Elanco Purchases Posilac From Monsanto

Chuck Zimmerman

ElancoHere’s an interesting announcement. Elanco has signed an agreement to buy the worldwide rights to Posilac from Monsanto. The deal includes the product’s supporting operations. I hope they have good luck with it. There sure are a lot of activists against it. I don’t think they’ve got any scientific basis for their fears but sometimes perception is reality. I sure don’t mind the product and think it’s perfectly safe.

“Global dairy demand is increasing, outstripping supply, and consumers are seeing rapidly rising prices,” said Jeff Simmons, president, Elanco. “With the purchase of Posilac, Elanco can enhance its overall product portfolio and work together with the industry to provide dairy farmers more options and give consumers affordable choices. Critically, we remain focused on the health and care of the cow in working with farmers to increase global milk supply.

“With our rich history and experience in the dairy industry, Elanco is the ideal steward of this vital technology,” Simmons said. “Elanco remains committed to using science to address the growing need for safe, affordable food, and to choices for consumers, retailers and producers.”

Elanco has exclusively sold sometribove outside of the United States for a decade. Posilac has been safely used for more than 14 years. Read More

Agribusiness, Animal Health, Dairy, Elanco

More People Going Online For News

Chuck Zimmerman

PEW NewsThe PEW Research Center for the People and the Press has a new survey report out titled, “Key News Audiences Now Blend Online and Traditional Sources, Audience Segments in a Changing News Environment.” It’s a very interesting read if you’re involved in the media at any level (journalist, public relations, advertising, etc.). I thought this graphic was particularly interesting. There’s lots of them though. I only point you to it because it shows a continuing trend that should be taken into consideration when deciding how to invest your money. Click on the image for a larger version.

A sizable minority of Americans find themselves at the intersection of these two long-standing trends in news consumption. Integrators, who get the news from both traditional sources and the internet, are a more engaged, sophisticated and demographically sought-after audience segment than those who mostly rely on traditional news sources. Integrators share some characteristics with a smaller, younger, more internet savvy audience segment – Net-Newsers – who principally turn to the web for news, and largely eschew traditional sources.

This report isn’t all about people moving to the internet for news. If you’re in radio, tv or print, there’s lots that will let you breathe a sigh of relief. I look at it as more proof that audience choices of how and where they get information is changing and fragmenting. There are less and less options that will get you a majority of your target audience. Today, it’s all about being in a variety of places.

Internet

Barry Engle New President/CEO New Holland Ag

Chuck Zimmerman

Barry EngleNew Holland Agriculture has a new President and CEO. He’s Barry Engle. He starts his job on September 8. That’s the position that was assumed on an interim basis a year ago by CNH President and Chief Executive Officer Harold Boyanovsky.

“Barry Engle has extensive international management experience and an impressive record of results. We are pleased to welcome him,” said Boyanovsky.

Engle has worked in the automotive industry since 1992, holding a variety of positions with Ford Motor Company in North America, Latin America and Asia. Most recently he was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Ford of Canada.

Agribusiness, New Holland, Tractor

Company Adoption of New Media

Chuck Zimmerman

Aggie-LanceNew media, social media, whatever. On August 6, I participated in the first Aggie Lance Social Media Tele-Seminar. Besides company President, Mark Jewell, I was joined by John Blue, Truffle Media Networks and Liza Markle, National FFA.

We had a lively discussion, talking about using new media in agricultural communications, including why you should be doing it now. You can download and listen to the Tele-Seminar with this link. (wma file) I’ve already discussed making these mp3’s btw.

Perhaps you’re still wondering if your company or organization should be getting involved in new media. One of our recommendations is to start participating yourself (Facebook, LinkedIn, Blog, YouTube) to become personally familiar with it. I just saw some interesting new data on how Inc. 500 companies are making use of social media. Here’s a chart comparing their use in 2007 (green) with 2008 (blue). You can click on the image to see a bigger version of it.

Social Media Adoption Statistics

Research Highlights:

* Four out of five companies in the Inc 500 rate social media technology as important or very important;
* 21% of the companies are podcasting and 39% blogging;
* The number of companies blogging and podcasting has doubled in the last year;
* The Inc. 500 are adopting new media technologies much quicker than Fortune 500 companies.

The research suggests that companies that are using social media & new media technologies are growing faster than other companies.

The research was done by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research. You can download the study, which I recommend.

Via Podcasting News.

Podcasts

Liza Teixeira New PR Specialist For CA Strawberries

Chuck Zimmerman

Liza TeixeiraLiza Teixeira is the new Public Relations Specialist for the California Strawberry Commission.

In her role, Teixeira will provide support for media relations, industry communications and public outreach. Teixeira, a 2008 graduate of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, received her degree in agricultural science with minors in agricultural communications and agricultural business. Born and raised in California’s Central Valley, she is familiar with all aspects of the ag industry. She will use her background to relate with the changing needs of the industry and its members.

Commission marketing & communications director, Mary De Groat said, “Having grown-up surrounded by agriculture, Liza personally understands the challenges farmers face every day. She brings knowledge, communication skills and a built-in instinct for representing the industry that will certainly help achieve the Commission’s goals. We are very happy to have her join our team.”

Ag Groups

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • New Holland’s new line of Discbine® disc mower-conditioners features the latest advances in disc cutterbar technology: the MowMax™ modular cutterbar with the protection of ShockPRO™ disc drive hubs. These features, standard on all H7000 Series Discbine disc mower-conditioners, ensure a cleaner cut, reduced operating costs and less downtime.
  • Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc. announces that it has received approval from the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to market the Ingelvac® CircoFLEX-MycoFLEXTM combination package to protect pigs against both porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) and Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae.
  • The Association of Equipment Manufacturers announces the latest winners of its annual Student Engineering and Mechanization Awards. The awards recognize outstanding initiative and accomplishment in university student branch activities of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers. Click here for the full list of winners.
  • Syngenta Crop Protection announced that the California Department of Pesticide Regulation approved Platinum® 75SG insecticide for use on brassica vegetables, bushberries, cucurbit vegetables, fruiting vegetables, grapes, leafy vegetables, potatoes, root vegetables, strawberries, tobacco, and tuberous and corm vegetables. Platinum 75SG controls more than 30 sucking and chewing pests with minimal impact on beneficial insects.
    Zimfo Bytes

    FLEXing Boehringer Ingelheim’s Muscle

    Chuck Zimmerman

    BI Swine Health SeminarOne of the key people involved with the Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health Seminar was Gary Robertson. He’s the brand manager for Ingelvac MycoFLEX. You can actually see him sitting in the back left part of this picture during the presentations.

    Gary says they’ve been very fortunate to obtain CircoFLEX in ’06, MycoFLEX in ’07 and just recently, Ingelvac CircoFLEX-MycoFLEX in ’08.

    Since this “combo package” is brand new I asked him what makes it possible. It’s all in the adjuvant which is also part of the FLEX platform. It’s called IMPRAN FLEX. Gary says this is an aqueous-based polymer adjuvant which is very safe and easy to use. He says it’s been very successful and refreshing to the industry to have a safe product for two problem diseases. He also says they’re working on new FLEX products, so I’m sure we’ll hear more about that in the future.

    You can listen to my interview with Gary here: bi-nc-08-robertson.mp3

    BI Swine Health Seminar Photo Album.

    Agribusiness, Animal Health, Audio, Boehringer Ingelheim, Swine

    Consider Alternative Feed/Energy Sources

    Chuck Zimmerman

    David FunderburkeA very important component of a swine herd management plan is nutrition. Boehringer Ingelheim’s Swine Health Seminar featured nutritional consultant, David Funderburke. He and his wife have their own business, working with large producers domestically and internationally.

    In his presentation, David said that producers need to apply the technology that’s available and “push the limits” so they can capture as much value from feed as possible. Since his clients have different commodity positions and are different in the types of risks they’ll take, he says he tries to fine tune their feeding programs to fit both their personality and what’s going on inside their operation as far as costs and budgets.

    Looking forward he says the cost of energy to produce a pig is going up so he says we need to find more ways to release energy from feed. He encourages producers to look at alternative energy sources.

    You can listen to my interview with David here: bi-nc-08-funderburke.mp3

    BI Swine Health Seminar Photo Album.

    Animal Health, Audio, Boehringer Ingelheim, Swine

    Boehringer Ingelheim Team Building

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Doug NordYou know that any company with national sales/technical support services looks at their folks as all “on the team.” According to Doug Nold (left), Boehringer Ingelheim has been team building.

    Doug has 32 years experience in agribusiness and joined the BI team recently. One of the reasons he says is because he likes their commitment to the industry which he thinks is “outstanding.”

    He says that BI has tripled the sales force they have in the field while also adding to the veterinarian group. Many of those people are experienced talent from within the field. Doug says they all have a common “passion to succeed, which mirrors BI’s intent.” This growth in their team, he says, has allowed them to do more work one on one and establish relationships with customers and their businesses.

    You can listen to my interview with Doug here: bi-nc-08-nord.mp3

    BI Swine Health Seminar Photo Album.

    Audio, Boehringer Ingelheim

    Protecting Against Mycoplasma with Ingelvac MycoFLEX

    Chuck Zimmerman

    John KolbDr. John Kolb is a professional services veterinarian for Boehringer Ingelheim. He was on the program to talk about Ingelvac MycoFLEX.

    John says it’s a unique product designed to be a single dose member of the FLEX family. Because it’s part of the FLEX platform, he says it’s easy to combine with another product like CircoFLEX. This is due to the special adjuvant used by the platform.

    He says that this product provides producers with a good single dose option to treat mycoplasma hyopneumoniae while allowing other treatment options to be included if needed.

    You can listen to my interview with John here: bi-nc-08-kolb.mp3

    Ingelvac MycoFLEX offers the flexibility to be administered to pigs as early as 3 weeks of age (weaning), providing protective immunity throughout the grow-finish period. Depending on your vaccination schedule, Ingelvac MycoFLEX also may be administered later in the nursery. Appropriate timing of vaccination is dictated by the exposure patterns of mycoplasma in your herd. Vaccination with Ingelvac MycoFLEX should be placed at least 2 weeks prior to onset of exposure to Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae or at least 5 weeks prior to the onset of seroconversion. It is recommended that you work with your veterinarian to determine the optimum timing of vaccination for your herd.

    BI Swine Health Seminar Photo Album.

    Agribusiness, Animal Health, Audio, Boehringer Ingelheim, Swine