This is Lee McCoy, Southeast AgNet, taking part once again in a ride for cancer research. I know that a lot of people in the AgWired audience know Lee and have supported him in his efforts.
Hallelujah and Praise the Lord. You all did it. Thank you so much for your generosity. As I am writing this e-mail you have not only donated enough funds for the BriarRose Grand Peloton cancer ride that I am participating in for me to reach my original goal of $5,000, but you have contribute $6,125. I am so humbled and grateful. I can’t say thank you enough.
If you’d like to help Lee you can still make a donation here. The proceeds from the event go to the Georgia Cancer Coalition and Research Fund. Lee is a survivor!
DTN Launches DTNAg.com
This announcement came out earlier this week during NAMA. It looks like a very comprehensive DTN website. There’s even a section of blogs. Who would have ever thought that farmers would read blogs? It looks like DTN thinks so.
DTN, the leading provider of real-time market, news and weather information services for agriculture, today announced the launch of DTNAg.com, an interactive Web portal aimed at helping professional producers make better business decisions in today’s rapidly changing agriculture markets.
With the launch of DTNAg.com, DTN expands its coverage of agriculture markets and weather and introduces in-depth coverage of farm business, production and agriculture policy issues. The portal enables producers to interact with DTN analysts, industry experts and other top producers in real time in order to gain access to the information they need to make better marketing, production and business management decisions.
“As a result of rapidly shifting markets, record price volatility, major technological advancements and changing governmental policies, information is increasingly vital to the success of professional producers,” said Robert Gordon, chief executive officer, DTN. “DTNAg.com leverages the company’s extensive proprietary content and tools in order to provide an unmatched, interactive information center and online community that meets the needs of today’s agriculture industry.”
No wonder Robert Gordon, pictured here giving away a magnum of wine during the NAMA Connection Point, was all smiles.
Cheri Johnson Moves to Broadhead+Co
It seems like I have to go places to find out who the latest hires are at Broadhead+Co. No, not all three of these people. Just Cheri Johnson on the right. She’s now an account supervisor in the Minneapolis office. Broadhead just keeps getting broader. I’m sure the official news release is forthcoming but if you’re AgWired you know these things before all the rest.
This is part of the fun of attending NAMA. You get to find out who works where because one thing is for sure, we do move around. Anybody else have any announcements you’d like me to make here on AgWired? Also pictured above are Cyndi Young, Brownfield, (left) and Diane Johnson, Livestock Publications Council, (center).
That Man’s Wearing Salmon
I don’t know how many NAMA conventions I’ve attended since the early 1980’s and as several of us discussed one night this week, “we really don’t want to know.” One of the things we all agreed on was how important it is to show up and see friends and clients. Like me here with my friends (and client) Pat Morrow, BASF (left) and Dan Muys, Quarry Integrated Communications, (right).
They sponsored my Commodity Classic coverage and sent me a Status (herbicide) logo shirt afterward and suggested I wear it at NAMA. What do you do when a client asks you to do something? I like the shirt and didn’t mind the promotion at all since I did get some comments. For one thing it made my spring break tan look even darker don’t you think?
In case you’re wondering what the exact shade of color the shirt is, it’s “man salmon.” And I’m man enough to wear salmon. Thanks Pat/Dan.
Brownfield Party Rocks
The Brownfield party was a “good one.” I’ve been to quite a few and this one gets good marks. I went over thinking I’d just do a walk through and head back to the hotel. That’s not what happened. It’s tough to leave a good party.
Clyde Lear and his pink-shirted crew treated us very well. We got to listen to good music with the band, Crawfish, for one thing.
We did have a little excitement too. A tv crew chased people around sometime late and the buzz said they were taping an episode for Cheaters, which sounds like a sordid and distasteful sort of reality program.
NAMA Bombers Made It
The NAMA Bombers made it to the convention and posed with the autographed movie poster they donated to the ABEF Silent Auction. I know there was good bidding activity on the poster.
From what I understand they drove through some nasty weather and got in a few hours late but safe and sound. I hope they left early today since the forecast here isn’t great. I’m taking a late flight out and hoping nothing is delayed.
Surprise Eldon Reception
We had a surprise reception for Eldon White last night. Kyle Bauer, KFRM, was outside the door for some reason and supposed to let Eldon in when he stopped by the president’s suite. The problem was the key he had didn’t work. So all of the sudden there was violent pounding on the door which we definitely weren’t expecting. Then in came Eldon.
We toasted him, the staff wrote a nice limerick and Eldon made a short speech. If you weren’t there you can watch it here:
The Armadillo Whisperer
I’m really not sure if Bob Brunker, J. L. Farmakis, is praying or just what but you’re welcome to speculate in the comments. He couldn’t afford to pay me enough not to post this.
We had armadillo races in the NAMA Connection Point and Bob was a racer. He lost by the way if I remember right. The think I didn’t fully understand was the part about blowing on the armadillo’s tail. You’ll have to ask Bob about that if you really want to know.
Here’s a video clip of a different race if you want the full effect:
Farm Podcaster Interviews Farm Broadcaster
I don’t know. It just struck me as ironic when I saw this going on in our booth at the NAMA convention.
Here’s Ned Arthur, Truffle Media Networks, on the left interviewing Kurt Lancaster, Texas Farm Bureau Network.
I have no idea what they were talking about but if I had the audio I’d link to it.
Barry Nelson Talks about NAMA Conference
The NAMA convention chairman is Barry Nelson, John Deere. I got to interview him during a break in the action while we were both in the Connection Point.
Here you can see him announcing drawing winners at one point last night.
Barry says that about 1,100 were here and that’s better than last year in Kansas City I think. I know trade show traffic was much better this year and I’m a happy exhibitor. Thank you to everyone who stopped by.
Barry says that he had a great team who helped him with the planning for this year’s NAMA convention. He didn’t seem to want to be “chairperson for life” though.
You can listen to my interview with Barry here:
nama-convention-07-nelson.mp3