Proud Part of the Cattle Community? Attend #CattleCon18

jamie johansenAg Group, AgWired Animal, Animal Agriculture, Audio, Beef, Beef Board, Beef Checkoff, Cattle Industry Conference, NCBA, NCBA Convention

There is no question cattlemen and women across the country are in need of some sunshine. I fit into that mix and know where we all can get some in just a few weeks. Let’s all Blaze a Trail to Phoenix, AZ for the 2018 Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show January 31 – February 2. Beleive it or not, it’s not too late to register. We just spoke with NCBA’s ‎Senior Vice President, Industry and Member Services, Marvin Kokes, to get all the details.

Prior to the actual kickoff of the event will be the 25th Anniversary of Cattlemen’s College. “We have sessions that really help producers learn from experts across the industry. Topics include everything from genetics to managing calves to forage production. People can take home really practical information and that is what we really pride ourselves on,” said Kokes.

Attendees will also be treated to the Pioneer Women, Ree Drummond, who is the opening general session speaker. (Who do I need to talk to for a chance to interview her?…wink, wink)

“CattleFax will be doing a three-hour outlook session on Thursday morning, helping people really understand what is going on in this market, what are some of the things cattle producers can look forward to in the coming months,” Kokes said. Attendees will also hear from former MLB Pitcher, Jim Abbott, who will share his motivating story of success, despite having been born without a right hand.

To engage cattle producers, NCBA has held a couple of contests over the course of the year. One was the National Anthem Contest where a young lady from Western Kansas won. She will be singing it a couple times during the convention. A Cowboy Poet Contest ties into the Comedy Club taking place Friday night and I believe voting is still taking place for members to vote for their favorite.

Business also takes place. Committees meet on all topics including environmental issues, taxes, and the international market. Kokes reminds us those meetings are open and anyone can attend and stay up-to-date on the beef community.

Many aspects to the event draw different attendees, but they all make a point to visit the trade show a number of times during the three-day event. Kokes said space has actually been sold out for over six months, over seven acres in size. Still wondering if the trade show deserves your attention? Here are 40 reasons NCBA thinks you should stop by!

Join us in Phoenix as we bring you the official Virtual Ag Newsroom for #CattleCon18 and listen to Chuck’s complete chat with Marvin here: Interview with Marvin Kokes, NCBA

Public Lands Council Offers Solution to Cure Patagonia Shame

Jamie JohansenAg Group, Land, PLC, Video

The Public Lands Council launched a new campaign to support rural communities and raise awareness of critical facts in the national monuments debate.

The move responds to the profit-driven marketing efforts of multinational retail corporation Patagonia, which promoted false claims about national monuments in the wake of the recent decision to appropriately scale Bears Ears and Grand-Staircase Escalante. The PLC campaign features the distribution of iron-on clothing patches designed to cover the logo on Patagonia merchandise and cure “Patagonia Shame,” retail for $3.00 and can be purchased through the PLC website.

“Patagonia’s actions are a pure marketing play disguised as concern for western landscapes,” said Ethan Lane, Executive Director of the Public Lands Council. “Many Patagonia customers would be ashamed to learn the corporation prioritized its own profits over the wishes of local communities who were harmed by national monument designations.”

Patagonia’s public opposition to the national monument modifications – which included a pop-up banner on the corporate website titled “The President Stole Your Land” – led to an invitation for the founder to testify in front of the House Natural Resources Committee. Patagonia refused.

“Patagonia should do us all a favor and keep selling coats, not a political agenda,” added Lane. “Where were they for the last 150 years when ranchers were protecting these resources?”


Trump Puts Rural America in the Spotlight

AFBF, AgWired Animal, AgWired Energy, AgWired Precision, Audio

President Trump’s address to the American Farm Bureau Federation 99th annual convention this week in Nashville definitely brought agriculture some positive publicity, mentioning the word farmers over 25 times in his speech, more than any of the previous three presidents in all of their official speeches combined. Granted, that is just a guess but I feel safe in saying that if someone were to be able to fact-check it!

Farm Bureau estimates 7400 watched the president’s speech in person or on the Livestream, and thousands more have watched it since. Among those watching from home was former AFBF president Bob Stallman, who said it was the first convention he has missed in 30 years. The speech was also carried live by RFD-TV, Fox News and CBS. Agri-Pulse and RFD-TV were both granted interviews with the president. It was definitely a very big deal.

President Trump’s commitment to rural America with the signing of two presidential orders that will help increase broadband access out in the countryside, something that his Rural Prosperity Task Force made a high priority, was also a very big deal to many of the thousands at the event. Jamie interviewed a number of attendees to get their reactions, including FFA and 4H members, state Farm Bureau presidents, the Missouri Director of Agriculture and Mrs. Zippy Duvall. Listen to some of the comments here: Reaction to President Trump at #AFBF18

Watch President Trump video
AFBF President Trump Photos

2018 AFBF Convention Photo Album

USDA Proposed Rule for Egg Products Inspection

Jamie JohansenAg Group, Eggs, Food, Poultry, usda

The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) a step forward in making egg products safer for Americans to eat. FSIS is proposing to amend the egg products inspection regulations by requiring official plants that process egg products to develop Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) systems and Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (Sanitation SOPs) and to meet other sanitation requirements consistent with the meat and poultry regulations. The regulatory amendment also uses agency’s resources more efficiently and removes unnecessary regulatory obstacles to innovation.

FSIS is proposing to eliminate those current regulatory provisions not consistent with that of the meat and poultry regulations. The proposed rule aims to modernize food safety inspection systems at egg products plants. Under the HACCP system, plants will be able to tailor a food safety system that best fits their particular facility and equipment. Furthermore, by removing prescriptive regulations, egg products plants will have the flexibility and the incentive to innovate new means to achieve enhanced food safety.

“As we continue to modernize inspection systems and processes, we are committed to strengthening consistency across the services that FSIS inspection personnel carry out for the consuming public,” said Acting Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety Carmen Rottenberg. “This proposed rule will ensure the same level of inspection and oversight of all regulated products as we carry out our public health mission.”

President Trump Addresses Record Farm Bureau Crowd

AFBF, AgWired Animal, AgWired Energy, AgWired Precision, Audio

“Farm country is God’s country,” said President Donald J. Trump at the conclusion of his remarks to a record crowd at the American Farm Bureau Federation 99th annual convention in Nashville.

“100 is so much cooler,” Trump said. “I’ll just have to come back again next year.”

The president hit all the high notes to please the crowd that helped elect him to the White House, from lower taxes to increasing rural broadband access, but only briefly mentioned trade and NAFTA, which farmers are most concerned about when it comes to administration policy. He focused on eliminating unnecessary regulations. “Oh are you happy you voted for me,” the president said as he talked about “ditching the rule” – the Waters of the U.S. or WOTUS, which Farm Bureau stridently opposed.

Listen to President Trump’s entire remarks here – President Trump at #AFBF18

Watch President Trump video archive
Find links to all AFBF convention content.

2018 AFBF Convention Photo Album

Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue at #AFBF18

AFBF, AgWired Animal, AgWired Energy, AgWired Precision, Audio, usda

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue set the stage for his boss and our president Donald J. Trump to address the largest general farm organization in the country Monday.

Perdue highlighted accomplishments of the Trump Administration related to agriculture and discussed the importance of trade and NAFTA in particular to U.S. agriculture. “To get a deal, we need all sides to seriously roll up their sleeves and get to work,” Perdue said. “We have put a number of proposals on the table to modernize NAFTA, and critically for agriculture, to address key sectors left out of the original agreement – dairy and poultry tariffs in Canada. Now, we want to see our negotiating partners step up and engage so we can get the deal done.”

Perdue also noted that USDA has been rolling back excessive regulations following a directive from President Trump, including WOTUS, the Waters of the U.S. rule which was the subject of Farm Bureau’s Ditch the Rule campaign. “You know, sometimes a mud puddle is just a mud puddle,” Perdue said. “We don’t need the federal government coming in and regulating everything to death.”

The secretary also officially presented the findings of the President’s Interagency Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity.

Listen to Perdue’s address here: USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue at AFBF18

Click here to watch it on video.

2018 AFBF Convention Photo Album

WATCH LIVE or click for archived video
Watch President Trump live from AFBF starting at 3:00 pm central.

Animal Ag Bites 1/8

AgWired Animal, Animal Bites

  • The Public Lands Council has opened applications for the Nick Theos Scholarship Program, offering qualified college students a unique opportunity to attend the PLC 2018 Spring Legislative Conference April 10 – 12 in Washington, D.C. Two Nick Theos scholarships are available for 2018. The scholarships include a $250 stipend, hotel accommodations, and complimentary conference registration. Interested students should complete an online application by February 9, 2018. Applicants should have a demonstrated interest in public lands ranching.
  • The American Gelbvieh Association welcomes Kelsi Christian to its staff where she began her role as multimedia coordinator on January 2, 2018. Christian will manage and develop AGA social media strategies, contribute to AGA publications and marketing team, as well as assist AGA members and customers with day-to-day registry questions.
  • The National Pork Board announces the opening of the application period of the 2018 Pork Industry Scholarships. This program is open to college juniors and seniors who have plans to pursue a career in swine production management or a related field. In addition, students who will be seeking to attend veterinary or graduate school with an emphasis on swine are encouraged to apply. The guidelines for the scholarship application and the online form can be found at www.pork.org/scholarship. The deadline for application submission is Feb. 16, 2018.
  • The Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, established under the leadership of dairy farmers, is accepting nominations for the seventh annual U.S. Dairy Sustainability Awards honoring exceptional dairy farms, businesses and partnerships for their socially responsible, economically viable and environmentally sound practices. Nominations are open through Feb. 12.
  • A meta-analysis of dozens of studies published in a recent issue of Bovine Practitioner assures beef cattle producers and veterinarians that they could potentially have significantly fewer repeat treatment courses for bovine respiratory disease (BRD) if they select Draxxin® (tulathromycin) Injectable Solution as the first-line choice for control or treatment of BRD. According to this meta-analysis conducted by Zoetis, efficacy of the first-choice antibiotic for treatment and control of BRD can make a difference in helping reduce the necessity for subsequent antibiotic treatment courses and could potentially eliminate the need for up to 1.8 million antibiotic therapy courses annually for BRD treatment and control in the U.S.

 

Farm Bureau Excels at Instant Convention Content

AFBF, AgWired Animal, AgWired Energy, AgWired Precision

The communications team for the American Farm Bureau Federation is really getting a workout for the organization’s 99th annual meeting in Nashville this week with President Donald Trump attending Monday afternoon. Over 200 registered media and room for only 90, having the vast majority of the convention schedule being changed at the last minute, and just dealing with the logistics of a presidential presence will make Monday a challenge for even the most seasoned professionals. But, no matter what, you will be able to see the president’s speech live, or go back and watch it later – and you will have photos and audio almost immediately after it is over.

In fact, you can find the majority of the main activities at the AFBF convention live-streamed, archived, photographed, and audio filed, with multiple press releases, through the Farm Bureau convention media guide. With the help of state Farm Bureau communications specialists, the AFBF communications team has always been the best at providing content for media. Chuck was one of those state staffers at Florida Farm Bureau who was brought on the AFBF team for the 1985 convention in Hawaii. They were using some of the earliest satellite technology to send both audio and video back to the mainland for some media, but they were also shipping video stories on cassette using the latest express shipping services and getting audio content sent via telephone. News releases and photos were still mostly sent by mail but they were using some of the earliest facsimile machines at the time.

AFBF has always kept up with the latest in communications technology, so now you can watch and record it live as it happens, get high resolution photos, and subscribe to audio feeds from the event via podcast. Jamie will be on the ground there for President Trump’s address Monday and we will have an AgNewsWire virtual newsroom page set up for her photos and interviews, but here are the links to various content sources from AFBF:

Convention photos
Live streaming video and links to archived videos
B Roll Video
Audio files

Farm Bureau is really the epitome of an organization that excels in providing virtually instant digital content from their conventions. AgNewsWire is a way for smaller organizations to get content from their own meetings produced and distributed to a wider audience. It’s what we do best, and we learned a lot of it from working with Farm Bureau over the years.

SMART Farmer Podcast 2018

AgWired Animal, AgWired Precision, SMART Farmer, USFRA

Welcome to the first SMART farmer podcast of 2018!

In 2017, we interviewed 22 farmers and ranchers and other agriculture industry people from across the country for the SMART farmer podcast to learn how they use the latest technology in their production of food and fiber for the world, like poultry barns with environmental controls on smart phones, using GPS to plant and harvest crops in perfectly straight rows, and how crops engineered for certain characteristics have helped farmers be more sustainable. This podcast was started by the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance just to tell the farmers story about why they do what they do in an attempt to connect with the non-farm public. For this podcast, I talked with USFRA CEO Randy Krotz about what they did to try and bridge the gap in 2017 and what plans they have for 2018.

If you have not yet subscribed to the podcast and this is brand new to you, you can do it today and binge listen to all 22 podcasts from 2017! Also, SMART Farmer is now on TuneIn.

Download or listen to this podcast here: SMART Farmer Podcast with
USFRA CEO Randy Krotz

Subscribe to the SMART Farmer podcast

Learn more about USFRA and SMART Farm

2017 in Pictures

AgWired Animal, AgWired Energy, AgWired Precision, Photography, ZimmComm Announcement

2017 is just a memory now, so we compiled some of our favorite photos from the 50 events we attended this year so you can relive it!

This album includes some of our favorite shots of the year, our favorite people, and some of the many inductees into the Golden Mic Club. There’s only 200 out of more than 10,500 put into over 60 Flickr photo albums this year, so it is only a small sample, but it took hours to go through them all!

To watch as a slide show, just click the button in the upper right above the title photo that with an arrow in it. Enjoy!

ZimmComm 2017 Year in Pictures