Bill Pool Joins Wheat Growers

Chuck Zimmerman

Wheat Growers has announced Bill Pool as Director of Communications and Corporate Marketing.

“Bill Pool has a depth of understanding and knowledge of our industry that will help significantly move our communication and marketing efforts forward,” Steve Briggs, Wheat Growers Senior Vice President, Corporate Marketing and Agronomy, said. “His experience with and connections to major agricultural enterprises will serve Wheat Growers well.”

Bill Pool is a Minnesota native who most recently was Vice President and Regional Sales Director for Farm Market iD. Prior to that he held sales and marketing positions for Technekes LLC, American Cyanamid and Cargill.

Wheat Growers is a grain and agronomy cooperative. Interestingly, members now grow more corn and soybeans than wheat!

Ag Groups, Wheat

Final Days of New Holland Boomer 555 Contest

Chuck Zimmerman

The final day for entries in the New Holland Boomer 555 Contest is this Wednesday. You can find the entry form here.

This social media driven promotion has exceeded all expectations for results which have mainly been measured by number of entries as well as other social media interaction.

Entries can be in the form of a written essay, photo or video explaining what you’d do with a new Boomer tractor with front end loader if you won one. Here’s an example of a recent video entry.

Agribusiness, New Holland

AgGateway Helps Agribusinesses Work Together

Cindy Zimmerman

You may not have ever heard of AgGateway, but this relatively youthful organization already has a membership that reads like a who’s who of agribusinesses and their important goal is to help efficiently share information between trading partners in the agricultural and food supply chains.

GROWMARK was one of the founding companies of AgGateway just six short years ago, growing out of an organization known as RAPID. “RAPID was really formed by the crop protection segment of the ag industry and it did what AgGateway does today,” said GROWMARK Chief Information Officer Tim Piper. AgGateway allowed the concept started by RAPID to expand into other segments of agribusiness. “Many companies like GROWMARK are involved in several other segments of the ag industry and we didn’t really have a system of developing projects and standards around interchange between trading partners in these other segments.”

So, AgGateway developed with councils for different segments of the industry. “There’s still a crop protection council, but now we also have a crop nutrition council, seed, feed, etc.,” Tim explains. And as the organization grows the councils are expanding as well, with a retail and a precision ag council added recently and more councils in the works for grains, animal health, equipment and specialty crops.

Listen to more of my conversation with Tim about AgGateway here: Tim Piper Interview

Watch a GROWMARK video about the benefits of AgGateway.

Agribusiness, GROWMARK

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • CHS Inc. announced it has signed an agreement with Solbar Industries Ltd., to acquire 100 percent of the shares of Solbar.
  • A special webinar focusing on dealing with the complex issues that can arise in family farm relationships will be held on Wednesday, January 11 beginning at 2 p.m. CST.
  • The National Association of Farm Broadcasting has named Greg Akaki, farm director at the Kansas Ag Network and WIBW radio, Topeka, Kan., the 2011 Farm Broadcaster of the Year.
  • Join Planalytics on Tuesday, Dec. 6th at 10:00 AM central as we look back at the effects of weather on U.S. Agriculture during the 2011 season.
Zimfo Bytes

Whatcha Gonna Do With That Thing?

Melissa Sandfort

I could crack some walnuts with this thing.
I could break open the ice that forms in the horse’s water tank.
I could threaten … well … better not.
I could pound in some nails with this thing.
Or I could use it for its intended purpose – to pull nails.

Today, I’d just flip over the hammer and yank them out by their head, but back in 1904 when this was patented, they used it to pull nails.

It kind of looks like a toenail trimmer, too. I pity the poor soul that has toenails that big!

Until we walk again …

Uncategorized

Update On Vault HP

Chuck Zimmerman

At the NAFB Trade Talk I visited with Russ Berndt, Becker Underwood. We had visited earlier this year at the Ag Media Summit where we talked about their bio-based, growth-promoter for soybeans, Vault HP. Russ says that’s still the big news with Becker Underwood.

Russ says they’ve had a big increase in sales this year which is the second year the product has been out. He thinks the return on investment that growers are seeing is driving this increase. Looking ahead to 2012 he encourages growers who saw flooding or water-logged fields to consider using a seed treatment that contains an inoculant product.

Listen to my interview with Russ here: Interview with Russ Berndt

2011 NAFB Convention Photo Album

Agribusiness, Audio, NAFB

Increasing Corn Yield In 2012

Chuck Zimmerman

Maximizing corn yields in 2012 was the theme of information shared during the NAFB Trade Talk this year by FMC. I visited with Gail Stratman (not pictured), FMC Midwest Technical Lead to find out what’s new with FMC. He says that as demand for corn continues to grow worldwide, farmers are trying to eke out every bushel they can from their crop. He provides some thoughts for how to achieve this using FMC products.

Listen to my interview with Gail to learn more about how FMC products can help increase corn yields here: Interview with Gail Stratman

2011 NAFB Convention Photo Album

Agribusiness, Audio, FMC, NAFB

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Gary Wagner, CAC, owner of Great Earth Agri-Business, Inc., Madison, Wisc., was elected president of the American Society of Agricultural Consultants.
  • The Illinois 4-H Livestock Judging Team bested a field of 28 states to become the 2011 national champions at the National 4-H Livestock Judging Contest.
  • The Mid-America Alfalfa Expo & Conference has announced its program for the 2012 event, which features an impressive line-up of alfalfa and agriculture experts as well as an industry trade show and auction.
  • Soybean farmers will gather Jan. 11, 2012, in Topeka for the Kansas Soybean Expo, themed “Kansas Soybeans: Growing Opportunities.”
    Zimfo Bytes

    Happy Thanksgiving

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Happy Thanksgiving from the ZimmComm Team.

    We like Thanksgiving cards so I thought I’d share this one from the National Association of Farm Broadcasting.

    We’ve got a lot to be thankful for today.

    For starters, we can’t say enough how much we appreciate our clients and sponsors. Your support means more than we can say. We also thank everyone in the ZimmComm community. We’ll continue to strive to bring you our best. We’re also thankful to America’s farmers and everyone involved in the production/processing/distribution of food.

    For that we give #FoodThanks!

    Uncategorized

    The Story of the Skates

    Melissa Sandfort

    A few months ago, we cleaned out my parents’ house that they lived in since I was just 9 months old. Without giving away my age, let’s just say it’s been a few years. In the boxes buried in basement closets, we found all sorts of things from when my brother and I were kids: flattened basketballs, R2D2, Strawberry Shortcake, whiffle ball and bat, and these old ice skates.

    In my town of 120 people, across the road from our house was a ¼ acre field. Each winter, the farmer would flood the field to make a skating rink for the kids in town…all six of us. The nice part was, mom could just yell out the front door when it was time for supper.

    I didn’t master the ice skates like I did the roller skates though I used to lay awake at night and dream of doing a triple lutz. That was also back in the day when a few hours in the cold didn’t phase me and now if I’m out for more than 10 minutes I’m claiming frostbite so I can head back to the house.

    These skates put a few laps on around the old rink, but you had to watch out for corn stalks sticking up through the ice. I was always glad when he rotated to soybeans – it made for a cleaner ice skating surface!

    Happy Thanksgiving!!

    Until we walk again …

    Uncategorized