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Melissa Sandfort

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  • Farm Credit has launched a new national online presence at FarmCredit.com, revitalized its national giving and sponsorship program, and established a dedicated communications team to build awareness of Farm Credit and its unique mission among those it serves.
  • Willard Agri-Service of Greenwood, DE, was named the National Environmental Respect Award winner.
  • The new Swath Command control system from Great Plains can save growers more than time. It also has the potential to save up to 18 percent on seed costs by eliminating the loss associated with over planting or double planting.
  • The USDA has extended the comment period to the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration’s (GIPSA) proposed rule on livestock marketing for an additional 90 days.
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    Fine Dining At The Fort

    Chuck Zimmerman

    It’s nice to talk about something other than “the issue” here at the Cattle Industry Summer Conference. It has sure dominated discussion and I sincerely hope “the issue” can be worked out amicably and soon for the benefit of everyone in the beef industry. If you’re wondering what I’m referring to then check my earlier posts from this morning.

    So, let’s talk about steaks and fine cuisine for a moment. I was pleasantly surprised to see a number of restaurant and other Denver area establishments on display near conference registration. One that caught my eye right away was The Fort. The Fort is a unique restaurant west of downtown a little ways. I met Wayne Lindsey, Marketing and Public Relations Manager.

    Wayne says The Fort was built in 1963 by Sam Arnold as a replica of an 1830’s fur trade fort in La Junta, CO. It was built to be a house and the family lived there for a while. Now it’s a very fine restaurant with 1830’s Colorado cuisine that includes beef of course but also other items like rattlesnake, buffalo and elk. Now that sounds like where I need to go! Wayne Lindsey Interview

    2010 Cattle Industry Summer Conference Photo Album

    Audio, Beef, Cattle Industry Conference, Food

    Beef Board Chairman Describes Summer Conference Work

    Chuck Zimmerman

    The Chairman of the Beef Board is Dan Dierschke (pictured left). He welcomed new members of the Board at a luncheon for them to get to know each other. Experienced Board members are assigned as mentors to new members and they were there too.

    After the meal I spoke with Dan about this year’s summer meeting. He says the most significant aspect of the meeting is bringing together producers from around the country who pay into the Checkoff to determine the most effective utilization of the limited resources available to increase profitability for the industry. The decline in the cattle herd has put real pressure on Checkoff revenues. He says, “Whatever it is we do we want to increase demand for our product and increase the revenue we receive for what we produce.”Dan Dierschke Interview

    As you know, I’m Beef Board Blogging again on MyBeefCheckoffMeeting.com. You’ll find a number of other interviews and posts over there. I’ll also find other stories to post here in the next couple days.

    2010 Cattle Industry Summer Conference Photo Album

    Ag Groups, Audio, Beef, Cattle Industry Conference

    CBB Perspective On NCBA Compliance Review

    Chuck Zimmerman

    In order to get some perspective from the Cattlemen’s Beef Board on the NCBA Compliance Review issue I spoke with CBB Secretary/Treasurer Robert Fountain, Jr. Here’s Robert with Charlotte Coates, CBB Operations Manager. You can read CBB’s statement on the review here.

    In my interview with Robert he describes why the audit was conducted and why it was released on Monday of this week. He says that’s when they received the completed final report from the independent auditing firm and everyone wanted the results as soon as possible. He says that the timing of the report with the summer meeting provides an excellent opportunity for discussion. I’m sure that is happening and there are some meetings like tomorrow’s CBB Update Session where this will be discussed openly.

    Robert Fountain Interview

    2010 Cattle Industry Summer Conference Photo Album

    Ag Groups, Audio, Beef, Cattle Industry Conference, NCBA

    NCBA Press Conference On CBB Audit

    Chuck Zimmerman

    The National Cattlemen’s Beef Board just concluded a press conference on the Cattlemen’s Beef Board independent account’s report that audited NCBA use of Beef Checkoff funds. This report was released earlier this week. There is obviously a lot of friction right now between the organizations and media were given an opportunity to hear NCBA’s side of the story this morning. Participating in the press conference were NCBA CEO Forrest Roberts, President Steve Foglesong and Federation of State Beef Councils Chairman Scott George. Forrest is at the podium in the photo with Steve on the right and Scott seated to the left.

    I’m posting the full press conference here. When you click on the player you’ll get an option to download the file. Please feel free to use the audio if you’re an ag media representative. I’m also uploading new photos from the press conference to the photo album.

    NCBA Press Conference

    2010 Cattle Industry Summer Conference Photo Album

    Ag Groups, Audio, Beef, Cattle Industry Conference, NCBA

    2010 Cattle Industry Summer Conference

    Chuck Zimmerman

    I have transitioned from Ag Media Summit mode to Beef Board Blogging Mode and covering the 2010 Cattle Industry Summer Conference. To get things started I met with the communications staff of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board (l-r) Lynn Heinze, Melissa Slagle and Diane Henderson.

    To get us started with an overview of why the Beef Board meets during the summer I spoke with Lynn Heinze, Executive Director of Communications. He says this meeting is important for the planning process before making decisions for the next year. Committees will review proposed funding requests known as authorization requests. There will also be a large group of new members to the board who will be sworn in at this meeting. So we’ve got a number of first timers and I’ll make sure I interview several of them. The conference concludes on Saturday with a board meeting after a morning of committee meetings. Lynn Heinze Interview

    I am sure many of you are aware of some issues that have surfaced recently between the Beef Board and NCBA. I will be getting both sides of it and presenting information about it as soon as I can.

    I have a photo album started from this year’s conference: 2010 Cattle Industry Summer Conference Photo Album

    Ag Groups, Audio, Cattle Industry Conference

    Meet New AAEA and LPC Presidents

    Chuck Zimmerman

    ZimmCast 268In this week’s program we’ll get to meet the new Presidents of the American Agricultural Editors Association and Livestock Publications Council. They’re both Missouri boys!

    First up is Steven Fairchild, MFA Incorporated. I asked him what his goals are for his year in office and he wants to focus on membership since increasing membership is a key goal of the organization.

    He says the meetings at AMS reflect the hard work of outgoing president, Karen Simon. He says AAEA will have a new website this fall.

    Next is Andy Atzenweiler, Missouri Beef Cattlemen Magazine. He says things are in good shape at LPC and they’re going to “tweak” their website. They want to promote their contest more since there were a lot of changes this year.

    At the annual meeting there was some discussion about changing the by-laws to get rid of the language referring to the ratio of service to publication members. It is now about 50-50.

    ZimmCast 268

    Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsors, Novus International, and Leica Geosytems 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 a Subscribe page

    ACN, Ag Media Summit, Audio, LPC, ZimmCast

    Get To Know Golden ARC Awards

    Chuck Zimmerman

    The Agricultural Relations Council, Golden ARC Awards Contest Manager is Amy McDonald, McDonald Marketing Communications. She put together a really good contest and is already working on the next one.

    I spoke with her about the awards program so we get a better understanding of what these awards are for, how they are judged and what to look for in the future. The contest began in 1990. This year there were 40 entries and there were 19 Golden ARC Award winners and 9 Golden ARC Merit Award winners. The judging was done by the Florida Chapter of PRSA so these were looked at from the standpoint of the “science of PR.” It’s a more objective judging strategy than other awards in the industry. Next year’s awards will be presented at the ARC annual meeting so the deadline for entries will be announced soon.

    Amy McDonald Interview

    2010 Ag Media Summit Photo Album

    Ag Media Summit, ARC, Audio

    Last Post From Nanjing

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Zachary Larson, Borlaug Summer Intern, is on location at Nanjing Agricultural University and providing us with updates this summer of his trip. Here’s his latest. You can also find a photo album he’s got started here: Borlaug Summer Intern Photo Album. The internship is being sponsored by the Iowa State University Plant Sciences Institute.

    I predicted correctly that this last week would have been fun, and has been, if not for a just a bit crazy. While I am still frequently going to the lab, but the time to run experiments is quickly disappearing, and these last few days have allowed me more opportunities to see the city of Nanjing, meet a few interesting professors and see some of the history of Nanjing Agricultural University.

    I faced the biggest challenge I have faced since arriving here last Saturday when I gave a presentation about my university life in the U.S, my general studies, and life in Iowa. Unlike most of my previous power points, the focus of this one was extremely broad. Nonetheless, I had a very liberal audience, and despite my numerous slips throughout my presentation, they all thought I did an excellent job, and I might give another presentation before I leave on Saturday. As always, I thought I did ok, but in hindsight I could of always done better, Given the fact my Professor Wang ordered me to do the presentation in English, it mattered little nonetheless! Read More

    Education, International, University

    Ag Media Summit Concludes

    Chuck Zimmerman

    3 Gregs at AMSThe 2010 Agricultural Media Summit has concluded but that doesn’t mean the coverage on AgWired has ended. So much posting to do and so little time . . .

    I’ve got a lot more to post from AMS but I’ve also got 3 more events to attend in the next week before getting back to ZimmComm World Headquarters. So, I’ll be posting interviews and photos when time allows. I’m heading to Denver early in the morning for the Cattle Industry Summer Conference where I’ll be Beef Board Blogging and hoping everything works out okay with the groups participating in the meeting. I’m sure more information on that will be forthcoming.

    In the meantime I have updated the AMS photo album. There are some great photos in there and I hope you enjoy it. Like this one of the “3 Gregs” during the closing banquet tonight. All of tonight’s award winners are in there and I’ll try to find a way to post who they all are when I get a listing. You’ll know many of them.

    2010 Ag Media Summit Photo Album

    ACN, Ag Media Summit, LPC