- FMC Corporation and Dow AgroSciences LLC announce the companies have entered into a long-term supply agreement, whereby FMC will have access to cloransulam-methyl and Dow AgroSciences will have access to sulfentrazone for the commercialization of premixes involving the two active ingredients for weed control in soybeans. Each company will launch their own brand of herbicide for the 2007 growing season, Dow AgroSciences under the Sonic brand name and FMC under the Authority First DF brand name.
- CNH AMERICA LLC, announced today that a majority of its employees belonging to the International Association of Machinists in Fargo, North Dakota voted to ratify a new five and a half year contract, effective November 1, 2006 through April 27, 2012. The agreement was reached by the company and the union on October 30, 2006, and ratified by a majority of its 520 IAM represented employees today.
More Meatrix
The next installment of The Meatrix is out. It’s called Meatrix II 1/2.
I know this is going to bother a lot of people but try to have a sense of humor and rejoice in all the (hopefully) wasted time and money spent on this misguided effort.
In this installment Moopheus winds up in a packing plant and hears the soon to be immortal line, “What’s a little E.coli between friends?”
It’s coming to you from Participate.net where you can find other video projects like this.
ISU Vet Students Earn Scholarships
Here’s a couple of ISU students who got the win while playing in St. Paul.
Amy Kafer and Eric Smith captured the daily high score at the recent two-day conference of the American Association of Bovine Practitioners in St. Paul, Minn. By playing an interactive quiz sponsored by Novartis Animal Health US, Inc., the top score earned Kafer and Smith a $1,000 scholarship in their name to be sent to a U.S. veterinary school of their choice.
In addition to honoring the top daily scorers with a scholarship in their name, the quiz also helped raise $2,700 for the Amstutz Scholarship Fund.
New Record for Monthly Visitors
October was another record month for traffic on AgWired. Our statistics show over 15,000 unique visitors and almost 100,000 page views.
I am not only amazed but thankful to all the people who visit, comment, share, email ideas and provide their support. I don’t know where we’ll wind up in the future but I promise to keep bringing you all the information I can.
I’m sure you know we haven’t done any formal advertising of AgWired. Other than my periodic email to those of you who are in my personal contact database I’ve got to believe that good old word of mouth is spreading the message that we’re doing something unique and I hope valuable to a growing audience.
We’re going to keep on making AgWired a more and more valuable online destination for anyone involved in, or interested in agricultural marketing. Keep an eye on us.
New Grain Scale
As long as nobody wants to weigh me I’m okay. However, if you want a pure grain weighing product, here’s a new one. I imagine a lot of these are in use right now.
The Ohaus Corporation, a leading manufacturer of balances for specialty, industrial, education, and laboratory markets and worldwide, has announced the addition of the new Adventurer™ Pro Grain Scale to its line of measurement products. The Adventurer Pro has been designed as a durable and accurate grading scale for use in commercial grain weighing applications.
The Adventurer Pro offers the capacity and precision needed in the grain weighing operations that prepare the product to be sent to the marketplace. Farmers and grain purchasers use the scale to sample grain in the purchasing process to determine grain purity percentages of shipments for pricing.
Global Forces Shaping Agriculture
The NAMA Agribusiness Forum is just around the corner (November 14-15) so I interviewed this year’s chairman, Jessica Lamker, Director of Member Development & Communications, CHS-Land O’Lakes Member Services.
Jessica gives us the rundown on the program which is focusing on the Global Forces Shaping Agriculture. A big part of the program will be looking into the future from the eyes of several of the people doing presentations. This is a common element of the annual event.
Download this week’s program: 
ZimmCast 91 (13 min MP3)
Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:
zimmcast91-11-1-06.mp3The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired which you can subscribe to using the link in our sidebar. You can also subscribe in iTunes.
Think Small
Next year’s NAMA Conference theme may be “Think Big” but starting tomorrow you can think “small” as in the 14th National Small Farm Trade Show & Conference.
It’s going to be held at the Boone County Fairgrounds in Columbia, MO. They have heated buildings in case you’re worried about that.
Some of the sessions on the agenda include, Native plants as cut flowers, Fruits, nuts & medicinal herbs, Crop diversification options, 10 Ways to make money from trees, Ethanol from waste fruit and Legal matters. There’s quite a few more too.
According to the show organizers, last year, over 4,400 people and over 150 exhibitors attended.
Show Hours: Thurs, Nov 2: 9 am-5 pm, Fri, Nov 3: 8 am-5 pm, Sat, Nov 4: 8 am-5 pm. Call 800-633-2535 to register.
Boot Camp LPC Style
It’s almost time for the second round of the Livestock Publications Council Boot Camp.
This year it’s in Louisville, KY.
If you haven’t already then you need to get registered.
They’ll have sessions on all the Adobe design software, AP Style Book (I actually have my own style!) and photography.
Contact Diane Johnson to get registered.
You can find out more about it in their latest newsletter (pdf file).
Firing Up The ZimmCam
I have been wanting to work with a webcam for some time now and took the initial plunge today. Let’s just say that now that I have an “agricam” I’m even more armed and dangerous. I’ve already thought of a number of ways to use this. One of the first things I’ve got to do is learn how to use the video editing software I purchased earlier this year. I’m also wondering if it’s time for a video version of the ZimmCast using my new tool, the ZimmCam. So to get the ball rolling here’s a little demo.
Feedback? Stick with audio? More makeup? Actually I’m thinking of a lot more production value in a video podcast. You’ll just have to be patient with me. We’ll get there.
Upcoming Schedule
Here’s one of my next stops on the agricultural marketing highway. The Farm Equipment Manufacturers Association will be holding their convention in Minneapolis next week. I’ll be part of a panel titled, “Marketing Communications Strategies & Tactics.” It’s going to be on Tuesday afternoon and features some real experts like, Dale Bentlage of Global Reach Internet Productions, Joe Baitinger of Farm Market ID and Connor Flynn of Lessing Flynn.
I’ll be showing attendees what blogs and podcasts are and planting the seeds of ideas for using them in their corporate communications plans. I guess you know that you’ll be seeing posts from there.
After that it’s time for my annual hunting trip. That’s going to be from November 10-14 so posting will be light on those days. I’m just giving you a heads up.
After that, it’s on to the NAMA Agribusiness Forum in Kansas City, followed by the NAFB Convention. This year the two groups are having an overlapping session on Wednesday afternoon.