More and more holiday greetings keep rolling in. The pace has picked up as we near the end of the week.
Here’s one from Gibbs & Soell. Click here or on the photo to view the interactive greeting.
Slick Planting with Seed SLIK
Winter is a time when farmers can look forward to spring planting, especially if stuck inside due to a winter blizzard! This next installment in our series of interviews about Superior Graphite agricultural products will get you looking ahead. In this post we’ll look at a product line called Seed SLIK. I spoke once again with Barry Lee, Product Manager, Coatings & Lubricants. We focused on Seed SLIK Graphite and Seed SLIK Talc. It is common practice to mix a seed lubricant with seeds for planting to make sure skips don’t happen where a seed does not get planted where it should. That can affect yield. Besides the seed benefit, these products are also beneficial to the machinery itself.
Graphite seed flow lubricants, are made from high quality powdered graphite powders from environmentally safe, natural mineral, and will not hurt seeds, or plantings as they grow. Small seeds benefit from the addition of graphite, allowing them to slide easily off the planter plates.
Seed SLIK Talc provides similar benefits and features as the Graphite product but has an added benefit of not affecting optical sensors, although it is susceptible to moisture. Barry says the best of both worlds is a blended Seed SLIK product which contains both graphite and talc.
Seed SLIK™ has the highest quality powdered seed flow lubricants available on the market. Talc powder is an environmentally safe, natural mineral, that will not hurt seeds or plantings as they grow. Talc seed flow lubricants are used in mechanical plate and vacuum planters for increased lubricity and wear protection. Talc is a good alternative to graphite for planters with new electronic seed meters that sometimes give false readings with graphite. Small seeds benefit from the addition of talc allowing them to slide easily off the planter plates.
You can get more information on these products on the Slip Plate website or connect with the company on Facebook or LinkedIn.
Listen to my interview with Barry here: Interview with Barry Lee
GROWMARK System Makes Aquisitions
GROWMARK, Inc., Bloomington, Ill., announced an agreement has been reached to acquire Meier Oil Products., Inc., and Manito Transit. Meier Oil Products, Inc. and Manito Transit have been a family owned business since 1936 and their business has consisted of a trucking company, a fuel terminal facility in Ashkum and bulk fuel facilities at Kankakee, Pontiac, Sheldon and Champaign, all in Illinois.
The acquisition strengthens the GROWMARK System through collaboration between Evergreen FS, Heritage FS and Illini FS and GROWMARK Energy.
The View From Inside
Last night we had our first snow of the season, if you can call it a snow. It was more like hurricane winds blowing around a few specks of white stuff. The roads aren’t bad but I don’t dare take my little car out for fear of getting blown off the road!
Our horse decided that cold triumphed over food and is standing in the barn out of the wind. And the two male cats that typically uphold their battle lines have decided to huddle together on a bale of hay.
I’ve already been asked three times by our son, “Do you want to farm with me?” Maybe I will have to take the afternoon off to do that because after all, “real” farmers don’t have the day off so why should pretend farmers?
And as much as I dislike snow, we need the moisture. I’m afraid the sled might not make it out of storage again this year.
Until we walk again …
Is your tree real or artificial?
Our latest ZimmPoll asked the question, ”How do you plan to travel this holiday?”
Our poll results: Fifty-seven percent said car; twenty percent said people are coming to my house; nine percent said I’m boycotting the holidays; six percent said other; three percent said plane, bus and walk; and no one is taking the train. Looks like the roads will be full of travelers this holiday season so be safe as they’re talking about the possibility of a white Christmas!
Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, “What kind of Christmas tree do you have?” If you have family at your house that are similar to mine, they’re allergic to real trees so ours is, and has to be, artificial. Let us know!
ZimmPoll is sponsored by Rhea+Kaiser, a full-service advertising/public relations agency.
Season’s Greetings from Alltech
It’s time now for a holiday message from our friends at Alltech. Enjoy some world class music!
Season’s Greetings from Alltech
In the spirit of the season we hope you enjoy this sample of performances from the Alltech Holiday Celebration of Song with the UK Opera Theatre.
Alltech believes in community involvement. The Alltech Vocal Scholarship Competition is the largest competition of its kind in the world. Held each spring at the University of Kentucky in the United States, talented young singers from across the world compete for more than half a million dollars in prizes and music scholarships. During the holiday season Alltech along with UK Opera Theatre, led by Professor of voice Everett McCorvey, puts on a community concert – the Alltech Holiday Celebration of Song which features these talented young artists.
Zimfo Bytes
- Syngenta announced that its vegetable seed processing plant in Pasco, Washington, is the first site in North America to receive Good Seed and Plant Practices accreditation.
- The U.S. EPA has granted registration approval for DuPont Aproach fungicide.
- Make plans to join NAMA in Kansas City for the 2013 Agri-Marketing Conference, April 17-19, 2013. Online registration is open now.
- Successful Farming magazine is pleased to introduce Heather Gieseke as the newest team member and Sales Executive.
Branding Without Fire & Ice
What makes Coca-Cola different from milk?
Elizabeth Bagby, Alltech’s Corporate Marketing Manager, answered that question with branding. She addressed the essence of a brand and why beef and dairy producers need brands at the 2012 Global 500. But most importantly she shared what brands we all can learn from.
The concept of branding, interestingly enough, comes from cattle branding. The first people in the known world to try and differentiate their product from others were cattlemen. So, with our long history in branding we should be leading the charge in the food community.
Today we should be defining a brand as the customers experience, not the practice of creating a name, symbol or design that is associated with a product. Elizabeth described that as a logo, not a brand.
Branding isn’t just for business to consumer. Elizabeth shared 3 reasons why brand communication works in B2B as well.
1. Cuts through the clutter.
2. Facilitates delivery of promise.
3. Taps into the emotional drivers.
Listen to Elizabeth’s complete presentation here: Elizabeth Bagby - Global 500
Check out all the photos from this years Global 500 here: 2012 Global 500 Photo Album
Season’s Greetings From NAFB
The National Association of Farm Broadcasting is sharing their season’s greetings.
Celebrate…
the Tradition of Giving,
the Beauty of the Season,
and a New Year of
Peace and Happiness!
From Your Friends at the National Association of Farm Broadcasting
2012 NAFB President Tom Steever has written a holiday story for your listening pleasure, featuring the 2012 NAFB Board of Directors. Click the link to listen! Holiday Greetings from the 2012 NAFB Board of Directors (mp3)
Connecting Beef Producers to Data
Alltech’s Global 500 brought beef producers from across the globe together to network and gather information to take home. During the beef breakout session Bob Sand, founder and CEO of The Beef Connection, shared his vision for being a service organization that enables both beef cattle producers and industry suppliers to prosper and become more sustainable.
The Beef Connection focuses on teaching producers to gather information on their cattle allowing them to make good production, management and marketing decisions. Bob shared with me in an interview how important it is for producers to keep an open mind to new technology.
“The Beef Connection was formed to curate a program for commercial cattle producers. The goal being to connect all the different facets of the beef industry to gather information on cattle; bring it all the way back to the ranch level and let the ranchers make decisions based on data. That’s how we started and then our connections included going to commercial feed yards and packing houses bringing all that data back to the producers.”
“Alltech’s role in this was to bring in the nutritional technology we needed to create those cattle that really perform in the industry.”
Listen to my interview with Bob here: Bob Sand - The Beef Connection
Check out all the photos from this years Global 500 here: 2012 Global 500 Photo Album