Food Trees Feed Support For “Men in Trees,” Feed Poor

Laura McNamara

Just another example of how food affects life here and abroad: from saving television shows to feeding the world’s poor…

“Men in Trees” fans from around the world have been fighting to save their favorite show with contributions of more than 7,000 food trees planted in impoverished countries. They call the campaign “Plant It Forward.” The trees were collected by a group on the ABC message board, and planted through the non-profit organization Trees For Life International, which has sent each fan a certificate of donation. The collected certificates were delivered to Stephen McPherson, president of ABC Entertainment.

Their campaign aims to address the issues of world hunger and the environment while, at the same time, convincing ABC to renew “Men in Trees” for a third season. “Seven-thousand food trees can produce up to 1.75 million pounds of food each year,” reported Sally Johnston, a campaign coordinator. “That’s 70 million pounds of food over the lifetime of the trees and a lot of fresh air.”

Uncategorized

NAMA Convention Underway

Chuck Zimmerman

NAMA ConventionThe NAMA Convention has begun, golfers are probably at the 19th hole and registration is open.

As this sign shows there are a number of us member companies providing support in various ways.

The convention photo album has been started and will be added to periodically over the coming days so make sure you check it often: 2008 Agri-Marketing Conference Photo Album

See you around.

NAMA

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • John Deere announces an agreement with IRON Solutions to align and integrate product offerings to assist John Deere agricultural equipment dealers in evaluating and pricing used equipment. This collaboration will facilitate and streamline the machine listing process and enhance the accuracy of equipment valuations. The UsedXpress and www.machinefinder.com remarketing systems will be able to integrate broad equipment market intelligence data available in the IRON Solutions Official Guides.
  • Bayer CropScience LP and Monsanto Company entered into an exclusive agreement on a new cutting-edge fungicide seed treatment for corn. The treatment, which is expected to be commercialized in conjunction with the planned launch of Monsanto’s SmartStax™ seed offering in 2010, will provide corn farmers with a significant improvement in early-season protection against seedling diseases and insects.
  • Bader Rutter, an integrated marketing services agency based in Brookfield, Wis., has added two new associates to its account management group. Margie Albrecht has returned to the agency as a team leader. Erin Simon joins Bader Rutter as an assistant account executive.
Zimfo Bytes

AgWired Mobile Feedback

Chuck Zimmerman

AgWired MobileEarly feedback on AgWired Mobile is rolling in. Here’s a few samples.

You guys are amazing!

Great idea! I just signed up.

This is pretty dang cool!

Looks great, Chuck. I’m sure this will be a big hit.

I just signed up for the text service. Great idea!

Some questions have been posed, so let me answer a few of them.

We’re going to be pretty selective about what stories we post to AgWired Mobile. The number of daily messages will vary but I’m guessing that it would average about 4 or 5 a day. This week we may send more due to the NAMA Convention. We realize that some people may have a limited text message plan but that’s changing fast. Most carriers offer a low cost unlimited everything plan today so we don’t think we’ll be breaking the bank on messages.

The messages are limited to 165 characters so it’s mainly going to be headlines and when possible, a link to more information.

We’re targeting AgWired Mobile to the same audience as AgWired.com. That has always been the professional in agricultural marketing (commodity groups, agencies, media, agribusiness) keeping in mind that we’re reaching a lot of farmers too. Heck, farmers are agrimarketers aren’t they? We also reach a lot of consumers. If you look around the web you’ll find AgWired content on a lot of websites of all kinds. That’s why it’s so unreliable anymore to just measure reach on site visitors. That doesn’t include all the other places the content is showing up!

Please make sure you’ve got us on your news release/announcement list too. Send ’em to news@agwired.com.

Keep the feedback coming. I’m heading to KC, MO very shortly and look forward to hearing your thoughts there as well.

Uncategorized

Mobile Markets & News

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast-167 - Mobile Markets & NewsThis is a fun week for ZimmComm New Media. Cindy and I will be exhibiting at the NAMA Connection Point for the 4th year in a row. You can hear what we have planned at the convention in this week’s program.

We’re also very excited about our AgWired Mobile service. We publicly launched it this morning. In case you missed it, all you have to do is text the word “agwired” to 46786. Then you’ll be subscribed to get headline news and stay up to date on what’s happening in the world of agricultural marketing.

AgWired Mobile is powered by Commodity Update and I chatted with owner, Joel Jaeger, about how they’re doing and about our new service. Joel is a forward thinker and new media pro who is changing how farmers get their market prices. I think you’ll be interested to listen in on our conversation.

This week’s program ends with music from the Podsafe Music Network. It’s called “Mobile” by Edgar Gabriel’s StringFusion. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: Listen To ZimmCastZimmCast 167 (23 min MP3)

Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:zimmcast167-4-15-08.mp3

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

Audio, Media, NAMA, ZimmCast

Get AgWired On Your Mobile Phone

Chuck Zimmerman

AgWired MobileNow you can keep up to date immediately with the stories posted on AgWired with our text messaging version.

Messages will contain the title of the story and a link directly to it if you’d like to click through and read it right on your phone. It will keep you agricultural marketing professionals on top of your game. Sign up now:

Just text “agwired” to 46786

That’s it. You’ll get confirmation immediately and then you’ll get AgWired updates automatically. News will be sent between 8am-8pm.

We’d love to have your feedback and ideas as we continue to develop this new service.

The new media pioneers just keep on opening up new channels of communication. Stay up to date on your phone or on your computer with AgWired!

If you ever want to unsubscribe (why would you?) then just text “agwired stop” to the same number.

AgWired Mobile is powered by:
Commodity Update

Uncategorized

Deron Johnson Promoted at Rhea + Kaiser

Chuck Zimmerman

Deron JohnsonI don’t know about you but Deron is one of those people that just always makes me smile when I talk to him. If you see him this week at the NAMA Convention then you need to congratulate him.

Rhea + Kaiser Marketing Communications announces the promotion of Deron Johnson to Vice President, Public Relations Director.

Johnson, who joined Rhea + Kaiser in 2005 as director, public relations, manages an 18-person team while overseeing the development of PR strategy and programs for all Rhea + Kaiser clients, including Athenix Corporation, Bayer CropScience, Pfizer Animal Health, Sandvik Mining and Construction, Underwriters Laboratories and Valley Irrigation.

“Deron brings invaluable leadership to Rhea + Kaiser, and our clients benefit every day from his unique insight into their needs,” said Steve Rhea, president and CEO of Rhea + Kaiser Marketing Communications. “This promotion recognizes his accomplishments and the importance of public relations as a part of the fully integrated communications services we offer our clients.”

Agencies

A Very Successful NAMA Blog

Chuck Zimmerman

Successful FarmingRight next to the ZimmComm New Media booth you’ll find Successful Farming. They’re not only exhibiting at the Connection Point but are the sponsor of the NAMA Blog which yours truly will be filling with interesting Conference information starting tomorrow.

So keep up with what’s happening at the 2008 Agri-Marketing Conference and Trade Show in KC, MO this week both right here and on the NAMA Blog.

There’s going to be a whole lot of blogging and tweeting going on if you know what I mean. If you don’t, then come talk to me and I’ll explain.

Thanks you SF and Jana Reiker for taking on the NAMA Blog sponsorship.

Media, NAMA, Publication

Farms.com Gets Some Barcharting

Chuck Zimmerman

FARMS.com MediaI don’t know if you’ve seen the Farms.com Media Girl. She just sits at the top of the AgPromote.com homepage, smiling at you when she’s not telling you about what Farms.com offers. She’s got a nice voice. I think I listened to the whole spiel at least 4 times this morning. You’ll be able to find Farms.com in booth #112 at the NAMA Connection Point.

Farms.com announced today that it’s working with Barchart which will provide custom website content including commodity quotes, advanced charts and other market information and tools.

The new Farms.com website features powerful personalization technology that will allow producers to customize their homepage with the timely content such as agri news, expert comments, jobs on AgCareers.com and new product information. Additionally, through its partnership with Barchart, users of the Farms.com website will have access to extensive commodity market data and information presented in an easy-to-use format.

“Barchart is proud to partner with the leading site for global agricultural information,” said Eero Pikat, President of Barchart. “Additionally, with our launch of our new AgriCharts division having partners like Farms.com strengthens our B2B agricultural market data solutions,” said Pikat.

“We are very impressed with the service and information that Barchart is able to provide us for our new Farms.com portal” said Joe Dales, Vice President of Farms.com Ltd. “Our thousands of farmer users have already told us they like the extensive agri commodity charting and features.”

Markets, Media

Omega-3 Now Comes in Chocolate…

Laura McNamara

…chocolate milk that is. Omega Farms is adding chocolate milk to its line of dairy products that are fortified with Omega-3 fatty acids.

Chocolate milk isn’t just for kids anymore. Athletes are drinking it too. Omega Farms Low-Fat Chocolate Milk provides kids the added benefits of Omega-3s needed for brain development and athletes the perfect combination of carbohydrates and protein needed for sports recovery. Both love the traditional and great taste of chocolate milk.

Not only is Omega Farms Low-Fat Chocolate Milk brimming with all the calcium, vitamin D, protein, and other vitamins and minerals of milk, but each serving also provides all-natural Omega-3s, the fatty acids vital to good health and well-being. Omega Farms milk products are a delicious and easy way to get the same DHA and EPA Omega-3s found in fish oil — without any fishy taste or odor that many kids dislike.

Studies suggest that chocolate milk is the perfect balance of carbohydrates and protein to help refuel tired muscles after a rigorous workout. A study published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism builds on findings that intense endurance exercise reduces the muscles’ supply of stored glucose, or glycogen, a key source of fuel for exercise. To maximize glycogen replacement, the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Dietetic Association recommend taking in a serving of carbohydrates within 30 minutes after a long and vigorous workout.

An Indiana University study entitled “The Efficacy of Chocolate Milk as a Recovery Aid” also tested chocolate milk versus sports drinks and found chocolate milk has the magic 4:1 carbohydrate to protein ratio and was as good as or better than the sports drink for performance, heart rate, perceived exertion, and lactate levels.

Food