Our latest ZimmPoll asked “Will we have a farm bill by end of 2012?” Is it any surprise to you that 77 percent of our respondents said No and that only 23 percent said Yes? The farm bill is a big deal to anyone who eats or produces food but in reality it’s only about 2% of federal funding. It …
Join Ag Sec. Vilsack in First Twitter Chat on Energy
Tomorrow at 1:30pm EDT, Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack will hold the first “USDA Virtual Office Hours on Twitter.” I’d recommend using TweetChat, Twubs or an app like TweetDeck or HootSuite to follow along. It looks like these planned monthly sessions will focus on different topics. Tomorrow it’s renewable energy. You’re asked to submit your questions via Twitter to either @USDA …
Holding the Media Accountable For Impact of Yellow Journalism
Our latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “Should ABC News be Liable for Job Losses due to Lean Beef Trimmings Story?” Sixty percent of you said Yes and forty percent said No. As Cindy has said about this issue, “Yellow journalism makes pink slime.” Couldn’t agree more. Have you read various online stories about this? Maybe worse than the terrible and …
Death Tax Unwelcome
Our latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “What do you think is a fair “death tax” rate?” It is no surprise that common sense and fair thinking respondents said Zero – 66%; 35% over $5 million – 0% under (current) – 21%; Other – 8 % and 55% over $1 million – 0% under (pre 2001) – 5%. This really is …
Conventional Food is Healthier Than Organic?
Our latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “Is “Organic” food healthier than “Conventional” food?” The majority of respondents said No at 60 percent with only 40 percent saying Yes. Most of the people I know don’t think organic means healthier and although they like I will eat something that is certified organic we just don’t want to pay more for it. …
Susie The Biodiesel Bike Ready For The Highway
The COO for the National Biodiesel Board, Donnell Rehagen, proudly displayed Susie, the Biodiesel Bike, to a local audience at the organization’s headquarters in Jefferson City, MO. The event happened just in time for National Biodiesel Day on March 18. National Biodiesel Board member CIMA Green partnered with Paul Sr. and Orange County Choppers to craft a high performance diesel …
RFS Very Important To Agriculture
Our latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “Is maintaining the Renewable Fuel Standard more important to agriculture than the farm bill?” The statement was made during a recent meeting I attended that the Renewable Fuel Standard was more important to agriculture than the Farm Bill. In a show of how important it is 38% each of respondents said Yes and Both …
Is Maintaining RFS More Important to Ag Than Farm Bill?
Our latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “Is our food system broken?” Not according to you with 63% saying no and only 37% saying yes. During the Bayer CropScience Ag Issues Forum held prior to the Commodity Classic, one of our speakers was Gawain Kripke, Oxfam America. He told us “our food system is broken.” I think the statement was made …
More Planting This Year
In our latest ZimmPoll we asked, “What will be planted this year?” It’s that time and everyone seems to have their own idea about what it will be. 45% of respondents said More of both, 32% said More corn less soybeans and 12% each said More soybeans less corn and Less of both. USDA is estimating corn acreage will be …
2012 National Ethanol Conference Scholarship Winners
Here are the 2012 National Ethanol Conference Scholarship winners. In the photo with leaders from the Renewable Fuels Association are Olumoye Ajao, Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal; Vinay Patel, Troy University; Anahita Eckard, South Dakota State University; Ted Elverson, South Dakota State University; Hunter Flodman, University of Nebraska; Jason Levar, Minnesota West Community and Technical College and Karen Lewis, Arizona State …