USFRA Communications Committee Work

Chuck Zimmerman June 20, 2014

The live streamed Food Dialogues events get all the publicity when they take place with high profile moderators and panelists. However, there’s a lot of work going on “behind the scenes.” In Chicago recently that work included a regular meeting of the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance Communications Committee. I visited with two members of the committee.

First up is Chris Galen, Senior Vice President, Communications, National Milk Producers Federation. Chris also serves on the board for USFRA. With a Food Dialogues topic of Integrity in Food Marketing I first asked him what that means to him. He says, “I think most people would agree that integrity is about honesty.” But he goes on to ask if that involves the whole truth, nothing but the truth or can it contain partial shades of truth. An example that was raised during the Food Dialogues was “gluten free orange juice.” When that is used on the label it is true but it implies that orange juice that is not labelled gluten free has gluten in it which would not be true.

When it comes to the work of the USFRA Communications Committee Chris says there are several key items on their agenda. One is to continue to work on the FARMLAND movie project. Making it available to view digitally through services like iTunes, Netflix and Hulu was on the table for discussion.

Interview with Chris Galen

Next up I spoke with Season Solorio, Senior Director, Issues Management, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. She says that besides the FARMLAND movie project the committee is also working on the next phase of the Faces of Farming and Ranching.

Interview with Season Solario

USFRA Food Dialogues Chicago Photo Album

Ag Groups, Audio, Food, USFRA

Zimfo Bytes

Talia Goes June 20, 2014

Through the National Agriscience Teacher Ambassador Academy, DuPont has invited 49 of the nation’s finest agricultural science teachers to the company’s Chesapeake Farms in Chestertown, Md., to enhance their teaching techniques in order to heighten their students’ agriscience educational experience in classrooms across the country.
The U.S. Grains Council is pleased to announce the hire of Melissa George Kessler as the USGC director of communications at the Washington, D.C., headquarters.
Syngenta has unveiled plans for the introduction of a new active ingredient, SDHI fungicide, known by the general name Solatenol™ fungicide – which will be available under four products for use on wheat, corn, cucurbit and fruiting vegetables, grapes, peanuts, pome fruit, potatoes and soybeans.
Three distinguished global warming skeptics – Patrick Moore, Alan Carlin, and Willie Soon – will receive special recognition at the 9th International Conference on Climate Change July 7–9 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas (ICCC9).

Zimfo Bytes

Students Honored for Research at ASTA

Jamie Johansen June 20, 2014

College students from across the country had the opportunity to enter American Seed Trade Research Foundation’s Operation Student Exchange. The winning student was announced during a Future Seed Executives 10th Anniversary Reception at ASTA’s recent annual meeting.

Leah Ruff’s poster presentation and research was selected this year’s winner and she received the Roger Kruegar Scholarship. The scholarship honors the late Dr. Roger Kruegar from Monsanto Company. His professional career was devoted to seeds, and he passionately advocated the role of science in feeding the world.

Leah is a graduate student at the University of Nebraska where she is studying drought tolerance in soybeans. Listen to her unique approach in my interview with her. Interview with Leah Ruff, Roger Kruegar Scholarship Winner

Jim Tobin, Past Chairman of ASTA and Monsanto’s Channel Engagement Lead, and Glenn Austin, Monsanto’s Sustainability Operation Lead and works with ASTA’s Operation Student Connection, awarded Leah with this honor. They also sat down with me to further explain the importance of engaging young professionals with the industry and guiding them in their research.

Listen to my complete interview with Jim and Glenn here: Interview with Jim Tobin & Glenn Austin

Jim Tobin also received the Lifetime Honorary Member Award during the 131st Annual Convention. Jim’s 29-year career with Monsanto has given him the opportunity to serve in numerous agricultural marketing and commercial development positions. He is currently a trustee of the FarmHouse Foundation and Forest Park Forever. He is also a member of the Farm Foundation Roundtable and serves on the board of the U.S. Grains Council and the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance.

ASTA Annual Meeting Photo Album

Ag Groups, ASTA, Audio, Education, Seed

Educator Training Adds New Resources for Teachers

Melissa Sandfort June 20, 2014

Summer is here and that means the 2014 Educators Training Event is right around the corner. August 5-7 Ag Leader will be holding the 5th annual training event tailored towards educators at the high school, community college and university level. This year we have some exciting news to share regarding the Educational Solutions Package. We are placing the final touches on the Online Educational Curriculum that was briefly introduced at last year’s training event. This online platform provides resources, materials, a discussion board, along with other various items that will make teaching precision ag and SMS software topics much easier.

We have grouped the various lessons into chapters; these chapters are organized by topic within the SMS Advanced software. For example, importing data, printing maps, analyzing data, and exporting are topics discussed in detail that contain real world examples. These chapters then contain the specific lessons associated with the chapter and the corresponding video tutorial making it more efficient to access specific precision ag topics. In addition to the lessons, the online platform has a discussion board feature. This will allow communication between educators, directly within the portal, and provide a place to share ideas and stay current with fellow peers.

In addition to the new online portal, the training event will cover new features and products, a discussion panel with representatives from the precision ag industry as well as hardware and software training workshops. Educators wanting to register or learn more about this year’s event please contact our Educational Solutions Team at education@agleader.com or call 515-232-5363 ext 4428. Educators currently enrolled in our Educational Lab Program are eligible for one free seat. Additional seats or educators not enrolled can also reserve a seat by contacting our Educational Solutions Team. We look forward to seeing all of our educators!

Become a fan of Ag Leader on Facebook today, and get the latest precision ag videos on the YouTube channel. For more information about Ag Leader products and services, or to visit the blog site, go to www.agleader.com.

Ag Leader, Agribusiness

United Fresh Awards Highlight Innovation, Creativity

Jamie Johansen June 20, 2014

Attendees to the United Fresh Produce Association’s annual convention and expo in Chicago cast their votes throughout the show for fresh produce innovation and recognized this year’s New Product Awards in five categories. More than 40 fresh fruit and vegetable innovations competed in the categories of Best New Food Safety Solution, Best New Fruit Product, Best New Packaging, Best New Packing/Processing Equipment, and Best New Vegetable Product.

The 2014 New Product Award winners announced today are:

Best New Food Safety Solution: FoodLink Fresh – FoodLink
Best New Fruit Product: Crunch Pak with Marvel Apple Snacker, Crunch Pak
Best New Packaging Product: Josie’s Organics Romaine Hearts, Braga Fresh Family Farms
Best New Packing/Processing Equipment: STRAWBERRY CAPPER Mod. Frazer, Turatti S.R.L.
Best New Vegetable Product: Y.E.L.O., Mastronardi Produce/Sunset

“These winning products have been selected by United attendees as outstanding representations of the new approaches, ideas and processes that are driving the fresh fruit and vegetable industry forward, and we applaud them for their product development,” said John Toner, United’s vice president of convention & industry relations. “From its very beginnings, the United show has been the undisputed home of innovation for the produce industry, and these awards continue to showcase the best and brightest minds in the produce business.”

Ag Groups, Food

World Food Prize Honors Wheat Breeder

Cindy Zimmerman June 20, 2014

The selection of wheat breeder Dr. Sanjaya Rajaram as the 2014 World Food Prize Laureate was announced this week during a ceremony at the State Department where Secretary Kerry gave keynote remarks.

“This is the time for a second green revolution,” Kerry said. “That’s why Dr. Sanjaya Rajaram is being honored with the World Food Prize. We are grateful for the hundreds of new species of wheat Dr. Rajaram developed, which deliver 200 million more tons of grain to global markets each year and feed millions across the world.”

In announcing the name of the 2014 Laureate, Ambassador Kenneth M. Quinn, President of the World Food Prize, noted how appropriate it is to honor Dr. Rajaram during the Borlaug Centennial Year.

“Dr. Rajaram worked closely with Dr. Borlaug, succeeding him as head of the wheat breeding program at (the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center) in Mexico, and then carried forward and expanded upon his work, breaking new ground with his own invaluable achievements,” Quinn said, noting that Dr. Borlaug himself called Dr. Rajaram “the greatest present-day wheat scientist in the world.”

Born in India and now a citizen of Mexico, Dr. Rajaram developed an astounding 480 wheat varieties bred to offer higher yields and resistance to rust disease, that have been released in 51 countries on six continents and have been widely adopted by small- and large-scale farmers alike.

Wheat, World Food Prize

Millennial Views of Biobased and Sustainability

Cindy Zimmerman June 20, 2014

The hostess for the the USB Biobased Products Stakeholders’ Dialogue at George Washington (GW) University this week was the moderator for an important discussion about what the “millennial generation” thinks about biobased and sustainability.

University sustainability director Kathleen Merrigan, who is also former deputy ag secretary, invited some current students and recent graduates to be on the panel. “What I really wanted biobased product innovators to understand is that we need to develop all kinds of new communications vehicles to reach this generation,” said Merrigan.

The young people talked about the importance of social media and especially short video messages to reach them. “They really like to go out themselves and do the story telling with video,” Merrigan said, adding that engaging them in the learning process can be very effective.

Merrigan says GW’s Planet Forward spent a lot of time covering the USB event this week, tweeting and gathering video. “What they’re doing is trying to teach young people to be storytellers,” she said. “We’d like to send our students out to farms and help tell the story of American agriculture.”

I had a chance to sit down with Kathleen and chat about her time at USDA and her new job with GW and how the two mesh. Interview with Kathleen Merrigan, GW University Sustainability

2014 USB Soy Biobased Dialogue Photo Album

Audio, Education, Soybean, Sustainability, USB, USDA

BASF Announces Summer Training Series

Cindy Zimmerman June 20, 2014

BASF Ag Products is planning what is expected to be the largest training effort in the company’s history for this summer, reaching 24 states and focusing on weed management, application best practices and overall stewardship of BASF herbicides.

“We are committed to ensuring growers’ success with new technologies,” said Luke Bozeman, Technical Market Manager, Herbicides, BASF. “The more knowledgeable growers are about precise stewardship practices, the more successful they will be in their applications.”

The educational training and plot tour series will include an introduction to BASF’s Engenia™ herbicide, which is expected to be registered for use next year. The series will provide information about best practices for stewardship of future Engenia herbicide applications in dicamba-tolerant (DT) crops.

At many of the summer training events, attendees will also have the chance to participate in the On Target Application Academy, a BASF spray application training led by industry professionals which has reached more than 4,000 growers in 21 states since it was started in 2012, This training is focused on proper application techniques – including the importance of boom height, weed size, nozzles and equipment cleanout – and their impact on the desired application.

The summer training series will be held in 24 states across the country, with the largest training events occurring at BASF research farms in Story City, Iowa; Pine Level, North Carolina; Beaver Crossing, Nebraska; and Seymour, Illinois. To participate in a training event in your area, contact your local authorized BASF retailer, your BASF Innovation Specialist or visit the On Target Application Academy website for more information.

At the BASF Ag Media event last week I visited with both Luke Bozeman and BASF herbicide group agricultural biologist John Frihauf about some of the what farmers will learn during these summer field days.

Bozeman (pictured top right) talks about the On-Target Academy and the importance of targeted application with dicamba formulations. Interview with Luke Bozeman, BASF

Frihauf (above left) discusses the status of Engenia and the importance of developing new herbicides to fight weed resistance. Interview with John Frihauf, BASF

2014 BASF Ag Media Summit Photo Album

Agribusiness, Audio, BASF, Crop Protection

Jerry Harrington Retires Dupont Pioneer

Chuck Zimmerman June 19, 2014

I am still looking for a photo of Jerry Harrington, DuPont Pioneer Sales & Marketing Public Relations manager, that I want to use for this post. When I find it I will update it. In the meantime you get the pensive, paying attention Jerry Harrington from a conference at Dupont Pioneer headquarters in Iowa.

The big news is that after 16 years of dedicated service, Jerry has retired. He not only contributed much to the business over the years but is a personal friend to me and many, many in the agricultural media. I like Jerry’s sense of humor and the fact that he was always so responsive to any requests. We’ll miss him at Pioneer but we’ll be in the good hands of Jane Slusark, Dupont Pioneer Senior Communications Consultant. We had a lot of fun with Jane in Argentina last year at the IFAJ Congress.

Please join us in wishing Jerry well.

Agribusiness, Pioneer

NAMA Happenings and Update

Chuck Zimmerman June 19, 2014

The Executive Committee of the National Agri-Marketing Association met yesterday and even though I could not make it thanks to plane problems and weather I got all caught up with President Kenna Rathai this morning. So this week’s program is our conversation in which Kenna talks about what the committee discussed or did during the quarterly meeting.

First up is the annual NAMA Fall Conference. This year the conference will be held at the Hotel Chicago on Sept. 16-17 with a pre-conference farm tour arranged by the Chicago NAMA Chapter. Speakers and sessions have been announced. Check your schedule and get registered. It’s going to be a good one!

Although Kenna and I didn’t talk about NAMA Boot Camp I’m putting a plug for it here since you need to get registered. It will take place in Kansas City August 19-21.

Some other items on the committee meeting agenda included a proposed overhaul of the NAMA website back end operating system. This needs to be done and will create a better website that will be easier for the staff to manage and keep up to date. Our organizational finances are in great shape and we’ve got money budgeted for this project.

Another item we talked about are some upcoming NAMA industry alliance events. The next one will be a July 28 reception we’re co-hosting with the NAFB during the Agricultural Media Summit. We will also have one during the Farm Progress Show again this fall in Iowa.

Listen to this week’s program and hear more about what is going on with NAMA: NAMA Update

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

Subscribe to the ZimmCast podcast here.

Ag Groups, Audio, NAMA, ZimmCast

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