I just scanned the story and it contains some good information including how farmers are using their smartphones with specific examples, recommended apps and more. Of course I would like to see the AgWired App in those recommendations but . . .

I use the Zinio app on my iPad to read digital magazines btw.

Successful Farming magazine has promoted Curt Blades to national sales manager. In his new role, he will oversee and lead all advertising sales initiatives and research activities for the Successful Farming brands, including Agriculture.com and the Successful Farming Machinery Show. He was previously the sales and marketing manager with Successful Farming.

“We will continue to be the most customer-oriented advertising sales and marketing team in agriculture,” said Blades. “I am thrilled to be given the opportunity to serve our customers and internal team in this new position.”

As Chuck mentioned in a previous post, Curt started off his career in the agribusiness world as an intern with us at Brownfield Network – many, many moons ago. But, while we keep getting older, he still looks like that fresh-faced college kid to me!

The Agriculture Council of America (ACA) has three major Washington DC events planned this year – Coffee with the Secretary, the Mix-and-Mingle Luncheon, and the National Celebration of Agriculture Dinner. John Deere will once again partner with ACA, as well as Successful Farming and DTN-The Progressive Farmer, to sponsor the DC events.

The events honor National Agriculture Week and mark a nationwide effort to tell the true story of American agriculture and remind citizens that agriculture is a part of all of us. A number of producers, agricultural associations, corporations, students and government organizations involved in agriculture are expected to participate.

In addition to public service announcements and other educational programs, ACA and partners will sponsor students to attend the Washington D.C. events. Representatives from FFA, 4H, AFA, the Consortium, and Student NAMA will visit with legislators, participate in a mix-and-mingle luncheon, and attend special events throughout the day.

The winners of the National Ag Day Essay Contest will also attend the events. High school students around the country have submitted written or video essays about the importance of agriculture with the theme “American Agriculture: Your Food. Your Farmer.” One winner in each category – written and video – will receive $1,000 and round-trip airfare to Washington, D.C., for recognition during the Celebration of Ag Dinner. The Ag Day Essay Contest is sponsored by CHS Inc., the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology, High Plains/Midwest Ag Journal, National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB), National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA), Country Living Association and McCormick Company.

Betsy says that between 2008 to 2010 they found that the economy had an impact but that they’re still interested in organic and locally grown food although their use of those foods hadn’t really increased during this time. The economy is probably the reason as they are making fewer trips to the grocery store. They also looked at what types of meat they were consuming and found that beef and pork were stable while chicken had declined very slightly. Fresh fruit and vegetable use went down also probably due to the economy. There was a whole part of the study on food safety. In the past two years food safety confidence was steady although it had declined in the time period before this survey. She says the local food movement seems to have hit a plateau in the last couple years. She says that there is a lot that farmers can take away from the study. She thinks it is very important that farmers don’t try so hard to segment what kind of farmer they are, as in organic vs. non-organic and try to work together more.

You can listen to my interview with Betsy here: Interview With Betsy Freese

2011 AG CONNECT Expo Photo Album

That got our attention, so we called John Montandon, President of Farm Market iD, to find out more about what this new partnership has to offer. In this ZimmCast, John talks about how they are using the latest technology – both in communications and agriculture – to offer agrimarketers the most comprehensive information about their customers.

Find out more here: ZimmCast 273

Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsors, Novus International, and Leica Geosytems 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 a Subscribe page

Successful Farming® magazine was announced the Media Industry News (min) b2b Wow Award-winner at the Integrated Marketing Awards ceremony in New York City amongst more than 300 top-level media executives. The Wow Award is presented to the most innovative integrated marketing campaign or idea.

“We hear a lot today about social media and social networking – users interacting with other users,” said Scott Mortimer, Publisher of Successful Farming. “In ‘All Around the Farm’, farmers have been sharing ideas for over 80 years. You might say it’s the great-grandfather of social media. It has continuously been a resource for our readers and is recognized as a favorite editorial feature in every issue.”

“All Around the Farm” began in 1929 as a forum in which farmers and ranchers could share problems and brainstorm solutions. While it first ran exclusively in the print version, the program has since expanded throughout the years into all of the brand’s formats. Besides being a regular feature in the monthly magazine, it has a presence on Agriculture.com, on the “Machinery Show” on RFD TV and is a popular book.

To wrap up my web remote from Agriculture.com Curt and I talked about what the newly designed website means to advertisers. All of us in the media know how important they are to our success and Successful Farming has some very interesting opportunities for advertisers now and in the future. Curt says they’ve not only included more traditional advertising options like leader boards but also some creative ideas that don’t make an advertiser rely on click through’s only. There are new units available so the messages can stand alone. Additionally, advertisers have an opportunity to own a section. There are also opportunities for sponsored news. Listen to my interview with Curt to hear how your company can take advantage of the new Agriculture.com. Curt Blades Interview

Agriculture.com Public Launch Photo Album

Jason says that in addition to current markets, weather, and news, the new mobile site will include some new features like:

* Ag Poll: Join in polls that will give you a snapshot of what’s happening with other farmers today.
* Photo Sharing: Share your photos from the field and help show the world what’s happening out on the land.
* Ag Reminder: Receive timely reminders of topics that will help you manage your farm business on a daily basis.

Agriculture.com Public Launch Photo Album

Agriculture.com Public Launch Photo Album

Jason says the new Agriculture.com is all about sharing content within and without of the community. He says they’re continuing to produce regular feature content like Machinery Pete. I had to look in envy at Jason’s Mac Pro which he uses to edit a lot of their video content. Jason’s also very involved in the Successful Farming Machinery Show on RFD-TV. Jason Meeker Interview

Agriculture.com Public Launch Photo Album

Within the new Agriculture.com there continues to be a number of topical forums like the award winning Farmers for the Future targeted to young farmers. Jeff is the “hall monitor” for these forums which is very important. Successful Farming doesn’t just set up a forum for discussion and then walk away. Jeff monitors the conversation, contributes and even encourages participants.

Another way Jeff utilizes the information posted by community participants is for his own editorial purposes. By seeing what they are talking about he learns what’s important to them and that is a big help in determining the type of editorial content he should be focusing on with his own writing. All in all, I think you’ll find that Jeff and his team are very in tune with their audience by being part of the online family. Jeff Caldwell Interview

Agriculture.com Public Launch Photo Album

I’m going to continue my coverage of the public launch of Agriculture.com tomorrow with several more behind the scenes interviews talking about the community, multi-media tools, markets and the mobile version. It’s time to head back to ZimmComm World Headquarters for this agriblogger. See you from there tomorrow.

Agriculture.com Public Launch Photo Album

John is showing off his new iPad which he used to show me some of the new features on the website. John says there are three legs to the the website, the farmer, the publisher and the agrimarketer and they all interact on an equal basis. He calls it the Co-Active Network as shown by the graphic.

Anyone can create a “persona” on the site that then allows them to use the interactive tools for the purposes of activities like commenting or selling something via a classified ad. Farmers can even comment on the markets. I’m betting there will be some very interesting thoughts shared there! John Walter Interview

Agriculture.com Public Launch Photo Album

We had a conversation about why they rebuilt Agriculture.com, the online home of Successful Farming magazine. Scott says it had been about 6 years since a major change of this magnitude had been conducted and the current effort actually started 2 years ago. I agreed with Loren that content is still king and even though the new website is employing some interesting new technology, farmers and ranchers will still find the same level of agricultural news and information they’ve always expected from Successful Farming. Interview with Scott Mortimer and Loren Kruse

I’ve been shooting photos here at the Successful Farming headquarters and will be adding to them during the day: Agriculture.com Public Launch Photo Album

Of course a little screen shot is nice but you need to visit Agriculture.com and start clicking away to get the full effect. I’ll be doing it myself while talking with members of the design team today to learn what they’ve put together and why.

Please feel free to post your comments. What do you think? New and improved? Like it?

My host is Curt Blades who is escorting me around the building to meet with different people who have worked on the philosophy and design of the new Agriculture.com. I’ll post interviews as they become available so don’t go away.

To put things in perspective – here is an image of the site from 15 years ago (note the Netscape browser).

It looks a little different today in my Firefox browser!

What wasn’t a surprise said Curt Blades, the Director for Sales and Marketing for SF, is that farmers continue to have a favorite seed company and this has remained consistent for the past six years. But what has changed is the loyalty to that seed company. SF’s research has shown that in the past, a farmer’s favorite seed company mirrored the farmer’s loyalty to that seed company. Yet this year’s research has shown that company loyalty has fallen sharply in the last three studies.

So what does this mean? “In the past six years there’s been some pretty phenomenal advancements in the technology and there have been some wide swings in the genetics some companies have had, explains Blades. “Also, in the same token, there have been some ownership changes and changes in the way seed has been brought to market.”

It will be interesting, continued Blades, to see how it all plays out.

Another interesting element of the Seed Study was that for the first time SF asked if the price of seed was justified and 40 percent said yes. This is good news for the seed companies said Blades.

To learn more about the Seed Study, listen to my interview with Curt below. Still want to learn more? Current SF advertisers have access to the study for free.

Here is a quick fact: did you know that farmers under the age of 40 are more likely to be online than the general population? Knowing this should affect how you advertise to this generation of farmers.

I spoke with Curt Blades, the Director of Sales and Marketing for Successful Farming (SF) to learn more about their Farmer Insight research and I also learned, that through their parent company, Meredith Corporation, they also have consumer insight research. He explained that every decision from editorial content to revamping a media outlet to counseling advertising partners, is driven by the knowledge they hold of what farmers think and what makes them tick.

Well, here is a bit of information that made me think: 26 percent of consumers consuming food in the U.S. are very concerned about the safety and quality of their food. Blades explained, “As a farm kid, that concerns me…farmers take pride in providing American consumers with the cleanest, safest, cheapest food supply in the world.”

Blades said that while farmers have known this food safety trend has been increasing in recent years, this research validates this concern. It looks like the ag industry has some work on their hands, but Blades, through SF’s Farmer Insight research can help guide us on the best messaging and tools to lessen this consumer concern.

While Blades said that research was a very important tool for them, it is also a very important tool for their partners. Not only is their research available to their advertising partners, but their advertising partners can also commission proprietary research.

You can learn more about SF’s Farmer Insight research by listening to my interview with Curt here.

Now, announcing the 2009-2010 Student Award Winners:

$4,000 Scholarship
Successful Farming/Fergie Ferguson
Amanda Sollman – Michigan State University

$1,000 Colle+McVoy/New Holland Scholarship
Melissa Short – University of Florida

$1,000 MoKan Scholarship
Kerri Bates – Kansas State University

$1,000 ABEF Scholarships
Danielle Brown – University of Wisconsin – Madison
Carly Cummings – Iowa State University
Katie Dogs – University of Wisconsin – Madison
Sarah Butterfield – The Ohio State University
Kayla Lehman – Michigan State University
Jamie Thomas – New Mexico State University
Lauren Tatum – New Mexico State University

$500 ABEF Scholarships
Kristin Witte – University of Nebraska – Lincoln
Kelsey Olson – University of Wisconsin – Madison
Elizabeth Burns-Thompson – Iowa State University
Scott Henry – Iowa State University
Karoline Kastanek – Univ. of Nebraska – Lincoln

Congrats to all the winners whom you can see in our 2010 National Agri-Marketing Conference Photo Album.

AgWired coverage of the 2010 National Agri-Marketing Conference
is sponsored by: . They know.

Other top winners in the student NAMA awards included Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, which took first place for Outstanding Student Chapter; and Iowa State University, which received first place and $3000 for their chapter as the John Deere Signature Award winners; and Mike Gustafson regained his title as “Hard Ass” judge of the year – three times in the past four years!

Curt Blades of Successful Farming was honored as outgoing NAMA Careers chair for his years of working with the student NAMA chapters. He was presented with an engraved beer stein for his heroic efforts!

Congrats to all the winners!

2010 National Agri-Marketing Conference Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the 2010 National Agri-Marketing Conference
is sponsored by: . They know.

One of the team members I spoke with during the conference was Scott Mortimer, Publisher, Successful Farming. He is included in the photo. Successful Farming partnered with us again this year to provide coverage of the event.

I asked Scott what their support of NAMA means to them. He says it is very important to the future of the industry and they contribute more than just dollars but staff support as well. He says it this way, “We not only support NAMA with our pocketbook but our people.”

In light of the changes in communications technology Scott says the company continues to work on customer insight to understand what the needs of their readers and agribusiness partners are and then developing solutions around that. They do this via market research which really helps drive their business. This includes multiple Successful Farming Market Research Panels. They have new research available now which you can obtain by contacting them.

You can listen to my interview with Scott below.

2010 National Agri-Marketing Conference Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the 2010 National Agri-Marketing Conference
is sponsored by: . They know.

On Wednesday evening, Curt Blades, with Successful Farming, who has been a champion of the student’s marketing competition for many years, was awarded the Chairman’s award for his role as the Student Committee Chairman. His colleague, Janelle Buxton, was awarded a Horizon Award for her role as Chairwoman of the Membership Committee. Shortly thereafter, Curt took the stage in the trade show hall and began the announcement every student was waiting for. And the finalists are…

• Iowa State
• Illinois State
• University of Minnesota
• New Mexico State University
• CalPoly
• Michigan State

Here is a photo of few of the team members from New Mexico State as they took a brief moment to celebrate before heading back to put the winning touches on their presentation. Congrats to all the finalists and good luck this afternoon. You can see photos from the Student Marketing Competition along with photos from all of NAMA in the 2010 National Agri-Marketing Conference Photo Album.

AgWired coverage of the 2010 National Agri-Marketing Conference
is sponsored by: . They know.

In this week’s ZimmCast I talk with John Walter, Agriculture.com, about trends in ag media today and what he sees in the future. John is a social media superstar and very proud of the company’s young farmer social networking site, Farmers for the Future. He says they have over 3,000 people registered in the network and recently had two of them get married after meeting via the network.

In our discussion John shares some information from recent Successful Farming research projects. They’ve been getting a complete “farmer insight” and to get the full story you’ll need to stop by their booth at the NAMA conference or contact your SF representative. Their research documents how farmers are using various forms of media, including online, for several years now and it is eye opening for anyone who still thinks nothing has changed.

Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsors, Novus International, and Leica Geosytems for their support.

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.

“A lot of people in ag seem to think the jury is still out on whether or not farmers are going to embrace social media, reminiscent of the debates I heard about farmers and the Internet,” says Walter. “It’s clear that farmers have figured out how to make the Internet an integral part of their operations. And the farmers who continue to incorporate social media tools into their business mix are the real innovators who will be the future of production ag. That’s the audience we’re reaching with both our print and online media properties.”

Pictured are John (left) and Successful Farming’s Jeff Caldwell, Multimedia Editor with their recent MIN Integrated Marketing Awards.

The Farmers for the Future program took home two honorable mention awards. The first came in the Total Integrated Program category that honors projects comprising multimedia editorial content, events and programs.

The Farmers for the Future program includes feature stories in Successful Farming magazine, a microsite and multimedia content on Agriculture.com, a young and beginning farmer conference and a social network site.

The Farmers for the Future social network was awarded in MIN’s Social Media Program category. The network that began in September 2008 has more than 2,100 members and offers members myriad ways to connect with one another, including blogs, forums, chat and video chat. The Farmers for the Future project is sponsored by DEKALB and the Farm Credit Foundation.

SFP, formerly Specialized Fertilizer Products, wants everyone to know that wasted fertilizer is wasted money, and naturally, they have products for growers that can help them see a higher return on investment when added to their current fertilizer mix.

The first product is AVAIL, a phosphorus fertilizer enhancer that when added to the fields in the fall before they are plowed, will help plants absorb phosphorus more effectively. NutriSphere-N is a nitrogen fertilizer which is a key component to a successful nutrient management program.

“Both can be added to what you are normally putting on fields,” said Melanie Acklin with SFP. “Blend it in. Mix it in. Farmers can really see added efficiency from these fertilizers and ideally increased in yield potential and increased return on investment.”

The fertilizers can be applied in spring or fall but Acklin noted that as farmers are getting ready to plant winter wheat, adding AVAIL can help the crop in the spring, especially since a lot of things can happen over the winter like early frost.

Growers can learn more about the products by contacting their local fertilizer dealer or on SFP’s website.

You can see all our pictures from the Ag Media Summit in the IFAJ/AMS 2009 Photo Album.

You can listen to my full interview with Melanie Acklin here.

“My role is to educate students and make them more aware of agriculture and agribusiness and share some of my personal adventures and experiences,” Fox told AgWired during the Ag Media Summit.

Climbing to the top of Mt. Everest was a 12 year dream for Fox and he has some great advice for our future leaders, “If you have a dream pursue it. Pursue your passion. If you work hard everything is possible.”

In its second year, the Reach Teach Learn program is designed to provide youth with the information they need to ensure that honest, educated decisions are made. The program consists of two main initiatives including a college student video contest and a high school student essay contest. College students will be able to use imagery to depict current ethanol agricultural practices while for the first time, younger students will provide their perspective writing of an essay on agriculture based on the book, “The Man Who Fed The World.” As far as you know, I’m not a high school student but I will be providing my insights about the book as well.

I was also able to chat with Jeff Mellinger, Global Leader – Sales & Marketing for Alpharma. “What we’re really trying to do is reach out to young people in the U.S. is to get them to understand the agriculture industry because they will be the spokespersons in the future. We want them to be more informed in making positive choices and viewpoints because they’ll be the future leaders in developing views about agriculture.”

Mellinger also noted that the ag industry is seeing a lot more public opinion that is not accurate and that they are trying to bring accuracy to the conversation. Agriculture, he says, is a positive industry and still important to the United States.

More than 12 states have signed up to participate in the essay contest and others are welcome to join. You can learn more about Reach Teach Learn on their website. BTW – in addition to my essay on the book, I’ll be submitting a video as well, right here on AgWired.com. Now this you won’t want to miss.

You can see all our pictures from the Ag Media Summit in the IFAJ/AMS 2009 Photo Album.

You can listen to my back-to-back interviews with Jeff Mellinger and Lance Fox here.