Beef Board Chairman Interview

Chuck Zimmerman

Jay O'BrienJay O’Brien is the chairman of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and one of his duties today was speaking at the new appointees orientation lunch.

Jay started off talking about the need to look professional and that means wearing a nice bow tie. So he showed everyone how easy it is to quickly tie your tie.

Before the lunch got started I had a chance to interview Jay. Jay talks about some of the key things that producers should know. For example, he talks about end of last year USDA producer survey and how closely the results matched the producer survey results that was conducted by the Beef Board of a smaller sample size. He also talks about the retirement of Monte Reese and the process the Board will go through to find a replacement.

Listen to my interview with Jay:

cic-07-3-obrien.mp3
Audio, Beef, Cattle Industry Conference

New NAFB Print Ad

Chuck Zimmerman

NAFB Print AdThe National Association of Farm Broadcasters has a new print ad. This ad will run in Agrimarketing magazine.

According to the latest e-Chats newsletter the ad helps further communicate the fact that member’s broadcasts are heard by the rural audience in addition to a traditional farm audience.

The ad highlights that NAFB member networks and stations enjoy significant listenership in rural households on 3-plus acres — a key demographic of the rural lifestyle segment. NAFB’s 2006 national study established there are 27 million rural households with an estimated population of 69 million, with many household incomes above $75,000 annual. The ad further reinforces reach among larger producers generating at least $100,000 income across NAFB coverage geography.

Advertising, NAFB

Cattle Industry Convention Media Room

Chuck Zimmerman

Cattle Industry Convention - Grace & JoeHere’s the Cattle Industry Convention Media Room welcoming committee. It’s Grace and Joe. Joe says Grace is the official Yard-O-Beef spokesmodel.

I think the plan is to slice that baby up later today as a news room snack.

The media room is getting busier as the day wears on. I was hoping we would have some mild weather here but no . . . It was 13 degrees this morning and they’re predicting a couple inches of snow by tomorrow.

The Media room is sponsored once again this year by Merial and they’re also hosting a reception for us tomorrow evening.

Beef, Cattle Industry Conference

NAMA iPod Contest

Chuck Zimmerman

NAMA Convention 2007Are you one of those people who wishes they had an iPod? Not a NAMA member yet either? Then now’s the time to join because NAMA is launching a winter membership promotion.

New members who join NAMA between January 1 and April 6, 2007 will be entered into a drawing for a 30 GB Video iPod. In addition, existing NAMA members who recruit these new members will also be entered into the drawing. Just make sure when you recruit a member that they put your name in the “referred by” space on the membership application. The drawing for the iPod will take place at the Trade Show Closing Reception on Thursday, April 12 in Dallas, but you need not be present to win.

NAMA

Cattle Industry Convention Directions

Chuck Zimmerman

Cattle Industry ConventionI did a walk through of the Opryland hotel this evening to get my bearings and am glad they have directions spread around.

This is just a massive complex.

Tomorrow I’ll be setting up shop in the media room and conducting interviews and taking pictures as the opportunity presents. One of the first committee meetings is the CBB Admin Subcommittee which has oversight for the CBB blog. I’ll be there to answer questions and see what they think of the investment into having a blog which provides them a new communications channel while also promoting transparency.

Cattle Industry Conference

Visiting With Beef Board Staff

Chuck Zimmerman

Cattle Industry Convention - Diane Helping OutWhen I wandered in to the Opryland Hotel the first person I ran into was Diane Henderson, Cattlemen’s Beef Board (right). She’s my boss here since I’m posting onto the Beef Board Meeting.com blog.

Here she is giving directions to CBB board member Charles Miller and his wife Judy. This Opryland complex is immense and a tour guide is very welcome. I’ve already spoken with 2 people who said they got lost.

Beef, Cattle Industry Conference

Quesadilla Hamburger in Nashville

Chuck Zimmerman

Cattle Industry Convention - Travel DayIt’s not warm here in Nashville but at least it wasn’t snowing like it was in Cleveland which I connected through getting here. After checking in to my hotel across the street from the Opryland Hotel I took a nice brisk walk over to see what was going on and to get my bearings for the next several days of activities.

I came back to my hotel which has an Applebees in it and had an Angus Quesadilla. If you have a chance to try it I highly recommend it. That is a good hamburger.

There were some cowboys seated near me. The first thing I overheard them talking about was computers. One of them said that he was more familiar with mobile devices and used them more than his home PC. I just thought that was interesting and thought I’d pass it along.

Cattle Industry Conference, Food

Cross Blogging Mania

Chuck Zimmerman

I’m getting ready to finish packing for some industry conferences and will be doing some serious cross blogging (writing on more than one blog at once) over the next week.

Starting things off will be the Cattle Industry Convention in Nashville. I’ll have a lot to post here but will also be posting onto Beef Board Meeting which is the official blog of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board. I’m pretty sure I’ll find some good dairy news to post onto World Dairy Diary too.

Then it’s on to the National Biodiesel Conference in San Antonio where I’ll be posting onto Domestic Fuel and the Biodiesel Conference Blog which is the official conference blog of the National Biodiesel Board. My coverage and posts will be sponsored there by John Deere.

So, it’s going to be a busy time. While I’m at it in San Antonio Cindy will be covering the Global Warming 101 Expedition kickoff in Ely, MN at the Mukluk Ball. She’ll be posting content she gets there on Domestic Fuel which is sponsored by the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council.

Man it’s a busy blogging agenda! I love it.

Uncategorized

AdFarm Named AOR for Destron Fearing

Chuck Zimmerman

Destron FearingAdfarm has been named agency of record for Destron Fearing which means they’ll be charged with executing all aspects of the Destron Fearing marketing communications plan.

“We are excited about the opportunity to work with the AdFarm team on our marketing communications program,” said Rae Powell, Destron Fearing vice president of sales and marketing. “We felt AdFarm was the best fit with our culture and had a strong grasp of the challenge we face in the animal identification industry.”

Destron Fearing is the animal application unit of Digital Angel Corporation. The company develops, manufactures and markets electronic radio frequency and visual identification devices for the companion animal, fish and wildlife and livestock markets. In livestock markets, Destron Fearing provides a full complement of radio frequency identification products and software solutions to automate the collection and utilization of critical production information to help meet the growing identification demands of the market place.

Agencies, Agribusiness

Cow Parade Raises Awareness in Wisconsin

Chuck Zimmerman

Cow ParadeThe numbers don’t lie. The Cow Parade promotion in Wisconsin is a success and putting up some impressive pre/post survey results according to the latest from the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board.

More than 100 colorful cows grazed the Madison area and traveled to every corner of the state this past summer and fall as part of CowParade Wisconsin 2006. A survey conducted by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board (WMMB) following the event confirmed the memorable success of CowParade Wisconsin. When compared to a similar survey of 300 geographically dispersed Wisconsin residents done just before the CowParade promotion, it was found that Wisconsinites’ awareness of the state’s $20.6 billion dairy industry and how it affects their quality of life improved dramatically thanks in part to the promotion.

· 94 percent of those surveyed agreed that Wisconsin is proud to be America’s Dairyland
· 92 percent indicated they “would miss seeing Wisconsin farms if too much land was developed into housing and commercial buildings”
· 89 percent felt “the dairy industry played a key developmental role in the state of Wisconsin”
· And, 88 percent said they were “proud to call Wisconsin the Dairy State.”

Noteworthy awareness increases between the two surveys were also seen in the level of agreement with the following statements:

· “Wisconsin dominates the cheese industry” – Up 9 percentage points
· “One of every five Wisconsin jobs is related to agriculture” – Up 8 percentage points
· “The dairy industry improves my quality of life” – Up 6 percentage points

Ag Groups, Dairy