Two celebrity activists have lent their voice to the need to feed hungry children in America – Scarlett Johansson and Jeremy Renner. Feeding America teamed up with them and the Ad Council on this project. You can see a Johansson psa below. “My family grew up relying on public assistance to help provide meals for our family,” said Scarlett Johansson. …
McCormick Company Plays Together Well with sandbox
McCormick Company recently announced becoming part of the sandbox agency. According to Mark Perrin, President of McCormick and a principal with sandbox, the agencies that make up sandbox “play together well.” I spoke with Mark about this new relationship. sandbox is a full service advertising agency established through the combination of complementary entrepreneurial firms that share the “play together well” …
First Doan Award Presented
The very first Doan award honoring Excellence in Reporting Agriculture was presented at Washington Watch this week to Michelle Rook, managing farm director at WNAX in Yankton, SD. The Doan is named after Stewart Doan, a farm broadcaster and senior editor at Agri-Pulse, who passed away suddenly in May 2012. He was known for his passion for politics and determination …
Chicken Litter – A Hot Commodity
Jenny Rhodes, Extension Educator for University of Maryland in Queen Anne’s County and local poultry farmer, was asked to attend the 2015 Chicken Media Summit to talk about chicken manure. For her first 10 years in extension, Jenny wrote nutrient management plans. These plans are state mandated and any farmer meeting it’s requirements must have one for their operation. “In …
GROWMARK Crop Update
Another 10% of the nation’s corn crop was planted last week, bringing the total now a couple of points ahead of last year but still behind the five year average. According to the latest progress report from USDA, farmers now have 19% of the corn crop in the ground and two percent has emerged, most of it in non-Corn Belt …
Anniversary of Bayer Bee Care Center
Bayer CropScience celebrated the first anniversary of their North American Bee Care Center located in RTP, NC. The center is open for public tours and today there was a lot of touring going on. Thanks to Jeff Donald for a photo. Wish we could have been there. After some lunch time remarks for the media to update them on key …
NCGA Staff Changes
The National Corn Growers Association has made some staff changes designed to emphasize market development and sustainability. For one, NCGA will begin an immediate search for a Vice President of Market Development, who will be responsible for managing marketing initiatives to build demand for ethanol, livestock feed, biobased products and food uses of corn. In addition, NCGA announced that Fred …
Zimfo Bytes
Steve Sweitzer, Woodruff Sweitzer chief creative officer and agency principal, will retire effective April 22. Swanson Russell has named Megan Carroll to associate interactive producer in its Lincoln office. On May 19, the North Carolina Biotechnology Center’s AgBiotech Initiative is again convening ag biotech entrepreneurs, investors, researchers, and technology scouts for the third Ag Biotech Entrepreneurial Showcase in Research Triangle …
How Will High Path Avian Flu Impact Industry?
Our latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “What is your favorite alternative fuel (to gasoline)?” A hands down winner in this week’s poll on alternative fuels was ethanol. Which is not a surprise. However, many may be surprised to see the clear runner-up was solar. We had many chime in for the other category. A few of those included: algae diesel, …
Hoard’s Dairyman’s Acquisition of Hay & Forage Grower
A company with a long history of innovating in the dairy world is taking over a publication that covers a wide variety of feed for cattle, especially in the dairy realm. Hoard’s Dairyman magazine recently bought Hay & Forage Grower, including the publication’s database. I met with Gary Vorpahl, Vice President at Hoard’s, during the Agri-Marketing Conference to talk about …