I am going to have lots of audio coming from the BASF Seed Treatment Symposium and already have a bunch of photos which I loaded into a separate Flicker Photo Album for your viewing pleasure.
The room is literally packed here with media with two more on the phone. The presenters are giving their presentations and then it will be time for one-on-one interviews.
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The BASF “Science Behind Seed Treatments” media seminar is underway at Commodity Classic with about 40 ag journalists participating.
The presenters are Steve Hawkins from The Context Network, Andy Lee of BASF, Dr. Gary Munkvold of Iowa State University, Dr. Dirk Voeste of BASF Seed Treatment Technology Center in Germany, and Craig Lindholm of BASF.
The reason for the seminar is simple – growers need information and lots of it. Sitting next to me here at the symposium is a “celebrity grower” – the man who produced the world champion soybean yield – Missouri’s own Kip Cullers. His picture is flashing up on the screen as I type!
More from BASF coming.
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Once again I got to hear our Undersecretary for Rural Development, Tom Dorr. He was first up on the program here this morning at the National Ethanol Conference to speak about the farm bill and focus on renewable fuel policies and provisions.
He says the ethanol industry is going through some growing pains, or put another way, transitional challenges. He’s convinced these will be overcome. Like many of the speakers here he talked about the attacks on ethanol, especially of late, in terms of sustainability. He said that some of the same regulatory rhetoric being discussed in Europe in regards to biofuels is creeping up in the debate in Washington, DC. He pointed out that farmers have long been working on sustainability and the facts show that they’re increasing yields while reducing inputs.
You can hear most of Dorr’s speech here (I missed the very beginning): nec-08-dorr-1.mp3
The online photo album from this event has grown to over 250 photos. I hope you enjoy them. I’ll be starting a new one from Nashville by tomorrow!
2008 Commodity Classic is getting underway here in Nashville at the Opryland. Little bit of snow fell this morning, but its clearing up now and folks are getting in, getting registered and getting orientated to this huge venue.
The media room is a bit far off from the main activities of the convention center but – as always – it is well staffed and offers the best facilities for media in the business. Reporters are arriving and getting set up, filing reports already.
Chuck will be here this evening, but will miss the BASF event today. Can’t wait to tell you about BASF’s Seed Treatment news!
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Next week I’ll be flying out to San Luis Obispo and the California Polytechnic State University to do a little new media training. Scott Vernon has set up a double session for faculty and students titled, “Exploring the New Media: Using Podcasts to Drive Your Message and Expand Your Reach.”
This is going to be fun. The idea is to “Create Innovative New Ways to Communicate to the Industry, the Public, Prospective Students, Current Students and others!” I’ll be showing how to create podcasts and how we’re seeing podcasts being used in agriculture. This is on behalf of the Agricultural Education and Communication Department.
I know that more and more companies and even those in traditional media are looking for new employees with the skills to create multimedia content for websites and podcasts. These skills were once taught piecemeal but the computer tools of today are changing everything. If your school or staff would benefit from a session on the use of new communications platforms then you know who to call (the Agriblogger and Farm Podcaster).
Consumers with questions about seafood sustainability and safety now need to look no further than the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Web site for answers. At the International Boston Seafood Show, NOAA Administrator Conrad Lautenbacher launched the agency’s new Fish Watch site, designed to answer consumer questions.
“Steering the public to Fish Watch is a great way for consumers to get all the facts,” said National Fisheries Institute (NFI) President John Connelly. “The seafood-buying public deserves the most accurate and up-to-date information on safety and sustainability and NOAA has it.”
During a news conference announcing the site, Lautenbacher said, “Our hope is that you will go here for ground-truth science. It is not about making decisions for you.”
With the proliferation of unwarranted seafood health scares and myriad sources dictating what are good fish and bad fish, the new agency Web site aims to arm the public with an unbiased education and provides a balanced clearing house for consumers.
“Environmental issues are very important but mixing environmental concerns with potential health effects is confusing for consumers,” said Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian of Harvard University, who joined Lautenbacher’s panel of experts at the unveiling.
A new agency will be working in support of producer communications for the Beef Checkoff.
Cattlemen’s Beef Board agency review panel lead by Joint Producer Communications Committee Chair Richard Nielson, cow/calf operator from Ephraim, Utah, met in Denver Monday, Feb. 25, to hear presentations from the three agencies chosen as finalists to support the CBB paid producer communications paid media effort. A panel of CBB and Federation members joined with communications staff to unanimously choose McCormick Company, an Amarillo-based full-service marketing communications firm established in 1926 and the 14th oldest advertising and public relations firm in the United States. McCormick has a long-standing relationship with a number of association and commercial livestock clients and has worked with the checkoff in various roles since its beginning. In fact, McCormick designed the beef check logo in 1986.
“The panel members were impressed by McCormick’s enthusiastic presentation which also demonstrated them to be highly qualified with a deep understanding of our target audience – producers who pay the checkoff,” said Nielson. “McCormick’s problem-solving approach and creative ideas won them the contract.”
I don’t know about you but I love being corn fed and I love Shannon Brown’s song. I got to meet her this afternoon here at the National Ethanol Conference and she and her band performed an awesome show. If you’re going to Commodity Classic you will not want to miss seeing her and the other stars who will be performing.
I asked her about the song and how it all came about and what she thinks of the ethanol business that she’s been involved in through her sponsorship by VeraSun Energy.
Shannon says the song reflects the fact that she’s a corn fed Iowa girl and the song signifies who she is and where she comes from. She says that working with VeraSun has been an eye opener and she’s fully behind the mission of the ethanol industry. She says consumers should definitely feel comfortable putting it in their car.
You can hear my interview with Shannon here: nec-08-brown.mp3
And if you’d like to hear how this song sounded on stage then you can also do so here: nec-08-corn-fed.mp3
I really hate to do this to you but they’re here. Following me around again. The AgriTalk guys.
You’ve got “speak no evil” and “see no evil” and “hear no evil.”
They’re doing programming from here at the National Ethanol Conference today and tomorrow before following me up to Nashville and the Commodity Classic.
It’s like having a triple shadow.
