Time To Relax

Chuck Zimmerman

Deer Hunting TimeI am getting ready to head to the woods as I warned you about last week. This means very light posting until next Wednesday. Almost a whole week! Whoo hoo.

If you want to learn more about what I’ll be doing please feel free to visit the Missouri Department of Conservation website.

I’ll have my camera and I hope I’ll have something to share with you over the next several days.

Looking ahead to next week, I’ll be posting from the NAMA Agribusiness Forum and the NAFB convention in Kansas City. So until soon . . .

Uncategorized

Harvest Updates From Pioneer

Chuck Zimmerman

PioneerCyndi Young has been busy interviewing growers about their harvest progress.

“Listen to audio harvest reports and harvest progress updates from Pioneer agronomists in your local area and across the country.”

You’ll find them on the Pioneer website.

Agribusiness, Audio, Pioneer

Virtual Growth at Osborn & Barr

Chuck Zimmerman

Osborn & BarrIt looks like Osborn & Barr is doing more online work for its clients. At least I hope so if they’re adding so many people to the staff! I wonder if any of them are blogging. If so, let me know.

This year brought significant changes to the marketing services Osborn & Barr is able to offer to its clients. The newly created Digital Marketing group provides O&B clients with interactive capabilities that enhance client brand strategy beyond traditional marketing communications. The employees within the Digital Marketing team bring expertise from various areas of Web development and online communications.

Susan WilliamsSusan Williams joins Osborn & Barr with an extensive background in managing product development in the media, manufacturing and energy industries. Her expertise serves clients such as John Deere, United Soybean Board and Monsanto. As digital marketing supervisor, Susan’s responsibilities include overseeing the development of digital marketing, Web and e-mail marketing projects, supervising the digital marketing design and development team and participating in new business opportunities. Most recently, Susan worked as global project manager for Reuters America, where she was responsible for the developing the Web presence of the international multimedia news agency. Susan graduated cum laude from the University of Missouri with a bachelor of journalism degree.

Allison GarrigaIn her role as online media and optimization manager, Allison Garriga is responsible for managing the search engine marketing program, which includes implementing both organic and paid search campaigns. She brings extensive professional knowledge from her work as account manager for Avenue A/Razorfish, where she managed numerous paid search accounts and the affiliate marketing program. Allison is a graduate of Drake University where she majored in advertising and minored in Spanish. Read More

Agencies

Do You Have All (the) Recipes?

Chuck Zimmerman

All Recipes ThanksgivingIt’s never too soon to look forward to food on Thanksgiving. The folks at All Recipes have some great information for you if you have any questions. I’ll be doing some gourmet cooking at hunting camp later this week and sharpening my skills in time to whip up a holiday feast at the Zimmerman home.

To help America’s intrepid home cooks achieve the most relaxing holiday possible, the experts at Allrecipes.com have created full, customizable menus perfect for both seasoned Thanksgiving veterans and those new to hosting a turkey day extravaganza. Both categories offer multiple, tried-and-true recipe ideas, including Easy Herb-Roasted Turkey, Savory Turkey Gravy, Holiday-Only Mashed Potatoes, Sauteed Green Beans and Pumpkin Cheesecake in a Gingersnap Crust, preparation timelines and tips that range from how to brine a turkey to the secret to perfect potatoes. All of which will ensure that the only stress you experience on the big day is deciding who gets the last piece of pie, which of course defaults to the cook.

Food

New Homestead Feeds Website

Chuck Zimmerman

Hubbard's HomesteadIt looks like Hubbard Feeds has a new website.

This website is intended as a comprehensive resource for the niche pork or beef producer who doesn’t want to use antibiotics or rendered animal proteins in their feeds. “The new site will offer a broad range of product information for the enterprising producer that is taking advantage of key niche markets and developing alternatives to the traditional commodity system of selling pork and beef,” says Dr. Robert Musser, head of the Hubbard Feeds swine nutrition team. Homesteadfeeds.com offers product information for every segment of pork and beef production as well as background information on Opticare products.

“ The new Homestead website reflects our continued commitment to offer our customers a wide range of nutrition products that deliver performance including complete feeds, concentrates, basemixes and premixes,” said Musser. “Niche value-added pork and beef production is growing and consumers are looking for more products that are perceived as more wholesome. We decided to create a specific feeding program that helps the producer raise and feed livestock under the strict growing guidelines of niche markets.”

Agribusiness, Internet

FEMA Past President

Chuck Zimmerman

FEMA ConventionI finally caught up with Jim Wessing, Kondex Corporation this afternoon after our session.

Jim is the immediate past president now of the Farm Equipment Manufacturers Association. I spoke with him about what FEMA is and what benefits it offers its members. There’s a lot of work this very small staff does out of St. Louis!

Jim said that in the last year the organization has added 84 new member companies and that 31 of them had representatives here at the convention.

Listen to my interview with Jim: fema-06-wessing.mp3

Ag Groups, Audio, Equipment

Connect With Your End User

Chuck Zimmerman

FEMA ConventionThe guy who really got the panel put together here at the FEMA convention today was Connor Flynn, Lessing-Flynn.

Connor was our emcee but started out talking about how flat marketing communications has become.

He stressed the need for companies to connect directly with their customer base.

Listen to my interview with Connor: fema-06-flynn.mp3

Here’s Connor’s PowerPoint presentation.

Ag Groups, Audio, Equipment

Your Website Should Make Sales

Chuck Zimmerman

FEMA ConventionAnother of my fellow panelists this afternoon was Dale Bentlage, Global Reach.

Dale talked about having a well-planned web strategy for your company.

He told our audience how important a company website can be in generating sales.

Listen to Dale’s summary of his presentation: fema-06-bentlage.mp3

Dale sent in his PowerPoint presentation. You can access his slides here: Dale Bentlage Presentation

Ag Groups, Audio, Equipment

Who Are Your Customers

Chuck Zimmerman

FEMA ConventionOn our panel this afternoon here at the FEMA convention was Joe Baitinger, FarmMarketiD.

Joe was here to talk about database marketing. He talked about the importance of developing your customer database and using it. Too often companies tend to collect data and let it sit unused. I like the way he called it a perishable commodity. What good is having thousands of prospective client contacts if you don’t use them. Joe talks about how important it is to know who your customers are in a very segmented industry.

Listen to Joe’s summary of his presentation: fema-06-baitinger.mp3

Joe sent in his PowerPoint presentation. You can access his slides here: Joe Baitinger Presentation

Ag Groups, Audio, Equipment

Your Agriblogger At Work

Chuck Zimmerman

FEMA ConventionWhile I was presenting today Connor Flynn got a picture.

See how I make the AgWired community part of the demonstration? You are a great audience, thank you very much.

I know we’re going to see more and more blogging in the agribusiness world. I should have collected the url’s of the blogs that people in our audience have. When I got started on this about 2 years ago most people didn’t even know what a blog was much less have one.

Hey, it only makes sense.

Post Update: Just to clear up any confusion . . . That’s Connor’s Apple notebook in the picture. Yours truly is still a PC guy. Although I’m keeping my options open.

Ag Groups, Equipment