2011 is winding to a close and we are counting our blessings here on AgWired
Traffic was up nearly 8% on Agwired this year to a grand total of just about 198,000 unique visitors – we should break 200,000 pretty easily in 2012. We had a total of 1790 posts this year, including more than 600 with audio. We posted over 17,000 photos on Flickr and 121 videos on YouTube that were viewed over 111,000 times.
The most viewed photo album this year was Farm Progress Show at nearly 7200, followed by National Biodiesel Conference, Sturgis, NAMA, and AGCONNECT Expo which are all around 4-5,000.
The most popular YouTube video of the year was the unveiling of the John Deere Subcompact 1 Series at National Farm Machinery Show, which has been viewed nearly 39,000 times. Four videos from the John Deere new product launch were viewed collectively over 40,000 times and the unveiling of the New Holland skid steer at NFMS was viewed nearly 16,200 times so far. Other popular videos included the Mike Rowe press conference at the American Farm Bureau annual meeting, ethanol at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, and choppers opening the 2011 Farm Progress Show.
Most popular ZimmCasts of the year were Humane Farm Animal Care; Beltway Beef; Irish Agriculture Journalism, Precision Earth and Gibbs & Soell.
According to page views, the most popular stories of the year on AgWired were:
iPhone vs Android
Thanksgiving Dinner Still a Bargain
John Deere product launch
NAFB president killed
Becks Hybrid choppers
Ron Paul tops ZimmPoll
Remembering Derry Brownfield
New Holland Construction Introduction
GIPSA dominates Senate hearing
Our greatest blessings are too numerous to count – our readers, our sponsors and clients, our freelancers and other friends who make every day of the year wonderful! Best wishes to all for a healthy, happy, prosperous and blessed new year!
2011 has been a phenomenal growth year for MyWay RTK.
The service was launched in the fall of 2010 to bring subscription-based Real Time Kinematic positioning and wireless Internet access to the state of Illinois. That has been more than accomplished with coverage throughout the entire state and base stations being added almost daily in other states from Iowa to Idaho and Kansas to Mississippi.
“It would be fair to say the number of people that are participating has exceeded early expectations,” says GROWMARK precision agriculture manager Sid Parks, who recognized the benefits of the service early on for FS member cooperatives. “We deal with lots of different venders, different colors of equipment, different brands, different service providers and we had a need to be brand neutral,” he said.
MyWay RTK was the perfect solution to provide high quality, cellular modem based RTK differential correction service with accuracy to the one inch range, an improvement from perhaps 3-6 inches often used and with better year to year consistency. “The RTK quality signal is delivered through the internet and cell towers rather than FM radio signal,” Sid said. One important benefit to that is improved repeatability from one base station to the next. “Any place I have cell phone access, I have the potential to deliver that signal via modem.” In the future, it will also give the capability to share files and maps back and forth between the field vehicle and the office.
Sid is quick to point out that neither he nor GROWMARK has any ownership in MyWay RTK, they just knew a good thing when they saw it. “When I first found out about it, I went around with a company representative to our FS companies to show how they could participate – whether they chose to be a member or not, participate in the sales of subscriptions or as a user,” he added.
You can listen to my interview with Sid about MyWay RTK here: Sid Parks Interview
- Members of the United Farmers Cooperative signed a letter of intent to purchase the Marquette, NE based Midwest Ag Partners LLC.
- The Kansas Soybean Commission and the Kansas Soybean Association are hosting the 2012 Kansas Soybean Expo on January 11.
- North America’s premiere used combine network is here.
- A series of webinars on using social media, mobile apps and other technologies to help increase business is being offered by Penn State Extension in collaboration with Ohio State University Extension and University of Minnesota Extension.
This is the first full year of our ZimmPoll so I thought it would be interesting to take a look back and share some statistics with you. I am frequently asked how many people responded and what their demographics are. The number of respondents is easy but knowing who they are and details about their life is not since there’s no registration process. But here are a few numbers I can share with you.
To start with, the average number of responses is 110. I’m not sure about you but I think that’s a pretty good number. The total varies widely each week and I think that has a lot to do with the question itself and the particular week and activities that might draw attention elsewhere. So the swing in number of responses goes from highest for the question, “What do you think of USDA’s proposed GIPSA rule?” at 446 to lowest for the question, “With net farm income up this year, how is your income?” at 32. I’ve also noticed that the number of responses varies to some extent by how aggressively we promote it via social media channels like Twitter and Facebook.
Some other questions that generated a higher level response include: “Which biofuel feedstock do you think has best future?”; “Do you believe in man made climate change?”; “What’s Your Favorite Meat?”; “What mid-term grade would you give Ag Sec. Tom Vilsack?”; “Will higher cost (13%) of Thanksgiving dinner affect your meal?” and “Which Republican Candidate for President is best for Ag?.”
So with question choice being very important I’d like to ask what questions you’d like to see us ask. Please post your ideas in comments. Is there something you’d like to ask the agricultural marketing community? What would it be? Thank you and I look forward to another year of checking the “pulse” of the community.
ZimmPoll is sponsored by Rhea+Kaiser, a full-service advertising/public relations agency.
Last week marked a quasi-sad day in my life…my dad had his farm sale. The entire north end of town was filled with wagons, trailers, trucks, tractors, implements, combines, and miscellaneous farm parts. It was a culmination of more than 40 years in the farming business, all sold in a matter of six hours.
Sitting on the lot were some of the things that made me proud to say I was a farmer’s daughter. He technically still IS a farmer — but you know what I mean. It was almost like a few of my childhood memories were sold when the auctioneer pounded his gavel and off the tractor went to a new owner.
In 40 years, I’m amazed at how agriculture has changed and how it continues to change. I guess I shouldn’t be sad because the equipment is going to other farm families, or to their children in hopes of carrying on the ag tradition, but it marked the end of an era for our family.
The sheds have been cleaned out, leaving room for another business to grow. And maybe it’s good to have a “cleaning day” here and there but for me, the sheer size of the sale was a bit overwhelming. Like doing spring and winter cleaning and tossing out your whole closet and starting new again. (Now that would be fun.)
I told dad he had to keep at least one tractor or my son would be forever disappointed. He did.
Until we walk again …
This morning I got to take two of my daughters fishing. We had a cold start but things warmed up as the sun got higher in the sky and the fish started biting. This oversize redfish was what we were after. By oversize I mean he was just over 27″ so he had to go back in the water.
I hope you’re having a great holiday week. Cindy and I, along with our daughters are enjoying some time in the west Florida area. But we’re still working some too. I like this combination.
It looks like beef wins in our latest ZimmPoll. We asked the question, “What is your Christmas/Holiday dinner entree?” Beef got 34% of the vote followed by Pork – Ham/Other cut at 27%, then Turkey at 24%, then Lobster and Wild game each got 7% and Fish at 1%. I guess you normally only have one at a time but I like them all!
Our new ZimmPoll is now live. We’re asking the question, “What do you think is biggest ag story of 2011?” There were a lot of big ag stories so we had to pick a few that stood out for us. Let us know what you think.
ZimmPoll is sponsored by Rhea+Kaiser, a full-service advertising/public relations agency.
It may not be another world record, but Kip Culler’s soybean yield of of 108.8 bushels per acre this year was enough to win him another place in Missouri’s 100 Bushel Club.
The southwest Missouri soybean rock star took first place in the irrigated category for this year’s Missouri Soybean Association yield contest, while Steve Riegel of Washington won the conventional category with a yield of 86.3 bushels per acre. Both used Pioneer® brand Y Series soybean varieties, as did Steve Turner of Hopkins who was the runner up in the conventional category with a yield of 83.3 bushels per acre.
Kip set the world soybean yield record in 2006 with 139 bushels per acre, then beat that the following year with a yield of 154.57 bushels per acre. When another grower achieved a yield of more than 100 bushels per acre in 2008, the 100 Bushel Club was formed and Kip was inducted. Last year he broke his record again with 160.6 bushels per acre. So, while Kip is likely pretty disappointed with his 2011 beans, it’s still a winning yield and pretty stunning considering the weather conditions this year. Congrats, champ!
McCormick Company has been chosen as the agency of record for the United Sorghum Checkoff Program (USCP).
According to McCormick, they will serve USCP from the company’s Amarillo, Texas, location with assistance from staff in the Kansas City office.
USCP is headquartered in Lubbock, Texas, and is a producer-funded organization with focus on crop improvement, high-value markets and renewable fuel opportunities for grain and forage sorghums.
The USDA Economic Research Service has a Farm Program Atlas online for your searching pleasure.
The Farm Program Atlas is a web-based interactive mapping tool that displays payment and participation data on major farm programs and covered commodities at the county level — to visualize how these Federal farm programs vary across the United States. Users can select maps displaying county-level data for nearly 100 variables. Each map may be viewed for the entire country or users can use a zoom tool to focus on a single region, State, or county. When viewing a program map, users may also click on a single county to view a table of data on all the variables associated with the program for that particular county.
With these tools, users can:
- View maps showing levels of participation and benefits from key farm programs
- View maps comparing participation and benefits from selected programs
- View all data for any county on a selected farm program
- Print a version of the map or save the image in a graphics-file format for use in other documents or presentations
- Download a spreadsheet containing all the data for a selected county or for all U.S. counties included in the Atlas
The first stop on the agriblogging highway for the ZimmComm team will be the 2012 Beltwide Cotton Conference in Orlando, FL. I’ll be attending courtesy of our sponsor, FMC. I’ll be getting there after going to the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, FL with daughter Chelsea. Great new year’s week coming up!
The Beltwide Cotton Conferences (BWCC) speed the transfer of new technology to U.S. cotton producers and other industry members with the goal of strengthening U.S. cotton’s competitive position in the world marketplace and enhancing industry members’ profitability.
Coordinated by the National Cotton Council (NCC) and its cooperating partners, this annual forum is recognized as the global champion for cotton technology transfer. Four days of individual reports, panel discussions, hands-on workshops and seminars are designed to enlighten industry members about the latest research developments and their practical applications in cotton production and processing.
I know I said I’d only post about holiday ornaments and decorations before Christmas but what’s two extra days after? I hope all of you had a blessed, safe holiday. Our son was thrilled when he saw Santa had eaten the cookie we left out and that the commercials he’d seen weren’t true – there was still room in the stocking for gifts from Santa.
So on one final holiday note, here’s a German-made Santa that my grandmother has. It’s probably around 80 years old as well. I asked about the significance and I guess back in the early 1900s Germany was a large toy-making country.
To me, he looks a little like a gnome but maybe that was Germany’s take on the bearded man. And he looks a little cranky. But after squeezing down dirty fireplaces all night, I’d be cranky too. Ah, to believe in the magic of Christmas. That’s what having children has taught me – to believe in magic, that you’re never too old to imagine, and that dreams do come true.
Until we walk again …
- Osborn & Barr is strengthening its digital and creative teams with five new additions: Julia Edwards, Matthew Tornetto, Ekkachai Danwanichakul, Britton Clapp and Jim McWilliams.
- Swanson Russell announces the promotion of Jason Schmaderer to vice president/account supervisor. With the promotion, Schmaderer becomes an officer of Swanson Russell.
- Syngenta announced that the EPA has granted registration approval for Zemax herbicide.
- Swanson Russell announces the hire of Shanna Austin, Kathleen Divine, Ryan Larsen, Dave Markes and Taryn Vasa.
It was just over a year ago that I started doing a series of interviews with the leadership at agricultural agencies. I started out with Diane Martin, President/CEO, Rhea + Kaiser and thought it very appropriate to talk with her again to see how things have been going at the agency.
To start off, Diane says that things are going well with the celebration this year of a couple of milestones with various clients like GROWMARK – 30 years and Bayer at 26 years. Another development is the agency diversification into different industries like construction equipment and higher education. Diane says they’ve also been going through a cultural revolution internally. One example is a renewed effort to liven up client presentations so they become more enjoyable and educational.
There are a number of additional changes that have taken place at the agency during the last year. To learn more about them listen in on my conversation with Diane: Rhea + Kaiser a Year Later
Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsor, GROWMARK, locally owned, globally strong, for their support.
The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired. Subscribe so you can listen when and where you want. Just go to our Subscribe page.
It’s that time of the year when many of us are looking back at the past year and ahead to the new year, especially when it comes to our finances. Farmers who are making a New Years resolution to consider options for managing risk should check out MaxVisor for consulting with a personal touch.
“It is sit down, one on one with that farmer and make recommendations that fit that producer’s risk tolerance, risk profile and needs at that time,” said Cory Winstead, Senior MaxVisor Representative.
MaxVisor is a service of AgriVisor, an agricultural advisory firm that is part of the GROWMARK family of companies. “We have multiple different silos, or bins, that are part of AgriVisor,” Cory says, from research and pricing strategies, to crop insurance and brokerages service relationships. MaxVisor specifically includes hedge accounting and professional services with timely and frequent communications updates by email, text and audio reports.
Cory says AgriVisor is owned 51% by GROWMARK and 49% by Illinois Farm Bureau, but anyone can take advantage of their services. “You don’t need to be a GROWMARK customer, or an FS customer – you don’t even need to be a Farm Bureau member to be a part of us. If you’re a farmer who has some needs or questions about the market – that’s what we’re here for.” Cory adds that they have customers from Ohio to Kansas, and Canada to Alabama.
To find out more about MaxVisor, Cory says there is a link on the side bar of the AgriVisor home page that takes you to a free trial sign up page – no risk, no obligation – just to check it out. What do you have to lose?
Find out more about MaxVisor in my interview with Cory here: Cory Winstead Interview
Here’s a holiday greeting from the National Association of Farm Broadcasting:
Celebrate…
the Tradition of Giving,
the Beauty of the Season,
and a New year of
Peace and Happiness
National Association of Farm Broadcasting
So you’re still wondering what to get your favorite farm podcaster? How about some happy holiday discounts from VeriCorder Technology. They’re offering 50% off apps until Dec. 31, 2011.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from VeriCorder Technology
Growing up, we always had a Santa and Mrs. Claus sitting on the coffee table. They were handmade out of fan-folded painted newspaper, felt strips and cotton balls. Thinking back, I’m glad we had the happy couple – Santa does all the hard work delivering the presents but who do you think keeps Santa jolly the rest of the year?
When my grandmother was younger, she and her brother had these cardboard Santas, so they’re aging in at 80 as well. This is definitely a toy to play with gently – one bad fall off a slippery roof and Santa would be missing a mid-section!
I’m sure these were handmade and over the years, they’ve had a few “improvements” and fixes.
3 days and counting!
Until we walk again …
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In this week's program Chuck talks with David Armano, Global Innovation and Integration.
