It’s not too late to register for the NAFB convention today or the NAMA Agribusiness Forum to take advantage of their early registration discounts. Use these links to register:
Blogging Is A Public Relations Function
As a Business Wire subscriber I just received my quarterly regional e-newsletter. Interestingly, it’s all about blogging and a conference they held in Denver on this subject. On the panel were people from a newspaper, an independent writer, a public relations agency and a news aggregator software company.
It looks like the newspaper people have some concerns about blogging, especially having one of their reporters doing it. As this lady put it “readers will see where a journalist got their opinions in the story.” Yep, that’s a hazard with reporting on a blog and one I think people want to see. We all know journalists have opinions and I think they show in the way a reporter writes anyway.
The public relations guy said that the rules are different now. That’s so true. He also made a point that blogs are a separate function of public relations as opposed to replacing public relations. The news aggregator guy says that PR people should be watching the blogs. I think they should not only watch them but make sure they send their materials to them! The independent writer says that “now all of us are media.” She gets it!
D&PL Partners With Syngenta On AVICTA Complete Pak
We just alerted you to the news about AVICTA Complete Pak from Syngenta last week and already there’s more news as D&PL just announced an agreement to partner with Syngenta to market the new cotton seed treatment.
For those who don’t know what the product is: AVICTA Complete Pak is a combination of three separately registered
products: AVICTA(tm) seed treatment nematicide, Cruiser® seed treatment insecticide and Dynasty CST® seed-delivered fungicide. The immediate pest protection of AVICTA Complete Pak aids in better root development, and in turn, a healthier crop with improved return on investment.
AVICTA Complete Pak will be available in 2006 on all U.S. Delta and Pine Land Company varieties of cotton planting seed.
What Happens To Agri Marketing Magazine?
This had been rumored but we are not into the rumor mill here at AgWired. On Friday it was officially announced that those busy folks at Vance have added to their Food360 Division. What did they add, you ask?
Vance Publishing Corporation, a diversified information and communications company, announced today the acquisition of Doane Agricultural Services of St. Louis, MO. The newly acquired product lines include an array of economic advisory products, a magazine, and a daily live radio program.
“Like Vance Publishing, Doane has long been a strong and well-respected leader in agriculture information,” said Vance Chairman William C. Vance. “This significant purchase complements Vance’s existing portfolio of communication products serving the agricultural industry. Additionally, the impressive research and forecasting capabilities included in the acquisition now allows us to provide in-depth commodity analysis, research and advice to the audiences and key influencers throughout the entire food value chain.”
According to the announcement there won’t be any changes in the AgriTalk program but some will be made to the following:
We will be redesigning the magazine, Ag Professional, and blending it with an existing Vance product, Dealer & Applicator,” Newham stated. “The magazines currently serve slightly different but compatible markets: Dealer & Applicator focuses on the retail trade, and Ag Professional targets professional farm managers and crop consultants as well as retailers. We will combine the two publications, retaining the Ag Professional name. Production will be increased to twelve times a year.”
What is not mentioned is Agri Marketing magazine.
Are You Old Enough To Listen To A Podcast?
Current conventional wisdom (what people “think”) seems to be that the internet and things like blogging and podcasting are just for young people. Why do we always assume things without checking out the research.
I just found this release on VNUNET.com about a survey done by CLX, a mobile phone polling firm, that says that it’s older people who are driving the growth of podcasting.
“A survey of over 8,000 American consumers by pollsters CLX has revealed that podcasting is most popular with those over 45, with 21 per cent of those questioned listening to podcasts. This compares to just 13 per cent of 15 to 24-year olds.”
I find this totally believable since I talk with many people my age and older who are regular visitors to AgWired and who have listened to our weekly podcast, the ZimmCast. But for some reason they think they aren’t the “norm” and that the bulk of the other people visiting must be young. I don’t think so and I’m going to look for some more research on this.
Home From Wisconsin
It’s good to be home. It was a long week in Madison, WI at the World Dairy Expo. If you haven’t checked out World Dairy Diary then you haven’t see how an event can be blogged if you work at it.
I haven’t officially totalled everything yet but I know I posted over 100 times during the week. That includes over 100 photos and over 20 interviews, including some special natural sound files that you can listen to.
Today was just a day to relax a little, if you can call mowing the yard, unpacking, sorting mail and email, etc. relaxing.
I have more to post over the next week or so and it will be interesting to look at the traffic statistics.
Bob Says Hit The Ground Running
Monte Shaw’s replacement has been announced by the Renewable Fuels Association. We hope to meet him on the road somewhere soon.
The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) is pleased to announce that Matt Hartwig has been hired as Communications Director. Matt will be taking over for Monte Shaw, who has served the RFA in that role for the past five and a half years.
RFA President Bob Dinneen stated: “The U.S. ethanol industry is growing at an unprecedented rate and the issues the industry faces every day demand a broad understanding of a number of complex topics. But with his agriculture and consumer advocacy background, Matt will be able to hit the ground running.
Jahnke’s Should Start A “Famous Bucks”
You’ll have to ask Pam what that means. It’s been a busy day at World Dairy Expo. Made somewhat harder after spending an evening with this crew (farm broadcasters) at Pam Jahnke’s house in Madison. She’s the fabulous farm babe of Wisconsin. Buck made great ribs and mine hurt from laughing so hard at all the jokes.
If you haven’t checked out World Dairy Diary yet there’s a lot there and plenty more to come since the show doesn’t officially end until tomorrow evening.
This is the first time a farm show has been “blogged.” I’m looking forward to your thoughts on it. What do you think of the idea? How does it look?
New Chicken Officers
The National Chicken Council has some new officers as of yesterday when they were installed in Washington, DC. I learned on their website that last month was national chicken month. I think I did my part even though I wasn’t aware of it.
Don Jackson, president of the poultry division of Foster Farms, Livingston, California, was installed today as Chairman of the National Chicken Council, the trade association for the chicken production and processing industry. Mark Hickman, president and chief executive officer of Peco Foods, Inc., Tuscaloosa, Alabama, took office as Vice Chairman, and Mike Welch, president and chief executive officer of Harrison Poultry, Bethlehem, Georgia, became Secretary-Treasurer.
The new officers were installed during the NCC Annual Conference held in the Washington, D.C., area attended by members of the industry from across the country. Officers serve one-year terms.
The National Chicken Council represents integrated chicken producer-processors, the companies that produce, process and market chickens. Member companies of NCC account for approximately 95 percent of the chicken sold in the United States.
Sampling The Finer Things In Life At Expo
It’s time to leave World Dairy Expo for the day so I had to give you at least a taste of what’s going on here and a sample of what you’ll find on World Dairy Diary! Thanks to the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board the media got some treats today.
Here’s Cheese Chef John Esser with an array of cheese dishes and cheeses for us to sample. I really liked, well, all of them. I asked him if you can eat too much cheese in one week.
You can hear his answer in my interview with him here: 
(2.5MB MP3 File)
BTW. I highly recommend contacting the WMMB to see if you can rent this guy out for your function!!!!