ZimmComm Booth Winners

Chuck Zimmerman

Chuck and Cindy ZimmermanThe NAMA Connection Point trade show is over for 2009 and ZimmComm had a great time.

We’ve really enjoyed visiting with so many of our friends and clients who took the time to stop by for some hot tweets and to learn a little more about this phenomenon called Twitter.

The winners of our drawing are:

HP Mini Netbook: Zach Tassell, McCormick

Desktop Cube Speaker for iPod: Amy Wieberg, FCS Financial

Right now we’re getting ready to go rock at NAMA with Brownfield. There’s lots more to come from this year’s Agri-Marketing Conference so don’t go away.

NAMA Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Agri-Marketing Conference is sponsored by:
Novus and Successful Farming.

NAMA

A Hard Ass To Follow

Chuck Zimmerman

Paul HedhageCelebrating in wild abandon at this evening’s student NAMA awards is Paul Redhage, FMC Agricultural Products. He “de-throned” two time Hard Ass award winner, Mike Gustafson.

I’m not exactly sure how this award is determined. You’ll have to ask the judges. I’m just thinking that I’m glad that trophy will be hanging on Paul’s wall! This award is given to a student competition judge who is very “hard” on the competitors.

Make sure you congratulate him when you see him.

NAMA Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Agri-Marketing Conference is sponsored by:
Novus and Successful Farming.

NAMA

Gator NAMA Wins Student Marketing Competition

Chuck Zimmerman

Gator NAMA WinsGator NAMA showed today that it’s not just the football and basketball teams that can win multiple national championships. Today the University of Florida student NAMA chapter won the marketing competition for the second year in a row!

How ’bout them Gators? We’ll have more to post about this inspiring victory later including video.

Way to go team. And congratulations to all the finalists for making it to that elite round.

Watch Gator NAMA excitement:

NAMA Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Agri-Marketing Conference is sponsored by:
Novus and Successful Farming.

NAMA, University

NAMA Student Marketing Finals

Chuck Zimmerman

Hello from the Imperial Room at the Marquis Marriott in Atlanta. We’re live in the student finals room and ready to see the competition. I hope you enjoy it.

Post Update: We had approximately 170 people watch the live stream from the competition today. I think we’ll do it again next year! We’ll plan ahead this time and have a better video feed. Thanks for joining in.

NAMA Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Agri-Marketing Conference is sponsored by:
Novus and Successful Farming.

NAMA, Video

NAMA Honors Leaders

Cindy Zimmerman

NAMA 09 Leon WestbrockHighlights of this morning’s general session at NAMA 2009 included the presentation of the annual Agribusiness Leader and Marketer of the Year awards.

CHS Energy Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Leon Westbrock was named the 2009 NAMA Agribusiness Leader of the Year. Leon is responsible for refineries, pipelines, refined fuels sales, marketing and distribution, lubricants and propane. He joined the cooperative system in 1976 and managed three local cooperatives before joining the regional system. Westbrock was born and raised on his family’s 640-acre small grain and dairy farm near Browns Valley, Minn.

NAMA 09 Jon AndersonJon Anderson, President of OPEN ROADS, received the 2009 NAMA Marketer of the Year award. Jon and two of his colleagues created the Milwaukee, Wisconsin, business growth and development services firm, in 2002. Last year, Anderson and his team at OPEN ROADS celebrated their six-year anniversary of the firm. Starting their business with no clients and no business, Anderson has helped grow OPEN ROADS into a highly successful business growth and development firm. Their business now includes 12 clients and a half dozen consulting associates.

Thanks again to Denny Eilers for the photos. We just haven’t been able to be everywhere today – but we are working on getting that cloning done!

NAMA Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Agri-Marketing Conference is sponsored by:
Novus and Successful Farming.

NAMA

AG Community Vindicated with CBO Report

Joanna Schroeder

“This report is welcome to the farmers and those I represent,” said Rick Tolman, CEO of the National Corn Growers Association. “This proves that there are no food and fuel issues, but merely the work of a campaign designed to shift blame on farmers and take our eyes off the ball.”

Tolman joined several others in the agriculture and ethanol community today to applaud the recent report, “The Impact of cornfields1Ethanol Use on Food Prices and Greenhouse-Gas Emissions,” authored by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The report concluded that from April 2007-April 2008 ethanol did have a slight impact on rising food prices but that other culprits, such as high energy prices, had the most impact on rising food costs. Of the 5.1 percent increase in food prices, expanded ethanol production contributed between 0.5 and 0.8 percent of the increase in food prices measured by the consumer price index as determined by the CBO report.

Despite several reports confirming that ethanol and corn prices had a small role in rising food prices, Bob Stallman, President, American Farm Bureau Federation; Tom Buis, CEO, Growth Energy; Roger Johnson, President, National Farmers Union; along with Rick Tolman jointly called for Congress to hold new hearings to determine why food prices are still on the rise. Johnson said that, “We’d love to see the same witnesses who blamed farmers in Congressional hearings last year.”

Tolman stated, “Our farmers are owed a huge apology for the damage they have done to farmers in the eye of the consumer.” He noted that agricultural technology continues to improve each year and that 2007 and 2008 have seen record corn bushels on decreased acres and this trend is expected to continue in 2009 and beyond.

The group reiterated the importance of ethanol in reducing America’s dependence on oil and stressed the importance of increasing the blend wall to 15 percent (E15) in order for the country to meet the goals laid out in the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS).

Corn, Ethanol, Food, Research

NAMA’s Best

Chuck Zimmerman

Best of NAMA AdvertisingThanks to Denny Eilers for providing me with photos of our Best of NAMA award winners for each category.

First up is Best of Show, Advertising
(Left to Right)
Tom Bigelow, Bigelow Advertising
Rick Radermacher, Bigelow Advertising
Chris Lund, AGCO Application Equipment

Best of NAMA Public RelationsThe next ones are Best of Show, Public Relations
(Left to Right)
Paul Durham, Martin/Williams
Kim Dawson, Syngenta
Kerry Henderson, Gibbs & Soell

Best of NAMA SpecialtyAnd then we have Best of Show, Specialty
(Left to Right)
Richard Williams, Archer>Malmo
James Ward, Archer>Malmo
Mike Butler, Archer>Malmo

Congratulations to all winners and finalists!

NAMA Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Agri-Marketing Conference is sponsored by:
Novus and Successful Farming.

Advertising, NAMA, Public Relations

Student NAMA Marketing Competition Finalists

Chuck Zimmerman

Student NAMADuring our Connection Point session tonight the finalists for the NAMA Student Marketing Competition were announced and here they are.

Florida
Nebraska
Purdue
Ohio State
Wisconsin-Madison
North Dakota State

They’ll be battling for the championship and we’ll have the winners announced right here.

NAMA Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Agri-Marketing Conference is sponsored by:
Novus and Successful Farming.

NAMA

Best of NAMA Awards

Chuck Zimmerman

Sally BehringerOn of our Best of NAMA Award emcees this evening was Sally Behringer, Nicholson Kovac, Inc. You can ask her to explain the makeup and costume. There are more photos in the online album.

She and Kyle Bauer, KFRM, announced the winners of our annual awards. Thanks to AgriMarketing Magazine you can learn more online.

Winning Best of Show were:

*Advertising: AGCO Application Equipment Division; agency: Bigelow Advertising

*Public Relations: Syngenta Crop Protection; agency: Gibbs & Soell and Martin/Williams

*Specialty: Valent U.S.A.; agency: archer>malmo

NAMA Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Agri-Marketing Conference is sponsored by:
Novus and Successful Farming.

NAMA

NAMA Pre-Conference Session Helps Chart Course

Cindy Zimmerman

NAMA 09 Kevin OchsnerThe pre-conference workshop for NAMA 2009 on Wednesday was tailor-made for today’s challenging economic climate.

Kevin Ochsner of Adayana Agri Business Group was captain of the ship for “Charting Your Course in Uncharted Waters – Strategic Decision Making in Uncertain Times,” which focused on gaining insight into the key principals of scenario-planning. “Now, more than ever, we have to both personally and professionally have a process that helps us sort through some of that uncertainty to make decisions as good as we can,” Kevin says.

Kevin will also be moderating a break out session on Thursday afternoon on “Thriving During Times of Uncertainty and Change.”

You can listen to my interview with Kevin here: nama09-ochsner.mp3

NAMA Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Agri-Marketing Conference is sponsored by:
Novus and Successful Farming.

NAMA, Novus International