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.

Monsanto's Latest Seed Treatment System

Monsanto has had the lead in technology advancement in the past couple of years. It has shown here at the Commodity Classic. With the recent release of the Genuity™ platform Monsanto has been on the clock.




Their display was one of a kind with various components to provide samples of their latest innovations. Monsanto has developed a new seed treatment system called Acceleron. This new seed treatment maximizes the performance potential for your seed right from the start! Acceleron can improve stands and plant health to aid in maximizing performance. More information about Acceleron can be found on Monsanto’s website at www.monsanto.com .

Pioneer Setting the Standard

Pioneer had a great booth at the classic as well! I loved their light up display!

Pioneer, is a DuPont company in the agricultural industry. Pioneer was the first company to market the hybrid seed and continues to make a difference around the world. Pioneer has been succeeding in the agricultural industry and creating new technology to further help farmers in the process. Pioneer’s planting rate calculator, a tool used by Pioneer sales professionals, offers growers the ability to further customize planting and seed options to meet the needs of their individual farming operations. The planting rate calculator is a tool that allows growers to examine all aspects of their input costs. Growers can factor in their potential return based on seed costs relative to yield potential. This number gives growers a more complete cost analysis.

Pioneer also has a new brand that was just released this year for growers: Optimum®. Optimum is the brand name with a new line of traits. This new brand of traits enables growers to be more productive with choices to meet their needs as a grower.

National Corn Growers Association Making an Impact

As I entered through the main doors, I walked straight forward to the National Corn Growers Association booth. When I looked up from registering to win a new I-pod touch, I recognized a familiar face! Art Bunting, President of Illinois Corn Growers Association was there! This past summer I interned at Illinois Corn Growers Association so it was great to see someone I knew! National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) continues to have a positive impact in today’s agricultural industry. At their booth they had a couple computer stations set up where folks could come on up and help make a difference in their own legislative process. Two important issues currently undergoing legislation include: Express Concern on Scope of Clean Water Act and Urge Support for Locks and Dams Funding. All people have to do is type in their contact information in spaces provided and away an email goes to their local representatives and senators! Just click on the action alerts tabs on their website and it will lead you directly to the legislative action process!

After looking through great brochures from NCGA, a particular page caught my attention! It was a page with an ear of corn on it pointing out various facts about the corn industry today provided from the United States Department of Agriculture. Some of those facts include: Average corn yield per acre has risen from 24.5 bushels in 1931, to 153.9 in 2009 and 1 in every 5 rows of U.S. corn is exported! This past year there was a lot of debate about the rise in food prices and people thinking it was because of the corn prices. However, in this packet I received at NCGA’s 2009 World of Corn Report, it points out some great information! Energy costs have two to three times the impact on food prices as do corn prices (LECG, LLC) and farmers earn about 19cents of every retail dollar spent on food. The rest goes to labor, marketing processing, packaging, transportation and energy costs (USDA/ERS). For more information about facts in the corn industry or the latest news with NCGA visit their website at http://www.ncga.com/.

Trade Show Opening

The ribbon cutting for the 2009 Commodity Trade show took place this afternoon. This year’s trade show is the largest in Commodity Classic history! Those companies leading today’s agricultural industry made up more than 940 booths for over 230 companies. The moment the doors were opened and the ribbon was cut, a mob of people hurried in, were greeted by Monsanto reps giving out their tote bags representing their newest Genuity brand. People then began to scatter about and venture through the aisles to numerous booths.

It was remarkable to see the designs and styles of each of the booths. I knew this wasn’t going to be an ordinary trade show with just the simple booths located in their 10x10 “stall.” But I definitely did not realize how miraculous it was going to be. Pioneer, Syngenta, Bayer Crop Sciences, Monsanto, Caterpillar, and John Deere all caught my eye, as I could see a part of every booth from the main entrance!

It was exciting for Brooke and I to walk around to the various booths and find out what they were excited about here at the classic or what was going on with their company. Every employee or representative we talked to were so enthusiastic about their company! Here are a few pictures of the trade show in general!

Continue to follow my blog and I’ll be sure to include my interviews and information I gathered from the companies I talked to. You won’t want to miss it!

Genuity: One Name. 8 Traits. Endless Possibilities.

Genuity™ is the new trait innovation brand for corn, soybean, cotton and specialty crops. It is the brand with one name, eight traits and endless possibilities. Farmers already know how confusing it can be having multiple name brands, traits or purposes to understand. So Genuity™ is there to help ease the process!

Genuity™ has three purposes:
1. Simplify everything for farmers.

2. Unite all traits under one brand.

3. Differentiate Monsanto from their competitors and prior products.

Monsanto is known for their trait technology. Monsanto spends roughly $3 million per day invested into the research pipeline. With Genuity™, farmers will have a label recognizing the protection it provides such as herbicide tolerance, insect protection, weather protection and increased productivity. By planting season of 2010, Traits incorporated in the Genuity™ brand include VT Triple Pro™, SmartStax™, Roundup Ready 2 Yield™, and Bollgard II®, among others.

Following being introduced by various Monsanto reps in attendance at the media event, I had the privilege to speak with a couple people after the event. The first person I spoke to was a farmer of Syracuse, NE, Steve Wellman. When asked about how he feels Monsanto has done for their hard work in Genuity™ , Wellman replied " They have worked well to identify for farmers what they have been given for the latest technology. Attending this media event, gave me the wonderful opportunity of speaking with farm broadcasters or ag-journalists across the nation; those of which truly have made an impact in the agriculture industry.

To find out more information about Genuity™ take a look at these two websites! http://www.monsanto.com/products/Genuity.asp or http://www.genuity.com/

Underway at the Commodity Classic

For our first night here at the Commodity Classic, Brooke and I went out for dinner at a wonderful Mexican restaurant with a couple girls from Monsanto. After having a great dinner, Tyne requested we order sopapillas and after getting the correct number ordered and making sure they had whip cream, they were by far the best sopapillas I had ever had! So I decided I had to take a picture of it! Yum!
Following dinner we headed over to the Convention Center and what a beautiful view at night! I can only imagine what it is like during the day! Tonight Monsanto hosted a dinner reception with the unveiling of their latest addition to the company: The Genuity trait.

I have arrived!

I have finally arrived in Texas! It was wonderful being able to step off the plane into this 80 degree weather and be greeted by the warm southern hospitality! Even on the flight from Chicago here, I had wonderful service and enjoyed talking to those traveling around me. For my first time flying by myself, wasn't too bad!

On the plane, as we flew over Dallas/Ft Worth airport it was eye catching as we were a few miles out to see the "open range" and few houses compared to when we got close to the city, it was a miracle for me to see grass! This is my first trip to Texas and I can already tell I am going to have a wonderful time!

When I arrived at the airport and headed towards the baggage claim, I couldn't believe who I happened to see. I am how many miles from home and I ran into someone I knew! How ironic! I just so happened to look up after zipping up my purse and saw a face I hadn't seen in a while. It was Gale Cunningham, farm broadcaster for WITY Radio in Danville, Illinois. Gale and I go way back as my family and I bought my very first horse from him when I was just 9 years old. So long time friendship!

After arriving at the Hyatt, I began settling in and getting ready for the evening festivities! Brooke arrived and it was a pleasure meeting her for the first time! We both also had the privilege of meeting Tyne Morgan and Kate Sauer for the first time whom which work for Monsanto in Public Affairs/Communications. Brooke and I both met some other Monsanto employees and knew from that point this trip is going to be full of excitement!

Small Town Girl

Well, I have officially started my blog! I am actually pretty nervous about this one. I have these thoughts running through my head that I am anxious, excited and scared all in one about starting my blogging experience, but it's going to be fun! Those that know me could tell you I tend to worry about the little things in life, so I am sure my friends could tell you that I am going to be nervous at first, but in the end, I will become addicted to it and hopefully continue to entertain folks! But, before I begin blogging for the Commodity Classic, I feel it is best to share a little bit more about me, that way you can understand where I come from!

If you have ever heard of the song called "Small Town Girl" by Kellie Pickler, that could pretty much sum up quite a bit about me! It is a great song and I recommend at least searching for the lyrics if you have not heard it!

I truly am a small town girl. Grew up outside a town called Danvers in central Illinois, town population just a little over maybe 1200 people now? I really couldn't tell you how many. Not too many people have heard of it, and I can understand why. We don't have a single stop light or flashing light, just a couple stop signs. If you google Danvers, Illinois you hardly will find anything! In our town there is a fast stop, bank, laundry mat, town hardware store, historical society, elevator, 2 bars, and within the last couple of years, added on an ice cream parlor/pizza shop and a tanning/video salon! Oh and of course a fire station and a couple small churches! Busy little town I tell ya! But it holds a lot of history. I loved going into the old hardware store or the ice cream/pizza shop and looking at vintage photos!

I grew up outside town on a beautiful farm my great grandfather lived on until I was around 8 and my family moved just a couple miles south to another farm. My father has been farming, for the longest time! He grew up on a farm, so it only made sense for him to continue farming! So he now has taken over the "family business" and is 1 out of the 6 kids that is still involved in agriculture. My dad is one of my biggest role models, next to my mom. Both of my parents are passionate about agriculture. I really enjoy seeing my dads eyes light up every time I begin to talk about anything in the agriculture industry. Mom has always been my biggest fan when it came to the showing. Don't get me wrong, dad is too. Both of them have given my 2 sisters and I a lot to be thankful for. We have been privileged to show a variety of livestock in our years in 4H. Horses and pigs have been the driving point of my 4H career. My sisters somehow became interested in sheep and pygmy goats... don't know how that happened! But got to love them!

Growing up I was active in 4H all 11 years and then became very involved in the FFA in high school. Within the FFA, I knew that was my place to be. I started taking advantage of becoming involved; held multiple offices in the FFA, participated in numerous career development events and attended who knows how many conferences and workshops! I learned a lot about goal setting in the FFA as well and with that, I worked hard to achieve my goals. The most rewarding goal I set in the FFA was to become a State FFA Officer. June 2006, that goal was achieved when I was named the State FFA Secretary. That year as a state officer is another blog post itself! It was unbelievable. Words cannot describe that year. It is a year I never will forget and one I will always cherish.

Following my year in office, I enrolled in the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. Attending the U of I had been a dream since the 8th grade for me. That first year I started a new journey and began taking on leadership roles within many organizations on campus and continue to set new goals to work towards. The College of Agricultural Consumer Environmental Sciences has broadened my view of agriculture in so many ways, that I never imagined. The College of ACES has something for everyone and everything in agriculture.

That first year flew by and summer came. I interned with Illinois Corn Growers Association and Corn Marketing Board and had a wonderful summer learning more about those two organizations. I will have to share some of my work I conducted in another blog post later, but it was a summer full of fun and exciting things. Some of which include: creating YouTube videos promoting the corn and ethanol industry, interviewing Orion Samuelson and Max Armstrong at WGN Radio, and organizing and leading a campaign targeting the rise in food prices and its affect on the corn industry.

Once summer was over, I arrived back on campus and moved in to my sorority house, Alpha Gamma Delta. The girls here are great and I must say, it is always entertaining explaining what a farm is or talking about my livestock to girls from the city of Chicago who always give me a good laugh when I have to explain some of the things us "farm girls" have to do!

This last fall, I interviewed with Monsanto for the field sales internship and was extremely excited to accept an offer this winter to be located in Ames, Iowa for the summer! I was even more thrilled and honored when chosen to be blogging for them at the 2009 Commodity Classic. I tell ya, this year has been incredible and a dream come true, and the best is yet to come!

So I do apologize, for this long first blog, but I felt it was acceptable to give a background of who I am, where I come from and what I have been up to! From now on, I'll be sure to keep it short and sweet!

In less than a week, I'll be down in Grapevine, Texas and giving you the backstage pass to this conference. I'll be sure to add a lot of pictures, videos and possibly some audio to my blog and hope to keep you all entertained!

So put on your boots and spurs and get ready to hop into the saddle as I give you a ride into Megan's Classic Chronicle!