AAEA Announces Award Winners

Jamie Johansen

Screen Shot 2014-05-06 at 3.55.30 PMThe American Agricultural Editors’ Association (AAEA) Legacy Committee has announced that three heroes of agriculture will be honored as the 2014 Distinguished Service and Lifetime Achievement Award recipients. The winners will be feted at an awards banquet during the Agricultural Media Summit, to be held July 29 at Indianapolis, Ind.

The AAEA Distinguished Service Award (DSA) recipient is Joe Martin, PhD, emeritus professor of agronomy at the Kansas State University Agricultural Research Center at Hays, Kan.

“Joe Martin is considered an unsung hero of the wheat industry,” said AAEA Legacy Committee Chair Larry Dreiling. “While he may not have developed the hard white winter wheat class, Joe’s research brought it forward to be accessible to farmers, who have made it a popular choice in their growing plans. In turn, this class of wheat has led the boom in desire by consumers for healthy whole grain products.”

Screen Shot 2014-05-06 at 4.04.10 PMTwo outstanding AAEA past presidents and fellow graduates of Texas A&M University, Joe Dan Boyd, Winnsboro, Texas; and Del Deterling, Richardson, Texas, are this year’s AAEA Lifetime Achievement Award (LAA) recipients.

Both men were attendees at what became known as the “Flame Meeting” of 1984, which kindled AAEA’s modern mission to be an organization for the professional development of its members. As part of this small group, Boyd and Deterling helped to create the building blocks for the AAEA Professional Improvement Foundation that now funds a myriad of programs for the betterment of members.

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“Joe Dan is a legendary farm writer. At Farm Journal and its Cotton Today publication, he moved readers and stimulated industry colleagues. As one of the first recipients of AAEA’s Writer of Merit award, Joe Dan’s body of work still leads others to make their writing the best it can be,” Dreiling said. “As a past president, he remains a figure of encouragement and inspiration.

“Del is the winner of several awards for writing excellence, as well, including an AAEA Writer of the Year prize. Yet, he is often thought of for his work as a strong, trusted, editor at The Progressive Farmer. He is the embodiment of the word leader, not only in the industry, but in his community.”

ACN, Ag Groups

Let’s #FeedThe9 Enough

Chuck Zimmerman

Enough Sensible TableEveryone should have a Sensible Table. We should make sure we have the facts when it comes to food and food security. We’ve got a couple billion more mouths to feed in coming years. So have you joined the movement?

Congratulations and welcome to the ENOUGH movement! You’ve said “enough is enough.” Together, we can make a difference and solve the greatest issue of our time – securing the food we need to feed our world. We have the solutions. But we must act together. We must act now.

We have many materials you can utilize. Our toolkit will help you better understand the ENOUGH movement and provide various tools to communicate the ENOUGH message to others, including:

  • ENOUGH Report – Read why this effort is so important and understand our vision for a food secure world.
  • Declaration – Sign the declaration and display it to show your support of the movement.
  • Twibbon – Post the ENOUGH Twibbon to your Twitter or Facebook profile.
  • Social toolkit – Use the recommended social content on your Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn feeds to share the ENOUGH message.


I joined and think Enough is Enough. This is a project of Elanco, my sponsor for coverage of this week’s Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit where issues being discussed will directly relate to the Enough movement.

Agribusiness, Elanco, Food, International

Vilsack and Farm Workers Want Immigration Reform

Cindy Zimmerman

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack joined United Farm Workers president Arturo Rodriguez and Nisei Farmers League President Manuel Cunha on a conference call Monday to discuss the importance of commonsense immigration reform for California’s agriculture economy and rural communities.

ca-farmworkers“There’s no more important state to agriculture than the state of California,” said Vilsack. “It is a farm economy that is very much dependent upon farm workers.” He pointed out that there are over 81,000 farms in California that sell nearly $34 billion in agricultural products.

“Immigration reform is not only just good for the state of California and American agriculture, it’s the right thing to do for the country,” Vilsack added, urging the House of Representatives to take action. “The delay that’s taken place for now over a year since the Senate passed comprehensive immigration reform has created some uncertainty and instability in American agriculture.”

Rodriquez specifically called out Majority Whip Congressman Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). “If Congressman McCarthy does not want to vote for immigration, then he needs to let the rest of the members of the San Joaquin valley and the House of Representatives have a chance to vote on immigration legislation.”

Cunha highlighted the dangerous activities of farm worker trafficking cartels. “If the House members do not act within the next couple of months, that means they are going to allow the cartel to increase the trafficking going on by victimizing these people,” said Cunha.

Listen to or download conference call here: USDA and Farm Workers call for Immigration Reform

Audio, labor, USDA

Farm Broadcasters in Washington

Chuck Zimmerman

NAFB Washington WatchThe National Association of Farm Broadcasting is holding its annual Washington Watch program this week. Here’s the happy smiling group with our U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. These agricultural journalists get to spend a couple days hearing from various elected and appointed officials with plenty of time to conduct interviews.

I’ve enjoyed all the programs I’ve attended over the years and think it is a very good benefit for NAFB members. Of course, the question is always who can afford to go. For most, including us, the only way to justify the expense is via some type of sponsorship.

Media, NAFB

Ag Specialist Uses Communication to Promote Biotech

Jamie Johansen

Screen Shot 2014-05-06 at 8.33.34 AMThe Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) announces that the prestigious 2014 Borlaug CAST Communication Award goes to Alison Van Eenennaam, an honored faculty member at the University of California, Davis. Nominees must demonstrate an ability to communicate by written material; public presentations; and/or the use of television, radio, or other social media. Van Eenennaam excels in all three areas. As a specialist in the field of animal genomics and biotechnology, she is at the forefront of those delivering clear, science-based information to the public and policymakers alike.

Dr. Van Eenennaam was nominated by colleagues from several academic, industry, and nonprofit organizations—they highlight her combined research skills, teaching abilities, and scientific understanding. They also agree that she has an “outstanding ability to communicate complicated and sometimes controversial scientific issues to the general public, nationally and internationally.”
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Ag Groups, Biotech, Food

Zimfo Bytes

Talia Goes

Zimfo Bytes

Knuth Farms Spring Activities

Chuck Zimmerman

Our friends at Knuth Farms got themselves ready for spring and shared this video.

We did a little one and half minute video of spring activities on our farm to the sound of Tommy James and the Shondells we hope you would like and share with all your followers.

Of course I will.

Farming, Video

Canadian Farm Writers Going to the Island

Chuck Zimmerman

Canadian Farm Writers Conference 2014This year the Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation Annual Conference is going to be hosted by the Atlantic Canada Farm Writers’ Association. That means we’ll be on Prince Edward Island, known as “the Island.”

The conference will take place October 2-5. In addition to having a great conference we’ll be helping celebrate the Prince Edward Island Sesquicentennial.

Plans include a long weekend of learning, networking, insight, participation, food, culture and fun. And by the end of the weekend we will have more than one story to share about agriculture on the Island.

You can see the Conference agenda here.

International, Media

App for AAA Stakeholder Summit

Chuck Zimmerman

AAA Stakeholder's Summit AppThis week the agriblogging highway is taking me to the Animal Agriculture Alliance 13th Annual Stakeholder Summit. We’ll be Cracking the Millennial Code with a variety of speakers and panels addressing marketing to millennials, sustainability and more.

The Twitter hashtag is #AAA14 and there is an app for the conference you can get here: Android, iOS or Webpage.

Animal Agriculture, Apps

National APLU Report Outlines Research Challenges

Jamie Johansen

apluThe national Association of Public and Land-grant Universities released a report outlining six “grand challenges” facing the United States over the next decade in the areas of sustainability water, climate change, agriculture, energy and education.

The APLU project was co-chaired by W. Daniel Edge, head of the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at Oregon State University. The report is available online.

The “Science, Education, and Outreach Roadmap for Natural Resources” is the first comprehensive, nationwide report on research, education and outreach needs for natural resources the country’s university community has ever attempted, Edge said.

“The report identifies critical natural resources issues that interdisciplinary research programs need to focus on over the next 5-10 years in order to address emerging challenges,” Edge noted. “We hope that policy-makers and federal agencies will adopt recommendations in the roadmap when developing near-term research priorities and strategies.”

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Ag Groups, Education, Energy, Environment, Sustainability