Giant sweet potatoes could help South Carolina get into the ethanol game and provide an alternative crop for farmers to replace tobacco. At the recent International Biomass Conference and Expo in St. Louis, Dr. Janice Ryan-Bohac attracted a lot of attention carrying around a sweet potato the size of a newborn baby. She’s the president of CAREnergy, Carolina Advanced Renewable …
Iowa Corn and State Universities Make Great Partners
Former Iowa Hawkeye and NBA basketball player, Ryan Bowen, was a master of the remote controlled cars at the Iowa Corn Growers Join The Team promotion at Iowa Speedway. Ryan, who is now the video coordinator for the men’s basketball team, was there to celebrate the recently announced partnership between Iowa’s corn growers and the state’s two major universities in …
Iowa State Football Coach Gets Competitive
Iowa State head football coach Paul Rhoads got competitive during this week’s Iowa Corn Join The Team Promotion at Iowa Speedway. Here he is with his rendition of “Gentlemen, start your engines.” You can hear it in the video I made from the event. Coach Rhoads says his team gave an “exhaustive effort” at the promotional event. He says the …
Ryan Hunter-Reay Beats A Corn Grower
Yesterday I posted the picture of Indy car driver Ryan Hunter-Reay getting the green flag in a pedal tractor race with Dick Gallagher, Iowa Corn Promotion Board Chairman. Here’s Ryan getting the checkered flag. I’ll see him race in the upcoming Iowa Corn Indy 250 at a speed somewhat higher than was exhibited in this tractor race and spoke with …
Learning All About Lessing-Flynn
In this week’s program I’m continuing my on-going series of interviews with the leadership at agricultural advertising and public relations agencies. Have I had an opportunity to do so with yours? I visited with Tom Flynn III, President, Lessing-Flynn, this week to learn what’s new. The first thing I learned is that they’re “old.” LOL. Actually, the agency was started …
GROWMARK Associate Program
Learning about various aspects of the GROWMARK system and where they might best fit is the goal of the company’s associate program and Heather Miller is working into her third rotation in the program this summer. Heather, pictured here on the left with GROWMARK Publications and News Specialist Karen Jones, has already spent six months in corporate communications, is currently …
New Chairman of Animal Agriculture Alliance
The new Chair of the Animal Agriculture Alliance is Dr. Chris Ashworth, Elanco Animal Health. During his term he want to further distribute the message about how safe, affordable and abundant food is to citizens all across America. That includes showcasing farmers who produce pork, poultry, beef and fish. He says “We want to be able to make it even …
Communicating With A Non-Farm Audience
What is the perception of farmers and ranchers? That’s the broader question that was being addressed by participants at the Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit according to Mary Kay Thatcher, American Farm Bureau Federation. She was one of the many people I had the pleasure to speak with. One of the things she got out of Frank Luntz’s presentation had …
Lessons From Europe
At the Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit we got an international lesson from Jim Sumner, President, USA Poultry & Egg Export Council. Jim says we have to look out for our own government policies and regulations or “we’re going to end up as bad or worse off than our friends in the European Union.” Let’s face it, regulations have been …
Food Marketing Words – Convenient, Safer, Healthier, Cleaner
Safer, healthier, convenient and cleaner. Those are words that Frank Luntz, Luntz Global, wanted people to take away from his remarks at the Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit. I was able to ask him one question afterward while he was signing books and that was what he hoped participants took away from his presentation. His answer, “I think it’s essential …