ZimmComm – New Media, LLC

Hello ZimmComm Fans:

The ZimmComm team says hello from Orlando, FL and the 2012 National Ethanol Conference. Chuck and Cindy have been covering the conference on Domestic Fuel this week. You can find some great photos from the event here. Next stop is the Commodity Classic in Nashville, TN this coming week.

In our latest ZimmPoll we asked the question, “What’s the next “big” thing in ag comm/social media?” Your responses are: Smartphone/Mobile Apps at 49%; Pinterest at 17%; Farm reality tv show at 15%; Not created yet at 11%; Expanded 4G LTE at 4%; Mobile/Online games at 2% and Other at 2%. Surprised? Got any other ideas you’d like to share?

Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, “What will be planted this year?” We’re getting close to that time as National Agriculture Day is just around the corner. Let us know what you think.

Here are links to some audio and interviews you may have missed this week:
• Interview with Sec. Vilsack on outlook for ethanol industry
• Bob Dinneen, RFA President/CEO, gives State of Ethanol Industry Address
• Josh St. Peters, Pioneer, on new AcreMax products
• Thierry Mahe, New Holland Mexico, on new TS6 tractors
• Interview with Dennis Hastert, former Speaker of the House on leadership/energy security

You can subscribe here.

Hello ZimmComm Fans:

The ZimmComm team is attending a record breaking Commodity Classic this week in Nashville, TN. You can find out what’s going on by visiting AgWired.com. At last count there are nearly 6,000 registered attendees at this combined meeting of the NCGA, ASA, NAWG and NSP. You can find photos from the event in Chuck & Cindy’s online photo album.

In our latest ZimmPoll we asked, “What will be planted this year?” It’s that time and everyone seems to have their own idea about what it will be. 45% of respondents said More of both, 32% said More corn less soybeans and 12% each said More soybeans less corn and Less of both. USDA is estimating corn acreage will be higher this year and the highest since 1944 with soybean acres nearly the same as last year. What do you think?

Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, “Is our food system broken?” During the Bayer CropScience Ag Issues Forum one of our speakers was Gawain Kripke, Oxfam America. He told us “our food system is broken.” We think the statement was made out of frustration that we produce more food than we can eat in this country and a huge amount goes to waste. Since we don’t have a system to get waste food to those who need it they seem to believe the food system is broken. It’s a provacative statement and we would love your thoughts.

Here are some interviews you might have missed. Much more audio on AgWired, so check it out!
• Paul Rea, BASF VP, U.S. Crop Protection, on future of weed control
• Dr. Larry Steckler, University of Tennessee, on weed control
• Gary Niemeyer, President, NCGA, preview of Commodity Classic
• Kai Robertson, Director, Food, Beverage & Ag Practice, BSR, on food waste

You can find the full e-Newsletter here and subscribe here.

Hello ZimmComm Fans:

The ZimmComm team is agriblogging from the 2012 National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, KY. You can see Chuck and Cindy’s photos here.

Just in time for the 2012 National Farm Machinery Show, our latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “How do you think farm equipment sales will do this year compared to last?” Things are looking bright for exhibitors at the show since 48% said Higher. However, 34% said Lower and 18% said Same. That seems like a positive outlook. What do you think?

Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, “What’s the next “big” thing in ag comm/social media?” Chuck posed this question last week and got quite a few responses. Here’s your chance to weigh in on the subject. If you have a different choice please feel free to leave a comment.

Here are some interviews you might have missed this week:
• John Elliott, New Holland, discusses all the new products being introduced by the company
• Brent Neuberger, FMC, discusses patent for Capture LFR Herbicide
• Tim Hess, Fastline, discusses the launch of the AgRacer game app
• Corinne Fetter, Kentucky State Fair Board, previews the 2012 NFMS

You can find the full e-Newsletter here and subscribe here.

Hello ZimmComm Fans:

Chuck went from Beef Board Blogger to Biodiesel Blogger this week posting for the 7th year on the National Biodiesel Conference Blog, sponsored by New Holland. He’s got over 360 conference photos online. Have you thought about having the ZimmComm team blog your conference? Whether it’s about production agriculture or biofuels production or anything connected with food, the team has experience with it and would be happy to try to fit your event into their schedule.

In our latest ZimmPoll we asked the question, “What do you think about the proposed Egg Products Inspection legislation?”. We were surprised to find that although 59% said Dangerous precedent for livestock production, 41% said Necessary to save egg farming industry. Kind of a divided reaction. Does this surprise you?

Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, “How do you think farm equipment sales will do this year compared to last?” Let us know what you think. Will there be more new equipment sales this year? Is it time to replace a worn out piece of equipment?

Here are some interviews you might have missed this week:
• Kristina Butts, NCBA Legislative Affairs Director, on proposed egg products inspection legislation
• Paul Teutul, Sr., Orange County Choppers, talks about the Biodiesel Bike
• Colin Woodall, NCBA Government Affairs V.P., on top policy concerns
• Forrest Roberts, NCBA CEO, on the 2012 Cattle Industry Convention
• Joe Jobe, NBB CEO, speech at National Biodiesel Conference
• Jill Ginn, past-president, ANCW, comments from stage at Cattle Industry Convention

You can find the full e-Newsletter here and subscribe here.

Hello ZimmComm Fans:

The ZimmComm team is on location at the 2012 Cattle Industry Convention this week. They’ve got hundreds of photos online for your viewing pleasure. Chuck has been Beef Board Blogging once again. After the event he heads off to Orlando where he magically morphs into the Biodiesel Blogger. This will be the 7th year that ZimmComm has blogged the National Biodiesel Conference!

While at the Cattle Industry Convention Chuck noticed a prominently displayed HSUS image in the Gaylord Opryland promotional video playing on screens all over the place. After tweeting about it and posting to FB the NCBA team jumped in to action and “explained” things to the hotel management who immediately apologized and removed the offensive video. We applaud them for that action!

Chuck also conducted a workshop on the use of smartphones and mobile apps as communications tools at the first ever NCBA Communications Workshop. It has been a busy week for the team.

ZimmComm sponsored the NCBA Excellence in Communications Awards again this year. The awards recognize communications professionals from NCBA state affiliate organizations and cattle breed associations, as well as an agricultural journalist. The recipient of the 2011 Excellence in Communications and Public Relations for a state affiliate is Carmen Fenton, director of public affairs for the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association (TSCRA) and for a breed affiliate is Angie Stump Denton, director of communications for the American Hereford Association (AHA).

In our latest ZimmPoll we asked the question, “Do you agree with President Obama’s call for more clean (renewable) energy?” Overwhelmingly, the answer was Yes at 74%, however, there were 24% saying no. Feel free to comment on the reason for your choice.

Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, “What do you think about the proposed Egg Products Inspection legislation?” Let us know what you think. You can find the currently proposed House Bill here.

Here are some interviews you might have missed this week:

• Phil Hardee, NCBA PAC Chairman
• J.D. Alexander, NCBA President-Elect, general session remarks
• NAMA Producer Panel thoughts on social media
• Wesley Grau, CBB Chairman, general session remarks
• Bill Donald, NCBA President, opening remarks
• Polly Ruhland, CBB CEO, preview of convention

You can find the full e-Newsletter here and subscribe here.

Hello ZimmComm Fans:

Cindy was thinking to herself one day, “I wish there was a calendar that had all the ag events for the year on it.” We’ve never seen such a thing, so she decided to make one.

It was not an easy task, taking her about a month to get it the way she wanted it, including photos from events throughout this past year and getting as many dates for the major ag events included. Not sure how it would actually look in person, we ordered a limited quantity to give as Christmas gifts to some of our clients. We think they actually came out pretty sweet and now we are wondering if there is any interest among ZimmComm/AgWired fans to get their very own copy. The cost is $20 each plus $2 shipping/handling.

If you’d like to purchase your copy please visit this link: Purchase 2012 ZimmComm Ag Events Calendar

Gadgets – 28%, are tops on the Christmas gift list according to our latest ZimmPoll, followed closely by Paying Bills – 25%. Those choices were followed by Clothes, 19%; Other, 14%; Farm Equipment, 9% and Tools, 5%. It’s very interesting that no one chose Food! Wow. Food makes a great gift don’t you think? Maybe we’re all so well fed that our focus has turned to other things? What do you think?

Our new ZimmPoll is now live. We’re asking the question, “Is Ethanol production good for ALL of Agriculture?” There’s a huge amount of on-going rhetoric about this subject and it seems to be a very divisive issue within the ag community. Let’s put it this way, the most heated arguments/debates We’ve heard or participated in this year were on this subject! What do you think?

Here are some interviews from this week that you might have missed:

• First AgChat Foundation Exec. Dir. Emily Zweber and President Darin Grimm
• Patrick Westhoff, FAPRI, on farm markets outlook
• Rick Tolman, CEO, NCGA, on receiving St. Louis Agribusiness Leader of Year Award
• Chuck Spencer, GROWMARK govt. affairs director, on farm bill
• Chris Waram, BASF Service Tech, on working with custom applicators in North Dakota

You can find the full e-Newsletter here and subscribe here.

One day I was thinking to myself, “I wish there was a calendar that had all the ag events for the year on it.” I had never seen such a thing, so I decided to make one.

This was not an easy task. It took me about a month to get it the way I wanted it, including photos from events throughout this past year and getting as many dates for the major ag events included. Not sure how it would actually look in person, we ordered a limited quantity to give as Christmas gifts to some of our clients.

We think they actually came out pretty sweet and now we are wondering if there is any interest among AgWired readers to get their very own copy.

You can order your calendar here: Order 2012 ZimmComm Ag Events Calendar.

The cost is $20 each plus $2 shipping/handling.

Hello ZimmComm Fans:

As you may be noticing, the ZimmComm team has been back on the agriblogging highway. We’re getting a break at the end of the year but things will heat up fast after the first. Which prompts us to ask if you’ve got the team scheduled for your event or locked in your sponsorship of our coverage of an industry event. You’ll get professional photographers and farm podcasters who will provide you with significant “content” you can use in a variety of ways – newsletters, websites, posters, brochures, magazines, broadcasts and just about anything you can imagine. And that doesn’t include online exposure on some of the most search engine optimized websites in agriculture starting with our flagship, AgWired.com! How about getting on our calendar. It is already filling up pretty fast. Some industry events we don’t have on our schedule yet include Beltwide Cotton Conference, World Ag Expo and the Agricultural Relations Council annual mtg. Please contact Chuck or Dave Larson for a proposal.

Speaking of the agriblogging highway, Cindy just returned from the National Agricultural Aviation Association Convention in Las Vegas courtesy of BASF and Chuck returned the end of last week from the Boehringer Ingelheim 2011 PRRS ARC&E Seminar in Chicago. You can full coverage from them including photos on AgWired.

In our latest ZimmPoll we asked the question, “With net farm income up this year, how is your income?” The idea for the question came from the recent USDA Economic Research Service Net Farm Income Forecast that showed a 28% increase over 2010. The responses to our question were Higher – 34.4%; Lower – 31.2% and Same – 34.4%.

Our new ZimmPoll is now live. We’re asking the question, “What’s tops on your Christmas gift list?” If your income is the same or higher than last year perhaps you have a little more in the disposable category for holiday shopping. What categories are tops for you this year?

Here are some interviews from this week that you might have missed:
• NAAA/BASF Scholarship Winner Jordan Loewen
• NAAA/BASF Scholarship Winner Brad Taylor
• NAAA President Rick Richter
• PRRS North-Central Illinois control project update from Dr. Joel Garbes

You can find the full e-Newsletter here and subscribe here.

Hello ZimmComm Fans:

There seems to be a lot of optimism in the dairy industry based on our conversations with farmers and dairy business companies during the 2011 World Dairy Expo. The ZimmComm team has been on location this week covering the show for the 7th year in a row. We’ve got a lot of photos online and more stories to come on World Dairy Diary.

We have to mention the passing of Steve Jobs which was a big shock to us and a lot of you. Farm podcasting was made possible by the iPod and Agriblogging is just more fun on a Mac. Thank you Steve. You will be missed.

Our latest ZimmPoll question, “Do you think the world population will be 10 billion by 2050?” generated some mixed results. This prediction is being used by all kinds of organizations for all kinds of purposes. But how accurate is it? Here’s what you think. 40% said Exactly or really close; 24% said How can anyone know; 19% said Much more and 17% said Much Less. A lot of people point to a United Nations report for this number. However, they readily admit that no one can know. Here’s an excerpt from the 2004 report that says it pretty clearly. You can find the latest report with revisions here (pdf).

Projections recently issued by the United Nations suggest that world population by 2050 could reach 8.9 billion, but in alternative scenarios could be as high as 10.6 billion or as low as 7.4 billion. What will population trends be like beyond 2050? No one really knows. Any demographic projections, if they go 100, 200, or 300 years into the future, are little more than guesses. Societies change considerably over hundreds of years-as one can readily see if one looks back at where the world was in 1900, or 1800, or 1700. Demographic behaviour over such long time spans, like behaviour in many spheres of life, is largely unpredictable.

Our new ZimmPoll is now live. We’re asking the question,”How do you feel about the corn supply/demand status?”It has been a tough weather year in some areas of the corn belt. After listening to an NPR show yesterday that featured as a guest Bob Dinneen, Renewable Fuels Association, it was obvious there is a lot of worry and misinformation about our corn supply in the public and on the part of activist environmental groups. What do you think? Take our poll and feel free to comment.

Here are some interviews you might have missed this week:

Opening of new John Deere Olathe Facility
Mark Clarke, General Manager, World Dairy Expo
Steve Larson, Hoard’s Dairyman and National Dairy Shrine Guest of Honor
Charlie Hammer, WI grain farmer, going full precision with Ag Leader Technology

You can find the full e-Newsletter here and subscribe here.