Enjoying Some Palin Sunshine

Chuck Zimmerman

Sarah PalinIf you were following my Twitter feed then you know where I’ve been for at least part of today. Not to try to influence anyone out there but Cindy, my daughter Chelsea and I went to see Sarah Palin at the Missouri State Capitol building. Here’s Sarah right after she winked at me.

We were kind of hoping she’d say words like “agriculture” and “farmers” but no such luck. However, it was a good time and we got to see my main man, Bocephus (Hank Williams, Jr.) sings some songs. If you’re really interested you can see more photos in an online photo album.

So that’s enough politics for one day. Regardless of where you stand, I hope you’ll go out and exercise your civic duty tomorrow and vote!

Sorry Andy, I didn’t get to give her a kiss for you.

Oh and btw. Hank Jr. sang a variation of one of his hits, called “McCain-Palin Tradition.” Here’s a video of it from another recent rally. I know some of you will enjoy it. Post Update: Cindy used my Flip to shoot the same song today so you get her version now.

politics

Learn About The Alliance For Abundant Food & Energy

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast-194 - Alliance For Abundant Food and EnergyYou’ve probably heard about the Alliance For Abundant Food and Energy. But do you know what it’s all about? Well fear not because in this week’s program I interview Alliance Executive Director, Mark Kornblau. He describes their mission, why a new organization was needed and the marketing tactics they’re employing to get their message out.

The Alliance for Abundant Food and Energy brings together a broad group of visionary companies and organizations committed to sustainably and responsibly improving diets and reducing dependence on fossil fuels through increased agricultural productivity worldwide. They understand that through innovation, American agriculture can help meet the growing global demand for food and energy. Members include the Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) Company, DuPont, John Deere, Monsanto, and the Renewable Fuels Association.

Through credible, fact- and science-based education, information and advocacy, we advance support for agricultural solutions today, while building understanding of agriculture’s ability to fulfill the promise of improved diets and better fuels into the future.

The program this week ends with music from the Podsafe Music Network. This one is called “Unconscious Alliance” from General Fuzz. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: Listen To ZimmCastZimmCast 194 (25 min MP3)

Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:Interview with Mark Kornblau - ZimmCast 194

The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired which you can subscribe to using the link in our sidebar. You can also subscribe in iTunes

Ag Groups, Audio, ZimmCast

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • A recent International Food Information Council (IFIC) report concludes that 84% of Americans have favorable or neutral impressions of agricultural plant biotechnology, while less than 16% hold an unfavorable impression. Click here for more information.
  • Novus International is proud to announce the appointment of Duarte Diaz, Ph.D. as Ruminant Research Manager. Dr. Diaz will be responsible for managing ruminant research and will serve as technical lead for Novus’s mycotoxin management programs across species.
  • ACH Food Companies, Inc. (ACH), announce the creation, with immediate effect, of Stratas Foods, LLC, a joint venture for the manufacture, marketing and distribution of packaged oil products in the U.S. and Canada. Stratas Foods will serve the foodservice, specialty food ingredient and retail private label bottled oil markets. It is expected to produce 2.5 billion pounds of oil in its first full year of operation.
  • Syngenta announced that it is developing a new technology to dramatically improve the cost efficiency of sugar cane planting in Brazil. Syngenta’s innovation would reduce planting costs per hectare by some 15%, driven by a novel approach to grow sugar cane from smaller cane segments using proprietary treatments. The technology is planned for launch in 2010 under the brand name Plene and has a market potential of $300 million per year by 2015.
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    Fall Drive By Shooting

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Fall ColorsWe don’t usually hit the height of fall color in Missouri in November but we have this year. This is a drive by shot of some serious color in the late afternoon sun on the river bluffs of the Missouri River.

    I spent the day getting deer hunting camp ready for opening day which follows the NAFB convention this year. With all the rain this summer we’ve got a bumper crop of weeds to contend with but somehow I think we’ll manage.

    If you’ve got a favorite fall shot you’d like to share then send it on in and I’ll try to get it posted.

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    NAMA GPS Drawing

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Garmin GPSOnce again this year, NAMA is offering some incentive for you to get a friend or co-worker to join. You’ve only got until November 5 so get those applications in. If you do, you’ll be entered into a drawing to win a GPS unit.

    Every NAMA member who recruits a new member between now and November 5 will be included in a drawing for a new GPS. The more new members you recruit – the better your chances. New members will have their names entered, too.

    Simply tell your recruit to join on-line at http://www.nama.org/join.html and include your name in the “Referred by” box or have them call the NAMA office at 913-491-6500 to join and remind them to say they were referred by you! Be sure to tell them they’ll be included in the drawing.

    When will the drawing take place? During Trends in Agriculture, which takes place November 11 and 12 at the Hyatt Regency Crown Center in Kansas City. We’d love to have you there, but you don’t have to be present to win.

    NAMA

    Appaloosa Pumpkins

    Chuck Zimmerman

    First Place Appaloosa PumpkinLast year on Halloween I was blogging the Appaloosa World Show for Steve Taylor and crew at the Appaloosa Horse Club. This year Steve is a master agriblogger and handling the job very well. Here’s a picture from his posts at the show this week.

    Probably the toughest job I’ve had all week at the Appaloosa World Show in Fort Worth was being on a panel of judges to evaluate entries in the pumpkin carving contest. Our great supporter, Gary Raak, Twin Cities Feather-Lite, organized the competition and even hauled in the pumpkins.

    Steve’s also got an online photo album started for the show.

    Uncategorized

    Laser Pumpkins

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Laser PumpkinWe’ve got the candy ready for the evening onslaught and will be dishing it out in between calls from automated political campaigns. It’ll all be over next week!

    I saw this on Gizmodo and thought you might enjoy it.

    You could risk cutting yourself with a knife. Or you could buy one of those mini saw kits that always break off in the pumpkin. Or, if you really want to misuse company/lab equipment, you can requisition a laser cutter to carve your Halloween pumpkins. That’s what Doug did, and he has no regrets other than that the results “smell bad.”

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    Agricultural FINDERBINDER Going To Print

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Ag Finder BinderThe first edition of the Agricultural FINDERBINDER is now going to print according to Cory Cart. I just spoke with him about how things are going with what promises to be the most complete resource of agricultural media listings available.

    He says they completed their pre-sales phase earlier this month and are gearing up to start getting it in the hands of agricultural marketers who want and need to be able to contact ag media representatives. He says they’ll be shipping a disk with the printed binder so that you can import contact data into your computer. Cory says they’ve got over 1,500 media outlets listed with about 2,700 contacts. To be listed a media outlet had to have at least 51 percent of its coverage on some subject related to agriculture. He says they’re also planning a tabbed section on rural lifestyle outlets.

    To get your copy you can call Sandi Lomonaco at 405-759-3373 or order online.

    Listen to my interview with Cory here: ag-finderbinder-update.mp3

    You can also download the interview with this link (mp3).

    Media

    New Media on Minds of Marketing Officers

    Chuck Zimmerman

    EpsilonOkay agrimarketers. Here’s your Friday new media lesson courtesy of Epsilon. I’ve selectively added some bold enhancements for points of particular interest.

    Chief Marketing Officers at many of the biggest brands in the nation are seeing a major shift in the marketing landscape. Almost two-thirds (63%) of the 175 marketing executives surveyed see an increase in their spending on interactive/digital marketing while 59% report a decrease in traditional marketing spend.

    So how does new media play into the overall marketing mix according to this survey?

    CMOs of the biggest brands have been early adopters of new media with social computing and blogs receiving the most interest whereas instant messaging and interactive TV ads were the least popular.

    * Social computing (including word of mouth, social networking sites, viral advertising, etc.) was the most popular emerging channel with 42% of marketing executives expressing interest in adding it to their marketing mix.
    * Blogs were the second most popular emerging channel: 35% of marketing executives want to pursue blogs and 19% already use blogs
    * Almost one-third of CMOs mentioned Podcasting as an area of interest: 31% are interested in adding Podcasting to their marketing mix and 18% already have.
    * Mobile devices also elicited interest: 29% are interested in Mobile Devices (Phones/PDAs) and 22% have added them to their marketing mix.

    You can download a pdf of the report here.

    Uncategorized

    Zimfo Bytes

    Melissa Sandfort

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    • The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology is releasing a new CAST Commentary — Convergence of Agriculture and Energy: III. Considerations in Biodiesel Production — during special presentations at the National Farmers Union and the National Coalition for Food and Agriculture Research in Washington, D.C. The full text is available here, along with many of CAST’s other scientific publications.
    • Cherrie (Sherry) Curtis, farm Safety Day coordinator from New Boston, Texas, was chosen by the Progressive Agriculture Foundation to receive a Toyota Tundra. Curtis, the 4-H and Youth Development Agent with Bowie County Extension, received the keys to the truck Oct. 22 in Indianapolis during the 2008 Progressive Agriculture Foundation annual dinner and reception. She was chosen amongst nearly 400 Safety Day coordinators from across the country.
    • AgCareers.com will host a Webinar, “Deliver Effective Performance Improvement Plans”, Friday, Nov. 7, 2008, at 11:00 am (EST); 10:00 am (CST); 9:00 am (MST) and 8:00 am (PST). For further information, and to register for this web seminar please click here.
    • USDA has released a vegetable and melon outlook that provides current intelligence and forecasts the effects of changing conditions in the U.S. vegetables and melons sector (including potatoes, pulses, and mushrooms). Topics include production, consumption, shipments, prices received, trade and more.
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