One of the things that struck me right away is their tagline, “News and insight from Westfield’s farm and agribusiness insurance team.” Just think about that a minute. “News.” Yes, news. It’s not just for the “media” anymore. In fact, I’ve been saying for a long time that we’re all media. Sounds like Westfield gets it so of course you can follow them on Twitter.
By the way, according to their top post they’re running a photo contest for Ag Week.
To celebrate National Ag Week, Westfield Insurance is hosting an online ag photo contest to honor America’s farmers, ranchers and agribusiness owners who work hard every day to produce safe, affordable food! Please review the rules below and submit your original ag-related photos of kids, animals, landscapes, or agri-business owners to grainsofknowledge@westfieldgrp.com. We will select one grand prize winner and two runners-up to receive a special prize!
Hey horse loving bloggers. Want to blog the upcoming 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games? Enter this contest.
Land O’Lakes Purina Feed is excited to announce the Purina® “Live from Lexington” Contest, an opportunity for horse lovers everywhere to showcase their blogging skills for a chance to attend and report live from the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ in Lexington, Ky. The contest is sponsored by Purina Mills, LLC and co-sponsored by EquiSearch (www.EquiSearch.com) and Active Travel. Contestants can learn more about “Live from Lexington” and enter online at www.LiveFromLexington.com.
“Two grand prize winners of the contest will be our Purina blog-o-spondents and will report to our fans on the latest happenings at the Games,” said Brant Gilbert, marketing manager, Horse Business Group. “We know that Purina has some of the most loyal customers and horse enthusiasts in the industry, and we are excited to find the perfect duo to send to the competition and enjoy the festivities.”
Contest entries can be submitted online at www.LiveFromLexington.com between March 1 and May 31, 2010. To participate, entrants must submit a video of sixty seconds or less explaining why they want to be a Purina® Live from Lexington blog-o-spondent. Videos will be judged based on the entrant’s response, qualifications, articulation, and talent.
The CME Group has started a blog.
The exchange launched Open Markets to communicate CME Group’s views and help spark a dialogue on a broad range of issues that affect a diverse, and increasingly interrelated, array of financial markets.
In addition to the blog, content will include testimonies and speeches, white papers and features from CME Group Magazine, video clips and your media articles that cover related issues.
Open Markets’ initial focus will be on the various proposals and discussions taking place in Washington, D.C. among regulators and lawmakers. Over time, content will expand to include a broad range of issues such as market access, technology and globalization.
I had the great opportunity and honor to meet and work with Celeste Laurent at the 2010 Great Lakes Regional Dairy Conference in Frankenmuth, MI. I had first encountered Laurent through the big world of social media, where I have countless online friends across the country who are actively engaged in social networking and who are also passionately involved in the agriculture industry. Laurent is a junior studying animal science and communications at Western Kentucky University, and she found her internship on Twitter!
She is an incredible writer and communicator, and she is dedicated to the beef and pork industries. I know that she has a promising future ahead of her, and I thought I would take the opportunity to introduce this up and comer to the AgWired community.
Celeste discovered her interest in journalism while attending Western Kentucky University. Her animal science adviser recommended she pursue her love of writing along with her passion for agriculture advocacy so she signed up for her first news writing class. Celeste’s career plans now include expanding online agriculture news, promoting youth livestock programs and agriculture literacy.
In the summer of 2009, Celeste was employed by the Michigan State University College of Agriculture and Natural Resources as an Animal Welfare & Animal Agriculture Initiative Communications intern. She was responsible for designing and managing a social media campaign for the Michigan Dairy Expo. Currently, Celeste is continuing her studies at Western Kentucky University and working as a freelance writer, speaker, and social media manager.
I have been busy traveling the country over the past five weeks, and my last stop on the tour was to Lanesboro, MN for the 2010 Fillmore County Cattlemen’s Banquet. What a beautiful spot in the world! I truly enjoyed my stay in the quaint little town, and I was excited that my dear friend Carol Abrahamzon was able to attend the meeting to listen to me speak.
Abrahamzon is the Project Manager for the National Beef Ambassador Program, and I got to know her when I served on the 2006 team. This year’s Beef Team has a fantastic blog that they post on nearly every day. I encourage you all to check it out and leave your comments of support, questions and ideas for future promotions.
This group is dedicated to promoting the American beef cattle industry through educational efforts in consumer events and through social media. These five young people are truly the future leaders of this industry. Kudos to them and their wonderful leader, Carol!
I’d like to thank New Holland for their sponsorship of the National Biodiesel Conference Blog this year and their support for the biodiesel industry.
You can subscribe to the Biodiesel Conference Blog using the RSS Feed Link. We’ll also be podcasting our audio interviews again and that subscription link is here.
In addition to my posts on the NBC Blog I’ll also be posting onto our DomesticFuel.com website and even right here on AgWired.
How many discussions have you participated in about showing consumers how food gets from the field to the plate? I lost count a while ago. There are many groups and efforts going on to accomplish this. Here’s one I just found from the Canned Food Alliance. They’re using YouTube and MealTimes.org.
Canned food is one of the most versatile options for creating affordable, quick and healthy meals especially during colder months. But common misperceptions persist about the canning process. Within hours of harvesting, top quality fruits and vegetables are simply and naturally preserved for convenience and year-round availability, so you can enjoy tropical fruit even during the cold days of winter. Cans are also one of the safest and most recyclable forms of packaging available. Watch “Canned Food From Field to Table” to get the facts from the people who grow, pack, recommend and cook with canned foods.
The video features food blogger Tom Barritt, authto of food blog, Culinary Types, Associate Director of the Food and Nutrition Practice at Ketchum. Interesting combination. Are you a journalist or a public relations person? I don’t care personally and he is transparent about it. Doesn’t bother me. Does it bother you?
Also: Don’t forget to RSVP for LPC Luncheon at NCBA Convention in San Antonio
For the first time this luncheon is being co-sponsored by Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health and will recognize the 2009 LPC Forrest Bassford Student Award Winner, Whitney Wallace, from the University of Missouri. Incoming NCBA President Steve Foglesong has been invited to address the group plus we’ll update you on all of the exciting LPC events planned for 2010. The luncheon will be on Friday, January 29, 2010 at 12 noon at the Marriott Rivercenter Hotel (note there are two different Marriotts close to the Convention Center). The exact location are Conference Rooms 17-18 but the room locations will be posted at the hotel if you forget.
You MUST RSVP by Friday January 22 to Diane; dianej@flash.net or call 817/336-1130. No-shows obviously won’t be charged but will be unappreciated!
A big thanks to Intervet/Schering-Plough for their generosity in support of this event and the student award program for LPC.
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.
It’s just natural for people to look for the next big thing and in media it’s no different. I’ve been asked a number of times by clients and friends “Is blogging still relevant?” or “With Twitter, do I still need my blog?” My answer is that a good blog is as much or more relevant than ever. Here’s one reason IMHO. Ideally, you are trying to create a community of followers/friends/customers/members. For the AgWired community I believe that revolves around the blog AgWired.com. This is my online publishing platform. I can’t say this much in 140 characters. I think Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Facebook and all the others enhance the center of the community – AgWired.com. They’re like spokes on the wheel. They help me promote the blog and have side conversations with specific community members who favor one mechanism over another.
Matt Mullenweg, creator of WordPress, our blog platform, agrees and says, “new forms of social media, including micro-blogging, are complementary to blogging”
One of the many uses of Twitter is to link to and promote your blog posts. (And other people’s blog posts.) As we grow, so do they, and vice versa. I blog when I have something longer to say, like this. I tweet when it’s the lowest friction way to talk to my friends, or get distribution for something longer I did somewhere else.
American Farmland Trust has launched a new blog called Farmland Report. Here’s an opening statement from President Jon Scholl.
As President of American Farmland Trust (AFT), it is my pleasure to launch the Farmland Report, our new blog. We are excited to continue our role as a vital link among farmers, conservationists, policy-makers and consumers, via the Farmland Report.
Earlier this week, I wrote about Obama signing HR 2997 into law, another emergency stimulus package that, this time, could assist dairy producers. I was checking the news yesterday, when I came across this blog post about my blog post. Oh, how fun blogger buzz can be! Here is the post that was on KELO by Madville Times (who isn’t afraid to say what he thinks and doodle pictures as he sees fit, by the way!) Thanks for the nod, Madville Times!
I learned from Amanda Nolz that President Obama just signed into law more stimulus… for farmers! HR 2997 is actually the appropriations act for agriculture, rural development, the Food and Drug Administration, and other federal programs. It includes some increases that one would think will be good for South Dakota farmers…
$4 billion more for food stamps $1.9 billion more for school lunches (and breakfasts, I imagine) $290 million to keep struggling dairy farmers afloat (maybe Rick Millner can pay his bills) $60 million to buy up dairy products for public food programs
And Senator John Thune, champion of ending federal bailouts, voted aye on this federal bailout of dairy farmers.
The 2009 Technorati State of the Blogosphere is worth your time to read through. The final segment of the report will be released today. Here’s just a couple of tidbits from the report and you can listen to my interview with Richard Jalichandra discuss the report here.
The rise of the professional blogger continues. 70% of Part-Timers, Pros, and Self-Employeds are blogging more than ever . . .
Bloggers describe significant, positive impacts on their personal lives, but even more bloggers have experienced positive career and business impacts. 70% say that they are better known in their industry because of their blog.
Over half of the corporate bloggers blog to attract new clients for their business, while most part-timers (61%) want to make additional money and almost three quarters self-employed bloggers try to draw in new customers for their business. But no matter the type of blogger, the most important reason for them all is either to share their experience and expertise or to speak their mind.
After the Introduction you’ll find report segments on:
Thursday is Blog Action Day (BAD) and the topic this year is Climate Change. Food production is top on the list of suggested ideas for bloggers to write about in an alert sent out by organizers. “Agricultural production around the world is responsible for nearly as much greenhouse gas emissions as all forms of transportation put together, so it shouldn’t be surprising that the food choices we make have a big impact on the climate,” the organizers say, linking to some choice misinformation on their website.
If you are an agricultural blogger, you should sign up now for BAD, because the views of this will likely be very one-sided without you. When you sign up, you can get an idea of the ideology of the organizers. You are asked to “pick your favorite causes” from a list that includes such goodies as Animal Rights, Global Warming, Gay Rights, Global Poverty, Sustainable Food, Environment, Wildlife and Habitat, and Conflict and Response (that’s a cause?) You get the idea. BAD is “powered by change.org” which has as the top post today “Will Our Beef Addiction Destroy the Amazon?” Lovely.
If you haven’t registered and feel like airing your viewpoint on food production and climate change as part of BAD, sign up here. Or just boycott it.
The story starts out with a description of how and why one dairy farmer (Barbara Martin) is using social media.
For Martin, using social media and blogging is a way to dispel some myths about farmers and encourage a greater understanding of the slumping dairy industry.
She’s blogged about everything from fixing the pricing structure for milk to sharing her childhood memories about growing up on a farm. Her most recent post is a video diary about her heifer Chica.
So do you think dairy farmers are ahead of the curve or what?
The bottom line is that the use of social media by farmers continues to grow and grow and grow. And I just got an email today from someone in ag communications wondering “if Twitter is a passing fad.” Hmm. How would you answer that?
New communications technologies are developing faster than at any time in history. To choose not to participate is like deciding, “I don’t want to be part of your conversation.” Not a good strategy when they are your customers or members.
As more and more farmers embrace new and social media mechanisms it’s only natural that they will see them as channels to connect with and educate the consuming public. I think dairy farmers lead the way.
Take Will Gilmer, Gilmer Dairy Farm, for example. He’s just started a new video series on YouTube called MooTube Minute. Additionally, he has created a video to demonstrate the eco-friendly way dairy farmers conduct manure management.
I just signed up for Blog Action Day ‘09 which is October 15. Sign up here.
Blog Action Day is an annual event that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day on their own blogs with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance. Blog Action Day 2009 will be the largest-ever social change event on the web. One day. One issue. Thousands of voices.
This year the topic is climate change. It doesn’t matter where you stand on the issue, the idea is to add your voice to the mix. So I would challenge you farmer bloggers in particular to sign up and make your voice heard. That’s what it’s all about.
BTW. I believe we have climate change. It’s called the “seasons.” I also believe our climate does change. We have things called “ice ages” for example. Is man causing change? I don’t think so and I really don’t think we can do much about it. However, I believe we should all be good stewards of the resources God has blessed us with. That’s why I’m such an advocate for renewable fuels like ethanol and biodiesel. Unfortunately, I think we have politicians and extremists who are trying to alarm the world public in order to advance their own social agendas. So I’m signed up and will right about this on “the day.” I hope you will too.
It was only a few months ago when Chuck and Cindy made the decision to sponsor the National Beef Ambassadors’ new blog, where they could chronicle their travels and discuss the beef industry issues in an open forum for consumers and producers alike. This summer at the 2009 Cattle Industry Summer Conference, I had the opportunity to train the ambassadors on blogging techniques and social networking tricks to help empower them to share the agriculture story online. Since then, the ambassadors have been working non-stop in their duties and have developed quite a following online for their efforts.
This week, they are reporting from sunny Sonoma, Calif. where the 2009 National Beef Cook-off is being held. 15 home cooks and six professional chefs are competing for the championships in thier Sonoma-style inspired recipes. Check out the ambassador’s new You Tube Channel; here here is their first video from the National Beef Cook-off! Way to go ambassadors!
The 23rd Annual Georgia Peanut Tour is being held this week to provide producers with the latest information on peanuts while giving a first-hand view of industry infrastructure from production and handling to processing and utilization.
For the second year in a row, master blogger Joy Carter with the Georgia Peanut Commission will be blogging all the events starting with the Hot Topics Seminar on Tuesday with food safety experts discussing production practices, quality management, and outbreak investigations. The tour includes a cross section of field conditions in South Central Georgia, peanut harvest clinics, production research at the University of Georgia Tifton Campus, peanut handling and grading facilities as well as a focus on biofuels, equipment and implements, trailers and dryer, dome storage and handling, shelling and blanching.
More of the BASF ag divisions are entering the social media world. Now BASF Plant Sciences has unveiled a new blog for NutriDense. It’s refreshing to see agencies that are becoming more willing to work with their clients on these types of projects.
The blog will be updated regularly with podcasts, videos and articles from BASF Plant Science executives and NutriDense technical staff. The Web site features the striking look of the NU Day advertising campaign as well as product information, customer video testimonials and an updated media kit.
“The NutriDense blog was created to educate and inform readers about the exciting work going on at NutriDense and BASF Plant Science,” said Fran Castle, BASF Plant Science North American group communication manager. “The blog provides an ideal way to connect with customers and stakeholders through postings relevant to agricultural biotechnology and animal nutrition. After reading blog posts, listening to podcasts or watching videos, followers can join in the conversation by leaving comments.”
Commodity Classic took place in Anaheim, CA. You'll find all of Chuck, Cindy and Joanna's photos here.
Happy Ag Week
It's time to thank our farmers and ranchers for all their hard work to feed us.
In this week's program I interview Linda Tank, CHS, Inc., who is Chair of the Agriculture Council of America, the group coordinating National Ag Day. Learn more about their activities, especially this week in Washington, DC.
Westfield Insurance has a blog called Grains of Knowledge. I really like the name and the content looks great. Yes, blogging is alive and well.
I had the great opportunity and honor to meet and work with Celeste Laurent at the 2010 Great Lakes Regional Dairy Conference in Frankenmuth, MI. I had first encountered Laurent through the big world of social media, where I have countless online friends across the country who are actively engaged in social networking and who are also passionately involved in the agriculture industry. Laurent is a junior studying animal science and communications at Western Kentucky University, and she found her internship on Twitter! 
I have been busy traveling the country over the past five weeks, and my last stop on the tour was to Lanesboro, MN for the 2010 Fillmore County Cattlemen’s Banquet. What a beautiful spot in the world! I truly enjoyed my stay in the quaint little town, and I was excited that my dear friend Carol Abrahamzon was able to attend the meeting to listen to me speak.
The Livestock Publications Council has implemented 
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, 
American Farmland Trust has launched a new blog called 
I learned from Amanda Nolz that President Obama just signed into law more stimulus… for farmers! HR 2997 is actually the appropriations act for agriculture, rural development, the Food and Drug Administration, and other federal programs. It includes some increases that one would think will be good for South Dakota farmers…
The 
Thursday is 
I just signed up for 
It was only a few months ago when Chuck and Cindy made the decision to sponsor the 
The 23rd Annual Georgia Peanut Tour is being held this week to provide producers with the latest information on peanuts while giving a first-hand view of industry infrastructure from production and handling to processing and utilization. 
More of the BASF ag divisions are entering the social media world. Now BASF Plant Sciences has unveiled a 
It's time to thank our farmers and ranchers for all their hard work to feed us.
