U. S. Peanuts Rock The Competition

Chuck Zimmerman

Agricultural ResearchAgricultural Research is published by USDA’s Agricultural Research Service. In this month’s issue the results are in for a peanut taste test and the United States wins! The competition was China and Argentina. Let me hear you, “We will, we will, rock you!”

Okay. So why’s this here? Because . . . Timothy Sanders conducted this project to use the results as a “marketing tool for U.S. peanut exporters.” The project was simply titled “European Peanut Consumer Research Study” which could also be called the EPCRS.

A consumer panel of 300 European peanut consumers was used. See the report for the full criteria on how they conducted the study. The findings are being used by peanut exporters and Sanders presented them personally at SNACKEX, the largest European snack and peanut food show. Do we have a snack show here in the U-S? That sounds like one to have to blog through!

After 2 days of taste testing the results were clear. “The data showed that there would be virtually no likelihood of consumer complaints about the flavor of U.S. peanuts,” said Sanders. But European consumers would likely identify about 70 percent of Chinese lots and 40 percent of Argentine lots as problematic, the data showed.

I think I’ll go get a Snickers bar.

USDA

Running Horses Best of The Bunch

Chuck Zimmerman

2005 Overall WinnerThe overall winner in the Livestock Publications Council, Best of the Bunch photo contest was Kelly Toledo, Trailhead Designs, with this picture – “Running Horses.” I think you’ll be able to find all of the winners on their website soon. This was in the August issue of their “Actiongram.” You’ve got to be a member to get it but I just wanted to share a good photo!

LPC

NCGA Says “Embrace Computers & Internet”

Chuck Zimmerman

National Corn Growers AssociationLet’s see who’s paying attention at NCGA. This is an interesting story they put out today. It quotes the recent National Ag Statistics Service study on Farmer Computer Ownership and Usage. I’m telling you, we need to embrace the computer and make it our tool. That’s what the biggest farmers are doing. Read on . . .

NCGA Urges Farmers to Adopt Use of Computers in Operations

Release of data by the National Agriculture Statistics Service (NASS) indicating that 51 percent of farmers now have Internet access points out how important computers and technology are to a farming operations, the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) notes.

Computer technology allows farmers to keep financial records on disks instead of several stacks of paper; the Internet allows farmers to search for farming topics or participate in online farming discussions; and sophisticated technologies such as global positioning satellites (GPS) let farmers have autosteering tractors that can save time on planting.

“Technology is definitely moving forward,” said Darren Ihnen, a South Dakota corn grower who has been using computers in the field and in his office since 1990. “The Internet, in particular, has been a tremendous tool for farmers. The flow of information is key to maintaining an efficient and profitable business.”

“As an organization, we need to look toward the future and embrace technology,” said Leon Corzine, NCGA president and an Illinois grower. “A computer and the Internet are tools you absolutely need to use in today’s global society.”

Amen, brother Leon!

Ag Groups

Russian Cows Eat Pot Rather Than Starve

Chuck Zimmerman

Stoned CowStoned cows. That’s what this story is about. Actually Cindy alerted me to the full story which you need to read, including the comments. It’s on Muley’s World. The picture was one of the best parts and it’s not the only one you’ll find.

This is what I love about the blogosphere. There’s just a lot of good stories floating around. Cindy found this one on Catholic Pillow Fight.

I just wonder what a barbeque of steaks from these cows would be like.

Uncategorized

Over 5,000 Convenience Stores In Shanghai

Chuck Zimmerman

Chinese Chain Store & Franchise AssociationI always thought the corner convenience store was really just an American thing but after travelling in other countries you realize that’s not the case. I just came across a story on China Daily about the huge growth in convenience stores in Shanghai. According to the story there are now over 5,000 of them! That’s since they got started about 10 years ago.

The story quotes a representative of the China Chain Store & Franchise Association saying that the stores have become a part of everyday life in Shanghai. According to the story over 5o percent claimed to be have a profit last year

Agribusiness

New Digs For AdFarm Kansas City

Chuck Zimmerman

AdFarmThis message just came in from Steve Mercer. When you grow sometimes you gotta go!

Hello Friends:

AdFarm is relocating our Kansas City office. We have outgrown our original KC space and are moving a block or so south from our current location. We’re really excited about the move, the new space and the reason for it. As of Monday August 29th, our new address will be as follows:

AdFarm, 100 East 7th Street, Suite 301, Kansas City, MO 64106

Phone numbers will not change (main number is 816-842-5983; fax is 816-221-5833), but please be advised that our phones will temporarily be turned off starting at noon central time Friday, August 26 then be active again starting the following Monday.

Agencies

GoE Gone

Chuck Zimmerman

GoE GuysIt looks like the GoE Summer Roadtrip is over (at least for this year). I’ve been following them on their blog (have you?). They took a lot of pictures which you can see on their photo album.

What do you think of this use of a blog in a marketing campaign? Post your comments. Come on now. That’s what the blog thing is all about you know.

I wonder how you measure the success of this campaign. Are more people buying ethanol blended gas in North Dakota? Is it how many stories got published about the campaign? These guys not only personally interacted with people throughout the state but online through their blog. If I can find out any statistics I’ll pass them along.

I think it was a great idea and pretty well executed. I would have like to have seen more consistent posting on their blog though. There were some big gaps of inactivity for example. This is due to just conducting a few multi-day trips but for subscribers it meant we could almost forget about it before anything new comes along. They took a lot of pictures and should have featured them on the blog. I liked their humorous writing style including the typos which really didn’t bother me considering who was writing (although no typos is always better).

On the GoE website there’s a link to “GoE Guys In The News” that only shows their press release. I know they had news coverage and links to it would be appropriate and expected here.

It is a good looking promotion overall though. I’ll see what else I can find out and report.

Ag Groups

Interactive Leader For Swanson Russell

Chuck Zimmerman

Swanson Russell AssociatesMore and more agencies are building an interactive team and with good reason. Here at ZimmComm that’s me so far. However, we do have people like Eric we can go to when needed.

Swanson Russell Associates (SRA), Nebraska’s largest marketing communications firm, has hired Eric Gautschi as interactive supervisor for its Lincoln and Omaha offices.

Gautschi will lead SRA’s interactive team in helping clients design and develop Web sites, develop e-mail marketing campaigns and conduct online surveys and research.

For more information contact Renee Sprengeler.

Agencies

ZimmCast Features IFAJ Congress Organizer

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast 30The International Federation of Agricultural Journalists Congress 2005 is getting closer. In this week’s ZimmCast I interview one of the organizers. He’s Markus Rediger, Agricultural Information Center, from Switzerland. I met Markus at the Ag Media Summit and he clued me in on what we have to look forward to and why he thinks any ag journalist should consider attending.

You can listen to the ZimmCast here Download MP3 File (2.5MB) The ZimmCast is our weekly podcast which you can subscribe to using the link in our sidebar.

While I was visiting the Agricultural Information Center website I found links to a few of the television commercials they had produced targeting consumers and showing them how food gets to their town from the farm. As the site says “As a result of the whole campaign we want consumers to feel that – Swiss Farmers welcome them.” You can see the spots here.

Pioneer Hi-BredAgWired reports on IFAJ Congress 2005 are sponsored by Pioneer Hi-Bred.

Audio, IFAJ, Podcasts, ZimmCast

Podcasts On Your Mobile Phone

Chuck Zimmerman

MobilCastSubscribing and listening to podcasts is getting even easier. MobilCast, a Melodeo product, just makes sense to me. As long as I can install this on my Treo 650 and save the audio to the SD card I’m good. I will be looking into it more.

Also, if you’re a Treo owner, you can now get RSS feeds on your phone.

Podcasts