NAMA Professional Development Awards of Excellence

Chuck Zimmerman

Today NAMA presented their Professional Development Awards of Excellence during the Trends in Agriculture conference. Here are three of the winners (l-r) Stephanie Gable, Novus International – Product/Species Management; yours truly – Public Relations and Margaret Fogarty, Farm Credit – Marketing Communications. Not pictured because she had to attend another conference is Sue Lee, Farm Journal Media – Sales. However, Sue joined via recorded video remarks. I can’t tell you how much this award means to me and want to thank NAMA and my nominator!

I spoke with Margaret and asked her what her award meant to her and what she sees as opportunities in agriculture today. You can listen to my interview with Margaret here: Interview with Margaret Fogarty

Stephanie turned the tables on me and interviewed me about my award. Now how cool is that? I think she makes a good farm podcaster. You can listen to Stephanie interview me here: Stephanie Interviews Me

2011 NAMA Trends in Agriculture Photo Album

Coverage of the NAMA Trends in Agriculture & NAFB Convention is sponsored by BASF
Audio, NAMA

Trends in the Media Landscape

Cindy Zimmerman

Mark Ramsey of Mark Ramsey Media offered his insights for agricultural media during the general professional improvement session on Wednesday morning at the NAFB convention in Kansas City.

Mark believes that as broadcasters continue to integrate digital and social media technology, it will completely redefine the meaning of radio. “The reality is, we are all media,” Mark says. “The biggest thing broadcasters have to leverage are the relationships we have between our consumers and our advertisers in our presence.”

Mark is also sharing his insights during a break out session on Wednesday afternoon.

Listen to Chuck’s interview with Mark here: Interview with Mark Ramsey

2011 NAFB Convention Photo Album

Coverage of the NAMA Trends in Agriculture & NAFB Convention is sponsored by BASF
Audio, NAFB

BASF Provides Connectivity for NAFB Meeting

Cindy Zimmerman

The 68th Annual NAFB Convention is officially underway in Kansas City. Hundreds of broadcast council and allied industry members are already working hard in between catching up with friends we see only once a year!

Our thanks to BASF for providing so much at the NAFB meeting to help farm broadcasters continue to provide “Insight for Agriculture – Every Day” – even when they are on the road and away from the studio. Not only is BASF sponsoring the broadcast room, as always, they are also sponsoring the internet access – which is absolutely necessary and no small expense at any convention.

The photo album is up and will continue to be updated throughout the meeting all week. Stay tuned!

2011 NAFB Convention Photo Album

Coverage of the NAMA Trends in Agriculture & NAFB Convention is sponsored by BASF
BASF, NAFB

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Pfizer Animal Health has added to the expertise and services available to its customers by adding four marketing and creative professionals to its U.S. Cattle Marketing team — Ryan Dunn, Jean Lonie, Charlotte Ami Yi-Kochoa and Heather Campbell.
  • Amanda Bacon, Prairie Grove, Ark., was crowned the 2011-12 National Hereford Queen during the American Royal National Hereford Show.
  • CHS Inc. announced it has opened an office in Seoul, South Korea.
  • MetaFarms Inc., announces the launch of an i-Production service contract with Iowa Select Farms, Iowa Falls, Iowa.
    Zimfo Bytes

    Take Personal Responsibility For Obesity

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Our latest ZimmPoll seems to have hit a nerve judging by the number of responses. We asked, “What is the cause of obesity?” Eighty six percent said Bad eating/exercise habits! Only 8% said Over processed food, 4% said Genetics, 2% said Fast food restaurants and no one chose Lack of food regulation. Eating really is a personal choice as well as a necessity. Seems like personal responsibility trumps all else here. What do you think?

    Our new ZimmPoll is now live. We’re asking the question, “Which Republican Candidate for President is best for Ag?” There are a lot of them and we’ve listed the main contenders of the moment. What do you think? Feel free to add a comment here.

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

    ZimmPoll

    USFRA Now A Year Old

    Chuck Zimmerman

    ZimmCast 326It has been a year since the announcement of the U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance. I remember speaking with Rick Tolman, CEO, NCGA, about the newly formed alliance then. This week USFRA held its first annual meeting preceded by a board meeting. After the program was over I visited with Rick to find out what has been accomplished.

    Rick says it’s really exciting to see what’s happening. At the first board meeting the attendance was about twelve or so people and at this year’s meeting there were over twenty with about eighty other people sitting in. He says they raised over $10 million dollars in the first year and have a second year budget of $11.1 million. That’s a big number for farm groups to “put in a pot.” Rick says that a lot of the annual meeting dealt with plans for 2012. In our discussion he talks about what some of those plans are.

    Listen to my conversation with Rick in this week’s ZimmCast: USFRA A Year Old

    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.

    Ag Groups, Audio, USFRA, ZimmCast

    More Productivity Through Better Focus

    Chuck Zimmerman

    The kick-off session for NAMA Trends in Agriculture is “Focus Pocus: 24 Tricks for Regaining Command of Your Day.” Our presenter is Paul Burton, QuietSpacing. I visited with Paul about his topic because, like a lot of busy people today, I am always looking at ways to become more productive.

    Paul says one of the ideas he wants people to use to regain command of their day is removing the clutter from their workspace. He says it’s amazing how distracting things you see even in your peripheral vision can become. He’s got lots of good ideas and each attendee got a copy of his book by the same name as the session.

    You can listen to my interview with Paul here: Interview with Paul Burton

    2011 NAMA Trends in Agriculture Photo Album

    Coverage of the NAMA Trends in Agriculture & NAFB Convention is sponsored by BASF
    Audio, NAMA

    NAMA Strategic Plan

    Chuck Zimmerman

    The National Agri-Marketing Association is rolling out a new Strategic Plan. It was previewed at the NAMA Leader Workshop by the NAMA Executive Committee. Here’s Marvin Kokes, NCBA, presenting one of the three key strategies from the plan.

    Marvin says those three strategies are; Increase our strategic partnerships on both the local and national levels; Communicate with members and partners more effectively and Grow NAMA membership in non-traditional segments. More information about the plan will be forthcoming from the organization as this plan unfolds.

    You can listen to my interview with Marvin here: Interview with Marvin Kokes

    2011 NAMA Trends in Agriculture Photo Album

    Coverage of the NAMA Trends in Agriculture & NAFB Convention is sponsored by BASF
    Audio, NAMA

    NAMA Leadership Workshop

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Prior to the NAMA Trends in Agriculture session a Leadership Workshop was held for chapter leaders and others. The Chair for the workshop is Amber Harrison, Bratney Companies.

    I spoke with Amber about what the workshop offers to member leaders. She says the theme of the workshop is “Progress Through Programming and Productivity.” The focus is how chapters can improve member attendance at events. One of the ideas she was offering was mixing up the time of day to hold a chapter meeting (lunch, evening social, etc.).

    In addition to developing program development and member recruitment ideas Amber says the NAMA Executive Committee is participating to roll out the new NAMA Strategic Plan.

    You can listen to my interview with Amber here: Interview with Amber Harrison

    2011 NAMA Trends in Agriculture Photo Album

    Coverage of the NAMA Trends in Agriculture & NAFB Convention is sponsored by BASF
    Audio, NAMA

    Study Shows Strong Agreement Between Farmers and Consumers

    Melissa Sandfort

    Consumers’ interest in agriculture and personal respect for farmers is high, even in countries where less than two percent of the population works in agriculture, according to the BASF Farm Perspectives Study, which surveyed 1,800 farmers and 6,000 consumers. Yet farmers and consumers also agree that farmers’ reputations remain low. The study, which outlines the way farmers and consumers view the farming profession, its challenges and its support network, revealed surprisingly strong agreement on major issues, including the role of farmers and the major challenges farmers are facing in the 21st century.

    The study was carried out in Brazil, India, the United States, Germany, Spain and France in cooperation with the global market research firm Synovate GmbH and Professor Dr. Ulrich Oevermann, Professor for Sociology at the University of Frankfurt.

    Both farmers and consumers view farming as a vocation, one that is dedicated to providing nourishment, supporting rural culture and caring for the land. “Steward of the land” or “Caretaker of the land” is farmers’ favorite self-description in all six countries (over 80%), but registers significantly lower with consumers (50-60%). In a related question, many consumers blame farmers for environmental problems, with concerns strongest in Brazil, India and France (38-43%), the U.S. and Germany (23%).

    Around 80 percent of farmers and consumers from all countries agree that farming’s primary objective is to feed the world. Consumers show a high level of interest in farming (from 84% in India to 50% in France), but also admit that they do not know enough about farming to judge it properly. The price of food and, conversely, the price of conservation remain obstacles for both farmers and consumers.

    Click here to read more from the full study.

    BASF, Farming