High speed internet access is growing in America and according to a new study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project the overall growth was 17 percent in the last year. It was 12 percent the year before. It also looks like rural America is getting wired (and AgWired!). Here’s some interesting tidbits:
Some 55% of all adult Americans now have a high-speed internet connection at home, according to a May 2008 survey conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. The percentage of Americans with broadband at home has grown from 47% in early 2007 and 42% in early 2005. Among individuals who use the internet at home, 79% have a high-speed connection while 15% use dialup.
Older Americans: Those age 50 and over experienced a 26% growth rate in home broadband adoption from 2007 to 2008. Half of Americans between the ages of 50 and 64 have broadband at home. Some 19% of those 65 and older had home broadband access as of April 2008.
Rural Americans: 38% of those living in rural American now have broadband at home, compared with 31% who said this in 2007, or a growth rate of 23% from 2007 to 2008.
Cindy found an interesting story on Cnet, titled, “Corn farmers take anti-Google fight to Washington.” It’s about a letter from the American Corn Growers and some other ag groups to Congress, urging them to look into a proposed advertising partnership between Google and Yahoo. It’s kind of a complicated story to explain easily so I encourage you to read the story if you’re interested. Here’s an excerpt from the letter.
We write to request that your respective Committees hold prompt hearings on the proposed partnership between Google and Yahoo! which threatens to create a monopolistic concentration of power in the market for online search and related advertising. This issue is of immense importance to rural communities that we represent.
As you know, search applications have become the primary portal for all Web users. Cattleman are now buying and selling calves on frontierstockyards.com, seed customers are finding suppliers through search ads displayed on AgriSeek.com, and family farmers are connecting with customers via localharvest.org.
What I think is really interesting is that this points to how important the internet has become to agricultural marketing and how significant search is. I think it shows how important it is for you to be “found” on the web and that’s what new media techniques and social media platforms are made for.
We love the commercials and now the website is more fun too.
GOT MILK?, known for its quirky, yet memorable TV commercials, has given its Web site a face lift, providing it with an online presence to match its onscreen reputation. The new www.gotmilk.com, produced by the California Milk Processor Board (CMPB), the creators of GOT MILK?, showcases an entertaining, integrated online health resource for consumers. The interactive Web site features eye-catching flash animations graphics and better navigational tools to make it easier for visitors to surf the site. Besides its visually captivating appeal, the site delivers the positive message of milk as a super drink: strengthening bones, muscles, hair, nails and teeth and even reducing some of the symptoms of PMS.
When visitors log on to www.gotmilk.com, they are welcomed by a “milk contraption” where a steady stream of the super drink flows. On the home page, consumers can navigate through a series of interactive games highlighting the health benefits of milk. These games feature a beaver, for example, who teaches visitors about milk’s teeth strengthening qualities, or an owl who informs consumers that drinking milk before sleep could help them get extra z’s at night. A drop down “related content” menu would also pop-out, giving consumers access to milk-related studies, articles and delicious low-fat recipes.
Find out how to win a MacBook Air.
I think virtual agronomy is a great idea and term for using the internet for a virtual field day. That’s what the BCG (Birchip Cropping Group and Wimmera Farming Systems) is doing in Australia.
Virtual Agronomy allows the BCG to provide a more detailed, current and interactive service to its members without replacing any existing extension tools. It is user-friendly for members and allows for slow dial-up connections. Administration users (ie. BCG staff) can easily and rapidly enter trial details from any computer with internet access. This is a cost-effective way of instantly providing BCG members with information.
Virtual Agronomy has allowed BCG members to:
* follow the progress of current trials from sowing through to harvest,
* learn more about “Hot Topics” as they arise during the season (eg. disease outbreak) with text, images, and video or audio recordings from invited experts
* search through a database of historical BCG trial results from 1993 to the present
* contribute to different discussion forums or post a question to BCG staff or technical consultants,
* receive the full application on CD-Rom at the end of alternate years.
Read a summary here. Thanks to Jim Evans at the Agricultural Communications Documentation Center for the information.
USDA Rural Development is at it again, helping bring AgWired to rural America in high speed (as well as all ZimmComm online communications projects). Thank you Sec. Dorr for all you do!
SDA Rural Development Under Secretary Thomas C. Dorr today announced that Open Range Communications, headquartered in Denver, Colo., has been approved to receive a $267 million loan from USDA Rural Development to provide broadband service to 518 rural communities in 17 states.
This partnership will address the significant need to deploy wireless, portable broadband connectivity to improve service in considerable portions of rural America. The commitment by USDA and Open Range represents one of the largest public-private investments for broadband service by the federal government.
This unique set of services will provide cutting-edge Wi-Max technology that transmits wireless data in areas not serviced by cable or DSL technologies. Open Range plans to offer affordable, wireless high-speed broadband service to underserved and unserved areas. (more…)
If you want to find some Hoosier goodness online then check out the Indiana MarketMaker. It’s where consumers, businesses and farmers are linked.
Hoosiers can now find farm-fresh eggs or just-picked apples right in their neighborhood, thanks to a new interactive Web site called MarketMaker. The Web site connects consumers, agricultural businesses and farmers, providing a one-stop shop to locate locally grown food products. “Consumers, local food buyers, retailers and restaurants are all looking for a quick and easy way to locate Indiana food products,” said Andy Miller, director of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture. “MarketMaker is the tool to open new markets to Indiana food producers, helping farmers reach their market directly.” Indiana MarketMaker - online at http://www.inmarketmaker.com - currently has more than 150 farm enterprises with more farmers and food businesses registering each day. The Web site is free to consumers, farmers and businesses.
That’s the title on a new joint website of the Federal Communications Commission and USDA Rural Development. Pretty soon we won’t see any disparity in rural vs. urban broadband accessibility.
“Broadband technology is a key driver of economic growth. The ability to share increasing amounts of information, at greater and greater speeds, increases productivity, facilitates interstate commerce, and helps drive innovation. But perhaps most important, broadband has the potential to affect almost every aspect of our lives… The United States and the Commission have a long history and tradition of making sure that rural areas of the country are connected and have the same opportunities for communications as urban areas.”
— FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin
Thanks to a heads up from Mary Ann Leonard at InfoFarm, the USDA NAL Blog. She points to some current information that shows that rural broadband is growing at a faster pace than it has and that’s certainly being fueled by the government.
According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, rural Americans still lag behind their urban and suburban counterparts in high-speed Internet connections. As of March 2007, just under one-third (31%) of those in rural areas have broadband connections at home (pdf), compared to 47% of the non-rural types.
The good news: the numbers for rural communities are growing at a faster pace than average. Pew data shows broadband adoption stood at 18% in 2005 and 25% in 2006, on its way to the current 31%. That last period, 2006 to 2007, translates to a 24% growth rate for rural Americans, compared to 18% for urban and 7% for suburban residents.
If you like Certified Hereford Beef then you’ll want to check out the new website for their customers.
Certified Hereford Beef® (CHB) LLC has re-launched a customer-focused Web site, www.herefordbeef.net . This new Web site is equipped with upgraded navigation software to make it more user-friendly for CHBs three publics, consumers, customers (retail/foodservice) and producers.
HerefordBeef.net provides users an opportunity to locate where they can purchase CHB product at both the retail and foodservice level as well as being able to find distributors in their region. “This Web site is a key marketing tool for CHB and allows us to reach each of our key audiences with a fresh look at our quality CHB product,” says Arden Gremmert, Certified Hereford Beef General Manager. “The new site not only tells visitors where they can purchase our product in their home state in supermarkets or restaurants, it offers them recipes, nutritional information, smart shopping techniques and other tips that help them better enjoy the great taste of Certified Hereford Beef.”
You are probably familiar with the eXtension website but you may not know that there’s now a whole section on cotton.
eXtension is an interactive learning environment delivering the best, most researched knowledge from the smartest land-grant university minds across America. eXtension connects knowledge consumers with knowledge providers - experts who know their subject matter inside out.
How many of you are subscribing to news feeds? If you’re in agricultural communications and claim to be a professional on top of things then I hope all of you are. There are so many ways to do this today that excuses like, “It’s too complicated” or “I can’t keep up with all the information” just aren’t valid. If you’re using excuses then you’re being left behind. I’m here to help you catch up or get ahead!
Let’s start with the fact that NewsGator products are now free. I’m using their NetNewsWire on my Mac, NewsGator Inbox on my pc and NewsGator Go on my Blackberry. They all sync with each other automatically so that if I read feeds on one device I don’t have to wonder if I’ve read them on another. Of course they also have a web version which I can use from any computer, anywhere, and it syncs as well.
I know a lot of you have a Blackberry, Treo, Centro, Tilt, MotoQ, Helio, iPhone or Blackjack. If so, then get NewsGator Go. It works and can’t be more simple to use. That’s what’s showing on my phone in the picture. They also have a version for Blackberry Enterprise Server.
NewsGator isn’t the only game in town though. You can subscribe in your browser now whether that’s Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari or whatever. You can also subscribe with Google, (Google Reader). I set up and use a customized Google homepage (iGoogle) and have it set up to receive feeds from all our managed websites. That way when I go to my home page I can immediately see, 1.) if all my site feeds are working, 2.) the latest posts to make sure they’re being updated properly by whoever I have posting. I also have Google Reader set up but don’t go to it as often as my other feed resources. One of the cool things about Google Reader is your ability to share your feeds with friends who use it too.
So now that you’re subscribing to news feeds so you can keep up with what’s going on whenever and wherever you want how about creating your own news feed? Think blogging and podcasting. Doesn’t matter if you’re a magazine, radio station, farm group or chemical manufacturer. Your members and customers are doing this. Just because no one can tell you how many farmers subscribe to news feeds, including blogs and podcasts doesn’t mean they aren’t. Why do people think farmers are somehow different than the non-farming public? Here’s a good recent article you might want to read.
This is all powered by the use of rss and no one is having to enter demographic data to subscribe. So for those of you who think I can only use feeds as a communication tool for my business or organization if I can “measure” exactly who is subscribing then I would have to say you just don’t get it. This is why it’s called new media. Your customers and members are going to get their information from somewhere. These tools make it easier for them. So if you don’t supply it, guess where they’re going to get it.
I’m surprised about how quickly people are finding me on Facebook and LinkedIn. I’ve got a growing list of friends and contacts already.
So for those of you who are involved in agricultural communications (broadcasting, publication, web, freelance, photographer, public relations, etc.) I’ve created a group for Farm Podcasters and Agribloggers on Facebook. Feel free to join. If you don’t have an account then get one. It’s free and easy and open to anyone globally.
Post questions, ideas, suggestions and let’s help each other navigate through the new media world. Of course you can always post comments here too.
How much time do you spend online these days? More than you did 2 years ago?
According to a chart on the Compete Blog time spent online has increased by 24.3% since October of 2006. That’s a pretty healthy jump in just two years.
Here’s what the author of that post, Jay Meattle, has to say about it:
We are spending more and more time consuming information online. Logically, since time is finite online advertising spend should follow a similar trajectory with marketers allocating their ad budgets in proportion to where people are spending their time.
Needless to say, this is a time of considerable opportunity for online media properties and online marketers!
I can’t agree more.
According to a story on Business Week, Walmart will begin selling broadband internet access. That would be of the satellite variety. They’ll begin re-selling Hughes Communications satellite service right away. It’s not a huge market but one of the barriers to satellite access has been price. The bet is that the price will go down now that the big dog is selling it.
The story says that currently only “about 10% of Americans have no access to DSL or cable broadband.” That’s still a lot of people and a lot of them are in rural areas. So farmers without access to DSL or cable, take heart. Another option is surfacing at a store near you.
According to a story on Webpronews.com:
Wal-Mart will offer satellite broadband in 800 stores and pricing will start at $60 a month for 700Kbps download speeds up 2.0Mbps. The company is also rumored to be testing a service similar to Best Buy’s Geek Squad.
The latest Farm Computer Usage and Ownership report from USDA’s NASS was posted today with very little fanfare but I think it is very important to agricultural marketers! Following is the main summary of the report but there’s lots of data in there if you want to study and use it. I’m highlighting some key points in it for you.
High-speed Internet access methods, such as DSL, cable, satellite, and wireless, have become much more available to Internet users in the farm sector since 2005. The proportion of operators using DSL doubled in 2007, at 27 percent, compared with the 2005 level of 13 percent. Cable, satellite, and wireless were each reported as the primary access methods on 7 percent of those U.S. farms with Internet access; with satellite and wireless methods both at virtually double their 2005 levels. Dialup was again the most common method of accessing the Internet, with nearly half (47 percent) of U.S. farms still using it, down from 69 percent in 2005.
A total of 55 percent of U.S. farms now have Internet access, compared with 51 percent in 2005. Sixty-three percent of farms have access to a computer in 2007, compared with the 2005 level of 59 percent. The proportion of U.S. farms owning or leasing a computer in 2007, at 59 percent, is up slightly from 55 percent in 2005. Farms using computers for their farm business increased 3 percentage points from 2005 to 35 percent in 2007.
In 2007, 80 percent of U.S. farms with sales and government payments of $250,000 or more have access to a computer, 78 percent own or lease a computer, 66 percent are using a computer for their farm business, and 75 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, 66 percent own or lease a computer, 51 percent are using a computer for their farm business, and 61 percent have Internet access. For farms with sales and government payments between $10,000 and $99,999, 62 percent reported having computer access, 57 percent own or lease a computer, 36 percent use a computer for their farm business, and 53 percent have Internet access.
For crop farms, 64 percent have computer access and 37 percent use a computer for their farm business in 2007, up 4 and 3 percentage points from 2005, respectively. Internet access for crop farms has increased to 56 percent in 2007, compared to 52 percent in 2005. For livestock farms, 62 percent have computer access and 55 percent have Internet access. The use of a computer for farm business has increased to 33 percent for livestock farms, up 3 points from 2005.
It’s really getting hard to ignore the fact that broadband internet access is available or in development everywhere in rural America isn’t it? We’re sure not ignoring it. In fact, we’re helping companies take advantage of it!
Deputy Agriculture Secretary Chuck Connor today announced the availability of $8.9 million in grants for communities without broadband service to provide residential service and connect facilities such as police and fire stations, health care, libraries and schools. “The Community Connect Grant Program has proved to be effective in reaching those rural communities where broadband service is least likely to be deployed,” Conner said. “Connecting residents and essential community facilities improves local services and the protection of the citizens of these communities.”
Grants are available to communities in the most rural, economically challenged areas where loans will not be sustainable. In Horseshoe Bend, Idaho, for example, no company had invested in providing broadband delivery to the community of 770 people. However, local businesses, schools and residents worked with the BitSmart Corp. to file a USDA Community Connect Grant, which was approved. Now, BitSmart has established wireless internet availability and an integrated system connecting law enforcement, health care providers, and school and government offices. Additionally, students in a business class at the high school are serving as BitSmart’s local operations staff.
Applications for grants are due by close of business August 13, 2007. There is a minimum grant level of $50,000 and a maximum grant level of $1,000,000 for projects. The application guide for this grant program can be found at http://www.usea.gov/rus/telecom/ .
It’s Friday afternoon in Nashville and time to relax with a very tasty treat. After a full day of CMA Music Festival related activities and a nice run I thought I’d check out the end of the week emails. There are a number of them that come in from Washington, DC. Like the NAWG Newsletter. In it I learned of a new website called FarmPolicyFacts.org. It’s supported by the American Sugar Alliance, Minnesota Corn Growers Associations, National Association of Wheat Growers, National Cotton Council and the USA Rice Federation. I like the fact that it’s got an RSS feed but I’ve got to say that what I think they’re trying to do would work very well in blog format. If you wonder why just give me a call and I’ll explain.
I also found out that the 2008 Commodity Classic website is now public so you’ve got to check that out. It’s never too early to plan ahead. (Didn’t we just have Commodity Classic?) The little corn/soybean/wheat dudes are even animated!
I think some of the first people I spoke to about YouTube just laughed and I think they were laughing at me and the whole idea of uploading simple little videos to an internet site that makes them public. Well read on here and see if I’m crazy. The Kelsey Group just released the results of a survey they conducted which says “59 percent of those surveyed claimed to watch online video, and more than half said they engage in some sort of response activity, such as visiting a Web site, going to a physical location or making a purchase.”
So I’m sure that the skeptic out there will say that’s not farmers. Uh, wrong. We don’t know how many farmers but I guarantee you that farmers are included because they’re people and part of the overall population. Besides, if you’re trying to reach non-farmers then I hope you’ll think that this is a new option or channel of communication for your arsenal. How about a video podcast and use YouTube as part of the distribution mechanism? And keep in mind that Apple TV will be able to stream videos from YouTube. Are you keeping up?
According to the report, production companies such as Spot Runner and TurnHere offer to produce and distribute video ads for small businesses at price points that are significantly lower than those of traditional advertising, bringing video advertising within the grasp of many small businesses for the first time. The report reasons that the value of video may be easier to comprehend for many small businesses compared with some forms of online performance-based marketing.
Additional conclusions offered in The Kelsey Group’s online video report include:
– Small-business video advertising can combine the traditional strengths of pull-based directional marketing, the Internet’s targeting capabilities, and the emotional and dramatic power of television. Given the demographics of broadband users, the online audience reached by these ads would also be well-educated, affluent and more likely to engage in pull-based content retrieval.
You can find an executive summary of their white paper on the subject online.
This is a freebie plug for HughesNet only because I just saw a commercial for them on the monitor in the little bistro here in Buffalo airport. The announcer asked if you lived in an area where broadband internet access was unavailable and told how that’s no longer the case with their satellite internet packages.
I looked them up to see the pricing plans and they’re not bad. After a $300 one time installation you have your choice of plans that range up to about $80/month. That’s a good investment in today’s business world.
HughesNet isn’t the only option in satellite either. There’s Wild Blue which looks like it has about the same pricing. I found one called Skycasters. Look for yourself by doing an internet search.
The ZimmCast is done and this week you can listen to interviews with Joel Jaeger, founder of Your Farm and Ken McCauley, NCGA president. Joel just launched Your Farm, the coolest online community for farmers and with it he’s made available the USDA/FAS 1614 Farm Subsidy Database which you can search.
ZimmComm freelance reporter Mike Rogers actually did the interviews for me this week. In his interview with Joel you’ll hear about why he’s started Your Farm and put the database online. Then in the interview he did with Ken we hear a grower’s take on putting the farm subsidy database online and what he thinks about having a new place for farmers to gather online.
This week’s ending song is “The Peace Within” by Barry McCabe which you can find on the Podsafe Music Network.
You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: 
ZimmCast 119 (25 min MP3)
Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:
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The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired which you can subscribe to using the link in our sidebar. You can also subscribe in iTunes.
Let me introduce you to Your Farm. I know that if you have a farm it’s your farm but now there’s a new online destination that’s being developed for farmers that’s all about farmers. This is a very cool concept and one I think you should pay attention to. ZimmComm New Media is going to be a charter sponsor and we’re already working on how we integrate information into the site working with founder Joel Jaeger. You may remember Joel from his Commodity Update launch last year. Well Commodity Update is doing very well delivering commodity markets to farmers via text messages. Now he’s taking the next step to create an online community for farmers to interact with each other.
As Joel says about Your Farm on the site, it’s “An online community, integrating the knowledge and experience of farmers everywhere to bring you a resource unlike anything available today. We call it Your Farm. Because in the end that’s what matters.”
You can listen to an interview with Joel that was conducted by reporter Mike Rogers here:
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The new online farmer community destination is in it’s final development stages but Joel decided to go ahead and announce it to start building awareness and so that potential charter sponsors can take a first look at that site. Think MySpace for farmers. That’s what we’re talking about. Farmers will be able to sign up and participate for free and companies wanting to have a branded presence in the community are welcome to initiate a discussion on how to make that happen.
Built upon the central tenant of serving and looking out for the farmer, Your Farm Inc., a new online community designed for production agriculture, launched today. Building on the success of social networks in other industries, Your Farm is a destination where producers, agribusinesses, professors, agri-marketers, grower associations, and members of the farm media can interact, contribute and benefit. The Company was developed to be a resource for those who spend their lives in and around production agriculture.
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Digital cattle news pioneer, Rob Cook, is now working for Vance Publishing after the company acquired CattleNetwork.com.
