AgWired

You know I love a blogger so I really like what Jeff Koenig is doing with his website. Jeff is using blogging software to build a very interesting site for his business which is full service or discount futures brokerage services for hedging. I think it’s laid out very well. It’s simple and contains a ton of information. You have to register in order to enter the site and see what’s he writes though. As he explains on the site, it’s because of the nature of the content and regulations that he has to adhere to. Registration is free and simple though. Once you’re inside you can find links to his commentary which is written as short articles like you’ll find on AgWired. They contain links and images. He also has sections with a weather product that localizes for you automatically, news stories that he collects using RSS subscriptions and of course a section on quotes and bids.

Jeff used to title his site “The Writing On The Wall” and you can find out why when you visit. You may wonder at the value of a site that has a lot of information on it that you can find in other places but Jeff says why best “More than ever, industry is full of information however information doesn’t equal knowledge. Knowledge only comes from careful filtering and synthesis of information.” What Jeff does is filter through information for his clients and visitors. That’s what I think we do here at AgWired for anyone in the agricultural marketing and communications field. We try to look through all of what’s out there and bring you what we think you’d be interested in knowing.

Good job Jeff and good luck!

I assume the Linn Group sent this information out so that we would pass it along. They’ve produced some corn and soybean crop estimates on a nice looking map with breakouts by state. You can see the map here.

The Linn Group, a Chicago Board of Trade based consulting firm, released their National and Missouri 2005 crop production estimates for August 1 today which featured sharply lower corn yields from year ago record levels. Hot temperatures and a
persistent drought during the growing season reduced dramatically crops in Missouri and Illinois.

For more information it looks like you should contact Igor Rubchinsky.

I haven’t mentioned that President Bush signed the Energy bill into law earlier this week since you’ve probably seen it all over the news. However, it has a big impact on agribusiness and ultimately marketing for companies like Pioneer Hi-Bred. You know it means a lot to groups like the National Corn Growers Association, among many others but I haven’t seen many company releases until now. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with all this push for renewable fuel. Some are already predicting that we’ll see more production and use than the legislation mandates.

Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc., Applauds New Energy Policy Act

Pioneer currently offers 121 corn ethanol hybrids characterized as high- total-fermentable (HTF) in all maturity groups, said Hilliard. These hybrids are specifically selected for high-potential ethanol yield, he added.

For more information contact Jerry Harrington.

Monsanto announced this deal in April and it looks like they finally got it done.

Monsanto Completes Sale of Enviro-Chem Systems

ST. LOUIS, Aug. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON) announced today that it has completed the sale of Monsanto Enviro-Chem Systems Inc. to a new company formed by the Enviro-Chem management team and an outside investor. The new company will do business as MECS, Inc. Terms of the sale were not released.

For more information contact Lori Fisher of Monsanto Company, +1-314-694-8535.