Kruskopf Coontz Adds Two Ag Marketers

Jamie Johansen

DeanHuffKruskopf Coontz Advertising (KC) announced their new president, Dean Huff. Huff was previously working for Padilla/CRT, MN, where he led the agribusiness practice and was responsible for leading integrated communications. He has also worked for The Martin Agency, Colle McVoy and Saatchi & Saatchi.

KC has also hired Duncan Salyer as their new Accounts Manager. Salyer comes from Broadhead + Co., MN, where he worked primarily on their crop nutrition and government clients.

Both new hires have worked for many different agricultural clients. Including, BASF, Case IH, New Holland, DeKalb, Honda, Nestle Purina, Cargill, Glastron, USDA-APHIS, The Mosaic Company and the list continues.

DuncanSalyer

“This is a key strategic move for us as we continue to grow and expand,” said Sue Kruskopf, CEO and founder, Kruskopf Coontz. “Our B2B experience coupled with the knowledge these two bring of the ag industry, puts the agency in a position to foster future partnerships within this sector,” Kruskopf added.

Kruskopf Coontz is a Minneapolis agency whose clients include 3M, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, United Healthcare and Cargill.

Advertising, Agencies, Marketing

2014 AFBF Convention Coming Up

Chuck Zimmerman

2014 AFBF ConventionIt’s almost time for my first venture out on the agriblogging highway of 2014 – The American Farm Bureau Federation Annual Convention. It’s off to San Antonio this weekend and it looks like the weather is going to cooperate for most of the U.S.

This is the most media friendly farm convention I know of. In fact, I was on the AFBF staff helping other media once upon a time when I worked for the Florida Farm Bureau. Those were the days (what does that mean btw?).

The ZimmComm team has a growing list of locations to visit this year. Before February gets here we’ll be in San Antonio, Des Moines, San Diego, Atlanta and Austin. It’s going to be a great year. I can feel it. I hope you do too.

The Twitter hashtag for the convention is #AFBF14. In case you missed it, Cindy interviewed Mace Thornton (.mp3) about the upcoming meeting.

AFBF, Ag Groups

Farm Bill Might be Making Progress

Cindy Zimmerman

leahy-floorFarm bill conference committee member Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) says they worked on the legislation during the holiday break and are making progress.

“The conference committee is making steady progress,” Leahy said during a speech on the Senate floor Tuesday. “Chairwoman Stabenow, a Democrat, and Chairman Lucas, a Republican, deserve credit and our appreciation, for working closely together to bridge the wide differences between our two bills.”

Calling the current Farm Bill limbo “part of a string of artificial made-by-Congress dilemmas,” the senator criticized proposals for further extensions of the farm bill. “Farming is a business,” he said. “You can’t have Congress say ‘sorry, we’ll extend it for a couple weeks – bye, bye we’re going home on recess.'”

Leahy added that “saddling farmers with this needless uncertainty makes their difficult work even more difficult” and that continuing to extend the current bill prolongs direct payment subsidies which “senselessly costs taxpayers untold millions of dollars.”

Listen to or download Leahy audio here: Sen. Leahy floor speech

Audio, Farm Bill

ZimmGlass in the Woods

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmGlassThis past weekend I had another Crystal Pig Hunt Club woods experience. I did not see any deer but the time in the woods is always wonderful.

This year I carried along my new Glass from Google to keep learning it and thinking about ways to incorporate into my agriblogging work flow. Here’s my Glass being recharged with a Monsanto Ground Breakers mobile charger. I have noticed that the Glass battery doesn’t last as long as I’m used to with my phone. That’s why these mobile chargers come in so handy.

Earlier in the day I shot a video clip with my “ZimmGlass” as a test. It presents some issues like the need to keep your head still since it is not on a tripod and it’s so easy to move your head around without thinking.

Several of you have already contacted me about our ZimmGlass Project and I will continue writing about my experience with it. So far, I am positive and will be taking it on the road with me this coming weekend to the American Farm Bureau Federation convention in San Antonio.

Hunting, Video

Zimfo Bytes

Talia Goes

Zimfo Bytes

Where did you see the Golden Mic in 2013?

Cindy Zimmerman

gold-micStarting with the Beltwide Cotton Conferences in January and ending with the American Seed Trade Association CSS and Seed Expo, the ZimmComm golden microphone was seen at 73 different events in 19 states and 4 countries in 2013.

We covered meetings about general ag, crop protection, equipment, machinery and precision ag; cattle, dairy, hogs, livestock, poultry and meat; cotton, corn, grain marketing, peanuts, seeds, sorghum, and wheat; equipment, machinery and precision agriculture; ethanol, biodiesel and advanced biofuels; ag advocacy, agri-marketing, ag media, farm broadcasting – and more.

We hit 100,000 photos in our Flickr account included in a total now of 468 sets dating back to May of 2005. We did just shy of 5,000 total posts on all of our own websites plus others like Corn Commentary, Biodiesel Conference, Beef Board Meeting, and Southern Peanut Growers.

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank our wonderful clients, fabulous freelancers and various industry supporters for making 2013 a great year. It’s been nice to take a holiday break from the Agriblogging Highway, but we’ll be back at it again soon. See you down the road in 2014!

Events

Zimfo Bytes

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    Zimfo Bytes

  • Foodable WebTV Network is excited to announce a new partnership with Miami celebrity chef Adrianne Calvo, who will be the first featured chef in the Network’s new chef reality show, “Food as a Lifestyle”.
  • California almond growers will vote on whether to continue their Federal marketing order from Feb. 18, 2014, through March 7, 2014.
  • The National Corn Growers Association welcomes Janelle Muehleisen, who joins the organization as a marketing administrative assistant in the St. Louis, Mo. office.
  • After over a year of research, analysis, and industry input, the American Lamb Board is proud to announce the release of the Final Lamb Industry Roadmap presentation.
Zimfo Bytes

What Do You Have For 2014 Health Insurance

Talia Goes

New Holland ZimmPollOur latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “What is your traditional Christmas dinner?”

Our poll results:
·         Other – 30%
·         Ham – 28%
·         Turkey – 22%
·         Roast Beef – 11%
·         Lobster – 5%
·         Wild Game – 5%

Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, “How is your health insurance for 2014?”

The Zimmermans are still figuring out their health insurance coverage for 2014. Their plan, which was not very good, was increased significantly due to Obamacare. So they found another plan that is still more expensive but has way better coverage. Meanwhile, they are still working on coverage for their daughters in Missouri, since the insurance they had for them was supposedly increased in cost but they never even received a notice from the company and are up in the air right now. What about you?  

ZimmPoll

Agri Marketing & AgWired Top Tens

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast 422Happy New Year. Now let’s look back at 2013. In this week’s program I visit with Lynn Henderson, Agri Marketing Magazine.

We’ve each put together our top ten story posts from AgriMarketing.com and AgWired.com based on the traffic from our respective audiences. We only had one story common to our lists. You can find the Agri Marketing list here and the AgWired list here.

Listen to this week’s program to learn a little more about the stories: AgriMarketing & AgWired 2013 Top Tens

Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsor, GROWMARK, locally owned, globally strong, for their support.

Audio, Media, ZimmCast

American Lamb Road Map

Cindy Zimmerman

The American Lamb Board knows where it’s going and how it’s going to get there.

american-lambAfter over a year of research, analysis, and industry input, the American Lamb Board is proud to announce the release of the Final Lamb Industry Roadmap presentation. Created through collaboration and consultation from all sectors of the industry, the Lamb Industry Roadmap is owned by the entire American Lamb Industry.

road-lambThe Lamb Industry Roadmap will address key goals including improving the quality and consistency of American lamb, increasing demand, improving industry productivity and collaboration.

American Lamb Board Chairman Dan Lippert says their objective is to implement meaningful strategies that will “significantly strengthen the American Lamb industry and increase demand for our products.”

The final Roadmap presentation is now available on the checkoff website and a written report will also be released later this month.

Livestock, Meat