One of the special people I got to meet this week at the Ag Media Summit was the new National Corn Growers Association, Director of Communications, Nancy Bunker Koester.
AMS gave Nancy the chance to meet and interact with a hundreds of ag media professionals and other industry leaders. She is not unfamiliar with this industry, having worked for Monsanto - which is ironically where her predecessor Mimi Ricketts now works. She has also done some consulting work with NCGA in the past.
She is pictured here with Cindy at the AMS 10th anniversary dinner. I did an interview with her earlier in the day about her background and plans for working with the corn growers on important issues.
“We have a message to get out about food, fuel and feed, that there’s plenty of corn seed to go around for that,” Nancy said. “And we’re working to fervently to be sure people know that.”
Listen to my interview with Nancy here:
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Ag Media Summit Photo Album
AgWired coverage of the Agricultural Media Summit is sponsored by:
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Gotta admit to being pretty proud of this - the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) and the Center for Association Leadership has awarded the National Corn Growers Association with a 2008 Gold Circle Award in the category of “Blogs - Association Annual Budget Greater than $2 Million” for Corn Commentary.
John H. Graham IV, CAE, president and CEO of ASAE, said “These organizations show how successful communication vehicles help associations accomplish their strategic goals and mission. I applaud the skilled communication professionals who have mastered their tools and communications strategies to create these exemplary pieces.”
It is interesting that this organization has categories in their communications awards for both blogs and podcasts - wonder how long they have been doing that?
Corn Commentary is just about to celebrate its first anniversary. We built the site for them last summer and it kicked off August 2, 2007. In that time, there have been 413 posts done - by me and Chuck, as well as members of the NCGA staff, including Ken Colombini and Mimi Ricketts (now with Monsanto). We have also posted numerous audio interviews and videos on the blog.
Congratulations to the NCGA for this prestigious award!
I’m sure I’m waiting in line to meet the new Director of Communications for the National Corn Growers Association. She’s Nancy L. Bunker Koester and she started on Monday.
In this position, Nancy will lead NCGA’s communications team and direct public relations and media relations for the organization.
Nancy is an Accredited Business Communicator (ABC) with more than 20 years of experience in organizational and marketing communications, public relations, research, event planning, and education. For the past 11 years, she served as owner and principal of Bunker Koester & Associates, an organizational and marketing communications and market research company.
Prior to starting her own firm, Nancy held positions at Monsanto, Brown Shoe Company, Emerson Electric, Jefferson Smurfit and United Technologies Communications. She also taught undergraduate and graduate-level courses at Webster University and St. Louis Community College.
I wanted to interview Rick Tolman (l), CEO of the NCGA and Richard Glass (r), VP of Research and Business Development for NCGA together but it didn’t happen that way but we still have a Rick and Rick post anyway. In the picture they’re enjoying one of the presentations taking place at the CUTC.
When I spoke to Rick Tolman he said that he’s always rejuvenated by the ideas, enthusiasm and energy expressed here. He says the exciting story is the productivity in corn production. Like me he also doesn’t see a food vs. fuel issue but one of food and fuel because the corn production pie is growing. But even beyond fuel we’re hearing about other types of new products being made from corn. For example, he says the NCGA offices are being carpeted with a product made from corn.
Here’s my interview with Rick Tolman:
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You can use this link to download the audio file: 
Rick Tolman Interview (5 minutes)
When I spoke to Richard Glass he said that he’s really impressed with this conference. He says there are people here representing 11 countries counting the United States and that we have 35 speakers in 10 sessions. He says this is perfect timing to have the conference because of all the things going on with ethanol and the push to relieve our dependence on petrochemicals.
Here’s my interview with Richard Glass:
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You can use this link to download the audio file: Richard Glass Interview (4 minutes)
CUTC Photo Album
The CUTC is officially underway now that our keynote session and reception is over. It’s a very quiet media room as yours truly is the only one here. At least the internet access is sort of working. It won’t let me upload to Flickr but I guess that’ll have to wait until later.
Post Update: Here’s some photos: CUTC Photo Album
First up on the program was NCGA First Vice President, Bob Dickey. He welcomed everyone and introduced the keynote speaker, USDA Under Secretary for Rural Development, Tom Dorr. I spoke to him before things got going. He says there’s a contingent of foreign visitors here and although he doesn’t have attendance figures yet he’s hoping for a good crowd. I asked him how things were going with corn planting after seeing that we’re finally nearing completion and he said that he’s hoping for a normal amount of heat units during the next couple months. I can understand that with all the rain we’ve been having in the midwest.
I also recorded his welcoming remarks and am posting them for you here too.
Here’s my interview with Bob:
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You can use this link to download the audio file: Bob Dickey Interview (2 minutes)
Here’s Bob’s welcoming remarks:
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You can use this link to download the audio file: Bob Dickey Welcome Remarks (3 minutes)
The fun and games are about to begin here at the Corn Utilization and Technology Conference. The event is being held at the Marriott in downtown Kansas City and I just got in and connected in the media room.
In less than an hour we’ll kick things off with a Keynote Speech by USDA Under Secretary for Rural Development Tom Dorr. He’ll be introduced by NCGA First Vice President Bob Dickey. Afterward we’ll all head across the street for the opening reception.
I’m going to be recording the opening session to post later this evening. So, until then . . .
Next week’s on-location activities for ZimmComm New Media start off at the Corn Utilization & Technology Conference, CUTC, in Kansas City, MO. I’ll be there producing content for Corn Commentary as well as right here on AgWired.
If you don’t know anything about CUTC then you will after you listen to this week’s program. I was in the NCGA offices yesterday and spoke with Nathan Fields, Director, Research & Business Development. Nathan explains that the CUTC is held every other year and focuses on the corn processing industry. They focus on the opportunities coming up in the next couple of years and attract public and private researchers, government people and those directly involved in the industry.
He says that program elements will focus on improving corn wet milling efficiency as well as more this year on the dry grind ethanol process. There will be exhibits from companies that produce equipment for the industry as well as government and seed producers.
This week’s program concludes with music from the Podsafe Music Network. It’s a song titled, “Burnt Popcorn” by a band called general fuzz. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.
You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast 172 (17 min MP3)
Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:
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The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired which you can subscribe to using the link in our sidebar. You can also subscribe in iTunes
While I’m here in Lincoln, NE, Laura is still having fun in Indianapolis. She’s got photos uploaded to an online photo album so I thought I’d point you that way. Indy 500 2008 Photo Album
I’ll be driving home tomorrow but she’ll be on site for the race so you may want to keep an eye on Domestic Fuel to see what she finds. The cars will be running on ethanol so that once again, no matter who gets the checkered flag, our farmers and our environment win.
I also thought I’d point you to a post on Corn Commentary that Cindy did last night. It’s called “Bill of Confusion” in which she re-wrote some lyrics for the Temptations famous “Ball of Confusion.” It kind of summarizes the whole farm bill situation. It’s worth a read and feel free to sing it. In fact, if you sing Cindy’s lyrics and record and send them in we’ll not only post it but send you an AgWired t-shirt. C’mon. I dare you.
Congratulations from AgWired to the CEO of the National Corn Growers Association, who received the Agribusiness Leader of the Year award at the National Agri-Marketing Association conference in Kansas City on Thursday.
Rick Tolman has been in charge of NCGA for almost eight years, during a time of dramatic changes, new challenges and the highest prices in history for corn growers. He told me that he was fortunate to be able to lead the industry as it began to benefit from some of the decisions that were made more than a decade ago.
Listen to a short interview with Rick here.
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The National Corn Growers Association is Gettin’ Jiggy wit It. They’re doing RSS Feeds of their news, they’re blogging and now they’re podcasting. Here’s the file you need in order to subscribe.
Now Hear This: A Better Way to Get Top NCGA News (4-8-08)
The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA), which has been making audio files of its top news stories available for some time, is now providing another convenient way for listeners to get them through podcast subscription.
Were always on the lookout for ways to improve service and make it more convenient for our key audiences to get our information, said Fred Stemme, NCGA vice president of marketing. More and more, people prefer to listen to the news while they are doing something else rather than having to sit down and read it and podcasting is a good tool for getting the word out about what we do.
In the interests of being completely transparent, ZimmComm New Media has provided technical assistance to NCGA in helping them get their podcast started and we can do the same for your company or organization.
BASF, the American Soybean Association and the National Corn Growers Association are supporting the future of agriculture by awarding scholarships to young people working towards careers in the industry.
The first scholarship winners were announced today at a Commodity Classic news conference. I did interviews with all the winners who were here, which I will post later, but here is a group photo with the four students with (left to right) Adam Burnhams of BASF, ASA president John Hoffman, champion soybean grower Kip Cullers and NCGA chairman Ken McCauley.
The students pictured are - from left to right:
Lauren Schlosser of Missouri, James Seitzer of Minnesota and Catherine (Catie) Simpson of Colorado - all NCGA Academic Excellence in Agriculture scholarship winners - and Laura Stevens, a high school senior from Nebraska who won the first ever “Kip Cullers” Secure Optimal Yield (SOY) Scholarship.
(I assume you can figure out the difference between the students and the presenters!)
The other NCGA scholarship winners were Jason Buss of Illinois and Josh Yoder of Ohio. Congrats to all the winners. BASF will continue their sponsorship of this program next year and applications will be available from NCGA and ASA in the fall.
Listen to the scholarship awards press conference here:
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AgWired coverage of the 2008 Commodity Classic
is sponsored by: and 
2008 Commodity Classic Photo Album
While Chuck is busy basking in the glorious Florida weather, I am preparing to head on out to the 2008 Commodity Classic in Nashville at the Opryland.
First on the agenda tomorrow afternoon is the BASF International Seed Treatment Symposium to provide us media types with all the latest info on BASF products and technology.
The Classic really gets rolling on Thursday with meetings for each of the three commodity groups - corn, soybeans and wheat - WIN sessions and the trade show grand opening.
The yet-to-be-completed Farm Bill will likely be a major topic of conversation and new agriculture secretary Ed Schafer will address the crowd on Friday during the general session.
We are also looking forward to Saturday night’s entertainment at the Grand Ole Opry featuring “Corn Fed” Shannon Brown, John Conlee, Joe Diffie, Carolina Rain and The Steeldrivers.
The Commodity Classic is the combined convention and trade show of the American Soybean Association, the National Corn Growers Association, and the National Association of Wheat Growers. Next year it will be even bigger when the National Sorghum Producers join the show. Having these groups all meeting together is one of the best unifying moves that the agricultural industry has made in the last decade. Not only does it make it easier for the producers who may grow more than one of those commodities, but it sure makes it easier for the ag media to cover it all in one trip!
Look forward to our coverage on both AgWired and Domestic Fuel all week long. Chuck will be joining me late Wednesday evening after wrapping up at the National Ethanol Conference.
AgWired coverage of the 2008 Commodity Classic
is sponsored in part by:
Laura McNamara interviewed Aggie-Lance creator and founder, Mark Jewell.
