Michael Peterson Connects with Fans

Laura McNamara June 5, 2008

The line at singer/songwriter Michael Peterson‘s CMA Music Festival exhibit remained long and steady. That’s because unlike most artists, Michael stayed around all day signing autographs, doling out hugs and smiling for pictures with fans. Michael says connecting with people is what events like these are all about and he looks forward to seeing familiar faces each year.

I grabbed some videos with Michael talking about fans and handing out autographs. You can watch the videos here:

2008 CMA Music Festival Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the CMA Country Music Festival is sponsored by:

Video

New Holland Encourages the Great Outdoors

Laura McNamara June 5, 2008

New Holland is sharing its booth at the CMA Country Music Festival this year. New Holland is a corporate sponsor of The National Wild Turkey Federation and visitors can find NWTF representatives, including Tom Turkey, at the Sports Zone. Brian Dowler is the public relations manager for NWTF and he says NWTF talks more than just Turkey. In fact, the international organization produces the Outdoor Channel, publishes the Women Outdoors magazine, manages volunteer based wildlife habitation projects and more.

I spoke with Brian and asked him about his organization. You can listen to my interview here:
cma-08-dowler.mp3

2008 CMA Music Festival Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the CMA Country Music Festival is sponsored by:

Ag Groups, Audio, International, New Holland

New Holland Gives Away $100…

Laura McNamara June 5, 2008

Visitors who visit the New Hollandbooth in the Sports Zone at the 2008 CMA Country Music Festival have a chance to win some dough. Communications Director Dawn Fox says New Holland is holding a drawing for a $100 gift card for Cabela’s. Those interested in entering simply need to stop by the New Holland booth during the duration of the festival and enter for their chance to win. Dawn says visitors can also grab some free magazines and take a look at the New Holland Model T2310 tractor. The T2310 will be used for Sunday’s New Holland/Michael Peterson Celebrity Tractor Race. The T1010 is also on display, which will be signed by each of the 30 celebrity contestants in the race. It will then be auctioned off with proceeds going to both the FFA and the race winner’s charity of choice.

I spoke with Dawn about what New Holland offers visitors at the Sports Zone. You can listen to my interview here:
cma-08-fox.mp3

2008 CMA Music Festival Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the CMA Country Music Festival is sponsored by:

Ag Groups, Audio, Equipment, New Holland

Kids and Hogs

Cindy Zimmerman June 5, 2008

Lots of kids and hogs are here at World Pork Expo.

I paid a visit to the Junior National Show to get some photos and just love to see these little kids handling their show hogs in the ring. That show runs through Friday.

I shot a little video that I plan to get uploaded later today. Check out the photo album for more pictures.

Here’s that video, for those of you who may have ever wondered what its like to try and walk a hog.

World Pork Expo Photo Album

AgWired coverage of World Pork Expo is sponsored by:

Novus International, Pork, Swine, World Pork Expo

Deputy Secretary at World Pork

Cindy Zimmerman June 5, 2008

Deputy Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner visited the 20th annual World Pork Expo on Thursday and spoke with producers about some of the challenges and opportunities facing the industry.

On the opportunity side is exports. “Thanks to this industry for your role in leading US exports to another remarkable level,” Conner said. The latest forecast calls for agricultural exports to hit $108.5 billion – $26 billion more than last year. “And pork is certainly doing a big portion of this. We expect the value of pork exports to be up 35 percent from 2007.”

Conner discussed the challenges of higher feed costs and actions USDA is taking to help alleviate the situation, such as opening up CRP land for haying and grazing, but he does admit that he is concerned about the effects of the weather on this year’s crop. And he talked about the Farm Bill.

After his formal presentation, we had a little “press gaggle” with Conner – which always makes for good photos.

Listen to Conner’s speech here: wpx08-conner.MP3

World Pork Expo Photo Album

AgWired coverage of World Pork Expo is sponsored by:

Audio, Livestock, Novus International, Pork, Swine, World Pork Expo

EPIC Gets a Mascot

Chuck Zimmerman June 5, 2008

At today’s Annual Meeting EPIC unveiled Edgar the E Man. He’s the official mascot of EPIC and available to members for appearances at events. I got Reece Nanfito, EPIC Director of Marketing to take my picture with Edgar.

The Kansas and South Dakota Corn Growers submitted the winning names which have been combined to become his official name. EPIC held a contest with members to come up with his name. The winners will get Edgar to appear at no charge to one of their events.

To hear more about the story of Edgar, I interviewed EPIC Executive Director, Toni Neurnberg. She describes the whole purpose behind the mascot initiative: epic-annual-mtg-eddgar.mp3

Audio, Ethanol

An International Welcome from Novus

Cindy Zimmerman June 5, 2008

World Pork Expo is a natural fit for an international corporation like Novus. Pictured here by the multi-lingual welcome sign are Mark Klamfoth and Randy Anderson with Novus.

Randy says they have already had visitors at the tent today from China, Brazil and Mexico and they expect many more from other countries over the course of the expo.

With producers very concerned about their profit margins and getting the most from expensive feed, Randy says Novus has several products and programs to reduce costs and increase efficiency. Among their products are Acidomatrix, Activate, and Mintrex.

Learn more here in my interview with Randy wpx-novus-randy.mp3

World Pork Expo Photo Album

AgWired coverage of World Pork Expo is sponsored by:

Livestock, Novus International, Pork, World Pork Expo

Kicking off the 20th World Pork Expo

Cindy Zimmerman June 5, 2008

First order of business at World Pork Expo this morning was a press conference featuring National Pork Producers Council president Bryan Black from Ohio.

Bryan discussed the 20th anniversary of the event, changes made this year to use badges instead of passes for attendees, the state of the US pork industry, exports and more.

Afterwards, Bryan visited with me in the Novus hospitality tent to do a condensed version interview of all the press conference topics. He says the expo gives pork producers and industry partners around the world one single meeting place to get the latest in technology and information. They have over 400 exhibitors this year and are expecting somewhere between 30-40,000 in attendance.

Here’s my interview with Bryan wpx08-black-1.mp3

World Pork Expo Photo Album

AgWired coverage of World Pork Expo is sponsored by:

Novus International, Pork, World Pork Expo

Smokin’ at WPX

Cindy Zimmerman June 5, 2008

The smokers were already fired up at 7:00 this morning here at the World Pork Expo, getting ready to serve some excellent BBQ to expo goers throughout the day.

The show is underway and we have already got a Flickr photo album up and lots of audio to get posted. The media center is very busy with plenty of reporters filing reports.

Enjoy the photos here on Flickr.

AgWired coverage of World Pork Expo is sponsored by:

Livestock, Novus International, Pork, World Pork Expo

EPIC Annual Mtg. in Omaha

Chuck Zimmerman June 5, 2008

The Ethanol Promotion and Information Council Annual Meeting is underway here in Omaha, NE. Last night we had a major lightning storm. After living through one in Kansas City the night before I’m wondering if I’m a lightning rod. I’m heading to Nashville tomorrow and keeping my fingers crossed.

To kick things off here EPIC Executive Director, Toni Nuernberg, welcomed members and introduced keynote speaker, Dr. Robert Zubrin, author of Energy Victory. His presentation is fascinating. I’ve got his book and now I’m planning to read it as soon as I can. You can hear an interview Cindy did with him on Domestic Fuel here.

This is the first large scale annual meeting of EPIC and well over 100 members are in attendance. The meeting allows them to hear first hand from staff and vendors about all the projects underway to help promote ethanol and educate the general public. Yesterday I conducted multiple presentations for members on the use of new media like blogs and podcasts.

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