Randy Krotz Appointed CEO of USFRA

Chuck Zimmerman

USFRACongratulations to our good friend Randy Krotz.

The U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance® (USFRA®) announced that its board of directors has appointed Randy Krotz as chief executive officer, effective immediately. A recognized leader in the agribusiness community and active on his family farm in Kansas, Krotz joined USFRA as vice president of development in 2013 and most recently served as executive director.

classic14-krotz“U.S. agriculture is at an important crossroads, and with Randy’s decades of experience and relationships across the agricultural industry, he is the right person to cement USFRA’s role as the unifying voice of farmers and ranchers to consumer audiences,” Bob Stallman, chairman of USFRA and president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, said. “Randy’s deep background in food, farming and agribusiness will play a key role in further establishing USFRA as a thought leader on food issues and a guidepost for the next generation of farmers and ranchers.”

In 2013, the USFRA board set to create a long-term vision for the movement including structuring the alliance for new leadership. After a national search, USFRA board of directors decided to hire the organization’s first chief executive officer in its three-year history from within its own ranks. Since joining the organization, Krotz has helped build the national prominence of USFRA, with specific focus on consumer-facing initiatives such as its signature series The Food Dialogues® that provides a forum for open conversation around some of the most important food issues today. He has overseen day-to-day management and performance of USFRA focusing on organizational and staff management, as well as outreach to the agricultural industry.

Ag Groups, USFRA

Zimfo Bytes

Talia Goes

    Zimfo Bytes

  • The NAFB Hall of Fame Committee is asking for nominations for present, past or deceased NAFB Broadcast Council members that have made a significant contribution to farm broadcasting.
  • Farm Journal Media received two Neal Awards during American Business Media’s 60th Annual Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Awards ceremony, held Friday in New York City.
  • CHS Inc. has agreed to acquire selected Canadian retail assets from Crop Production Services (Canada) Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Agrium, Inc., a major retail supplier of agricultural products and services in North America, South America and Australia.
  • Bayer CropScience and John Deere are working together to integrate data access, wireless data transmission, and delivery of prescription recommendations to help farmers optimize yields and return on investment.
Zimfo Bytes

BASF Sharpen Gets Registration for Rice

Cindy Zimmerman

Rice growers now have a new weapon in the fight against tough weeds such as hemp sesbania, morning glory, and Texasweed.

basf-sharpenBASF has received federal registration of Sharpen® herbicide for both pre- and post-emergence applications on rice to allow for flexible control of broadleaf weeds.

“This is a herbicide that offers growers broad-spectrum control on broadleaf weeds,” said Eric Webster, Ph.D., of Louisiana State University, who has studied Sharpen herbicide for several years. “Mainly, we have seen Sharpen herbicide control hemp sesbania, Texasweed and jointvetch very well.”

Webster says Sharpen herbicide is also easily incorporated into the Clearfield® Production System for rice from BASF. “It is an additional chemistry that can be incorporated into that system,” he explained.

Sharpen herbicide is powered by Kixor® herbicide technology – find out more here.

Agribusiness, BASF, Crop Protection, Rice, weed management

AgChat Foundation Searching for Executive Director

Chuck Zimmerman

AgChat FoundationThe AgChat Foundation is looking for a new Executive Director. Interested? Better know your agricultural social media stuff! “Retiring” from the position is the first AgChat Foundation ED, Emily Zweber.

“Since her hiring in 2011, Emily Zweber has been a crucial member of our team here at AgChat, serving as our Executive Director. During her tenure, she has been a tremendous asset in successfully steering ACF to become the leader in educating and equipping farmers, ranchers, agribusiness professionals and educators with the tools needed to effectively tell their stories of agriculture through social media platforms,” Foundation President Jeff VanderWerff said, “We are saddened by the loss of Emily and wish her well in her future endeavors.”

The new Executive Director will oversee the general administration of the organization including fundraising, execution of major goals, management of the organization’s structure and personnel and facilitation of all major activities and meetings including board and committee members, among other responsibilities. For a complete description, please visit the job announcement located at AgChat.org.

Interested parties may submit their resume to hiring@agchat.org by April 15. ACF expects the new Executive Director to join by mid-2014.

Ag Groups

Social Media Farmer of the Year Nominations Needed

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast 432Do you have a favorite farmer using social media? Are you really engaged in the online conversation yourself? Then get your nomination in for the first Social Media Farmer of the Year Award.

Social Media Farm of the Year AwardThis award program, which AgWired is a sponsor of, is being conducted by Phil Lempert, Food Nutrition & Science. You might know Phil as the Supermarket Guru. We talked about the award program and it’s that conversation I’m sharing in this week’s program. The award winner will be receiving a number of prizes which are still being finalized but include an expense paid trip to Chicago for the FMI Connect to receive the award. Sponsorships of the award are also still available.

The new 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.

Nominations for the award are now being accepted. Farmers can nominate themselves or a colleague http://www.foodnutritionscience.com/2014award/. The deadline for nominations is March 31, 2014. The winner will be presented with a trophy and other prizes at the FMI Connect show in Chicago on June 11, 2014.

“Social media has provided farmers with a unique opportunity to communicate directly with other farmers, customers and consumers,” says Phil Lempert, editor of Food Nutrition & Science. “This award will honor their innovation and outstanding efforts that not only results in a greater person-to-person dialogue, but elevation of the industry as a whole.”

In our conversation I asked Phil to tell us what he sees as some current trends in the supermarket business. Not surprisingly, one of them is the rapid change in technology.

You can listen to this week’s program here. Social Media Farmer of Year Award

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

Farming, Food, Social Media

Vote now – Youth in Agriculture Blog Competition

Chuck Zimmerman

Youth in Agriculture Blog CompetitionHere’s a chance to support young agricultural bloggers. It’s the Youth in Agriculture Blog Competition or YoBloCo Awards. The entries are all in and it’s time for the public to vote. It’s a very simple process too. You can vote here.

The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU (CTA), in collaboration with FARA, Yam-Pukri, CAFAN, AYF, ANAFE, SPC, PAFPNET and e-Agriculture is pleased to launch the 2nd Edition of the Youth in Agriculture Blog Competition (YoBloCo Awards).

This contest is organised in the framework of the ARDYIS project, which aims to raise youth awareness and improve their capacity on agricultural and rural development issues in ACP countries using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).

The aims of this blog competition are to:

  • Put into limelight issues, successes and challenges faced by youth engaged in agriculture, in urban and rural areas
  • Encourage the production of information and the use of new information and communication technologies by young farmers groups and organisations interested in the youth in agriculture question
  • Promote the sharing of information on the issues of agriculture and rural development in African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries

Ag Groups, Farming, International, Social Networking

Kip Cullers in Africa

Cindy Zimmerman

classic14-kipAbout a week or so before Commodity Classic, I got a call from our good friend and rock star soybean grower Kip Cullers who was all excited about the trip he had just taken to South Africa. So, I did an interview with him while I had the chance, which was a good thing because I barely saw him at Classic, where he had promised to give me a USB drive with photos from the trip but never did. I did catch a shot of him on the stage at Case IH where he was telling the audience about his trip.

Anyway, it was a pretty interesting trip for Kip, who was there with another grower for a tour to meet with local farmers, primarily sponsored by DuPont Pioneer, with participation by BASF and John Deere. “We traveled around the country and had meetings where they were expecting 200 and 400 would show up,” Kip said. “We did five meetings and they said that we covered 80% of the total production acres in South Africa, whether it be corn, wheat or beans.”

Kip says one of his biggest surprises was that they have Asian Soybean Rust there and was interested to find that they use the same BASF product to fight it, although instead of Headline it is known by a different name. He said the farmers were very interested in seed treatments, which are currently not used much in South Africa.

The trip was great, but Kip says he wasn’t thrilled with the food – lamb that was fatty and “kinda got a twang” and some kind of white corn grits-like food that was so dry “I had the spoon turned upside down and it wouldn’t fall off.”

Listen to my interview with Kip talking about his trip to South Africa, as only Kip can – Interview with Missouri farmer Kip Cullers
2014 Commodity Classic Photos

Agribusiness, Audio, BASF, Case IH, Commodity Classic, International, Pioneer

Dr. Borlaug to be Enshrined at U.S. Capitol

Leah Guffey

borlaug-statueNational Agriculture Day celebrations in Washington DC this year just happen to fall on March 25, the centennial anniversary date of the Father of the Green Revolution. As a fitting tribute, the State of Iowa will install a bronze statue of Dr. Norman E. Borlaug in the U.S. Capitol on that very day.

“The unveiling with be a historic event and celebration of Dr. Borlaug’s legacy,” Iowa Governor Terry Branstad said. “His agricultural innovations saved an estimated billion people around the world from hunger and starvation.”

Each state is represented by two statues of notable citizens in the National Statuary Hall Collection at the U.S. Capitol Building. The statue of Borlaug will replace the statue of U.S. Senator James Harlan installed in 1910, which will be relocated to Mount Pleasant, Iowa. The second statue representing Iowa is of Governor Samuel Kirkwood, which was installed in 1913.

More information about the statue project is available at www.iowaborlaugstatue.org, including information about related events and activities. People are also encouraged to watch a webcast of the statue unveiling ceremony, which will take place on March 25 at 11 a.m. Eastern Time, at www.speaker.gov/live and since Chuck and Cindy will be there at the Capitol for National Ag Day, we should have coverage of the event featured here on AgWired as well.

The statue was unveiled at the World Food Prize in October, where we had the chance to see it up close and personal, and Cindy interviewed World Food Prize president Ambassador Kenneth Quinn about it. Listen to or download his comments about the statue here: WFP President Kenneth Quinn talks about Borlaug statue

Ag Day, Audio, World Food Prize

Florida Dairy Farmers Release New iPad App

Jamie Johansen

image003Kids, adults and educators alike can now learn about dairy farming in an exciting way through the Florida Dairy Farmers new iPad app, SunnyBell’s Florida Dairy Farm Adventure. The free app that can be downloaded from iTunes, is a fun, interactive romp through a Florida dairy farm.

SunnyBell – a little calf who longs to be an important part of the dairy farm, teaches kids about nutritious milk and where it comes from. The story is interactive and immersive, while kids learn about how a dairy farm works. The app also includes sing-along “moo”sicals, word-search puzzles, coloring pages and quizzes.

SunnyBell’s Florida Dairy Farm Adventure app is not only great for kids of all ages, but is also an exceptional educational tool for parents and educators, and uses games and songs to improve cognitive abilities in kids.

“The SunnyBell app shares the experience of life on a Florida dairy farm while reinforcing the message of where our milk comes from. Children are easily engaged, via educational songs and games that boast interactive animation, while learning about the importance of dairy foods in the diet,” says Alyssa Greenstein, registered dietitian with Florida Dairy Farmers. “As a registered dietitian and mother of three, I especially enjoy the fact that the SunnyBell app helps kids and adults separate nutrition from fads and misinformation.”

To download the free app, visit www.floridamilk.com and check out our new Kids Corner where you can learn, play and grow with SunnyBell.

Ag Groups, Apps, Dairy

Hortau Tweet Gets our Attention

Cindy Zimmerman

As I said before, we were so busy at Commodity Classic even with four people we were unable to cover everything we wanted to cover, but one company did something that caught our attention and made us go out of our way to meet them.

@Hortau Simplified Irrigation sent a tweet to @Agriblogger asking him to come by and do an interview.

classic14-hortauIt was that simple. Now, if you don’t know already, @Agriblogger is one of Chuck Zimmerman’s “personalities” (I live with him, I can tell you he has several!). Since he had to bug out of the Classic early to go to the Farm & Gin Show, he left instructions for someone who remained to go by and see those @Hortau folks, so I did and met CEO Jocelyn Boudreau and Regional Sales Manager Doug Larson. (Neither of them sent the tweet, by the way, it was their marketing director – who deserves a raise!)

Jocelyn told me that Hortau Simplified Irrigation was started in 2002, “with the idea of optimizing water usage on farm, taking a plant-centric approach to use water to grow a healthier crop, boost yields and give water the same level of attention and precision as we do with fertilizers and plant genetics.”

Doug says it was the first time for Hortau at Classic and they were very pleased. “This is really our audience,” he said. “We work the high plains region of the country, so most of our growers are corn or soybean growers.”

Find out more about Hortau here: Interview with Jocelyn Boudreau and Doug Larson, Hortau Irrigation
2014 Commodity Classic Photos

Audio, Commodity Classic, Corn, Farming, Irrigation, Precision Agriculture