Find the Iowa Corn Farmer at RAGBRAI

Chuck Zimmerman

Iowa Corn Find a FarmerIf I wasn’t getting on the agriblogging highway next week I’d like to be on RAGBRAI. Not going to happen this year. But we can enjoy the social media content that I’m sure will be coming.

Iowa Corn has a unique promotion going on that’s tied in with the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa called Find the Farmer.

This year, the theme for RAGBRAI features an ear of corn for the more than 10,000 bicyclists who will be riding across the state next week.

To join in the fun, Iowa Corn has added a scavenger hunt for RAGBRAI riders with “Find the Farmer” 8-foot cutouts along the 418-mile bike route. Six Iowa farmers are featured on 8-foot signs with facts about the corn industry. They are along the route near Milford, Emmetsburg, Waverly, Independence, Mason City and Forest City.
“We encourage riders to find the local farmer and get to know more about the Iowa corn industry,” said Janet Wilwerding, Communications Manager for the Iowa Corn Growers Association. “Being able to connect riders with our Iowa farmers will be important as they make their trip across Iowa.”

For more information about the farmers, watch their videos and enter to win an exclusive “ears and gears” t-shirt, visit iowacorn.org/RAGBRAI.

This cutout image is of Casey Schleusner and his family. He’s a farmer in North Central Iowa and has been farming with his Dad and older brother for five years. His favorite part is being close to family and taking on the challenges together.


Ag Groups, Corn, Video

Morning Guest

Melissa Sandfort

20140708_084821Throughout my life, I’ve lived in Brock, Neb., Omaha, Neb., Kansas City, Mo., Denver, Colo., and now Cambridge, Neb. When my mother came to visit the other day, she asked me: “If you could choose living in the city, or living where you are now, which would you honestly pick?” My answer? Right where I am. Hands down.

Here’s a short list of reasons why:
– I can teach my children about agriculture every day on the way to town.
– People know my name.
– Friends are proud of the fact I work in the ag industry, and so am I.
– I feel safe.
– My kids have wonderful opportunities each and every day, many of which you could never find in the city.
– There are cows in the pasture less than a quarter mile from our house.
– We stop on the road into town to let a momma turkey and her 8 babies cross the road.
– The kids feel like they strike gold when they find deer tracks in the front yard.
– I don’t have to worry about bike helmets because there’s no passing traffic.

And this – my feathered friend – who wandered about 20 feet from the front door the other morning.

So HONESTLY…where would I want to live? Right here.

Until we walk again …

Uncategorized

New Peterson Brothers Video Parody

Chuck Zimmerman

The Peterson Brothers (Greg, Nathan and Kendal) are at it again with a new parody music video of the song, “All I Do is Win,” by DJ Khaled done by the Peterson Farm Bros (Greg, Nathan, and Kendal)! It’s a great look at farming life that touches on important issues like conservation and family. Please enjoy and they say to share it out.


Farming, Video

Animal Health Companies Pursuing IPOs

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast 446According to the folks at Husch Blackwell we’re seeing a growing phenomenon of animal health companies pursuing IPOs. I visited with Jim Ash and Stan Baker last week about this largely unnoticed trend. Husch Blackwell is a national legal firm with a Food & Agribusiness team. They even have a D.V.M. on the staff – Stan Baker!

Husch BlackwellAccording to these guys, animal health IPOs didn’t even exist 18 months ago. However, since when Pfizer spun off Zoetis first of last year there have been several more and there are more in the works. Apparently the type of public information provided by a deal like the Zoetis one has helped provide the industry with valuable data to help potential investors gauge the potential value of an investment.

Here are a few reasons they say have caused this increased activity:

  • Animal health companies’ valuations have increased
  • Increased news coverage of animal health issues
  • A belief among investors that the regulatory process for bringing animal health products to market is easier, which is actually incorrect in many instances
  • Additional funding needs not met by “angel” investors
  • Improving market has led to more companies being willing to step into the space

Husch Blackwell has been involved with two animal health IPOs to date, serving as licensing counsel in one and as regulatory counsel in both. So Stan and Jim have experience to speak about the differences in the filing process that have emerged, including regulatory schemes and the adjustments between human and animal medicine. They say these differences are subtle but extremely important.

Listen to this week’s program here: Animal Health IPOs

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

Subscribe to the ZimmCast podcast here.

Agribusiness, ZimmCast

Soy Checkoff Request for Referendum Results

Chuck Zimmerman

United Soybean BoardUSDA just announced the results of the request for referendum on the Soybean Research and Promotion Program. There were 355 request-for-referendum forms received, of which only 324 were valid, from Farm Service Agency offices. The 355 forms represent 0.06 percent of all eligible U.S. soybean farmers. That result falls short of the 10 percent needed to prompt a referendum.

“These results show that U.S. soybean farmers overwhelmingly see the value in our soy checkoff,” says Jim Call, soybean farmer from Madison, Minnesota, and United Soybean Board (USB) chairman. “It’s more important than ever that the volunteer farmer-leaders of USB continue to invest soy checkoff funds to maximize the profit potential for all U.S. soybean farmers.”

If 10 percent of the 569,998 U.S. soybean farmers had requested a referendum, with no more than one-fifth of the 10 percent coming from one state, USDA would have conducted the referendum on the soy checkoff within 12 months. USDA conducts the request-for-referendum vote every five years, as required by the Soybean Promotion, Research and Consumer Information Act. The most recent period took place from May 5 through May 30.
Farmers certifying that they or the entity they represent paid into the checkoff at any time between Jan. 1, 2012, and Dec. 31, 2013, were eligible to participate in the petition for referendum. Eligible farmers who did not want a referendum did not need to take any action.

USDA requested and approved a notification by USB to inform U.S. soybean farmers about the request–for-referendum period. USB placed paid notifications on the request for referendum in national, regional and state agricultural publications and also distributed the notification to all Qualified State Soybean Boards and the news media. In addition, USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service and Farm Service Agency distributed the information about the request-for-referendum period.

Ag Groups, Soybean, USB

American Ethanol Winning Races

Chuck Zimmerman

Ryan Hunter ReayEver since I met Ryan Hunter Reay as the driver for the Indy Team Ethanol Car I’ve been following him as his racing gets better and better. He showed it this weekend when he roared to a dramatic finish and won the Iowa Corn Indy 300, presented by Dekalb. He’s pictured here with board members of Iowa Corn.

With the Indy cars running on the same fuel that we can put in our flex fuel vehicles – E85 – this renewable fuel was on the big stage again. In addition to the Indy race last weekend NASCAR held the American Ethanol 200 presented by Enogen, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, on Saturday. Our Joanna Schroeder was there courtesy of Syngenta and will have some stories to share from that event over on Domestic Fuel. You can see her first post that describes how Syngenta and Quad County Corn Processors have teamed up to begin commercial production of cellulosic ethanol here.

Ag Groups, Biofuels, Corn, Ethanol

Zimfo Bytes

Talia Goes

Zimfo Bytes

Zimfo Bytes

2014 Cooperative Communicators Winners Showcase

Chuck Zimmerman

Cooperative Communicators AssociationWant to see who the winners are in this year’s Cooperative Communicators Association Communications Contest? Here’s where you can see the best writing, publication, photography and more.

Welcome to the 2014 Winners Showcase

This showcase features all of the winning entries in this year’s CCA Communications Contest. Here you’ll find the best of the best of cooperative communications, from writing and photography to publications, programs, and projects. Below are links to PDFs of the lists of winners in each division. These lists are available to members and nonmembers alike.

Writing Winners
Publication Winners
Photography Winners
Programs and Projects

Ag Groups, Media

Farm Bill Toolbox

Chuck Zimmerman

farmdoc Farm Bill ToolboxHere’s a Toolbox farmers might want to add to their arsenal. It’s the University of Illinois farmdoc Farm Bill Toolbox. You’ll find articles, videos and FSA documentation.

This website provides educational outreach on 2014 Farm Bill related decisions and tools which are currently under development.

Previously, articles on farmdoc Daily have provided details regarding the efforts to inform readers about the 2014 Farm Bill, particularly with regard to farm program decisions that will have to be made (those articles are available here and here). As the next step in that project, today we introduce the Farm Bill Toolbox as the one-stop resource for farm program decisions, information and analysis, as well as providing further information regarding the ongoing efforts for the Farm Bill.

On July 1, 2014, the University of Illinois as the lead university for the National Coalition for Producer Education (NCPE) entered into a cooperative agreement with the Farm Service Agency for development of web-based decision tools to help producers and farm owners with the decisions and programs in the Farm Bill. This effort will involve the development of three different tools by the Illinois-led NCPE, as well as training, education, outreach and analysis on the tools and programs: (1) a tool for the ARC/PLC program decision, including base acre reallocation, payment yield updating and SCO/STAX; (2) a tool for the new dairy Margin Protection Program and Livestock Gross Margin-Dairy insurance policy; and (3) a tool for the new Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) provisions regarding buy-up coverage.

Education, Farm Bill, University

Well Cow – Bluetooth Connection to Your Cows

Chuck Zimmerman

Well CowWe’re hearing a lot about health applications of mobile and wearable technology lately. The anticipated iWatch from Apple is expected to open some new doors into that technology. But that’s for humans. What about cows? Well a Scottish company is introducing a bluetooth way to monitor cow and herd health – The Well CowTM Bolus.

Monitor the health of your herd remotely

The Well Cow bolus wirelessly monitors rumen pH and temperature, allowing optimisation of nutrition management for cows to improve their health and welfare. Farmers can use the data to optimise the diets for their cattle and consequently improve production efficiency and ultimately the profitability of their business.

Well CowTM has now also demonstrated the world’s first automated continuous long term measurement of rumen pH in dairy herds using its unique wireless telemetry bolus system. This enables the dietary health of herds to be monitored and early indications of problems which will adversely affect milk yields to be identified.

In the future Well CowTM technology will have the potential to also deliver the automated detection and measurement of other health and disease markers. This technology together with the latest developments in Wide Area Network communications will provide farmers with immediate alerts on the status of their herds on PC’s and mobile devices.


Thanks to CNET for the heads up.

Agribusiness, Dairy, Technology