Hot 'n Fresh!

After wondering around the trade show, I began to smell a scent of freshness coming from the Oklahoma Wheat Commission booth! Right there in the middle of the floor, an on hand cooking and sampling of fresh cinnamon rolls and wheat bread attracting large crowds!



8,000 slices of bread and rolls were served by producers from across the country. For more information on the Oklahoma Wheat Commission or the National Wheat Growers Association visit them at:





http://www.wheat.state.ok.us/
http://www.wheatworld.org/
Rolling the Dough At the Commodity Classic

Successful Farming

Brooke and I had the privilege to attend a happy hour hosted by Successful Farming. We met with different editors and salesmen from the business and were honored to meet an online editor for Agriculture Online, John Walter. John took time to talk with us about our interests and our blogs we are working on this week and our future plans. He also spoke with us on Farmers for the Future. Farmers for the Future is the network where members can start connecting with other young and beginning farmers today!

Sign up at http://farmersforthefuture.ning.com/ !

AgWired with Chuck Zimmerman

Today we had the opportunity to meet Chuck Zimmerman. If a person wanted to find someone who was passionate and energetic about the news in agriculture, Chuck is the man. Chuck is one of the top multi-media specialists in the agricultural industry, especially when it comes to blogging. Chuck and his wife created ZimmComm, which is an online "New Media" publicizing news in the agricultural industry. "AgWired" is a publication part of ZimmComm focusing on the agribusiness news and the Ag marketing and communications industry. Chuck interviewed Brooke and I on our blogging experiences and will have us on is "ZimmCast" Monday. Chuck's blog can be found at www.agwired.com .


Our interview is up! Check it out at agwired.com on the left hand side under Future Ag Journalists!

Behind the Scenes

At 1:00 p.m. today, Brooke and I had the opportunity to attend a live taping of RFD TV on the tradeshow floor at the Commodity Classic. RFD TV, known as “Rural Americas Most Important Network” is dedicated to serving the needs and interests of rural America and agriculture. Growing up at home, I remember RFD TV is one of my grandpa and dad’s favorite shows! They enjoy watching cattle auctions, horse training seminars or market reports! A farmer’s guide to the latest news in agriculture!



The taping we attended was a panel discussion introducing Genuity™ presented by Monsanto's Trait Marketing Lead, Dion McBay and Soybean Technology Lead, Roy Fuchs. Having not had much experience with TV broadcast, it was great for me to get the “behind the scenes” look as we were right in action!

Time Marches On

Thursday evening we had the priviledge to attend the Dekalb Yield Contest Winners program at the Circle R Ranch. As soon as we got out of the car, I new I would love this ranch! It sort of reminded me of being back home on the farm, except on a large open ranch in Texas! The hospitality was great the moment we walked up we were greeted with a lovely smile and souther accent! The dinner was fabulous as the beef brisket was tender and tastey and topped off at the end with a peach cobbler! Yum!

Following dinner, Dekalb representatives began the program. Farmers who had competed in the Dekalb seed yield contest this year for the highest yeild, were recognized and awarded here that evening for 1st and 2nd place state winners and nationally ranked. By the end of the evening, they announced the average yield per acre with Dekalb seed was around 194!

After the awards banquet, we were entertained by Tracy Lawrence, the 17 time # 1 billboard artist! His performance was incredible! Brooke and I sat right on the floor in front of the stage and had a great time! Tracy has always had great songs and I enjoyed hearing some of my favorites including "Time Marches On," "Stars over Texas," "Alibis," and "Paint me a Birmingham." Eventually folks came out and did some two step and waltz dances, and we were kind of "booted" off the floor! But we snuck back up to the front and by the end of the night Tracy was looking at us singing along! He even came over after the encore and we got a picture with him! Such a great end to a perfect day!

That Gene Came From Where?!

Another unique display at Monsanto’s booth that caught my attention was a stand where you could scan the bar code on the Dekalb seed bags and see where the traits came from! I for some reason had difficulty scanning the bag and couldn’t get it to work myself! However, other attendees did a great job and it was neat to see on the screen which part of the world, that specific trait came from!

Monsanto reps were available at the booth to talk about the different traits, products and technology they are currently promoting. Monsanto is leading the way in trait technology and here at the 2009 Commodity Classic, it is evident they continue to build success to make what farmers do best, better.

Farmer's Forecast

Also new this year to Monsanto’s display was promoting their feature on weather.com to aid in helping growers. Farmers interested in knowing important and critical components of the weathering for their crop, can utilize what Monsanto has to offer at www.weather.com/farming. By planting season, Monsanto is hoping all the features will be completed. There farmers can retrieve the latest forecast, soil moisture, news, etc. Their hope is to also have guidance as to when it is best to plant the crops depending on that information available on the site to farmers.