You may be wondering. What’s Sirius got to do with ag communications? Well we might be surprised how many of these Sirius and XM satellite radio receivers are out there in trucks, tractors and combines. I’d sure like to know. I’ve written to them before trying to get them interested in some good ag news programming without much success. Hoever, today Sirius announced a new marketing director. What do you think the chances are that he’d have some influence with the programming department? Would he see ag as a good target for his product? On the surface you’d think rural customers would be a target but I’m wondering if the numbers are there to make them care.
SIRIUS Satellite Radio announced today the appointment of Martin Lee as Senior Vice President of Marketing. Lee will be responsible for all aspects of SIRIUS brand marketing and will report directly to Scott Greenstein, President of Entertainment and Sports, who will continue to oversee all marketing efforts. Lee, who was recently selected as 2005 Marketer of the Next Generation by Brandweek magazine, brings a wealth of national and international experience in product and brand marketing to SIRIUS, including eight years in consumer electronics.
Pioneer Has 22 New Soybean Varieties
Okay, here’s some more new varieties. Phew. They just keep coming out. It’s the result of all those years of work we’ve reported on for so long right? We knew they’d be showing up. This time it’s Pioneer.
Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc., is introducing 22 new “M-Series” soybean varieties for the 2006 planting season. Leading the way are Pioneer® brand soybean varieties with resistance to soybean cyst nematode (SCN) and Phytophthora root rot as well as tolerance to sudden death syndrome (SDS) and iron chlorosis.
The varieties range in maturity from Group 00 for northern growing areas to Group VI for the southern U.S. All of the varieties contain the Roundup Ready¹ gene.
AgStar Financial Delivering Harvest Lunches
As we struggle to get in touch with growers in the middle of harvest someone’s reaching them the right way. That’s AgStar Financial. This story was on Brownfield Network today and it’s just a “good” story so I had to point you to it.
You’ve all been there, harvest time, the combine is running flat-out, the trucks are just barely keeping up and you know you don’t have many days before the weather turns. The last thing you want to see is some guy driving out in your field to talk to you…unless he’s bringing lunch! This is a very familiar happening for farmers in Minnesota and western Wisconsin. AgStar Financial Services calls it their Harvest Lunch program. Since 1989, AgStar employees have delivered lunches to farmers in the field during the fall harvest.
Of course you’ll find an audio file to listen to as well.
D&PL Announce New Cotton Varieties
The new product announcements just keep on coming. Delta & Pine Company has a whole range of new cotton varieties. The announcement gets into some pretty technical stuff that includes a lot of number and letters. I recommend visiting their website to learn more.
Delta and Pine Land Company announces the commercialization of the much-heralded new mid-maturity, stacked-gene cotton
variety, DP 454 BG/RR, plus new exciting Bollgard® II/Roundup Ready® Flex varieties for 2006.
“As the leading cotton seed supplier to U.S. producers, D&PL has the breeding and research capabilities to keep America’s cotton farmers armed with a wide range of maturities and technologies to meet farm requirements and textile mill demands,” said Jim Willeke, vice president of sales and marketing at D&PL. “Our 2006 cotton variety lineup offers producers yield, fiber and more technologies than ever before.”
LPC Has Their Own Boot Camp
We’ve reported on one kind of Boot Camp here on AgWired and now we’ve got another one to point you to. It’s the Livestock Publications Council, Boot Camp ver. 1.05.
When:
Friday, November 11, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm, Registration 8:30-9:00 am
Where:
Executive Inn,Louisville, KY ($95 per night), 800-626-2706, (Book immediately as all hotels close to the fairgrounds will fill up fast because of NAILE!) Other options: Best Western Ashton Inn, 502-375-2233, Courtyard by Marriott, 502-368-5678, Howard Johnson’s, 502-363-9952, Hampton Inn, 502-366-8100, Comfort Inn, 502-361-5008
Cost:
LPC Members, $60, Non-members, $75, Students, $35, (Includes lunch)
Registration Deadline:
November 4, No-Shows will be billed
This Boot Camp will offer affordable and practical ideas for you to take back and actually put to use. A great opportunity for anyone in the design or production department for your publication!
Learn How Beef Producers Influence The Checkoff
This week’s MBIC report from the Missouri Beef Industy Council is with board member John Kleiboeker of California, Missouri, who is also a member of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board Joint Nutrition and Health Issues Committee. John talks about how Missouri producers can provide input on how beef checkoff dollars are spent on the national level.
You can listen to this week’s MBIC Report here: 
The MBIC Report is an AgWired podcast which you can subscribe to using the link in our sidebar or on the newly designed MBIC website.
Lorrie Morgan Wants 5 Minutes of Your Time
What part of “You must attend Commodity Classic” don’t you understand?
Commodity Classic, the combined convention and trade show of the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) and the American Soybean Association (ASA), has announced country star Lorrie Morgan will be the headline act for the Evening of Entertainment at the 2006 Commodity Classic in Anaheim, Calif., March 2-4.
The Evening of Entertainment will be Saturday evening, March 4, at the Anaheim Convention Center Arena. For more information about Commodity Classic, visit www.commodityclassic.com.
The Resurrection of The Livestock Round-Up
The Livestock Marketing Information Center has resumed publishing a quarterly electronic version of the “Livestock Round-Up. It’s an online PDF file that you can download from a sidebar link on their website.
Would you like to know more about consumer demand for beef, the outlook for cattle and sheep and lamb prices, and the Canadian cattle industry? Those topics are covered in the most recent issue of the quarterly Livestock Round-Up published by the Livestock Marketing Information Center (LMIC).
Some of you “old time” livestock market observers may remember receiving the brown and white monthly Western Livestock Round-Up newsletter in the mail during the ’70s and ’80s. Later, readers across the Western and Great Plains states received the Round-Up as an insert in state agricultural magazines.
The LMIC is a unique cooperative effort that includes 24 state Extension Services (including the NDSU Extension Service), five cooperating USDA agencies and seven associate livestock-related organizations.
Publication dates are March, June, September and December. Articles will focus on livestock markets and related issues. The major species covered in terms of market situation and outlook will be cattle, hogs and sheep. Other species and related industries also will be covered periodically.
Sunbelt Ag Expo Features Over 1,200 Exhibitors
Here’s the latest news from Sunbelt Ag Expo in Moultrie, GA. The reports we’ve had were sent in courtesy of Randall Weisman, Southeast AgNet. Thanks for the news!
The 28th Annual Sunbelt Ag Expo continues here in Moultrie, Georgia with big crowds enjoying everything from stockdog sheep trials, to beef cattle seminars, haymaking sessions, field crop exhibits, to machinery exhibits and machinery demonstrations. Overall, there are 1200 exhibitors on hand showing their goods and products.
As we mentioned Tuesday, the Lancaster/Sunbelt Farmer of the Year award was presented to Louis “Red” Larson of Okeechobee, Florida. But it has also been announced a ninth state has been added to participate in the prestigious program in 2006. Kentucky will join the eight original states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia at next years event.
But this years Sunbelt Ag Expo is still underway and runs through Thursday.
Vermeer Manufacturing Promotes Cheap Roughage
With all the corn harvesting going on Vermeer Manufacturing wants growers to know how important baling the stalks can be as an economical roughage for livestock. To help get the word out they sent a Talking News Release today.
When it comes to a good, affordable source of roughage, many cattle producers and livestock feeders are finding that cornstalk bales really fit the bill. Daniel Rippe (Rip-ee) who has a cow-calf operation in Auburn, Nebraska says he has found that cornstalk bales work better for his operation than hay bales.
“Part of it is that they’re – well, cheap. And I can feed distiller’s products with the corn stalks and end up with a decent ration and still be cheaper than going out and buying some higher quality hay.” Full Release
This is the third in a series of releases that Vermeer has distributed on this subject.