Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue at #AFBF18

January 8, 2018

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue set the stage for his boss and our president Donald J. Trump to address the largest general farm organization in the country Monday.

Perdue highlighted accomplishments of the Trump Administration related to agriculture and discussed the importance of trade and NAFTA in particular to U.S. agriculture. “To get a deal, we need all sides to seriously roll up their sleeves and get to work,” Perdue said. “We have put a number of proposals on the table to modernize NAFTA, and critically for agriculture, to address key sectors left out of the original agreement – dairy and poultry tariffs in Canada. Now, we want to see our negotiating partners step up and engage so we can get the deal done.”

Perdue also noted that USDA has been rolling back excessive regulations following a directive from President Trump, including WOTUS, the Waters of the U.S. rule which was the subject of Farm Bureau’s Ditch the Rule campaign. “You know, sometimes a mud puddle is just a mud puddle,” Perdue said. “We don’t need the federal government coming in and regulating everything to death.”

The secretary also officially presented the findings of the President’s Interagency Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity.

Listen to Perdue’s address here: USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue at AFBF18

Click here to watch it on video.

2018 AFBF Convention Photo Album

WATCH LIVE or click for archived video
Watch President Trump live from AFBF starting at 3:00 pm central.

AFBF, AgWired Animal, AgWired Energy, AgWired Precision, Audio, USDA

Farm Bureau Excels at Instant Convention Content

January 7, 2018

The communications team for the American Farm Bureau Federation is really getting a workout for the organization’s 99th annual meeting in Nashville this week with President Donald Trump attending Monday afternoon. Over 200 registered media and room for only 90, having the vast majority of the convention schedule being changed at the last minute, and just dealing with the logistics of a presidential presence will make Monday a challenge for even the most seasoned professionals. But, no matter what, you will be able to see the president’s speech live, or go back and watch it later – and you will have photos and audio almost immediately after it is over.

In fact, you can find the majority of the main activities at the AFBF convention live-streamed, archived, photographed, and audio filed, with multiple press releases, through the Farm Bureau convention media guide. With the help of state Farm Bureau communications specialists, the AFBF communications team has always been the best at providing content for media. Chuck was one of those state staffers at Florida Farm Bureau who was brought on the AFBF team for the 1985 convention in Hawaii. They were using some of the earliest satellite technology to send both audio and video back to the mainland for some media, but they were also shipping video stories on cassette using the latest express shipping services and getting audio content sent via telephone. News releases and photos were still mostly sent by mail but they were using some of the earliest facsimile machines at the time.

AFBF has always kept up with the latest in communications technology, so now you can watch and record it live as it happens, get high resolution photos, and subscribe to audio feeds from the event via podcast. Jamie will be on the ground there for President Trump’s address Monday and we will have an AgNewsWire virtual newsroom page set up for her photos and interviews, but here are the links to various content sources from AFBF:

Convention photos
Live streaming video and links to archived videos
B Roll Video
Audio files

Farm Bureau is really the epitome of an organization that excels in providing virtually instant digital content from their conventions. AgNewsWire is a way for smaller organizations to get content from their own meetings produced and distributed to a wider audience. It’s what we do best, and we learned a lot of it from working with Farm Bureau over the years.

AFBF, AgWired Animal, AgWired Energy, AgWired Precision

ZimmCast with MN Soybean

January 5, 2018

Tom Slunecka is one of the first people ever to be featured in a ZimmCast, back in 2005 when he was executive director for the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC). That organization became Growth Energy in 2008, and Tom has been executive director for Minnesota Soybean, which includes both the state Growers Association (MSGA) and the Research & Promotion Council (MSR&PC). We had the pleasure of doing a little media training for Tom and his board this week so we had some time to catch up and reminisce a bit.

Tom was also the first person to name our signature meme the ZimmComm Golden Microphone on its first event out of the box, the 2007 NAMA conference, which makes him a founding member of the Golden Mic Club!

You will find Tom on page 25 of the latest AgriMarketing magazine because the Minnesota Soybean Biodiesel Project was named 2017 Product of the Year. Congratulations to the entire Minnesota Soybean team for that honor!

Listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast 570 with Minnesota Soybean’s Tom Slunecka

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

The ZimmCast

sponsored by

Locally owned, globally strong.

AgWired Energy, Soybean, ZimmCast

Political Strategists to Address Ethanol Conference

Cindy Zimmerman January 5, 2018

Former Presidential Advisor Mary Matalin and veteran Democratic Political Strategist Donna Brazile will be at the 23rd annual National Ethanol Conference in San Antonio as the featured luncheon speakers on Tuesday, Feb. 13, for “A Candid Conversation about Washington Politics.”

Matalin served under President Ronald Reagan, made her mark as George H.W. Bush’s campaign director and was most recently assistant to President George W. Bush, and as assistant and counselor to Vice President Dick Cheney, making her the first White House official to hold that double title. Today, Matalin is a frequent commentator on both radio and TV, and is the co-author of “All’s Fair: Love, War and Running for President,” a national bestseller written with her husband, James Carville.

Brazile is the former Chair of the Democratic National Committee and fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. She has worked on every major presidential campaign since 1976 and in 2000, became the first African American to serve as campaign manager for former Vice President Al Gore. Brazile is the founder and director of Brazile & Associates LLC, a general consulting, grassroots advocacy, and training firm based in Washington, DC. She is also an adjunct faculty member at Georgetown University.

NEC2018 will be held Feb. 12-14, 2018, in San Antonio. View the complete agenda here.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, National Ethanol Conference, RFA

Ins and Outs of Ethanol for 2018

Cindy Zimmerman January 3, 2018

Guest commentary from Renewable Fuels Association president and CEO Bob Dinneen

Before there was a “What’s Trending” on Twitter or Facebook, indeed before there was a Facebook or Twitter, or even an internet, there was “The List” from The Washington Post, providing insight into what was “In” and what was “Out” every year. It was as predictable as the ball dropping at Times Square on New Year’s Eve, and it remains wildly popular among Senators and interns alike in Washington, D.C. today.

“The List” was never intended to be erudite social commentary and certainly not a reliable compendium of history or current events. But it was a fun and whimsical exercise. And because imitation is the highest form of flattery, I began compiling my own “List” many years ago to provoke light-hearted contemplation about the trends in the ethanol industry. So, with tongue firmly placed in cheek, and deep appreciation to The Washington Post, I provide this year’s “Ethanol List.”

2017 in Pictures

January 3, 2018

2017 is just a memory now, so we compiled some of our favorite photos from the 50 events we attended this year so you can relive it!

This album includes some of our favorite shots of the year, our favorite people, and some of the many inductees into the Golden Mic Club. There’s only 200 out of more than 10,500 put into over 60 Flickr photo albums this year, so it is only a small sample, but it took hours to go through them all!

To watch as a slide show, just click the button in the upper right above the title photo that with an arrow in it. Enjoy!

ZimmComm 2017 Year in Pictures

AgWired Animal, AgWired Energy, AgWired Precision, ZimmComm Announcement

RFA Hires VP for External Affairs

Cindy Zimmerman January 3, 2018

The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) started the new year off this week with Jessica Bennett as vice president of external affairs to primarily focus on building stakeholder support through policy and messaging.

Bennett was most recently director of renewable fuels for the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA), where she also previously served as director of public policy handling ethanol issues. Prior to her time at NCGA, she worked at Bunge North America as director of government relations and was responsible for representing the company’s interests on issues related to agriculture at the federal level. She has previously worked as the federal affairs representative for various trade associations representing agriculture and small businesses over the past several years, and served as a staff person in the offices of two members of Congress from Arkansas.

In addition to helping on policy and messaging, Bennett will provide strategic counsel on RFA’s internal and external communications, build stronger relationships with industry stakeholders and partners, and assist with legislative and regulatory efforts as needed.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFA

Iowa Breaks Ethanol Production Record

Cindy Zimmerman January 2, 2018

Iowa ethanol producers topped last year’s record, producing 4.2 billion gallons in 2017.

“Iowa continues to lead the country and the world in ethanol production and efficiency,” said Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) Executive Director Monte Shaw. “Several plant expansions just finished or will finish during the 1st quarter of 2018, so production could jump again next year. That makes expanding export markets abroad and breaking down unnecessary barriers to E15 here at home top priorities.”

Iowa has 43 ethanol plants and 2017 saw several plant expansions, as well as increased demand for exports and more stations selling higher blends like E15.

Shaw says their top state policy priority for 2018 is securing funding for the Iowa Renewable Fuels Infrastructure Program (RFIP) to ensure more retailers have the equipment necessary to offer higher blends of ethanol now and in the future. On the federal level, they will be continuing to work toward getting the same regulatory treatment for E15 so it can be sold year round in all markets.

Ethanol, Ethanol News

Ethanol Report on 2017

Cindy Zimmerman December 27, 2017

All in all, 2017 was a pretty good year for the ethanol industry with a new advocate in the White House and record production.

Among the highlights of the year, increased exports despite Brazil taking a protectionist stance against ethanol imports, EPA releasing new RVO numbers on time, and ethanol champions rally to protect the RFS and win.

In this edition of The Ethanol Report podcast, Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Bob Dinneen talks about all that and more.

Listen to it here: Ethanol Report 12-27-17

Subscribe to the podcast via RSS
Subscribe via iTunes

Ethanol, Ethanol News, Ethanol Report, RFA

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