Harvest PR & Marketing, Inc. has once again awarded its Seed to Succeed nonprofit PR grant, valued at $20,000, to the AgChat Foundation, an organization dedicated to empowering farmers and ranchers to effectively tell their story using social media.
AgChat Foundation, which celebrated its one-year anniversary April 5, debuted the “Agvocacy 2.0 Training” in Chicago last August for a select group of 50 farmers and ranchers, and earned a coveted spot on the SXSW Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas, last month.
Currently, Harvest PR is leading a consumer-targeted media relations program spotlighting success stories of the farmers and ranchers who’ve established or enhanced their social media presence, and have successfully connected with consumers as a result of AgChat Foundation training and support. Harvest PR also recently spearheaded the nonprofit’s “Class of 2.0 Reunion,” in which Agvocacy 2.0 Training graduates reunited on Facebook and Twitter and recommitted to their social media goals.
Harvest PR created the Seed to Succeed PR Grant in 2009 to annually support one worthy not-for-profit cause or organization that serves to better agriculture. Applications for the 2012 PR Grant, valued at $25,000, are due Monday, Oct. 31, 2011. Details at www.harvest-pr.com.
I love bacon. No really. So much so I have even contemplated giving it up for Lent. I thought I was being cute a few years ago when I’d tell people to support their local pork producers because everything is better with bacon. Apparently, I wasn’t off the mark – in recent years bacon has become sexy. A pop culture icon. And now – You can always have bacon (of some sorts) at your fingertips. There’s bacon ice cream, chocolate covered bacon, bacon vodka, bacon flavored lip balm and even a bacon air freshener for your car (I’m not sure of that one – but people keep giving them to me as gifts – I’ll have to try it out eventually). You can even celebrate your love for bacon with thousands of your closest friends.
There are bacon celebrations scattered all over the United States. In 2008 Andre Vonbaconvitch (not kidding – that’s his real bacon loving pseudonym) and two other friends came up with the idea to bring Baconfest to Chicago. This year the Illinois Pork Producers Association (IPPA) became the presenting sponsor of Baconfest Chicago. What a partnership – the people that are responsible for makin’ bacon presenting the festival that honors the absolutely deliciously sexy food that so many people adore. How much fun is that?
But here’s the serious stuff… Not only were the volunteers from IPPA able to interact and continue to tell the message of the Illinois pork farmer with the 2,000 attendees of this years Baconfest – they were able to raise more than $1,600 in donations alone from their highly popular Peace. Love. Bacon. t-shirts for the Pork Power program. Attendees were asked to bring a food item to donate for the Greater Chicago Food Depository (GCFD) and IPPA would match the donation pound for pound with pork. The GCFD food drive collected 1,653 lbs of food. Illinois Pork Producers will be donating nearly 2,500 lbs of pork to the Greater Chicago Food Depository (1,653 pounds of pork – matching the food collected PLUS 850 pounds of pork that they will purchase with the $1,622 raised from the t-shirt donations).
All in all a pretty amazing feat from some of the nations best pork producers. One other “fun” thing from the weekend – my friend Tim, Director of Public Relations with Illinois Pork Producers, recites this years winning Ode to Bacon written by Joel Chmara called “Johnny Baconseed: A Poem For The Hopeless Romantics”.
So many great things came from this partnership – Afterall.. Everything is better with bacon.
Welcome to Agri-Marketing Conference Week. It is one of our favorite times of the year because it was seven years ago that Cindy and I attended and introduced people to ZimmComm New Media. We hope to see you in Kansas City in person or online. You can find us in our booth at this year’s Connection Point trade show. I will once again be the NAMA Blogger so I’ll be doing some cross posting here and there and you can count on lots of photos.
To get a preview of this year’s conference I spoke with Matt Coniglio, Fastline Publications. Matt is Vice Chair of the conference this year. In the ZimmCast he’ll share some highlights and says it’s looking like this will be the highest attendance for a conference since 2000! Get a preview of the 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference in this week’s program: 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference Preview
I’d also like to thank Brownfield Ag News for sponsoring our coverage of the conference! Look forward to a party on Thursday night.
Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsor, Growmark, locally owned, globally strong, for their support.
The program ends this week with a song from Music Alley called “The Harvesting Angel” by Jeremy Alan Hepp.
The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired. Subscribe so you can listen when and where you want. Just go to our Subscribe page
The contest kicks off today and will end on midnight May 9 with the winner being announced May 10th on AgWired and Precision Pays. The Precision Laboratories Mix Tank App will be pre-loaded on the iPod so all you have to do to get started using it is to click on the app! ZimmComm New Media is thrilled to be working with Precision Laboratories on this promotion.
If you don’t know what the Mix Tank App is then you can learn more about it from James Reiss, Vice President of the agricultural chemistries business and Daniel Ori, Marketing Specialist in a recent ZimmCast with them.
Improving crop protection strategies will most likely lead to more tank mixing. Improper mixing sequence of crop protection products can cause incompatibility problems, lost spraying time from plugged sprayer nozzles, and the risk of cross contamination problems later. Simple mixing errors will cost you time and money.
The free Mix Tank app from Precision Laboratories is the first of its kind to assist agricultural retailers, crop specialists, university researchers and growers to determine the correct mixing sequence of crop protection tank mixes. It helps you get the most out of every tank mix and eliminate costly mixing errors.
The American Angus Association says that “It’s more than just a breed of cattle – it’s about people and our relationship with the land.” That is truly evident in this edition of I Am Angus.
This is part of a series of posts we’re doing to introduce you to the American Angus Association via the library of videos they’ve produced over the years.
Sushi Peeps. That’s right. I thought this was just too good to pass up. PEEPS Sushi looks like a very healthy and sweet surprise for the office or anywhere. Actually, it’s not really sushi but sushi shaped. There is a difference.
Roll into something new this Easter – create fun sushi shapes with your favorite PEEPS(R)! Visit ww.marshmallowpeeps.com for more delicious recipes or to submit your own!
The Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association announced the appointment of David Thomas as its new Chief Lobbyist and Leticia Phillips as the organization’s Representative for North America, both based at UNICA’s Washington, D.C. office.
Syngenta and Bayer CropScience announced a co-development agreement on an HPPD herbicide tolerance trait for soybeans.
The National Potato Council launched a new website to inform school foodservice providers, nutrition opinion leaders, consumers, and potato industry stakeholders of the issues surrounding the proposed changes to the School Breakfast Program and the National School Lunch Program by the USDA.
The Kansas Soybean Association staff now includes a director of communications. In the newly created position, Brad Parker will produce, manage and implement all of the organization’s communications and outreach programs.
Ever watch the Sesame Street skit with Grover where he’s comparing near and far? It’s been a while since I’ve done then and now, so it was time to bring that back to the repertoire. I guess it’s an equal comparison: then (far) and now (near).
Then: This is a photo of a 2-row check row planter used in the 1920s and before. The mechanism was horse-drawn through the field as a wire was put down the row; and every 42 inches there was a knot in the wire and when it was tripped, the seeds were planted. They’d go back to the starting point, move the wire over by hand, and do it all over again down the next row.
Back then, they didn’t have mechanical weed control, so the 42-inch row/seed spacing allowed for a horse to fit through to cultivate. The result? A checkerboard or tic tac toe field pattern. And, this one was an improvement over the first of its kind as it has planter plates.
Now: Growers have abundant technology to farm faster, more acres, more hours, and more yield potential through the use of guidance systems and 24, 36 or 48-row planters. And that’s all in one shot: seed, fertilizer and crop protection.
Back then, if you farmed 80 acres you were a BIG operation. These days, 80 acres is just one small field.
This morning on KFEQ-AM 680 you could hear a conversation between me and Farm Director, Tom Brand. Tom likes to chat with other farm broadcasters on his weekly program and in this case he made it more of a farm webcaster. I really appreciated the opportunity to talk about what we do and in our conversation we also get into social media and how it’s being used by farmers today.
Tom and I worked together at the Brownfield Network once upon a time!
Here’s the latest installment of our “Getting To Know GROWMARK” series. We’re going to talk about facilities planning and logistics with Tom Nealey, Facility Planning/Certified Grain Systems Specialist. He says they touch many parts of the company from an equipment standpoint. That includes fuel and propane delivery trucks. Also included are national account programs for members for equipment, vehicles and grain handling systems. There is a construction group to build elevators and an engineering department.
Tom says there are two parts to what they do for members that includes on-farm bins with full support and commercial construction for elevators. They have several of these projects in progress right now. He says they’re very busy this season. When it comes to facilities production they really cover the full process from design to construction. Although most of their work is for members they also bid on non-member work projects too. Safety and training are very important in this area and the company conducts on-going training support for members and customers.
You can listen to my interview with Tom here and learn even more about GROWMARK: Tom Nealey Interview
The American Meat Science Association has announced registration is now open for the AMSA 64th Reciprocal Meat Conference, to be held June 19-22, 2011, in Manhattan, Kan.
Kubota Corporation has named Mr. Yuichi “Ken” Kitao as the new President of Kubota Tractor Corporation, based in Torrance, Calif.
On April 12 in Chicago, Ill., the American Meat Science Association Student Membership is offering a leadership conference designed to equip participants with the techniques needed to positively promote the meat and poultry industry to the public.
National Sorghum Producers recently welcomed two new members to its board of directors — Tony Heitschmidt of Bushton, Kan., and Leon Sowers of Murdock, Kan.
You should know by now that the AgChat Foundation has turned one year old this week and the weekly AgChat Twitter conversation is two years old. I’ll bet even Michele Payn-Knoper (founder) would not have predicted that! So the baby is growing up and there’s lots of interesting things going on as this farmer led organization continues to plough new ground in agricultural communications.
I spoke today with Jeff Fowle, President, AgChat Foundation and California farmer (that’s him under the hat probably tweeting away) to get an update on where we’re at and where we’re going. I also serve on the board of the Foundation and we had a very well attended and exciting board meeting by conference call last night.
Americans may have noticed a new social media trend this past year: more Facebook posts from the farm, more tweets from the tractor and more blogs from the back forty.
The timing of this social media “stampede” couldn’t be better, says Jeff Fowle, president of the AgChat Foundation. Celebrating its one-year anniversary this week, the AgChat Foundation is a 100-percent volunteer organization formed to empower farmers and ranchers to effectively tell their stories using social media. He says in one 2010 study conducted by the Hartman Group, 59 percent of consumers purchasing local said they wanted a “connection to the farmer.”
Home Farming Day is April 12th, and you can join the Home Farming movement by growing your own veggies and herbs at home. It’s easy. It all begins with a love of fresh, home-grown food…and a seed. From a pot on the windowsill of your apartment to a raised bed in your backyard, Home Farming has all you need for your home farm. Whether you’re a beginner or green-thumbed pro, there’s a place you can go to share and grow.
Here’s what the site can do:
- The Farm Plan tool can help you plan your plot.
- Keep track of your farm activity and share your successes with the community and your Facebook friends.
- Ask and answer questions to gain knowledge, help others, and get involved.
The season kicks off on April 12th with live “plantathons” in New York, L.A. and Tampa…and you could win $1,000 to create the ultimate home farm.
Probably should have done this before her first post, but AgWired is proud to introduce Meghan Grebner as our newest blogger.
Many of our readers probably already know Meghan, as she is an active member of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) and is currently serving as regional vice president for the organization. In 2009, she was honored with NAFB’s Horizon Award. She is a great agricultural reporter and photographer and we are grateful to the management of WMBD/WIRL in Peoria for allowing her to blog for us. She has served as agribusiness director for those radio stations since 2007 and is already well known in agricultural communications and marketing circles.
You can expect to hear from Meghan at least once a week with some of the enormous amount of coverage she generates for her stations, both on-air and on the website, CentralIllinoisAg.com. She will also be using her great agricultural background, reporting experience and photography skills to help us with event coverage.
Here’s a cool way to show your support for the AgChat Foundation. Get some gear on.
Show your support for the Agchat Foundation by purchasing branded merchandise! All the profits from the sale of these items go to support the Agchat Foundation’s mission to empower farmers and ranchers to connect communities through social media platforms.
In the store you’ll find shirts, bags, mugs and more.
How do you call a cow? It’s not as simple as saying, “Here kitty kitty kitty,” and they come running. We always laugh because my father-in-law has his own little cattle call: Come Boss.
I did a little research to try to figure out where that came from, other than the fact that his father called them that way. I did find that the genus name for cattle (or bovine) is Bos Taurus. So I guess if you’re going back to the origination of the word, “Come Bos” or “Here Bos” makes complete sense.
Now I feel bad for laughing.
The great thing about using this cattle call is that the cows respond. It’s Pavlov’s Theory in action: cattle call = food. And, the use of the two cattle dogs, Jackie and Jeanie, enables my father-in-law to maintain an environment of low-stress cattle handling. There are no pokes, no prods, and the cows don’t get over-excited.
So the next time you’re visiting a cattle ranch and would like to get their attention, try, “Come Boss”. Sounds funny rolling off your tongue, but it works.
This is my first post on AgWired and Cindy asked that I write a little about myself.
Here are some of the facts: I’m the daughter of a fourth generation family farmer. I think I have the greatest job in the world. I get to tell the story of American Agriculture. Whether it is educating the consumer about the real facts of agriculture or talking to the farmer about new and exciting things related to their industry every day seems to be an adventure. I am the Agri-Business Director for WMBD and WIRL located in the heart of corn country (Peoria, Ill.). And the fun stuff… I like to think I’m eccentric. A little artsy. I like funky music, even funkier jewelry and creating art from behind the lens of camera. That’s me in the photo with my friend and fellow NAFBer Rick Coyle with Northern Ag Network.
One of the great things about my job – I constantly hear about “new and innovative things”.
While Farmer’s Markets may not be “new and innovative” they are certainly a “hot” topic all year long. John Aikman became a statistic of the recession. After Aikman lost his job he says his idle time and over active mind came up with the concept of “Home Grown Cow”. So what is it? He’s created a virtual meat market of sorts with a goal or pairing farmers with eaters (what a concept, huh?!) with some networking along the way.
Often times when I hear ideas like this and it is aimed at promoting organic farming practices only. What caught my attention with John’s site and business venture – it supports all types of farming practices. Traditional or organic. Beef, chicken or lamb. Bulk or cuts. You decide. Find a farmer that suits your eating needs. Aikman says his goal is to make farmers the price makers instead of price takers.
Aikman’s vision will soon become a reality. While they aren’t quite ready to take orders yet – they are signing up farmers and hope to be fully operational soon.
Another way farming will be showcased on the race track this weekend is when American Ethanol heads to Texas this weekend for the NASCAR Nationwide Series race, the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 at the Texas Motor Speedway on April 8th beginning at 8:30 pm EST on ESPN2. While the ethanol logo is on all the race cars, keep your eye on the No. 9 Toyota Camry driven by Kenny Wallace, who is sponsored for the season by the ethanol industry in partnership with the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA).
“It is an honor to be chosen as an American Ethanol spokesperson,” said Wallace who drives for RAB Racing. “I am very passionate about this subject and excited to spread true knowledge about American Ethanol throughout the United States. I’m proud and excited to go to Texas with new sponsor American Ethanol, and most of all I’m looking forward to getting my 10th NASCAR Nationwide Series win.”
During the entire 2011 season, all three of NASCAR’s national touring series will be racing on Sunoco Green E15, a blend of 15 percent corn-based ethanol and 85 percent racing fuel.
NCGA President Bart Schott noted, “Having Wallace as the driver is a great benefit. The RAB Racing team is racing very competitively this season and they are proving to be great proponents for Sunoco Green E15. Kenny understands the important economic and environmental contributions of the nation’s ethanol producers and family corn farmers. As a passionate and media-savvy spokesman, he is helping us reach millions of driving consumers with a positive message about domestic ethanol.”
It’s taken over four years to get to this point, but some action is finally happening on the Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement (TPA) and U.S. agriculture interests are thrilled.
President Obama announced today that an agreement has been reached on the deal that was signed by the U.S. Trade Representative and the Colombian trade minister on Nov. 22, 2006. The agreement will now be sent to Congress to ratify. It is estimated that the Colombia agreement could mean U.S. agricultural export gains of more than $815 million per year at full implementation.
According to a USDA Fact Sheet, a variety of agricultural commodities would benefit from the Agreement, as more than half of current U.S. farm exports to Colombia will become duty-free immediately, and virtually all remaining tariffs will be eliminated within 15 years. “Colombia will immediately eliminate duties on wheat, barley, soybeans, soybean meal and flour, high-quality beef, bacon, almost all fruit and vegetable products, wheat, peanuts, whey, cotton, and the vast majority of processed products. The Agreement also provides duty free tariff rate quotas (TRQ) on standard beef, chicken leg quarters, dairy products, corn, sorghum, animal feeds, rice, and soybean oil.”
National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) President Bill Donald said it’s essential for the U.S. to take aggressive measures to expand market access for agriculture to stimulate the economy and feed a growing global population. “The cattle industry can breathe a sigh of relief today as the Colombia agreement finally gets the long overdue attention it deserves,” said Donald. “This agreement has collected dust for well over four years while our trade competitors proactively sign, seal and deliver trade pacts.”
American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman says the development is just what a group of Farm Bureau leaders has been pushing for the last two weeks during a visit to Colombia and Panama. “After meetings this week and last with farmers, ranchers and agricultural leaders from Colombia, we know this is a development welcomed by all sides. Trade will help the United States build stronger bonds with our Latin American neighbors, and it makes sense given our advantage of proximity and history of cooperation.”
The National Corn Growers Association says the Colombia FTA would provide immediate access for U.S. corn growers to Colombia’s roughly 2.1 million metric ton market for corn at zero percent duty. “Colombia has traditionally been one of the Top 10 export markets for U.S. corn,” NCGA President Bart Schott said. “This is an important market for U.S. farmers and we do not want to watch this market slip away to our largest competitors.”
National Pork Producers Council President Doug Wolf says the agreement will increase U.S. pork exports to the South American country by $68.9 million and help create 919 U.S. pork industry jobs. “We must implement our pending FTAs to remain competitive,” Wolf said. “Pork producers also support the Korea and Panama FTAs and urge the administration to send them to Congress to be approved by this summer.”
“The Farm American program continues to gain momentum which gives farmers and ranchers a national stage to share their story and bridge the dialogue gap between the consumer and members of the agriculture industry,” said Joe Garone, general manager of Furniture Row Racing. “We are excited about Agro-Culture Liquid Fertilizers joining Furniture Row Companies as a partner and becoming our first agribusiness financial partner to join the Farm American program. We continue to seek additional partners and are encouraged by the interest we have received from the agriculture community and also from a wide range of non-agriculture businesses.”
In this week's program Chuck talks with David Armano, Global Innovation and Integration.
David conducted a presentation on delivering expert opinion via social media to an audience at the start of International Poultry Expo week. He's got some great information about who consumers trust and how you can use today's consumer behavior to help communicate your message.
Harvest PR & Marketing, Inc. has once again awarded its Seed to Succeed nonprofit PR grant, valued at $20,000, to the AgChat Foundation, an organization dedicated to empowering farmers and ranchers to effectively tell their story using social media.
Welcome to Agri-Marketing Conference Week. It is one of our favorite times of the year because it was seven years ago that Cindy and I attended and introduced people to ZimmComm New Media. We hope to see you in Kansas City in person or online. You can find us in our booth at this year’s Connection Point trade show. I will once again be the 
Probably should have done this before her 
President Obama announced today that an agreement has been reached on the deal that was signed by the U.S. Trade Representative and the Colombian trade minister on Nov. 22, 2006. The agreement will now be sent to Congress to ratify. It is estimated that the Colombia agreement could mean U.S. agricultural export gains of more than $815 million per year at full implementation. 
In this week's program Chuck talks with David Armano, Global Innovation and Integration.
