Tell Good Stories

Chuck Zimmerman

Joseph Rueter, Curation Station, talked to the NAMA Trends in Agriculture conference about effective digital brand communities. Actually, our scheduled presenter could not make it and Joseph was called in at the last minute. One of the things he did to prepare included tweeting his followers for their input for what he should tell this group of agrimarketers. How many of you would think to do that? Makes sense though and he got a lot of responses which became part of his presentation. A key element to what he told us was to “tell good stories.” I think you need to listen to my interview to understand what he means by that.

You can listen to my interview with Joseph here: Joseph Rueter Interview

NAMA Trends In Agriculture Photo Album

Reports from the NAMA Trends in Agriculture Conference are brought to you by Quarry Integrated Communications. Quarry helps agri-marketers convert branding into buying. Learn more at Quarry.com.

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Key Consumer Trends

Chuck Zimmerman

The leader for the trends team within the consumer insights strategy group at General Mills is Carol Bagnoli. Carol was part of the Macro Food Trends Panel Discussion at the National Agri-Marketing Trends In Agriculture conference. She looks at consumer trends and how they’re shifting including consumer values, behavior shifts outside of food, food trends, health trends, sustainability and demographic trends. She says a lot of what consumers think is formed by perceptions and sometimes they really can’t provide a sound reason for why they believe something. Right now they seemed to be really focused on health and things like high fructose corn syrup. She says this is a big one for the industry so there continues to be a real need to get good information out on the subject.

You can hear more about her thoughts on consumer trends and what is causing them in my interview with her here: Carol Bagnoli Interview

NAMA Trends In Agriculture Photo Album

Reports from the NAMA Trends in Agriculture Conference are brought to you by Quarry Integrated Communications. Quarry helps agri-marketers convert branding into buying. Learn more at Quarry.com.

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Debut of Junior National Beef Ambassador Program

Melissa Sandfort

Eight youth participated in the inauguration of the Junior National Beef Ambassador Program in Rapid City, S.D. Funded in part by the beef checkoff, the objective of this new youth program is to promote a stronger interest and clearer understanding of the many aspects of the beef industry, its values and virtues, to youth 12 to 16 years old. While preparing for the contest, students have the opportunity to gain knowledge, advocacy skills and an understanding of the importance of beef advocacy and promotion. (Photo L to R: Nolz, Mairose, Loos)

First prize was awarded to Kaley Nolz, an eighth grader from Mitchell, S.D. Nolz loves to show cattle, play sports and is active in 4-H. Erin Mairose, Kimball, S.D., earned second place. Mairose is a sophomore and lives on a ranch that has been in her family for more than 50 years. She is active in 4-H and plays the viola in the Huron Symphony Orchestra. Third place went to Libbi Loos, a seventh grader from Litchfield, Neb. Loos enjoys training, showing and riding horses. She is active in 4-H where she shows cattle and has started her own beef herd with her first show heifer.

All of these youth are encouraged to participate in the National Beef Ambassador Program’s online advocacy efforts and to continue to grow as beef advocates returning to participate in the Senior division of the National Beef Ambassador Program.

Beef

Food Trends

Chuck Zimmerman

What are the trends in food facing a company like Hy-Vee? We found out at the NAMA Trends In Agriculture conference from Rose Mitchell, Senior VP, Governmental Relations.

Rose says there are four key trends they are looking at that include health, safety, taste and how to cook. She says they listen to their customers to identify these trends and then put plans into action to address them. Listen to her provide some examples in my interview.

You can listen to my interview with Rose here: Rose Mitchell Interview

NAMA Trends In Agriculture Photo Album

Reports from the NAMA Trends in Agriculture Conference are brought to you by Quarry Integrated Communications. Quarry helps agri-marketers convert branding into buying. Learn more at Quarry.com.

Audio, Food, NAMA

NAMA Professional Development Awards of Excellence Winners

Chuck Zimmerman

This year the National Agri-Marketing Association presented Professional Development Awards of Excellence to four people. Pictured are (l-r) Marvin Kokes, NCBA (Sales), Sue Otten, AGCO (Public Relations), Scott McClure, Brighton Agency (Marketing Communications) and not pictured Elena Lindemann, Land O’Lakes Purina Feed (Product/Species Management).

I spoke with Marvin, Sue and Scott about their award and how the theme for the NAMA Trends In Agriculture conference, “Agriculture In A Globally Local World” relates to their business.

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

You can listen to my interview with Sue here: Sue Otten Interview

You can listen to my interview with Scott here: Scott McClure Interview

NAMA Trends In Agriculture Photo Album

Reports from the NAMA Trends in Agriculture Conference are brought to you by Quarry Integrated Communications. Quarry helps agri-marketers convert branding into buying. Learn more at Quarry.com.

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Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • The 2010 Minnesota Agri-Growth Council Annual Meeting is scheduled for Nov. 4 at the Minneapolis Convention Center and will focus on contemporary issues facing the food and agriculture industry while also looking back at the hurdles and successes this proud industry has experienced.
  • The CR9060 combine manufactured by New Holland Brazil was awarded Gerdau’s Best of the Land Award Silver Trophy in the Novelty category for 2010.
  • Chris Eichhorn has been named a product development manager for Wyffels Hybrids, responsible for identifying, testing and managing corn hybrids and seed technology.
  • The American Agricultural Editors’ Association unveiled its new website featuring a new look and content management platform.
Zimfo Bytes

AgHaven Beta

Chuck Zimmerman

It looks like agribusiness has a new social networking location. AgHaven is in beta mode. What do you think? Can a stand alone social network make it in ag?

AgHaven, LLC is a collaboration of cutting edge search engine technology, social networking, agri- marketplace and agriculture industry expertise. This collaboration provides the agriculture industry with specific content for all stakeholders; including consumers, producers, agri-marketing, vendors and manufacturers.

Agriculture specific information delivered to the industry drives AgHaven, LLC. That information is filtered and distributed using semantic search technology. Semantic search vastly improves search results for users and delivers qualified customers for advertisers.

This combination of information technology and agriculture expertise will revolutionize the way agriculture is presented and searched on the web.

Agribusiness, Social Networking

Agvocate About Feeding The World

Chuck Zimmerman

Capping off the first day of the NAMA Trends In Agriculture conference was Dr. Jay Lehr, The Heartland Institute. He started out his presentation on feeding the world with a video of him promoting agriculture and fertilizer to consumers on the streets of San Francisco. It was actually pretty funny to see people’s reactions from cab driver to old man on a city park bench as he randomly walked up to them and starting agvocating. It was a demonstration of what he sees as a severe need in agriculture to tell its story and re-connect with urban consumers.

Dr. Lehr was fascinated by NAMA’s local chapter concept and suggested that companies and organizational members ought to get together in efforts to communicate the message about agriculture to their local communities. Great idea!

You can listen to my interview with Dr. Lehr here: Dr. Jay Lehr Interview

Photos are being collected in my NAMA Trends In Agriculture Photo Album

Reports from the NAMA Trends in Agriculture Conference are brought to you by Quarry Integrated Communications. Quarry helps agri-marketers convert branding into buying. Learn more at Quarry.com.

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World Outlook For Agriculture

Chuck Zimmerman

Our kick-off speaker at the NAMA Trends In Agriculture conference this afternoon was Mark Pearson, Market To Market. Mark is a lot of things, including farmer and stockbroker in addition to his hosting of the tv show. He was here to talk about what he sees as trends in agribusiness which means looking forward but also backward.

Mark looks at the general world economic outlook which he thinks is strengthening nicely. He also thinks commodity markets are a key element in the outlook. He says we’re in a bull market for corn, soybeans and wheat. In other words, “the world is coming to the United States to be fed.” Then thirdly, he looks at what’s happening with livestock, especially in light of factors like ethanol which he thinks has a very uncertain future. He mentions what’s happened to biodiesel as a precursor to what may happen to the ethanol sector. He also talks about international markets like China and now a look to Africa which is being seen as a real potential growth market. For marketers he also points to the changes in communications technology as a factor to keep in mind when you look at how and where farmers are getting their information. He doesn’t know too many successful farmers who don’t carry a Blackberry or iPhone!

You can listen to my interview with Mark here: Mark Pearson Interview

Photos are being collected in my NAMA Trends In Agriculture Photo Album

Reports from the NAMA Trends in Agriculture Conference are brought to you by Quarry Integrated Communications. Quarry helps agri-marketers convert branding into buying. Learn more at Quarry.com.

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Kicking Off NAMA Trends In Agriculture

Chuck Zimmerman

The National Agri-Marketing Association, Trends In Agriculture conference has a big crowd in Minneapolis. Welcoming us was committee chair, Lacy Carroll, Colle+McVoy. She introduced our kick-off speaker Mark Pearson, Market To Market. I’ll have an interview posted with Mark soon. I’m on my Verizon Mifi and it’s not real fast right now, especially since I’m uploading photos to get the conference photo album started.

So, lots more to come. Our theme is Agriculture In a Globally Local World. I’ll find out how that theme is addressed by as many of the speakers as I can.

Reports from the NAMA Trends in Agriculture Conference are brought to you by Quarry Integrated Communications. Quarry helps agri-marketers convert branding into buying. Learn more at Quarry.com.

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