The next stop in our series of conversations with agency leadership is Weber Shandwick. In this week’s program you’ll hear from JoDee George and David Krejci. Since our theme is all about “what’s new” you’ll hear them answer – Farm and Food Advocacy Practice. It’s a timely focus and one they’ve been working on for some time. As they told me, “Advocacy Starts Here.”
Social media takes up a good portion of our conversation. No surprise there. Since it is a specialty of David’s I asked him to talk about how they measure social media use in terms of results for their clients. He makes some excellent points about not only looking at numbers but creating bench marks to gauge effectiveness. JoDee adds that they also like to take that kind of information and integrate it with the overall campaign for a client that still needs to include traditional media components. David also mentions a very new program the agency has created for their clients called Firebell. It basically puts their client through a simulated real time social media crisis. Practice makes perfect, eh?
I’ve mentioned many times recently how dairy farmers seem to have really jump started social media advocacy and pointed to a Weber Shandwick client, Dairy Management, Inc and their MyDairy program. You can still listen to an interview about that from a recent World Dairy Expo that Cindy did that included Polly Ligon O’Grady, also part of the leadership team at Weber Shandwick.
ZimmCast 283 - Weber Shandwick - Farm and Food Advocacy
This week’s program ends with some music from Music Alley. It’s called “Can I” by MSU Orchestra.
Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsors, Novus International, and Leica Geosytems for their support.
The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired. Subscribe so you can listen when and where you want. Just go to our a Subscribe page
In case you were not able to tune in for the estate tax press conference, here is the audio with statements from all the major ag organizations participating. That includes the American Farm Bureau Federation; the American Soybean Association; the National Association of Wheat Growers; the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association; the National Corn Growers Association; the National Cotton Council; the National Farmers Union; the National Milk Producers Federation; the National Pork Producers Council; and the Public Lands Council.
Death Tax Press Conference
Soybean farmers are in Washington D.C. this week for a little lame duck.
In addition to uniting with other agriculture groups urging Congress to fix the “death tax,” American Soybean Association (ASA) farmer-leaders are participating in a biodiesel fly-in to discuss renewing the biodiesel tax incentive that expired at the end of last year.
Participating from ASA are grower-leaders Joe Steiner of Ohio, Bob Henry of Kansas and Darryl Brinkmann of Illinois. These ASA leaders are joining with farmers from state soybean associations, biodiesel producers and others in the biodiesel industry to push for passage of legislation to extend the biodiesel tax incentive during the lame duck session.
Ten diverse agricultural organizations are conducting a press conference right now in Washington DC to urge Congress to act on estate tax reform during the lame-duck session.
Scott Bennett (pictured), Virginia Tech University student and active participant in his family’s livestock operation, did a really nice job speaking on behalf of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association – noting that he was the youngest of the speakers and very concerned about the impact a high “death tax” could have on future farmers and ranchers.
The conference is being live streamed right now on BeltwayBeef.com – thanks to the superior social media skills of NCBA’s Mike Deering!
BASF Corporation has just introduced a new online, interactive educational module – planthealtheducation.com. The new learning program is customized by region and provides growers with education on disease control, Plant Health benefits and resulting yield advantages of F500®, the active ingredient found in Headline® fungicide, Headline AMP™ fungicide and TwinLine® fungicide.
“This educational session gives growers an in-depth look at F500 and will help growers evaluate the science behind Plant Health and the disease control of these products,” said Nick Fassler, BASF Technical Market Manager. “It lays out key information about fungicides, including disease control, harvest efficiency, and other Plant Health benefits of fungicides.”
Headline was Nick’s topic at NAFB Trade Talk this year. He is pictured here on the right being interviewed by Gary Jackson of ABN Radio. Nick says that Headline is labeled on over 90 crops, from sugar beets to legumes, soybeans, corn, wheat, to citrus and sugar cane. “A very widely used product and that just proves how effective the active ingredient is and what kind of performance we’re seeing from it,” Nick said. Headline AMP was just launched this year and Nick says it was used on about 500,000 acres this season. “Headline AMP is everything Headline is, plus metconazole, a new triazole for corn, and that’s bringing added disease control.”
Listen to my interview with Nick where he also talks about special offers for growers. Nick Fassler Interview
And while we are on the BASF beat, I also talked with Dr. Dan “the Kixor man” Westberg about the amazingly successful launch of Kixor herbicide products this past year. “With over 10 million acres treated this year with our family of products with Kixor herbicide technology, it’s the most successful herbicide launch in the last 20 years – a real testament to the fact that growers were looking for better broadleaf weed control,” Dr. Dan said. After a year on the market, Dan says they have updated the Kixor product line so that one can be used on both corn and soybeans and changing the name from Integrity to Verdict.
Listen to Dr. Dan discuss the Kixor launch and what’s coming down the road from BASF. Dan Westberg Interview
Next up from the recent NAFB convention Trade Talk session is the Dairy Farmers of America. I spoke with Jackie Klippenstein, VP, Industry and Legislative Affairs.
Jackie says that priorities for DFA include making sure new legislators are familiar with the needs of dairy farmers. She says the industry lost some long time supporters in the recent election. Looking ahead she says that dairy farmers need farm policy reform quickly and cites margins as the biggest challenge facing them.
You can listen to my interview with Jackie here: DFA Interview
NAFB Convention Photo Album
It looks like the death tax is going to be really hard for Washington legislators to ignore. There are 31 ag groups making sure of it. They sent a letter to President Obama today “urging immediate, permanent and meaningful estate tax reform.” Anyone with a lick of common sense would know that if estate taxes are allowed to be reinstated at the beginning of the year there will be a huge negative impact on the industry let alone individuals. This goes for a lot of people outside the ag industry as well.
During the recent NAFB convention Trade Talk session this was one of the items that came up in my interview with Gregg Doud, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Chief Economist. Gregg is pictured here being interviewed at Trade Talk by Julie Harker of Brownfield while NCBA’s Mike Deering looks on in the background.
Listen to Gregg describe where things currently stand on the death tax issue: Gregg Doud on Death Tax
Keeping up the pressure, a number of ag groups will join with NCBA in a press conference tomorrow at 1pm EST.
Speaking on behalf of NCBA is Scott Bennett, a junior at Virginia Tech University and an active participant in his family’s operation, Knoll Crest Farm, in Red House, Va. The American Farm Bureau Federation; the American Soybean Association; the National Association of Wheat Growers; the National Corn Growers Association; the National Cotton Council; the National Farmers Union; the National Milk Producers Federation; the National Pork Producers Council; and the Public Lands Council will also participate in the news conference.
To watch the event live, go to NCBA’s policy blog at www.BeltwayBeef.com.
Some of the latest research being conducted by the Cattlemen’s Beef Board includes environmental footprint research, changes to the National Beef Cook-Off and new lean cuts of meat. To talk about them at the recent NAFB convention Trade Talk session was Robert Fountain, Jr., CBB Secretary/Treasurer.
I thought the environmental footprint research sounded especially interesting. Interesting but sad that money has to be spent to overcome emotional non-scientific information that’s floating around about animal agriculture/production. The good thing is that other valid scientific research along these lines has already debunked some of the myths out there. This study will no doubt do the same and focus specifically on beef.
You can listen to my interview with Robert here: CBB Interview
NAFB Convention Photo Album
It’s time to vote for the AGCONNECT Expo 2011 “Advocating For Agriculture Awards.”
AG CONNECT Expo 2011 is proud to announce the finalists for its “Advocating for Agriculture” Awards. It’s now up to you to determine the Grand Prize winner for each category by voting online from November 24 – December 9, 2010.
Meet our finalists by reading their nominations and watching their videos. Then, vote for a finalist in each of the three categories. Winners will be notified by December 10, 2010.
Finalists Include:
Ag Woman of the Year
* Beverly Hall
* Debbie Lyons-Blythe
* Maria McGinnis
Community Advocate
* Ray Bowman
* Melinda Jackson
* Jerry Schleicher
Next Generation of Ag
* Chad Bremmer
* Elliott Marsh
* Erin Mohler
On Cyber Monday you iPhone people can get a freebie. Join the nearly 1,000 who already have the first agricultural news media app for the iPhone – the AgWired iPhone App. The app offers one-touch access to all the latest news and information in the agribusiness and agricultural marketing world posted on Agwired.com, including audio, photos and video, and connections to other ZimmComm news sites. The AgWired App features a news tab drop down menu to select ZimmComm News Network feeds as well as individual news on AgWired by category.
The app is available for iPhone users to download, free of charge, in the Apple iTunes store. You can find the AgWired App in the iTunes Store with this link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/agwired/id382820712?mt=8
I can imagine how it sounded:
“Can I have your phone number please, starting with the area code?”
“6.”
“I’m sorry, I just caught the first number. Can you give it to me again?”
“Yes. 6. That’s my phone number.”
I can’t even keep up with the latest in cell phone technology. Pretty soon, we’re going to have a chip implanted in our ear and we just have to blink to dial someone. Once for home, twice for the office.
Back in 1947, however, my grandfather’s family was on the rural farmer-owned telephone exchange where the central office was upstairs in an old farm house. His family’s number was 6. Just 6. The poles were installed and lines strung by the farmers themselves.
It wasn’t until the REA was given authority to install rural phone lines in 1949 that the installation of rural phone systems took off. By 1975, farmers overtook and surpassed their urban neighbors in the percentages of households with telephone service.
The phone pictured here hangs on the wall as decoration, but I think it was less than 10 years ago when they finally took down the rotary phone in the kitchen and installed a touchtone phone.
Until we walk again…
- USDA has finalized procedures for the upcoming referendum on the continuation of the Sorghum Checkoff Program. USDA will conduct the referendum Feb. 1-28, 2011, at local Farm Service Agency offices for producers and the Agricultural Marketing Service office for importers.
- Only 25 percent of Americans consider “healthy” food choices when dining out, according to the 2010 Healthy Eating Consumer Trend Report.
- Online voting is now open for the Ag community to help select the 2011 “Advocating for Agriculture Awards” winners. Deadline to vote is Dec. 9, 2010.
- Mother Earth News and Funny Farm Industries has launched the Pickin’ Chicken app in the Reference section of Apple’s App Store. Download price is $2.99.
Mark Fenner, CHS Energy (not pictured), was one of the people working during the NAFB Trade Talk session. He says that they market under the Cenex brand. They’ve been selling a lot of diesel fuel products and the new Tier 4 engines are a real focus for them. Trends in the renewable fuels area have a definite effect on them. An example is the flat price of biodiesel which has really hindered growth in the use of the fuel. They are extremely bullish on ethanol though.
You can listen to my interview with Mark here: CHS Interview
NAFB Convention Photo Album
Mary Emma Young was taking care of business at the NAFB Trade Talk session for Croplife America. I visited with her to learn what the organization is focusing on this year.
She says they have been pushing the image of “modern agriculture” and the use of new technologies. Of course using new technology depends a lot on regulations. This is an area that Croplife America works on with legislators in Washington, DC. She says agriculture is largely a bi-partisan issue so they look forward to continuing to work with legislators on both sides of the aisle.
You can listen to my interview with Mary Emma Young here: Croplife America Interview
NAFB Convention Photo Album
As you start your Christmas shopping, consider this for someone on your list – a signed John Deere toy tractor that will support future farm broadcasters.
Joe Ertl has personally autographed each of the numbered John Deere B 1/16 scale toy tractors for the National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) Foundation. This unique tractor was specifically designed for NAFB and includes a mounted replica of a tractor radio. Only 200 of these tractors have been produced to benefit the NAFB Foundation. Numbers 6-200 have been made available to the public for sale while the first five were auctioned live during the NAFB Convention earlier this month.
The price per tractor is $85 plus shipping and handling and orders can be made online.
The NAFB Foundation is the nonprofit charitable and educational arm of NAFB that works to keep the quality and viability of the farm broadcasting profession and industry at the highest level through the support of NAFB education, marketing and research activities, annual student scholarships and internship grants to stations and networks.
- The FDA has granted approval for feeding Optaflexx (ractopamine hydrochloride) to beef cattle as a topdress to increase live weight gain and improve feed efficiency during the final 28 days to 42 days of the finishing period.
- Farm Market iD announced it has made available for commercial use previously unavailable information on more than 26,000 agricultural producers in Florida derived from local ownership records, and enhanced by GIS data and satellite imagery.
- CHS Inc., announced it has named veteran agribusiness leader Carl Casale as its new president and chief executive officer, effective Jan. 1, 2011.
- Boot Media, LLC, announced that “PegasusTV” will launch as digital channel 57.4 in the 10-county Houston television market on March 1, 2011, the first local affiliate channel of the new nationwide Pegasus Television Network.
If you have food on your table today – thank God and thank our nation’s fabulous farmers and ranchers for the affordable, safe and abundant food supply they produce for the world.
I found this poem online that gives good reasons to give thanks today for those who produce the food, fuel and fiber that we all enjoy everyday:
I’m Just a Farmer, Plain and Simple
By Bobby Collier
I’m just a farmer,
Plain and simple.
Not of a royal birth
But rather, a worker of the earth.
I know not of riches
But rather, of patches on my britches
I know of drought and rain,
Of pleasure and pain.
I know of the good and the bad,
The happy and the sad.
I am a man of emotions.
A man who loves this land,
And the beauty of its sand.
I know of a spring’s fresh flow
And autumn’s golden glow,
Of a newborn calf’s hesitation,
And the eagle’s destination.
I know of tall pines,
And long, waiting lines.
Of the warmth of campfires,
And the agony of flat tires.
But I am a man who loves his job
And the life I live.
I am a man who works with God,
I cannot succeed without his help,
For you see,
I’m just a farmer
Plain and simple.
This week’s Checkoff Chat, the Missouri Beef Industry Council podcast, is all about #thankafarmer. Cindy talked with Whitney Wallace about the importance of thanking farmers for food, fuel and fiber.
You can hear about ways that the MBIC has helped consumers better understand where their food is coming from and who produces it for them: MBIC Checkoff Chat
On this #thankafarmer and #foodthanks day how about giving farmers a high five? Voting is now open in the 2010 Alpharma Reach Teach Learn Student Video Contest.
Their are five videos entered in the contest and I just voted. Voting is being done via Facebook and it’s hard to decide but someone has to win!
- Premier Companies will be moving its main headquarters to a location at 875 S. Marr Rd. (Columbus, Ind.). The current office was damaged by floods in June 2008, yet the company has experienced financial growth over the past two years.
- Paulsen Marketing interviewed producers to uncover why, when and where they are adopting new communication technologies.
- John Deere has taken its annual preseason equipment sales promotion to new heights with the creation and launch of the Green Fever Sales Event and Sweepstakes.
- John Deere has added three new lines of offset disks to its Frontier family of tillage products: the DH51 Series, the DH52 Series, and the DH53 Series.
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In this week's program Chuck talks with David Armano, Global Innovation and Integration.
