Blog Business Summit 2005 Announced

Chuck Zimmerman

Blog Business SummitI’ve been waiting on this announcement since I couldn’t attend last year’s first ever Blog Business Summit. However, I’m already scheduled to conduct a session on blogging at the NAMA Boot Camp on August 18. We’ll just have to see how it goes. Maybe I can get there for the final day? We’ll see. If you’re serious about wanting to know what this blogging thing’s all about this would be the place to be!

Blog Business Summit in San Francisco this August

After the success of our Seattle event, we posted a survey asking people interested in the conference to tell us which city they’d like to see the BBS come to next. San Francisco received the most votes, so we have contracted for the dates August 17-19 at the beautiful and historic Palace Hotel.

We will be posting final sessions and speakers over the next several weeks. Besides adding several new sessions and speakers to the main conference, we’re hosting a pre-conference “Business Blogging 101” seminar that will cover the basics of making the blogosphere work for your company.

Our early bird discount will be in place until July 11, and you can take advantage of that pricing here.

We’ll be posting immediately on the finalized sessions, speakers and sponsors as they are updated!

You might want to subscribe to the BBS blog feed to keep up to date on the event even if you can’t attend.

Uncategorized

Pictures From Mid Missouri Energy Grand Opening

Chuck Zimmerman

Governor Blunt presents keys to Chevy TahoeI would be smiling too if the governor just handed me the keys to a new Chevy Tahoe. That’s just what Missouri Governor Matt Blunt did yesterday. With Chevrolet’s Ed Wallace looking on, Governor Blunt handed Missouri Corn Growers Association, CEO, Gary Marshall the keys to a new Tahoe that’s a rolling billboard for ethanol. Gary says he’ll have the truck on display at many events around Missouri in the coming year.

I promised you a whole bunch of photos and I have them uploaded. I’m now a Pro account holder at Flickr! That’s because I went over my “free” limit of photo uploads in one week! You can see all the action from the Mid Missouri Energy grand opening right here: Mid Missouri Energy Grand Opening

Once you go to the photo album you can view it as a slide show or individual photos. You can also download them (at the resolution I uploaded them).

Enjoy. It was a great event Ryland!!!!!

Ag Groups, Agribusiness

An Ethanol Plant And An Ethanol Standard

Chuck Zimmerman

Missouri Governor Matt BluntIt was a big day for the ethanol industry in Missouri. We had the governor, some congressmen, various ethanol industry leaders and a couple thousand people. This was Malta Bend, MO!

The event was the grand opening of the Mid Missouri Energy ethanol plant but it was almost overshadowed by the Governor’s announcement that he will pursue his campaign promise of getting a legislated mandatory 10% ethanol standard. You could just see the beaming, smiling faces. I was there to record interviews, take pictures and help the Missouri Corn Growers Association produce a Talking News Release, which was sent out with audio and image links to reporters around the state this afternoon. Thank you Patty Kinder for letting me use your office and the high speed internet connection!

BLUNT MAKES STATE ETHANOL STANDARD HIGHEST PRIORITY
Missouri Corn Growers Applaud the Governor’s Continued Commitment
at Grand Opening of the State’s Third Ethanol Plant

(MALTA BEND, Mo.)— Ethanol will continue to help fuel the economy of Missouri, thanks to the opening of the state’s third ethanol production facility and Governor Matt Blunt’s promise to enact a statewide ethanol standard next year.

In his remarks to a packed house at the grand opening of Mid-Missouri Energy (MME) in Malta Bend today, Governor Blunt reiterated that one of his highest priorities next legislative session will be to pass a 10 percent ethanol standard in Missouri.

“So every gas pump, if you fill up your truck or your car, you’re going to put in a gas that contains 10 percent ethanol. It’s good for consumers, it’s good for the environment, it’s good for economic development and very significantly important for Missouri farm families.” (full release) Word Document

For more information contact Becky Grisham.

Ag Groups, Agribusiness, Audio

More On The Podcasting Wave

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast ImageThis image is normally used in our posts when we’re alerting you to the latest ZimmCast. This time though I just wanted to bring your attention to podcasting again and a good recent article in BusinessWeek Online.

I’ve said it before and will keep saying it. You ag groups especially should consider podcasting now. Just because a lot of farmers aren’t yet carrying their MP3 players around (anyone know how many?) doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be creating your own programs. This is even more true for groups that need to reach the consumer!! Here’s an excerpt from the BusinessWeek article that that makes some good points:

But the heart of the podcasting movement is in the world of blogs, those millions of personal Web pages that have become a global sensation. In a blogosphere that has grown largely on the written word, podcasts add a soundtrack. It’s not like the traditional Internet sound, which usually involves visiting a Web site. What’s special about podcasts is that they’re dispatched directly to users who ask for them.

In this, they’re like the written content on blogs. But podcasts go a step further. They can be delivered not just to your home page but to the music program on your computer, whether it’s Apple’s (AAPL ) iTunes, Microsoft’s (MSFT ) Windows Media Player, or another. From there, it can go straight to your MP3 player.

I say let your written word “speak for itself.” Do a podcast. I can teach you how or you can find lots of resources on the internet. You’ve probably seen our posts each week for the MBIC Report and CornTalk. These are weekly interview programs that two of Missouri’s more innovative commodity groups have been producing and distributing to farm broadcasters for some time. That’s still being done. The broadcaster has a fully produced program to air or draw sound bites from. Some do their own interviews but have this recording as a backup. Additionally, we stream the audio and create and post the file that you (or their members or anyone in the general public) can subscribe to and download the program to your computer. You can then listen on your computer or sync it into your Ipod or similar device to listen to anytime/anywhere you want.

This is great producer/consumer communications. A new public relations tool. Let me know if you’ve got questions and I’ll do my best to answer them. In fact, if you email me I’ll be glad to post an answer for others who may be wondering the same thing.

I’ll ask one of my own. Are any of you podcasting now? If so, let me know and I’ll make sure to bring it to our reader’s attention.

Ag Groups, Agribusiness, Podcasts

New Ethanol Plant Grand Opening

Chuck Zimmerman

Mid Missouri EnergyTomorrow will be grand opening day for Mid Missouri Energy, Missouri’s newest ethanol plant. All the dignitaries will be there (and me). We’ll have governor Blunt, Ag Director Ferrell and many more.

I’ll be there to record the speeches and distribute a Talking News Release for the great folks at Missouri Corn Growers Association. Keep an eye here for more information tomorrow afternoon. I’ve got high speed in the MME office!

Ag Groups, Agribusiness

Pork & Milk Get Reprieve Too

Chuck Zimmerman

Supreme CourtI haven’t seen much news about the follow-up Supreme Court rulings after the Beef Checkoff decision. But there have been two of note.

Supreme Court overturns lower court’s Pork Checkoff ruling

The Supreme Court of the United States has set aside a lower court ruling declaring the Pork Checkoff unconstitutional and returned the case to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati with instructions to reconsider the case in light of its ruling last week in a similar case involving the beef checkoff. (National Pork Board)

and

WASHINGTON The U.S. Supreme Court today overturned a lower court ruling that declared the “Got milk?” advertising campaign unconstitutional. (AdWeek)

Ag Groups

500 Million Is A Lot Of Hits

Chuck Zimmerman

MyPyramid LogoI’ve been wondering about how this food guidance sytem was doing. The release leaves a lot of question marks like how many “unique” visitors have there been? That’s a lot of hits but almost half of them were in the first week and the rest are in the almost 2 months since then. AgWired isn’t quite that high yet but we’re climbing!

I think the new pyramid is pretty confusing and wonder what the average American thinks. I wonder if they’ll do any research on that besides just monitoring the activity level of the hit meter.

USDA’S MYPYRAMID REACHES 500 MILLION CONSUMER HITS

WASHINGTON, June 2, 2005-Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns today announced that USDA’s new web-based interactive food guidance system, MyPyramid.gov, has reached a new milestone with 500 million hits.

“We are thrilled by the public’s overwhelming response to MyPyramid.gov, especially as the average visitor spends 20 to 30 minutes viewing the food guidance system,” said Johanns. “The on-line interactive tools allow us to reach a broader spectrum of Americans than ever before to assist them in developing a healthier lifestyle that balances nutrition and exercise.”

For more information contact Ed Loyd (202) 720-4623 or John Webster (703) 605-4266.

Uncategorized

A New Name To Go With A New Look

Chuck Zimmerman

With the new design of our blog we’ve given it a new name. You know it takes a lot of caffeine to put in the hours a website like this takes. Sometimes you get a little “wired.” So we’re AgWired! We’re wired about ag. Whoo aahh! (Thanks Steve for the inspiration).

From AgWired, you can expect to get more information and commentary than ever – including all segments of agribusiness, marketing, communications, and more. We’re still going to be all about agricultural marketing. You can count on that. But we’re going to be more than that.

We’ll be sending out an announcement next week about the big change and prepared to watch the hit meter crank away. Each of the last three months we’ve seen great increases in activity. Heck, I even got a call from Canada today asking me for more information about blogging!

Thank you to everyone who’s watching and offered their support. We’ve got a lot of great ideas still to come so stay tuned. (Can you “tune” in to a blog? shows where I come from).

Uncategorized

BASF Headline – Rust Beware

Chuck Zimmerman

HeadlineThere’s a new weapon in the producer arsenal to take on soybean rust. This one’s from BASF and you can find out more at their rust website.

Headline SBR granted Section 18 exemptions
Twenty five states approve fungicide for use on Asian soybean rust
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. (June 1, 2005) – Soybean
growers in twenty five states so far have an effective new tool to
control Asian soybean rust. Headline® SBR fungicide has been
granted Section 18 exemptions in Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware,
Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana,
Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New York,
North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South
Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin.

For more information contact Kay Iftner.

Agribusiness

Ethanol Stories On This Week’s CornTalk

Chuck Zimmerman

MCGA LogoIt’s time once again for the weekly interview program from the Missouri Corn Growers Association.

Ethanol is the topic of this week’s CornTalk. Cindy Zimmerman interviews MCGA/MCMC CEO Gary Marshall about the grand opening of the Mid Missouri Energy ethanol plant in Malta Bend on Friday, a new promotional vehicle that GM is providing for the corn growers and his thoughts on ethanol at the Indy 500.

You can listen to the report now Download MP3 File

You can also subscribe to the MCGA CornTalk podcast using the link in our “Interviews” sidebar.

Ag Groups, Audio, Podcasts