Speaking of new and social media . . . eConsultancy has a great post titled, “20+ more mind-blowing social media statistics.” There are some great statistics that Jake Hird has put together that might help put into perspective what’s happening with communications today. Here’s a couple to give you a sample of what you’ll find.
Around 64% of marketers are using social media for 5 hours or more each week during campaigns, with 39% using it for 10 or more hours per week.
It took radio 38 years to reach 50 million listeners. Terrestrial TV took 13 years to reach 50 million users. The internet took four years to reach 50 million people… In less than nine months, Facebook added 100 million users.
BASF is one of the latest companies to start moving into the social media world more and more. Recently you could start following @BASFAgro on Twitter. Now they’re loading new videos onto YouTube like this one that describes BASF Plant Sciences in the United States. Where do these companies get these ideas about using social/new media? Hmmm?
Osage Bio Energy, along with co-sponsors Perdue AgriBusiness, the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation and General Motors, recently announced the overall grand prize winner of the 2009 Barley Bin Builder Yield Contest.
Bobby Hutchison of Hutchison Brothers Farms in Cordova, MD, won the grand prize of a brand new GM Flex Fuel pickup truck with his yield of 130 bushels per acre. Cash prizes of between $500 and $1000 were also awarded to the top-yielding farmers in Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia.
“We are thrilled to reward these leading farmers for their outstanding barley yields in what was a tough year for small grains in the Mid-Atlantic,” said Craig Shealy, president and CEO of Osage Bio Energy. “The average yield per acre among all entrants to the yield contest was over 100 bushels an acre, with an average yield in Virginia of approximately 109 bushels an acre. These are nice results, especially considering the weather prior to harvest.”
Osage Bio Energy plans to sponsor another yield contest next year. Details will be available this fall through the company’s Web site, www.osagebioenergy.com, and through local extension agents.
Osage Bio Energy is scheduled to open the first major barley-to-ethanol bioprocessing facility in the United States, located in Hopewell, Va., to coincide with the 2010 barley harvest. The facility will use barley as its primary raw material in ethanol production, creating a new market for the local barley. Barley also will be used to produce a high-quality barley protein meal for livestock, along with fuel pellets and food-grade carbon dioxide.
AgWired coverage of IFAJ 2009 is sponsored by: and
I sat down with Keith Dunn with the United Soybean Board (USB) during the Ag Media Summit to see what their main initiatives currently are. Dunn explained to me the importance of animal agriculture and how supportive the USB was of this industry.
“Currently in the United States 98 percent of the soybean meal goes for animal feed for poultry, beef cattle and dairy cattle,” explained Dunn. “So we feel that animal agriculture is very important to the industry.”
Other important elements of the USB program include its work with biofuels as well as a responding to a recent request for referendum. Less than 1/10th of 1 percent of the growers requested a referendum on the soybean checkoff and Dunn mentioned that it shows that soybean farmers are very confident in their soybean checkoff and the work that is being done.
Biofuels is a hot topic and one that is very important to USB. “We’re concerned with the new renewable fuels standard and we want to make sure these are based on sound science, factual and will work for the American people.”
Quadruple Super Bowl champion quarterback and Pro Football Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw is the keynoter for the American Farm Bureau Federation’s 91st annual meeting in Seattle on January 11, 2010.
“Terry Bradshaw is an All-American icon, recognized for his accomplishments both on and off the field,” said AFBF President Bob Stallman. Bradshaw is renowned for his professional accomplishments in NFL football and sports broadcasting, in addition to achieving acclaim as an inspirational speaker, actor, author and gospel/country singer. To top it off, the former football great also owns an 800-acre ranch in Texas where he raises cattle and breeds horses.
Bradshaw will address more than 5,000 Farm Bureau members from across the nation who will gather in Seattle Jan. 10-13 to participate in the organization’s annual grassroots policy setting process. The meeting begins Sunday morning, Jan. 10 with the opening presidential address by Stallman. The annual Young Farmer and Rancher competitions, scheduled for Jan. 10 and Monday, Jan. 11, are just one of the highlights on the agenda. Another important feature on Sunday is the annual Farm Bureau Women’s luncheon and business session, which is open to all women attendees but advance purchase tickets are required to attend.
Farm Bureau members can register for the 91st AFBF convention through their state Farm Bureaus.
AgWired coverage of IFAJ 2009 is sponsored by: and
A little over a year ago Monsanto made a commitment to people around the world to sustainable agriculture. The company is working on products that will produce more than double current yields while reducing the resources needed to grow the crops by nearly one-third. They are so committed that they launched a website to discuss this topic: www.producemoreconservemore.com.
I was curious to learn more about Monsanto’s initiatives in the sustainability department so I caught up with Kevin Eblen, Vice President Public Policy & Sustainable Yield for Monsanto.
“What we’re trying to to get the world and the public to see and know is that we have the capability to produce more food and conserve resources at the same time,” explained Eblen. “So we went on record saying in the core crops that we focus on as a company which is corn, soybeans and cotton, that we can double the yields of these crops by 2030 with the starting year of 2000. And at the same time, through the use of technology we have and others’ have, that we could conserve resources by one-third to produce each unit of corn, beans and cotton.”
Eblen mentioned that the UN has determined that the world will need to produce as much food in the next 50 years that has been produced in the last 10,000 years. That is why Monsanto is working with farmers around the world to help them grow crops that are both sustainable and profitable.
AgWired coverage of IFAJ 2009 is sponsored by: and
As farmers are getting ready to harvest soon, it’s never too late to begin to think about products for the upcoming year. Nufarm is one of the largest crop protection companies in the world and is primarily at post patent company. After another company’s patent expires, Nufarm brings a similar product to market typically at a better value for the end user.
I was able to learn more about Nufarm’s products during the Ag Media Summit when I sat down with Director, Branding & Marketing Services, Brian Rund.
“This year we introduced 13 new seed treatment products for all the major crops,” said Rund. “We have greatly expanded our product line for range and pasture weed control. We’re also in the process of introducing a very broad range of herbicides for small grasses.”
Nufarm would like everyone to know that they are a very committed player in ag business. “We’re post patent but we’re not generic,” said Rund.
Almost 60% of of U. S. farms now have internet access and the use of DSL has become the most common method of accessing it. The National Agricultural Statistics Service just released its latest Farm Computer Usage and Ownership survey results. Here’s some key findings. Notice how much higher the numbers are for farmers with incomes over $100,000!
DSL was the most common method of accessing the Internet, with 36 percent of U.S. farms using it, up from 27 percent in 2007. In 2007, dialup was the most common method of accessing the internet. Dialup access dropped from 47 percent in 2007 to 23 percent in 2009. Satellite and wireless were each reported as the primary internet access methods on 13 percent of those U.S. farms with Internet access. Cable was reported as the primary access method
on 11 percent of the farms.
A total of 59 percent of U.S. farms now have Internet access, compared with 57 percent in 2007. Sixty-four percent of farms have access to a computer in 2009, the same level as 2007. The proportion of U.S. farms owning or leasing a computer in 2009, at 61 percent, was up 1 percentage point from 2007. Farms using computers for their farm business increased 1 percentage point from 2007 to 36 percent in 2009.
In 2009, 81 percent of U.S. farms with sales and government payments of $250,000 or more have access to a computer, 79 percent own or lease a computer, 69 percent are using a computer for their farm business, and 76 percent have Internet access. For farms with sales and government payments between $100,000 and $249,999, the figures are: 70 percent have access to a computer, 67 percent own or lease a computer, 52 percent are using a computer for their farm business, and 63 percent have Internet access. Of the farms with sales and government payments between $10,000 and $99,999, 62 percent reported having computer access, 59 percent own or lease a computer, 38 percent use a computer for their farm business, and 57 percent have Internet access.
For crop farms, 65 percent have computer access and 40 percent use a computer for their farm business in 2009, up 1 and 3 percentage points from 2007, respectively. Internet access for crop farms has increased to 60 percent in 2009, compared with 56 percent in 2007. In 2009, a total of 63 percent livestock farms have computer access and 58 percent have Internet access.
The first ever Land Use Conference is fast approaching and you don’t want to miss it. Hosted by the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA), the conference will be in St. Louis on August 25-26th. This is perfect for those people in agriculture who are interested to learn how indirect land use policy will affect their businesses. In addition, academics and people in the biofuels industry should attend.
I had the opportunity to chat with Darrin Ihnen, who will be the NCGA president on October 1, 2009, about why there is such a need for this conference.
“The goal is to take a closer look at land use science, the models involved in individual emission factors and we’re going to have quite a distinguished panel of speakers and academics there. These will represent each of the models that EPA used to measure the carbon footprint,” said Ihnen. “So our goal is to get some good sound science to see what the carbon footprint is, and what the upcoming legislation could have on the effect on farmers across the country.”
Once the conference has concluded, NCGA will take the recommendations to the EPA and other groups to consider when creating policy.
If you haven’t registered already, it’s not too late. You can register online at NCGA’s website. The cost is $250 per person.
We have had a couple of comments asking if the Boehringer Ingelheim Swine Health Seminar presentations will be available for those who were not able to attend, and the answer is yes.
Ned Arthur (pictured here at work) with Truffle Media Networks was at the event taking photos and video and doing interviews, all of which will be posted along with the power points on SwineCast this Wednesday.
Ned interviewed BIVI’s Stephan Lange, who was the moderator for the seminar, about the event on Friday. Stephan gave a short synopsis of the presenters’ major take-home points and what he hoped the producers got out of the event. “We put together a really nice program,” said Stephan. “The essence of it was to take a look at where the swine industry, even in dire times, can find efficiencies, even when profitability is low.”
Again, check out SwineCast for complete presentations on Wednesday.
USDA has kicked off their Rural Tour: Renewing America’s Promise. They’ve not only got a website but are doing the whole social media thing.
The Rural Tour is crisscrossing the country to listen to residents in small towns and get their thoughts on revitalizing our nation. Together, we can strengthen rural communities. We need your ideas to get the job done. Join us at events or participate here. Let’s start renewing America’s promise.
Besides their website you can find the Rural Tour on:
Post Update: Here’s a photo from today’s tour stop in Hamlet, NC featuring Secretaries Arne Duncan and Tom Vilsack discussing rural education. Via their Twitpic account.
It’s time once again for the NAFB Plambeck Award.
The National Association of Farm Broadcasting invites you to submit your entry for the Plambeck Award for Creative Excellence. Named in honor of NAFB Past President and Hall of Fame member Herb Plambeck, this award gives recognition for the best single and series radio commercial(s) that air on NAFB stations and networks. It is the goal of NAFB to promote and recognize those commercials that are designed to inform, influence and motivate the target audience and effectively achieve the communication’s objective.
Submissions will be judged by a panel of producers and agency representatives and are due to NAFB before September 23. More details, including criteria, and application can be found by clicking here (pdf).
Barry Flinchbaugh, professor of agricultural economics at Kansas State University, has been elected Chair of the Board of Trustees of Farm Foundation.
The new H5400 Series crop mergers from New Holland merge swaths to efficiently match windrow width and density with forage harvester or baler capacity. The three new models are offered in 9-foot and 12-foot pickup widths, and require only a 70-hp tractor to operate.
Osage Bio Energy announced the overall grand prize winner of the 2009 Barley Bin Builder Yield Contest during the Virginia Ag Expo. Robert (Bobby) Hutchison of Hutchison Brothers Farms in Cordova, MD, won the grand prize, a brand new GM Flex Fuel pickup truck, with a yield of 130 bushels per acre.
Some 41 state education officials and agriculture teachers from 11 states came to the headquarters of Pioneer Hi-Bred Aug. 9-13 to attend the first National Agriscience Integration Institute (NAII) designed to promote and enhance opportunities for inquiry-based science in environmental and agricultural education system programs, student attainment of science content standards and national agriculture content standards.
The American Meat Institute posting a press release of this upcoming event that will give food producers a better idea of the Obama administration agenda. Check it out, and let me know if you attend!
Fox News Anchor Bret Baier will offer insights on what to expect from the Obama Administration and Congress at the Washington Insider Breakfast during Worldwide Food Expo 2009, to be held October 28-31, 2009, at Chicago’s McCormick Place.
As one of Fox News Channel’s top Washington anchors, Baier has colorful anecdotes about traveling with and covering the President of the United States. With humor and insight, Baier will share exclusive, behind-the-scenes stories about trips on Air Force One, the inner-workings of the West Wing and what it’s really like to be a part of the White House press corps.
Baier is host of FOX News’ Special Report w/Bret Baier, a daily program for political news, and is a former chief White House and national security correspondent. Baier’s extensive reporting experience has brought him through the halls of the Pentagon, the war fields of Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the campaign trails of elections past and present. Fresh, current and straightforward, his breadth of journalistic experience gives him the ability to offer in-depth insights and perspectives on the inner workings of government.
The Washington Insider Breakfast will be held Friday, Oct. 30 from 8-9 a.m. at McCormick Place and is part of the AMI International Meat, Poultry and Seafood Industry Convention and Exposition. Tickets for this event are $150 per person and available here.
A full slate of activities are planned to promote agriculture and South Dakota’s farmers at DakotaFest in Mitchell, Aug. 18-20. In addition to listening to Senator Thune and Representative Herseth-Sandlin in a panel, and taking in the beef booth, I plan to hit the following stops this week. I’m geared up for a fun time at DakotaFest to celebrate agriculture. If you’re in Mitchell, S.D. this week, be sure to look me up!
Tuesday, Aug 18, from 11 am to 1 pm, the South Dakota Corn Growers (SDCGA) and South Dakota Corn Utilization Council (SDCUC) will host the free Sweet Corn Feed at the SD Corn tent (Lot 118)
Wednesday, Aug 19, from noon until 4pm, the South Dakota Soybean Research & Promotion Council (SDSRPC) and the South Dakota Soybean Association (SDSA) are sponsoring the Annual Soy Biodiesel Ice Cream Social. Stop by the Biodiesel Tent (Lot 845) for free SDSU ice cream, live music by Dan Mahar, soy cookies and doughnuts, free samples of soy products and several chances to win soy biodiesel.
Wednesday, Aug. 19, is SDCGA Membership Appreciation Day at DakotaFest. Members should stop by the SD Corn tent to sign up for a members-only prize drawing.
Thursday, Aug. 20, is Ethanol Day at the SD Corn tent.
The Twitterverse is oinking this morning as thousands of tweets are being posted with the #oink hashtag to show support for American pork producers who have been hurt by the incorrect labeling of H1N1 virus. Of course you’ve got your typical wackos using the opportunity to promote their vegan agenda or some website they want to promote that has nothing to do with the topic.
It’s still early in the day but I’ve seen #oink trending as high as 3rd or 4th on Twitter. That’s a sign that there’s a lot of activity and interest. If you’re interested to see what people are saying then follow along.
Livestock producers could take a cue from their crop brethren and adopt some precision technology to be more efficient.
That advice comes from ag economist and swine industry specialist Dennis DiPietre, who spoke at the Boehringer Ingelheim swine health seminar in North Carolina on Friday. “It’s a really interesting road map what has been going on with precision agriculture techniques,” Dennis says. “Farmer who have adopted this technology can see variations in their field easily and adjust the production process while it is still in progress.”
“In livestock production, we don’t have the technology today to really get a good look at the variation happening within growing livestock,” he continues. However, he believes the key to profitability for the livestock industry is measuring and controlling variance, “to be able to reduce the variability of the outcome of the animal.”
And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall. Malachi 4:2
I discovered upon one of the cutest blogs ever the other day, and I knew I had to share it with AgWired readers. It’s called the Kid’s Cattle Blog, and it’s hosted by the farm wife who shares the tales, good and bad, ugly and pretty, from her family’s cattle operation. Whether it’s stacking bales, pulling baby calves or show cattle, she shares the beef production story in a very fun way. Here is an excerpt from her latest blog post. Check it out!
Many people who have baled hay as a kid and are now working in town or the city have a romanticized memory of how fun it was. We were even told by a friend that every red-blooded American boy should bale hay once in their lives. (This may solve the entitlement problem we have in the U.S. even among grain farmers.) These fond memories likely stem from the nature of bucking bales. It’s hot, sweaty, sticky, itchy, dirty, heavy work. Yet it is simple, basic, and pure work. Nothing technical about it unless the baler breaks down. Plus you work as a team and everybody has a job. There is always someone new who has yet to learn how to use a hook. They get the usual hazing. Everyone has a baling hay story.
But there are less cattle farms lately. Fewer farm kids know how to buck bales. It is harder to find kids who want to do the work. So large round bales and large square bales have replaced the small ones, since only one person is needed to run a tractor to mow,rake, bale, and stack. We still put up straw and hay bales for our cows. The kids complain about “it’s hot”,”I’m tired”, “Slow down, Dad”. One day they will talk about when they were young baling hay. And tell their kids how good they got it.
Testing saliva for human diseases has been around for as long as a century, but it was only about a decade ago that someone thought it might work for livestock as well.
The swine industry is getting very close to being able to detect the presence of disease in a herd using a rope that pigs can chew on and leave their saliva for testing and that was the topic of two presentations Friday at the Boehringer Ingelheim swine health seminar in North Carolina.
John Prickett with Iowa State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine has been studying oral fluid testing of swine for four years and he says the rope collection method works pretty well. “The pigs love it. They’re very inquisitive by nature, there’s not a lot for them to do and they are always looking for the ropes – they have fun with it,” he says.
They have data on testing for a variety of diseases and now the work is moving forward with assay development, which Dr. Jeff Zimmerman of Iowa State University says is the key to making oral fluid testing affordable. “Between 12 and 18 months from now, we are going to have antibody-based assays that are ready to go,” Zimmerman said. “And that’s going to be when we start getting the costs down.”
Zimmerman says disease control relies on good data and he says better data would have helped the industry get correct information about the H1N1 outbreak disseminated faster.
Swine producers need to carefully evaluate the costs of prevention versus treatment when it comes to disease in their herds.
“We need to try to categorize the different types of diseases, as to whether it has a real good type of treatment, a low cost type of treatment, or maybe a high cost animal health problem if we do get it in the herd, and then start making animal health management decisions based on that,” said Iowa State University ag economist Dr. Jim Kliebenstein at the Boehringer Ingelheim swine health seminar in North Carolina on Friday.
One point he made is that “total prevention” of any disease is probably unaffordable. “Maybe getting it to where there’s only a ten percent chance or a five percent chance, but once we get above that, the costs of going to even greater lengths far exceed the benefits,” he said.
Kliebenstein presented the economic impact of swine disease, especially PRRS, both from a personal level and on an average per producer and for the industry. He was a partner in a gilt multiplier herd when they had an outbreak of PRRS that caused them to lose their contract. “We lost a significant number of dollars,” he related. “We had gilts that were on the books at $250 because we had a production contract. Overnight, they went to $50 or less.”
Overall, Kleibenstein estimates the annual cost of just PRRS to the U.S. swine industry at $600-800 million a year and could increase to $1 billion if the disease incidence keeps growing. He strongly recommends that producers do their homework and determine what works best for their operations to control and prevent swine diseases.
In this week's program Chuck talks with David Armano, Global Innovation and Integration.
David conducted a presentation on delivering expert opinion via social media to an audience at the start of International Poultry Expo week. He's got some great information about who consumers trust and how you can use today's consumer behavior to help communicate your message.
Bobby Hutchison of Hutchison Brothers Farms in Cordova, MD, won the grand prize of a brand new GM Flex Fuel pickup truck with his yield of 130 bushels per acre. Cash prizes of between $500 and $1000 were also awarded to the top-yielding farmers in Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia.
“Currently in the United States 98 percent of the soybean meal goes for animal feed for poultry, beef cattle and dairy cattle,” explained Dunn. “So we feel that animal agriculture is very important to the industry.”
Quadruple Super Bowl champion quarterback and Pro Football Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw is the keynoter for the 
Bradshaw will address more than 5,000 Farm Bureau members from across the nation who will gather in Seattle Jan. 10-13 to participate in the organization’s annual grassroots policy setting process. The meeting begins Sunday morning, Jan. 10 with the opening presidential address by Stallman. The annual Young Farmer and Rancher competitions, scheduled for Jan. 10 and Monday, Jan. 11, are just one of the highlights on the agenda. Another important feature on Sunday is the annual Farm Bureau Women’s luncheon and business session, which is open to all women attendees but advance purchase tickets are required to attend.
“What we’re trying to to get the world and the public to see and know is that we have the capability to produce more food and conserve resources at the same time,” explained Eblen. “So we went on record saying in the core crops that we focus on as a company which is corn, soybeans and cotton, that we can double the yields of these crops by 2030 with the starting year of 2000. And at the same time, through the use of technology we have and others’ have, that we could conserve resources by one-third to produce each unit of corn, beans and cotton.”
I was able to learn more about 
Almost 60% of of U. S. farms now have internet access and the use of DSL has become the most common method of accessing it. The National Agricultural Statistics Service just released its 
The first ever 
We have had a couple of comments asking if the 
Ned interviewed BIVI’s Stephan Lange, who was the moderator for the seminar, about the event on Friday. Stephan gave a short synopsis of the presenters’ major take-home points and what he hoped the producers got out of the event. “We put together a really nice program,” said Stephan. “The essence of it was to take a look at where the swine industry, even in dire times, can find efficiencies, even when profitability is low.”
USDA has kicked off their 
Besides their website you can find the Rural Tour on:
It’s time once again for the NAFB Plambeck Award.
Livestock producers could take a cue from their crop brethren and adopt some precision technology to be more efficient.
The swine industry is getting very close to being able to detect the presence of disease in a herd using a rope that pigs can chew on and leave their saliva for testing and that was the topic of two presentations Friday at the 
They have data on testing for a variety of diseases and now the work is moving forward with assay development, which Dr. Jeff Zimmerman of Iowa State University says is the key to making oral fluid testing affordable. “Between 12 and 18 months from now, we are going to have antibody-based assays that are ready to go,” Zimmerman said. “And that’s going to be when we start getting the costs down.”
Swine producers need to carefully evaluate the costs of prevention versus treatment when it comes to disease in their herds. 
In this week's program Chuck talks with David Armano, Global Innovation and Integration.
