BASF Plant Health Scientists at Symposium

Chuck Zimmerman

BASF SymposiumI’d like to announce BASF as one of the companies that is sponsoring AgWired coverage of this year’s Commodity Classic. Thank you very much. This is going to be fun since the first activity I’ll be participating in at Classic will be the BASF “The Science Behind Plant Health” Symposium on Wednesday afternoon.

It’s going to be a chance to hear from BASF Scientists and Plant Health experts from the BASF world headquarters in Germany. It’s the only time this year when they’ll be in the United States to speak to the media. Count on posts and interviews from this event. They’ll also be included in the CommodityClassicCast too.

AgWired coverage of Commodity Classic
is made possible by: BASF and New Holland

BASF, Commodity Classic, New Holland

CommodityClassicCast Podcast

Chuck Zimmerman

I got to thinking this weekend that with all the interviews and audio we’ll be posting this week from Commodity Classic we ought to podcast it. It just makes it easier for a lot of people to go ahead and subscribe so they can listen when/where they want. So that’s why I’m announcing the CommodityClassicCast. Yep, a new podcast from ZimmComm New Media and found right here on AgWired. Our Commodity Classic sponsors will be sponsoring it too. More on them later.

For now let’s suffice it to say that this is a first and who better to do it than the pioneers in farm podcasting? Want to subscribe? Just use this link with whatever software you use to capture podcasts: CommodityClassicCast RSS (http://zimmcomm.biz/commodity-classic/cccast.xml). I personally recommend iTunes since it works so well with iPods.

The first episode is already recorded and it’s just a welcome from me but feel free to click and listen too (1 min mp3): cccast-1.mp3

If you’ve got any questions, please feel free to email me. Cindy and I are bound for Tampa early tomorrow. See you there.

Audio, BASF, Commodity Classic, New Holland

New Holland’s New Logo

Chuck Zimmerman

New Holland LogoA new logo and a new tractor, that’s the news from New Holland. Before we go into that any further let me thank New Holland in advance for their sponsorship of AgWired coverage of the Commodity Classic once again this year. They won’t be my only sponsor but it’ll be tomorrow before I announce more.

Tom LanoAt the National Farm Machinery Show New Holland unveiled a new logo in a very big way. You can see it here. To tell us about it I interviewed Tom Lano, Sales Manager, for New Holland.

Tom describes the logo in the interview but also talks about their new T7000 series tractor which they had on display at the show in Louisville. He says it’s state of the art and will be on display at all the shows.

Listen to my interview with Tom here (4 min): tom-lano.mp3

Agribusiness, Audio, Commodity Classic, New Holland, Tractor

Comic Festival Podcasts

Chuck Zimmerman

What? A post about a comic book show in New York? Why Chuck? I’ll tell you why. Because the show organizers are using new media to not only promote the show but “as a way to build up an online community surrounding the show.” Imagine if we had a Commodity Classic blog and podcast. What kinds of interviews would we have already conducted with people who are featured speakers or with some of the contest and award winners? Do you somehow think that would diminish the event? I don’t.

I highly recommend reading this article on Chief Marketer titled, “Pods and Cons: Podcasting Helps Reed Turn Conventions into Yearlong Events.” You can find the podcast online here. You know the cool thing about this is that we in agriculture have examples in other industries we can follow if we’re not actually leading the way.

Here’s a quote from the article that kind of says it all. “”What’s exciting about podcasts is it creates a way to extend a convention,” he says. “The podcast becomes a way to reach out to not only attendees but the industry who likes to reach those fans with compelling content year round. Think of it as a digital booth or showroom.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Podcasts

Zimfo Bites

Chuck Zimmerman

Some tidbits you might enjoy:

  • New D&PL Soybeans Combine STS and Roundup Ready Trait Technology (pdf) – Midsouth soybean producers will be able to better manage herbicide resistance while setting the stage for high yield potential with the new Roundup Ready/STS stacked-trait soybean varieties from Delta and Pine Land Company.
  • Cottage Hill Farm Receives USPOULTRY’s Family Farm Environmental Excellence Award – Cottage Hill Farm, Petersburg, W.Va., was selected as one of five family farms around the nation to receive the Family Farm Environmental Excellence Award at the 2007 International Poultry Expo. This award is given by the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association in recognition of exemplary environmental stewardship by family farmers engaged in poultry and egg production. Cottage Hill Farm was chosen as the winner from the Mid-Atlantic Region.
  • Rural Broadband Access Remains Challenging – The broadband growth statistics become more impressive with each new study: 78 percent of all home web users have high-speed connections. Broadband coverage will reach 50 percent of all U.S. households in 2007. And major cities such as Los Angeles are pushing for free or inexpensive wireless access for all residents.
  • New Holland Used Website – With its first birthday just around the corner, the www.newhollandused.com website is drawing loads of attention, with January receiving over 100,000 visits, and helping New Holland dealers move 1,677 pieces of used equipment with a value of at least $105.8 Million!
Zimfo Bytes

The Monsanto Pipeline Details

Chuck Zimmerman

Monsanto Pipeline ReportI just received a link to Monsanto’s annual pipeline technology update “Putting technology to work in the field: 2007 R&D pipeline at a glance.” (PDF) The invite says:

I think you will find it is a useful reference guide for the ways Monsanto is investing in beneficial ag technologies and the pipeline progress of important projects. It also contains information on breeding advances and the development of new generations of crop technologies.

It’s a very colorful and comprehensive update.

Agribusiness

Podvertising Growing

Chuck Zimmerman

A new article on eMarketer.com talks about the growth in advertising in podcasts. They’re looking at the whole issue from a mass consumer standpoint and make it very clear that this is a niche audience channel. What I’d like to see is research on those of us who are specifically using it as a niche vs. mass audience channel. For example, my weekly ZimmCast is usually downloaded somewhere between 50 and 100 times within the week after I first post a new episode. However, if you look at the downloads for programs over the last year I have some programs that have been downloaded as many as 900 times. I haven’t really tried to find an advertiser for it yet although feel free to be the first one! The key here is who those people are. If they’re the top thought leaders in our niche business then I don’t care about the masses do I? Who do you most want to reach? The leaders right?

Here’s an excerpt from the eMarketer.com article:

As a rule, most widely consumed podcasts still have less than 50,000 downloaders, and most have far fewer, but podcast distribution and viewing mechanisms are proliferating and podcast advertising has marketers buzzing.

No wonder.

Even though podcast advertising spending was a mere $3.1 million in 2005, it rose to $80 million in 2006, and eMarketer forecasts that it will grow fivefold in the next five years.

I have no doubts they’re right. There’s seems to be no stopping iPod sales and with the iPhone coming out soon even more people are going to be looking for content to listen to. Are you in the conversation?

Podcasts

Bob’s Buying For Kemin

Chuck Zimmerman

Bob MinklerBob sounds like he has a job I would enjoy. Just ask Cindy. She’s always saying that I buy too much stuff but I keep telling her it’s all for the growth of our business. Hey Bob, someone’s got to do it, right?

Kelly Parnell, director of operations for Kemin AgriFoods North America, announces the appointment of Bob Minkler as Senior Supply Chain Specialist for Kemin AgriFoods North America. Parnell said, “Bob’s many years of experience in purchasing will help us better manage our input costs and ingredient inventories.”

Minkler joined Kemin from Briggs Corporation in Des Moines where he was New Business Development Manager and Senior Buyer. Earlier, he worked for BK Nogg, Titan Distribution, Cobbs Manufacturing, and Rolscreen Company. His experience includes assignments as Industrial Engineer, Methods Analyst, Operations Manager and Planner.

Agribusiness

FMC Wants You To Be A Hero

Chuck Zimmerman

FMCThe activity at Commodity Classic next week is going to be hot and heavy and you’re going to get a full dose here on AgWired starting Wednesday morning. Leading up to next week’s event, we’ve been getting a rundown on the activities of all the major companies who will be exhibiting like FMC. I thought this was a pretty cool idea so I thought I’d share it with you here.

When corn, soybean and wheat growers from around the nation gather in Tampa next week for the 2007 Commodity Classic event, FMC Corporation will give them a unique way to support U.S. servicemen and women stationed overseas. Today FMC announced it will make a donation to support the United Service Organization’s (USO) Operation Care Package initiative as part of the company’s “Be a Hero, Support a Hero” promotion at the Commodity Classic event. For every crop producer who registers for the company’s prize drawing at the FMC Corporation booth (#300) at the Commodity Classic trade show, the company will donate $5.00 to the USO Operation Care Package initiative. In addition, FMC will make a $5.00 donation to “Operation Care Package” for every crop producer who attends the FMC What is New and Closing Learning Center sessions at the Commodity Classic event. Read More

Agribusiness

Rhea & Kaiser Hosts High School Ag Students

Chuck Zimmerman

Rhea & Kaiser Groundhog Day EventThis first picture is of Jim Myers, vice president, creative director at Rhea & Kaiser Marketing Communications discussing integrated marketing communications with students from the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences. Rhea & Kaiser hosted the students as part of the national Groundhog Job Shadowing Week. It’s a great idea to have students get a taste of the real world in a setting where they’re free to observe. I think I need to do some of this too.

This was the third year R&K invited high school students to its Naperville headquarters as part of Groundhog Job Shadowing Week, a national program that each February gives middle and high school kids a firsthand look at day-to-day life in the workplace. Helping prepare tomorrow’s leaders means taking time today to show the opportunities while encouraging them to stay in school and develop their skills,” said Steve Rhea, president and CEO of Rhea & Kaiser and a CHSAS advisory board member.

Students received an overview of R&K’s integrated marketing communications operations, as well as presentations from the agency’s Creative, Media, Production and Public Relations groups. A tour of the Naperville office followed.

Rhea & Kaiser Groundhog Day EventAnother Rhea & Kaiser staffer, Brooke Hepler, far right, got in the picture. She’s posing with eight students and a counselor from the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences.

R&K also has provided job shadowing and professional development opportunities for students from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, the Illinois Institute of Technology, The Ohio State University, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Northwestern University and the National FFA Organization. An internship at R&K is scheduled for 2007.

Agencies