Category Archives: Animal Agriculture

Animal Agriculture Alliance Summit Wrap-up

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To get a wrap up of the 2012 Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit I spoke with President/CEO Kay Johnson Smith. Kay was given these beautiful flowers in recognition of her service during the organization’s celebration of its 25th anniversary.

Kay says this year’s Summit was a little different than normal since it focused more on how to effectively communicate with the consumer and better understand what the consumer wants and needs to know. It also provided a cross-species networking opportunity which is one of the benefits to this type of meeting. I asked Kay what stood out in her mind after listening to the presentations. One was a step by step method to communicate with the consumer which gave specific workable ways to accomplish this. Another was presentation on the PennAg Industries Association Today’s Agriculture display at the 2012 PA Farm Show.

You can hear my interview with Kay here: Interview with Kay Johnson Smith

2012 Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit Photo Album

Thanks to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and United Soybean Board for their sponsorship of our coverage of this year’s Summit.

Advocating For Animal Agriculture

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The Chairman of the Animal Agriculture Alliance, Chris Ashworth, closed out the 2012 Stakeholder Summit after introducing our final speaker. I visited with him to learn how things are going with the organization.

Chris talks about the fact that they are celebrating 25 years of advocating for animal agriculture representing all animal species. He says that this past year they’ve had a lot of success at the state level impacting legislation that supports agriculture. He says the Stakeholders Summit had a record attendance and that social media came to the forefront as a tool to communicate agriculture’s message. Yes indeed!

You can hear my interview with Chris here: Interview with Chris Ashworth

2012 Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit Photo Album

Thanks to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and United Soybean Board for their sponsorship of our coverage of this year’s Summit.

Becoming Authentically Agriculture

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ZimmCast 348Let’s talk “Authentically Agriculture” with Michele Payn-Knoper, Cause Matters and founder of the weekly AgChat Twitter conversation. Michele was a presenter at the 2012 Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit. Michele says her presentation title means “that agriculture really needs to do a better job of connecting on a human level.” She spoke about the values, validation and voice that’s needed for agriculture and challenged the group to think about these ideas. Even though you may be a farmer you’re still a human being first and to start at that level to connect with other human beings is the basic first step. Sounds like good advice to me.

We also talked about AgChat and the AgChat Foundation which both Michele and I serve on the board of. It is amazing that the weekly Twitter conversation has been going for over 3 years and Michele says there has been participation from over 15,000 people from 15 countries. She says the outcomes from the conversation are fascinating. I’ll also use this chance to promote this year’s AgChat Foundation Agvocacy 2.0 Conference which will take place August 23-24 in Kansas City. Submit your application here.

Listen to this week’s ZimmCast here: Authentically Agriculture with Michele Payn-Knoper

Thanks to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and United Soybean Board for their sponsorship of our coverage of this year’s Summit.

Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsors, GROWMARK, locally owned, globally strong and Monsanto, 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 Subscribe page.

Building Relationships With Consumers

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The moderator for the 2012 Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit was Tom Steever, Brownfield, who is currently the President of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting. Tom was also one of our presenters so it was interesting seeing him introduce himself, speak, thank himself and then present himself with the AAA coffee mug token of appreciation. It was also hilarious. Tom took over moderating duties for Tom Brand, NAFB, Executive Director, who could not attend due to a family emergency.

Tom’s topic was “Strengthening the Bond.” I took that to mean a discussion about relationships and I was right. His message was that “the farmer has a story to tell and that the farmer should tell to consumers.” By doing that we can build the relationships that will help them better understand where our food comes from. And he also points out how farm broadcasters can help tell the story of the farmer.

You can hear my interview with Tom here: Interview with Tom Steever

2012 Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit Photo Album

Thanks to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and United Soybean Board for their sponsorship of our coverage of this year’s Summit.

Gaining Consumer Trust

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If you need a speaker on the subject of social media and content marketing then you need Shelly Kramer, V3 Integrated Marketing. I met Shelly last year and she talks about what I do better than I do and I like that. I’m sharing a short excerpt from her comments at the 2012 Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit on blogging which is near and dear to my heart as you all know.

Shelly was here to speak on “Closing the Trust Gap,” and her comments on how individuals and companies can accomplish this are spot on. I fully agree with her idea that you used to spend money on media and then you got business. Today you spend time on media and you get business. Now, that media is yourself and/or social media (mobile website, blog, podcasts, social networking, etc.). Of course time is money but to utilize these tools properly you have to invest time and give it time to develop. She also made a point of saying how big a mistake it is to think you can hire the company president’s just out of college daughter to run your social media accounts. If you think about that hard enough for a minute you’ll understand why. However, it happens and it is a setup for potential disaster.

You can hear an excerpt of Shelly’s comments here: Shelly Kramer Talks Blogging

2012 Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit Photo Album

Thanks to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and United Soybean Board for their sponsorship of our coverage of this year’s Summit.

Animal Agriculture Alliance Celebrates 25 Years

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The Animal Agriculture Alliance is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Here’s Steve Kopperud receiving a present since Steve was the founding President. I hope that’s the right title. The AAA was given birth by the American Feed Industry Association and was originally known as the Animal Industry Foundation.

Speaking of the American Feed Industry Association being a founding member/organization/supporter of the AAA, here’s Sarah Novak, Vice President, Membership & Public Relations at AFIA, receiving a 25 years of support award from AAA Chairman Chris Ashworth. During our Stakeholders Summit reception last night all the long time supporters of the AAA were recognized and photos are in the online photo album.

2012 Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit Photo Album

Thanks to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and United Soybean Board for their sponsorship of our coverage of this year’s Summit.

College Aggies Online Scholarship Winners

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The winners of the College Aggies Online Scholarship are attending the 2012 Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit. Here they are from Casper College with their adviser, Marty Finch. The college team was presented a check by Animal Ag Alliance Chairman Chris Ashworth and and Kay Johnson Smith, President/CEO.

I visited with the students, Kaycee Carpenter, Trinity Holland and Jessie McClellan. I asked them to tell us about the College Aggies program and what being here means to them and why they are such strong supporters of agriculture.

You can hear my interview with our scholarship winners here: Interview with Scholarship Winners

2012 Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit Photo Album

Thanks to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and United Soybean Board for their sponsorship of our coverage of this year’s Summit.

Ag Voice in Today’s Media

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What is agriculture’s voice like in today’s media? That’s the question posed to the panel that Janie Gabbett, Executive Editor, MeatingPlace, served on here at the 2012 Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit. Janie used some great examples of how big issues like LFTB and BSE have been handled by the mainstream media and talked about how industry stakeholders can and should handle these situations.

Janie gave some great advice. For example, she says that you have to have factual information readily available before these issues blow up. That’s because journalists are under ridiculous deadlines and need instantaneous information and resources. She says that if you wait to put it together until you’re asked for it then you’ve lost the opportunity. I agree. She also makes a point of using the social media platforms like blogging since even the media are doing so as well as consumers and animal activists. She also makes a great point that those of us in “industry” media should be looked to as a place to make sure good information is available. MeatingPlace is followed and read by mainstream media just like AgWired is!

You can hear my interview with Janie here: Interview with Janie Gabbett

2012 Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit Photo Album

Thanks to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and United Soybean Board for their sponsorship of our coverage of this year’s Summit.

Regulatory and Activist Lessons From Europe

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Lessons Learned From Europe was the topic addressed by Mike Sheldon, Greenway Farms Limited, during the opening session of the 2012 Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit. Mike talked about regulatory burdens and activist influence. You’ll hear him say in my interview with him that what’s happening there is coming here to the USA.

I asked Mike what he wanted to communicate to our group here. He says that he first wanted us to know how big the impact is going to be on hog production when closed confinement stalls for sows are banned next year. He says this change is happening in Europe and will happen here as well. This change is going to be huge. He says that minor changes can be dealt with but a change of this magnitude which will require massive investment to implement without showing a greater return is going to be hard to deal with.

You can hear my interview with Mike here: Interview with Mike Sheldon

2012 Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit Photo Album

Thanks to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and United Soybean Board for their sponsorship of our coverage of this year’s Summit.

Agriculture Legislative Outlook

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In our first session at the 2012 Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit the topic was legislation. One of our panelists is Anne Hazlett, Chief Counsel, Senate Ag Committee Republican members. Her panel addressed the ag outlook in the 112th Congress and the future of the new farm bill.

I talked with Anne after the session who says she really liked the opportunity to interact with leaders in the livestock industry. She started her comments addressing the action of the Senate Ag Committee last week on the farm bill. She says she also raised some issues for attendees to get proactive communicating to their local legislators. She says there’s a long road ahead for the farm bill. She says the bill will be written under very challenging conditions. It’s time to make sure priorities are known and to talk with legislators not on an ag committee.

You can hear my interview with Anne here: Interview with Anne Hazlett

2012 Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit Photo Album

Thanks to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and United Soybean Board for their sponsorship of our coverage of this year’s Summit.

Preview of Real Farmers Real Food Summit

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Attendees to the 2012 Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit were greeted by the organizational team at the registration table. I spoke with AAA Communications Director Sarah Hubbart (right) to get a preview of our program.

Sarah says this is the 11th annual Stakeholders Summit which is held to bring together animal agriculture industry leaders to discuss issues. This year’s theme, Real Farmers Real Food: Celebrating Tradition and Technology, is meant to stimulate a discussion of both the legacy of the role that agriculture plays and the importance of new technologies. I think Sarah is the main social media handler so follow along with @AnimalAg for live tweets during the conference using the hashtag, #AAA12.

You can hear my interview with Sarah here: Interview with Sarah Hubbart

2012 Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit Photo Album

Thanks to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and United Soybean Board for their sponsorship of our coverage of this year’s Summit.

Real Farmers Real Food Underway

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The 2012 Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakholders Summit is underway in Arlington, VA. We’ve just got our first session started so it will be a little while before I’ll have some interviews to share.

In the meantime, I’ve started a photo album for you. You can find them here: 2012 Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit Photo Album

Thanks to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and United Soybean Board for their sponsorship of our coverage of this year’s Summit.

Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit

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This week I get back on the agriblogging highway to the 2012 Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit. My coverage will be made possible again this year by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the United Soybean Board. The theme is Real Farmers Real Food: Celebrating Tradition and Technology and I’ll be conducting interviews to share with you.

We have a full lineup of speakers who will help us learn effective communication strategies for how to deal with all that’s going on in this sector of the agribusiness industry today. We’ll hear lessons learned in Europe and from media representatives here in the United States. You can find an agenda here (pdf). My coverage starts on Wednesday.

BTW. You can tweet or follow along on Twitter using the conference hashtag which is #AAA12.

Real Farmers Real Food

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The Animal Agriculture Alliance, a member of the Alliance to Feed the Future, is kicking off a new initiative called, “Real Farmers Real Food.” The initiative has special support from 2011 Miss America Teresa Scanlan. See her video below and feel free to share out links via your networks!

Want to tour a farm but too busy to travel? Check out the Animal Agriculture Alliance’s collection of farm tours on the Real Farmers Real Food website and see how farms across America produce safe, nutritious and affordable food.

The average American is now at least three generations removed from the farm and most of us are dependent on grocery stores to supply almost all of our food needs. This disconnect has led to many misconceptions about today’s farms. Too often, the public hears more from agriculture critics than from the people directly connected to it. The Animal Agriculture Alliance asks you to show your support for America’s real farmers and ranchers – large and small – who work every day to make our American-grown safe, nutritious and affordable food supply a reality. As the need for food production increases, the work of farmers and ranchers should be celebrated—today and every day. Farming is a business, but it is much more than that. It is a calling that forms the bedrock of our economy and society. Stand up for consumer choice. Stand up for the American farmer and rancher. Show your support by signing the below pledge.

“I sign this pledge to show support for the dedicated, hard-working farmers and ranchers of America – large and small – who provide a safe, nutritious, and affordable food supply for me and my family. I understand and respect the importance of both protecting our food security and ensuring consumer choice for future generations.”

You will find the pledge here.

Animal Agriculture Alliance Summit Wrapup

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Kay Johnson SmithI got Kay Johnson Smith, Executive Vice President, Animal Agriculture Alliance, to wrap things up from the Stakeholders Summit. She says that the speakers focused on positive, proactive ways “we can reach the public and invite them in to our businesses without jeopardizing bio-security and food safety concerns.” She mentioned one speaker from a company that has live web cams of their hog barns to show the public what they’re doing.

Kay is looking forward to next year’s Summit which will be during the first week of May. I hope to be able to make it!

You can listen to my interview with Frank here: Kay Johnson Smith Interview

Animal Ag Alliance Stakeholders Summit Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference is sponsored by NCBAAgWired coverage of the 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference is sponsored by United Soybean

New Chairman of Animal Agriculture Alliance

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Chris AshworthThe new Chair of the Animal Agriculture Alliance is Dr. Chris Ashworth, Elanco Animal Health. During his term he want to further distribute the message about how safe, affordable and abundant food is to citizens all across America. That includes showcasing farmers who produce pork, poultry, beef and fish. He says “We want to be able to make it even more safe and more abundant in the years to come.”

Chris says there has been a lot of energy in this year’s meeting. That tells him that they’re very engaged in the program. In his summary comments he wants the people participating to think about the challenges in a long term sense. He sees a bright future for American agriculture.

You can listen to my interview with Frank here: Dr. Chris Ashworth Interview

Animal Ag Alliance Stakeholders Summit Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference is sponsored by NCBAAgWired coverage of the 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference is sponsored by United Soybean

Communicating With A Non-Farm Audience

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Animal Agriculture AllianceWhat is the perception of farmers and ranchers? That’s the broader question that was being addressed by participants at the Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit according to Mary Kay Thatcher, American Farm Bureau Federation. She was one of the many people I had the pleasure to speak with.

One of the things she got out of Frank Luntz’s presentation had to do with communicating effectively with non-farm people. She thought he gave great advice that included, “His whole thought process about making sure when we make comments to people, we don’t just jump in to our expressions of concern but we give them a little credibility first and say things like, “I get it, I see where you’re going,” and give them a chance to pause and then we can come up with our 45 second elevator speech.” A take away for her was the need to do better helping states deal with the threat that is coming from animal rights groups.

Mary Kay also brought up the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance which AFBF is participating in and says it’s off to a great start. But like any other group dealing with these issues she says it will important to supply good information, messaging and coordination to state groups.

You can listen to my interview with Mary Kay here: Mary Kay Thatcher Interview

Animal Ag Alliance Stakeholders Summit Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference is sponsored by NCBAAgWired coverage of the 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference is sponsored by United Soybean

Lessons From Europe

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Jim SumnerAt the Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit we got an international lesson from Jim Sumner, President, USA Poultry & Egg Export Council. Jim says we have to look out for our own government policies and regulations or “we’re going to end up as bad or worse off than our friends in the European Union.” Let’s face it, regulations have been burdensome for a long time and they haven’t gotten better. In fact, he says it seems like the government doesn’t want to listen sometimes.

Jim says we need to address consumers so they better understand animal agriculture. He uses our cheap food costs as something that consumers need to realize and he doesn’t think the general public does. This was Jim’s first meeting with the Animal Agriculture Alliance and he calls it a “very dynamic group.”

You can listen to my interview with Frank here: Jim Sumner Interview

Animal Ag Alliance Stakeholders Summit Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference is sponsored by NCBAAgWired coverage of the 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference is sponsored by United Soybean

Food Marketing Words – Convenient, Safer, Healthier, Cleaner

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Frank LuntzSafer, healthier, convenient and cleaner. Those are words that Frank Luntz, Luntz Global, wanted people to take away from his remarks at the Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit.

I was able to ask him one question afterward while he was signing books and that was what he hoped participants took away from his presentation. His answer, “I think it’s essential that they use the most effective words and phrases that connect to the America people in where they live and how they live. That you talk about not just affordability but convenience, safer, healthier, cleaner. When you show that you’re doing it so much better now than before and you’re going to do it even better in the future than you did it now, that’s success. That’s good communication. That’s what I hope they take away from my presentation.”

Frank shared results of survey work he’s done that show how people of various demographics respond to certain words or phrases. It was very eye opening. For example, he found that people really don’t care much about the word sustainability. It just doesn’t have a meaning that’s clear since there are countless definitions. He recommended not using that word in marketing efforts. Here are some other tidbits that stuck out for me:

Imagine is most powerful word in English language.
You create miracles everyday.
Consumers take responsibility for their own nutrition. They don’t depend on the food industry.
Convenient is the word that makes consumers most interested in product.
Only people under 30 or who went to Berkely like “organic.” Although he does think this category of food product will grow.

You can listen to my interview with Frank here: Frank Luntz Interview

Animal Ag Alliance Stakeholders Summit Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference is sponsored by NCBAAgWired coverage of the 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference is sponsored by United Soybean

Supporting The Iowa Food and Family Project

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Aaron PutzeSoybeans came up on the program at the Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit in the form of Aaron Putze, Director External Relations, Iowa Soybean Association. He thinks it’s time to reflect on blessed we are in this country to have abundant food and thank the people who produce it. He gives a startling statistic that forty percent of the food produced in the United States is either spoiled or thrown away! That’s huge. And it’s why the Iowa Soybean Association supported the development of the Iowa Food and Family Project.

The Iowa Food & Family Project isn’t an organization. It’s a movement, one that celebrates the miracle of food and the men and women that provide it.

The Iowa Food & Family Project doesn’t consist of a board of directors. There are no officers or board of directors. It isn’t incorporated.

Instead, the Iowa Food & Family Project is an activity-led initiative that brings together Iowans from all walks of life. They include farmers and farm families, teachers, students, health professionals, food retailers, manufacturers, bankers and lenders, academia, geneticists, agronomists, transportation specialists and people of faith. All those who are involved in the Iowa Food & Family Project believe in the increasingly significant role Iowa plays in feeding and fueling our state, nation and the world. They want all farmers to prosper. They believe that food should be respected.

In my conversation with Aaron he mentioned that he’s on the board of the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance. He says USFRA is doing a lot of due diligence right now that includes research and “knowing how to engage in the social environment that exists today that then gives an opportunity to agriculture to become part of the fabric of the conversation.”

You can listen to my interview with Aaron here: Aaron Putze Interview

Animal Ag Alliance Stakeholders Summit Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference is sponsored by NCBAAgWired coverage of the 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference is sponsored by United Soybean