Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation Awards

Chuck Zimmerman

CFWF Award WinnersThe concluding banquet at the Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation Conference included the annual Writers and Broadcasters Awards. There are fourteen categories with Gold/Silver/Bronze winners in each. The categories ranged from Television and Radio Reporting to News Release, Website and Feature and News Photographs.

Here is the group of winners or those who were accepting for a winner not attending the conference. Congratulations to all of them! Besides the plaques, the prizes included $500 for Gold, $200 for Silver and $100 for Bronze.

2013 Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation Photo Album

Media

CFWF Senators Report

Chuck Zimmerman

John MorrissA tradition at the Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation Conference is the Senators Report. The senators are the past presidents of CFWF who are in attendance. They gather on the final afternoon of the conference to discuss important and worldly things that are then reported during the awards banquet.

Giving the report this year was John Morriss, Farm Business Communications. I recorded it so you can listen in. You’ll hear that we were having quite a good time by this point in the program on Saturday evening. By the way, John was part of The GMO’s who played later that same evening.

Listen to the Senator’s Report here: Senators Report

2013 Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation Photo Album

Audio, Media

Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation in Growth Mode

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast 413Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. In this week’s program we’re going to learn about the Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation from the past President and the new President.

Tamara LeighFirst up is Tamara Leigh, Shiny Bird Communications, who passed the gavel of leadership during last week’s Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation (CFWF) Conference. Tamara not only does agricultural communications work but also performed as a member of the band, The GMO’s, during the closing awards banquet.

One of the the things that Tamara finds most exciting about the CFWF is the community and the relationships that are built with communications professionals, “We bring together journalists and communicators from across the industry and that allows us to build the relationships that make telling the stories that much easier.” Tamara says that the organization has been going through a period of growth during her term. Two years ago the CFWF hosted the IFAJ Congress and that helped launch this new phase in several ways.

Lisa GuentherNext up in the program is Lisa Guenther, Grainews, who will now be President of CFWF for a two year term. Lisa is pictured with Sasquatch who paid us a visit just before our closing banquet.

Lisa says that the CFWF has drafted a communications plan and she will continue to work on implementing it. That includes internal communications and raising the profile with mainstream media and recruiting new members. She also mentions the new Legacy Fund which has been created from money the CFWF has accumulated over the years. They are looking at how to best spend and invest the funds for members.

Lisa also gets in a plug for the 2014 CFWF Conference which will be held in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Oct. 2-5.

Listen to this week’s program here: Old & New CFWF Presidents

Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsors, GROWMARK, locally owned, globally strong and Monsanto, Roundup Ready Plus, for their support.

2013 Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation Photo Album

Audio, Media

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    Zimfo Bytes

  • MGEX announced the results of its annual Board of Directors (Board) election, held October 3, 2013.
  • NCBA is hosting its first annual National Anthem Singing Contest to determine the singer of the Star Spangled Banner at the 2014 Opening General Session Tuesday, Feb. 4, and at the Grand Ole Opry House during the Cowboy’s Night at the Opry II.
  • The Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City’s 10 year anniversary will be October 16th at the luncheon meeting featuring speaker, Sam Graves.
  • Stason Animal Health is relocating its headquarters from Vancouver, Washington to Kansas City, Kansas where it will operate from the Biological & Technology Center on the University of Kansas Medical Center Campus.
Zimfo Bytes

Touring Farms on a Bike

Chuck Zimmerman

CFWF Bike TourI chose the Scenic Cycle Tour for my tour yesterday at the Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation Conference. As a biker it sounded like a unique opportunity and it was. We had a beautiful sunny day and the farm visits were fantastic. I’ve got a lot of stories to share, most of which will need to wait until I get back to the States and have better internet access. We’re in a gorgeous resort but they’re not well equipped on the wifi front.

Hopefully by the end of today I’ll have most of my photos uploaded at least from yesterday and maybe part of today. We’ve got presentations and professional improvement sessions today followed by tonight’s awards banquet. So there is a lot more to come.

Post Update: Here’s a short video clip of the riders.

2013 Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation Photo Album

Media

Governor of International Marketing Group Announced

Jamie Johansen

imageCharleston|Orwig announces agency President Marcy Tessman has been elected to a 3-year term as Governor of TAAN Worldwide. TAAN is an international alliance of marketing communications agencies.

TAAN is one of the largest independent networks of advertising and communications agencies and has been around since 1936. Today they have 51 member companies operating in 32 countries and 67 cities.

“Marcy is a born leader with business experience that will prove invaluable as she works with other TAAN Worldwide governors from around the globe to guide the group forward,” said Mark Gale, CEO, Charleston|Orwig.

Gale added that they are routinely serving clients with global marketing and reputation management needs. “We’re seeing the food system becoming more of a global discussion by the day. Our participation in TAAN provides us the opportunity to engage with agency leaders from many other countries. It’s a great fit for Charleston|Orwig, as we continue to expand our base of multinational clients within the food system.”

Advertising, Agencies, Food

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  • GSI named Kyle J. Kuepker as Grain Division Director, North America, to lead and provide strategic direction for GSI’s North America Grain business across farm and commercial markets.
  • The Canola Council of Canada announces the launch of Canolamazing.com, a new website showcasing the facts and firsthand accounts of using canola meal for dairy rations.
  • The Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and United Fresh Produce Association (United Fresh) are pleased to announce a three-year agreement to co-locate the organizations’ respective trade shows: United Fresh 2014 and FMI Connect, the Global Food Retail Experience. Registration opens today for the June 10-13, 2014 events in Chicago.
  • Industry veterans Randy Anderson and Thad Hinkle have joined the Swine Division sales and marketing team at Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc. (BIVI).
Zimfo Bytes

Your Pre-Harvest Checklist

Melissa Sandfort

Insights WeeklySeems like just yesterday we discussed the benefits of pre-season planting preparation, and now we find ourselves staring a pre-harvest checklist straight in the eye. But keep in mind that servicing your precision ag equipment prior to harvest is equally as important as in the spring.

Ag Leader Technology is helping to give growers a few tips on where to start:
• Create a backup of your spring information
• Verify that you are running the latest version of SMS
• Read in any remaining files from earlier this year
• Export information out of SMS Software to your precision ag display

Luke James, Ag Leader Software Sales Specialist, says taking the appropriate steps to check your equipment before harvest will save you time and money in the long-run. Listen to James explain.

James tells us why following this checklist is so important. Listen to James explain.

Once you have finished inspecting your yield monitoring components and have properly calibrated your machine you are ready for fall harvest to begin!

Tech Support will begin weekend hours for the 2013 season starting Sept. 7 for any questions you may have. Tech Support can be reached Monday through Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. year round at 515-232-5363.

Hours:
Saturday: 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Sunday: 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Become a fan of Ag Leader on Facebook today, and get the latest precision ag videos on the YouTube channel. For more information about Ag Leader products and services, or to visit the blog site, go to www.agleader.com.

Ag Leader, Agribusiness

BASF Engages Growers

Cindy Zimmerman

Grower engagement on both the people and services level is important for BASF Crop Protection to ensure they are doing all they can to help farmers grow smarter, market smarter and live smarter.

basf-germany-growersDuring one of the breakout sessions at the BASF Global Press conference in Germany this week, we heard from (left to right) Hannes Lutz – vice president of business development; Kaleb Hellwig – U.S. innovation specialist; and Elmar Groiss – global head of information technology.

Hannes explained that they have found four main fundamentals that farmers have in common. “First, farmers feel they are in a competition … with their neighbors and on the world market,” he said. “Second, they are part of a community. They want to be connected with their neighbors, other farmers, and experts.” They also believe they are food providers and stewards of the land. Interview with Hannes Lutz, BASF Crop Protection VP of business development

Among the ways BASF is engaging with growers is through a new position called the Innovation Specialist, which Kaleb says is the best job he has ever had in 17 years with BASF. “I travel every day, meet customers, help identify some of the challenges and problems they have, and then put plans together to help them solve that,” said Kaleb, who is based on the western side of Missouri. Interview with Kaleb Hellwig, BASF Innovation Specialist

When it comes to services, BASF has a couple of new technological developments in the works, according to Elmar. One is DigiLab, which offers a microscope quality digital camera combined with a tablet application that helps identify plant diseases. “Farmers in the field can take a high quality picture of the disease, have an on-tablet comparison with a library, but they can also send it back to BASF experts to get detailed analysis,” he said. DigiLab is now being used in Brazil and is expected to be available in the United States soon. Interview with Elmar Groiss, BASF Global Head of Information Technology

2013 BASF Germany Photos

Agribusiness, Audio, BASF, Farming, Technology

Support Young Agrarians

Chuck Zimmerman

Sara DentHere’s a group that you need to put on your radar. The Young Agrarians. I think you’ll hear more from them from my visit to Canada this week.

But to get us started, Sara Dent spoke during our opening reception here at the Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation Conference. She gave us an overview of this organization.

Young Agrarians is a grassroots initiative made up of agriculturalists and media conspirators intent on growing food sustainably. Inspired by The Greenhorns to build a network Canada-side to celebrate, connect and recruit young farmers – the Young Agrarians are the movers and shakers of a new agrarians movement: young agriculturalists, farmers, urban farmers, market and community gardeners, community groups and academics, organizations and the public who want to ecologically rebuild, promote and inspire the agriculture of our country. We are using the power of media and the internet, and bringing people together in real time- to build community and grow ‘good, clean, and fair’ food.

You can listen to Sara here: Listen to Sara Dent

By the way, if you’d like to support this effort they could use your help. Learn more here.

2013 Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation Photo Album

Ag Groups, Audio