Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort April 13, 2009

The 2009 NCCC-134 meeting on Applied Commodity Price Analysis, Forecasting and Market Risk Management will take place April 20-21 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in St. Louis, Mo.
Veteran database marketer Dave Wilson joins Farm Journal Media as vice president of new business development for the Database Strategies Division. Farm Journal Media Database Strategies also launches a new database menu that offers clients either Farm Journal foundation data (with 100 points of crop, livestock, demographic and psychographic data); the Government Compliance data (Farm Service Administration or FSA) with detailed field-level reporting; or the fully-integrated combination of both databases now called FarmReach.
United Fresh Produce Association President and CEO Tom Stenzel has announced the appointment of Ray Gilmer as vice president of communications.

Have you played Combine Combat? If so, you’ve played one of the top 5 magazine web games according to minonline.com. Here’s what they said about it:

Years after its release, Agriculture.com’s simple arcade game remains one of the few b2b online games around, and it still holds up. You try to clear a field with your combine before the computer-controlled rival. There are several points of brilliance here. The John Deere-sponsored game uses Deere logos as power-ups and has you collect their new products as bonus points, all the while informing you of their product benefits. And then there is the ambient music (think Terminator for farm equipment) and background bird noises. We need more b2b games with this much attention to detail…and raw combat among professionals. There must be some uproarious game notions lurking somewhere in the minds of waste management or medical device trade publishers.

Successful Farming is sponsoring AgWired coverage of the NAMA Convention this week and I know I’ll have more SF news as the week progresses.

Internet, Media

My Lady’s Manor Steeplechase Race

Chuck Zimmerman April 11, 2009

I saw my first steeplechase races live and exciting today in Monkton, MD thanks to the John Deere Drive Green Utility Tractor Show.

It was a wet and wild day at My Lady’s Manor Steeplechase races. Can you say “mud?” I left after the main race which you can see the winner of here. I got very lucky and was presented a pass to the owners and judges tower right over the finish line.

The race was pretty exciting but I don’t have the winner’s name. If anyone knows they’re welcome to leave it in the comments.

Before the events got started I met and interviewed Turney McKnight, direct of the Manor races since 1978. He says this is the 99th running of the race. He says the race evolved from the horse and buggy days and was a real source of sport. The distance hasn’t changed and is still over 3 miles with 16 jumps. The crowd can be as many as 7,500.

It pretty much rained all day while I was at the races. Turney was one of the first people I met and we sat in his truck to talk. You can listen to my interview with Turney here: drive-green-monkton-mcknight.mp3

I also shot a video clip of the end of the My Lady’s Manor race. You might here my Nikon clicking because I was shooting stills at the same time. I don’t recommend that. But us professionals can handle it!

Post Update: I now have an online photo album with pictures from my day at the races: My Lady’s Manor Steeplechase Races

Audio, Horses, John Deere, Video

Driving A Green One

Chuck Zimmerman April 10, 2009

This is what the John Deere Drive Green Utility Tractor Show is all about. Driving John Deere equipment. Today’s show stop is set up perfectly for people like Carl Daly, here to test drive the new line of utility tractors and vehicles. We’ll meet Carl in a video interview I’ll post with him on the show blog in coming days.

I’m up to 5 interviews so far today and with people who live from 3 to 60 miles away. They’re all looking for some features that these new tractors have and seem to be seriously interested. Of course that’s what John Deere wants to hear. I hope it turns into sales today.

John Deere

Pennsylvania Farm

Chuck Zimmerman April 10, 2009

If you’ve got to work on Good Friday at least doing it in a place this pretty helps. This is just one of the farms in the Oxford, PA area.

I’m on location with the John Deere Drive Green Utility Tractor Show at Atlantic Tractor today. Tomorrow I’ll be at Our Lady’s Manor Steeplechase. I don’t know anything about it but I’m assuming I’ll know a lot more then.

The sun is peeking out now and it’s time to get to work so I’ll be seeing you on and off line today.

John Deere

Public Relations Grant Available

Chuck Zimmerman April 10, 2009

Hello non-profits. Here’s a chance to obtain a grant for public relations services. The folks at Harvest PR & Marketing want to help you out. If chosen, they would start working for you in June.

At Harvest PR & Marketing, Inc., we believe big ideas can sprout from the smallest and unlikeliest of places. And, with a little nurturing, those ideas can grow and thrive.

We are seeking an opportunity to help one nonprofit thrive in 2009 — with the help of our first PR grant offering, Seed to Succeed.

We will donate up to $20,000 in services to promote one worthy not-for-profit organization or cause that serves to better agriculture — its reputation, its products, its future, the communities and families it supports from one generation to the next.

Please spread the word if you, or someone you know, could benefit from our own special currency of seed money. Interested parties can find more information at www.Harvest-PR.com. Qualified candidates are encouraged to submit a proposal by May 15 to be considered for this PR grant.

Agencies, Public Relations

AnimalAgNet

Chuck Zimmerman April 9, 2009

Okay. Here’s a new social network for animal agribusiness. What do you think? Good idea? It looks like it has internal special interest groups. Is this going to be of sufficient value/benefit to draw in significant participation? Although I’m a big fan of social networking I have wondered how these types of online communities are faring. I’ve seen some that are very active on some very niche topics. Will producers who are involved in Facebook utilize more than one social network? If you’re a producer what are your thoughts? Have you become a member of AnimalAgNet? If so, what do you like/not like?

WATT has announced the launch of www.AnimalAgNet.com, an online social networking community for the global agribusiness industry. The site is created for producers, processors, animal health and nutrition professionals, animal feed manufacturers, marketers and others working in any phase of the global poultry, pig and animal feed sectors.

Animal agribusiness professionals are encouraged to visit AnimalAgNet.com and join a community of their interest, view breaking industry news, ask questions, share ideas, network and/or catch up with their peers, or post photos and videos. Groups exist for poultry production, regulatory issues, animal health, feed trends, environmental issues and pig production. Community members are invited to start their own blog, form their own groups and invite their peers to join.

“AnimalAgNet is designed as a place for animal agribusiness professionals to network and share knowledge in a safe, business-only environment,” said WATT Vice President of Content Bruce Plantz.

Media, Social Networking

Money Farm on MGEX Commentary Call

Cindy Zimmerman April 9, 2009

Every time the USDA issues an important crop report, the Minneapolis Grain Exchange hosts a conference call for reporters with a market commentator. We have been responsible for recording and uploading that call to their server for the past couple of years now.

Today the call focused on the April Supply Demand report and the commentator was Mike Krueger from The Money Farm, who said that normally this month’s reports are normally not that significant since we had the big prospective plantings report out last week.

He said the reports include the “typical monthly revisions of supply and demand” which all came in well below the range of analysts’ estimates for ending stock numbers.

Listen to this morning’s call here and check out the MGEX website for daily commentary.
mgex-4-9-09.mp3

Audio, Markets, USDA

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort April 9, 2009

Farm Market iD has released two new data files. Due to continued demand, the company has updated its popular Turf & Ornamental Database now representing almost 210,000 companies and facilities who purchase equipment, seed, chemicals, fertilizer and other products and services. For more information about the new Farm Market iD databases, contact Dick Olmsted at 800-313-4778, ext. 202.
The 2009 Ag Media Summit which is being conducted jointly with the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists will bring together an estimated 700 agricultural communicators from around the world for workshops, panel discussions, tours and networking opportunities. The meeting will be held Aug. 1 through Aug. 5 at the Renaissance Worthington Hotel in Ft. Worth, Texas.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that USDA is making more than $17 million in grants available under the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program. Vilsack also described recent initiatives, such as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), designed to help producers and keep farmers on the land.
CoBank has named Mark Yonkman executive vice president and general counsel.

Zimfo Bytes

NAMA Blog

Chuck Zimmerman April 9, 2009

Speaking of NAMA. I’ll be the NAMA blogger once again this year and you can find posts on the NAMA blog.

As you can see it’s being sponsored by Successful Farming, just like AgWired! Thank you Agriculture.com.

Cindy will be with me and we’ve got help from Michelle Kautz, who is doing free lance writing for us on our Domestic Fuel website. So that’s the ZimmComm crew you’ll find in Atlanta next week.

It’s looking like we’re going to have a great show so rest up. The games begin next Tuesday!

NAMA

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