Salad And MRE’s

Chuck Zimmerman

Arcadia BiosciencesNow let’s say you’re stationed in a foreign country, in a desert-like environment and all you’ve got to eat is your basic MRE’s. What would you give to have a nice bowl of salad with a little ranch dressing? How about $2.9 million dollars? That’s what Arcadia Biosciences has snagged from the DOD and I say “git ‘er done.” Get them boys some fresh veggies!!

Arcadia Biosciences, an agricultural biotechnology company focused on products that benefit the environment and human health, today announced that it has secured a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), U.S. Army Natick Soldier Center, for $2.9 million to develop longer-lasting fresh produce. Under the agreement, fresh tomatoes and lettuce are the first products of focus. The purpose of the DoD contract is to develop fresh produce for field troops in areas where frequent supply deliveries are difficult to make. Successful development of these products will contribute to the nutrition, health, and morale
of warfighters on the front lines by providing them with better fresh food choices. Arcadia also will commercialize the technology to the general public so consumers can benefit from longer fresh food life and reduced spoilage.

And in separate news today:

Arcadia Biosciences and Monsanto Company today announced a licensing agreement for the development and
commercialization of Arcadia’s nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) technology in canola. Under the agreement, Monsanto gives Arcadia an upfront payment, as well as milestone payments and a royalty rate structure in exchange for global licensing rights. Additional financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Agribusiness

The Agri Ahead Virtual Farm Show

Chuck Zimmerman

AgriAheadI don’t know if you’ve heard about this but it’s a new one on me. It’s Agri Ahead and it’s online until December 31st. A virtual farm show and available in different languages. I’m impressed. This is their second year. It’s put together by AHead™ Business Solutions Ltd. The site says they currently have 55 exhibitors from 15 countries. Once you get to the “booths” they have a chat feature, contact and product information. You can even schedule a meeting with a company representative!

A few numbers from the 1st AgriAhead:

8,765,439 -Visited AgriAhead Virtual Exhibition
1,293,640 – Visited AgriAhead Demo tour
108,497 – Shoppers visited our exhibition store
67,543 – Registered Visitors
137 – Different Countries from which the AgriAhead visitors came from
104 – Exhibitors
14 – Origin countries of the exhibitors
24 – Hours a day
7 – Days a week

This virtual exhibition is designed to look like a conventional exhibition, exhibitors present their goods, products and know how, communicate and relate with the exhibition visitors and even take part in conferences, seminars and discussions that are to be held during the exhibition. The exhibition’s innovative interface is user friendly thus enabling both visitors and exhibitors to visit all booths, and enjoy the virtual exhibition as a realistic experience.

Farm Shows

Global PR Blog Week 2.0 Underway

Chuck Zimmerman

Global PR Blog Week 2.0Just a reminder about Global PR Blog Week 2.0. It got started today and there’s lots of content already. The tagline says it all “Public Relations and Business Communications in the Age of Blogs.”

In the next five days a group of public relations, marketing and business professionals from around the world will use this blog for publishing a wealth of articles, case studies, and podcast interviews on how public relations and business communications are challenged and changed by new communications technologies like weblogs, wikis, RSS, and podcasting.

You don’t have to be a blogger to learn from this event. Just visit or subscribe and you’ll find some very interesting information and perspectives. And Hey, you don’t have to agree with everything you read! Feel free to comment if you don’t.

Uncategorized

Dairy Directory Available

Chuck Zimmerman

Southwest Plains Dairy DirectoryA new 74-page directory of dairies in the Southwest is now available. It’s called the Southwest Plains Dairy Directory, published by Dairy Directory Publishers, which I guess is some kind of collaborative effort of several groups.

“Whether people are looking for a place to relocate or expand their dairies, or they’re already doing business in the Southwest Plains, they’ll find this directory an invaluable resource,” says Janet Claborn, director of economic development, Muleshoe, Texas. “The directory truly reflects the welcoming and supportive spirit that the growing dairy industry has found here in eastern New Mexico, and the Texas Panhandle and south Plains.”

For more information contact Dairy Directory Publishers at (806) 374-4451.

Publication

EPIC Communications Director

Chuck Zimmerman

Ethanol Promotion & Information CouncilThere’s a new kid in town. The Ethanol Promotion & Information Council has a Communications Director. She’s Joanna Schroeder and she starts this week. Welcome Joanna!

Joanna comes to EPIC from the Integer Group, where she’s worked on EPIC promotions over the last year.

By the way. You might want to check out EPIC’s new website, drivingethanol.org. The new design was just introduced last week.

Ag Groups

I’ll Have Some A-1 With My Pizza

Chuck Zimmerman

Domino's Steak Fanatic PizzaI’ve been wanting to write about this. Heck, I’ve been wanting to eat one of these! Is it only a guy thing though? Hat’s off to the Beef Checkoff for teaming up on a huge promotion like this. I wonder what the results will be? Besides a Dominos Steak Fanatic Pizza they’re even talking special furniture to sit in front of the television with.

The Steak Fanatic Pizza combines guys’ ultimate food cravings — steak and pizza — into one delicious arrangement. The new Steak Fanatic Pizza is crafted with Domino’s signature hand-stretched dough piled with Angus steak — on top of more steak — and smothered in American and provolone cheeses. To embolden the distinct steak flavor, the new Steak Fanatic Pizza is topped with a special sauce developed specifically to complement the hearty Angus steak topping. And of course, no authentic steak experience would be complete without a layer of fire-roasted onions and thick mushroom slices.

Domino’s is partnering with the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and the Federation of State Beef Councils division of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association on this promotion, bringing together two tastes that Americans crave — steak and delicious Domino’s pizza. The U.S. beef industry’s highly recognized Beef Checkoff logo will appear on many of the promotional materials associated with the roll-out.

Ag Groups

Podcast Advertising Ideas

Chuck Zimmerman

PodcastingNo audio with this post. Just pointing you to an interesting article on Forbes.com. If you think this podcasting thing is just a fad or that it just doesn’t apply to your work then you really need to think again. It’s real and models are being created for distribution as well as advertising!

I’ll tell you what we’ll do. As an incentive for you to advertise in our ZimmCast we’ll produce your commercial at no charge. How’s that for a deal? I like the idea of short embedded commercials in the podcast and also pre/post sponsor tags. So what are you waiting for?

Podcasts

Food Safety Research At MU

Chuck Zimmerman

MBICDuring food safety month the Missouri Beef Industry Council decided to do a series of releases on the subject to highlight their efforts in this area. Here’s number two in a 3-part series, featuring food safety research funded by MBIC checkoff dollars.

You can download the release here: MBIC Food Safety Release (Word doc)

Ag Groups, Audio, Beef

Senator Talent On CornTalk

Chuck Zimmerman

CornTalk podcastThis week’s CornTalk, a program of the Missouri Corn Growers Association, features Senator Jim Talent (R-MO), member of the Senate Agriculture Committee and Co-Chair of the Senate Biofuels Caucus. Cindy interviews the Senator who discusses legislation he is sponsoring that would provide additional disaster assistance for Missouri farmers, and what he is doing to urge the Environmental Protection Agency to quickly implement the new standard for ethanol and biodiesel.

You can listen to this week’s CornTalk here: Download MP3 File

CornTalk is a weekly AgWired podcast which you can subscribe to using the link in our sidebar.

Ag Groups, Audio, Corn, Podcasts

New Communications Director At NPPC

Chuck Zimmerman

National Pork Producers CouncilWith Kara Flynn leaving the National Pork Producers Council for new opportunities with the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology we’ve been wondering who would be the replacement and now we know.

Dave Warner has been hired to join the Washington Office as the NPPC’s Communications Director. Warner brings a wealth of experience in business communication to the position, such as eleven years of communication work for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

For questions, comments and suggestions or to subscribe, contact: Elizabeth Power, NPPC Acting Communications Assistant, at (202) 347-3600, or via e-mail at powere@nppc.org.

Ag Groups