Field Notes from Koch Agronomic Services – Episode 15

Chuck Zimmerman

The Field Notes podcast series from Koch Agronomic Services (Koch) breaks down the science and technology behind agronomy to help growers do more with less.

The experts we’ve heard from on our previous episodes have covered topics ranging from how different crops use nitrogen to the 4R’s of Nutrient Stewardship and how growers and retailers work together to choose the best input for an operation. If you haven’t checked out the previous episodes, you can find them on your favorite podcast platform.

Fall Nutrient Management Plans and Soil Sampling

In this episode, our experts will focus on the key components in developing a fall nutrient management plan, including the role played by soil sample results. Koch’s technical agronomist Derek Rapp and senior agronomist Edwin Suarez talk through the important steps growers need to make after harvest to prepare for the next planting season and the difference in taking soil samples in fall compared to collecting them in the spring.

You can listen to the program here: Fall Nutrient Management Plans and Soil Sampling (14:30)

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Audio, Koch Agronomic Services, Podcasts, Soil

Novihum Technologies Appoints New Chairperson

Cindy Zimmerman

Novihum Technologies has announced that Alexa Hergenröther was elected its new Chairperson of its advisory board.

The business administration graduate, who has been a member of the Advisory Board since 2020, began her career in 1997 at Deloitte Germany and joined the K+S Group in 2002. Until recently she was the managing director of K+S Minerals and Agriculture GmbH, the largest potash producer in Western Europe and among the five largest in the world. She will support the management team of Novihum Technologies with her deep expertise and broad network in the fertilizer industry, accelerating the successful scaling of the company.

“Farmers are demanding answers to the increasing challenges posed by climate change, the need to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions and new fertilizer regulations,” said Hergenröther, “The fertilizer industry must now offer farmers innovations that go beyond traditional nutrient management systems. I look forward to scaling Novihum Technologies’ world-class innovation to improve soil health and nutrient efficiency.”

Novihum Technologies produces and markets NOVIHUM® soil enhancement products which increase soil fertility by adding high-value organic matter to the soil

AgWired Precision, Precision Agriculture, Soil, Technology

Animal Ag News 11/1

Carrie Muehling

  • Registration for #CattleCon22 opens November 1st! Registration and Housing are available beginning at 12:00 p.m. Mountain Time and never closes. Register early for best rates.
  • Four finalists have been selected for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s (NCBA) 9th annual National Anthem Singing Contest, sponsored by Norbrook®. The winner will receive a trip to the 2022 Cattle Industry Convention & NCBA Trade Show in Houston, Texas, to perform the “Star-Spangled Banner” at the Opening General Session on Feb. 1 as well as the evening event on Feb. 3.
  • The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) submitted comments recently on the 2022 National Trade Estimate Report, which details U.S. concerns with foreign barriers to trade for Congress annually. This year, IDFA’s submission included a range of concerns including newly emerging barriers related to impending halal certification in Egypt to long-standing trade concerns such as Canada’s milk class policies.
  • Saddle up and get ready for a weekend full of passion, innovation, and achievement in Cowtown. The 2021 National Angus Convention & Trade Show will be held in Fort Worth, Texas, November 6-8.
AgWired Animal, Animal Agriculture, Animal Bites

ZimmCast 679 – Public Relations Professionals

Chuck Zimmerman

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. I’m Chuck Zimmerman.

After missing it for a few years I was able to attend the Agricultural Relations Council (ARC) Annual Meeting which took place in Richmond, VA. We had a good turnout with some great sessions. I interviewed several of the attendees. More on that in a moment.

The Golden ARC Awards, which were started in 1990 as the pre-eminent ag public relations awards, had many entries and awards were announced during the meeting. The awards themselves did not get to the hotel on time so they will be sent to the winners. You can find a list of all the winners on the ARC website.

So, let’s get started with a conversation I had with Lynn Henderson, AgriMarketing, who was inducted into the ARC Public Relations Hall of Fame. Next up, I spoke with Sara Wyant, Agri-Pulse, who participated in an editor panel which had the job of talking about reaching editors with news and information. Also participating on the editor panel was Jessica Johnson, NewsWise.

There was an ag panel discussion on the “Beneficial Swamp Dwellers.” I spoke with Bethany Shively, ASTA, who talked about the value of those fighting the good public relations fight for ag and food in Washington, DC. She also gets in a plug for the upcoming ASTA CSS & Seed Expo in Chicago in December.

I also spoke with Erin Nash, NAFB. NAFB was a sponsor at the ARC Annual Meeting. Erin talks about services NAFB offers to ag public relations professionals.

Lastly in the program for this week, I spoke with conference attendee, Hannah Thompson-Weeman, Animal Ag Alliance. This was her first ARC Annual Meeting. Hannah also provides a plug for the organizations annual Stakeholders meeting.

I’m really glad I was able to go to the ARC meeting this year and spend some face to face time with so many friends in the industry. Next on my schedule is the NAFB annual meeting in Kansas City. I’ll be there all day for Trade Talk, so maybe I’ll see you then.

That’s the ZimmCast for this week. I hope you enjoyed it and thanks for listening.

Listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast 679 - Public Relations Professionals (19:42)

In case you didn’t know it you can find more podcasts we produce in all your favorite podcast apps. That includes the Golden ZimmComm Mic Podcast, The Ethanol Report, Field Notes from Koch Agronomic Services and the Daugherty Water for Food Podcast. We hope you enjoy listening to them.

Want to sponsor the ZimmCast? Just let me know and we can talk through ideas for your company. I’m AgriBlogger on Twitter or just email me at chuck@zimmcomm.biz.

Subscribe to the ZimmCast in:

ARC, Audio, Marketing, Media, Public Relations, ZimmCast

2021-22 National FFA Officer Team

Cindy Zimmerman

Students from Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin were elected to serve as 2021-22 National FFA Officers during the seventh general session of the 94th National FFA Convention & Expo on Saturday, Oct. 30.

Cole Baerlocher, an agricultural education major from Washington, was elected national president. He attends Oregon State University.

Jackson Sylvester, an agriculture major from Delaware, was elected national secretary. He attends the University of Delaware.

Cortney Zimmerman, an agricultural communications major from Wisconsin, was elected central region vice president. She attends South Dakota State University.

Erik Robinson Jr., a criminal justice major from Georgia, was elected southern region vice president. He attends the University of Georgia.

Josiah Cruikshank, a business administration and mechanical engineering major from Oregon, was elected western region vice president. He attends Oregon State University.

Mallory White, an agronomy major from Kentucky, was elected eastern region vice president. She attends Murray State University in Kentucky.

Throughout their year of service to the National FFA Organization, the officers will lead personal growth and leadership training conferences for FFA members throughout the country and help set policies that will guide the future of FFA and the next generation of leaders.

FFA

Industry Ag News 10/29

Carrie Muehling

  • Corteva, Inc.’s Board of Directors announced that it has appointed Chuck Magro as the company’s new Chief Executive Officer, effective November 1, 2021. He will also join Corteva’s Board of Directors. Mr. Magro most recently served as Chief Executive Officer of Nutrien and brings to Corteva extensive experience leading global agriculture companies to support value creation for all stakeholders.
  • Bill Conrad of Malone, Florida, was named the overall winner of the 2021 Southeastern Hay Contest as part of the 2021 Sunbelt Ag Expo. Conrad took the top prize with a relative forage quality (RFQ) of 297 in the mixed, annual grass and other hay category. Conrad wins a choice of a Massey Ferguson DM Series disc mower or RK Series rotary rake for the 2022 hay production season, plus $1,000 cash.
  • The National Corn Growers Association is proud to announce their partnership — funded by NCGA’s Production Technology Access Action Team — with Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever. This new collaboration will focus on increasing pollinator and wildlife habitat in corn-producing states. Initially, the partnership will focus on corn producers in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.
  • PMA and United Fresh leaders provided a series of updates for the new association named International Fresh Produce Association. Co-CEOs of the new association Cathy Burns and Tom Stenzel were joined by executive committee members to share details, including the board of directors.
  • The Ralph Lauren Corporate Foundation and the Soil Health Institute announced a founding grant to launch the Institute’s U.S. Regenerative Cotton Fund, a unique, farmer-facing, science-based initiative that will support long-term, sustainable cotton production in the United States, with the goal of eliminating one million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) from the atmosphere by 2026.
  • Bushel announced the addition of Michael Sharov as Chief Growth Officer. Sharov will lead product and strategy efforts designed to build on Bushel’s vision of a robust digital infrastructure to the grain supply chain.
  • After 25 years as the Executive Director of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, Charles Hall will be stepping down to move into a semi-retirement role. Chris Butts, currently the GFVGA Director of Public Affairs, has been named the association’s next Executive Vice President effective December 1, 2021.
  • ‘Farm to Market: Opportunity Knocks’ is the seventh Farmer Veteran Stakeholders Conference hosted by Farmer Veteran Coalition. This year the event takes place in two regional locations rather than one national gathering – Knoxville, Tenn. on Nov. 18th and Tacoma, Wash. on Dec. 10th. The Tennessee and Washington state chapters of Farmer Veteran Coalition will serve as hosts.
  • Agriculture leaders from across major food and ag associations announced the formation of the Agriculture Trade Education Council (ATEC), a 501 c (3) non-profit that will be a resource for education on the value of agricultural trade policies, practices, and structures.
Zimfo Bytes

Syngenta Group Reports Strong 2021 Sales

Cindy Zimmerman

Syngenta Group today announced strong sales growth for the third quarter and this year so far, up over 25% from last year.

Harvest setbacks due to severe weather extremes and market supply constraints exacerbated the already low stock-to-use ratios of key grains and led to continued robust grain prices while driving strong demand and growth for Syngenta Group’s products and services. Demand was strongest for the Group’s technologies that enable farmers to grow crops in difficult weather conditions while also increasing yields and productivity of existing arable land.

Syngenta Group has continued to build out its digital platforms, with farm management tools to help growers navigate weather changes and make better data-driven decisions. Farmers equipped with diagnostic apps and digital platforms are able to more sustainably grow crops. Syngenta Group has also made continued strides in biologicals. Biologicals sales grew 30 percent, allowing the Group to further strengthen its position in this rapidly growing market.

Syngenta Seeds sales grew 25 percent to $2.8 billion in the first nine months of 2021.

Field crop sales in North America increased by 9 percent; vegetable seeds saw growth in all regions, resulting in a 12 percent increase in sales and Flowers recorded sales growth of 20 percent.

North America saw strong growth in soy and corn, with share gain in both crops. The demand for ENOGEN corn for feed, which increases feed efficiency in both beef and dairy, experienced double-digit growth and is on track to have a record year in sales. Newly published university research showed methane emissions per unit of milk were reduced by more than 7 percent in dairy cows fed ENOGEN silage.

Agribusiness, Seed, Syngenta

ARC Hold Annual Awards Banquet

Chuck Zimmerman

ARC Annual MeetingThe annual Golden ARC Awards were announced during a banquet yesterday. The awards were started in 1990 and became the most prestigious awards for agricultural public relations. The actual awards were victim of a shipment that did not arrive as scheduled so the winners will receive them after the annual meeting. A list of the winners will be available soon and I’ll update this post with a link to it then.

The Golden ARC de Excellence was won this year by OBP Agency for the overall best campaign. The entry was in the Events and Observances category titled, “Deltapine Cotton 2020 Virtual NPE Summit Media Engagement.”

All attendees did receive their t-shirts which arrived just in time. So, we decided to have a little fun with them after the banquet. The ARC Annual Meeting will conclude with a day long tour today.

2021 ARC Annual Meeting Photo Album

ARC

Lynn Henderson Inducted into ARC PR Hall of Fame

Chuck Zimmerman

Lynn Henderson, AgriMarketingDuring the Ag Relations Council Annual Meeting, Lynn Henderson, AgriMarketing, was inducted into the Agricultural Public Relations Hall of Fame. ARC did a good job of keeping the recipient this year a secret, so he was very surprised.

After the ceremony I spoke with Lynn to get his comments on receiving this great recognition for his career and support for ARC over many years. He was humbled by the announcement. He also talked to me about how he sees the status of the ag industry and says now is a great time for people to look at a career in ag communications.

You can listen to my interview with Lynn here: Interview with Lynn Henderson, AgriMarketing

2021 ARC Annual Meeting Photo Album

ARC, Audio, Marketing, Media

The 2021 ARC Annual Meeting

Chuck Zimmerman

2021 ARC Annual Meeting The 2021 Agricultural Relations Council (ARC) Annual Meeting is taking place in Richmond, VA, in-person. The program includes several panel discussions with ag editors, ag organizations that work in Washington, DC and annual award presentations. I’ll have interviews to share and of course, lots of photos. Thursday will be tour day so most of that content will be published after I get back to ZimmComm World Headquarters.

This morning NAFB sponsored our breakfast and Erin Nash, NAFB Marketing & Communications Manager, made remarks about some of the service the organization offers to ag public relations professionals.

In the meantime, here is where you can find photos: 2021 ARC Annual Meeting Photo Album

ARC, Marketing, Media, Public Relations