FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NAMA Recognizes Kansas AgriTourism News

The National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) , Region II, recognized Frontier Farm Credit with its Merit Award for Electronic Publications at its 2006 banquet in January. The award is based on multiple issues of this newsletter, the Kansas AgriTourism News, which is produced monthly by Eckert AgriMarketing for the state of Kansas, and sponsored by Frontier Farm Credit.

Eckert AgriMarketing plans, writes, and designs the monthly newsletter in a special cooperative agreement with the state of Kansas Departments of Commerce and Agriculture, as well as Frontier Farm Credit, which provides the funding. The agreement also contracts Eckert AgriMarketing to design, write, and maintain the website for Kansas Agritourism businesses, found at www.kansasagritourism.org.

Eckert AgriMarketing CEO Jane Eckert has served as the Kansas Agritourism consultant for 2004 and 2005, conducting both statewide and regional workshops, and working directly with individual farms and ranches, as well as Kansas tourism professionals. Eckert also has been the agritourism consultant to the Kansas Agritourism Council.

The monthly newsletter and the website are both managed by Bill Mauk, Senior Marketing Director, under Eckert's supervision. The two also recently co-authored two new books, Fresh Grown Customer Communications In Print and Fresh Grown Customer Communications On The World Wide Web, which show farmers and ranchers how to apply basic marketing skills to learn more about their customers, and then how to use their website, newsletters, and direct mail to keep guests coming back often!

Only two awards were presented in this category, the Merit Award won by Eckert AgriMarketing for Frontier Farm Credit, and the first place award which went to the John Deere Agricultural Marketing Center.