Agri Marketing magazine is celebrating 50 years. Here’s where you can get your copy of the 50th anniversary commemorative issue. Now for a message from Publisher Lynn Henderson.
Hearty thanks to the magazine’s subscribers, advertisers, authors and all of the people who have worked for or been affiliated with the magazine since its inception in 1962.
You can read the issue now by clicking here. On the first screen that opens are instructions on how to navigate through it.
If you have difficulty in opening it or have any suggestions, please send your comments to info@AgriMarketing.com.
You can still view the online version of the annual Agri Marketing Services Guide by clicking here.
We want to thank Agri Marketing Digital’s premiere sponsor, Farm Journal Media, for making this service available to you!
Best Regards,
Lynn Henderson
Publisher/Editorial Director
At the conclusion of the 2012 National FFA Convention the new officer team was elected. UF Gators student Clay Sapp was elected to serve as National FFA president. How ’bout them Gators!
“It will be my mission to activate change and growth in the National FFA Organization,” he said. “I plan to develop strong relationships, be a champion of FFA and agricultural education and seek new ways to strengthen student experiences within FFA.”
Joining Sapp on the 2012-13 National FFA Officer team are Kalie Hall of Georgia as national secretary, Joenelle Futrell of Kentucky as Eastern Region vice president, Lindsey Anderson of California as Western Region vice president, Brennan Costello of Nebraska as Central Region vice president and Wiley Bailey as Southern Region vice president.
For the next year, the group will travel more than 100,000 miles across the country to engage top leaders in business, government and education. The national officers will lead personal growth and leadership training seminars for FFA members. The team will help set policies that will guide the future of FFA and promote agricultural literacy.
When O.H. Kruse Grain & Milling decided to hold a dealer appreciation day they viewed it as an investment in their dealers and their brand name according to Kevin Kruse, President/CEO. He says it is an opportunity to re-present their brand. Kevin spoke to attendees during the evening dinner.
I spoke with Kevin before dinner and asked him what message he wanted to share with the folks attending. He said, “We’re a family business and that they’re part of our family. We really appreciate and are proud to be doing business with these people. It’s a thank you and it’s a discussion of how we can work together to improve both our businesses. That’s the focus.” Kevin also spoke about the challenges in the feed industry and what he sees in the future for the company.
Listen to my interview with Kevin here: Interview with Kevin Kruse
Shoppers paid slightly more for food at the grocery store during the third quarter of the year, with many popular breakfast staples showing an increase in retail price. Higher retail prices for eggs, bacon, orange juice, milk and toasted oat cereal, among other foods, resulted in a slight increase in the latest American Farm Bureau Federation Quarterly Marketbasket Survey.
The informal survey shows the total cost of 16 food items that can be used to prepare one or more meals was $51.90, up $1.00 or about 2 percent compared to the second quarter of 2012. Of the 16 items surveyed, 9 increased and 7 decreased in average price compared to the prior quarter. The cost for the overall basket of foods decreased about 2 percent compared to one year ago.
Most of the slight quarter-to-quarter increase in the marketbasket of foods can be attributed to higher retail prices for breakfast staples, apples and bagged salad.
According to USDA, Americans spend just under 10 percent of their disposable annual income on food, the lowest average of any country in the world.
Stephanie Morgan will now serve as the director of communications for the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association. She started the position on a part-time basis Oct. 23rd. Morgan will be graduating from Missouri State University in May 2013 with a degree in agricultural communications. Morgan will be based at MCA headquarters starting on May 22, 2012.
She previously worked as an agricultural broadcaster for KKOW-AM, Pittsburg, Kan. For three years. She also interned for the Missouri Soybean Association and Missouri Farmers Care.
Morgan is from Lamar, Mo., where she grew up on a diversified family farming operation, consisting of largely of cattle.
The farmers I know are “Authentic Voices” when they speak out on their industry – Agriculture. Thanks to a piece I got in the mail I just learned about Authentic Voices. Melanie Wilt wants to help farm organizations and their members. As the mailed piece says, “Free your farmers from the restraints of public opinion.” We’ve got so many great efforts underway to accomplish this. Perhaps your organization should give Melanie a call.
Authentic Voices is a combination of classroom and interactive programming that helps farmers own their voice to connect with the public. Advocates practice message development and delivery by working through real agriculture scenarios.
Melanie Wilt is the Owner and Chief Experience Officer of Wilt Public Relations, Inc. Melanie has over a decade of experience helping non-profits and state government as in-house counsel and as a consultant. She has served as Communication Director for the Ohio Department of Agriculture and technology start-up, non-profit Avetec.
Learn more in this introductory video:
There are more than 10 reasons to attend the National Biodiesel Board’s Conference: Momentum, and here is reason number 5: Meet People. This conference marks the 20th Anniversary of the event and is still the place to meet and greet the real players in the biodiesel industry.
The event is being held in Las Vegas (how apropos they would offer a “wheel of savings” for early bird registrants – enter WHEEL100 when you register to receive your discount) beginning February 4, 2013 and ends on February 7, 2013. This gives you plenty of time to work out your elevator, or in this case, 10 second casino pitch.
Momentum offers four tracks: technical, regulatory, marketing, and petroleum so no matter what, your interests will be covered and your question answers. And if you play your cards right, you may also walk away with a set of great contacts to develop future partnerships.
In anticipation for the event, NBB CEO Joe Jobe filmed some brief remarks.
Now that you’re duly inspired, why don’t you register already?
Biotechnology and precision agriculture technology are twin advancements in farming that are working together to help increase productivity to feed the world.
Monsanto‘s executive vice president and chief technology officer Dr. Robert Fraley addressed the topic of game changing innovations that are shaping the future of green technology during the 2012 World Food Prize Borlaug Dialogue last week in Des Moines.
“What’s exciting is the explosive amount of new technology that’s possible,” said Fraley, noting that while biotechnology is important – and in fact is the most rapidly adopted technology in the history of agriculture, there is so much more. “The advances in science and technology, across plant breeding, across equipment, across information technology – and biotechnology – are going to be part of that systems approach that will allow us to meet and exceed that need” for increasing food production to meet a growing population.
“It’s clearly possible for us to achieve doublings or triplings in crop yields as we are fully able to deploy and use technologies to meet that need,” Fraley noted.
Fraley had a really interesting observation about technology advances in farming equipment. “There’s more computational power in today’s tractor than there were in the first spaceships,” he said. “And that’s giving farmers literally the capability to farm meter by meter and use that information technology to be more precise in the positioning of seeds and chemicals.”
And did you know that every Indian farmer now has a cell phone? “The ability now to prescribe agronomic recommendations, to warn in the advance of insect flights, has become a global part of the incorporation of those tools,” said Fraley.
Listen to Fraley’s comments at the World Food Prize here: Monsanto's Robb Fraley
View the World Food Prize Photo Album here.
AgWired coverage of the World Food Prize is sponsored by Elanco