It’s a short posting day here on AgWired. It’s a big week of meetings in Kansas City. I’m heading that way as I know many of you are as well.
Look for articles from both the NAMA Agribusiness Forum and the NAFB Convention. I hope to see you there.
National Beef Ambassador Announced
Amanda beat a sharp group of contestants in the Beef Ambassador Competition. This news just came in. Hot off the wire.
Amanda Nolz, Mitchell, S.D., won the title of National Beef Ambassador for 2006 at the National Beef Ambassador Competition Nov. 3-5 in Austin, TX. The competition was established on behalf of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and state beef councils by the American National CattleWomen, Inc. (ANCW). The ANCW serves as one of the Beef Board’s contractors for checkoff-funded programs.
Twenty-four contestants from throughout the country vied for the national title and for $4,500 in cash prizes distributed among the top three places and three educational scholarships totaling $2,250 from the American National CattleWomen Foundation, Inc. Nolz received $2,500 cash and a $1,000 college scholarship. Second place went to Melissa Green, Arbuckle, Calif., who received $1,200 and a $750 scholarship. Third place winner Peter Scharpe, Arlington, Minn., received $800 and a $500 scholarship. Paul Moya, New Mexico and Amy Berry, Wyoming, received honorable-mention awards.
ZimmComm Introduces AgNewsWire.AgWired.com
Let me take this opportunity to announce a new service just started by little ole ZimmComm. I know this is self serving but hey, it’s our website. What kind of promoters would we be if we didn’t use this opportunity too?
ZimmComm, the owner & operator of AgWired, announces a new service called AgNewsWire.AgWired.com. We wanted to answer the question, why isn’t there a newswire service for “us.” Now there is. So what is it?
AgNewsWire.AgWired.com is a news release production/distribution service for the agribusiness industry and a resource for agricultural editors in all forms of media, including broadcast, print and internet. This means we push your release out to agricultural journalists of all types (radio, print, internet and direct-to-farmer). Additionally, with the creation of the website, journalists can subscribe to the RSS Feed which includes all releases we distribute.
One of the most exciting things about AgNewsWire.AgWired.com is our exclusive agreement with Quickfarm , the premier website developer and content provider for farmer cooperatives nationally. Beginning December 1, we post your release to the Quickfarm network of 425 cooperative websites nationally that have over 2,000 locations. Just last month their network had 100,000 unique farmer visitors and 2 million page views. That’s getting your message directly in front of your customer.
QuickFarm Vice President of Sales & Operations Matt Walsh approached ZimmComm with the idea of providing new content for their websites. “We have a lot of traffic out there on the internet. We see close to 2 million page views a month. Those page views are made up by roughly 100,000 unique visitors every month and we want to make sure those people are getting the best possible content that we can find. So, going to ZimmComm was a no-brainer for us because of their established multimedia release service. That service provides excellent content for our website customers and in turn for their customers, the American farmer.”
AgNewsWire.AgWired.com will distribute traditional text-only releases as well as our patented Talking News Releases. We can also guarantee search engine inclusion through our relationship with PR Web. Let AgNewsWire.AgWired.com be your one-stop-shop for news release distribution.
That’s our big news for the week. Now it’s on to blogging the NAMA Agribusiness Forum and NAFB convention. Maybe I’ll see you in Kansas City.
Winter Convention Registration Time
Winter convention time is coming up and there’s no way to list them all since every state commodity group is having a meeting. However, a couple of note that I thought I’d make sure you’re aware of include:
The 2006 Beltwide Cotton Conferences’ Production Conference agenda will include topics ranging from the keys to getting a healthy stand to new precision agriculture tools.
“Strategies for Success” is the theme for the NCC-coordinated conferences, January 4-6, at the Marriott Rivercenter/Riverwalk hotels in San Antonio. The three-day format, which proved popular for the 2005 conferences, will feature the Production Conference and its special seminars and workshops along with the 11 cotton technical conferences and The Cotton Foundation’s technical exhibits. On-site registration will open Tuesday, January 3.
The Cattle Industry Convention & NCBA Trade Show
For cattlemen from every segment of the beef industry, the 2006 Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show is a must-attend event. The meeting will be held February 1-4 at the newly expanded Colorado Convention Center in downtown Denver. There is no better opportunity to get up to date on issues affecting your cattle operation, as well as enjoy the sights and activities of the Mile High City.
“The theme for this year’s convention is ’Cowboy Up!’,” says National Cattlemen’s Beef Association President and Texas rancher Jim McAdams. “Whether it’s cattle production, promoting beef demand, enhancing international trade, or any issue impacting this industry, cattlemen want less talk and more action. That’s what this event is all about.”
Agribusiness Forum Chairman Scott Kurfman
This is going to be a busy week of blogging since it’s time for the NAMA Agribusiness Forum and the NAFB convention (big pdf file) immediately following.
I’ll be posting articles, pictures and interviews from the NAMA Agribusiness Forum both here and on NAMA Connect, the new NAMA blog. If you’ve visited NAMA Connect you might have already heard this interview with Scott Kurfman, team lead with AdFarm. If not, you’re in luck because he’s also this week’s ZimmCast. Scott is the chairman of this year’s Agribusiness Forum. He talks about the planning process and the program.
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.
Blog The Truth About Your Company
There’s a good little article on PRWeek that is worth reading called “Note to corporate bloggers: The truth shall set you free.”
I can’t agree more with this excerpt “While PR and marketing pros struggle to capture the blogosphere in a bottle – from agencies establishing entire new media practices to companies creating crisis plans for when blogs attack – few are stepping back to see the bigger truth about blogs, podcasts, and the like. And that is truth itself. At its heart, this is a universe founded on truth, myriad layers of direct-to-opinion points of view based on truth, justice, and the new media way. ”
It’s amazing what the truth will do for your image. Blogs are a very personal form of communication and if you’re truthful your customers will know it and respond to it.
Want To Manage A Winery Association?
Speaking of California wines. The Sonoma County Wineries Association (SCWA) is looking for a new executive director after Jaime Douglas just retired. They have 170 winery members.
The SCWA has retained Benchmark Consulting to conduct a global search for a new Executive Director to lead the Sonoma County wine industry into the future. Interested candidates should submit resumes to www.benchmarkhr.com.
A Bottle Of Your Best Paso Robles
There’s more to California wine than just the Sonoma and Napa Valley. That’s what the Paso Robles region wants you to know and they’re putting up a multi million dollar advertising campaign to promote it starting with their website. Referrals, print and online advertising, and search engines are expected to drive traffic to the site. The winery alliance mission statement is: “The Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance communicates, reinforces and enhances our status as a world-class wine region.”
The campaign is being driven by the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance, formerly the Vintners & Growers Association, a cooperative of wineries, wine grape growers and associated businesses established to market the Paso Robles wine industry. Graphic design for the campaign was executed by San Luis Obispo-based Kraftwerk Design. The branding campaign is multi-tiered and multi-faceted, targeting trade and consumers on various levels through a variety of avenues during the next five years.
Kinder, Friendlier Pork Board Website
It’s no longer porkboard.org, now it’s www.pork.org. This is the newly re-designed National Pork Board website. It’s truly a portal to a lot of pork stuff.
There’s two things I’ll point out first. Much better domain and way simpler and easier to deal with. The “old” one was overwhelming with too much on the homepage. This is taking a lesson from the KISS principle. You just don’t have to try to cram everything onto the homepage. Give us some logical choices and let us go where we want for more information. As Steve Krug says in the title of his book, “Don’t make me think.” Why don’t web designers get this?
Way to go Pork Board. Now if a couple other national ag groups would pay attention here . . .
From its powerful search engine to its revamped layout, the Pork Checkoff is combining the best of PorkBoard.org with new resources in a convenient, streamlined format at the newly named and newly designed Pork.org Web site.
“This new site is very user-friendly and helps you easily find the information you need to better manage your swine operation,” said Steve Weaver, a pork producer from Elk Grove, Calif., and a member of the National Pork Board. “I also like the new name, which is easy for producers to remember when they need information.”
Bunge DuPont Biotech Alliance Program
So this is how the producer gets their payoff for using these news hybrids. “Up to” a 40 cent per bushel premium is a nice extra!
Bunge, Bellevue, Ohio, is one of a select group of elevators participating in a premium-based program for growing low linolenic soybeans from Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc., during the 2005-06 season. By participating in this Bunge DuPont Biotech Alliance program, Bunge will offer up to a 40-cent premium per bushel on low lin soybeans.
In conjunction with the premium program, the Alliance is marketing NUTRIUMTM Low Linolenic Soybean Oil to food companies to help meet increasing consumer demand for nutritious foods. Pioneer and Bunge are working with growers and local elevators to contract special low lin varieties used to produce NUTRIUM oil. “Soybean growers who participate in our low linolenic program not only are helping meet the increasing consumer demand for foods with improved nutritional profiles, they also are positioning U.S. growers as leaders and innovators in the global marketplace,” says Troy Hobbs, Alliance business manager.