The National Agri-Marketing Association will be holding it’s fall Trends In Agriculture conference in Minneapolis, MN this year. Perhaps you’re wondering why it’s not in Kansas City adjacent to the NAFB convention. I was. So I spoke with Jenny Pickett, NAMA CEO, and found out the answer.
Jenny, pictured right at last week’s Boot Camp, says the reason NAMA had to move the Trends In Ag Conf. was due to being unable to book rooms at the Hyatt Crown Center. Apparently another conference was booked there from five years ago. So the NAMA board chose to move to dates that wouldn’t interfere with the NAFB Convention and to a location with a strong local NAMA chapter. So that’s the story. ZimmCast 271
The Impact of Digital Media on Farmers and Ranchers was the title of a NAMA Boot Camp presentation by Jack Semler, Readex Research.
I’ve been hoping to see Jack’s research which was done for the American Business Media’s Agri Council but have missed presentations at events like the Ag Media Summit. The farmers surveyed for this project were taken from subscribers to ABM Agri Council member publications encompassing a wide cross section of commodity types. You’ll hear Jack describe it more in the program. Probably the biggest take away from the research is that “print is alive and well” and that the internet is becoming increasingly important to farmers as an information source.
You can download information from the research study on the ABM website.
When it comes to food we all need a little bit of truth. Well, maybe a lot of truth. So TruthInFood.com sounds like a good idea. To learn more about this intriguing project I spoke with Mike Smith, Food Chain Communications.
Mike and I had a great conversation about understanding why people from both production agriculture and the urban consuming public think the things they do. To effectively communicate you need to understand your audience and not just preach at them. Sounds easy, eh? Not really. However, Mike and Kevin Murphy set out a year ago to create an online location to post thought provoking stories about the Truth In Food.
Truth in Food traverses the entire food chain, traveling the long and winding road from conception to consumption armed with the farmer’s natural skepticism and the scholar’s thirst for knowledge, the mechanic’s understanding of nuts and bolts and the philosopher’s impulse toward the sublime, all blended with insight, scholarship, thought and good old fashioned humor.
The most popular story they’ve posted so far is “The Ten Reasons They Hate You So.” I encourage you to read it. So let’s learn more about TruthInFood.com and what Mike has learned during this past year. ZimmCast 269
The program ends this week with Truth of the Matter by Drew Vics from Music Alley.
First up is Steven Fairchild, MFA Incorporated. I asked him what his goals are for his year in office and he wants to focus on membership since increasing membership is a key goal of the organization.
He says the meetings at AMS reflect the hard work of outgoing president, Karen Simon. He says AAEA will have a new website this fall.
Next is Andy Atzenweiler, Missouri Beef Cattlemen Magazine. He says things are in good shape at LPC and they’re going to “tweak” their website. They want to promote their contest more since there were a lot of changes this year.
At the annual meeting there was some discussion about changing the by-laws to get rid of the language referring to the ratio of service to publication members. It is now about 50-50.
There’s a new social network for agriculture and they want you to get in the loop, the AgLoop.
Zachary Brown may still be in college but he’s already got a full time job going thanks to his Dad, James Brown. Together they started Hay Talk a couple of years ago and it has done so well that they’ve branched out with Ranching Forums, TractorFocus, Row Crop Talk and have plans for several more including the one they just announced which is AgLoop. Sounds like enough to keep two guys busy! By the way, to stay busy in his spare time Zachary also manages AgDesign, website development for farmers.
AgLoop is part of the AgBoards family of online farm forums. Zachary says they believe the sense of “community” created by these forums make them a great place for agribusinesses to connect with their customers. I couldn’t agree more. It’s all part of the online conversations that new and social media have made possible. You can follow them on Twitter.
Here’s some more information about AgLoop:
AgLoop has been compared to the Facebook of Agriculture and provides you with an opportunity to create an in depth profile of yourself or your business.
AgLoop provides you a place not to just chat anonymously, but build personal and professional connections that can be invaluable to you in the future.
AgLoop is a different beast compared to our other sites at AgBoards, but one that we believe could revolutionize the way the agriculture industry and community uses the web.
At AgLoop, you can:
* Create and maintain your very own blog
* Upload photos and videos
* Create polls
* Chat in our chat room and forums
* Submit your website to our FREE web directory
* Update your Facebook and Twitter from AgLoop!
* Create or join a group/association for your favorite company, cause, or just for fun
* Find and post events that are going on in your area (and promote your favorite event for free)
* Browse using our iPhone app (Coming very, very soon)
* Generate sales and leads for your business
* Make valuable connections – professional and personal
* And more!
The program ends this week with Social Trend by HAF from Music Alley.
Happy holiday from ZimmComm. I hope everyone is enjoying a little time off before getting back to work. In this week’s program I’d like to introduce you to the man who is Indy photography. He’s Ron McQueeny, Indy Racing League, Director of Photography. That’s Ron in the picture providing pre-race direction to all of us photographers who were shooting the Iowa Corn Indy 250.
I’ve had the luck to be an accredited photographer at quite a few Indy races and Ron was one of the first people I met. After I realized I was not equipped to shoot cars going 200 mph he gave me some advice on equipment and shooting tips that proved to be invaluable. Ron has been working in photography with Indy for a long time and in our discussion you’ll hear him talk about how he got his start. I think it’s good inspiration for anyone interested in a career of professional photography.
The reason you see Ron giving pre-race directions to photographers is because of the serious nature of the job. It is a dangerous one and the goal is to minimize danger while still getting the shots needed. If you’ve wondered what it’s like to shoot race cars then give this program a listen.
For me, one of the best parts of our discussion was a story Ron tells about working with Paul Dana, Indy Car driver who was killed in a pre-race accident in March, 2006. I got to know Paul who is credited with making ethanol the fuel of the IRL. Ron was asked by Paul to shoot some photos that were used in the effort to bring home grown fuel to the League.
Steve works in Extension for Oregon State University. He got started with ACE because of the professional improvement and networking opportunities he found by attending their meetings. He believes that people have lost their connection to agriculture and there is a need to educate them about food production.
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The Association for Communication Excellence (ACE) is an international association of communicators, educators and information technologists. It offers professional development and networking for individuals who extend knowledge about agriculture, natural resources and life and human sciences.
The President of the Cooperative Communicators Association is Brian Delgado, seen here welcoming first timers at their recent convention where I conducted a presentation on social media. I recorded a conversation with Brian while I was there to learn more about CCA.
He says CCA is an organization designed to help educate cooperative communicators and those working with cooperatives. Membership has declined a little in recent years due to the economy and communication departments having to double up on duties. Additionally, there has been some consolidation of cooperatives. Membership is still about 300. About 25 percent of the attendees at the conference were first timers btw. Brian encourages membership which you can take care of online.
Sustainability was the focus of the 2010 BASF Agricultural Solutions media summit held last week in Chicago and as part of that event BASF released a new survey on attitudes toward farmland stewardship, and a new YouTube video highlighting how farmers are feeding a hungry planet.
I talked to Paul Rea, VP of BASF U.S. Crop Operations, about the survey and the video and decided it would make a good ZimmCast this week because it reflects what agriculture is up against and how companies like BASF are helping farmers face the future.
Paul says the survey, done by Padilla Speer Beardsley, found some significant perception gaps between growers and the general public when it comes to farmland stewardship. “The good news would be that farmers and most consumers say that stewardship practices are better today than they were ten years ago,” Paul says. The bad news is that nearly 23 percent of consumers believe stewardship practices are worse today than they were ten years ago, compared to just seven percent of farmers. A whopping 77% of farmers say stewardship practices are better now than 10 years ago, which of course they are.
So, clearly there is a disconnect that needs to be addressed and BASF believes social media is a way to get correct information out to the general public. That’s why they had “One Hungry Planet” produced for YouTube. “The video really does convey the amazing job that farmers and the ag industry has done in the last 50 years, much of it unnoticed,” Paul said. “To think that we’re producing 40 percent more corn from the same amount of land just compared to 20 years ago is incredible.”
The video is entertaining, yet educational, and packs a lot of facts in just four minutes. Take a look at the video and listen to or download this week’s ZimmCast is the audio player at the bottom of the post.
Hope you enjoy the song I picked to end the podcast called “Planet Earth” by James Larson from Music Alley. 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.
Antique tractors are a passion for Michael Hinton. He decided there needed to be a good resource for people who share that passion so he started The Antique Tractor Show. This website is meant to be a place to find information and to enhance the effort he’s teamed up with Frazier Dailey who has Antique Tractors Forum.
The Antique Tractor Show is a site dedicated to Antique Tractor Enthusiasts all over the globe. If you use antique tractors, collect antique tractors, or just enjoy looking at antique tractors, welcome to our site! The Antique Tractor Show chronicles those individuals who indulge their passion for buying, restoring, and displaying Antique Tractors through an expanding series of web-based Shows. Our goal is to carry on the legacy of keeping the great tractors of the past, ever present long into the future.
Listen to my conversation with Michael to learn more about what he’s doing.
Since it’s Dairy Month this week’s program is all about dairy with an interview I conducted bright and early this morning. I called up Matt Joyce, Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, and we talked about Dairy Month.
The WMMB has a lot of online resources for consumers and anyone who wants to know more about dairy and the role it plays in a nutritional well-balanced diet. Some examples I would point you to include, Wake Up With Dairy, which all about good recipes and where you can find the closest dairy breakfast. Another one is Dairy Doing More, where you can meet dairy farmers and learn more about dairy farming. One more I’ll point you to is Eat Wisconsin Cheese, which I do btw. And for you media types they’ve got a whole section of resources which includes information about the impact of the dairy industry.
So listen to this week’s program and pour yourself a glass of ice cold milk to celebrate!
Since we’re talking dairy the program ends with a song titled, “Got Milk” by Kingbastard from Music Alley.
Regular AgWired fans know that I am a coffee snob. That’s Cindy’s term since I just prefer to drink good coffee. That’s why I got excited when I learned about Sanani, The Original Mocha Coffee.
In this week’s program we’re going to learn not only about Sanani but coffee itself. I think you’ll learn some things you did not know. I sure did. For example, mocha does not mean that this is chocolate flavored coffee. Here’s why from the company website.
Not commonly known is that the root of the word “Mocha” comes from the port city of Mocha in Yemen, where the history of coffee trading began. The Original Mocha Coffee, a pure single-origin coffee identified by its port of origin, is so prized that even the perceived imperfections are a desired characteristic. The irregular shape of these naturally organic beans, a result of an inhospitable growing environment, produces one of the finest cups of coffee in the world.
I visited with the founder and President of Sanani, Tarif Ausaf. He started his career as a computer engineer with a degree from Auburn University. After many years sitting behind a computer he decided to start a coffee career. I’m glad he did.
What attracted me to this story was a line from the company news release, “Intense Flavor without the Nerve Jangling Buzz!” I’m all about flavor and I’ve wanted to be able to drink more than just a cup without getting too much of a morning jolt. I haven’t yet tried the coffee but some is on the way and I’ll report on that later.
In our interview we talk about the history of coffee and things like the differences between arabica and robusto beans. Of course we also talk about how you can order some Sanani and their coffee club.
Since we’re talking coffee the program ends with a song titled, “Smell The Coffee” by Chris Crowder from Music Alley.
Thanks to that volcanic ash cloud I could not attend this year’s IFAJ Congress in Ostend, Belgium. To get a retrospective from someone who did attend I spoke with IFAJ President, Mike Wilson, Editor, Farm Futures. Mike found the event inspirational in a number of ways and wrote about his experience on the IFAJ website.
To start with, he marveled at the determination of people who went way out of their way to make it even when it involved extra expense and time to get there. Additionally, he was impressed with the organizers who never lost their cool and kept a positive attitude. Fortunately, IFAJ always has pre-Congress tours and these were well attended this year. That meant that a lot of people were there before the ash cloud problem started. So give the program a listen and let’s all look forward to a great Congress in Canada next year!
Since the IFAJ Congress was in Belgium the program ends with a song titled, “Strolling Through Belgium” by Three Fine Lines from Music Alley.
I suppose I could be more of an evangelist for the National Agri-Marketing Association but I’m not sure how. If you’re involved in agribusiness marketing and communications then this is the one group you really have to belong to. I love all of them but NAMA is the one that has truly meant the most to my career over the years.
In this week’s program you can hear a NAMA convention wrap-up with NAMA CEO Jenny Pickett and the latest on how well the Agri-Business Educational Foundation is doing with Mike Gustafson, Deer’s Landing Communications. Mike is VP of the ABEF. This NAMA convention was a record breaker and all the feed back has been good so far. The ABEF is doing very well too and I encourage and challenge you to become a member of the ABEF Century Club. I did at the convention.
Since the NAMA convention theme was “From America’s Heartland to the Rest of the World” the program ends with a song titled, “Heartlands” by Ian Babington from Music Alley.
The Chair for this year’s International Federation of Agricultural Journalists 2010 Confress is Jef Verhaeren. I spoke with him via Skype to get a preview of the conference before I get there later this week. I’ll be rolling in to Ostend, Belgium on the weekend. I first met Jef years ago at the Green Week event in Berlin and we’ve stayed in touch ever since.
One of the things I asked him about was the opening “beach animation.” The hotel we’ll be in is on the beach and apparently this event involves very large horses. I’ll know more on Saturday evening!
Jef says the theme of this year’s Congress, Between Passion and Pressure, is to reflect the fact that agriculture all over the world is facing a lot of pressure and that you have to be passionate to stay in it and keep at it. He says that’s especially true in difficult times.
My coverage of this year’s IFAJ Congress is being sponsored once again by Pioneer Hi-Bred and Novus International. Thank you sponsors for making it possible.
If the AgChat Foundation has its way the whole nation will be participating in a weekly Twitter conversation. Okay. Maybe that’s a little grandiose but the goal of the Foundation is to get many more farmers involved with Agvocacy by telling their story and interacting with consumers and each other via social networking.
In this week’s program I’ve got another in my series of interviews with AgChat Foundation board members. You can listen to Kansas farmer, Darin Grimm, talk about his involvement and what we hope to accomplish.
Darin farms with his father and a couple of valued partners raising row crops and feeding cattle in the northeast corner of Kansas. Darin has been involved for a number of years in precision agriculture and using data to help understand and improve agronomic decisions on the farm. “With such a small amount of the population directly connected to growing their food today, social media seems to be a vital component in helping people understand today’s farm business. My personal passion is applying the data skills I have learned from working with technology such as sensors and GPS systems to the world of
social media.”
It’s spring planting time and in this week’s program you’ll hear some ideas and suggestions for row crop farmers. I interviewed Syngenta Crop Protection Technical Support Representative, Michael Leetch this morning.
He’s based in Iowa and says there are areas that still have up to five percent of their corn left standing. Couple that with a very wet start to the spring and there are challenges out there. He thinks the big issue is “timeliness.” Soil preparation is behind due to the winter and early spring challenges and that includes using a pre-plant, soil active herbicide which he’s a big proponent of. He’s afraid there will be some very loose soil out there that never fully froze due to early snow cover. However, we’ve had some good weather all of the sudden that’s helping dry things out.
We also discussed topics like insect pressure and nematodes in corn fields. I asked about post-emergence weed control and he brought up the issue of glyphosate resistance. He says there’s no way post-emergence weed control is going to be enough so that’s why pre-emerge is so important and when you factor resistance in it might be time to look at a conventional herbicide that has an alternative mode of activity.
The Director, Agriculture Service, for IFA is Patrick Heffer who welcomed us to the conference at the start. I’m always looking for an excuse to get back to my home state and I told him that they can hold the conference there any time.
In my interview with Patrick we talk about IFA, the world market for EEF’s and the conference. He was very happy with the attendance.
The International Fertilizer Industry Association (IFA) is a not-for-profit organization representing the global fertilizer industry. Our members serve farmers everywhere as they meet the world’s growing food, feed, fibre and bioenergy needs in a sustainable manner.
IFA has some 525 members in about 85 countries. About half of the membership is based in developing countries. IFA member companies represent all activities related to the production, trade, transport and distribution of every type of fertilizer, their raw materials and intermediates. IFA’s membership also includes organizations involved in construction, engineering, consulting, agronomic research and training.
In this week’s ZimmCast you’ll hear my conversation with David Martosko about HumaneWatch.org. This awesome and growing compilation of information about the Humane Society of The United States is a great resource for everyone involved in agriculture. H$U$ may be targeting animal agriculture for extinction but if successful consider the impact on all areas of agriculture, most especially in row crop production. I’m going to write my elected officials and point them to HumaneWatch.org since Missouri is currently one of the states these wackos at H$U$ are targeting with their completely misguided attack on dog breeders. Of course if you believe dog breeders are their only target then I might have some (swamp) land in south Florida to sell you.
In my conversation with David you’ll learn more about him and why he’s become so passionate and involved on this issue. His background includes working with the Center For Consumer Freedom. David and I have a great conversation and I hope you enjoy listening.
Almost a year ago I met Wayne Pacelle, CEO of HSUS. He was speaking at the NAFB Washington Watch (I still don’t understand why they even let him in the door) and in my opinion issued a challenge to American farmers. You can still read that post or listen to his remarks (mp3).
Since the H$U$ says it’s all about dogs and cats (er, make that money) the program ends with some music from Music Alley. It’s a song called, “Dogs and Cats” by Colie Brice.
In ZimmCast number 250 learn how Ducks Unlimited does public relations. I can’t believe I’ve done 250 of these. The first posted version of the ZimmCast was January 31, 2005! I wish I could say it seems like only yesterday but it really doesn’t.
Getting on to the topic of this week’s program, I recorded the presentation made by Tony Dolle, Director of Communications for Ducks Unlimited. He’s seen here conducting his presentation during the Agricultural Relations Council meeting in Memphis at their headquarters. Tony’s job was to tell us how they conduct public relations and deal with today’s media. I think you’ll find it very interesting. Ducks Unlimited is a very successful and well run organization with a budget of about $220 million.
Since we were in Memphis and it’s the home of some of the best blues music you’ll ever find I ended the program with some music from Music Alley. It’s a song called, “Memphis Blues” by Ocean Street.
Follow the fun at the 2010 Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa.
Trends In Agriculture
Learn more about Trends in Agriculture by attending NAMA's fall conference.
This year the National Agri-Marketing Association will be holding it's Trends In Ag conference in Minneapolis, MN due to a hotel scheduling conflict in KC, MO. I talked about the situation with Jenny Pickett, NAMA CEO, who also talks about the program which has the theme, "Agriculture In a Globally Local World."
The National Agri-Marketing Association will be holding it’s fall Trends In Agriculture conference in Minneapolis, MN this year. Perhaps you’re wondering why it’s not in Kansas City adjacent to the NAFB convention. I was. So I spoke with Jenny Pickett, NAMA CEO, and found out the answer.
Jenny, pictured right at last week’s Boot Camp, says the reason NAMA had to move the Trends In Ag Conf. was due to being unable to book rooms at the Hyatt Crown Center. Apparently another conference was booked there from five years ago. So the NAMA board chose to move to dates that wouldn’t interfere with the NAFB Convention and to a location with a strong local NAMA chapter. So that’s the story. ZimmCast 271
I’ve had the luck to be an accredited photographer at quite a few Indy races and Ron was one of the first people I met. After I realized I was not equipped to shoot cars going 200 mph he gave me some advice on equipment and shooting tips that proved to be invaluable. Ron has been working in photography with Indy for a long time and in our discussion you’ll hear him talk about how he got his start. I think it’s good inspiration for anyone interested in a career of professional photography.
I talked to Paul Rea, VP of BASF U.S. Crop Operations, about the survey and the video and decided it would make a good ZimmCast this week because it reflects what agriculture is up against and how companies like BASF are helping farmers face the future.
In my conversation with David you’ll learn more about him and why he’s become so passionate and involved on this issue. His background includes working with the 
Learn more about Trends in Agriculture by attending NAMA's fall conference.
