The BARN Owners Take Over ABN

Chuck Zimmerman

The BARNI thought I was finished posting for the day, but noooo . . . Lindsay Hill has to send me a major announcement. The BARN owners have acquired the ABN (Agri Broadcast Network) in Ohio. I’d say that the Buckeye agriblogging, farm podcasting broadcasters are doing very well! Congratulations Andy and Lindsay.

Ohio’s longest-running farm radio network, the ABN (Agri Broadcast Network) has moved to a new home. AdVance Broadcast & Communication, Ltd., founders of the Buckeye Ag Radio Network (BARN) has taken over operations of the ABN. Owned by Andy Vance and Lindsay Hill of rural DeGraff, Ohio, AdVance will continue to operate both networks, expanding the company’s programming reach from fifteen stations to over sixty-five stations.

“We’ve branded the BARN as the ‘Next Generation of Rural Radio,’” Hill said. “With bringing both networks in-house, we plan to focus our efforts with the BARN on a wider range of programming of interest to the rural audience, with more of a farm-to-table approach,” she continued. Meanwhile, the ABN will continue its focus of producer-oriented communication with a strong emphasis on farm news and commodity markets.

Vance and Hill explain the relationship between the two networks as complimentary. The BARN offers in-depth reporting on a broad range of rural lifestyle topics and issues. In contrast, ABN provides the day’s top agribusiness news coupled with expert market analysis and farm weather forecast.

Media

Podcasting About Commodity Classic

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast-108 - CommodityClassicCastIt’s Commodity Classic week so why not have a ZimmCast about that? This week you’ll hear from Pat Morrow, BASF and Gene Hemphill, New Holland. They’re my sponsors for all the coverage you’re going to see and hear right here.

Let me remind you about another podcast, the CommodityClassicCast. I’m going to try to post all the interviews and other audio presentations we record to a podcast series. Set your podcast feed reader here.

To get us pumped up for all the activity in Tampa, FL listen in as Pat and Gene give us a preview of what growers can expect from their companies.

You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: Listen To ZimmCastZimmCast 108 (11 min MP3)

Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:

zimmcast108-2-26-07.mp3

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.

AgWired coverage of Commodity Classic
is made possible by: BASF and New Holland

Agribusiness, Audio, BASF, Commodity Classic, New Holland, ZimmCast

Nicholson Kovac Has New Creative Director

Chuck Zimmerman

Nicholson KovacPhil Gayter has joined Nicholson Kovac, Inc., as Director of Creative Services. You know Phil, it is a good thing to be philosophically in agreement with the company you work for!

“With a solid career built on creative and management positions at Leo Burnett in London and Chicago and Euro RSCG McConnaughy Tatham in Chicago, Phil’s creative leadership is perfect for us,” says Nick Nicholson, agency co-founder and executive vice president. “The fact he ran his own agency for five years adds a bit of entrepreneurial spirit that will be good for both our clients and our agency. We expect to see our creative excellence continue to rise with Phil at the creative helm.”

Nicholson Kovac conducted an extensive national search to find the right individual. “Nicholson Kovac was a very pleasant surprise,” commented Gayter. “Philosophically, we are in total agreement on what strategically grounded creative is all about. Great creative must be attention-getting, but it must get the job done for the clients first.”

Agencies

Rural Lifestyle Research From NAFB

Chuck Zimmerman

National Association of Farm BroadcastingThere’s some new research out from the National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB). It’s the “first comprehensive national survey of “rural lifestyle residents,” identifying that a substantial portion of rural households starting at only 3-plus acres raise companion horses and additional livestock, own tractors, and are active buyers of country-living products and services.”

The NAFB study measures this still-emerging consumer market segment at 26 percent of all U.S. households – and 69 million people. From a marketing standpoint, that dwarfs the roughly 2-million farmers and ranchers measured by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in today’s U.S. producer marketplace.

Respondents among 2,000 households across the 48-state sample expressed strong attachment to radio, as an information and entertainment medium, and to the individual stations they favor. The survey also collected extensive new data about ownership of companion and livestock animals, property energy sources, plans to construct out buildings, rural-based retailers favored, and way-of-life information sources.

Among key findings and insights from The NAFB Rural Lifestyle Report:

  • Residents are not just in “C” and “D” counties as defined by U.S. Census household counts and metropolitan proximity (Nielsen Media), but are also on acreage in outlying “urban circles” within “A” and “B” counties.
  • Stereotypes of low income, small market size, low employment, and limited disposable income – “myths of this market,” says Olson – are unfounded; in fact, income level for many exceeds the U.S. Census median income of $44,684.
  • Consumption of radio programming is strong, with 51-million age 18+ rural lifestyle adults being frequent listeners, and there is a marked appetite for traditional agricultural news (including weather and markets).

The national response sample was derived selectively from residents considered “not in a place” by the U.S. Census, meaning their household is not within an incorporated city, town, or village, or within a Census Data Place (CDP). The project was conducted by Ag Media Research, Sioux Falls, S.D., a member of CASRO (the Council of American Survey Research Organizations). AMR is well-known as a ratings and research provider to agribusiness media and marketers.

NAFB

Athenix Relocates

Chuck Zimmerman

AthenixI was not aware of Athenix until this afternoon. Well they’re moving and I guess that’s due to business being very, very good.

Following a year of significant growth, Athenix Corp. is moving its operations from Durham to Research Triangle Park today. The move is the latest indicator of success at Athenix, a leading biotechnology company that develops novel products and technologies for agricultural and sustainable industrial applications. The company anticipates continued growth in years to come.

On the heels of exceptional results from its 2006 field trials, Athenix announced in November that it is advancing its lead products into registration and commercial development. The field trials evaluated proprietary genes for resistance to key corn insect pests as well as tolerance to the world’s leading herbicide, glyphosate.

Agribusiness

John Deere Introduces PrecisionPays.com

Chuck Zimmerman

Precision PaysJohn Deere announces a new blog on precision agriculture, which you can find at PrecisionPays.com. The new site was designed and developed by BCS Communicatons, working with ZimmComm New Media (that’s us). So John Deere is jumping into the new media world.

Welcome to PrecisionPays.com, a site specifically designed to bring you the latest information and resources on guidance and other precision technology for agriculture. In fields across the country, more growers are making precision farming a way of life, no matter how large or small their operation, no matter what the crop. With increased input costs and the pressure to do more with less, growers are continually looking for ways to improve farming efficiencies, production and profitability. PrecisionPays.com was created with this in mind.

ZimmComm’s own Cindy Zimmerman will be posting regular content onto the site beginning this week and from Commodity Classic.

Besides the posts on PrecisionPays.com, John Deere is also running a regular audio program called the Precision Pays Minute. It’s being produced by Peter Shinn at Brownfield. The latest program is about the benefits of using Universal AutoTrac. You can listen to the latest installment here: precision-pays-allenbaugh.mp3

Agribusiness, Audio, John Deere

BASF Plant Health Scientists at Symposium

Chuck Zimmerman

BASF SymposiumI’d like to announce BASF as one of the companies that is sponsoring AgWired coverage of this year’s Commodity Classic. Thank you very much. This is going to be fun since the first activity I’ll be participating in at Classic will be the BASF “The Science Behind Plant Health” Symposium on Wednesday afternoon.

It’s going to be a chance to hear from BASF Scientists and Plant Health experts from the BASF world headquarters in Germany. It’s the only time this year when they’ll be in the United States to speak to the media. Count on posts and interviews from this event. They’ll also be included in the CommodityClassicCast too.

AgWired coverage of Commodity Classic
is made possible by: BASF and New Holland

BASF, Commodity Classic, New Holland

CommodityClassicCast Podcast

Chuck Zimmerman

I got to thinking this weekend that with all the interviews and audio we’ll be posting this week from Commodity Classic we ought to podcast it. It just makes it easier for a lot of people to go ahead and subscribe so they can listen when/where they want. So that’s why I’m announcing the CommodityClassicCast. Yep, a new podcast from ZimmComm New Media and found right here on AgWired. Our Commodity Classic sponsors will be sponsoring it too. More on them later.

For now let’s suffice it to say that this is a first and who better to do it than the pioneers in farm podcasting? Want to subscribe? Just use this link with whatever software you use to capture podcasts: CommodityClassicCast RSS (http://zimmcomm.biz/commodity-classic/cccast.xml). I personally recommend iTunes since it works so well with iPods.

The first episode is already recorded and it’s just a welcome from me but feel free to click and listen too (1 min mp3): cccast-1.mp3

If you’ve got any questions, please feel free to email me. Cindy and I are bound for Tampa early tomorrow. See you there.

Audio, BASF, Commodity Classic, New Holland

New Holland’s New Logo

Chuck Zimmerman

New Holland LogoA new logo and a new tractor, that’s the news from New Holland. Before we go into that any further let me thank New Holland in advance for their sponsorship of AgWired coverage of the Commodity Classic once again this year. They won’t be my only sponsor but it’ll be tomorrow before I announce more.

Tom LanoAt the National Farm Machinery Show New Holland unveiled a new logo in a very big way. You can see it here. To tell us about it I interviewed Tom Lano, Sales Manager, for New Holland.

Tom describes the logo in the interview but also talks about their new T7000 series tractor which they had on display at the show in Louisville. He says it’s state of the art and will be on display at all the shows.

Listen to my interview with Tom here (4 min): tom-lano.mp3

Agribusiness, Audio, Commodity Classic, New Holland, Tractor

Comic Festival Podcasts

Chuck Zimmerman

What? A post about a comic book show in New York? Why Chuck? I’ll tell you why. Because the show organizers are using new media to not only promote the show but “as a way to build up an online community surrounding the show.” Imagine if we had a Commodity Classic blog and podcast. What kinds of interviews would we have already conducted with people who are featured speakers or with some of the contest and award winners? Do you somehow think that would diminish the event? I don’t.

I highly recommend reading this article on Chief Marketer titled, “Pods and Cons: Podcasting Helps Reed Turn Conventions into Yearlong Events.” You can find the podcast online here. You know the cool thing about this is that we in agriculture have examples in other industries we can follow if we’re not actually leading the way.

Here’s a quote from the article that kind of says it all. “”What’s exciting about podcasts is it creates a way to extend a convention,” he says. “The podcast becomes a way to reach out to not only attendees but the industry who likes to reach those fans with compelling content year round. Think of it as a digital booth or showroom.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Podcasts