Hello from the 2012 Agricultural Relations Council Annual Meeting. The ARC board is hard at it this morning in advance of our midday welcome and first educational session. That session will be on “Building Bridges: Farm Organizations/Consumer Outreach Panel.”
I’ll be taking some photos and doing some interviews which will be posted here on AgWired so don’t despair if you couldn’t make it.
The first photos are online and I’ll be adding to them here: 2012 ARC Annual Meeting Photo Album
Our latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “Is “Organic” food healthier than “Conventional” food?” The majority of respondents said No at 60 percent with only 40 percent saying Yes. Most of the people I know don’t think organic means healthier and although they like I will eat something that is certified organic we just don’t want to pay more for it. Do these results surprise you?
Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, “What do you think is a fair “death tax” rate?” Permanent estate tax relief and reform is extremely important not only to farmers but everyone regardless of what business you own or work for. Seriously, why should the government tax your estate just because you died? Didn’t you pay taxes all your life building that estate including real estate taxes, income taxes, etc? Here’s to hoping we get some reasonable long term resolution to this issue.
ZimmPoll is sponsored by Rhea+Kaiser, a full-service advertising/public relations agency.
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s latest “Beltway Beef” podcast features comments from Congressman Sam Graves (R-MO), who is also a farmer from Northwest Missouri, about a couple of important issues for agriculture – farm bill, the “death tax,” and government regulation.
“It’s not really a farm bill, it’s a food policy bill,” said Rep. Graves. “It’s about the safest, most abundant, most affordable food supply in the world. We can take our food supply for granted in the United States, which makes us a great country.”
Graves says, like everyone else in agriculture and small business, permanent estate tax relief is a priority for him in 2012. “Death shouldn’t be a taxable event,” he says. “We work very hard to maintain and build that farm and pass it on to our children. To say that the federal government is owed something just because someone has passed on and you have to sell have the farm or half the business is just wrong.”
Great stuff from Sam – and great job of NCBA’s Mary Geiger getting the interview and Mike Deering doing the report. Have a listen or download here or, better yet, go to Beltway Beef and get it!
Beltway Beef with Rep. Sam Graves
BASF and Monsanto are teaming up for fungicide seed treatments for cotton and soybeans in North America.
Monsanto’s next generation Acceleron® Seed Treatment Products for soybeans and cotton will contain F500®—the same active ingredient found in Headline® fungicide—and the innovation Xemium® fungicide, which is expected to be registered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2012.
According to BASF North America Market Manager for Seed Solutions Bob Yaklich, Xemium’s new generation of the carboxamide class of chemistry provides significant control of key soybean and cotton diseases. “The combination of BASF fungicides, Xemium and F500, provides a new level of disease control, as well as healthier plants and improved crop quality, which can improve yield potential,” said Yaklich. “This new agreement with Monsanto will give growers the opportunity to give seedlings a stronger start and their growing seasons a stronger finish.”
Under the agreement, Monsanto will have exclusive rights to commercialize the new seed treatments. Monsanto’s global seed treatment platform complements the company’s seed and trait strategy, as well as its investments in breeding and biotechnology.
“Farmers choose Genuity® Roundup Ready 2 Yield® soybeans and Deltapine® brand cottonseed for their proven yield advantages” said Tom Schaefer, Monsanto’s Marketing Manager for Acceleron® Seed Treatment Products. “These additions to the Acceleron Seed Treatment Products line can help those seeds emerge strong and yield strong.”
Details on how strong stand establishment and early plant health can reflect higher yields at harvest are available at www.AcceleronSTS.com.
Wyffels Hybrids added a fourth region to its sales structure in Iowa, which covers 22 counties and three million corn acres in the southwest part of the state. By enhancing its resources in Iowa, Wyffels Hybrids can better provide dedicated service and support to existing corn grower customers throughout the state and attract more new customers.
Bill Backhaus has been named region manager for this new region, supervising four Wyffels Hybrids district sales managers. Prior to joining Wyffels Hybrids, Backhaus held a variety of positions in his 14 years working with the Dekalb® seed brand including territory sales manager, local field adviser and key account representative. He also serves as a Future Plans Operations Officer with the Iowa National Guard.
Backhaus holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Iowa State University. He was raised on a family farm in western Iowa that today still produces hogs and grows corn, soybeans and alfalfa.
It’s not too early to get your plans made for this year’s World Pork Expo. If you don’t have a hotel room you’d better get on it too since the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championship will be in Des Moines at the same time as World Pork Expo again this year. BTW. We have sponsorship opportunities for our coverage of this year’s show available. Just contact Chuck Zimmerman.
Plans are underway for this year’s World Pork Expo June 6-8 at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines, Iowa. Join the nearly 20,000 producers and allied-industry representatives who will be on hand to see more than 450 commercial exhibits, participate in business seminars and show outstanding breeding stock.
It’s never too early to register for media credentials. You’ll know you have registered successfully if, once you click “submit,” you’re taken to a landing page with the headline, “Thank you for registering,” and you subsequently receive a confirmation email. If you’d like to check your registration status, contact:jkeene@mccormickcompany.com.
Let your readers, listeners and viewers know that, they now can preregister to attend World Pork Expo. By registering online, attendees receive a $10 early registration discount.
Become a friend of World Pork Expo on Facebook and follow us on Twitter (#NPPCWPX) to receive regular updates. You’ll find additional information just for journalists at the online media center.
The American Ethanol No. 3 Chevy made its debut recently at the Las Vegas Nationwide Series Sam’s Town 300 with rookie driver Austin Dillon finishing strong in 7th place.
Representatives of American Ethanol partners, the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) and Growth Energy, were at the March 10 race – pictured here with RCR team owner (and Dillon’s grandfather) Richard Childress (left) are Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis next to Dillon and Illinois corn farmer Martin Barbre, chairman of NCGA’s NASCAR Advisory Committee on the right.
The excitement surrounding the second year of the American Ethanol partnership was evident at the Commodity Classic, where I talked to Tom Buis about how NASCAR is helping the ethanol industry by spotlighting 15% ethanol blended motor fuel (E15) which is what NASCAR uses in all races. “A lot of our promotion and activities this year, now that E15 is approved to go in the marketplace, will be connecting the fans and the viewers to the fuel they’ll soon be able to see in their retail areas,” Tom said. “There’s no sport more American than NASCAR and there’s no fuel more American than ethanol.”
Best of all, Tom says with gas prices up and ethanol priced $1 less than gasoline, E15 will save consumers money at the pump.
In this photo from Classic, Tom is holding one of our ZimmComm photo calendars, which featured a couple of American Ethanol photos. We still have a couple of calendars left if you want to buy one – click here.
Listen to my interview with Tom here: Interview with Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis
The American Agricultural Editors Association has announced its first New Media Awards Program. This is a very progressive move and I applaud them for it. It will be interesting to see the results and I’m betting there are already unanticipated questions for the competition. For example, I wonder if someone who is an Active member can submit entries in both the Marketing Communications Division and the Publishing Division as long as they are for different projects. I just happen to know a couple of members who qualify both ways as far as membership is concerned. If you know the answer to the question please leave in comments.
We are excited to announce the inaugural year of the AAEA New Media Awards Program, with thanks to Syngenta for providing the funding to make it possible and to many forward-thinking AAEA members who gave input during its gestation in recent years.
New Media Award Program entries and payment must be postmarked by April 17, 2012. Download the 2012 New Media Awards entry form (pdf). The form includes all the rules, guidelines and categories. Fees are $20 per entry.
Read More
It has been five years since I started my Twitter account – @AgriBlogger. My how time and tweets fly. I’m currently at 12,099 tweets but I’m sure that will increase by the time you read this even. My current tweet average is 6.6 times per day.
I wondered what my first tweet was but have no idea and gave up trying to find out after spending some time trying. None of the services I tried would find that first tweet. Twitter hasn’t made archives available to search like I’d like that I know of. Kind of makes sense when you think about how many tweets there are at this point. I believe the maximum number of tweets Twitter archives via it’s API is 3,200. That would only take me back to 2010!
I don’t have enough time to create a comprehensive list of things you should or shouldn’t do on Twitter but here are a few that come to mind right now.
Do
Test any link you put in your tweet first. Very irritating to click and nothing happens.
Tweet at least once what the hashtag you’ll be using a lot means.
Read your tweet before you publish it. Does it make sense? Spelling issues? Know what I mean?
Don’t Do
Tweet, “Must read . . . ” Turns me off and no, I don’t think I “must” read whatever it is.
Tweet, “Very excited to . . . ” Kind of like press releases that say it.
Ignore @replies, especially if they ask a reasonable question. Same for DM’s.
Tweet every feeling you have in a day. Some okay, all of them, not.
Assume everyone following you reads all your tweets.
