St. Louis is AgWired

Chuck Zimmerman

Commerce Magazine Cover StoryIs agriculture important to St. Louis? You bet it is. In fact, one of the first jobs we had here at ZimmComm was to do an economic study of the financial importance of agriculture to the St. Louis economy for the St. Louis AgriBusiness Club. This was way before we began blogging and podcasting. Now about 3 years later that study caught the attention of St. Louis Commerce magazine and their March issue is all about agriculture. This is the publication of the St. Louis Regional Chamber & Growth Association.

Cindy really likes the little corn dude icon since he’s got on a suit and is framed by the St. Louis Arch.

You can find the cover story here, “Cultivating St. Louis: Farming Fuels St. Louis Economy.” It’s got lots of facts and figures from our study.

There’s also an interesting one titled, “Old MacDonald Had a Farm: Mac Jr. Has an Agribusiness Degree, Blackberry, Blog. . . “

This will do wonders at raising awareness in the community about the significance and importance of agriculture to the area.

Ag Groups, Publication

Get Connected at NAMA

Chuck Zimmerman

NAMA Convention 2007Last week I said I’d have more details about the NAMA Connection Point (trade show at the convention) so here it is. Please put on your calendar so you don’t get scheduled during this exciting show.

Show Hours this year:

Wednesday, April 11
6:00 – 7:30 p.m. – Best of NAMA Celebration/Connection Point Grand Opening sponsored by DTN

Thursday, April 12
12:30 Noon – 2:00 p.m. – Connection Point Luncheon

3:00 – 4:00 p.m. – Break in the Connection Point sponsored by Millennium Research and Hoard’s Dairyman

5:00 – 7:00 p.m. – ABEF Silent Auction/Connection Point Closing Reception sponsored by NAFB

A 7″ digital picture frame will be awarded at the end of each session to a trade show attendee. Plus, a grand prize drawing for a 30 GB iPod will be held at the end of the trade show session. Each booth will have a box to collect business cards, and they will be combined at the end of each session. A bingo activity will occur during the luncheon, if you get a bingo, you’ll be entered into drawing for two Southwest Airline Tickets!

Booth space in the Connection Point is still available. If you would like to purchase a booth, please visit http://nama.org/amc/ts/signup.htm.

If you have questions regarding the Connection Point, please contact Judy Knoll at judyk@agrimarketing.com or at (636) 728-1428.

NAMA

TRENDS by Cattle-Fax

Chuck Zimmerman

Cattle-FaxIf you’re wondering what the trends are in the cow-calf business then you need TRENDS.

Responding directly to the needs of its clients in the cow-calf sector, Cattle-Fax has introduced TRENDS, a monthly newsletter specifically for cow-calf producers.

Like other Cattle-Fax publications, TRENDS will provide expert research and analysis on the issues that affect all facets of the cattle and beef industries. But TRENDS will have a special focus – providing cow-calf operators with cutting edge information, business trends and outlooks, and market opportunities. Topics addressed in TRENDS will include: grazing conditions, hay prices and supplies, weaning tips and strategies, replacement female costs and forecasts, retained ownership opportunities, and other issues that directly impact the livelihood of the cow-calf producer.

To receive a free issue of TRENDS or to start a subscription, call Cattle-Fax at 1-800-825-7525.

Ag Groups, Publication

Grandma’s Got a Blue iPod

Chuck Zimmerman

Edith Gaffner With Blue iPodThe winner of the New Holland Blue iPod contest which was held at their Commodity Classic booth is Edith Gaffner of Greenville, IL. Here at ZimmComm we like to provide order fulfillment with a smile so I was in St. Louis already and decided to just drive out to the Gaffner farm to personally meet Edith.

I had a very enjoyable conversation with Edith while I was there. She says they have good high speed internet access and they’re online everyday. Her grandchildren are very impressed that Grandma’s got an iPod! The iPod came pre-loaded with the interviews I did at Commodity Classic and the pictures I took. Those pictures included 2 of her granddaughters who were coincidentally chosen to draw the winner of the New Holland Zero Turn Radius Mower they also gave away in a drawing at Commodity Classic. What are the chances of that happening?

Blue iPod Engraved with New Holland-Commodity ClassicI interviewed Edith so that you can learn a little more about her and her farm in Greenville, IL. They’ve actually turned things over to their son who’s now the dairyman, soybean and wheat grower.

You can listen to my interview with Edith here:

nh-blue-ipod-winner.mp3

New Holland was one of the sponsors of my coverage of Commodity Classic again this year.

Agribusiness, Audio, Commodity Classic, New Holland

The Big 3-0-0-0

Chuck Zimmerman

This is post #3000 on AgWired. It’s hard to believe that I’ve posted that many times in the last 2 years. As one of the students in my presentation yesterday said, “You’ve got an awesome resource.” They were looking at all the categories I’ve got and how many stories or posts to each of them there are. A lot of people still don’t realize that the blog software archives everything so it never disappears. You can actually scroll back to the first post I did.

Today I’m in St. Louis for a Truffle Media Networks meeting with Aaron Gilbertie. We’re plotting strategy, including what we’re going to do at the upcoming NAMA convention. If you’d like us to come present the coolest new media channels let me know.

After our meeting I’ll be heading over to a farm in Illinois to hand deliver the New Holland Blue iPod Nano to the winner from their Commodity Classic booth drawing. I’ll have a picture for you later.

Uncategorized

Blogging From The Ag J Class at MU

Chuck Zimmerman

AGJ Capstone ClassHello from the University of Missouri Agriculture Bldg. in Columbia, MO. I’m doing a presentation on new media for the AGJ Capstone class.

Here they all are. No one’s asleep yet. Hopefully they won’t be. We’re in Q&A right now.

This is a live demo post to show them how quickly and easily we can use this mechanism to cover an event.

Post Update: After the class I interviewed Jessica Pollard (on the left) and will feature her interview in next week’s ZimmCast. Thanks to Bill Allen for inviting me to speak at his class.

University

Corn Crop Will Be Big

Chuck Zimmerman

Farm FuturesEveryone seems to want to know how much corn is going to be planted and what it’s going to be used for. Farm Futures has their producer planting intention survey results out and they say it’s going to be a big one. Thank you ethanol and prices.

Farm Futures estimates corn plantings at 88.4 million acres, up 13% from last year, based on a survey of more than 850 farmers from March 5 to March 12. That’s unchanged from the magazine’s last tally, in January. USDA releases its definitive survey of planting intentions on March 30. The massive shift to corn will come at the expense of soybeans and spring wheat, according to the magazine. Survey results showed farmers plan to put in 68.9 million acres of soybeans, down 9% from last year, and a drop of 600,000 acres from the January estimates. Spring wheat plantings are estimated at 12.7 million acres, a 15% crop from last year. No estimate was made for spring wheat in January. The magazine forecasts total wheat acreage at 58.8 million acres, up from 57.3 million in 2006.

Corn, Publication

Public Relations Guidelines

Chuck Zimmerman

TOCAWhile browsing the Turf & Ornamental Communicators Association website this morning I came across their PR/News Release Guidelines. This is worth a read for all you public relations professionals who I’m sure already know this. It’s always nice to have a reminder though. I wish more ag comm groups would do this.

Here’s some key points they make for marketers:

1. The news releases I distribute will be newsworthy. There’s a reason why this is number 1 on the list. Sending out news releases without a real news angle is kind of like saying the sky’s falling. Do it enough an editors won’t even look at your news releases anymore.

4. I will not call editors to confirm that a release has been received. I will also not call editors to ask when or if a news release will be published. They say this is the number one complaint of editors and I fully understand why. I may be in the news release distribution business but I’m also an editor and we just don’t have time for this. Sometimes there’s just no way to answer the second part of this question so you’ve at best wasted my time. When I get these calls I often feel like I’m being put on the spot and it’s very uncomfortable and not likely to put me in a “favorable” mood regarding the release.

5. I will not call editors to ask for clips of my published news release. This is because the editor often can’t and doesn’t have an easy way to do this and definitely doesn’t have time for it.

With our AgNewsWire.AgWired.com service we try to keep our database up to date so we’re sending to current email contacts at all the various broadcast, print and web outlets. We don’t and won’t call on editors to see if they got the release. We can tell how many open the email but we won’t report who. We often get asked how many “used” a release and there’s just no way for us to know that. I realize how important metrics are even in public relations but I think you hurt your public relations efforts if you push too hard for this data. Just keep in mind that editors can’t do your story if you don’t send it to them! One of the best things you can do is participate in the various agricultural communicator association meetings to develop good relationships with editors.

Public Relations

Some Ag Comm Annual Meetings

Chuck Zimmerman

  • Agricultural Relations Council: A Consumer-Driven Marketplace A look at the influences consumers have on the food and fiber industries – March 29-31, 2007.
  • North American Agricultural Journalists: The annual NAAJ meeting will be April 15-17 in Washington, D.C. The conference hotel will be the Holiday Inn-Capital. Rooms are $223/night. We have a small block reserved, so budget now. The number to call for reservations is 202-479-4000. Identify yourself as being with NAAJ, North American Agricultural Journalists. You must make reservations by March 15.
  • The Turf & Ornamental Communicators Association: Next Annual Meeting: May 1-May 3, Hyatt Regency Hotel, Savanna, GA.
ARC, Media, Public Relations

Behind The Scenes in Iraq Again

Chuck Zimmerman

Paul McKellipsYou know you’re in a wild place when you’re sharing a 256k satellite modem with a bunch of soldiers in the desert. That’s what Paul McKellips, Global Outreach Officer, US Embassy Baghdad, The Green Room – Public Affairs GO Team, is doing in Iraq to help get out the word about what’s really happening there, especially related to agriculture. He can’t send out an audio report but provided this text report for us. I think you’ll find it fascinating.

For the past 37 days – since the Super Bowl – I’ve been living at a Combat Outpost in Diyala Province, Iraq. The new Baghdad surge has driven many of the al Qaeda terrorists and Sunni insurgents into this area. I’m less than 3-miles away from Baritz and 8-miles from Ba’qubah. This is increasingly becoming “ground zero” for combat operations. COL. David Sutherland, Brigade Commander of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division invited me to come out here and launch an Iraqi radio and television station. I can assure you that I got a lot more than what I was bargaining for. Safety and security within our 40-acres has been excellent. But I can watch the IEDs explode on the roads all around us. Apache attack helicopters circle the area numerous times each day. But the 50 or so US Army soldiers who protect this facility – and me – are doing their jobs heroically. The conditions are horrible. There is no running water. No showers. No toilets. No phones. The Iraqi desert is not the place for a contact lens wearer. Every two days I warm up two water bottles in the morning sun and then take a shower behind one of the parked Bradley fighting vehicles. The outhouses have wooden plywood seats with cut-out garbage cans for catch-pans. Every morning a couple of soldiers get burn detail where they pour diesel fuel in the catch-pans and incinerate the waste. Read More

International