ZimmComm New Media would like to wish everyone a Happy 4th of July celebration. I thought it would be a good opportunity to borrow some prose from Rick Tolman, NCGA, about energy independence and the role ethanol is playing. Here are some excerpts from his most recent Our View:
Another Fourth of July is upon us and as we prepare to celebrate this nation’s independence it is also a good time to reflect on our dangerous reliance of imported petroleum and ask what more we should we be doing to assure our energy independence.
This Independence Day we should be resolute and re-commit ourselves to making the right choices for America. We can pursue a strategic national initiative that will lead us to energy independence — and put America back in control of its destiny. We can start by looking for ethanol fuel at the pump. It is readily available as a 10 percent blend and E85 is becoming more common – as are the flexible-fuel vehicles that can utilize this clean-burning fuel.
Don’t be fooled by sensational headlines and pseudo-science funded by anti-ethanol factions. Ethanol continues to be as good an idea today as it has always been because of its contributions to our environment, energy security and economy.
Productivity on America’s farms is at an all time high and through technology and innovation farmers are growing five times more corn than they did in the 1930s on 20 percent less land. And this is being accomplished in a more sustainable way, with soil erosion cut more than 44 percent in the last 20 years and fertilizer used to grow a bushel of corn down 36 percent since 1980.
So, at the family barbecue or fireworks this weekend, tell your friends and family to do their part by using ethanol. Ask them to encourage their elected officials to continue to support using increased blends of this proven American fuel.
According to AgNews on Twitter (yes I’m reporting Twitter news), Tricia Braid-Terry is the new Director of Communications for Illinois Corn Growers. She’s much better looking than Mark Lambert her predecessor who is now with NCGA. I’ll bet Mark would like to be in this picture though. This is from when Tricia was in Guatemala the U. S. Grains Council.
We’ll be seeing her this weekend at the @farmerspice wedding. That would be Leah Guffey. I’m pretty sure there will be tweets and pics starting this evening. Should be a fun 4th of July!
Steve Tucker had a busy day. Things can kind of get that way when you’ve been featured in a major news story by an outlet like CNN. This twittering farmer took the time to talk with me via Skype and his mobile phone this afternoon about what is actually a shared experience since yours truly was also quoted in the story. My hat is off to reporter John Sutter for doing a great job. He’s from Oklahoma so I guess he had a good background to draw on!
Steve’s Twitter followers have more than doubled today. He got a comment back from a non-farmer who said, “Keep us entertained for those of us for those of us who have to live our life in a cubicle.” As Steve puts it, “I walk out of my front yard and I’m in my office.” Here’s one of his tweets from today talking about the social aspect of what he’s doing, especially when he’s got time on the tractor:
Last year I would sit in my tractor and think, man I’m lonely. 2day I think, where is everyone going to fit in this cab?
I think that this is a great example of how social media/networking can help bridge the communication gap between farm and non farm.
The Twittering Farmer just did a great job letting people have a little bit of insight into who produces their food.
Steve told ‘em like it is. Up to 15 hours in a tractor can get a little lonely and boring but not with the communications tools of today. You can read all about it on CNN.com. How’s that for some social networking communications results? You can follow Steve on his blog.
Post Update: CNN has posted the full video of the interview with Steve Tucker:
CNN.com has a nice story by John D. Sutter that covers how farmers are communicating today with their smartphones and Twitter. He spoke with my main man Steve Tucker, Nebraska farmer and Any Kleinschmidt, Ohio State University Extension Agriculture Educator and Assistant Professor and yours truly and also mentions AgChat. Here’s an excerpt:
As he rolls across the wheat fields of his Nebraska farm, Steve Tucker often has his hands not on the wheel of his tractor, but on a smartphone. Steve Tucker, a Twittering farmer, pauses in front of his tractor in Nebraska.
He sometimes posts a dozen messages per day on Twitter, commenting on everything from the weather to the state of his crops to his son’s first tractor ride and even last night’s cheeseburger.
He wants to bring urban Internet users along for the ride. And in doing so, he’s become a sort of text-happy evangelist for rural America.
I love the term, “twittering farmer.” We need more of them and there are a lot already. What’s your take on farmers using new social networking tools to communicate with each other and the general public?
Could you use your YouTube channel as your website homepage? Of course you can. Take BooneOakley, a full-service ad agency in Charlotte, NC as an example.
Want to know about their agency? They’ve got a video for that. Want to know how to contact them? They’ve got a video for that. And so on. The videos have links in them to each other. I need to learn how to do that.
I’ve upgraded our YouTube channel to the new theme viewer and notice that you not only have email built in but you can now do posts in the Recent Activity section. This is really adding new and useful functionality to the site. The image here is from the Insight statistics that are now available to you which give you a lot of information about your video downloads including some basic demographic information. As an example, it shows that we’re getting about 500 views of our videos a day on average. That’s over the 267 videos we currently have archived.
Looks like you’ve now got another great option for starting your own website without a lot of $’s invested! Would you do it?
Growth Energy is building a team from the grassroots to speak up for the ethanol industry.
CEO Tom Buis says they created the eTeam to be “an army of thousands of ethanol consumers and supporters who are willing to take action to spread the message that ethanol is a clean, green renewable fuel available today.”
Buis says they already have 1200 eTeam members signed up who are armed with factual ethanol information to comment on blog posts, write letters to the editor, speak to local organizations, participate in community events, and contact their state and national lawmakers about policy issues.
“Now’s the time we have to stand up in a proactive manner and go out and tell that good story,” Buis says. “Tell people that we’re a low carbon fuel, we emit less greenhouse gases than gasoline, tell them we create jobs and we are helping our nation address a problem that has existed for the past 35 years, that literally our economy and our nation are held over a barrel - an oil barrel.”
Growth Energy is reaching out to people in rural communities where ethanol has created jobs, to farmers, and to consumers who believe in the benefits of ethanol for the economy, the environment and energy security.
I might have been a little “quiet” here the last two days but that’s what 760 miles of driving will do to you. This morning I had a brainstorming session with our sales guy Dave Larson, seen hard at work on his Eee PC. No way I was going to get out of a meeting without a picture. Many of you will be hearing from Dave in coming weeks. He’s looking forward to discussing how to promote your agency, clients, product, services, company using the ZimmComm News Network.
Yesterday I spent time in St. Joe, MO with Andrew McCrea, American Countryside and Tom Brand, KFEQ. We just finished building a new website for Andrew and I was doing a little training with them. Andrew has a daily radio program that he also offers in podcast form and Tom helps him with production.
I also had other meetings that included dinner with Joanna Schroeder, 4R Communications, last night and BCS Communications this afternoon. Joanna contributes to AgWired and our Domestic Fuel website. We’re providing her with some website support for two new ones for other clients of hers. At BCS we discussed the John Deere Drive Green Utility Tractor Show project which is coming to a close for now.
So, it’s been a busy time and tomorrow I’ll be off to the Missouri Beef Industry Council for advance blog and Twitter training.
President Barack Obama reached out to the farm media this week to promote his administration’s National Rural Tour.
Doing the honors of interviewing the president on behalf of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting was past president Michelle Rook of WNAX, Yankton, SD. Michelle was able to ask Obama about several agricultural issues in the ten minute interview, including renewable fuels, the climate change bill, whether farmers should be concerned about increasing regulations, and how the government might be able to help the livestock industry.
Vice President Joe Biden, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, and Federal Communications Commission Chair Julius Genakowski kicked off the “rural road trip” today in Pennsylvania, announcing $4 billion in loans and grants to bring broadband internet service to rural communities. Other stops are planned in Alaska, Louisiana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin. USDA has even launched a Rural Tour website and a Twitter feed for the tour.
I just found out that good friend Colleen Callahan has been named State Director for Rural Development for Illinois.
“Colleen Callahan will be an important advocate on behalf of rural communities throughout the state and help administer the valuable programs and services provided by the USDA that can enhance their economic success,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
Callahan is currently the President of Chicago Farmers and runs Colleen Callahan Communications, where she provides communications services to a variety of organizations, including the USDA. In 2008, Callahan was a candidate for the 18th congressional district of Illinois. She has extensive experience in broadcast radio producing segments on agricultural and agribusiness issues. Callahan was the first woman elected as President to the National Association of Farm Broadcasting in 2002, and has received many awards for her broadcast work and contributions to agricultural associations. Her family raises purebred Angus cattle on a family farm near Kickapoo, Illinois. Callahan has a bachelor’s degree in agricultural communications from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
ACDC, not the group, has a new helper. That would be the Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
We extend a special welcome to Karlie Elliott who joined the ACDC staff during May following her graduation from the agricultural communications program here, with a news-editorial emphasis. She is helping search for documents, review them and process them into the collection. This fall she will enter the masters degree program in the Department of Advertising here at the University of Illinois.
Meat Water is billed as a “High Efficiency Survival Beverage.” Seems pretty fishy to me. Why? Because it’s the brainchild of German born artist, Till Krautkramer. Till “was born on planet earth in Heidelberg, Germany, just in time to watch the1969 moon landing. It’s possible that the ontological anxiety brought about by this historical event helped shape his rare personality type: The German With A Sense Of Humor.” He’s an artist and photographer. He’s very well connected socially since you can find him on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and a blog connected with Meat Water. And there’s even a blog to point out that Meat Water, just plain “isn’t.”
So, visit DinnerInABottle.com and pick out your favorite flavor. This one seemed especially humorous to me.
IN HONOR OF OUR NEW PRESIDENT, Liquid Innovations, maker of MeatWater™ is introducing HopeJuice™ “Kenyan Beef Stew” as the first Economic Survival Flavor exclusively for Airforce One and the White House and soon for the entire Free World as a whole.
Kenyan Beef Stew
Beef Chuck, Onions, Tomato ( Tumeric + Ginger)
I HAVE A DREAM!
YES WE CAN. . . CHANGE OUR ENERGY DRINK! This is the flavor Barack’s father was dreaming about! Tomatoes, beans and garlic along with a secret combination of African spices and the finest Kansas corn-fed beef are cooked slowly until the flavors meld together into an inspiring, hope-filled beverage that provides sustained energy for when the White House phone rings at 3AM. We promise this will satisfy both the Left and the Right! And with times the way they are, who has the cash to buy all these ingredients? It’s Economic Stimulus in a bottle!
Monsanto Company announced it has entered into a collaboration agreement with Dole Fresh Vegetables, Inc., to develop new products that will enhance consumer vegetable choices.
BASF has more than 100 plot tours planned this summer to demonstrate the performance of the new Kixor herbicide technology.
The National Pork Board is seeking input from pork producers across the country for a new plan to shape the future of the U.S. pork industry. The objective of the planning process is to find new solutions to the economic, social, and scientific challenges facing the pork industry.
It seems like more and more companies, organizations and individuals are taking the initiative to help educate our young people today about where their food comes from. Alpharma has joined the effort with it’s new Reach Teach Learn program. Their goal is to “provide youth with the information they need to ensure that honest, educated decisions are made.” Of course you can find them on Twitter.
Alpharma Inc. Animal Health announced the launch of Reach Teach Learn, a grassroots educational program, at the 2009 Agriculture in the Classroom Conference in St. Louis, Missouri. The program supports local school districts and colleges through initiatives that encourage students to learn more about agriculture and how their food is produced, and to share their insights and knowledge about what they learned.
“There has never been a better time to familiarize students with current agricultural trends and how their decisions affect society,” says Jeff Mellinger, Global Leader, Sales & Marketing for Alpharma Inc., Animal Health. “These initiatives are small steps towards better, more informed and educated students.”
Reach Teach Learn consists of two main initiatives, a student video contest and an essay contest. The video contest gives college students enrolled in agriculture coursework the opportunity to display their passion for agriculture by creating a video depicting current, ethical agriculture practices. The essay contest, which will be launched for the first time this fall, was created in collaboration with “Ag in the Classroom,” a grassroots program coordinated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In this initiative high school students are asked to provide their perspective writing of an essay on agriculture based on a lesson plan based on a selected book.
The contests will begin in September and will run through the middle of December. To learn more about Reach Teach Learn, specific initiatives and official contest rules, please visit the program Web site at www.ReachTeachLearn.com.
If you won’t be attending this year’s Ag Media Summit you can still meet the AAEA intern online. She’s Leah Bigham and she’s blogging away. Uh, Leah, can you give Den a few Twitter tips too while you’re at it!
Hello! My name is Leah, and I am an Agricultural Communications Student, attending Fresno State University where I anticipate graduating next spring. I have been given the opportunity to intern alongside JoAnn this summer, at Farms.com in Iowa. I am excited about the opportunity, and all of the experiences I will be exposed to. I will use this blog to frequently update my readers about those experiences, and am confident this summer will provide me with the memories, experience, and contacts I drove across country in search of. Thank you for visiting!
Now this is the kind of experience the ag editors of tomorrow need to be getting.
The early-entry deadline for the popular National Corn Yield Contest is Wednesday, July 1, the National Corn Growers Association reminds growers.
Safe equipment is critical when working in agricultural environments that can contain chemicals, explosive gases, flammable vapors or combustible dust. Energizer Intrinsically Safe Lights are Class I Division I safety certified, impact resistant and “safety orange” for instant recognition.
The Honduran Foundation for the Promotion of Investments and Exports, FIDE, will hold two free seminars in the United States this month: Chicago at the World Trade Center Illinois and FIDE, 8 a.m. to noon Friday, June 26; San Jose at the Greater San Jose Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, 6:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Monday, June 29.
NOVUS International created a Biological Marketing Department with the addition of Bruce King as Director of Biological Markets and John Browning as Organic Acids Product Manager for organic acids.
Standard & Poor’s announced the launch of the S&P Agribusiness North America Index, the industry’s first index comprised solely of agribusiness companies in North America.
Since it’s grilling time (as if it is ever not grilling time), I want to make sure you know about Blues Hog Barbecue Sauce. This is one of my personal favorites and goes best with pork and chicken (IMHO). So how about you? What’s your favorite sauce? Leave a comment and hopefully a link so we can find it.
Blues Hog Barbecue Sauce comes from our original recipe created by Bill Arnold, The Pit Master & Chef of the Blues Hog Cookers. The formula is Award Winning, and made from the highest quality sugars and spices in a way which sets our standards high above other commercial sauces. Blues Hog Sauce contains no preservatives, is also low in calories and contains no fat. The sauce has been successful in winning many competitions and is being sold and shipped all over the United States as well as a few foreign countries.
This year’s Show-Me Tractor Cruise is in the books and looks like it was a good one. It is a benefit ride for Camp Quality Northwest Missouri, a summer camp and year-round support program whose lives have been changed due to cancer.
This year’s Show-Me Tractor Cruise was another success! 321 tractors registrered for the ride…302 checked in and 272 tractors drove the route! Thanks to everyone who was part of the day and made this year’s Tractor Cruise a success! At this time, we’re estimating the total dollars raised at approximately $40,000 for Camp Quality Northwest Missouri. An official total will be announced after Independence Day.
Mark your calendars now: The 2010 Show-Me Tractor Cruise will be held Saturday, June 26th.
This was my scene for a while this afternoon. A group of my neighbors and I bought Trimble Lake and have cleaned it, stocked it and cut a trail around it. Actually, they did all the work so far. It’s not a big lake but big enough to fish on and enjoy the scenery.
This was a beautiful place to sit in the shade this afternoon since it’s only about 85 degrees with a nice breeze. That’s far different than yesterday when my car registered 101 degrees and there was no breeze!
I did some fishing but no catching while I was there. Now I need to get a little jon boat to float out on the lake with . . .
AgWired readers may remember Laura McNamara, freelance photojournalist who wrote for us and covered a number of events.
According to her latest email she’s doing well in Guatemala. This is a photo she sent along to show her John Deere friends that they’ve got fans among the Chorti Maya Indians. He’s a a young Chorti Maya boy living in a small, rural village just outside of Copan Ruinas, Honduras.
She’s currently doing some freelance work for Revue Magazine along with some other photography projects. She’s also started selling prints of her work as well. Photography and writing are both big passions of hers along with travel. And as she puts it, “I love to document what I do, where I go and the people I meet.” You can find a lot of that on her website.
So, if you’re interested in what’s happening in ag in Central America you might want to get in touch with her and I am sure she would be happy to help you out.
Guess how many photos we've got in our archives that are tagged "farm." Let's just say, it's a lot..
Twittering Farmer
Farmers are twittering and then there's The Twittering Farmer.
He's Steve Tucker and my interview in this week's program. Steve and I discuss the story that featured him on CNN today and the feedback he's received which has been kind of overwhelming. He's a great advocate for agriculture who now has more Twitter followers than there are residents in his home town.
ZimmComm New Media would like to wish everyone a Happy 4th of July celebration. I thought it would be a good opportunity to borrow some prose from Rick Tolman, NCGA, about energy independence and the role ethanol is playing. Here are some excerpts from his most recent Our View:
According to 
Steve Tucker had a busy day. Things can kind of get that way when you’ve been 
I am so glad 
Could you use your YouTube channel as your website homepage? Of course you can. Take 
CEO Tom Buis says they created the eTeam to be “an army of thousands of ethanol consumers and supporters who are willing to take action to spread the message that ethanol is a clean, green renewable fuel available today.”
I might have been a little “quiet” here the last two days but that’s what 760 miles of driving will do to you. This morning I had a brainstorming session with our sales guy Dave Larson, seen hard at work on his 
Doing the honors of interviewing the president on behalf of the 
I just found out that good friend Colleen Callahan has been named State Director for Rural Development for Illinois.
ACDC, not the group, has a new helper. That would be the 
It seems like more and more companies, organizations and individuals are taking the initiative to help educate our young people today about where their food comes from. Alpharma has joined the effort with it’s new 
If you won’t be attending this year’s Ag Media Summit you can still meet the AAEA intern online. She’s Leah Bigham and 
Since it’s grilling time (as if it is ever not grilling time), I want to make sure you know about 
This year’s 
This was my scene for a while this afternoon. A group of my neighbors and I bought Trimble Lake and have cleaned it, stocked it and cut a trail around it. Actually, they did all the work so far. It’s not a big lake but big enough to fish on and enjoy the scenery.
AgWired readers may remember Laura McNamara, freelance photojournalist who wrote for us and covered a number of events. 
Farmers are twittering and then there's The Twittering Farmer.
