Screen Shot 2014-06-04 at 9.07.50 AMAg Media Summit attendees in 2014 hope to “Rev it Up!” in Indianapolis July 26-30 as Agricultural Relations Council collaborates with AMS friends on this year’s Silent Auction. The goal is to exceed last year’s revenue of more than $3,500.

A record 50 items were available at last year’s meeting in Buffalo. Funds raised through the auction are used to fund various youth programs of AMS, and are shared equally with ARC. This will be the fifth year ARC will collaborate with AMS on the Silent Auction.

Items can be delivered or shipped directly to the Indianapolis Marriott Downtown, 350 West Maryland Street, Indianapolis, IN 46225 (for arrival between July 22 and July 24, Attn: Diane Johnson – Ag Media Summit). For larger items, you may take pictures to go along with the bid sheet and wait to ship to the winning bidder after the auction. Please e-mail completed bid sheet/item photo(s) to Barb Ulschmid at barbulschmid@gandgcomm.com.

Wondering what to donate? Here is a list of items from last year’s silent auction. Organizers say jewelry, local artisan items, regional food/product baskets and vacations are always good sellers.

Ag Groups, Ag Media Summit, ARC

Obligatory AgriTalk Photo

Chuck Zimmerman

AgriTalkWhy? Why do we do it? I don’t know. But what do you think about the “obligatory AgriTalk photo?”

I mean, we show up working out of the media room at events from coast to coast. Then Mike and John show up, set up out in front of everyone, and proceed to talk agri. You could say we’ve helped make them into the megastars of ag media they are today. Of course, you could not say that too.

Let us know what you think. Continue the obligatory or . . .

This one is at the Corn Utilization Technology Conference in Louisville, KY.

2014 CUTC Photo Album

CUTC, Media

Special Award at CUTC

Chuck Zimmerman

Tom Mueller and Dean EppleyDuring the 2014 Corn Utilization Technology Conference a special presentation was made by Tom Mueller, Chairman of the NCGA Research and Business Development Action Team. Tom is a corn grower from Illinois.

He presented a plaque to the Indiana Corn Marketing Council for their significant support of the newly named Gary Lamie Graduate Student Poster Competition. Accepting was Dean Eppley who is a director for Indiana Corn and member of the RBD Action Team.

The action team chose to name the competition for Gary Lamie since he was so passionate about helping students. Gary was president of the Indiana Corn Marketing Council but passed away last year. His wife Kathleen was on hand to accept a memorial plaque in his name as well.

2014 CUTC Photo Album

Ag Groups, Corn, Education, NCGA

Pork Urges Trade Deal Without Japan

Cindy Zimmerman

nppc-nickPending trade deals, particularly the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), will be among the topics on the plate – along with lots of barbequed pork! – at the World Pork Expo this week.

Just last week, the National Pork Producers Council joined with dairy, wheat and rice organizations in calling on the Obama administration to conclude the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations without Japan unless that nation agrees to provide significant market access for the United States.

NPPC Vice President for International Affairs Nick Giordano says for U.S. pork that means elimination of Japan’s gate price system and all tariffs. “The TPP is the most important trade negotiation ever for our sector,” said Nick in an interview with our last semester intern Kristin Liska, who is interning with NPPC this summer. “Producers frankly can’t allow Japan to steal their bacon.”

The TPP is a regional negotiation that includes the United States, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. However, Japan is unwilling to abolish tariffs in a number of agricultural sectors including dairy, sugar, rice, beef, pork, wheat and barley.

“This is unprecedented,” says Giordano. “It opens the door to potentially leaving agriculture out of FTAs – it’s bad, bad, bad.” Interview with NPPC's Nick Giordano

We can expect to hear more about trade issues at World Pork Expo this week, especially when Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack visits on Thursday.

Check out the 2014 World Pork Expo photo album.

wpx-bivi-tag

Ag Groups, Audio, Pork, Trade, World Pork Expo

NCGA President Kicks off CUTC

Cindy Zimmerman

cutc-14-martinThe 2014 Corn Utilization and Technology Conference is underway today in Louisville, Kentucky and last night National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) president Martin Barbre welcomed attendees to the semi-annual event that this year focuses on wet and dry milling technologies and new uses.

Barbre says the event brings together researchers with the common goal of facilitating the next ground-breaking technologies and corn-based products of the future. “It’s a great place for researchers to see what others are doing,” he said. “We also have a very good international focus with visitors and attendees from all four corners of the world.”

Chuck had chance to chat with Martin this morning about CUTC as well as some other important issues of interest to corn farmers, such as the newly passed Water Resources Reform and Development Act (WRRDA), the EPA’s proposed Waters of the United States rule, and exports. Interview with NCGA president Martin Barbre


2014 CUTC Photo Album

Ag Groups, Audio, Corn, CUTC, NCGA, Research

Promoting Kentucky Bourbon

Chuck Zimmerman

Kristin MeadorsIf you’re going to have a Corn Utilization Conference why not start with America’s Native Spirit – Bourbon? That’s what got us kicked off for the 2014 CUTC.

Our keynote speaker, Kristin Meadors, Director of Government and Regulatory Affairs for the Kentucky Distillers Association, told us all about bourbon and how important it is to the Kentucky economy. She brought along her “little friends” to give away to people who asked a question after her presentation.

Some interesting facts include that there are more barrels of bourbon aging in Kentucky right now, 4.9 million, than there are people and horses in the state. Nearly 60% of every bottle of spirits in Kentucky goes to taxes. Talk about high taxation! I spoke with Kristin before her presentation.

Interview with Kristin Meadors

Learn more about the Kentucky bourbon industry from Kristin’s speech.

Kristin Meadors Keynote Address

After the keynote session we attended a reception featuring a bourbon tasting.


2014 CUTC Photo Album

Ag Groups, Audio, Corn, CUTC, NCGA

The New AgWired and New AgWired App

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast 440You have probably noticed that AgWired looks “different.” It is. Very different.

The ZimmComm team has completely re-built AgWired with hard work from our webmaster. This project was undertaken to consolidate our news network under the AgWired brand and provide a growth platform for the future. We still have some tweaks to do as we get comfortable with a new version of WordPress which allows us to manage multiple websites simultaneously.

Animal Agriculture

The biggest news though is that we’ve moved WorldDairyDiary.com inside AgWired under the url, www.animal.agwired.com. We will now use this website for our coverage of all animal agriculture production including all species. This greatly increases not only the visibility of our coverage of this sector but allows new opportunities for our sponsors.

Precision Agriculture

Additionally, we’ve taken PrecisionPays.com “in-house” under the url, www.precision.agwired.com. We will continue publishing the latest news and information about this fast growing segment of agricultural production under the AgWired brand.

In both cases, the old links now forward to the new domain address. All RSS subscribers and anyone who has bookmarked them will not have to change anything to continue getting the content they want.

Energy

On the energy front we’re re-designing DomesticFuel.com which will retain its current url at this time.

AgWired App

Another very cool part of this move has to do with the AgWired App. Besides the iOS and Android store app we’ve had for years, you can now create the AgWired App on your mobile device yourself. It’s easy. Just visit AgWired.com on your mobile device of choice and a popup will ask if you want to create a desktop icon. AgWired will then open with a click of the app in a very user friendly format. Full instructions are included in this week’s ZimmCast and the instructional video on YouTube.

Please let us know what you think of the new AgWired!

Listen to this week’s program here or watch the video below: The New AgWired

Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsor, GROWMARK, locally owned, globally strong, for their support.

Subscribe to the ZimmCast podcast here.

Animal Agriculture, Audio, Video, ZimmCast, ZimmComm Announcement

Heading to the Center of the Pork Universe

Cindy Zimmerman

wpx14We are heading to the Center of the Pork Universe this week to join some 20,000 pork producers and industry professionals from 32 countries for the 2014 World Pork Expo.

“World Pork Expo is a showcase of pork production,” says National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) president Howard Hill. “It offers a great opportunity for pork producers to get a crash course in what’s new.”

The Expo, which is sponsored by NPPC, features the world’s largest pork-specific trade show with some 375 commercial exhibits in more than 310,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor exhibit space. New this year is the World Pork Expo Universe Passport, offering visitors a daily chance to win $500. Expo General Manager Alicia Newman says attendees can pick up a passport in the registration area, located in the Animal Learning Center.

“As attendees travel around World Pork Expo, they can get their passports stamped at the booths of participating companies,” says Newman. “Then they can bring their completed passports to the NPPC booth in the Agriculture Building, get a prize and be entered into the daily drawing.”

In addition to the trade show, Expo offers free, educational seminars on a wide range of topics from manure handling or exports, to sow-herd management and swine health. Youth education programs, judging contests and pig shows are part of the World Pork Expo Junior National, which set another record this year with 2,947 entries from across the nation.

This will be our seventh World Pork Expo on AgWired.com and the first time it will be featured on our new website Animal.Agwired.com. Thanks to our sponsor Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Inc. (BIVI) for once again allowing us to bring this important pork industry event to our readers.

Check out the 2014 World Pork Expo photo album.

wpx-bivi-tag

Animal Agriculture, Boehringer Ingelheim, NPPC, Pork, World Pork Expo

NCGA Fields-of-Corn Photo Contest

Cindy Zimmerman

ncga-photosIf you shoot it, they will vote – in the new National Corn Growers Association Fields-of-Corn Photo Contest.

NCGA is calling all photographers to help tell the story of farming field corn in America with this brand new photo contest. Submit your favorite high-resolution photos of corn growth from seed to harvest and the families that grow it and you might just win the $500 grand prize. Entries will also be considered for prizes with cash awards for the top three entries in five categories including: Farm Family Lifestyle, Farming Challenges, Growing Field Corn, Scenery/Landscape, and Still Life from the Farm.

Photos will first be judged by the public via online Facebook “Likes.” The Top 10 photos in each category will then be judged by an impartial panel of professionals in the fields of journalism, marketing, advertising and agriculture.

Deadline for contest entries is November 30, 2014 – what are you waiting for? All the details can be found by clicking here. Register, upload your best farm photos and repeat as often as you like. I already did one!

Corn, NCGA, Photography