The 97th annual convention of the American Farm Bureau Federation was held January 10-12 in Orlando, Florida. The event kicked off with the Opening General Session where outgoing President Bob Stallman addressed thousands of farmers and ranchers from around the country and encouraged them to stand up and be counted. Check out the 2016 AFBF Convention photos. Listen to Bob …
Dietary Guidelines Reaffirm the Health of Lean Beef
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have released the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. They have reaffirmed the role of lean beef in a healthy diet and confirm that Americans are, on average, consuming lean meat in daily amounts that are consistent with the recommendations for protein foods, according the …
Latest ZimmCast Features Hot Dogs & Sausages
His real title is President of the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council. He’s Eric Mittenthal. But, as Chuck Zimmerman notes during this week’s ZimmCast, we need a much better title for him and perhaps you could suggest one. Eric is taking over the position from the “Queen of Wien” herself, Janet Riley. Both also work for the North American …
iCropTrak Introducing Potato Farming Template
Long time AgWired supporter, iCropTrak, will be showcasing a “Potato Farming Template” during this year’s Potato Expo in Las Vegas. I interviewed Aaron Hutchinson to learn what a PFT is. Basically, the iCropTrak Potato Farming Template is a pre-designed template installed in their iCropTrak platform for potato users to get up and running very quickly. iCropTrak still allows the user …
USFRA Announces New Foundation
The U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance (USFRA) has launched a new foundation with a mission of furthering agricultural education and understanding of agriculture among America’s consumers including young people and millennials. The U.S. Farming and Ranching Foundation (USFRF) is the result of a collaborative effort led by the agriculture and food industry to expand the dialogue with consumers regarding food …
US Beef Approved for Export to Columbia
This week’s audio report from the US Meat Export Federation (USMEF) discusses an important policy change occurring in the South American country of Colombia, and what this change means for U.S. beef producers. Following Colombia’s recent decision to remove restrictions related to Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) on certain bone-in cuts of beef, the U.S. beef industry has officially gained full …
Ethanol Report Takes a Look at 2016
A new year has dawned and with it new opportunities for the ethanol industry. In this Ethanol Report, Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) president and CEO Bob Dinneen discusses some of the upcoming events in 2016, including the 21st National Ethanol Conference in New Orleans February 15-17, and comments on whether there may yet be a legal challenge by the industry …
John Block Reports on Chipotle
The latest commentary from John Block Reports from Washington, sponsored by John Deere and the National Corn Growers Association, discusses the marketing and advertisement tactics of Chipotle Mexican Grill, the fast food restaurant that has been linked to several outbreaks of e. coli and norovirus nationwide. In December, however, a Boston-area Chipotle was linked to an outbreak of norovirus that …
Thirsty Land Featured on ZimmCast
Early in 2015 documentary film maker Conrad Weaver got into the field to start his latest project, Thirsty Land. He has been in states from Kansas to California filming the drought situation and meeting with many farmers to learn about the effect the drought has been having on rural communities. This week’s ZimmCast features the documentary Thirsty Land and an …
Ethanol Year in Review
2015 was another year of highs and lows for the ethanol industry. Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) president and CEO Bob Dinneen says many of the positives, such as record production and increased exports, were offset by negatives like tighter margins and trade barriers. In this Ethanol Report, Dinneen takes a look back at some of the good news and bad …
New ZimmCast Features Bayer’s Liberty Link Program
If you have been listening to farm radio at all in the last couple of months you have probably heard the Real Yield radio spots that have been running featuring real farmers from around the soybean producing part of the country talking about their experience with the Bayer CropScience LibertyLink system. In this edition of the ZimmCast, we talk with …
USMEF Hosts Pork Workshop in UAE
The U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) conducted a series of workshops on pork in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The workshops, designed to promote U.S. pork and encourage chefs to feature more pork dishes on the menus of their hotels and restaurants, were attended by hotel and restaurant industry professionals and food retailers in the region. Along with educational workshops, …
Strider Expands to U.S.
Strider, a well-respected, agriculture-focused tech start-up in Brazil, has recently expanded in the U.S. market. Mainly in Texas as of now, Strider is bringing it’s mission of cutting input costs to the American farmer by helping farmers monitor pests, diseases, and weeds. This platform creates value by taking the information collected by scouts on the field to be evaluated by …
CNH Focuses On Innovation For Customers
David Larson, head of Precision Solutions and Telematics Operations in North America for CNH Industrial, spoke with Chuck Zimmerman this week to give an update on the latest announcement from CNH & Raven; an expanded and strengthened supply agreement between the two companies. The new agreement strengthens an existing long term relationship that CNH has had with Raven. There has …
Presidential Hopeful Huckabee: Energy as Weapon
The CNN Republican Presidential Candidates debate from Las Vegas this week was focused entirely on national security issues, but the word biofuels was actually uttered by one of the candidates who put forth the idea of using energy as a weapon. “We ought to be challenging not only Russia, but the Iranians and the Saudis, on the point of energy,” …