During our concluding lunch to the 2013 NAMA Fall Conference we celebrated with our new Professional Development Awards of Excellence. Let’s start with Gary Sakin, Monsanto, for Marketing Communications. Gary joined Monsanto in November of 2006, and has made impactful changes to how Monsanto approaches branding, measures marcom impact, and engages with its audiences. Currently, Gary is a key member …
Country Financial at Farm Progress Show
At the Farm Progress Show last month, we learned more about the services Country Financial offers for farmers and ranchers from Kristin Kramer and Julie Walters. Kristin says Country Financial realizes that farming is a risky business and there are many ways to limit further issues and protect your farm. “I like to think of everybody like my dad,” Kristin …
Foro PAIS Promotes Argentina’s Soy Complex
Foro PAIS – Productores Agro Industriales de Soja – was born in 2011 with the purpose of promoting the Argentine soy agro-industry and we learned more about it during the IFAJ 2013 Congress. Foro PAIS Communications and Institutional Relations Director Dr. Adrián Figueroa says soybean production is a huge industry for Argentina. “Soybean production in Argentina in the last ten …
Students at NAMA Fall Conference
The NAMA Fall Conference is a great place for professional improvement for agrimarketers who want to take their career to the next level. It’s also a good place for students to achieve the same thing. At this conference I visited with three students from the University of Illinois, (L-R) Kelley Fornoff, Ben Rakes and Ellen Reeder. I asked them why …
Iowa Board of Regent Head Promotes Ag Education
The president of the Iowa Board of Regents is a great promoter of agricultural education in the United States as “Today’s Solution for Tomorrow’s World.” Bruce Rastetter visited the 2013 Farm Progress Show last month to talk about the importance of agricultural education and the vast number of career choices available for students of all backgrounds. “I think the biggest …
Coach Billick on Elements for Success
A former NFL head coach had no problem waking us up as our morning keynote speaker at the 2013 NAMA Fall Conference. Brian Billick, Super Bowl winning coach for the Baltimore Ravens and now an analyst for Fox Sports, talked to us about “The Essential Elements for Success.” He has lots of sports stories to go along with it. I …
Bayer Says ‘Good-Bye’ to Bugs
Insecticides Product Manager for Bayer CropScience, Lee Hall, spoke with Chuck during the recent Farm Progress Show. They discussed the expansion of Belt throughout the United States and what is coming down the pipeline in terms of insecticides for the company. Lee also stressed the importance of rotational use in insecticides and that it is one factor growers tend to …
2013 NAMA Fall Conference
The 2013 NAMA Fall Conference is underway in St. Louis and attendance is great with about 200 registered! That’s the most since sometime way back when it was the Issues Forum and held in Washington, DC. How many of you remember that? The Chair of the Fall Conference Committee is Sara Steever, Paulsen Marketing. We sat down at the end …
Growth Energy Praises New Holland Biofuels Support
At the 2013 Farm Progress Show, representatives from Growth Energy were pleased to be part of the New Holland Club Blue event for dealers and customers. “New Holland is a fantastic company, they produce top notch equipment, but they also are willing to step up for rural America,” said Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis. “What we’ve seen over the last …
Argentina’s Export Tariffs
During the IFAJ Congress, I was very surprised to learn that Argentina has export tariffs on a number of agricultural commodities, including corn and soybeans. I understand import tariffs, but export tariffs would seem to do nothing but hurt a country’s agricultural industry. “Argentina has export taxes on almost every product that we export, but in the case of grain …