AGROTAIN International had some big news to talk about today at the Ag Media Summit Info Expo – the company has signed an agreement to sell its assets to Koch Agronomic Services, LLC, a subsidiary of Koch Fertilizer, LLC. AGROTAIN VP of Global Marketing Jeff Whetstine, pictured here with Dr. Harold Reetz of Reetz Agronomics, gave Chuck the lowdown in …
Ag Media Summit, Xbox 360 and BASF
The Ag Media Summit, Xbox 360 and BASF adds up to something fun for one lucky ag journalist attending this year’s event. BASF, our conference coverage sponsor, has a drawing in their InfoExpo booth. While you’re there you can also take their Innovation Quotient quiz to find out if you’re Techie, Wired or Traditional. If you’re Techie you get a …
Retail and Acquisitions Put the GROW in GROWMARK
Retail businesses and acquisitions really put the “Grow” in the GROWMARK system. Shelly Kruse is GROWMARK vice president of retail and acquisitions and I spoke with her earlier this year about her job. “I work a lot with our retail divisions, which are member cooperatives that have actually merged into GROWMARK,” Shelly said. Three of those retail divisions are located …
Ag Media Summit Update From USFRA
One of our sessions at the Ag Media Summit is titled, “Of course our food is safe,” says modern ag – But is anybody listening? The presentation was made by leadership members of the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance. The Chairman is Bob Stallman, American Farm Bureau Federation, seen at the podium. I visited with him before the session started. …
ACT Update
Since we met the new leadership of AAEA and LPC, how about saying hello to the leaders of the ACT? Here’s the leadership team for the Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow. I spoke with Jessica England, President and Lauren Greaves, First Vice President. I met them earlier this year during National Ag Day Activities. The ACT holds meetings in conjunction with …
Meet New AAEA and LPC Presidents
The ZimmCast is produced this week in the lobby/registration area at the Agricultural Media Summit. I’m posting as the first break is ending and now it’s time for more professional development sessions. My interviews were recorded on a new app I have for my iPhone. They didn’t come out sounding as good as I’d like but they are okay. In …
Peanut Proud Helping Tornado Victims
Peanut Proud was an effort started two years ago when the peanut industry faced the salmonella outbreak that threatened consumer perceptions of healthy peanut butter. When the industry came through the challenge stronger than before, Peanut Proud started looking for a way to give back to the people, and that opportunity came without warning when a string of tornadoes struck …
New AgVocate Nick Lowery
Attendees at the Ag Media Summit heard from former NFL All-Pro Nick Lowery today. He talked about turing adversity into victory. I made it to the very end of his presentation due to another event that I’ll be writing about later. However, I did ask him what message he hoped AMS folks took away with them. I’ll let you listen …
Marketing Wyffels Hybrids
The Wyffels Hybrids Corn Strategies greeting committee included communications manager, Jill Loehr (center). I asked her how she’s finding success marketing this independent seed company. She says, “I think one of the things we have to do is stand out. We can’t afford to let someone flip past our ad or not pay attention to our radio or some of …
BASF Sponsoring Coverage of Ag Media Summit
The man who started us using the term googlable is none other than Nick Fassler, Technical Market Manager, BASF. In fact, he’s also the inspiration for the google juice served at the ZimmComm booth during the Agri-Marketing Conference this year. So let’s make him even more googlable, especially because BASF is one of the sponsors for my coverage of the …