What’s New on AgNewsWire.AgWired.com

Cindy Zimmerman

AgNewsWire.AgWired.comAs we announced last week at NAMA, our AgNewsWire.AgWired.com site is now THE place to go to get content you might have missed.

Since that announcement less than a week ago, here is what we have added:

Ag Workforce Coalition press conference on the Immigration Bill – audio
Fuels America press conference on sustainability from farm to fiber to fuel – audio
Becker Underwood and BASF media tour – interviews and photos
2013 Advanced Biofuels Leadership Conference – interviews and photos
Chicken Media Summit – interviews and photos

All content is available for media use FREE of charge. If you want to give us credit, that’s fine, but not necessary. We just want to be your source for ag news content when you need it. Please consider subscribing to the RSS feed for AgNewsWire.AgWired.com so you will be notified by email whenever new content is added.

Media, ZimmComm Announcement

The Latest from AgFanatics

Cindy Zimmerman

agfanatics-2Check out the latest AgFanatics podcasts, for your listening pleasure

In episode #27, the AgFanatics talk with Dr. Gary Schnitkey with the University of Illinois to get his analysis on the American Farm Bureau Federation’s farm bill proposal.

Episode #28 discusses the reason behind the recent market failure. Also, is there some debate as to how much grain is actually being shipped out of South America??

The AgriVisor AgFanatics podcast is updated twice weekly and can be found on Itunes or right from the front page at www.agrivisor.com.

Agribusiness, Farming, GROWMARK, Markets, Weather

An Earth Day Message

Cindy Zimmerman

print-emailGot an email today from an employee of GROWMARK with a great message that I wanted to share for Earth Day week.

I’m sure you’ve seen email signatures saying something like “Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail!” This one is a little different.

Notice: It’s OK to print this e-mail.

Paper is a biodegradable, renewable, sustainable product made from trees and corn starch. Growing and harvesting trees and corn provides jobs for millions of Americans. Working forests are good for the environment and provide clean air and water, wildlife habitat and carbon storage. Thanks to improved forest and agricultural management, we have more trees and corn in America today than we had 100 years ago.

I love it! Planning to add it to my email signatures in the future. How about you? Thanks GROWMARK!

Corn, Environment, Farming, Forestry, GROWMARK

Checkoff Launches New Advertising Campaign

Talia Goes

Checkoff CampaignThe new “Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner.” consumer advertising campaign is premiering this month, bringing the recognizable tagline to older millennials and Gen-Xers. The new campaign, funded by the beef checkoff, will feature sizzling beef recipes, juicy details about essential nutrients and the voice of one of Hollywood’s most promising new talents.

The new “Above All Else” campaign aims to reach the next generation of beef eaters – the older millennial and Gen-Xer, aged 25 to 44 –who care about food and nutrition.

While keeping many brand mainstays, such as Aaron Copeland’s “Rodeo” music, the new beef campaign is switching up the voice behind the famous words, “Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner.” Sparking a new interest for the older millennial and Gen X target, Garrett Hedlund’s voice will take a starring role in the campaign’s radio spots. Garrett personally represents healthful living, and his strong, warm voice is perfect for provoking new understanding about beef.

Advertising, Agribusiness

Unleash Your Creativity

Chuck Zimmerman

Josh LinknerThe second general session at the 2013 Agri-Marketing Conference was all about “Unleashing Creativity” with Josh Linkner. Josh just happened to be walking by the ZimmComm booth in the Connection Point when I had a chance to visit with him to get a take-away message from his keynote presentation.

Josh told me that we are often faced with what seems to be an insurmountable problem. He says, “History shows us that by taking a path less traveled, by doing something that’s never been done before, we can often solve a problem in a unique way that drives far better results than the traditional and obvious solution.” He “encourages courage,” and says that companies should develop a culture that celebrate new ideas rather than punishing them.

Listen to my interview with Josh here: Interview with Josh Linkner

2013 Agri-Marketing Conference Photo Album

Audio, NAMA

What Consumers Want

Jamie Johansen

13cms-60The National Chicken Council was one of the sponsors for the recent Chicken Media Summit held in New Bern, North Carolina. The event opened the doors for media to tour the complete life of a broiler and ask questions from experts from the poultry community.

I sat down with Senior Vice President of the National Chicken Council, Bill Roenigk, after he moderated a panel with chicken company executives. He shared why this event was so important to not only chicken, but to the food industry as a whole.

“We think this event is important because we are hearing from consumers and people who follow the industry that you need to be more open and more transparent. You need to show people where their food comes from. It’s a criticism, but not a criticism just in chicken. It’s the entire food industry. We need to understand better where are food is and what is in our food. So, it finally registered with us that we need to find an opportunity to be more transparent, more open. And Sanderson Farms was very gracious and agreed to do that. They have a wonderful facility and I not only enjoyed seeing the people going through the tour, but also the questions they asked. We sit in our offices and think we know what people know, but we discovered that there really is a lot more people would like to know.”

Bill also hit on issues concerning sustainability, what our global market is demanding and the world’s outlook for the future of the poultry industry.

Listen to my interview with Bill here: Bill Roenigk

Check out photos from the event here: 2013 Chicken Media Summit Photo Album

Audio, Chicken Media Summit, Food, Poultry

Max with NAMA Conference Wrapup

Chuck Zimmerman

During the 2013 Agri-Marketing Conference we received a Frontier Focus- daily email about what was going on. This also included links to Max Armstrong doing video updates. Maybe we should call them MaxTube! Here’s his wrapup video.

NAMA, Video

Why GROWMARK Loves NAMA

Cindy Zimmerman

nama13-amyAt the National Agri-Marketing Conference last week I had the chance to catch up with Amy Bradford, GROWMARK manager of corporate communications, to find out why NAMA is important to them.

Amy says the opportunity to network with others in the industry, but even more important is the support of future agri-marketing professionals. “NAMA is very supportive and committed to developing youth leaders,” Amy said, noting that both Illinois State University and the University of Illinois student NAMA chapters took part in this year’s student competition. That is an important component for GROWMARK, which has a very strong internship program that helps them recruit future employees.

GROWMARK is active in NAMA on the chapter level in the Heartland chapter and Amy says they do enjoy being able to receive recognition for good work through the awards program, but it also gives them a chance to get new ideas. “I was involved in judging the NAMA awards this year and you do get to see new ideas, new products, new ways to communicate those products and services,” she said.

Amy adds that she strongly encourages young professionals getting into the agri-marketing field to get involved in NAMA. “Because it does connect them to other people in the industry where they can build friendships and relationships and share ideas and grow themselves personally and professionally,” said Amy.

Listen to my interview with Amy here: Interview with Amy Bradford, GROWMARK

2013 Agri-Marketing Conference Photo Album

Agribusiness, Audio, GROWMARK, NAMA

Let’s Have a Digilogue

Chuck Zimmerman

Anders Sorman-Nilsson“Digilogue — Where High Tech Meets High Touch” was the title of the opening keynote presentation at the 2013 Agri-Marketing Conference. Our speaker was Anders Sorman-Nilsson, Thinque. Anders spoke to us about three major trends impacting the agricultural economy now and into the future. Those include the idea of digital disruption, that even though everything is being digitized we can’t forget that our hearts are still analog and that consumer demands of farmers are now shifting.

Anders wanted attendees to leave with the idea that “You need to find the balance in your marketing between tradition and technology, between the old school and the new school ways of reaching your farmers.” He also says, “Don’t throw the analog baby away with the digital bath water.”

Listen to my interview with Anders here: Interview with Anders Sorman-Nilsson

2013 Agri-Marketing Conference Photo Album

Audio, NAMA

Update on BASF Becker Underwood Integration

Cindy Zimmerman

Becker Underwood and BASF hosted ag media representatives on Friday for a tour of the plant facility in St.Joseph, Missouri with an update on inoculant and polymer technology, as well as progress on the integration of Becker Underwood into the new Functional Crop Care division of BASF.

becker-peterBASF officially closed the deal to acquire Becker Underwood last November and announced some of the integration logistics during the Seed Expo in December. Becker Underwood president and CEO Peter Innes says they have made steady progress to make that happen since that time. “We’ve been dealing with the most important aspect of the business, which is the people,” Peter said. “We’re now focusing on this new Functional Crop Care business and the components of that business which are seed solutions, biological solutions and solutions beyond crop protection, which deal with abiotic stresses and challenges of that nature.”

Innes has headed up Becker Underwood for over a decade and has now accepted the position of global senior advisor to the Crop Protection Division with BASF. “This has been my life’s work, particularly biologicals,” he said, noting some of the difficulty in letting go but that he believes that Becker Underwood is in good hands with BASF.

Listen to my interview with Peter here: Dr. Peter Innes, Becker Underwood chairman & CEO

Get more audio and photos from the Becker Underwood plant tour on AgNewsWire.AgWired.com.

Audio, BASF, Crop Protection