RFA Ethanol Podcast

Posing In Front of Work Station

Chuck Zimmerman

Chuck & CindyAren’t we cute? We had a nice photographer here a couple weeks ago since the Jefferson City Business Times was doing an article on us. This is the picture he shot.

I wish they had a website so I could link you to the article but apparently not. At least it’s a nice picture in front of one of our work stations.

Uncategorized

New Valent Brand Manager

Chuck Zimmerman

Joe ShortThere’s a new Valent brand manager in town and he’s Joseph Short.

Short will be responsible for marketing a growing line of quality products from Valent including such leading brands as Prism® Herbicide, Select® Herbicide and Valent’s newest product: Select Max™ with Inside Technology™. His efforts will be focused on various markets including soybean, cotton, oilseeds, legumes, peanuts and vegetables. (Full Release)

Agribusiness

Nitragin Media Kit On A Memory Stick

Chuck Zimmerman

NitraginThe folks at AdFarm covered all the bases when it came time to send out news on Nitragin’s acquisition of Agribiotics, Inc. Not only did they include acquisition information but also product information.

This came packaged in a very sturdy green plastic logo’d binder. In it were an introductory Nitragin USB Memory Stickletter from the VP of Sales & Marketing, news releases, FAQ’s and contact information. Also included was all of the above in electronic form on a logo’d 64MB USB Flash Drive. And just to make sure we had it all, the information was emailed out, which is how I first received it.

That’s covering all your bases in making sure the reporter gets your information.

And, yes, I did check to make sure the releases were posted to the company’s website last week when this was announced.

Agencies, Agribusiness, Public Relations

Benchmarking in New Seeding Resource

Chuck Zimmerman

Harry SiemensWhile pioneers in the cropping business used the tools at their disposal, often relying on hard, sweat of the brow work, gut feelings and a blank want-list paper at the kitchen table, today’s farmer-entrepreneur has a multitude of resources, often at his fingertips.

A Saskatchewan firm is offering a new Internet based farm management system to prairie grain producers saying benchmarking its unique strength. Developed by Leo Kosokowsky, an agricultural Consultant based in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, calls the system AgMpower. “Since the system is Internet based, producers are able to compare their costs, returns, margins and seeding intentions with other participating producers,” said Kosokowsky. “Even the best managers can improve their operations by benchmarking.”

Participating producers have a password to access their account at www.agmpower.ca. On the site, producers can adjust their seeding intentions, price projections and expense assumptions as conditions warrant. By accurately calculating the cost of production for each grain, producers can determine their breakeven prices and do a superior job of marketing. The company says the real strength of AgMpower, and what makes it unique is benchmarking. While maintaining confidentiality, the site makes the aggregate information available to producers who in turn make their information available to the system. Producers are able to determine if their overhead costs per acre are lower or higher than average. They are also able to watch as overall seeding intentions and expected revenues figures adjust through the year. This provides valuable insights into the marketplace.

The company markets AgMpower to producers online and through local suppliers and advisors. At a cost of $300 per year, a farmer can plan, benchmark and view aggregate seeding intentions and crop margins.

Siemens Says

International

FFA Officer Blogs

Chuck Zimmerman

FFAI just found out that the FFA officers are blogging. If you haven’t seen their blogs you can find a list of them here. Thanks to Cyndi Young for the heads up on her blog. She also found the Ohio FFA Officer blog too.

Back to the national officers. Here’s links to their individual blogs:

Travis Jett
Jessie Geib
Ryan Peterson
Erica Der
Anita Estes
Stuart Joy

If any more FFA’ers have a blog out there please let us know.

Uncategorized

ZimmCast Interview With Monsanto

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast63 - Interview With Mica DeLongThis week I’ve got an interview with Monsanto Public Affairs Manager, Mica DeLong. Mica and I talked about their Future Ag Journalist Fellowship and what they thought of having students blog the Commodity Classic on AgWired.

In the interview Mica says for example, “We learned a lot about blogging. We didn’t really realize the power of it. And when we got back to the office, myself and my colleague, and we realized how many people did actually read Margy and Mary’s blogs and just found it fascinating to see the show through their eyes, we realized what a quick connection it can deliver back home. And what a different kind of connection, rather than just reading an article or hearing a broadcast, that the blogging was really personal.” Mica says that this experience will be helpful to Monsanto as they look at how they deliver their message to their customers in the future.

You can listen to this week’s program here: Listent To ZimmCast ZimmCast 63 (13 min 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.

Audio, Commodity Classic, Podcasts, ZimmCast

Checking In After Being Away

Chuck Zimmerman

Boy did I need some time away from the phone and computer. 2 1/2 days without a mobile phone, email, internet, computer, etc. I highly recommend this for everyone at least once a year.

I was afraid the inbox would be bad but I only have 215 emails to wade through after deleting 150 spam ones. The blog only had 19 spam comments to get rid of. Not as bad as I thought.

I almost didn’t leave. Our hosting company decided to move our server last week right before I left and as of Friday morning several of our websites weren’t fully functional. I took a chance and left anyway. By the time I arrived and my retreat location they were up and running. That was a nice feeling to have.

The main reason we moved servers was to provide our clients with even more services and options. We already host several client websites but now we can offer even more services in addition to the design and installation of your website! Boy am I glad that’s over with.

I’ve got a lot of things to post for you over the next several days. I just hope I can fit them all in. There’s a lot of good new information to share.

Uncategorized

Posting Vacation

Chuck Zimmerman

Actually I’ll be incommunicado for a couple days on an annual retreat. Gotta re-charge those batteries. Cindy might post something if she gets time otherwise you’re stuck without me until Sunday evening sometime. Lots of good information came in today and I would have posted more of it but this server move has created some challenges.

This means that there will be lots more coming so feel free to browse back through posts you might have missed.

Until then . . .

Uncategorized

South African Milkman Is Blogging

Chuck Zimmerman

Leon The Milkman BlogHere’s a great example of how you can use a blog to accomplish a communications goal. You need to meet Leon the Milkman. He’s a blogger in South Africa who was fed up with all the negative information about dairy on the internet. He’s also got a website at Dairy-Info.org. He’s offering a free dairy dictionary if you visit either of the sites and register.

Leon the Milkman says that he finds it quite easy to get new issues to discuss on his blog – he just writes about everything that happens during his workday. He finds blogs to be the easiest way to get his ideas on the Internet and also likes that he can easily change the template and look of his site, using the WordPress Blog Leon The Milkmanformat. This comes in handy with changing seasons or wanting to change the blog’s look for a special holiday, like making everything green for St. Patrick’s Day.

“I find it so easy to just sit back at the end of a day and writing something short for the blog – it even helps to get perspective – much like writing in a journal would.” Leon philosophizes, milk in hand. Yes, he blogs in the evening, because mornings are for fresh milk deliveries of course.

We can all learn from a little from Leon.

International

The Best Time To Send Email

Chuck Zimmerman

Exact TargetI posted this last night but it got deleted in our server move (which is still in process). I’m sure I wrote this differently but here’s today’s creativity.

The question of when to send out an email or e-newsletter is definitely one everybody has an opinion on. Now we have some interesting research from Exact Target to help us decide. Guess what. It’s Friday. Of all days. I wouldn’t have thought so but . . .

Emails sent on Friday had the highest average open rate in 2005, according to the 2005 Response Rate Study by on-demand email service provider ExactTarget. The most comprehensive study to date includes data collected during the 2005 calendar year from more than 4,000 organizations, 230,000 email sends and 2.7 billion email messages.

“ExactTarget’s 2004 study asserted that there is no such thing as a universal best day to send email, and we still hold this view,” said Morgan Stewart, director of strategic services at ExactTarget and author of the study. “The results of our 2005 study show that organizations still must conduct their own tests to determine which day of the week works best for them, but all organizations should consider Friday and Sunday as viable challengers.”

According to the study, Friday had the highest average open rate for 14 months straight – from October 2004 through November 2005. Read More

Internet