Top Posts in 2012

Farm Journal Gets Commodity Update

Chuck Zimmerman January 3, 2013

Big announcement from Farm Journal and Commodity Update today!

Farm Journal Media announced it has acquired the majority interest in Commodity Update, the leading mobile media company serving agriculture. Farm Journal acquired a minority stake in the company two years ago.

Joel Jaeger will continue to serve as CEO of Commodity Update, will continue to maintain a significant stake in the enterprise, and will also join Farm Journal’s Executive Leadership Team, responsible for driving a wide range of mobile marketing solutions that benefit farmers and the companies that do business with them.

Founded by Jaeger in 2006, Commodity Update currently serves more than 75,000 subscribers, who receive up to three separate information products and more than three messages each day as part of an individually personalized subscription package. Subscriber satisfaction and subscription renewal has tracked over 90% annually during the last three years.

“Joining forces with Farm Journal Media helps us develop even more powerful and integrated mobile marketing solutions, and expands the information set we can bring to farmers’ phones,” Jaeger said. “The mobile category will play a significantly bigger and more strategic role in the overall media mix in the next few years. We’ve been the leading mobile offering in agriculture for seven years, and we’re excited to take that to the next level with an innovative organization and powerful brand like Farm Journal.”

Media

Nobody is Happy with Farm Bill Extension

Cindy Zimmerman January 3, 2013

*UPDATED with audio*

Congress spent the New Year’s holiday working and actually managed to pass a “fiscal cliff” bill that even addressed agriculture – but no one seems to be very grateful for all of our lawmakers’ hard work and sacrifice except the lawmakers themselves.

The nine month extension of the current farm bill, which actually expired months ago, is being pretty universally panned by agricultural interests. It was the looming specter of $8 a gallon milk that motivated the Senate to include a farm bill extension in the package but National Milk Producers Federation President and CEO Jerry Kozak called it “a devastating blow” to the nation’s dairy farmers. “After months of inaction, the plan that passed overnight as part of the fiscal cliff package amounts to shoving farmers over the dairy cliff without providing any safety net below,” said Kozak. “These stop-gap efforts don’t even qualify as kicking the can down the road. It’s little more than a New Year’s Day, hair-of-the-dog stab at temporarily putting off decisions that should have been made in 2012 about how to move farm policy forward, not offer more of the same.”

I talked to NMPF Senior VP of Communications Chris Galen about their concerns and how they intend to address them in the 113th Congress. Interview with Chris Galen

National Corn Growers Association President Pam Johnson of Iowa says they are “tired of the endless excuses and lack of accountability” by Congress in failing to address a five year farm bill. “Once again Congress’ failure to act pushes agriculture aside hampering farmers’ ability to make sound business decisions for the next five years,” said Johnson. “The system is clearly broken.”

I got to chat with Pam about her personal feelings and NCGA’s positions on the farm bill extension and her hopefulness that the new year will bring a new attitude in Congress. Interview with Pam Johnson

American Farm Bureau Federation president Bob Stallman called the extension “little more than a stop-gap measure” and said they are “disappointed that Congress was unable or unwilling to roll a comprehensive five-year farm bill proposal into the fiscal cliff package. Now, it will be up to the new 113th Congress to put a new farm bill in place.” National Farmers Union president Roger Johnson was more critical, calling the extension “a short sighted, temporary fix that ultimately provides inadequate solutions that will leave our farmers and ranchers crippled by uncertainty.”

Looking for a brighter side, American Soybean Association (ASA) President Danny Murphy of Mississippi said they are disappointed in Congress but noted that the extension of the 2008 Farm Bill “allows important foreign market development, disaster assistance, and farm safety net programs to continue.”

The nine-month extension means that Congress can now ignore the farm bill until at least September, then allow it to expire, then wait until the end of the year again and pass another extension – or hopefully actually get a new bill passed at the very last possible moment or later.

Audio, Corn, Dairy, NCGA

Broken Bar F Brand

Melissa Sandfort January 3, 2013

For the holiday we traveled the almost 6 ½ hours to western Kansas to my in-law’s farm. Between my father and brother-in-law, they’d just purchased 43 new momma cows so the farm was hopping with new life. Two calves were born in the five days we were there, so the kids were scrambling to come up with names: we ended up with Orangie and Sherbet. (We had ice cream on the brain.)

While we were there, my husband also got roped into helping them brand. At least the sun was shining and it was about 40 degrees – unlike the typical 0 degrees and 40 mph winds western Kansas usually has during December! Once again, the kids loved it and it reminded me of my childhood, going out to the feedlot with my dad to brand the cattle.

The Slagle farm uses a “Broken Bar F” shaped brand. My husband’s grandpa said it looked like an ‘F’ with an ‘S’ on its back. It’s supposed to be crooked, I get that. It’s just that you really need an imagination to see that it’s an F.

This is my brother-in-law with one of the momma cows. She didn’t mind the ear tag or the brand, and boy did she like the little “pet” she got and the song one of the kids was singing as we sat on the tailgate to keep the men company.

Just another day on the farm!

Until we walk again …

Uncategorized

Your Thoughts on Fiscal Cliff Compromise

Melissa Sandfort January 2, 2013

Before we get to results and a new poll we’d like to thank Rhea + Kaiser for being the inaugural sponsor of our ZimmPoll two years ago! We started a trend as we soon saw a number of other entities begin regular online polling!

Now let’s welcome and say thanks to our new ZimmPoll sponsor, New Holland Agriculture. We’ll be working closely with New Holland to develop timely and industry pertinent questions throughout 2013. Please feel free to chime in with your ideas and participate when you can. So, let’s get started.

Our latest ZimmPoll asked the question, ”How would you rate 2012? 1 = Poor, 5 = Excellent”

Our poll results: Thirty percent said 3; twenty six percent said 4; seventeen percent said 5; seventeen said 1; eleven percent said 2. By the looks of our poll most of you thought 2012 was a pretty good year. Hopefully, you will feel the same about 2013.

Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, ” How do you feel about the fiscal cliff compromise?” Most early industry comments we’ve seen express disappointment since we only have a temporary extension of the farm bill among other things. What do you think?

Agencies, Agribusiness, New Holland, ZimmPoll

E-Versions of 2012 ZimmComm Photo Books

Cindy Zimmerman January 2, 2013

While Congress was busy wasting taxpayer dollars over the holiday, I was busy making the annual photo books that we do for some of our clients. I love doing these books and we have always used Blurb to make them and this year they have added the option of making E-books!

This is really cool because you can also add audio and video files, although I did not use that feature this year because they have to be in a special format and I had already spent all of my allotted time on the print versions. But, we did make them available for free download – so check it out (order via the Related Editions link).

We have been doing photo books for New Holland, John Deere, and BASF since 2008 and added Boehringer Ingelheim, Renewable Fuels Association and GROWMARK along the way. Others that we have done in the past include Novus, AG CONNECT Expo, and Farm Foundation. Wish I could do them for every one every year but each one takes me a full day to do!

ZimmComm Announcement

Agri-Pulse Hires New Senior Editor

Melissa Sandfort January 2, 2013

Agri-Pulse Communications, Inc. announced that Derrick Cain has joined the company to serve as Senior Editor.

Cain brings more than eight years of experience, reporting about news from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and agriculture-related legislation in the U.S. Congress, including detailed coverage of the 2002 and 2008 farm bills.

As a congressional reporter for more than 12 years who most recently worked for Bloomberg BNA, Cain reported on hundreds of congressional hearings and mark-ups, bills, and floor debates in both chambers. He covered several federal departments and agencies, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Department of Labor, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Transportation, the U.S. Postal Service, and Amtrak.

In addition to his daily reporting duties, Cain has appeared on C-SPAN and the National Public Radio’s Diane Rehm Show, providing insight on current policy-related issues. He received his bachelor’s degree in journalism from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio.

Agri-Pulse, Agribusiness, USDA

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort January 2, 2013

The USDA recently published a Notice of Intent to Renew the Charter for its Advisory Committee on Beginning Farmers and Ranchers in the Federal Register dated Dec. 19, 2012.
GROWMARK, Inc., announced it has agreed to purchase Bunge North America’s interest in B-G Fertilizer, LLC.
St. Louis Agribusiness Club announces its Ag leader of the year award recipient, John M. Shimkus.
U of Illinois economist issues a report on the impact of biofuels mandates on grain and oilseeds.

Zimfo Bytes

Where in the World Was AgWired

Chuck Zimmerman January 2, 2013

We set records at ZimmComm New Media in every way you can imagine in 2012. This includes how many places we visited on the agriblogging highway. Here’s a list which was covered by yours truly along with Cindy, Jamie and Joanna. It’s 67 different events in one year! Did we see you at any of these places/events?

January
Starting off the year looking for a house in Pensacola, Florida and did all of our travel for the month from the beach, going to –

Honolulu for the AFBF Annual Mtg.
Jacksonville for a NAMA Exec Comm mtg.
Orlando with FMC for the Beltwide Cotton Conferences
Des Moines – Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit
Atlanta with Novus for International Poultry Expo
Nashville with Cattlemen’s Beef Board and NCBA for Cattle Industry Convention & Trade Show

February
Returned to central Missouri after making an offer on a house just north of Pensacola and had a busy month of travel to –

Orlando for National Biodiesel Conference
Bettandorf, Iowa in Pursuit of Maximum Yields with FS GreenPlan Solutions
Collinsville, Illinois in Pursuit of Maximum Yields with FS GreenPlan Solutions
Louisville with AgLeader, Fastline, FMC and New Holland for National Farm Machinery Show
Orlando with Renewable Fuels Association for National Ethanol Conference
Nashville for Bayer CropScience Ag Issues Forum
Nashville for BASF Science Behind Future of Weed Control

March and April
Getting ready to re-locate world headquarters to the Florida panhandle in between trips to –

Nashville with New Holland, BASF and John Deere for Commodity Classic
Washington DC with ASTA and Agri-Pulse for National Ag Day
Denver for BIVI Swine Health Seminar
Charleston, SC for Ag Relations Council annual meeting
Various locations in Illinois on GROWMARK media tour
Kansas City for NAMA
New Holland, PA for New Holland Media Event

May and June
Getting unpacked, settled in and used to traveling through Atlanta to get anywhere –

Arlington, VA with NCBA and USB for Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Meeting
Lexington for Alltech International Symposium
Mississippi Delta with Agrotain for CTIC Conservation in Action Tour
Indianapolis with NCGA for National Corn Utilization Technology Conference
Chicago for BASF Ag Solutions Media Summit
Minneapolis for Fuel Ethanol Workshop
Des Moines with BIVI for World Pork Expo
Washington DC for ASTA annual meeting
Minneapolis for NAMA Exec. Comm. mtg.
Des Moines for John Deere FarmSight Tech Summit

July and August
May have been our busiest months ever –

Indian Creek Watershed Illinois with AGROTAIN for CTIC field tour
Vincent, Iowa for Wyffles Hybrids Corn Strategies
Ames, Iowa for FMC Anthem Field Plot Tours
Indianapolis with John Deere for International Precision Ag Conference
Panama City Beach for Southern Peanut Growers Conference
RTP, NC for Bayer CropScience Greenhouse 5 opening
Chicagoland Speedway with Illinois corn Growers for NASCAR race
Sioux Falls, SD for Raven Innovation Summit
Denver for Cattle Industry Summer conference
Ames, IA for visit to Ag Leader Technology Headquarters
Albuquerque with FMC for Ag Media Summit
Detroit for USB Biobased Stakeholders Summit
Little Rock, Ark for AgCareers HR Roundtable
Omaha for American Coalition for Ethanol 25th annual meeting
Wrightsville Beach, NC for BIVI Swine Health Seminar
Sweden for International Federation of Agricultural Journalists congress
Collinsville, IL for Bayer CropScience Respect the Rotation field day
Kansas City for NAMA Boot Camp and AgChat Agvocacy 2.0
Boone, IA with AgLeader, New Holland, Monsanto and John Deere for Farm Progress Show
Chicago for GROWMARK annual meeting

September through December
Quieter than the previous two months but still on the road quite a bit –

Chicagoland Speedway with Illinois Corn Growers for NASCAR
Minneapolis for NAMA Fall conference
Madison, WI with Charleston Orwig and New Holland for World Dairy Expo
New Orleans with RFA for Congress for Automotive Repair and Service
Des Moines with Elanco for World Food Prize
Tulare, CA for O.H. Kruse dealer appreciations
Minneapolis with RFA for Export Exchange
Indianapolis for Agronomics Conference and NSFMRA
Kansas City with BASF and FMC for NAFB
New York City with USFRA for Food Dialogues
Kansas City with BIVI for PRRS Seminar
Savannah, GA with BASF for NAAA annual convention
Chicago for ASTA CSS 2012 and Seed Expo

ZimmComm Announcement

Boycott Congress and the White House

Cindy Zimmerman January 1, 2013

I really resent Congress and President Obama for the absolute stupidity they have been exhibiting during this holiday season. Some of us would like to be relaxing with friends and family, enjoying holiday football and taking a last holiday break before having to get back to more regular work schedules again. We wish you all in Washington DC had decided to actually work together and do something that is really important – making some fiscal sense – so that you also could be home relaxing instead of in Washington acting out this tragic comedy.

If Congress and the White House were businesses or products, we could just boycott them to get them to stop acting like complete idiots. It’s like the Three Stooges – the House, the Senate and the President making complete fools of themselves and our nation.

I should be interested in finding out what these people are doing, what is happening with the “farm bill” and the death tax, whether renewable energy tax incentives will be extended, etc., but I am frankly just so disgusted with this train wreck and embarrassed to be an American that I have to be content with boycotting coverage of it on New Year’s Day.

Happy New Year to all and prayers for our nation under the protection of Mary, the Mother of God, on her feast day today. Lord have mercy on us.

Uncategorized

Page 1,150 of 2,376
←
1
...
1,149
1,150
1,151
...
2376
→