New Holland Construction Website is New

Chuck Zimmerman

New Holland Construction WebsiteNew Holland has been busy with website work lately. The Construction division just announced a new website. You may know that the marketing functions for New Holland Agriculture and Construction have been combined. I’m sure that makes for some interesting discussions in the marketing department!

Easy navigation tailor-made for the user
New Holland Construction’s new website (http://construction.newholland.com/nar) offers a fresh, clean interface that is very easy to navigate. The home page’s magazine-style layout shows at a glance the brand’s latest news and offers, and provides various paths to quickly find the desired information. Users can search directly for the product or service they are interested in, or look for the brand’s offering for their industry segment.

A dealer locator built around the customer
Among the most notable improvements is the new dealer locator, which not only makes it very easy to find the nearest dealer but also provides full details: in addition to the address and directions to reach it, users can find the services provided – sales of new or used equipment, after sales service, rental – the equipment sold, business hours, any affilliated dealerships or workshops and the dealer’s latest news. This is a dealer locator truly built around the customer. Read More

Agribusiness, Internet, New Holland

GROWMARK Board on Capitol Hill

Cindy Zimmerman

growmark-shimkusGROWMARK board members recently attended the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives (NCFC) annual Washington Conference to learn about important issues affecting the agriculture industry and to meet with Congressional representatives.

“Probably one of the high points is the Hill visits,” said Matt Heitz, a GROWMARK board member from Iowa, in an interview with Cassie Becker, publications and media relations specialist.

“It’s important for us to go out and advocate for our positions,” added Kevin Malchine of Wisconsin. “If we don’t advocate for ourselves, who will?”

Dennis Neuhaus of Illinois, pictured here meeting with Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL), says among the concerns they discussed with lawmakers were tax issues, the recently signed WRRDA bill, EPA’s proposed Waters of the United States rule, and GMO labeling.

Listen to Cassie’s interview here: GROWMARK interview at NCFC conference

Audio, GROWMARK

AgChat Foundation Seeks Full-Time Executive Director

Jamie Johansen

agchatAs an organization which is experiencing significant growth, the AgChat Foundation Board of Directors is launching a search for a full-time Executive Director.

“Emily Zweber has served as the part-time Executive Director since 2011. Since that time she has been a remarkable asset successfully steering ACF,” President Jeff VanderWerff said. He adds that, “As a key part of our new strategic plan, it has become apparent that ACF has reached a stage of maturity which requires a full-time Executive Director. The Board of Directors view this as a search for a leader who can assist ACF with the new opportunities and challenges associated with the organization’s recent growth.”

The new Executive Director will oversee the general administration of the organization including fundraising, execution of major goals, management of the organization’s structure and personnel and facilitation of all major activities and meetings including board and committee members, among other responsibilities. For a complete description, please visit the job announcement located at AgChat.org/Hiring.

Interested parties may submit their resume to Leah Brakke at hiring@agchat.org, by July 14, 2014. ACF expects the new Executive Director to join by August 2014.

Ag Groups

Updates on BASF Headline AMP and Priaxor

Cindy Zimmerman

basf-brianneIn the last, but certainly not least, category – we have BASF Technical Marketing Specialist and Doctor of Plant Medicine Brianne Reeves. Brianne is my last post from the BASF 2014 Ag Media Summit, but she is never least!

At the media event, Brianne talked about in-furrow and foliar applications of BASF fungicides, including Headline AMP on corn and Priaxor on soybeans.

We usually think of Headline AMP being used on field corn, but Brianne told us about a trial done in Belle Glade, Florida on sweet corn for control of Northern corn leaf blight. “That trial has been run for five years and for five years running Headline AMP has won in that trial in disease control and with yield for marketable crates of sweet corn that go to market,” she said.

Brianne says Priaxor was just approved for use in soybeans in April of this year and she discussed how using it in-furrow to start, followed up by a foliar application “will help protect that soybean plant in the beginning when it’s just getting out of the ground and at those reproductive stages when yield is really being set.”

Listen to my interview with Brianne here: Interview with Brianne Reeves, BASF

2014 BASF Ag Media Summit Photo Album

Audio, BASF, Corn, Crop Protection, Soybean

Ag Relations Council Annual Meeting News

Chuck Zimmerman

Golden ARC AwardsI can’t make them all. Just wish I could. Here’s the news from the recent Agricultural Relations Council Annual Meeting. First up are Golden ARC Award winners.

The Golden ARC Awards contest honors the stellar work created by professionals in the agricultural industry. The entries for the 2014 contest were many with 74 entries – 22 campaigns and 55 tactics. Entries were judged by public relations professionals outside of the ag industry, all of whom are members of the Maine chapter of the Public Relations Society of America.

Congratulations to the 2014 Golden ARC de Excellence Winner – Ketchum on behalf of Zoetis – “Zoetis Achieves Global Company Debut in Eight Months” in the category of Public Relations Campaign – Global Communications.

You can find all Award winners here (pdf) and Merit winners here (pdf).

ARC Hall of FameNext up are the “Third Class” of Honorees Named into Ag PR Hall of Fame.

The Agricultural Relations Council (ARC) is pleased to announce two new members into the Agricultural Public Relations Hall of Fame: Richard Howell and Gary Myers, APR. Both will be recognized on Thursday, June 26, at the annual meeting of ARC in Madison, Wis. This is the third class of inductees since the program was instituted in 2012.

Howell and Myers will join previous inductees Don Lerch, Lyle Orwig, John Harvey and Paul Weller in the Hall of Fame, which is sponsored by the Agricultural Relations Council (ARC) and Agri Marketing magazine.

Ag Groups, ARC

Marrone Bio Opens Michigan Manufacturing Facility

Chuck Zimmerman

Marrone Bio Innovations Ribbon CuttingMarrone Bio Innovations, Inc. celebrated the official opening of its Marrone Michigan Manufacturing (M3) facility today with a ribbon cutting ceremony and plant tours. Pictured are the speakers from the program listed below.

Today’s event features a facility tour which highlights the benefits of MBI’s bio-based products for pest management and plant health and gives attendees a firsthand look at the updates and expansions to the production facility. Speakers at the ribbon cutting event include:

Senator Debbie Stabenow, Chairwoman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture
Administrator Lillian Salerno, USDA Rural Business-Cooperative Service
Director James Turner, State Director, USDA-Rural Development
Senator John Proos and Representative Aric Nesbitt, Michigan Senate and House of Representatives
Mayor Nick Householder, Mayor of Bangor, Michigan
Dr. Pamela Marrone, CEO and Founder, Marrone Bio Innovations

I recorded the program since Marrone live streamed the event. Marrone Michigan Manufacturing Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

Agribusiness, Audio

BASF Merivon Fungicide for Specialty Crops

Cindy Zimmerman

basf-walkerWe learned more about BASF Merivon® fungicide at the company’s recent media event from Scott Walker, biology project leader.

“We have gotten federal registration for expansion of Merivon on specialty crops,” Walker told us during a stop on the tour of the BASF research farm in North Carolina. “It includes strawberries, fruit and tree nuts, leafy vegetables like lettuce and spinach, the brassica group such as broccoli, as well as onions and the bulb vegetables.”

Walker says Merivon, which is one of the BASF products powered by Xemium, offers broad spectrum disease protection as well as plant health benefits such as stress tolerance and improved growth efficiency. During the event, he talked specifically about its use on apples and almonds.

Learn more in this interview: Interview with Scott Walker, BASF

2014 BASF Ag Media Summit Photo Album

Audio, BASF, Crop Protection, specialty crops

Illinois Corn Interns Summer Promotional Videos

Chuck Zimmerman

Illinois CornLet’s put those interns to work. That’s what Illinois Corn is doing. Interns Tim Marten, a student at SIU-Edwardsville, and Elizabeth O’Reilly, a student at ISU, have been tasked with creating short videos that promote corn. The internships are funded by two communications scholarships from the Illinois Corn Marketing Board. Here’s an example of one of them below. You can find others here.

In this video Captain Cornelius learns more than he intended about the difference between regular corn and popcorn!

Ag Groups, Biofuels, Corn, Video

Ninth International Conference on Climate Change

Chuck Zimmerman

The Heartland InstituteI would love to cover this event. Anyone want to be my sponsor? I have no doubt that I would get some great “factual” information on climate change. Because of course we have climate change. Man-made? Not so much. Changes in our climate are vital to agricultural production. Always have been, always will be. And changes in climate happen. But I get so angry at the alarmist bullcrap we get fed by wacko activists and other power and control hungry politicos. Just like with food misinformation, energy misinformation and all kinds of environmental misinformation, today’s social media world makes it easy for all of that to be spread by the activists and the people who believe everything they read on Facebook. So, I’d love to go and publish a different perspective.

Thirty-two organizations, including several well-known think tanks and advocacy organizations, are cosponsoring an event billed as “the world’s largest gathering of global warming skeptics” in Las Vegas July 7–9. The Ninth International Conference on Climate Change (#ICCC9) features 60 of the world’s leading scientists and policy experts who are skeptical of man-caused global warming.

The sponsoring groups represent a wide swath of organizations working to advance free markets and sound science, including The Heritage Foundation, Competitive Enterprise Institute, and George C. Marshall Institute.

“This is a great show of unity in opposition to the global warming alarmism of President Obama and radical environmental groups,” said Joseph Bast, president of The Heartland Institute, the leading organizer and host of the event. “Having all these organizations endorse this conference means skepticism about man-made global warming continues to spread and gain respectability.”

BlueWhile looking into this conference I found a link to Blue – For Earth, For Humanity, For Freedom. A documentary by Director, JD King. Thought I’d share it here since from watching the trailer, it has some interesting related content. I look forward to seeing it.

BLUE is more than a film, it’s an idea. Ideas have the power to change the way we think, begin movements, and even change the world. One of the most prominent idea of our time today is the Green Movement, which says that the Earth is threatened by the activity, even the existence, of mankind, and that the noble response is to restrict our freedom in order to save the planet. The movie BLUE challenges that idea. BLUE is an independently funded and filmed documentary by director, JD King.

Video

Bayer CropScience Announces Expansion

Cindy Zimmerman

bayer-cropscienceBayer CropScience is investing $29.6 million in the expansion of its North American and global Seeds headquarters in Research Triangle Park (RTP), North Carolina.

The company announced this week that the expansion includes the construction of a 29,500-square-foot greenhouse and state-of-the-art research facility for seed trait research, insect testing, nematode trait research, and plant disease research.

The RTP site has experienced significant operational growth in recent years. This expansion marks the beginning of the development of land acquired in Dec. 2012. Work on the greenhouse, or GH1, is scheduled to begin in the late summer of 2014, with completion scheduled for late 2015. GH1 is the second greenhouse constructed at Bayer CropScience’s North American and global Seeds headquarters in the past two years. The $20 million, 60,000-square-foot Greenhouse 5 was opened in July 2012 to support company sustainability and productivity efforts focused on soy, corn and other broadacre crop research.

“The construction of this greenhouse represents our continued commitment to RTP and to leaving a better world for the industries and communities we serve through advanced agriculture and bioscience research and development,” said Jim Blome, president and CEO of Bayer CropScience LP. “Our new facility will allow our scientists and other researchers to discover innovative solutions to the world’s ever-changing agricultural issues, and will help us feed a growing planet in need of plentiful food sources grown without threat from dangerous insects and other pests.”

Read more here.

Agribusiness, Bayer, Research