Agriblogging From The Sunshine State

Chuck Zimmerman

Florida Citrus ExpoAnother week and another road trip. This time I’ll be heading out to the Citrus Expo in Ft. Myers, FL. The theme is “Citrus Production in Transitional Times.”

This is a multi-blogging trip as I work with Southeast AgNet on the development of their new blog site, AgNet Online. Here’s another example of how the lines are blurring in the media world. This is a traditional broadcast company, that now owns a publication, a trade show and is starting to blog and podcast.

This is my old stomping grounds since I grew up in Sarasota, just to the north of Ft. Myers. And Gary Cooper, owner of Southeast AgNet was a business partner of mine once upon a time. It’ll be interesting seeing some faces I haven’t seen in over 15 years and I’m looking forward to it. So I’ll be posting here starting Wednesday.

Citrus, Media

Deere Gear Contest Update

Chuck Zimmerman

The Deere Gear StoreHere’s a Deere Gear Store “JOHN DEERE MEMORIES CONTEST” update. The first $50 Gift Certificate winners are:

Amelia Chesko, Stroudsburg PA
Danielle Pettigrew, Twin Falls ID
Kimberly Upton, Ocilla GA

The grand prize winner will be announced on October 1. Remember that AgWired is a sponsor so feel free to enter.

Tractor

Tree Talker

Chuck Zimmerman

Tree TVI thought this was unusual enough to bring to your attention. Tree TV. It’s pretty much just what it says it is.

For example, check out this video. To get an example of the news, look here. Arborculture is closely related to agriculture so it makes sense to show it here. The arborist is Ken Six who also hosts an audio program called Arbor Talk.

And that’s about all I have to say about that.

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Farm Broadcaster Now Agriblogging

Chuck Zimmerman

Waitt AgriBusinessAnother farm broadcaster joins the ranks of agribloggers. He’s Peter Shinn, Brownfield’s Wait AgriBusiness Network and he’s back from a stint with the Iowa Air National Guard.

Peter’s just getting started with his blog. It’ll be interesting to see how it develops. Once you start blogging are you still a farm broadcaster or something more?

Media

St. Louis Ag Club Turns 25

Chuck Zimmerman

St. Louis Ag Club 25 Year AnniversaryThe St. Louis Agribusiness Club is celebrating 25 years and to help them do it, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Mike Johanns will be on hand. The first fall meeting of the organization will be held on Friday, September 15. Here’s more details:

2006-07 Kick-off Meeting and 25th Anniversary Celebration

11 a.m. — Networking and Social Noon – 2 p.m. Luncheon & Program
Location: Crown Plaza Hotel – Clayton, Grand Ballroom on lower level, 7750 Carondelet Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63105 (Garage parking with fee waived. Driving directions – below)
$25 with advance registration – NO SHOWS WILL BE BILLED.
RSVP: E-mail GatewayNAMA@yahoo.com or call 636-449-5040 by September 5th.

Ag Groups

IFAJ 2006 Flickr Photo Album

Chuck Zimmerman

Feed Your Senses 2006My senses have been fed and it’s nice to be home. I almost have everything sorted out, including getting my photos from the Congress uploaded to Flickr.

So, if you want to feed your visual sense then visit my unedited photos from the IFAJ 2006 Congress. You can watch them as a slide show or individually. If you need a higher resolution version of one of them just send me an email and identify which one.

IFAJ 2006 Flickr Photo Album

AgWired coverage of IFAJ 2006 was sponsored by: Pioneer-HiBred

IFAJ, Pioneer

Steve Mercer Is DOC Of U. S. Wheat Associates

Chuck Zimmerman

I can’t seem to find a picture of Steve for some reason but I’m sure I can get one and add it later. Steve, if you’re reading this can you email me one? Thanks.

U.S. Wheat Associates is pleased to announce the appointment of two new staff members. Steve Mercer joins the organization as Director of Communications and Liz Jayankura is appointed as Trade Policy Specialist. Both start their duties early in September.

Mr. Mercer will be responsible for planning and implementing all communications supporting USW’s export market development, trade policy and producer-directed programs. With a career focused primarily on integrated marketing communications in agriculture, most recently he was U.S. public relations lead at AdFarm in Kansas City, Mo. Among other responsibilities there, Mr. Mercer managed industry relations programs in the domestic cereal grains and sugarbeet markets.

Ag Groups

Dow Picks Doug For Mycogen Seeds

Chuck Zimmerman

Doug VailDoug Vail is the new Sales & Marketing leader for Mycogen Seeds according to parent company, Dow AgroSciences.

In this position, Vail will work with the company’s marketing specialists to direct Mycogen’s national sales and marketing strategies. In addition, he’ll be charged with overseeing the company’s strategy to align with the ag chem business. “Vail has been a longtime asset to Dow AgroSciences,” says Stan Howell, Vice President, North America Regional Commercial Unit. “His experience within the company and the industry will no doubt be a major asset to the Mycogen team as well as growers and distributors working with Mycogen brand products.”

Prior to this new role, Vail was the U.S. Marketing Leader for Dow AgroSciences and, throughout his career, has held several prominent sales, finance and management roles within Dow AgroSciences.

Agribusiness

Iowa Corn Fueled IRL Race

Chuck Zimmerman

Iowa Corn Indy The Iowa Corn Growers will be the title sponsor for the Iowa Corn Indy 250 next year at the new Iowa Speedway in Newton. Iowa Corn, Iowa Speedway, and the Indy Racing League made the announcement yesterday at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines.

The race will be held on June 24, 2007 and will “showcase ethanol before a live national television audience.” You can count on the fact that it will be blogged “live” here on AgWired!

“This is a great opportunity to show the entire U.S. that ethanol is a winner,” said Kyle Phillips, ICPB chair-elect and a corn grower from Knoxville. “With all the Indy Racing League cars running on 100% ethanol in 2007, it’s an ideal fit.”

Ag Groups, Ethanol

Continental Nightmare

Chuck Zimmerman

Holding Pattern In OsloYou probably don’t want/need to hear about travel challenges, especially if you travel a lot but this is unusual in my experience. After getting to Oslo airport at about 9am for my 11:30am flight I got out to the gate in a reasonable time. We boarded around noon, already delayed. Right after the door shut and we were ready to take off, the pilot said the the technicians had detected a “rotation in the left engine” and we’d all have to get off. I kind of thought that those engines were supposed to rotate. This picture shows what a lot of today has been like so far.

So we’re now scheduled for a midnight departure since they refuse to cancel it and I’m on a 6:40am flight out of Newark to St. Louis tomorrow morning (we get in at 3am to Newark). We’ll see if this happens.

There’s a lot more to this story as the gate Nazi’s and other assorted cast of misfits all worked hard on creating the opposite of a good public image for their company today. I wrote it all out but lost the post when I went to publish it and the expensive wireless access here died for a minute. So, see you back in the states tomorrow (maybe).

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