The Rebrand of AgNewsWire as Ag’s Virtual Newsroom

Jamie Johansen

We would like to introduce AgNewsWire as Agriculture’s Virtual Newsroom for organizations and companies to efficiently distribute materials such as photos and audio to media and other interested parties.

“Content is king in today’s world and getting it out quickly to as many places as possible is the best way for a company or organization to amplify their message, whether it be a major announcement or a week long convention,” said ZimmComm President Chuck Zimmerman. “We have actually been doing this since 2005, starting with the introduction of the Talking News Release distributed through AgNewsWire, but wanted to re-brand the concept and re-introduce it to the agricultural marketing community for 2017.”

The virtual newsroom is a place where photos, audio, press releases and even video are hosted on a direct page with an individual url that can be updated as an event unfolds, continued after it concludes, and archived for future use. The content is promoted to 2,100 agricultural news media contacts via AgNewsWire email distribution, as well as amplification through social media networks including Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. In addition, AgNewsWire reaches non-traditional media sources such as bloggers and podcasters who are also always seeking fresh content.

AgNewsWire provides high quality photos and audio from over 50 agricultural industry events each year and serves as a source for multi-media content relating to current issues. All content on AgNewsWire is open source under Creative Commons license CC0 and available free of charge with no attribution necessary. As a virtual newsroom for agriculture, AgNewsWire includes a searchable archive of content dating back to 2005.

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Advertising, Agribusiness, Marketing, ZimmComm Announcement

Woodruff is just Woodruff

Chuck Zimmerman

The company formerly known as Woodruff Sweitzer is now Woodruff. The agency is celebrating its 25th anniversary and has announced a new name and ownership structure. The company is changing its name to Woodruff effective immediately and will soon become employee owned. Read from the release below about changes in Canada too.

“Twenty-five years ago with the support of my friends and family, I was fortunate to establish a company that did things differently in marketing and communications,” says Terry Woodruff, founder, president and chief executive officer, Woodruff. “This entrepreneurial mindset has always been the lifeblood of our company, pushing us to take risks, be bold and challenge the status quo to drive extraordinary outcomes for our clients. Today is exciting, because we’re ensuring that spirit continues for decades to come.”

Employee Ownership
Woodruff’s success has always stemmed from its employees, including their passion for what they do; knowledge of their craft and the industries they serve; and their commitment to delivering above and beyond for clients. By becoming employee owners, Woodruff team members are encouraged and free to take the same risks that established the company in 1992.

“It’s not just giving our employees a sense of ownership,” says Woodruff. “It’s literally giving them ownership. Everyone will have the opportunity to participate in our new employee stock ownership program and be able to share in the success they helped generate.”
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Agencies

MO Soy Partners with Schillinger for Non-GMO High Oleic

Cindy Zimmerman

Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council chairman John Kelley and Schillinger Genetics Inc. president John Schillinger sign agreement

The Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council last week announced a new partnership to bring non-GMO high oleic soybean technology to growers.

The agreement grants John Schillinger and Schillinger Genetics, Inc. (SGI) a license to commercialize the emerging high oleic soybean technology traits, and breed soybean varieties combining high oleic with low linolenic soybean oil traits.

“Partnerships are key to bringing growers the best return on their investments in the soy checkoff, and we’re proud to be taking this step forward in helping farmers improve their bottom line by adding value to commodity soybeans,” said John Kelley, chairman of the Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council.

“We believe strongly in the potential of high oleic soybean oil,” said John Schillinger, president and founder of SGI. “SGI is investing in development of high oleic soybean varieties for US soybean producers, and our pipeline includes highly promising varieties of maturity groups 0 to V, and this partnership stands to expand that work.”

The partnership agreement includes licenses for breeding soybean varieties with the high oleic technology, as well as to facilitate a seed increase program and sell the varieties scaled up through that increase program within the United States and Canada. The seed beans will be marked with patent numbers 9,035,129 or 9,198,365, and the Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council’s logo.

Read more from MO Soy.

GMO, Soybean

Have an Egg-citing Easter!

Cindy Zimmerman

Easter is the holiest of days on the Christian calendar and the egg representing new life has traditionally been symbolic of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

According to Wikipedia, the custom of Christians decorating eggs for Easter can be traced to at least the 13th century in Mesopotamia, spreading from there into Russia and Siberia through the Orthodox Churches, and later into Europe through the Catholic and Protestant Churches. The Easter egg tradition may also have merged into the celebration of the end of the privations of Lent in the West, since eggs were originally forbidden during Lent as well as on other traditional fast days in Western Christianity. The cracking open of Easter eggs is also linked with the empty tomb of Jesus.

Check out the American Egg Board website fun Easter egg activities, recipes, and ideas – and have a glorious Easter!

ZimmComm Announcement

Celebrating 25 Years of Vidalia Onions

Lizzy Schultz

Vidalia onion growers launched the 2017 season this week, marking the 25th anniversary of the Vidalia onion trademark.

Vidalia onions, grown in unique soil and climate conditions found only in 20 South Georgia counties, are revered by some of the world’s best chefs and home cooks for its sweet, distinctive flavor. The Visalia is Georgia’s official state vegetable, grown on 12,000 acres annually, and represents about 40 percent of the sweet onion market. Sold in every U.S. state, the annual value of the crop is about $150 million. 100 registered growers produce the annual crop, available in the spring and summer months, and the first date they can be shipped is determined by the Georgia Department of Agriculture.

“We are excited every year when we are able to start shipping our hand-planted and hand-harvested Vidalias,” said Troy Bland, chairman of the Vidalia Onion Committee (VOC). “However, this year is special because we are celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Vidalia onion trademark that has assured people across the country that they are enjoying the one and only original sweet onion.”

The VOC also announced a new marketing campaign to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the trademark. The “Only Vidalia” campaign highlights the provenance of the Vidalia onion that has been hand crafted by grower artisans for more than 80 years in Georgia. It reminds people that only Vidalia onions have the sweet, mild flavor profile that has made it an essential ingredient for wide range of dishes including salads, dressings and even desserts.

specialty crops, Vegetables

Expanding Africa’s Access to Ag Technology

Lizzy Schultz

Another session at the 2017 Water for Food Global Conference was “Upscaling Solutions: Expanding access to irrigation for smallholders in sub­-Saharan Africa.” This session explored how public and private sector investors can support smallholder-irrigated agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa to achieve greater yield gains and improve livelihoods.

The presentation included a whitepaper synthesis of case studies relevant to this topic. One case study was from International Development Enterprise (iDE), a global effort that spans offices in 14 countries, encompassing 4 social enterprises, employing nearly 1,000 people directly, and indirectly enabling many more through our market-based approaches in agriculture, water, sanitation and hygiene, and finance.

“We did this study, in part, because of on what I read in a pre-study about six years ago, that said, for a farmer to buy irrigation equipment, the most expensive part is research and learning about the product because it takes so much time for the farmer to get out there and learn about it because it’s not in their backyard, because in many cases they don’t have multiple examples of irrigation available to them.”

Listen to Prewitt’s case study presentation here:
Tim Prewitt Case Study

In an interview following his presentation, Prewitt reinforced the mission behind iDE and how he believes the company has the ability to directly drive global solutions for producers all over the world.

“The planet today is faced with tremendous growth and tremendous stress on its food resource, and we’re only able to feed this people in America right now because technology has allowed yields to increase every year in this country,” he said. “There are huge areas of the globe where farmers are only getting a quarter of the yields we are, and it’s all a matter of getting modern technology to them.”

Listen to Jamie’s full interview with Tim here:
Interview with Tim Prewitt, iDE

2017 Water for Food Global Conference Photos

Audio, International, Technology, Water, Water for Food

2017 Agri-Marketing Conference Preview

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast 543Go Big. That’s the theme of the 2017 Agri-Marketing Conference that will take place in Texas this month (26-28).

Each year I like to get a preview from the conference chair and this year that is John Deere’s Jennifer Anderson. We spoke about the program which includes keynote speakers like Herm Edwards, breakout sessions that will be formatted in a creative new way this year and of course, the students and networking opportunities.

Maybe you don’t want to join NAMA in Texas for cowboy songs around the campfire. But you should plan to attend the 2017 Agri-Marketing Conference to hear from our amazing keynote speakers, take in the all-new breakout sessions and reconnect with your agri-marketing colleagues from across the country.

Go Big in Dallas with bright new ideas and meaningful connections that will put you on the trail to a successful agri-marketing career.

Registration is still available if you can make it.

Listen to the ZimmCast with to hear more about his year’s conference from Jennifer here:ZimmCast with Jennifer Anderson, John Deere

Subscribe to the ZimmCast podcast here. Use this url in iTunes or your favorite news reader program/app.

The ZimmCast

sponsored by
The ZimmCast podcast is sponsored by GROWMARK
Locally owned, globally strong.
Audio, Marketing, NAMA, ZimmCast

2017 #Water4Food is a Wrap

Cindy Zimmerman

Based on the theme that global breakthroughs come from local action, the 2017 Water for Food Global Conference was successful in bringing that perspective to water and food security issues.

“Agriculture and water wherever you are in your locality, it’s going to be different,” said Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute executive director Peter McCornick. “But many of the factors involving ground water are key to having a sustainable system.”

The institute is part of the University of Nebraska and McCornick says they have worked together to manage the water challenge locally and take those solutions to the global level. “Many countries do not have the expertise that we have here in Nebraska,” he said.

There were dozens of interesting presentations at the conference related to water and agriculture, most of which are posted on the AgNewsWire virtual newsroom for the event.

Listen to Jamie’s wrap up interview with Peter here: Interview with Peter McCornick, Water for Food Institute

Listen to McCornick’s opening remarks here: Peter McCornick, Water for Food Institute, opening remarks

2017 Water for Food Global Conference Photos

Audio, International, Irrigation, Water, Water for Food

Water Plays Role in Food Security Initiatives

Lizzy Schultz

One of the plenary speakers at the 2017 Water for Food Conference was Robert Bertram, Chief Scientist, Bureau for Food Security, U.S. Agency for International Development. Bertram has served as a key adviser on a range of technical and programmatic issues to advance global food security and nutrition. He leads U.S. Agency for International Development’s evidence-based efforts to advance research, technology and implementation in support of the U.S. Government’s global hunger and food security initiative, Feed the Future.

His presentation, “Role of Water in Food Security Investment Strategies Under the Global Food Security Act,” began with an overview of the ongoing global efforts to increase food security, followed by a discussion of the challenges facing food security and the ways ways that water is impacting those challenges.

“Agricultural growth is about twice as effective at reducing extreme poverty than other kinds of growth, because agricultural productivity gains drive the demand for locally produced goods and services that the poor are often able to provide,” he said in the presentation. “They also make food more affordable and available, and the poorer you are the more money you spend on food, so agricultural growth also reduces hunger.”

Listen to his entire presentation here:
Presentation, Role of Water in Food Security Investment Strategies

View and download photos from the event here: 2017 Water for Food Conference Photo Album

Ag Groups, Audio, Water, Water for Food

AFBF Survey Shows Decrease in Retail Food Prices

Lizzy Schultz

The American Farm Bureau Federation’s Spring Picnic Marketbasket Survey found that retail prices are lower for several foods this year, including eggs, ground chuck, sirloin tip roast, chicken breasts and toasted oat cereal.

“As expected due to lower farm-gate prices, we have seen continued declines in retail prices for livestock products including eggs, beef, chicken, pork and cheese,” said John Newton, AFBF’s director of market intelligence.

According to the informal survey, the total cost of 16 food items used to prepare meals was $50.03, down $3.25, about 6 percent, compared to a year ago. Of the 16 items surveyed, 11 decreased, four increased and one remained the same in average price.

“As farm-gate prices for livestock products have declined and remained lower, prices in the retail meat case have become more competitive,” Newton said.

The year-to-year direction of the marketbasket survey tracks closely with the federal government’s Consumer Price Index report for food at home. As retail grocery prices have increased gradually over time, the share of the average food dollar that America’s farm and ranch families receive has dropped.

“Through the mid-1970s, farmers received about one-third of consumer retail food expenditures for food eaten at home and away from home, on average. Since then, that figure has decreased steadily and is now about 16 percent, according to the Agriculture Department’s revised Food Dollar Series,” Newton said.

According to USDA, Americans spend just under 10 percent of their disposable annual income on food, the lowest average of any country in the world. A total of 117 shoppers in 31 states participated in the latest survey, conducted in March.

AFBF, Food