New Editorial Content Director Of Successful Farming

Melissa Sandfort

Meredith Corporation announced that David Kurns has been named Editorial Content Director of the Successful Farming brand, effective August 1. He will replace Loren Kruse, who is retiring after 36 years with Meredith.

Kurns, 51, is a leading digital content expert. He was part of the founding team that launched www.agriculture.com. He later served as the first Editor-in-Chief of Meredith Interactive Media, which included oversight of the Better Homes and Gardens and Parents branded websites.

Kurns next took his editorial content expertise to the company’s business-to-business marketing services agency, Meredith Xcelerated Marketing. He was responsible for creating and directing custom marketing initiatives for major clients, including Kraft Foods, The Principal Financial Group, Chrysler, MetLife and Publix.

Kurns began his career as a newspaper journalist with stops at the Ames Tribune and the Quad-City Times. A 1982 graduate of Iowa State University with a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communications, Kurns currently serves as Chair of the ISU Greenlee School of Journalism Advisory Council. He is a past recipient of the James W. Schwartz Award for Distinguished Service to Journalism and Communication, the Greenlee School’s highest honor.

A native of Joliet, Ill., Kurns and his wife, Sharon, live in Johnston, Iowa. They have two children, Daniel (24) and Anna (21).

Agribusiness, Media

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • The Sorghum Checkoff is currently funding the re-instated Sorghum Conversion Project in conjunction with MMR Genetics (NuSeeds America), and USDA.
  • Professional Farmers of America announces the launch of a new subscription service called Pro Farmer Inputs Monitor.
  • Under a new agreement, Great Plains will supply Case IH with twin row planters to be sold through Case IH dealerships under the Case IH brand beginning in 2013.
  • DTN/The Progressive Farmer is bringing its industry leading weather-information system to the Apple iPhone and Android devices in its new Ag Weather Tools app.
Zimfo Bytes

NAMA Executive Committee Meets

Chuck Zimmerman

Here’s the Executive Committee of the National Agri-Marketing Association after an afternoon of meeting on the business of the organization. Things are going very well for NAMA and we’re going to have some exciting announcements soon about the new fall meeting. Which by the way needs to be on your calendar – September 25 – 26, Minneapolis, Minnesota – Graves 601 Hotel. This new meeting replaces the Trends in Agriculture meeting that has been held in the fall.

And while I’m at it, I know there are a lot of you AgWired fans who are not members of NAMA. I highly encourage you to join. I’ve said it many times, but if there were just one professional organization I could belong to, it is NAMA. No question about it. If you are involved in any form of agricultural marketing then this is “your” organization. Got questions? Feel free to ask me.

NAMA

ASTA Assists With Seed Phytosanitary Issues

Chuck Zimmerman

During the American Seed Trade Association annual convention committees meet to set policies for the organization for the coming year. One of those is the phytosanitary committee. I visited with Darrell Maddox, Endless Sky Partners, about the work of this committee that he used to chair.

Darrell says the committee works with USDA-APHIS to facilitate trade. They work with seed companies as well as regulatory agencies through ASTA to resolve issues. He says that in the last couple of years they’ve tried to be more proactive on these issues. One way is to put better standards in place with sound science behind them. Darrell says that Brazil and Mexico tend to be challenging markets in part because there seems to be a frequent change of people to work with. Looking ahead he says the new committee leadership hopes to proactively work with the Asian countries to try to get them all on the same page as how the U.S. and Europe look at phytosanitary issues. He says they’re ultimately looking for an international “seed standard,” but are not quite there yet.

Listen to my interview with Darrell here: Interview with Darrell Maddox

2012 ASTA Convention Photo Album

Ag Groups, ASTA, Audio, Seed

Sleight Selected as USGC President and CEO

Melissa Sandfort

The U.S. Grains Council announced the selection of Thomas N. Sleight as president and CEO to replace the retiring Thomas C. Dorr. Sleight initially joined the Council in 1983 and has served in multiple capacities both in Washington, D.C., headquarters and overseas. After leaving for stints with other agricultural organizations, he returned to the Council in November 2010 as vice president of operations and membership. Sleight’s cumulative service with the Council spans 18 years and includes successful assignments in program operations in the Washington, D.C., office, international program direction in the field, communications, membership and administrative functions.

“The Council is expanding its reach and focusing on new priorities and strategic direction set by the Board of Directors,” said Sleight. “We have made great progress in recent years and I look forward to continuing to create value for U.S. producers and agribusinesses.”

Agribusiness, Grains, USGC

Deadline For IFAJ-Yara Award

Chuck Zimmerman

The deadline for the IFAJ-Yara Award for Sustainable Agriculture Reporting is coming up fast – July 1, 2012. Don’t know what it is? Here’s some information.

The IFAJ-Yara Award for Sustainable Agriculture Reporting is open to articles, Internet productions or radio/TV broadcasts on the broad themes of hunger, feeding the world sustainably and meeting the challenge of providing nutrition to a growing world population. This award provides a unique professional development opportunity for all IFAJ members to participate in a broad-based contest that is relevant to current global issues – the goal of higher food production with a lower carbon footprint.

Theme for 2012: Food or Fuel….or both?

Who can enter:

It is open to all members; guilds are not required to put forward a candidate.

For full awards information, visit http://www.ifaj.org/contests-and-awards/yara-award.html.

The award is sponsored by Yara.

Agribusiness, IFAJ, International, Media

GROWMARK Celebrating 85 Years

Cindy Zimmerman

GROWMARK has two reasons to celebrate this year – the International Year of the Cooperative and GROWMARK’s 85th anniversary.

“The cooperative obviously has evolved a lot over those 85 years,” says Dan Kelley, Illinois farmer and president of the GROWMARK Board of Directors. “Energy is still a main part of GROWMARK’s product distribution. Nearly half of our sales continue to be in the energy area, but we’ve also branched out into agronomy products, and we also handle primarily corn and soybeans through our grain division.”

The history of GROWMARK is charted from the time its predecessor Illinois Farm Supply was incorporated as a cooperative in 1927 and you can follow that history through the years in the “Our History” section of the GROWMARK website. Dan says they will be celebrating the 85th anniversary at the cooperative’s annual meeting in August. “We are focusing a lot of our promotion around the annual meeting toward the 85 year history of GROWMARK,” he said.

Dan says they are pleased that the United Nations coincidentally chose this year as the International Year of the Cooperative. “We have adopted the logo of the International Year of the Cooperative logo,” he said, noting that the design illustrates the principle of cooperatives, showing how individuals working together can do what no one can do by themselves.

Listen to my interview with Dan Kelley here. GROWMARK President Dan Kelley

Audio, Cooperatives, GROWMARK

Search is on for ‘Faces of Farming and Ranching’

Melissa Sandfort

When it comes to today’s agriculture, there are many examples of great farmers and ranchers all over the country doing wonderful things to bring food to the table for those around the world. But few of those farmers and ranchers are recognizable by consumers, mainstream media and influencers. In fact, the pictures and perceptions of farmers and ranchers often do not match reality.

The U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance (USFRA) wants to change that.

The organization is looking for the “Faces of Farming and Ranching” to help put a real face on agriculture and shine a light on the heart, personalities and values that are behind today’s food.

USFRA is looking for standout farmers and ranchers who are proud of what they do, eager to share their stories of continuous improvement with others and who are actively involved today in sharing those stories. Farmers and ranchers who raise a variety of foods differently, at differing scale and in all areas of the country are encouraged to apply as it is important to show American agriculture and all of its diversity.

Entries will be accepted through Sept. 8, 2012. Ten to 15 finalists will be announced at the November 2012 Food Dialogues event in New York City. This national announcement will open a public online voting period where visitors can vote for their favorite candidates. Those votes will be factored into the decision to determine “The Faces of Farming and Ranching.”

Winners will be announced in early January 2013 based on votes and the recommendation of a panel of judges.

Agribusiness, Farming, USFRA

Educating for Ag Choice

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast 355During the 2012 American Seed Trade Association annual convention I met Chuck Larson, Executive Director, Americans for Choice and Competition in Agriculture. Although I had heard of this newly formed organization I didn’t know much about it until we had a chance to sit down and chat. It appears that the main focus of the group is to influence an accord being developed by the American Seed Trade Association and the Biotechnology Industry Organization to address how competition will be handled when biotechnology traits go off patent. The big one coming up is the Monsanto Roundup Ready soybean patent which expires in 2014. You can see the organization’s position on the accord here (pdf).

Chuck says the organization was launched in the fall of 2011 and currently has 3,000 members. He says “they all understand the great value of an event that’s going to be coming down the pipeline very soon. In March of 2015 we’re going to see the first seed trait come off patent.” He says every seed company will be touched by this issue in coming years. He says the accord being developed by ASTA and BIO will be very valuable. By handling this properly Chuck says “it will expand the number of researchers who will have access to the technology.” That will enhance greater competition which will benefit farmers.

Since it appears that ASTA and BIO are handling this issue very well I asked him what it is that his organization brings to the table on this issue. He says that although farm leaders understand the importance of this issue “they don’t understand what that pathway should look like to ensure that a trait coming off patent actually enters into the marketplace.” So it sounds like the data that went into the creation of the trait is what’s at stake here since the patent expiring doesn’t necessarily include the data. CHuck says they’ve been working to educate leaders around the country. One of the ways they plan to do this is with a Twitter conversation tomorrow afternoon from 2-4pm eastern, using the hasgtag, #seedtalk.

Information on who supports the organization is not available.

You can follow Americans for Choice and Competition in Agriculture on their blog, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

Listen to this week’s ZimmCast here: Americans for Choice and Competition in Agriculture

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

The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired. Subscribe so you can listen when and where you want. Just go to our Subscribe page.

Ag Groups, ASTA, Audio, Seed, ZimmCast