The deadline for submitting nominations for the 2006 Professional Development Awards of Excellence is Friday, September 1.

The Awards of Excellence honor NAMA members based on outstanding achievement in each of the Professional Development Areas of (1) Marketing Communications, (2) Product/Species Management, (3) Public Relations and (4) Sales. Nominees come from agribusiness and related companies targeting individuals with direct planning and execution responsibilities in the respective Professional Development Area.

These awards will be presented at the 2006 Agribusiness Forum, November 14-15, at the Hyatt Regency Crown Center in Kansas City.

If you have any questions regarding these awards, please contact Eldon White at [email protected].

To download the nomination form in an Adobe .PDF format, visit http://www.nama.org/awards/PDAapplication.pdf.

You can also fill out the form on-line at http://www.nama.org/awards/pdaonlineform.htm.

It’s time to start putting your entries together for the Best of NAMA program. Best of NAMA honors the best work in agricultural communications. Companies and agencies must first qualify through a regional competition in order to advance to the national level. The national awards ceremony will take place April 11, 2007 at the Hyatt Regency Dallas at Reunion Arena. Regional awards ceremonies will be held in January. (For more information on regional ceremonies visit, http://www.nama.org/amc/bon/calendar.htm.)

Your local chapter receives $25 for every entry entered through that chapter. So enter your work and support your local chapter at the same time. For information on what’s eligible to enter, category information and the entry form, visit, http://www.nama.org/amc/bon/index.htm. The deadline for submitting entries is Friday, October 13.

Hear how producers have adapted to financial pressures and change in the ag industry at the 2006 Agribusiness Forum, November 14-15 in Kansas City.

Our producer panel will take place on November 14 with a group of innovative individuals who have uniquely positioned their businesses for long-term economic profitability.

Veteran farm broadcaster, Don Wick, Red River Farm Network, will moderate this panel which will give marketing professionals new insights into production agriculture.

Some of the producers confirmed for this panel discussion are Tyler Bruch, Bruchside Farms in Emmetsburg, IA and Bahia, Brazil; David Durham, Don Heil Farms and Paseo Biofuels in Hardin, MO; and John Vrieze, Emerald Dairy and Baldwin Dairy in Baldwin, WI.

Bruch currently manages about 11,000 acres of soybeans, cotton and popcorn on acreage he owns and rents for investors through his company, Global Ag Investments. Vrieze is a third-generation dairy producer who owns an interest in more than 3,000 dairy cows in Wisconsin. 

Our second panel discussion at the Forum will take place on November 15 and will focus on Biofuels – Pressures Fueling the Ag Industry. A panel of industry experts will help us understand the pressures emerging within agriculture and what might lay ahead for bio-based fuels.

Mike Adams, host of AgriTalk will moderate this panel. Our experts include, Rick Tolman, National Corn Growers Association; Neil Dierks, National Pork Producers Council; and Kendell Keith, National Feed & Grain Association.

Tolman currently serves as CEO of the National Corn Growers Association. Prior to NCGA he was the executive director for the U.S. Grains Council and has worked in market planning at International Harvester Company and the Gehl Company.

Dierks is CEO of the National Pork Producers Council. Previously, Dierks was the special activities director for the Iowa Pork Producers Association and marketing director for the Iowa Corn Promotion Board.

Keith is the president of the National Grain and Feed Association. The NGFA represents companies in grain processing, grain elevation, feed manufacturing, exporting and futures. Prior to joining NGFA, Keith was a policy economist for the National Cotton Council.

Keep up-to-date on the Agribusiness Forum web site at www.nama.org/forum.

To register for the Forum visit, https://nama.org/forum/register.htm.

If you are interested in sponsoring a session or event at this year’s Forum, contact Eldon White in the NAMA office at (913) 491-6500 or via e-mail at [email protected].

The Arizona State University student NAMA chapter is working hard on their student marketing competition project. Mark Manfredo, associate professor and student NAMA advisor, reports that courtesy of a grant they received from the USDA, three students will be going to Greece to work on their marketing competition project.

The students will be examining the potential to market Arizona Desert Durum Wheat Pasta to markets in the Balkans (Greece, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, etc.) The ASU students have their product and will be doing research on how to market a food product to a foreign country.

Attendees at the 2006 NAMA Boot Camp were surprised with a special visit from the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Mike Johanns on August 23.

The Secretary was in the Kansas City area speaking at another conference and dropped by to talk to attendees about world trade policies and how important they are. Johanns has been the most involved Secretary of Agriculture in dealing with world trade policies. His passion for trade policies has been evident during his tenure as Secretary of Agriculture. Days after he took office, he began working with U.S. trading partners to reopen their markets to U.S. beef. Nearly 119 countries had closed their markets after a single finding of a BSE-infected cow in the U.S. in 2003. Within his first year, Johanns convinced nearly half that number to reopen markets.

To improve access to markets he has traveled the world, participating in World Trade Organization negotiations and promoting the successful passage of the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement.

If you missed the Secretary at the NAMA Boot Camp, you’ll have another chance to see him speak at the Gateway NAMA/St. Louis Agribusiness Club monthly meeting on Friday, September 15 at the Crown Plaza Hotel – Clayton, Grand Ballroom on the lower level, 7750 Carondelet Avenue, St. Louis, MO. Cost is $25 with advance registration. To RSVP, e-mail [email protected] or call 636-449-5040 by Tuesday, September 5th.

Over 100 recruits survived the 2006 NAMA Boot Camp, August 22-24 in Kansas City. The NAMA Boot Camp officially began with a networking reception followed by a Kansas City Style Barbecue. Afterwards, Dallas Ford, AlphaScouts, led a producer panel discussion with Darren Furbeck, Furbeck Farms, Ron Robbins, dairy and crop producer, and Bret Fahrmeier, Fahrmeier Farms, about how to effectively communicate with the end user. Attendees were given the chance to ask producers questions about their involvement in farming, products they use and challenges they face.

The next morning began with breakfast and the opening session, Ag Policy and How it Relates to Your Job with David Rouzer, USDA Rural Development. Rouzer gave a basic view of the Farm Bill and the impact on agriculture and rural communities with attendees. Rouzer’s information was a perfect lead into a surprise presentation by U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Mike Johanns.

Following the special presentation by Secretary Johanns, participants were able to choose between two breakout sessions on a Year in the Life of a Livestock Producer with Ron Robbins and a Year in the Life of a Crop Producer with Debbie Lyons-Blythe. Robbins, and his wife, own a diversified ag business that includes a 4000 acre crop operation which includes corn, soybeans, wheat, barley, alfalfa, hay and provides all feed and forages for their 500-cow dairy operation. Lyons-Blythe, along with her husband, own and operate, Blythe Angus. They maintain 250 cows year round and calve and breed artificially and run the cattle on native grass and brome.

Dr. Gene Brown, director of the Center for Direct Marketing, Education and Research at The Henry Bloch School of Business at UMKC, presented Business-to-Business Marketing during the luncheon on Aug. 23. Dr. Brown explained how the CRM (customer relationship model) survey can be used to identify the needs and attitudes of our customers to help us create the most effective marketing plans for maximizing customer satisfaction and retention.

After lunch, attendees participated in more breakout sessions on Internal Marketing Tools and Working with Checkoff Boards. Mike Gustafson, John Deere and Allison Bass, AGCO Corporation joined forces to teach Boot Camp participants about the pro’s and con’s of internal marketing and the keys to successful internal marketing. Some of the keys to success include: promoting teamwork; capitalizing on your core strengths; outsource items that require temporary expertise; and be competitive in the marketplace. Monte Reese, Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board, discussed how checkoff boards brought us the “incredible edible egg,” “Pork. The Other White Meat,” “Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner,” and “Cotton. The Fabric of Our Lives.” Reese also discussed the dual role of the checkoff board. The first role is marketing to consumers on behalf of farmers and ranchers (building a brand commodity) and the second role is communicating to farmers and ranchers about their programs. In addition, Reese also talked about what checkoff boards want from their agencies and some of the mistakes that are made.

The afternoon continued with more breakouts on Evaluating Media and Measuring ROI with Ted Haller, AdFarm and Dealing with Activists with Judy Rupnow, Morgan&Myers. Haller explained that you need to define what you and/or your clients expecations are on ROI. In addition, he discussed what is the reality on media’s role relative to ROI, how to build the ROI Media Model and how to deal with any errors. Rupnow talked to attendees about what activism is and how it works along with who are the activists. She said when confronted with activism you should listen to what they are saying, consider the possibility that they are correct, define the zone of acceptability and work with experts to find a reasonable end. When responding to activism you should maintain your credibility, look for win-win opportunities, secure realists, collaborate with the media, anticipate the activists actions and arguments and borrow from their tactics.

The last day of the Boot Camp kicked off with a continental breakfast and client and agency panel discussions. The client panel was led by Cliff Becker, Food 360 and panel members included Jane Allman, Cargill Animal Nutrition; Stephanie Gable, Ft. Dodge Animal Health; and Bill Pool, Adculture Inc. The agency panel was led by Jim Gresham, Adculture Inc. and panel members included Mike Butler, archer>malmo; Bob Wilhelm, AdFarm; and Leigh Thiel, Martin Williams.

The NAMA Boot Camp ended with The Future of Agri-Marketing with Hugh Whaley, Osborn & Barr Communications. Whaley said to more accurately predict what the future may hold, we need to understand and have a good grasp of the past. He discussed agri-marketing in the 70s, 80s, 90s and the changes that have occurred since then, as well as how agri-marketing is today. Whaley said that the future of agri-marketing will include technology, biofuels, crop trends, continued impact of international markets and more mergers. In addition, he says that marketing strategies will continue to fragment the ag audience, there will be less mass media and more micro-targeting. There will also be more emphasis on CRM and PR and a new media delivery systems. What does this all mean to the future agri-marketer? Adapt or die.

We’d like to take a minute to give a special thanks to all of the sponsors who made the 2006 NAMA Boot Camp possible. For a complete list of our sponsors visit, http://www.nama.org/programs/bootcamp.htm#sponsors.

The MoKan NAMA chapter hosted it’s second annual ag tour inconjunction with the NAMA Boot Camp on Tuesday, August 22.

Tour attendees first stopped at the Kansas City Board of Trade where they experienced the market opening and trading in action. Next, attendees stopped at the Tailgate Ranch where Kirk Sours explained how the cow-calf operation works.

Tailgate Ranch is a commercial cow-calf operation consisting of about 1,500 acres of cool-season grass and legume pastures, 390 acres of brome hay meadows, and 60 acres of alfalfa. Tailgate was formed in 1962 by Paul McKie and is located at Tonganoxie, Kansas. The ranch currently consists of about 300 females. The main focus has been developing and breeding high-quality replacement females following a strict culling regime in order to build a superior maternal cow herd. Feedlot and carcass data have been collected to help improve feed efficiency and product quality.

Next on the tour was a stop for lunch at Pendleton Farms. During lunch, John and Karen Pendleton grow three varieties of asparagus that are propagated for crowns and are sold each February. The farm also grows corn, wheat and soybeans, and the cattle feedlot has been converted into a parking lot for customers at Pendleton’s Country Market. The list of produce has grown to include all kinds of vegetables and flowers, as well as honey and jams made by neighboring growers. The Pendleton’s also discussed how they are recovering from a microburst that destroyed part of the farm in March, 2006.

The last stop on the Ag Tour was Heritage Tractor which is one of the largest John Deere dealerships in the region. Heritage Tractor supplies top of the line and high-quality crop production equipment to both traditional farmers/ranchers and the rural lifestyle audiences. Attendees got to check out the equipment upclose and even got to “test drive” some of the equipment.

Special thanks to MoKan NAMA for hosting the Ag Tour again this year!