Around 35 members of the North Central NAMA Chapter met for lunch on November 17 to polish up their presentation skills, a topic of high interest to chapter members. Chapter programming chair, Jill Wenzel with the AdCulture Group, scrambled to get more chairs and order more lunches to accommodate the larger-than-expected crowd.

Veteran agri-marketer Dan Schwalbe was the speaker. Schwalbe spent 29 years with CIBA’s Agricultural Division in sales, training and human resource development before forming his own consulting firm. Dan’s presentation centered on the concept that “every presentation you make (or have a chance to make) represents an opportunity to influence people.” Using acronyms like “SMART,” “MAMA,” “3xE,” and SAQUS?,” Dan gave the audience memory tips to help them plan, develop and deliver informative presentations with high impact. “And finally,” he instructed, “remember the ‘Turkey Close:’ 1. Know your stuff; 2. Know who you’re stuff’n; and 3. Know when to stop stuff’n.”

The next meeting of the North Central NAMA Chapter will be a Texas Hold ‘Em Poker Tournament on December 15th at the Padilla Speer Beardsley offices in downtown Minneapolis. The $30 entry fee to the tournament will be donated by the chapter to the Minnesota Ag in the Classroom project.

High fuel costs and low commodity prices have all of us in agriculture thinking. Our bottom line, whether as a producer, supplier, or service provider is impacted by these very issues.

On Wednesday, November 16, the Cornbelt NAMA chapter hosted a panel discussion on the benefits, drawbacks and potential of ethanol and biodiesel fuels. The event took place at Linn Co-op Oil in Marion, Iowa. The audience ranged from those producing the commodities to those supplying the producer with services and products to those utilizing the end product.

The interactive panel discussion was moderated by Rich Balvanz with Ag Management Services. John Airy and John Heisdorffer provided not only a local producers perspective but a state and national perspective based on their involvement with the Corn and Soybean Associations. Hawkeye Renewables was represented by Bruce Rastetter, CEO, who has an operating ethanol plant in Iowa Falls and will soon have a new plant in Fairbanks, IA. The Petroleum Manager for the Linn Co-op, John Airy, shared the perspective of the supplier of the end product.

The co-op, celebrating its 75th year has recently installed an E85 fuel pump. E85 is a blend of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. The price is under that of the traditional gallon of gas or gas blend and can be burned by vehicles that are equipped to run on any ethanol blend up to 85%. These vehicles are referred to as Flexible Fuel Vehicles and are offered by all the major car manufacturers. The limit to this fuel is its availability. Very few stations supply this product making it difficult for the average consumer to take advantage of its benefits.

How does the relationship between renewable fuel plants and producers work? Ethanol/biodiesel plants located in Iowa have a sure supply of inputs to make their product from. Producers, many of whom have invested in ethanol plants, have a source to sell their commodity to. Having an additional avenue to sell product impacts commodity prices favorably for all producers as the technology is accepted and expected by consumers as a fuel. The feed by-product remaining after the ethanol has been processed is sold to livestock producers located near the plant.

Technology and the resources available in Iowa provide the perfect marriage for production of renewable fuels and commodity supply. Is the marriage made in heaven? Who knows? But as consumers demand cheaper fuel alternatives and producers lobby to make fuel blends like E85 more available it could be another feather in sustainable agriculture’s cap.

Gateway NAMA had a tremendous turnout of nearly 60 people at their chapter meeting on November 15. And no wonder — renewable fuels is certainly a hot topic for the ag industry today. Attendees had the opportunity to hear an updates from David Sparks, regional manager for CoBank; John Kleiboeker, director of field services for the American Soybean Association; and Chris Standlee, executive vice president of Abengoa Bioenergy Corporation.

Mr. Sparks provided an overview of the risks and considerations involved in financing a biofuels production facilty. Mr Kleiboeker focused on the role of biodiesel and expansion efforts taking place here in Missouri, and Mr. Standlee discussed the growth of ethanol production and how Abengoa’s research & development efforts were helping to expand this.

Special thanks to our sponsors for the meeting — the National Biodiesel Board and the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council. If you would like additional information on this topic or on any of the speakers, please contact us at gatewaynama@yahoo.com.

The next Gateway luncheon meeting is set for January 10, 2006.

Since November 3, we’ve had 11 new members join NAMA. Some of these new members were recruited by current members. We’d like to take a moment to notice our newest members and their recruiters:

At Large:
James Armetta, Alter Image

Badger:
Dan Dogs, Lake Country Dairy, Inc.

Carolinas/Virginia:
Heather Murphy, Gibbs & Soell, Inc. was referred by Ann Camden, Gibbs & Soell, Inc.

Heartland:
Maggie Martin, WGFA Radio 94.1 FM 1360 AM was referred by Don Schultz, Clear Channel Ag Networks and NAMA Adovate

Iowa:
Dean Heffta, Agra Placements, Ltd. was referred by Todd Schomburg, Stine Seed Company
Kristin Terdik, Technekes, LLC was referred by Preston Fay, Technekes, LLC

Midlands:
Rebecca Bruning, Raven Industries

Missouri-Kansas:
Matt Weeks, VML, Inc.

North Central:
Josette Hutchinson, Colle+McVoy was referred by Jamie Moran, Colle+McVoy

Northern Prairie:
Carina Emil, Amity Technology was referred by Katie Lukens, AdFarm
Don Kosolofski, MICADA was referred by Katie Lukens, AdFarm

NAMA is proud to announce two new additions to the Advocate Program. The goal of the new advocates is to help recruit new members and advocate for the organization.

Special thanks to new advocates, Lori Strum, Strategic America; Phil Johnson, Colle+McVoy; and Teresa Hinrichs, CMS.

For a complete list of NAMA Advocates visit, http://www.nama.org/advocate.

If you are interested in becoming an advocate, you will receive membership materials from the NAMA office to help you get started. In addition, you will get the satisfaction of helping the organization and you’ll be recognized in the NAMA News section of Agri Marketing magazine, NAMA e-news and Grassroots newsletter. You’ll also be recognized at the Agribusiness Forum and the Agri-Marketing Conference with a ribbon on your name badge, and will be invited to the "First Timer/Leader" reception at the conference.

Start advocating today! Sign-up at http://www.nama.org/advocate/advocatesignup.htm