Category Archives: Mobile

Commodity Classic Launches App

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comm-classic-appThe 18th Annual Commodity Classic has launched their first-ever mobile app for this year’s event in Kissimmee, Fl. The app will allow attendees to access information, receive messages and engage in social media from their smart phones and tablets. You can even make your own schedules, take notes, lookup session and event times and navigate with maps.

Visit www.commondityclassic.com/app to download it now or check out the App Store on your mobile device and search Commodity Classic. I just did and can’t wait to attend my first ever Commodity Classic. And the best part about it is it’s free!

In less than two weeks, soybean, corn, wheat and sorghum growers will be traveling to the far Southeast from across the county to take in the sights of Kissimmee, Fl. Producers will be educated about important agricultural issues, enlightened by new product rollouts and entertained by all the events coordinators have planned.

“The innovation you’ll witness and information you’ll gather at Commodity Classic will absolutely change the way you farm,” said Commodity Classic co-Chair Bob Worth. “Agriculture faces new challenges every year, and Commodity Classic’s educational sessions and opportunities to speak with other growers and industry leaders will arm attendees with the tools they need to overcome these challenges and increase the profitability of their farming operation.”

The 2013 Commodity Classic takes place February 28-March 2 at the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center and the Orlando World Center Marriott in Kissimmee, Fla., and is presented annually by the National Corn Growers Association, American Soybean Association, National Association of Wheat Growers and National Sorghum Producers.

FarmLogs Obtains Seed Funding

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FarmlogsMore mobile farm applications are coming. This one from FarmLogs.

FarmLogs, the Michigan startup and Y Combinator alum that helps farmers digitally manage their farm to increase profitability, today announced that it has closed a $1 million seed funding round co-led by Huron River Ventures and Hyde Park Venture Partners. Hyde Park Angels, Silicon Badia Ventures, and First-Step Fund participated in the investment along with angel investors. The funding allows FarmLogs to expand its team and to further develop its mobile applications in time for the 2013 planting season.
Launching almost exactly a year ago, the farm management software company has quickly helped modernize farming by bringing critical farm data online. FarmLogs replaces paper record keeping with simple, easy-to-use software that is accessible via smartphone or web browser. With FarmLogs, growers can plan, manage and analyze their farm’s operations in order to increase yield and profitability. The tool allows farmers to quickly forecast and measure profits, track expenses, and more efficiently schedule operations.

“We built a product that my family and other farmers were asking for. Our customers around the world tell us that they could never go back to the old way,” said Jesse Vollmar, CEO and co-founder of FarmLogs. “We are on a mission to create world-changing innovation in agriculture. This funding allows us to accelerate our growth to help even more farmers take advantage of modern technology.”

FarmLogs helps row crop farmers (corn, soybeans, wheat, etc.) save time and gain total visibility into all aspects of the farm in one place. A dashboard gives users a daily snapshot of a farm’s performance, access to maps, calendars, weather conditions, market prices and relevant news. Field activities such as planting, fertilizing, and harvesting can be quickly logged in the web browser, or right from the field using the GPS enabled mobile app. Users can then drill down into their farm’s performance to learn from previous results and use that information to make smarter, more efficient farming decisions.

Farm Journal Gets Commodity Update

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Commodity UpdateBig announcement from Farm Journal and Commodity Update today!

Farm Journal Media announced it has acquired the majority interest in Commodity Update, the leading mobile media company serving agriculture. Farm Journal acquired a minority stake in the company two years ago.

Joel Jaeger will continue to serve as CEO of Commodity Update, will continue to maintain a significant stake in the enterprise, and will also join Farm Journal’s Executive Leadership Team, responsible for driving a wide range of mobile marketing solutions that benefit farmers and the companies that do business with them.

Joel JaegerFounded by Jaeger in 2006, Commodity Update currently serves more than 75,000 subscribers, who receive up to three separate information products and more than three messages each day as part of an individually personalized subscription package. Subscriber satisfaction and subscription renewal has tracked over 90% annually during the last three years.

“Joining forces with Farm Journal Media helps us develop even more powerful and integrated mobile marketing solutions, and expands the information set we can bring to farmers’ phones,” Jaeger said. “The mobile category will play a significantly bigger and more strategic role in the overall media mix in the next few years. We’ve been the leading mobile offering in agriculture for seven years, and we’re excited to take that to the next level with an innovative organization and powerful brand like Farm Journal.”

Happy Gadget Year

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iPad miniHello and welcome to the last day of 2012. Have you taken our last ZimmPoll of the year yet? How would you rate 2012? 1 = Poor, 5 = Excellent Let us know what you think?

We’ll have some end of the year stats and thoughts for you as soon as we get final numbers, etc. It’s always interesting to see where we’ve been, what we’ve done, how we’ve done it.

So, you’re wondering why there’s a picture of an iPad mini on here right? That’s because I think it represents the continuing change we’re seeing in how people consume media, get news and information and stay connected socially. Mobile communications just continues to develop and evolve and that’s just as evident in the agricultural industry as anywhere else. Look at a lot of the stories we’ve done this year over on Precision Pays and you’ll find more and more companies turning to tablets and mobile apps to provide their customers with more efficient ways to do business.

I’m an Apple iOS fan even though I also own and use an Android device as well. I think the iOS platform is more stable and has more options and when it comes to tablets the iPad rules. I’ve been counseling a number of friends and family on what type of cover they should get for their new iPad or iPhone and what apps they should get. If you’ve got questions about these please post them in comments and I’ll do my best to get you an answer. BTW. I love my iPad mini. For anyone who travels a lot it has my highest recommendation. Feel free to ask me why.

So, happy gadget year and may you always have good service and wifi!

MAPPing… Mobile App’ing… MapShots’ Software

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Conferences are always great for seeing the latest and greatest in equipment and software, and the International Conference on Precision Agriculture in Indianapolis, IN was certainly no exception. Making the rounds through the vendors’ displays, Chuck caught up with Tim Taylor from MapShots, who told him about the latest apps his company has to work with their precision agronomy software AgStudio, designed to capture various types of precision ag data.

“We’re releasing a web-based version of AgStudio, which provides access via the Internet to customers’ data, and then we have a mobile application platform announcement, which is primarily for field mapping and soil sampling applications and that allows for wireless work order and data exchange between the field and the AgStudio office application,” Taylor said, adding that they hope to have it out by the end of August.

He said they want these new applications to lessen the need for the manual transfer of data from a data device, such as a USB drive, to the hardware back in the office by providing that wireless, automatic transfer, saving a step or two for the producer. “It’s just a matter of time before we no longer have to deal with the data cards.”

The AgStudio mobile app right now is just for Apple products, but Taylor said they’re looking at expanding it into the Android market as well.

Listen to Chuck’s interview with Tim here: Interview with Tim Taylor from MapShots

11th International Conference on Precision Agriculture Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the International Conference on Precision Agriculture is sponsored by John Deere

Agriculture.com® wins two MobileWebAwards

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Less than one year after the re-launch of m.Agriculture.com, the site has been awarded two MobileWebAwards from the Web Marketing Association for Best Magazine Mobile Website and Best Magazine Mobile Application.

The two awards come shortly after the announcement of the industry-first Mobile Commerce Messaging suite of offerings. The new services include a unique [A] Deals feature that provides farmers with direct marketing promotions and discounted offers from advertisers.

After m.Agriculture.com was launched in 2010, its developers soon began testing new services most appropriate for mobile use. These services included dynamic, multimedia content like video, slideshows, and an “app tray.”

The mobile site helps farmers keep up with the latest markets, weather, news, technology, and now input buying opportunities.

Make Learning Mobile With Float

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ZimmCast 335In this week’s program we’re going to use the M word, as in Mobile, as in Float Mobile Learning. I just had a conversation with Chad Udell, Managing Director, about mobile learning technology and what that means for today’s agribusiness customers.

Float Mobile’s parent company is the Iona Group. Chad says the company has a deep history working with agribusiness companies like GROWMARK, Pioneer and Bayer. He says, “There’s a great amount of demand in the marketplace to put the right information in the right people’s hands at the right time.” He says that when growers need information they’re often away from the computer and out in the field. Examples include working with clients to put mobile and updated information in the hands of sales staff at a farm show. Tablets like an iPad or Android device are very cost effective for this purpose. In fact, Chad says mobile application development is surprisingly affordable. He says these applications are simple and do one or two things very well. Float Mobile uses a S3D Process with their clients which means Strategy, Design, Develop, Deliver. He says they work quickly since the whole mobile device world is changing rapidly today.

To learn more about Float Mobile Learning listen in to this week’s program: Float Mobile Learning

Check out their 2012 predictions for the Mobile Landscape on their blog.

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.

Mobile Technology Replacing Brochures At Trade Shows

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Why pack cases of flyers or brochures to stack in your trade show booth when you can just bring along an iPad to display more information in a multi-media format?

Pioneer Hi-Bred used to bring along more than 50 different product brochures to trade shows. Now they bring an iPad with a company-branded app. Pioneer, along with GROWMARK, worked with Float Mobile on these projects. Here’s what they did with GROWMARK.

At the 2011 Farm Progress Show, GROWMARK used an interactive “Yield Maximizer” game to draw attendees to their booth and keep them there longer. It’s part of a larger trend that’s going on in agribusiness – using innovative mobile technology to showcase products and services in unique ways.

“The FS/GROWMARK System upped its technology ante at the 2011 Farm Progress Show. Our goal at the show is always to engage and share valuable information with the farmers and other interested parties who attend. Making use of iPad-powered games that attracted attention, entertained show-goers, and conveyed information about our strong and diverse product lines was very effective,” said Ann Kafer, GROWMARK’s director of communications and marketing services. “We also debuted cropNAtion.com at the show and signed up those wanting to participate in the new social media platform for information about crop production across the country — farmer to farmer.”

Commodity Update Offering Rich Media Messaging

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Commodity UpdateCommodity Update has evolved to include Rich Media Messaging services in partnership with Farm Journal Media. This allows the company to deliver charts, graphics, audio, and richly designed commercial messages directly onto the phones of farmers who subscribe to the service. The company employs a proprietary technology to deliver these messages, under an agreement exclusive in the agri-marketing sector.

Mobile is the fastest growing segment of the marketing mix. But most communications to date – under SMS format – have been limited to 160 characters. Even within these constraints, CommodityUPDATE has built the largest and most powerful information system delivered to growers, and has fundamentally changed how farmers interact with information and agri-marketers engage with their customers. Now, with the addition of Rich Media Messaging capabilities, the company can deliver even higher levels of engagement and interactivity.

“Mobile marketing continues to advance rapidly in the Ag space,” says Joel Jaeger, Commodity Update Founder and CEO. “Our Rich Media Messaging platform expands the level and sophistication of content that can be delivered to end user farmers, and, like our text messaging service, does so through a channel that does not require a ‘Smartphone’. This makes it accessible to perhaps three times the audience that can be reached through Apps or Mobile Web-based campaigns.”

Commodity Update powers our AgWired Mobile service. To get AgWired updates via text just text “agwired” to 46786.

CommodityUPDATE Receives Investment From Farm Journal Media

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Commodity UpdateOur good friend Joel Jaeger, CommodityUPDATE, has a big announcement today. I just got off the phone with him so you can hear it from the man himself: Interview with Joel Jaeger

Joel JaegerIn a joint announcement today, CommodityUPDATE, LLC, and Farm Journal Media announced that Farm Journal is making a significant equity investment in the company. The agreement strengthens CommodityUPDATE’s leadership position in the rapidly expanding mobile marketplace in agriculture and creates new cross-media marketing opportunities for companies striving to effectively engage with the nation’s top farmers.

Founder Joel Jaeger will remain CEO of CommodityUPDATE and continue to manage the Jaeger family’s controlling interest in the company they formed in 2006. Two Farm Journal Media executives will join the board of directors, and the Farm Journal Media sales team will play a direct role in expanding sponsorship of the mobile service.

Jaeger says the partnership will help agrimarketers more effectively reach the nation’s top farmers via a diversified media portfolio that integrates mobile, the fastest growing segment of the marketing mix.

“Since we launched the business, the mobile medium has evolved, and so too has the way companies communicate with farmers,” he says. “Used properly, mobile provides the direct, interactive and immediate connection to the farmer that we all seek, while complementing and connecting with other media and campaign elements.”

Blogging Beltwide

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Katie AllenThat’s what Katie Allen is doing for Monsanto. Wish I was there but it just didn’t work out this year.

My name is Katie Allen, and I am a graduate student in agricultural communications at Texas Tech University. I am from the small town of Marceline, Missouri, where my family farms livestock and row crops. I graduated from the University of Missouri in May 2008 with a degree in agricultural journalism before moving to Texas!

Get Your Ag Marketing News On The Move

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AgWired MobileJust text “agwired” to 46786

Do it and join the dozens of people who are already subscribed to get agricultural marketing news in the fastest and easiest form available. Once you subscribe then we’ll deliver the news to you in headline form so all you have to do is look at your phone. It just doesn’t get any easier than that.

Will we break your text limits? I don’t think so. Since we started the new service last week we haven’t been sending more than about 4 headlines in a day. It could be more, it could be less. It depends on what we find that we think you want and need to know.

The feedback has been great so far. For example, one subscriber told me that he had just left a client meeting and got an AgWired Mobile message with new information about that very same client. He found that helpful. Another subscriber told me that a headline story we sent was going to be helpful to him when he met with a client the next morning. In either case, they don’t believe they would have received that information any other way. Although almost everything pushed through AgWired Mobile will appear on Agwired too and in longer form.

Here’s a couple of examples of some AgWired Mobile feeds from this week:

Penton Media launches targeted online career center: AgriBizJobs.com. Offers services to employers and jobseekers. www.agribizjobs.com

Craig Louder, Utah State University, wins the Alltech Young Scientist Award presented at the Alltech Symposium.

Argonne National Laboratory releases new report on increased efficiency of ethanol plants. Report available at www.ethanolfra.org.

So don’t delay. Subscribe today and if you like it we would sure appreciate you telling your friends and colleagues about it too.

AgWired Mobile is powered by:
Commodity Update

If you ever want to unsubscribe (why would you?) then just text “agwired stop” to the same number.

AgWired Mobile Feedback

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AgWired MobileEarly feedback on AgWired Mobile is rolling in. Here’s a few samples.

You guys are amazing!

Great idea! I just signed up.

This is pretty dang cool!

Looks great, Chuck. I’m sure this will be a big hit.

I just signed up for the text service. Great idea!

Some questions have been posed, so let me answer a few of them.

We’re going to be pretty selective about what stories we post to AgWired Mobile. The number of daily messages will vary but I’m guessing that it would average about 4 or 5 a day. This week we may send more due to the NAMA Convention. We realize that some people may have a limited text message plan but that’s changing fast. Most carriers offer a low cost unlimited everything plan today so we don’t think we’ll be breaking the bank on messages.

The messages are limited to 165 characters so it’s mainly going to be headlines and when possible, a link to more information.

We’re targeting AgWired Mobile to the same audience as AgWired.com. That has always been the professional in agricultural marketing (commodity groups, agencies, media, agribusiness) keeping in mind that we’re reaching a lot of farmers too. Heck, farmers are agrimarketers aren’t they? We also reach a lot of consumers. If you look around the web you’ll find AgWired content on a lot of websites of all kinds. That’s why it’s so unreliable anymore to just measure reach on site visitors. That doesn’t include all the other places the content is showing up!

Please make sure you’ve got us on your news release/announcement list too. Send ‘em to news@agwired.com.

Keep the feedback coming. I’m heading to KC, MO very shortly and look forward to hearing your thoughts there as well.