Christmas Tree Farms help Deliver Trees to Troops

Amanda Nolz

trees for troops img ‘Tis the season…for giving! That’s exactly what Christmas tree growers are doing in Indiana this year. In a spirited event that should remind us all to step up and help others, this is a charity worth giving cheers to! Check it out!

Indiana Christmas tree growers are kicking off the holiday season with special deliveries of the product they know best, their own Christmas trees. Working together on Trees for Troops, FedEx and the Spirit Foundation of the National Christmas Tree Association are loading trucks Tuesday at Dull’s Tree Farm in Boone County.

Trees all across the country are being donated by the growers and the shipping is a donation from FedEx. In all over 16,000 trees will be delivered to more than 50 military bases in the U.S. and overseas. Volunteers are collecting, preparing and loading the donated trees onto FedEx trucks that will travel to the FedEx Express hub in Indianapolis where the shipment will depart for Bahrain and Kuwait. A second truck will deliver trees to the Great Lakes Naval Air Station in Illinois.

Source: Hoosier Ag Today

Events, Forestry

Social Media ROI

Chuck Zimmerman

Since I was just on the subject of social media I thought you might enjoy this video that kind of puts it all into perspective for you unbelievers. You know who you are. You’re probably the same people wondering if farmers will ever use the internet or if it’s just a passing fad.

You’ll find lots of great examples in the video and on the blog.

Via Socialnomics

Social Networking, Video

Teaching Social Media To Soybean Growers

Chuck Zimmerman

Michele Payn-KnoperLet’s meet one of the columnists for the United Soybean Board’s Expert Advice. She’s our good friend from AgChat, Michele Payn-Knoper. You can find her first Expert Advice column now on the United Soybean Board website. I spoke with Michele during her recent travels via Skype to learn more about how she got involved in the project and what she will be “teaching” soybean growers. Michele founded Cause Matters Corp., a company designed to give a voice to the people who feed the world using social media. Here’s an excerpt from her first column:

Farming the Online Community: Your Guide to Social Media

Facebook. YouTube. Twitter. LinkedIn. Digg. Farmers. Wait – how do farmers fit with all of these new-fangled tools? Welcome to 2009 and the age of social media. Studies show that four out of five online Americans are active in some form of social content at least once a month. Believe it or not, you’ve been a part of the Web 2.0 social media revolution if you’ve been on e-bay, blogs, photo sharing websites or forums interacting with others. Now it’s time for you to tap into social media to impact your bottom line though access to soybean and other market intelligence, technical expertise, discussions with other farmers and consumer thought patterns about farming.

You can listen to my interview with Michele below.

Ag Groups, Audio, Social Networking, Soybean, USB

R&D Doubling At Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica

Chuck Zimmerman

Kevin FowlerWhen it comes to R&D at Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Kevin Fowler is a go to guy. He’s seen here showing research labs at the BIVI facilities in St. Joseph, MO to a group of ag media.

The first thing that excites Kevin after BIVI acquired some of the Ft. Dodge Animal Health business is the ability to expand more into the dog and cat vaccine lines of products. He says this is a perfect fit and gives the company a great opportunity for future growth.

At the St. Joseph site they have 80 acres of research, manufacturing and engineering services. They have similar facilities at the Ft. Dodge, IA site they just acquired but it’s much larger at 320 acres.

Kevin thinks that one of the things that sets BIVI apart from other companies when bringing a product to market is their R&D group which is very team-oriented. He’s working on a 10 year plan to grow and integrate in an organized manner.

You can listen to my interview with Kevin below.

Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Media Day Photo Album

Agribusiness, Animal Health, Audio, Boehringer Ingelheim

Nicholson Kovac Veterinarian New Media Usage Study

Chuck Zimmerman

Nicholson Kovac Vet StudyNicholson Kovac has once again documented what agrimarketers know intuitively. This time it’s about veterinarians. The agency just released its Veterinarian New Media Usage Study. It has some interesting findings that should help make marketing decisions using new media easier to justify.

The Veterinarian New Media Usage Study provides comprehensive insight on the use of new and social media among veterinarians – including Internet usage, social networking and mobile phone activities − for business and social purposes.

“This eye-opening research shows that veterinarians are using a number of new tools to communicate with their customers and staff. Many of them send text messages to practice or clinic staff and other veterinarians,” said Sheree Johnson, Nicholson Kovac’s senior vice president, director of media services. “We also found it interesting that text messaging may serve as a customer service tool – a growing number of veterinarians, especially those who work with large animals, are also sending texts to their customers, possibly about the status of their animals.”

For more details read: Read More

Agencies, Research, Social Networking

AG CONNECT Expo Advocating For Agriculture Awards

Chuck Zimmerman

Sara MooneySara Mooney is the Director of the AG CONNECT Expo and attended the National Association of Farm Broadcasting Trade Talk along with my man Rich Jefferson. I had been wanting to talk to them about their Advocating For Agriculture awards program where they will recognize three individuals who support “in a compelling way the work of farmers and ranchers to provide abundant and affordable food and fiber.” There are three categories: Ag Woman of the Year, Community Leadership and Ag Innovation.

The grand prize winner of each of the three award categories will receive a free trip to AG CONNECT Expo 2010, including roundtrip airfare for two to Orlando, Florida, from anywhere in the continental U.S. Nominations are due by the end of this week, November 28. Then online voting will start on December 4. All winners will be announced on December 18 and I’m sure we’ll have them posted here.

“AG CONNECT Expo’s awards are a way for our trade show to put a spotlight on the significant contributions that those in production agriculture make to our quality of life,” said Sara Mooney, the Director of AG CONNECT Expo. “We want the awards to draw attention to those whose work and accomplishments this year exemplify ‘advocating for agriculture.'”

You can listen to my interview with Sara below and read more about the awards by clicking on the “more” link. Read More

AEM, Audio, NAMA

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Tyson Foods has chosen Donnie Smith, currently senior group vice president of Poultry and Prepared Foods, to be the company’s president and chief executive officer, effective immediately.
  • Bader Rutter announces Donna Queisser and Amy Graff have been promoted to senior account executives in the agency’s account management group.
  • The economics of structural change and competition in U.S. agriculture and food markets is the subject of a one-day conference planned for Monday, Dec. 7. There is a $40 registration fee for the conference. Registration is available online.
  • The American Angus Association is launching into nationwide television broadcasting with the airing of its first, hour-long program this coming January. Called “I Am Angus,” the program will profile people from across the country whose lives are defined by Angus cattle and Angus beef. “I Am Angus” will air at 9 p.m. EST, Jan. 4, 2010, on RFD-TV.
Zimfo Bytes

Digital Potatoes

Chuck Zimmerman

Potato GoodnessThe U.S. Potato Board got some recognition for balancing traditional and digital media recently. Their target?

She’s called “Power Mom.” “Momfluential.” “Chief Purchasing Officer.” Even “Mogul Mom.” She is the United States Potato Board (USPB) Domestic Marketing program’s primary target: women, 25-54 with kids younger than 18 living at home. She makes at least 80 percent of the decisions regarding her household’s spending, and she doesn’t make those decisions passively.

The USPB presented a case study at the “M2Moms Annual Conference”, a professional development conference for marketers.

Meredith Myers, USPB Public Relations Manager, was part of an interactive panel in October, along with the Vice President of Marketing for iRobot and Director of Consumer Public Relations for Hallmark Cards. These professionals came together and discussed, to a packed room, how their unique approaches directly reach “momfluentials” and are generating measurable results.

Some of their digital outreach includes:

Potato Goodness Website
Mom’s Dinner Helper
Facebook Fan Page
YouTube Channel

Ag Groups, Potato