2012 Agvocacy 2.0 Conference Announced

Chuck Zimmerman

The third annual AgChat Foundation Agvocacy 2.0 event is scheduled for August 23-34 in Kansas City, MO. This is where farmers and ranchers from across the nation will convene to learn how to better support agriculture and engage with non-farm consumers. Will you be there?

Agvocacy 2.0 is hosted by the AgChat Foundation, a primarily volunteer organization that aims to empower farmers and ranchers to “agvocate” by connecting consumers with accurate information about farming and food production using social media.

“Agvocacy 2.0 is all about giving farmers and ranchers tools they need to share their stories and the story of agriculture with consumers through tools like Facebook, Twitter and blogs,” says AgChat Foundation Executive Director Emily Zweber. “Only 2 percent of people in the United States are farmers, meaning 98 percent of our population is not actively involved in food production. This leaves a huge gap between the farm and the dinner plate. Farmers have the ability to fill this gap by sharing information about their farm and production methods.”

The two-day event will explore how to effectively share agriculture’s message through:
• Twitter Community Building
• Facebook Profiles, Pages and Groups
• High-Impact Video
• Blog Basics and Beyond
• Real-World Case Studies

For farmers interested in participating, applications will be available online in May at www.agchat.org. The event will be held at the Crowne Plaza in downtown Kansas City.

AgChat will celebrate the third anniversary of #AgChat weekly conversations and the second anniversary of the AgChat Foundation the week of April 2 − 8.

Ag Groups

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

    Let’s Get Rid of Death Tax

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Our latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “What do you think is a fair “death tax” rate?” It is no surprise that common sense and fair thinking respondents said Zero – 66%; 35% over $5 million – 0% under (current) – 21%; Other – 8 % and 55% over $1 million – 0% under (pre 2001) – 5%. This really is one of the most unfair taxes we’ve got and in my opinion there should not be any tax on a person’s estate after death. What are your thoughts?

    Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, “Should ABC News be Liable for Job Losses due to Lean Beef Trimmings Story?” This is one of the worst examples of supposed “news” reporting I’ve seen lately. It shows how a desperate for ratings news network will not just distort facts but publish erroneous information. They have no credibility. However, a gullible public has embraced their misinformation. The result? Job layoffs for people with families to feed who were making a very safe and nutritious product. That’s twisted. Do you think ABC News should be held liable? Should the media be held accountable for the financial impact inaccurate news stories have on jobs and businesses? Another likely outcome of this debacle will be higher beef prices. Nice, huh?

    If for some reason you don’t know what this is all about, here’s a link to the ABC News story and here’s where you can get the truth – BeefisBeef.com.

    ZimmPoll is sponsored by Rhea+Kaiser, a full-service advertising/public relations agency.

    ZimmPoll

    An ARC History Lesson With Don Lerch & Paul Weller

    Chuck Zimmerman

    ZimmCast 343At the 2012 Agricultural Relations Council Annual Meeting, the first two members of the newly established Agricultural Public Relations Hall of Fame were inducted. Pictured below are Lyle Orwig, Charleston Orwig, (left) and Don Lerch, retired, with their awards. Before the award ceremony I visited with Don Lerch, who was a founding member of ARC and Paul Weller, Agri/Washington, who was the ARC Executive Secretary once upon a time. I’ll share an interview with Lyle in a coming story post.

    In my conversation with Paul and Don I learned that ARC was founded to combat the very negative publicity that agriculture was receiving after World War II. Sound familiar? Don says it was due to the impact of science and technology on farming and fear and a lack of understanding on the part of the consuming public. So ARC was formed to mount an effort to try and overcome this problem by getting positive and truthful information into the media. In fact, many of the original members were in the media.

    I hope you enjoy this conversation since it will give you a really good perspective on not only the Agricultural Relations Council but where we’ve been in the fight to get a growing non-farm public to understand where their food comes from.

    Listen to this week’s ZimmCast here: ARC History With Paul & Don

    2012 ARC Annual Meeting Photo Album

    Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsor, GROWMARK, locally owned, globally strong, 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.

    ARC, Audio, ZimmCast

    McCormick Company Seeking New Opportunities

    Chuck Zimmerman

    I just spoke with Mark Perrin, President, McCormick Company, who says the agency is looking for a new opportunity. Post Update: The Pioneer account will be transitioning to the Ogilvy & Mather operating unit in Minneapolis, The Lacek Group LLC.

    Here’s why:

    McCormick Company announces that it will no longer be the agency of record for Pioneer Hi-Bred, a DuPont business. Instead, the agency will focus on new opportunities in the agriculture industry as well as other core practice areas.

    The move results from a DuPont corporate decision to shift the account to its agency of record. McCormick will continue to support Pioneer as needed to allow for a smooth transition.

    “McCormick is proud of its 43-year history with Pioneer,” said Mark Perrin, president of McCormick Company. “During that time, we’ve worked together to help deliver solid marketing campaigns that ultimately resulted in increased market share and growth for Pioneer. We are grateful for the opportunity to have worked so well together for so many years.”

    McCormick will continue to focus on its existing portfolio of clients, as well as new opportunities this change presents. New business always has been a hallmark of the agency, with McCormick posting 10 percent growth in 2011. Read More

    Agencies

    Then vs. Now — Planting

    Melissa Sandfort

    In this post comparing farming “then” to farming “now”, and in honor of the quickly approaching planting season, I interviewed my grandfather about his check-row planter that they used in the ‘30s. Back then, the typical farm size was 80-160 acres and they started planting corn around May 10th.

    Grandpa says, “We started planting corn when the hedge leaves were the size of squirrel ears.”

    Today we have technology to farm faster, more acres, more hours, and more yield potential through the use of guidance systems and 24, 36 or 48-row planters. And I doubt if anyone watches how big the leaves are on the hedge trees.

    Here’s my interview about planting with my grandpa. Listen to more here

    Until we walk again …

    Uncategorized

    Zimfo Bytes

    Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

    2012 Golden ARC Awards Presented

    Chuck Zimmerman

    The 2012 Golden ARC Awards were bigger and better this year as the number of entries increased significantly. Here’s Mace Thornton, ARC President, presenting one of the many awards won by Osborn Barr and being accepted by Keri Geffert English. I hope to add a link to the full list of award recipients shortly.

    In addition to these awards I will be sharing interviews with the first inductees into the Agricultural Public Relations Hall of Fame, Lyle Orwig and Don Lerch. You can their photos along with many others from this year’s meeting in the photo album.

    Post Update: You can find the complete list of winners here:

    Golden ARC Award Winners (pdf)
    Merit Award Winners (pdf)

    2012 ARC Annual Meeting Photo Album

    ARC

    ARC Tours Tea Plantation

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Here’s the happy farm tour group for the 2012 Agricultural Relations Council Annual Meeting. We’re touring Charleston Tea Plantation in this photo. I learned a lot about tea production today and since they have a nice gift shop, I’ve got some American made to take home with me.

    I’ve got interviews to share in the coming days. We were on a bus all day and I’m hoping to get today’s photos uploaded before our awards dinner this evening. If that doesn’t work then I’ll finish up after getting back to ZimmComm World Headquarters tomorrow.

    2012 ARC Annual Meeting Photo Album

    ARC

    BASF Personality Profile – Luke Bozeman

    Cindy Zimmerman

    BASF Herbicide Technical Market Manager Luke Bozeman has only been with BASF Crop Protection for a short time now, but he brings a wealth of experience, knowledge and enthusiasm to the company for helping growers get the most out of every acre.

    In this BASF Personality Profile, we learn more about Luke, who was born and raised on a diversified farm in northwest Florida and received a degree in entomology from Auburn University. His first job was with Sandoz (remember them?) where he spent 13 years, “starting at their research farm in Mississippi and then the last seven years in Chicago as a product manager for Dicamba,” he said. Afterward, he spent several years in contract research working with several different clients, including BASF, and then spent 10 years with Monsanto working on seed traits.

    Wanting to get back into the crop protection side of the business, Luke was happy to get the opportunity with BASF 18 months ago. “I am very excited about bringing new tools to the growers for controlling weeds in their crops,” Luke said.

    A couple of up-and-coming products that he is particularly excited about are Zidua® herbicide and Engenia™ herbicide. Zidua will first be labeled for use in corn this year to deal with difficult weeds like waterhemp and pigweeds. “Zidua has a very long-lasting residual, up to two weeks longer than products commonly used now, and it’s also going to be very flexible,” Luke said. “Engenia is our latest dicamba innovation and has been developed specifically for use in the dicamba-tolerant cropping system being developed by Monsanto.”

    Learn more about Luke, Zidua and Engenia in this interview: BASF Technical Market Manager Luke Bozeman

    Audio, BASF