IFAJ 2011 Congress Deadline

Chuck Zimmerman

IFAJIt’s time to stop procrastinating and get your registration completed for the 2011 International Federation of Agricultural Journalists Congress in Canada. The early deadline is this Friday. You’ll get a discount on the fees of course.

I registered to arrive in time for a day at the Outdoor Farm Show and hope to be on the Lake Huron Tour. If you’ve never attended an IFAJ Congress then this is the time. You will have a chance to create lasting relationships with agricultural journalists from all over the world. It’s a two way benefit since you’ll learn from them at the same time they learn from you.

I’m happy to report that Pioneer Hi-Bred will once again be the sponsor of AgWired coverage of this major international agricultural communicator event.

You can find the full schedule and registration form on the 2011 Congress website.

IFAJ

Brownfield Ag News Introduces Healthy Living

Chuck Zimmerman

Guess who the sponsor of AgWired coverage of the 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference will be? You are so right. How did you guess? Brownfield Ag News is sponsoring our coverage of the “main event” in agricultural marketing this week in Kansas City, MO. I’m on my way there today with Cindy arriving tomorrow.

Here’s a little news from our sponsor.

Brownfield Ag News introduces “Healthy Living,” a radio program that answers consumer questions about agriculture; helping to address the growing divide between consumers and those who grow their food, fiber and fuel.

“For many years Brownfield’s product offering has included programs designed to bridge the gap between farmers and those who consume farm products,” said Brownfield Farm Director Cyndi Young. “The goal of Healthy Living is to educate, not advocate. Instead of pushing the story Agriculture wants to tell, Healthy Living is produced with consumers interests and needs in mind.”

Healthy Living program topics range from food safety to heritage, heirloom and organic foods; from eating healthy on a budget to government food programs and obesity in America. This program also covers current legislation and issues as they affect the consumers’ choice and pocketbook.

In addition to the Healthy Living feature program, Brownfield Ag News has added another agricultural weather program, two additional agribusiness headline news programs, and two South Dakota agribusiness news programs.

Listen to one of the programs here: Brownfield Healthy Living

Audio

Seed to Succeed Grant Awarded

Melissa Sandfort

Harvest PR & Marketing, Inc. has once again awarded its Seed to Succeed nonprofit PR grant, valued at $20,000, to the AgChat Foundation, an organization dedicated to empowering farmers and ranchers to effectively tell their story using social media.

AgChat Foundation, which celebrated its one-year anniversary April 5, debuted the “Agvocacy 2.0 Training” in Chicago last August for a select group of 50 farmers and ranchers, and earned a coveted spot on the SXSW Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas, last month.

Currently, Harvest PR is leading a consumer-targeted media relations program spotlighting success stories of the farmers and ranchers who’ve established or enhanced their social media presence, and have successfully connected with consumers as a result of AgChat Foundation training and support. Harvest PR also recently spearheaded the nonprofit’s “Class of 2.0 Reunion,” in which Agvocacy 2.0 Training graduates reunited on Facebook and Twitter and recommitted to their social media goals.

Harvest PR created the Seed to Succeed PR Grant in 2009 to annually support one worthy not-for-profit cause or organization that serves to better agriculture. Applications for the 2012 PR Grant, valued at $25,000, are due Monday, Oct. 31, 2011. Details at www.harvest-pr.com.

Public Relations

Peace. Love. Bacon.

Meghan Grebner

I love bacon.  No really.  So much so I have even contemplated giving it up for Lent.  I thought I was being cute a few years ago when I’d tell people to support their local pork producers because everything is better with bacon.  Apparently, I wasn’t off the mark – in recent years bacon has become sexy.  A pop culture icon.  And now – You can always have bacon (of some sorts) at your fingertips.  There’s bacon ice cream, chocolate covered bacon, bacon vodka, bacon flavored lip balm and even a bacon air freshener for your car (I’m not sure of that one – but people keep giving them to me as gifts – I’ll have to try it out eventually).  You can even celebrate your love for bacon with thousands of your closest friends.

There are bacon celebrations scattered all over the United States.  In 2008 Andre Vonbaconvitch (not kidding – that’s his real bacon loving pseudonym) and two other friends came up with the idea to bring Baconfest to Chicago.  This year the Illinois Pork Producers Association (IPPA) became the presenting sponsor of Baconfest Chicago. What a partnership – the people that are responsible for makin’ bacon presenting the festival that honors the  absolutely deliciously sexy food that so many people adore.  How much fun is that?

But here’s the serious stuff… Not only were the volunteers from IPPA able to interact and continue to tell the message of the Illinois pork farmer with the 2,000 attendees of this years Baconfest – they were able to raise more than $1,600 in donations alone from their highly popular Peace. Love. Bacon. t-shirts for the Pork Power program.  Attendees were asked to bring a food item to donate for the Greater Chicago Food Depository (GCFD) and IPPA would match the donation pound for pound with pork.  The GCFD food drive collected 1,653 lbs of food.  Illinois Pork Producers will be donating nearly 2,500 lbs of pork to the Greater Chicago Food Depository (1,653 pounds of pork – matching the food collected PLUS 850 pounds of pork that they will purchase with the $1,622 raised from the t-shirt donations).

All in all a pretty amazing feat from some of the nations best pork producers.  One other “fun” thing from the weekend – my friend Tim, Director of Public Relations with Illinois Pork Producers, recites this years winning Ode to Bacon written by Joel Chmara called “Johnny Baconseed:  A Poem For The Hopeless Romantics”.

So many great things came from this partnership – Afterall.. Everything is better with bacon.

Johnny Baconseed
Pork

Harvesting Ideas at 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast 299Welcome to Agri-Marketing Conference Week. It is one of our favorite times of the year because it was seven years ago that Cindy and I attended and introduced people to ZimmComm New Media. We hope to see you in Kansas City in person or online. You can find us in our booth at this year’s Connection Point trade show. I will once again be the NAMA Blogger so I’ll be doing some cross posting here and there and you can count on lots of photos.

To get a preview of this year’s conference I spoke with Matt Coniglio, Fastline Publications. Matt is Vice Chair of the conference this year. In the ZimmCast he’ll share some highlights and says it’s looking like this will be the highest attendance for a conference since 2000! Get a preview of the 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference in this week’s program: 2011 Agri-Marketing Conference Preview

I’d also like to thank Brownfield Ag News for sponsoring our coverage of the conference! Look forward to a party on Thursday night.

Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsor, Growmark, locally owned, globally strong, for their support.

The program ends this week with a song from Music Alley called “The Harvesting Angel” by Jeremy Alan Hepp.

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

Audio, NAMA, ZimmCast

Precision Laboratories Mix Tank App iPod touch Giveaway

Chuck Zimmerman

How would you like a chance to win one of the coolest apps on your very own iPod? All you have to do is enter the Precision Laboratories Mix Tank App iPod touch Giveaway Contest (entry form).

The contest kicks off today and will end on midnight May 9 with the winner being announced May 10th on AgWired and Precision Pays. The Precision Laboratories Mix Tank App will be pre-loaded on the iPod so all you have to do to get started using it is to click on the app! ZimmComm New Media is thrilled to be working with Precision Laboratories on this promotion.

If you don’t know what the Mix Tank App is then you can learn more about it from James Reiss, Vice President of the agricultural chemistries business and Daniel Ori, Marketing Specialist in a recent ZimmCast with them.

Improving crop protection strategies will most likely lead to more tank mixing. Improper mixing sequence of crop protection products can cause incompatibility problems, lost spraying time from plugged sprayer nozzles, and the risk of cross contamination problems later. Simple mixing errors will cost you time and money.

The free Mix Tank app from Precision Laboratories is the first of its kind to assist agricultural retailers, crop specialists, university researchers and growers to determine the correct mixing sequence of crop protection tank mixes. It helps you get the most out of every tank mix and eliminate costly mixing errors.

Official Rules (doc file)

Apps

I Am Angus – It’s More Than Just a Breed of Cattle

Chuck Zimmerman

The American Angus Association says that “It’s more than just a breed of cattle – it’s about people and our relationship with the land.” That is truly evident in this edition of I Am Angus.

This is part of a series of posts we’re doing to introduce you to the American Angus Association via the library of videos they’ve produced over the years.

Video

Sushi PEEPS Yum Yum Platter

Chuck Zimmerman

Sushi Peeps. That’s right. I thought this was just too good to pass up. PEEPS Sushi looks like a very healthy and sweet surprise for the office or anywhere. Actually, it’s not really sushi but sushi shaped. There is a difference.

Roll into something new this Easter – create fun sushi shapes with your favorite PEEPS(R)! Visit ww.marshmallowpeeps.com for more delicious recipes or to submit your own!

Get the recipe after the break: Read More

Food

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • The Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association announced the appointment of David Thomas as its new Chief Lobbyist and Leticia Phillips as the organization’s Representative for North America, both based at UNICA’s Washington, D.C. office.
  • Syngenta and Bayer CropScience announced a co-development agreement on an HPPD herbicide tolerance trait for soybeans.
  • The National Potato Council launched a new website to inform school foodservice providers, nutrition opinion leaders, consumers, and potato industry stakeholders of the issues surrounding the proposed changes to the School Breakfast Program and the National School Lunch Program by the USDA.
  • The Kansas Soybean Association staff now includes a director of communications. In the newly created position, Brad Parker will produce, manage and implement all of the organization’s communications and outreach programs.
    Zimfo Bytes

    The Check-Row Planter

    Melissa Sandfort

    Ever watch the Sesame Street skit with Grover where he’s comparing near and far? It’s been a while since I’ve done then and now, so it was time to bring that back to the repertoire. I guess it’s an equal comparison: then (far) and now (near).

    Then: This is a photo of a 2-row check row planter used in the 1920s and before. The mechanism was horse-drawn through the field as a wire was put down the row; and every 42 inches there was a knot in the wire and when it was tripped, the seeds were planted. They’d go back to the starting point, move the wire over by hand, and do it all over again down the next row.

    Back then, they didn’t have mechanical weed control, so the 42-inch row/seed spacing allowed for a horse to fit through to cultivate. The result? A checkerboard or tic tac toe field pattern. And, this one was an improvement over the first of its kind as it has planter plates.

    Now: Growers have abundant 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 that’s all in one shot: seed, fertilizer and crop protection.

    Back then, if you farmed 80 acres you were a BIG operation. These days, 80 acres is just one small field.

    Until we walk again …

    Uncategorized