After seeing a retweet this morning from FarmerNation I found this video posted that is a very tongue in cheek criticism of the Canadian Wheat Board. It’s on YouTube and the FarmerNation site and comments can be left and have been. I have no position on this but have to say that this video is hilarious regardless of which side you fall on. At least I hope the CWB can laugh (and comment). My favorite line from the CWB character is “You’re speaking eskimo.” Thanks FarmerNation and TheSaskFarmer for a good laugh.
Regional Best of NAMA Events
It’s time for NAMA Regions and Chapters to present their Best of NAMA Awards. These will be done at a variety of events. Look to NAMA for full and final details as we get closer. However, here’s some info for your calendar.
January 13, 2011 – Region II (Gateway, Great Plains, Midlands, Missouri-Kansas, Rocky Mountain, and Southwest Chapters) at Boulevard Brewing Company, 2501 Southwest Boulevard, Kansas City, MO 64108, starting at 6:00 pm. For more details, visit http://www.nama.org/amc/bon/region2.htm. You can also register online at http://www.nama.org/ConferenceRegistration/Default.aspx?confid=29.
January 20, 2011 – Region IV (Badger, Chicago, Heartland, and Mid-America Chapters) at the Chicago Marriott Northwest, 4800 Hoffman Boulevard, Hoffman Estates, IL, starting at 6:00 pm. For more details, visit http://www.nama.org/amc/bon/region4.htm. Registration will be available soon.
January 27, 2011 – Region III (Cornbelt, Iowa, North Central, and Northern Prairie Chapters) at the State Historical Society of Iowa, 600 E. Locust St., Des Moines, IA 50319, starting at 5:30. The day will begin with a “Welcome to Iowa” tour, which includes a continental breakfast and lunch. Registration for the tour will be available soon For more details, visit http://www.nama.org/amc/bon/region3.htm. Online registration for the banquet is available at http://www.nama.org/ConferenceRegistration/Default.aspx?confid=30.
January 27, 2011 – Carolinas/Virginia Chapter at Junior League of Raleigh Center for Community Leadership, 711 Hillsborough Street, Raleigh, NC 27603, starting at 5:30 pm. Registration will be available soon.
February 8, 2011 – Region I (Desert Southwest and Western Pacific Chapters) in the VIP tent at the World Ag Expo, Tulare, CA, with a reception/mixer tentatively scheduled to start at 12:30 pm.
A Midsouth Chapter event will be planned and further details will be forthcoming.
Microsoft Cloud for USDA
The future forecast for USDA is cloudy.
USDA announced last week that it is on the verge of going live with a commercial cloud service offering for its Enterprise Messaging Service (EMS) which includes email, web conferencing, document collaboration, and instant messaging. USDA is the first cabinet-level agency to move its e-mail and collaboration applications to the “cloud,” a rapidly growing form of computing involving flexible, scalable services delivered over the internet.
USDA awarded the contract to Dell earlier this year for Microsoft Online Services in an effort to streamline agency messaging, reduce costs and improve efficiencies that build on existing infrastructure and allow USDA to extend its on-premise software investments agreements to the cloud solution.
Over the past six months USDA has worked closely with Dell and Microsoft on a comprehensive set of plans and actions required to successfully migrate 120,000 plus users to the cloud solution. USDA expects to begin moving employees within the next four weeks and has granted Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) Authority to Operate (ATO) for the Microsoft cloud infrastructure, certifying that it provides a trustworthy foundation for operations.
Read more here.
Current State of Podcasting
Had enough of social networking? How about some information about one of those “old” new media channels – Podcasting. Here’s a recorded presentation from the Blogworld event I couldn’t attend this year. The report is titled, “The Current State of Podcasting 2010.”
2010 Presentation of Edison Research data on podcasting. Originally presented at the Blogworld Expo in Las Vegas, this presentation by Edison Research VP of Strategy Tom Webster explores five years of data on podcast and downloadable media consumption habits, and presents new, thought-provoking insights for content creators.
Zimfo Bytes
- Yield data and field evaluations from the 2010 growing season show Syngenta’s Agrisure Viptera trait delivers unsurpassed control of ear-feeding insects, demonstrating improved control vs. triple stacks.
- Bayer CropScience LP recently announced that it has finalized a licensing agreement with Heads Up Plant Protectants Inc. for access to Heads Up seed treatment.
- Scotts Miracle-Gro Company has chosen Wright City to be the location of its newest production and distribution facility, a capital investment of nearly $8 million that will create 14 new full-time immediately and a total of 25 as the facility progresses.
- The Board of Directors of the American Soybean Association has confirmed Alan Kemper from Lafayette, Ind., as President and Rob Joslin from Sidney, Ohio, as Chairman.
NAAA Convention Wrapup
Since I left the NAAA convention early I had to wait to catch up with Executive Director Andrew Moore (right) to see how he would characterize this year’s convention. Actually Cindy spoke with him by phone for me.
Andrew says they broke a number of attendance records. For example, they had 27 percent more room nights booked than their largest convention previously. They had nearly 1,700 attendees this year which is the highest number since 1998. He’s looking ahead to next year when the convention will be in Las Vegas. We hope to be there again.
You can listen to a NAAA convention wrapup with Andrew here: Andrew Moore Wrapup
2010 NAAA Convention Photo Album
AgWired coverage of the NAAA Convention is sponsored by 
.
NAAA Treasurer Optimistic For Future
Garrett Lindell, Lindell Aerial Ag Service, Aledo, IL. is the Treasurer for the National Agricultural Aviation Association. I visited with him at the BASF booth during the NAAA convention. He’s also a BASF fan and is pictured with Sue Koning, BASF.
Garrett says his business is about 15 years old. He’s got 6 planes on the field and hires up to 7 or 8 pilots during the peak of the season. With wet weather in his area this past season he says fungicides have been a big part of his business. I asked him what he thinks about my sponsor, BASF, and you’ll hear him say only good things. Like other NAAA folks I’ve spoken with he says that the convention attendance has been higher than expected. He’s also got a very positive outlook for the future of the aerial application business.
You can listen to my interview with Garrett here: Garrett Lindell Interview
Apparently Garrett was the live auction winner of the PT6 engine donated by Pratt & Whitney Canada. Ag aviation newspaper, AgAir Update, got a short video statement from him on his winnings:
2010 NAAA Convention Photo Album
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Christmas Comes Early for Iowa City Woman
Christmas came last Friday for an Iowa City woman who won free food and fuel for a year from the Iowa Corn Growers Association. Katie Ortmann was the winner of the Iowa Corn Fed GameDay GiveAway campaign when her name was called during halftime of the Iowa State versus Iowa men’s basketball game held on December 10, 2010 in Iowa City.
The year-long promotion, designed to highlight the many uses of corn and its importance to Iowa, traversed a year of Iowa State versus Iowa sporting events that included football, basketball and wrestling matches. Iowans were able to register to win from August 20th through November 20th and the grand prize was free food and fuel for one year valued at $5,000 in groceries and $2,500 in ethanol from Kum & Go.
Runner-up prizes were also awarded. Marc Foster, also of Iowa City, was randomly selected to win free food and fuel during the Iowa versus Iowa State wrestling meet on Friday, December 3. In addition, Chris Dodel’s name was drawn to win the same prize during the Iowa versus Iowa State women’s basketball game on Thursday, December 9th. He resides in Urbana, Iowa.
“We’ve reached thousands of people with the Iowa Corn Fed GameDay GiveAway promotion,” said Mindy Williamson, director of communications and public relations for the Iowa Corn Promotion Board (ICPB) and the Iowa Corn Growers Association (ICGA). “Ethanol use was just one benefit featured in the program, which included food and feed uses for corn and messages about corn’s importance to Iowa’s economy, environment and energy independence.”
On behalf of ICGA and ICPB, Williamson thanked Kum & Go, Cyclone Sports Properties and Hawkeye Sports Properties for helping to sponsor the Iowa Corn Fed GameDay GiveAway sweepstakes that is part of a four-year contract with both Hawkeye Sports Properties and Cyclone Sports Properties. The promotion includes radio, television, internet, and on-site marketing and highlights the many uses for corn and its importance to Iowa- as everyday is GameDay for Iowa’s farmers.
Ready To Become An Aerial Applicator
NAAA/BASF Agricultural Aviation Scholarship winner Ben Cadenbach says receiving the scholarship “makes a huge difference” and will allow him to complete his education and become an aerial applicator. The people at the convention have been very open with him and offered a lot of advice.
You can listen to my interview with Ben here and hear what his plans are for the future: Ben Cadenbach Interview
2010 NAAA Convention Photo Album
AgWired coverage of the NAAA Convention is sponsored by .
BCS Communications Strategy For Growth
I found out what’s new at BCS Communications at their recent holiday open house party. This is an episode in my series with the leadership of agricultural marketing and communications agencies.
Pictured are the principals, (l-r) Kelly Schwalbe, Leigh Ann Cleaver and Illinois Blaisdel. It was hard to drag them away from friends and clients but we found a place. Part of their story is the fact that they’ve expanded their office space significantly this year as well as their staff. As Illinois says it, it has been a year of finding the “right people” to add to the staff. He says they “hire on character.” (Which explains why they just hired our good friend Sally Behringer – she is definitely a character!) Also important to the interview and for those who attended the party you’ll know what I mean, they have a much larger new snow globe. You can ask them personally what that means exactly.
In our interview you’ll hear how they describe their agency and what they think sets them apart from others. ZimmCast 285 - BCS Communications
This week’s program ends with some music from Music Alley. It’s called “My Baby Likes To Eat” by Alec Berlin.
Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsors, Novus International, and Leica Geosytems for their support.
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