I learned what’s new with Syngenta Seeds from Wayne Fithian at the recent NAFB Trade Talk. He says that because of biotechnology the pace of new products is becoming more rapid. According to Wayne, they’re in the final stages of regulatory approval of their Agrisure Viptera for corn which they hope to have available for planting in 2010. Following that they’ll have “water optimization” which is an improved drought tolerance trait. And the list goes on and on.
Here’s Samantha Warner, 19, Archie, MO, putting the last rose on the RFD-TV float before the 2010 Rose Parade. Warner, Missouri FFA President will walk beside the float, which honors the association for its work guiding students toward careers in agriculture.
On the morning of January 1, 2010, the National FFA Organization will make contact with an estimated 42 million people in the United States, and more than 100 million people worldwide, through participation in the 121st Tournament of Roses Parade. Television viewers settled in to watch this New Year’s Day tradition will witness history being made, as the first-ever FFA float in the Rose Parade not only makes its way down Orange and Colorado Boulevards before the crowds in Pasadena, but into the living rooms, and into the hearts, of families watching at home. On and surrounding the float will be the 2009-2010 National FFA Officer Team, National FFA Advisor Dr. Larry Case and the four Stars Over America, along with 52 invited FFA presidents from every U.S. state, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
Tune in to RFD-TV New Year’s morning at 11 a.m. (EST) to watch our special coverage of the 2010 Tournament of Roses Parade with hosts Lorianne Crook, Charlie Chase and Pam Minick “live” from Pasadena, California.
For the third year in a row the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth has conducted an in-depth and statistically significant study on the usage of social media in fast-growing corporations. The study is titled, “Social Media in the 2009 Inc. 500: New Tools & New Trends.” I’m guessing agribusiness companies will follow this trend and it is a real trend since they now have good comparative data over several years. Here’s an excerpt from their report: Social networking continues to lead the way. The technology that continues to be the most familiar to the Inc. 500 is social networking with 75% of respondents in 2009 claiming to be “very familiar with it” (compared to 57% in 2008). Another noteworthy statistic around familiarity is Twitter’s amazing “share of mind” with sixty-two percent of executives reported being familiar with the new microblogging and social networking platform.
The adoption curves for different social media technologies are not all the same.
Interestingly, while social networking and blogging have enjoyed growth in actual adoption, the use of message boards, online video, wikis and podcasting has leveled off or declined. The addition of Twitter (considered by respondents to be both a microblogging site and a social networking site) in the latest study shows that an amazing 52% of the Inc. 500 companies are already using this tool for their business.
Regardless of the particular technology, social media matters and is here to stay.
Forty-three percent of the 2009 Inc. 500 reported social media was “very important” to their business/marketing strategy. And an incredible 91% of the Inc. 500 is using at least one social media tool in 2009 (up from 77% in 2008). In addition, as they ramp up their usage, the Inc. 500 companies are also seeking to protect themselves legally, with 36% having implemented a formal policy concerning blogging by their employees.
Let’s end the year with something new. FarmConnect.net. It’s a new social networking site created “by farmers for farmers.” The farmers are Mike and Laura Murphy who own a small family farm in South West Michigan and raise beef and lamb on pasture. The old saying goes, you should find a way to make your passion your work, and FarmConnect.net is just that. Mike previously taught E-Commerce at the Illinois Institute of Technology, so FarmConnect.net was the perfect way to combine his passions for farming and Web technology. FarmConnect.net allows you the option of signing up for your own blog, creating your own groups and discussion forums (either public, private, or hidden) to help spread the word about agriculture to your families, friends, and communities.
If you use Twitter, you will love FarmConnect.net, because it gives you so much more room to say what you want to say than that little box!
Who would have thought we would still be doing BASF Headline Harvest reports the last week of the year?
This week we traveled to northern Illinois where there is still lots of corn in the fields and lots of flooded areas due to the extremely wet fall. I talked with Ron Hansen of Kankakee, who still has about 300 acres to combine, but he says it is still standing pretty well, despite a storm that blew through last week with 40 mph winds. It helped him see a side by side comparison of how Headline helped with standability in this late year. “We had a check on one field and that check was 100 percent down from end to end, and where the Headline was there were spots it was down but it was not down at the root, where as with the check it was,” Ron told me.
Ron says the weather this year has just been “nuts.” “With the cool summer, it’s done some things that I’ve never seen in my lifetime, like not maturing the corn and beans like normal so we are caught with this real late wet corn – but we are having good yields.”
As to when he will get the rest of his crop out of the field, Ron said he just doesn’t know. “I’ve harvested at Christmas, I’ve never harvested at New Year’s,” he said.
Watch the video interview and listen to or download the audio of my interview with Ron below.
The final USDA crop progress report on this year’s harvest released last week showed that 95 percent of the nation’s corn crop was finally harvested, just a few days before Christmas. Illinois was on par with the national total, reporting five percent of the crop left in the field.
I saw some of that corn this week during a visit to northern Illinois, around Kankakee and St. Anne. Some of it is still standing well, but some of it got hit pretty hard by a storm that blew in last week with up to 40 mile an hour winds.
These photos are two different fields I saw along the road between Cullom and St. Anne that showed a pretty stark contrast in standability. No idea of who the farmers are who own those fields, what varieties they planted or plant health products they used, but I’d say the farmer with the field in the left photo has a better chance of salvaging a decent crop, whenever that may be.
The states still running the farthest behind in corn harvest are North and South Dakota and Wisconsin. All three were still below 90 percent complete in the final USDA report last week. That final report, by the way, was two weeks later than USDA ever issued fall harvest progress reports.
To tell us what’s new with John Deere I spoke to Matthew Arnold, Sr. Marketing Representative. Matthew was attending the NAFB Trade Talk to discuss the new 8R and 8RT tractors. These tractors range in horsepower from 225 to 345 with larger cabs and more fuel efficient engines. They also have a new suspension system on the 8RT Track models.
The new tractors were introduced to dealers in August and Matthew says the response has been great. The new cab is a feature that has really caught people’s attention since with the redesign the operator can swivel in the seat and have all the tractor’s command controls move with him.
You can listen to my interview with Matthew below:
I’m going to be talking about social media and networking at the upcoming Chicago Farmers Farmland Investment Fair. But before getting there I talked about it with Rich Schell, SchellAcres.com, who is a member and committee organizer for the fair. He’s also an Attorney, Author & Agri-preneur, Wagner & Schell, LLP.
Rich says that since the purpose of the Fair is to communicate, they see social media mechanisms as just a new channel to communicate with people interested in farmland and specifically investing. That’s why I’ve helped them create a Chicago Farmers Twitter account and will be assisting with online coverage of the Fair in addition to presenting a session on social media. Rich sees the target audience for the Fair busy on their Blackberry’s and he thinks they’re pretty savvy when it comes to using the internet. My session will help those who haven’t started with social networks and want to.
Please feel free to listen in on my conversation with Rich below:
We had a great holiday week AgChat last night. Thanks to everyone who participated and made my life easy as the guest moderator. Our topic was climate change and there was no lack of opinions on the subject as it relates to agriculture. I would characterize most of the comments to the following questions as being skeptical about the science behind the modeling and policies being proposed and many even questioning the necessity of any legislation dealing with the issue. Perhaps our U.S. Senate has realized that there are way too many questions that need to be answered before creating a massive tax scheme and new bureaucratic nightmare for us to deal with since they’ve put Crap & Trade on a back burner. Too bad the House didn’t do the same.
So, although many seem to agree that we don’t need C&T and that there is too much scientific disagreement on the issue I think most are okay with continued or new research on climate change. From new research we can learn more about weather patterns, find new genes to make plants and animals more adaptable to changing conditions and maybe even new practices that will make farming more profitable.
You can scroll back through the online conversation using Twitter Search. You can also participate with AgChat via Facebook too.
Here are the questions posed in this weeks’ (final AgChat of the year/decade!) session:
Q1: via @lenejohansen Are farmers concerned about climate change and how will Cap&Trade impact the farm economy?
Q2: via @RandolphWriter Is ag better off with C&T that has potential upside for some income, or w/ direct regulation from EPA?
Q3: via @cornguy What are the potential competitive consequences if the U.S. pursues an aggressive C&T agenda and other key players stay on the sideline? via@cornguy
Q4: via @danielschel How can climate change research benefit agriculture?
Q5: via @AFBFMace Are you more concerned about added regulatory costs or climate changes that might impact production?
Q6: via @AgriBlogger What did American ag learn from the COP15 United Nations Climate Change Conference?
Q7: via @mpaynknoper How do we translate the science in a way that helps people understand more than the politics of climate change?
Q8: What are executable ideas we can take away from tonight’s chat?
What’s new with Alltech? That’s a good question and one I posed to Billy Frey at the NAFB Alltech Trade Talk booth recently.
According to Billy one of the things this year is the fact that crops are still in the fields and that means a greater chance of molds and mycotoxins. He says that one of their core competencies is being able to understand how they will affect feed and animal nutrition. He says they’ll continue doing new research, especially since they have their new Nutrigenomics Center. They have a number of new products in the pipeline.
I asked him how the World Equestrian Games are going since Alltech is the sponsor of the games in 2010. He says almost 200,000 tickets have already been sold and it’s going to be a great place for promoting the brand.
It’s time for another AgChat and I’ll be your guest moderator this evening. AgChat takes place via Twitter from 7-9pm Central.
I’m choosing the topic of climate change since we just finished the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. If you’re an AgWired community regular you know I am more than a skeptic when it comes to man made climate change. I think there’s way too much disagreement in the scientific community to make any policy decisions on this issue. I’m all for doing what we can to be good stewards of our natural resources but I see this whole thing as a political power grab and social engineering experiment by people who wants things their way or no way. I think it’s immoral and criminal how many activist groups, politicians and others are employing scare tactics to feather their own nests. But, hey, that’s just my opinion.
I know you’ve got an opinion of your own and AgChat tonight will be an opportunity to present it and “chat” about it and how the issue affects farming and agriculture in general. Of course, what affects ag affects consumers so let’s keep that in mind.
There are a lot of different applications you can use to participate. Here are a few:
Twubs – Highly recommended. Just use your Twitter ID to login. TweetChat – Usually works great for me. Tweetie – For Mac or iPhone – My Twitter app of choice. TweetDeck – Full featured for Mac/PC or iPhone. Seesmic – For PC, Blackberry and Android. Open Beak (formerly Twitterberry) – For Blackberry. ÜberTwitter – For Blackberry. Search Twitter – The Twitter search engine.
There are certainly more than these. If you’d like to share your favorite feel free to post it in comments.
The National Association of Farm Broadcasting recently released its latest Internet Usage Study. Cindy spoke with Ted Haller at their convention and I thought I’d have a chat with him about it too since the organization sent our a release on it last week. You can download a pdf with some of the key findings of the study on their website (pdf). The survey explores producer activity and preferences in accessing the Internet for agricultural business information, as well as use of texting and social media. Specific to broadcaster interests, it also probes interest in e-newsletters and the preferred content of agribusiness-focused Web sites.
Among key findings noted by Haller in the new research:
the Internet is revealing “quintiles” of usage — a sign of what Haller calls “settling,” with indications of core usage in the low range of 20 percent and the high range of 50 percent, depending upon the specific online behavior/activity surveyed
those producers using the Internet are very active, for the most part, with e-mail, weather, markets, and futures the top draws
unlike other media, “what I do not do” is still a larger number than “what I do;” but the “I do’s” appear to be in normal quintiles and represent an attractive target
As you’ll hear Ted say in our conversation, traditional media options like radio will not go away. However, the use of the internet by farmers will only continue to grow and these numbers are proof of that. He also describes how useful the internet is now to companies with a limited budget and those who have a “big budget” and are now spreading it across more media options.
Thanks to AgWired Sponsor, Fluidigm, for their support of the ZimmCast.
You can listen to this week’s ZimmCast below.
The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired. Subscribe so you can listen when and where you want. Just go to our a Subscribe page.
Growers planting Pioneer brand sorghum hybrids recently won 11 of the 15 national categories in the 2009 National Sorghum Producers Yield and Management Contest. Eight of these growers won with Pioneer sorghum hybrid 84G62.
Proceed Concentrate, a second formulation of new Proceed seed treatment fungicide, has been registered by the U.S. EPA.
A new Web site has been designed to guide people of all ages through the process of launching a farming career. The site is supported by an alliance of five agricultural organizations: Ohio State University Extension, the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association, Cuyahoga Countryside Conservancy, the Ohio Department of Agriculture, and the Organic Food and Farming Education and Research Program.
PC World has an article out titled, “2009: Year of the Social Network.” In it the point is made that we saw social networks like Twitter and Facebook show that they aren’t just for techies but everyone who wants to be connected with others who share their interests. The growth in these networks has been phenomenal.
Perhaps most significant is that companies in various industries started to see how social networks can help boost business even in a recession.
That’s even true in agribusiness as we’ve seen the rise in the number of farmers and companies employing social media channels to communicate. I would describe a lot of it on the company side as experimental and in some cases perhaps just a token effort as if by having a Twitter account they “get it” and can now get back to “the way we’ve always done things.” It’s my opinion that when a company doesn’t think social media is worthwhile it’s because they don’t have a commitment to it and have internal skeptics who go out of their way to portray any effort at utilizing social media as a poor use of resources, often dredging up statistics that are in reality comparing apples to oranges.
But there are a growing number of companies (I include ad agencies here) who are finding social media mechanisms enhance their overall communication strategy. I think we’ll see a lot more do so in 2010 and by the end of next year we’ll have a lot more data to show how well these channels are working, even in agribusiness.
ZimmComm has had the honor and pleasure to consult with and help in the creation and production of social media for many agribusiness organizations. We’re ready to do so again in 2010. Keep us in mind if you need help or would like to include us on your communications team.
Novus International is new to the beef market and at the NAFB Trade Talk session their focus was on preparing for winter feeding and early spring calving. With them to talk about research he’s done on their products was Dr. Monty Kerley, University of Missouri.
Dr. Kerley says that he’s had a special interest in “strategic supplementation” which means putting the nutrients the animals need with the forage they’re consuming to maximize performance, increase average daily gain and enhance reproductive development and to do it with less feed. With Novus he says they’ve focused on bypass methionine products. He says that these products help the sustainability of beef producers by increasing their bottom line while making for efficient use of resources. In my interview with him he also discusses some of his latest research.
You can listen to my interview with Dr. Kerley below:
The ZimmComm team wishes you and your families a very Merry Christmas and Happy New year. We have had a wonderful year and are looking forward to the new one just ahead.
The folks at AdFarm want you to create your own, “‘Twas The Night Before . . . ”
It’s a season of giving…
But rather than giving you all a card this year, we thought we’d give you a chance to have some farming fun. Click the link below to enjoy some holiday AgLibs from AdFarm.
http://www.adfarmonline.com/Holiday/
And what about all that money we saved by not printing cards? Well, we’ve donated it to our community food banks.
Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for the New Year from Drovers CattleNetwork, the source for cattle news.
On behalf of you, our sponsors and the Kansas City Airport Hilton, more than $19,000 worth of food is being distributed to the Harvesters — The Community Food Network and City Union Mission to help those in need this holiday season.
Harvesters’ network of more than 550 nonprofit agencies feeds more than 60,000 people each week. Almost half of those receiving emergency food assistance from Harvesters are children.
It seems like more and more meetings are being held in conjunction with the first ever AG CONNECT Expo. This invitation only event is called Agrievolution. The first one took place in Rome in 2008. Some portions of the program may become open to the public.
The Second World Summit on Agricultural Machinery will be hosted by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers on Monday & Tuesday, January 11 & 12, 2010 at the Waldorf Astoria, Orlando, Florida in conjunction with AG CONNECT Expo 2010. This second Summit will again identify challenges affecting the agriculture industry across the globe, and will provide a global platform from which to address issues impacting the industry. In addition to identifying crucial global agricultural and equipment manufacturing issues, the intent would be for the group to issue position statements and serve to coordinate collaborative efforts among the world regions for the betterment and advancement of the industry.
You know social media has become part of the ag communications world when you start seeing top ten lists like this one from Fastline (Part 1 and Part 2). I’m honored to have been selected for it and congratulate all the folks listed. There are many, many people now using social media like Twitter and all the other channels to tell their story and that includes farmers who want the public to better understand them and their business.
Social media has really taken the world of agriculture by storm in 2009. The ag community on Twitter has blossomed substantially and there were some standouts that Fastline has named our Top 10 Ag Twitter Users of 2009.
There are so many people in agriculture that have gotten involved with Twitter and social media in 2009, it would have been impossible for us to list them all. However, each of you plays an important role in telling agriculture’s story and we appreciate all that everyone does. Keep up the great work and keep working hard for ag.
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.
I learned what’s new with Syngenta Seeds from Wayne Fithian at the recent NAFB Trade Talk. He says that because of biotechnology the pace of new products is becoming more rapid. According to Wayne, they’re in the final stages of regulatory approval of their Agrisure Viptera for corn which they hope to have available for planting in 2010. Following that they’ll have “water optimization” which is an improved drought tolerance trait. And the list goes on and on.
Here’s Samantha Warner, 19, Archie, MO, putting the last rose on the 
For the third year in a row the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth has conducted an in-depth and statistically significant study on the usage of social media in fast-growing corporations. The study is titled, 
Let’s end the year with something new. 
This week we traveled to northern Illinois where there is still lots of corn in the fields and lots of flooded areas due to the extremely wet fall. I talked with Ron Hansen of Kankakee, who still has about 300 acres to combine, but he says it is still standing pretty well, despite a storm that blew through last week with 40 mph winds. It helped him see a side by side comparison of how Headline helped with standability in this late year. “We had a check on one field and that check was 100 percent down from end to end, and where the Headline was there were spots it was down but it was not down at the root, where as with the check it was,” Ron told me. 
The 
These photos are two different fields I saw along the road between Cullom and St. Anne that showed a pretty stark contrast in standability. No idea of who the farmers are who own those fields, what varieties they planted or plant health products they used, but I’d say the farmer with the field in the left photo has a better chance of salvaging a decent crop, whenever that may be. 
To tell us what’s new with John Deere I spoke to Matthew Arnold, Sr. Marketing Representative. Matthew was attending the NAFB Trade Talk to discuss the 
I’m going to be talking about social media and networking at the upcoming Chicago Farmers Farmland Investment Fair. But before getting there I talked about it with Rich Schell, 
We had a great holiday week 
What’s new with Alltech? That’s a good question and one I posed to Billy Frey at the NAFB 
The National Association of Farm Broadcasting recently released its latest Internet Usage Study. Cindy spoke with Ted Haller 
The survey explores producer activity and preferences in accessing the Internet for agricultural business information, as well as use of texting and social media. Specific to broadcaster interests, it also probes interest in e-newsletters and the preferred content of agribusiness-focused Web sites. 
Novus International is new to the beef market and at the NAFB Trade Talk session their focus was on preparing for winter feeding and early spring calving. With them to talk about research he’s done on their products was Dr. Monty Kerley, University of Missouri.
The folks at AdFarm want you to create your own, “‘Twas The Night Before . . . ”
Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for the New Year from 
It seems like more and more meetings are being held in conjunction with the first ever 
You know social media has become part of the ag communications world when you start seeing top ten lists like this one from Fastline (
In this week's program Chuck talks with David Armano, Global Innovation and Integration.
