A-Mazing Family Fun At Geisler Farms

Chuck Zimmerman October 17, 2005

This is a-mazing. And a really cool corn maze. Darrell Geisler is not only a corn grower but now he’s into agritourism. The eight-acre maze provides a rural adventure for visitors. “As our area becomes more urban, we wanted to provide a place for our neighbors to experience the farm and understand agriculture’s impact on our local economy since we are just 14 miles northeast of Des Moines,” Geisler said. “Plus, the corn maze has made it easier for my daughter and son-in-law to get involved in the family business. My daughter designed the corn maze, which maps out a scarecrow, barn, field and sponsor logos, including NK® Brand Seeds.” I guess we know what brand he plants!

The Geislers even have a Geisler Family Farm website you can visit to get directions to the maze.

Agribusiness, Farming

What’s Going On At ZimmComm

Chuck Zimmerman October 17, 2005

You can learn more about what’s going on at ZimmComm on this week’s ZimmCast. Cindy and I do a little review of what’s happening and hope it’ll generate some ideas for you. For example we talk about our blog projects and some of the grower harvest interview work we’ve been doing for our clients.

You can listen to this week’s ZimmCast here:

The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired which you can subscribe to using the link in our sidebar. You can also now find the ZimmCast on CoolCast Radio.

Audio, Podcasts, ZimmCast

Fresh Ideas For You Desktop Publishers

Chuck Zimmerman October 16, 2005

In case you need some “fresh” ideas there’s a workshop just for you. The Livestock Publications Council is conducing their Fresh Ideas Workshop on October 26, Kansas City, MO. Here’s the details:

Sessions:
INTEGRATING WITH INDESIGN: Helpful tips and techniques on integrating Illustrator and Photoshop with InDesign. Followed by a question & answer session. So, come prepared with all of your quaries!

WEB SITE INSPIRATIONS: This session will provide examples of inspirational web sites for use in everyday layouts. Bring along web sites that have been an inspiration to you!

INTERACTIVE BREAK-OUT SESSIONS:
• Internships in Ag Journalism: How it works in the livestock industry. Panel discussion
• Designing and writing for electronic media
• The Ins-and-Outs of Freelance Designing

LOCATION:
Radisson Kansas City Airport, 11825 NW Plaza Circle, Kansas City, MO 64153
Call (816) 464-2423 for reservations, Hotel $89/night.

ACT NOW TO RESERVE YOUR SPOT AT THE DTP SEMINAR!
Registration fee – $60 for any member of the Livestock Publications Council, American Ag Editors Association or Ag Communicator of Tomorrow. $75 registration fee for all others. Registration includes a light breakfast and lunch.

TO RESERVE YOUR SPOT: (785) 273-5115, TAMMY@KLA.ORG, PLEASE BE PREPARED TO PAY AT THE DOOR. NO-SHOWS WILL BE BILLED.

LPC

No More “Go Baby Go” For Thoroughbred Racing

Chuck Zimmerman October 16, 2005

The National Thoroughbred Racing Association is going to have a new advertising campaign tag line for the first time since 1998 when they started with “Go Baby Go.” They estimate that about $5 million will be spent in “media value,” including national and regional NTRA and member racetrack media buys.

The National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) will roll out a new advertising campaign featuring the new tag line, “Who Do You Like Today?” in 2006, the organization announced at its annual meeting and marketing summit in Lexington, KY.

The campaign will include five new television spots featuring celebrities, trainers, jockeys and everyday racing fans asking or answering the common race track query, “Who do you like today?” Among the entertainment, sports and business industry celebrities featured in the ads are Kid Rock, Dennis Hopper, Matthew Fox, Jerry O’Connell, Michael Imperiole, Wayne Gretzky, Rick Pitino and Sir Richard Branson, plus many others. All are longtime horse racing fans who volunteered their time.

“This new campaign celebrates the community of horse players while inviting new people to join that community,” said D.G. Van Clief, Jr., Commissioner of the NTRA. “We’re very excited about the direction the campaign is taking and look forward to rolling it out as part of a fully integrated marketing platform next year.”

The ad campaign, which will feature TV, print and Internet, was created and developed by Conover Tuttle Pace (CTP), an integrated advertising and communications firm headquartered outside of Boston. It was shot at such venerable race tracks as Churchill Downs, Belmont Park, Saratoga and Del Mar, with additional shooting scheduled at other tracks in 2006.

Ag Groups

Listen To The New FAO Goodwill Ambassadors

Chuck Zimmerman October 16, 2005

Today is World Food Day and although there are celebrations around the world, the official program took place in Rome according to the following schedule. You can also listen to some short sound bites from the newly appointed ambassadors of FAO using links after the schedule below.

Assembly of guests in the Green Room
The Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations opens the ceremony
Screening of a video feature on the World Food Day/TeleFood theme, “Agriculture and Intercultural Dialogue”
Address by the Director-General
Address by His Excellency Giovanni Alemanno Minister of Agricultural and Forestry Policies of the Italian Republic
The Director-General awards the World Food Day Year 2005 medals to the three first prizewinners of the World Food Day poster competition organized by the United Nations Women’s Guild
The Director-General introduces the newly appointed FAO Ambassadors
Brief interventions by newly-appointed FAO Ambassadors
Musical Presentation
The Director-General closes the ceremony

New Ambassadors:

1. Beatrice Faumuina has been appointed a Goodwill Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations. She has been New Zealand’s top ranking track and field athlete for a number of years, won 10 national titles between 1993 and 2005, and is Ambassador for Oceania of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). This is what she declared as she accepted her new title from FAO Director-General, Mr. Jacques Diouf.

2. Ronan Keating is newly nominated FAO Goodwill Ambassador. With over seventeenth million album sales, the Irish pop singer admits that he has been given much; but, as he was receiving his new title from FAO Director-General, Jacques Diouf, in a special ceremony in Rome, Ronan Keating said it is his duty to give back and make a difference.

3. The third new ambassador is Paraguay’s First Lady, Ms Penayo de Duarte. She is a strong supporter of FAO’s campaigns against hunger, malnutrition and food insecurity in Latin America. She believes that “hunger is one of the most violent forms of aggression against human rights”. In her country, she has played an active role in various social, health and human development programmes in favour of women, vulnerable people and street children in Asunción and other parts of Paraguay, with particular attention to families living in extreme poverty. No audio currently available.

Audio

Tune In To The Swinecast

Chuck Zimmerman October 15, 2005

It’s described as “Regular updates and entertainment on and about the pork industry.” It’s Swinecast. I didn’t even know about this until posting the ZimmCast into Yahoo Podcasts today.

The swinecaster is Ned Arthur who many may know was a farm broadcaster once upon a time just like me. Wait a minute. We’re still producing ag programming. We’re sending it out in a “broad” fashion. What does that sound like. Sounds like farm broadcasting to me. We’re just using the internet!

The coolest thing is that the Swinecast is sponsored by Elanco. I wonder if they believe farmers have digital audio players, computers and broadband? I kind of think so, don’t you?

Audio, Podcasts

Cotton Industry Tour Coming Up

Chuck Zimmerman October 15, 2005

For the 34th time there will be a Cotton USA Orientation Tour. This year there will be 24 participants representing 13 countries in Asia and Latin America. It’s put on by Cotton Council International.

Textile executives from 13 countries throughout Asia and Latin America will travel across the U.S. Cotton Belt, Oct. 17-28 to familiarize themselves with U.S. cotton and how that fiber is produced, processed and marketed.

The participants, which represent 24 companies in Bangladesh, Colombia, Ecuador India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand. Those companies are expected to consume about 1.3 million bales in 2005, and consume an average of 467,000 U.S. cotton bales annually.

More than 750 textile executives from 60-plus countries have toured the U.S. Cotton Belt via CCI’s Orientation Tour, which was initiated in 1968. The Tour’s specific objectives are to increase these U.S. cotton customers’ awareness of the types and qualities of U.S. cotton, help them gain a better understanding of U.S. marketing practices and enhance their relationships with U.S. cotton exporters.

Ag Groups

Florida Honey Marketing Might Be Buzzing

Chuck Zimmerman October 14, 2005

Since I saw that Florida Farm Bureau is supporting the creation of a Florida honey marketing cooperative it gave me an excuse to write about one of my former employers. Yes, I worked for FFBF way back when (early 1980’s) as the Broadcast Manager. That was an interesting time . . .

So the buzz is all about marketing honey because not all honey is created equal and it’s a huge business in Florida. There’s a story about this in the Palm Beach Post, “Marketing could add buzz to Florida’s honey trade.” It says that this is a $202 million/year industry! According to Florida Farm Bureau, “Florida honey producers and packers who want information about the formation of the marketing cooperative can contact Jerry Latner, president of the industry steering committee, at (877) 832-3268.”

Ag Groups

Monsanto Sticky Traps Catch Variants

Chuck Zimmerman October 14, 2005

The latest Talking News Release we distributed this week was from Monsanto. The topic was research from their sticky traps program to see if western corn rootworm beetles are present in soybean fields. I think this is a very interesting story. These western corn rootworm “variants” have adapted their reproductive practices by laying their eggs in soybean fields in order to survive field rotations between corn and soybeans. The variant eggs hatch during the spring, after the field has been rotated back to corn, resulting in larval feeding in first-year corn, which is not a good thing. These are some smart pests!

A sticky trap monitoring program conducted recently by Monsanto suggests that the western corn rootworm variant may continue to be expanding, posing a potential threat to first-year corn next season.

Monsanto distributed 28,000 Pherocon® AM sticky traps to 3600 growers in parts of five Central Corn Belt states – Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Missouri – where the rootworm variant has been expanding. Growers participating in the monitoring program, which covered more than 10 million acres, were asked to place the sticky traps in their soybean fields to determine whether the rootworm beetles are present and at what level.

“What our results showed was that in 90 percent of the counties that we sent sticky traps into farmers did capture the western corn rootworm beetle on these sticky traps,” said Dave Rhylander, Director of Traits for Monsanto. “And so that tells us this bug continues to move east, and to the west and to the south, and that it’s now expanded further than anybody had anticipated.” Full Release

Agribusiness, Audio

The ABS Global Walton Distribution Center

Chuck Zimmerman October 14, 2005

The picture is what nailed it. Send me pictures with your releases!! Love ’em.

ABS Global Inc. proudly dedicated its new Distribution Center to Dr. Robert Walton on October 5, 2005. Dr. Walton joined friends, family and ABS Employees and Representatives from around the world to reflect on his contributions to ABS and the industry.

“Dr Walton’s legacy is his dedication and energy to identify and adapt new technology that benefited beef and dairy producer’s world-wide,” said Richard Smith, ABS Dairy Sire Acquisition Manager. Dr. Walton has played a huge role in the history of ABS Global. Starting in 1962, Walton strove to provide a unique style of leadership and direction for the company. Walton combined the technological abilities of ABS and coupled them with strong marketing concepts and international influence to help create what ABS is today. After 29 years with ABS, Walton retired, however, continues to serve as a consultant to ABS.

Agribusiness

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