This morning at the NAFB convention a press conference was held the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC), the National Turkey Federation (NTF) and the National Meat Association (NMA) to release the results of an economic analysis of USDA’s proposed livestock and poultry marketing regulation – the so-called GIPSA rule. I’ve posted the audio of …
NAFB Scholarship Winners
The winners of this year’s NAFB Foundation scholarships were announced today during the Foundation luncheon. They include Denise Donley, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville; Taylor James, Kansas State University and Julie Martin, University of Wisconsin-Madison. They’re pictured with Taylor Brown, Northern Ag Network. I asked them how it felt to be selected and what they intend to do with their careers. …
Support NAFB Foundation
The NAFB Foundation board met prior to the start of the convention. Leading them was outgoing Foundation President, Taylor Brown, Northern Ag Network. Taylor says “things are rolling.” There are two new members to the board, Don Wick and Ken Root. Ken Anderson will be the new President of the Foundation. To support the effort Taylor says this is the …
NAFB Marketing & Promotion Advisory Board Meeting
The National Association of Farm Broadcasting Marketing and Promotion Advisory Board is meeting this morning at the convention. On the board as well as the NAFB board of directors is Kyle Bauer, center, KFRM. I spoke with Kyle during a break to get an update about the activities of the advisory board. Kyle says the research the group does is …
NAFB Executive Director Says Attendance Strong
The staff of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting is hard at work setting up for convention number sixty six. I caught a few of them during a discussion. The NAFB Executive Director is Mark Vail, pictured center. I spoke with Mark to get a short update on how things are going. It looks like attendance is going to be …
Woodruff Sweitzer in a Growth Phase
The ZimmCast series of interviews with agricultural marketing agency leadership continues with the co-founder of Woodruff Sweitzer, Terry Woodruff. Terry and his partner Steve Sweitzer both grew up in rural Mexico, Missouri which is just down the road a piece from Columbia where one of their several offices is located. Others are in Kansas City and Calgery, Alberta. The two …
Novus Celebrates Green Acres Farm
Novus International employees from around the world joined with the community of Montgomery County, Missouri and the agriculture industry statewide to celebrate the opening of their new research facility Green Acres Farm. “It was really important for us to find a welcoming community,” said Novus CEO Thad Simons at the ribbon cutting ceremony on Saturday. With him were Missouri Director …
Vagueness of GIPSA Proposal Concerns Montana Producer
The basic problem with the proposed Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) rule as far as Montana cow-calf producer Bill Donald is concerned is that it is just too vague. “We can have intelligent people that read it and come up with a very different analysis of what it will or won’t do,” Bill says. “It’s so hard to …
Dairy Business Driven By Social Media
At the beginning of the Alltech Global 500 I participated in a presentation on social media and I’ve been overhearing farmers talking about how to use it for their farm. During a discussion dinner last night I met a dairy farmer who has been using it to drive business on his farm. He’s a great example for all farmers. He’s …
Beef Producer Emphasizes Importance of Social Media To Ag
This year’s Alltech Global 500 includes a full program for beef producers. As we’ve said many times before, if you’re in the dairy business, you’re in the beef business. So, I spoke with one of the beef farmers here, Charles Miller. He’s a Kentucky cattleman so he didn’t have as far to go as many who are here from 29 …