If you’re looking for ag photos then keep the OSU photo database in mind. You’ll find lots of photos like this one.
Need that perfect picture for your editorial story and can’t find it? Search the Oklahoma State University Ag Communications Services photo database! Visit http://www2.dasnr.okstate.edu/ag-media and click on “Photo Database” on the left menu bar.
Photos related to all aspects of agriculture are free to download and use for NON-COMMERCIAL PURPOSES only — NO ADVERTISING. Please include a photo credit when using photos. (i.e. Photo courtesy of Oklahoma State University.)
New photos are added regularly so check back often for new material. If you have any questions regarding the Photo Database, please contact Agricultural Communications Services at (405) 744-4065.
The executive director of the National Biodiesel Board is not just a country music fan, but also a country music singer… well, for his wife and kids at home at least. But today, Joe got a bit more exposure than a home audience. He performed live on the Dave Nemo Show on XM Radio with renowned country music singer/songwriter Michael Peterson.
Michael and Joe also delved into energy issues, renewable fuels and where all that fits in with public policy. Joe says the National Biodiesel Board is aiming to have biodiesel replace five percent of the national supply of diesel fuel. He says that is equivalent to the amount of diesel the U.S. if refining and importing from in Iraq. In other words, he says the National Biodiesel Board is aiming to replace the diesel fuel we get from Iraq.
Some critics arguing against renewable fuels point out that the alternative fuel sources will never fully replace the need for oil. But, Joe says that’s not the point, “That’s like saying if you can’t do everything than you shouldn’t do anything.” Joe says The National Biodiesel Board simply doesn’t share that frame of thought. That’s why it has launched the BioTrucker Fuel Card. The card offers card holders cash price on all biodiesel fuel at 5,000 participating locations and special discounts at select truck stops all without any transaction fees. Those interested can sign up for the card at BioTrucker.com.
Both Michael and Joe lauded the farmers that make up the nation’s ag industry. Joe says agriculture is a powerful industry that fosters cutting-edge, technological innovation. “Ag is slow to move but powerful to respond,” Joe said.
You can listen to the entire broadcast of the Dave New Show with Michael and Joe here:
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I also got some videos of Michael and Joe while they were singing and strumming their guitars. You can watch the videos here:
After dinner I got to talk to Mark about his new position and what he thinks about this marriage of Army and agriculture touring together and inspiring communities like Lincoln. He thinks it’s great. In fact, everyone I’ve spoken with after seeing Michael’s show have said the same thing.
You can learn more about the Ag Research Center in my interview with Mark which you can listen to here:
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Thanks to University of Missouri graduate and former AgWired student blogger, Margy Fischer, Farm Journal
Machinery Editor, Test Plot Assistant Director for the heads up on this. This is from the text of an email announcement from Mizzou professor Bill Allen. He also sent along the picture of Katherine.
I just wanted to let you folks know that Journalism graduate student Katherine Harmon won a major award last weekend for a story she began reporting during the 2007 Sonja Hillgren/Farm Journal Ag Journalism Field Reporting Institute.
In Ames, Iowa, on Saturday (April 5), Katie was awarded first place in the In-Depth Reporting category of the annual Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence Awards for Region 7. (Region 7 covers Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska.)
Her story, Murky Waters, published Nov. 10 in the Columbia Missourian, detailed the evolving scientific understanding of Missouri River sediment and the impact that understanding is having on resource management, agriculture, public policy and people. (See http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2007/11/10/murky-waters/ to read the story.
Thanks to all of you for helping to make this achievement possible and for strengthening the wonderfully cross-fertilizing partnership of Ag Journalism and Journalism that Sonja represents.
I’m sure you all know someone who wishes things were still like they were in the “good old days.” Especially the good old days of agricultural communications and marketing. I know quite a few of them actually. They’re the ones who keep hoping that people will finally get over this whole “internet thing” for example. You know, the ones who say it’s just a fad and can’t understand why anyone would read blogs or listen to podcasts or subscribe to their markets on their mobile phone.
Well those kind of people are also teaching in our colleges and universities as evidenced by Paul Conley’s latest post on his blog. Paul goes on a speaking tour at the journalism departments and schools around the country and he’s been writing about his latest one. He’s found some very interesting reaction to his speeches which I’m sure promote using those tools we have lumped in the category of new media. For example:
Journalism education has divided into two factions. There are those who see digital media and convergence as positive. And there are those who see recent developments in the press as a catastrophe. The first group wants to use the universities to spread the new forms of storytelling. The second group believes universities are the place to draw the line against change.
The gap between the two is broad and deep. Most upsetting, disagreements between the two sides are uncivil. And since most journalism programs have members of both camps on the faculty, the atmosphere in many schools is toxic
This might explain my experience at Cal-Poly recently. I conducted two sessions, one for students (very well attended and many great thank you letters) and one for faculty (no one showed up) except the enlightened professor who invited me (thank you Scott!). Actually the department head stopped by to say hello early and left. Now I don’t know if they were all just busy that day or what but . . . When you’ve got someone in as a special guest speaker and notices have been printed and posted everywhere inviting you, it would be reasonable to think that someone would show up.
I applaud the professors who are willing to expand their own professional skills and teach them to their students and are open and honest enough to invite in people like Paul Conley who are ahead of the curve. They’re doing their students and school a real favor. They’re preparing them for the real world where multi-media skills using the latest technology is becoming required for employment as the media world changes.
Cindy found some great pictures from the current class going through the Wedgworth Leadership Institute. I assume they were learning to use their iPods for creating and subscribing to podcasts like the ZimmCast during the media training portion of the program. The name of the program changed after a generous donation in honor of the memory of Mr. George Wedgworth.
The program’s name was changed to the Wedgworth Leadership Institute for Agriculture and Natural Resources (WLIANR) in 2003. The program is sponsored by the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) at the University of Florida and has an academic home in the Department of Agricultural Education and Communication. The program has an advisory council made up of alumni, industry officials and university personnel, who assist the director and program staff in keeping the program relevant and advise in program structure and content.
Personnel of the WLIANR include:
Dr. Hannah S. Carter, program director
Dr. Ed Osborne, executive director
Ms. Janice Barner, executive secretary
Ms. Rochelle Strickland, program coordinator
What do Bret Oelke, George Rehm, Jochum Wiersma and Mark Whitney have in common? They all blog for AgBuzz.com. It’s published by Minnesota Farm Guide in conjunction with the University of Minnesota.
The purpose of AgBuzz is to gain interaction between producers and extension service staff. The benefits of AgBuzz are to everyone, bloggers, readers, and extension services. Comments are a key element in blogs, everyone is welcome to leave their comments, in a tasteful manner.
While you’re at it you might also want to check out what Laura Roti and Cody Wright are doing with the Tri-State Neighbor South Dakota Ag Blogs.
Wow, what a day it’s been. To start with the weather has been much nicer than in central Missouri. Then I got to teach a class in podcasting to a group of students at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo.
From there I drove through Morro Bay to get some Pacific Ocean shots and then on back to Bakersfield for supper with Robert and Dana.
In the morning I’ll be on the road back to ZimmComm world headquarters. I think you’ll find some interesting pictures in my photo album from this trip since I took the same path back today that I did yesterday going to San Luis Obispo.
Here’s Dr. Scott Vernon introducing our podcasting class today. We’ve created a demonstration podcast where I interviewed Erin who will be attending the Ag Media Summit again this year along with 20 other students from Cal Poly.
If you’d like to get the demo podcast and listen to Erin then you can use this link.
We’re about out of time and faculty are up next. Hopefully they’ll get this like their students do!
I’m on the Cal Poly campus here in San Luis Obispo and getting ready to start my podcasting class. Students are filtering in and opening up the new iPods we’re going to use as part of the training.
I’ll probably be posting a little more from here today but we’re not really doing a blogging session.
I also added to my photo album from a little trip into town earlier this morning. California Trip Photo Album
Next week I’ll be flying out to San Luis Obispo and the California Polytechnic State University to do a little new media training. Scott Vernon has set up a double session for faculty and students titled, “Exploring the New Media: Using Podcasts to Drive Your Message and Expand Your Reach.”
This is going to be fun. The idea is to “Create Innovative New Ways to Communicate to the Industry, the Public, Prospective Students, Current Students and others!” I’ll be showing how to create podcasts and how we’re seeing podcasts being used in agriculture. This is on behalf of the Agricultural Education and Communication Department.
I know that more and more companies and even those in traditional media are looking for new employees with the skills to create multimedia content for websites and podcasts. These skills were once taught piecemeal but the computer tools of today are changing everything. If your school or staff would benefit from a session on the use of new communications platforms then you know who to call (the Agriblogger and Farm Podcaster).
Here’s the Quiz Bowl Champions from this year’s Cattlemen’s Foundation collegiate competition. They’re from Colorado State University and pictured are: L-R: Scott Howard, Dominic DiSanti, Josh Docheff, Shannon Case and Travis Hoffman, Advisor. The competition was held in Reno at the Cattle Industry Convention.
In addition to Colorado State, regional championship teams from Ohio State University, Penn State University, and the University of Tennessee competed. Teams earned the privilege of competing in the finals by winning their American Society of Animal Science section’s competition of the Academic Quadrathlon.
During the competition, students answer a series of questions about all aspects of beef cattle and the beef industry. The range of questions can include physiology, nutrition, reproduction, meat science, basic production information and current events affecting the beef industry. The competition is head-to-head and double elimination. The Collegiate Quiz Bowl continues to develop future leaders by engaging them in competition and presenting the contestants with the opportunity to be a part of the Cattle Industry Annual Convention. The National Collegiate Quiz Bowl is a joint program of the National Cattlemen’s Foundation and the American Society of Animal Science.
I’m going to be adding to this post later today. Right now I’m just posting as a demo for this class. I told you I’d update this post and I’ve still got a YouTube clip to add which I’m editing right now.
Bill Allen invited me in to talk to his Ag Journalism Capstone class today since they’ve now all got their own blogs started. In fact, if you’d like to see them here’s the list:
This is a quick shot of Bill’s computer projected on screen. He’s certainly got a good website up there in his bookmarks!
While I was there we really had a kind of open forum discussion. As you’ll see in the video clip that I’ll be adding here shortly the students have lots of good questions. They’re learning a form of journalism that didn’t exist back in my University of Florida days.
Post Update: Here’s the video I know you’ve been waiting for:
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.
Iowa State University has a new precision ag lab thanks to Ag Leader Technology. Pictured from left to right are: Dr. Thomas Brumm, Associate Professor, ISU, Dr. U. Sunday Tim, Associate Professor, ISU, Dr. Ramesh Kanwar, ABE Department Chair, ISU Al Myers, President, Ag Leader Technology, Michael Vos, Software Sales Manager, Ag Leader Technology.
Ag Leader Technology, Inc. has donated the latest precision ag equipment to the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering at Iowa State University for use in educating students on precision farming systems. The donation starts a new lab at ISU, complete with hardware and software.
“In today’s fast-paced precision ag industry, there is a constant need for highly-educated graduates and we hope to provide students first-hand experience with precision farming systems,” says Al Myers, President of Ag Leader Technology. “Iowa State continues to provide the industry with motivated, young professionals. By giving to the university we hope to strengthen our partnership and continue to take part in the education of students in precision agriculture.”
Students taking classes on precision farming will now be able to use the lab to gain knowledge and understanding of the equipment in a real-world situation. By using the hardware and software together, students will be able to simulate a working farm and collection of valuable information using geospatial technology.
How about a little food safety music to start your day? This is from Carl Winter at the University of California - Davis. He’s got several food safety themed songs available including lyrics and a powerpoint presentation. I thought you’d enjoy the USDA song.
People, there’s no need to despair
If you’re worried ‘bout your food, land, and air
I can tell you, there are people who care
There’s no need to be unhappy
People, there’s a place you can go
Where there’s research on how to make your plants grow
And some programs that pay the growers some dough
Even when they don’t plant nothing (more…)
The course objective: get more beef on more menus. The Beef Checkoff Program launched “Beef University“, earlier this year to offer the food service industry more education on beef. Beef Checkoff has partnered with Taco Bell, Boston Market and Quizno’s in the program to promote beef in food options outside the home. “Beef University” is a two cd set that contains information on the history of beef, beef cookery, beef flavor and much more. Food service operators are an important audience for Beef Checkoff as more than half of consumer food dollars are spent away from the home.
Although it was announced in June, Dr. Philip Nelson will formally receive his World Food Prize tomorrow at the Iowa State Capitol as part of the World Food Prize’s Norman E. Borlaug International Symposium. The theme of it is “Biofuels and Biofood: The Global Challenges of Emerging Technologies.” Is there anyone not holding a conference with biofuels and food as the topic this year?
Dr. Philip E. Nelson of Purdue University was named winner of the $250,000 World Food Prize for his innovative breakthrough technologies which have revolutionized the food industry, particularly in the area of large-scale storage and transportation of fresh fruit and vegetables using bulk aseptic food processing.
Dr. Nelson has been involved in the storage and packaging of food since childhood. He spent his early years working on his family’s tomato farm and canning factory in Morristown, Indiana and once earned the crown of “Tomato King” at the Indiana State Fair.
You might recall that I recently conducted a new media class for a day at the University of Guelph. The grad students in that class all had their own blog started by the end of the day.
I finally got a list of their websites and thought I’d share with you. Check them out and let them know what you think.
The Farm Progress Show is underway and the weather is beautiful. Chuck and Laura will be contributing to the photo album this week.
Aggie Lancer
Laura McNamara interviewed Aggie-Lance creator and founder, Mark Jewell.
They talk about the new company and what Mark's trying to do which includes providing an online opportunity for companies to connect with free lancers.
If you’re looking for ag photos then keep the OSU photo database in mind. You’ll find lots of photos like this one.
The new Director of the 
The winner of the 
Thanks to University of Missouri graduate and former AgWired student blogger, Margy Fischer, Farm Journal
Cindy found some 
What do Bret Oelke, George Rehm, Jochum Wiersma and Mark Whitney have in common? They all blog for 
Wow, what a day it’s been. To start with the weather has been much nicer than in central Missouri. Then I got to teach a class in podcasting to a group of students at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo.
Here’s Dr. Scott Vernon introducing our podcasting class today. We’ve created a demonstration podcast where I interviewed Erin who will be attending the Ag Media Summit again this year along with 20 other students from Cal Poly.
I’m on the Cal Poly campus here in San Luis Obispo and getting ready to start my podcasting class. Students are filtering in and opening up the new iPods we’re going to use as part of the training.
Next week I’ll be flying out to San Luis Obispo and the 
Here’s the Quiz Bowl Champions from this year’s 
This is a quick shot of Bill’s computer projected on screen. He’s certainly got a good website up there in his bookmarks!
You are probably familiar with the 
Iowa State University has 
How about a little food safety music to start your day? This is from 
The course objective: get more beef on more menus. The 
Although it was announced in June, Dr. Philip Nelson will formally receive his World Food Prize tomorrow at the Iowa State Capitol as part of the World Food Prize’s 
You might recall that I recently conducted a new media class for a day at the University of Guelph. The grad students in that class all had their own blog started by the end of the day.
Laura McNamara interviewed Aggie-Lance creator and founder, Mark Jewell.
