Prairie Ramblings

And Now, a Word from Our Sponsor….

By Tracy Sayler
tsayler@prairieagcomm.com

With each growing season comes a new wave of commercial advertisements encouraging farmers to buy various products such as pesticides and machinery.  Some of these radio, TV, and print commercials are lame; I get particularly peeved by spots that stereotype farmers.

For instance, anyone else notice that a number of farm ads and a good share of radio and TV market reports are often accompanied by banjo-pickin’ music?  Just once, I’d like to see them can the Hee Haw and summarize crop futures closings with rock n’ roll in the background.  Maybe tunes that reflect the direction of each day’s markets. If prices go up, then the background music of the market report could be “Walkin on Sunshine,” by Katrina and the Waves; “Celebration,” by Kool and the Gang; or Frank Sinatra crooning “Fly Me to the Moon.”

When prices take a dive, they could play “Don’t Bring Me Down” by ELO; “Another One Bites the Dust,” by Queen; or “Help!” by The Beatles. I suppose any woeful blues tune would work too.

In ad land, the typical farmer’s wardrobe consists of blue jeans, red flannel shirts and seed caps.  His name is Clem, Cletus, or Clarence, and he spends most of his time driving down a country road in his pickup truck, listening to country music and checking crops. Of course, he speaks with a hick accent. “Durn it,” Clem/Cletus/Clarence says, to Bo, his trusty farm dog.  “We done got pigeongrass in this here field.  But land sakes! That field over yonder is clean as a whistle.  That’s because this year, I treated my grain with Slayer™, the new herbicide that slays yield-robbing weeds and has a wide window of application. Of course, Bo, you should always read and follow label directions, and see your dealer for more information.”

Quite obviously, not all PR agencies consist of out-of-touch blabber mouth pitchmen from the big city.  I got a kick out of a radio ad that ran this spring which poked fun of, well, out-of-touch blabber mouth pitchmen from the big city. 

The ad by Minneapolis-based Martin Williams Advertising for a seed treatment product begins with big, bold music. The pitchman with a typical radio voice gushes, “Are you a wheat farmer? Then you should try Dividend XL/RTA seed treatment.  Now an even better value, it’s been reformulated to provide better protection against 16 types of diseases….16? (big bold music stops; radio pitchman pauses, then continues to speak, pondering aloud what he’s been reading from his script:) Man, that’s a lot of diseases… yeah, as if bugs and weather weren’t enough, right? Now I’m starting to feel guilty. Farming is hard work.  I come into work to the studio every day and read a script, drink some spring water, and go home. I don’t really worry about pythium or rhizoctonia. Though sometimes I do get an ear ache from the headphones....OK, it says here that Dividend XL/RTA has less dust off and better flowability.  I have no idea what those are.  Am I really making a difference?  I’m not saying I could be a farmer, no no. You should see my lawn...sad...”

To walk a mile in the farmer’s shoes, so to speak, another PR agency with ag clientele went so far as to get into farming—literally. This is the second year that AdFarm in Fargo, N.D. will be renting cropland.  The agency contracts with a farmer to plant, care for, and harvest the crop, but AdFarm staffers make their own crop management, input, and marketing decisions. This year, AdFarm plans to grow about 70 acres of corn.  If planting is delayed, then they’ll plant wheat. Last year, the Fargo agency grew about 65 acres of soybeans, and took insurance on some of the crop that was prevented planting because of wet weather. Total net profit from their soybean crop last year: $75.

“In contrast, our office in Calgary (Canada) planted identity preserved canola and was hoping for big things.  They got decent quality but low yields because of drought, so they lost money,” says Colin Clarke, with AdFarm’s Fargo office.  This year will mark the fifth year that the Canadian office has been involved in crop farming.

Clarke says the Fargo and Calgary offices have a friendly competition to see who will grow the best crop. The main intention of the project is to learn more about farming, however, and the experiences that go with it, including success, failure, hassles and worry. “The more we can learn about farming, the better work we can do on behalf of our clients,” he says.

AdFarm plans to add another employee-run farm affiliated with its office near Kansas City.  AdFarm in Fargo posts updates on the status of its crop on the Internet at www.crazyaboutfarming.com.  If you visit the web site, be sure to download the free “Whack a Weed” game, developed by Dow Agro-Sciences of Canada, in which the player/farmer attempts to hack rogue, run-away rhizomes (whole game is less than one MB). Click on “entertainment,” then on the link below the graphic  “Whack A Weed.”