AGCO is providing a great example of how to integrate social media and networking into their communications strategy and to learn more about what they’re doing I spoke with Sue Otten, Director, Corporate Communications & Brand Communications Worldwide. In our conversation we talk about why the company has invested in very active social communications channels. Sue says that it’s a great way to “learn” from their customers and target a new demographic too.
As you can see in this image from their homepage they’ve put the spotlight on their Facebook page where you can see photos and video from their participation in AG CONNECT Expo. They’re working consistently to create online content relevant to their products and their customers.
One of the recommendations Sue makes is to not be afraid to get started with social media. She says that there are some great consultants out there who can help you too. I’ll use this opportunity to make a little plug for Todd Lohenry with e1evation, Inc. who has worked with AGCO.
Thanks to new AgWired Sponsor, Novus International, for their support of the ZimmCast.
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.
The floor of the upcoming AG CONNECT Expo is very busy right now. This morning I spoke with Show Director, Sara Mooney, who was on-location. In this week’s ZimmCast she provides a last preview and let’s us know how the final preparations are going. I’ll be there by the end of the weekend for the pre-show activities that take place on Monday and Tuesday.
Sara says ACE is meeting or exceeding its goals because of things like the co-located industry events and many educational opportunities in addition to a great trade show. She says they’ve seen a major push in registration in the last couple weeks and the average number of acres farmer registrants have is currently at 3,400. There are registrants from 46 states in the U.S. and from 45 countries.
The 2010 show will feature more than 30 education sessions with top industry experts. More than a dozen events are co-located with AG CONNECT Expo 2010, including Agrievolution, the Second World Summit on Agricultural Machinery. AG CONNECT Expo 2010 has the support of more than 40 leading industry groups worldwide, including as strategic partners Agritechnica, the world’s largest agriculture machinery show, and its organizer, DLG (the German Agricultural Society).
Sara is going wild with her new Flip camera too. Here’s one her latest YouTube videos with one of the exhibitors (Krone).
Thanks to AgWired Sponsor, Fluidigm, for their support of the ZimmCast.
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.
The National Association of Farm Broadcasting recently released its latest Internet Usage Study. Cindy spoke with Ted Haller at their convention and I thought I’d have a chat with him about it too since the organization sent our a release on it last week. You can download a pdf with some of the key findings of the study on their website (pdf). The survey explores producer activity and preferences in accessing the Internet for agricultural business information, as well as use of texting and social media. Specific to broadcaster interests, it also probes interest in e-newsletters and the preferred content of agribusiness-focused Web sites.
Among key findings noted by Haller in the new research:
the Internet is revealing “quintiles” of usage — a sign of what Haller calls “settling,” with indications of core usage in the low range of 20 percent and the high range of 50 percent, depending upon the specific online behavior/activity surveyed
those producers using the Internet are very active, for the most part, with e-mail, weather, markets, and futures the top draws
unlike other media, “what I do not do” is still a larger number than “what I do;” but the “I do’s” appear to be in normal quintiles and represent an attractive target
As you’ll hear Ted say in our conversation, traditional media options like radio will not go away. However, the use of the internet by farmers will only continue to grow and these numbers are proof of that. He also describes how useful the internet is now to companies with a limited budget and those who have a “big budget” and are now spreading it across more media options.
Thanks to AgWired Sponsor, Fluidigm, for their support of the ZimmCast.
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.
In this holiday shortened week the ZimmCast will feature two interviews I conducted at the recent NAFB convention to find out what’s new in the world of agribusiness from Trimble and Pioneer Hi-Bred.
I interviewed George Huber, Trimble, who talks about virtual reference stations and “the connected farm.” He says this allows you to get data to and from your vehicle while it’s working in the field. I also interviewed Jeff Schussler, Pioneer Hi-Bred, who talks about the work the company is doing with drought tolerance in corn.
Thanks to AgWired Sponsor, Fluidigm, for their support of the ZimmCast.
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.
With winter fast approaching it’s time to make your farm meeting plans. Make one of them the Chicago Farmers Farmland Investment Fair, February 6, 2010. I’ll be one of their seminar presenters with the topic of social media.
To learn more about Chicago Farmers and their annual program I spoke with the Chairman of the upcoming event, Jeff Martin, an Illinois “downstate” farmer. Jeff was in his combine working to get the last of his corn crop in before Christmas. I hope he makes it!
Jeff says the Farmland Investment Fair was started back in the early ’80s when interest rates were high and with the idea of bringing investors together with farmers who had land to sell. He says the event still has that same basic purpose and has expanded to include other educational topics. There will be nearly 60 exhibitors and 15 different seminars on the program including:
• Farmland Values
• Traits of a Successful Farm
• Managing Machinery Costs
• International Investment
• Farm Land Leasing
• Biomass for Energy
• Income from Small Farms
• Rural Development
• Social Media
• Wind Farms
• Acre Program FSA
• 1031 Exchanges
• Organic Farming
• Climate Change
To register as an attendee – visit www.chicagofarmers.org or call (312) 388-FARM. Direct questions to The Chicago Farmers Administrator’s office at (312) 388-3276 or you may speak to the Fair Chairperson, Jeff Martin, at (217) 792-3934.
Thanks to AgWired Sponsor, Fluidigm, for their support of the ZimmCast.
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.
Speaking For Agriculture was the title of a joint panel discussion at the NAMA Trends In Agriculture Conference and NAFB Convention.
The moderator was Lindsay Hill, ABN Radio. The session focused on how consumers perceive farmers and agriculture and what can be done and is being done to communicate a positive message about agriculture in a society that is increasingly removed from the farm, even in light of more people moving to the country for a rural lifestyle. In this week’s program you can hear an interview Cindy did with Lindsay about the session and what the panelists had to say.
Thanks to AgWired Sponsor, Fluidigm, for their support of the ZimmCast.
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.
Our sponsor for AgWired coverage of the NAMA Trends In Agriculture conference again this year was Paulsen Marketing. Perhaps you’re not familiar with this agribranding agency located in Sioux Falls, SD. Well, it’s time to get acquainted in this week’s program.
I spoke with Greg Guse and Bryan Bjerke and we had a great conversation about the agency and their thoughts on digital marketing in this new media world we now live in. One of the things that caught my attention the first time I visited their website was their own use of new and social media. They get it and show it. Kind of gives you confidence that they’ll do a good job for your company, eh? You can read Greg’s “On The Road” blog or follow them on Twitter or Facebook or YouTube or Flickr. I’m sure there’s more but you can see they have the bases covered.
Besides talking about how the agency was started in 1951 and how it has evolved I thought it very interesting to hear how they’re working with clients on new communications channels. For example, they say that clients are surprised at how low the costs are to get started with social media. They also offer some good advice for implementing it into a communications plan like making a commitment to it and staying engaged. They also acknowledge the difficulty with measuring ROI for digital marketing campaigns but with a little effort there are ways to judge how well it’s working for you.
Thanks to AgWired Sponsor, Fluidigm, for their support of the ZimmCast.
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.
This week’s NAMA Trends In Agriculture conference provided a great program opportunity for this week’s ZimmCast. You’ll get to hear from the morning panel on day two. I interviewed each of them and have included them in the program. The session focused on how agrimarketers are building new community ties.
3G-enabled smart phones, the “Tweeting Farmer,” and unusual partnerships are all part of the new ag community. This general session will feature practical case studies from marketers inside and outside of agriculture that have forged new links with their customers using new media and non-traditional collaboration. Joe Grigsby, VML, Leslie Bradshaw, a farm kid and University of Chicago educated Communications Manager with New Media Strategies in Washington, D.C., and Joel Jaeger, Commodity Update shared their experiences.
I’d like to thank AgWired Sponsor, Fluidigm, for their support of the ZimmCast. AgWired coverage of the NAMA Trends In Agriculture Conference is sponsored by Paulsen Marketing.
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.
Podcasting for the equine industry is alive and well in the form of the Horse Radio Network. This morning’s program is coming to you from the world famous Coffee Zone in Jefferson City, MO and features an interview with HRN founder and “chief bottle washer” Glenn Hebert.
Glenn says he started HRN after having produced an equine podcast for a client of his. In the past year they’ve grown the network of programming to 5 regular podcasts.
Glenn says they have regular advertisers supporting them and of course they’d like to have a few more. A major piece of advice that he offers is to make a commitment to your podcast. You have to produce it regularly to build an audience and it doesn’t happen overnight. I can’t agree more.
Learn more about HRN and podcasting by listening to this week’s program.
I’d like to thank AgWired Sponsor, Fluidigm, for their support of the ZimmCast.
US Farm Data is the new name of what we knew as GoLeads Farm. The new name goes along with a new commitment to agricultural marketing.
At the Sunbelt Ag Expo I spoke with Chris Sidles, National Accounts, who tells us what the company offers and why they created a new name. To start with he says they’re a full service direct marketing and database management company.
Their ag database has 2.5 million U.S. farmers and ranchers. They can pull specific farmographic data like number of acres, type of crop and how they own that farm. They also cross reference the farm data with their residential database of 220 million consumers as well as a business database of 14 million of which about 1 million are specific to ag. Clients range from technology to seed to irrigation and includes small business and Fortune 500 companies.
Chris says they help a client understand their customers and figure out ways to increase their footprint and market to new customers. Strategies can include direct mail, telemarketing and email blasts. They are also looking at ways to include new social networking strategies into their campaigns.
I’d like to thank AgWired Sponsor, Fluidigm, for their support of the ZimmCast.
Ever since Cindy and I have been in agricultural communications we’ve known and enjoyed working with Larry Quinn, USDA Office of Communications. Well, Larry just retired and while I was in Las Vegas attending BlogWorld and New Media Expo, Cindy got to talk to Larry.
Larry says that when he first arrived at USDA he started working on a manual typewriter but he did move up to an electric one. One thing is for sure, he has seen the communications technology go through major changes. Haven’t we all? How about starting a retirement blog Larry? Listen to him reminisce about his time at the USDA in this week’s program.
The photo of Larry with NAFB president Pam Jahnke was taken at this year’s Washington Watch. He also talks about the wonderful friendships he has developed over the years with farm broadcasters and the great respect he has for those who work to get information out about agriculture.
I’d also like to thank AgWired Sponsor, Fluidigm, for their support of the ZimmCast.
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.
The National Association of Farm Broadcasting has seen some significant changes in the last 4 years and the staff leader has been Bill O’Neill. Bill is stepping down at the end of this year to pursue some personal interests and I spoke with him about his decision and his years working with the organization. He says he’s going to move on to some things he’s been interested in for a while. He mentions “being a student again.”
Highlights for him during his time with NAFB include the fact that the board of directors that was just seated when he started represented all aspects of the membership. The name of the organization changed the year he started as well. That was done to reflect how the classes of membership have changed over the years. He is proud of the fact that they implemented a strategic plan and that they’ve conducted national farm media studies in the last several years.
Bill also gives us a preview of the upcoming NAFB Convention which Cindy and I will be attending and covering on AgWired. He says that the convention will continue to provide members with an opportunity to learn more about how to cope with changes in communications technology among other things. The annual Trade Talk session is full showing strong support from agribusinesses and other ag organizations. He says that new research about farmers and their use of the internet will also be of interest.
The man who is guiding the marketing efforts for Fluidigm is Howard High. He is the man who found AgWired and contacted us about helping introduce the company to the agribusiness community. That’s because he recognizes the community that we’ve developed. He says they want to communicate with people in agribusiness “where they are.” That is what the whole new media strategy is all about.
During a day in Fluidigm headquarters in South San Francisco I spoke with Howard about why he contacted us and what the company hopes to accomplish with our project. He says that agribusiness is a critical business for them. They’ve been working more with pure research companies up to this point but he says agricultural research comprises high volumes of samples and testing and that’s where they believe they offer the industry some significant advantages.
When it comes to selecting AgWired he says they are looking at our company as “their tour guides” since the industry has its own language, customs and culture. I like that idea of being a “trusted guide.” So it puts the burden on us to show them how to be effective and translate what they do to what the industry needs. He believes that as we do that we will accelerate the timetable for what they want to achieve. Our mechanisms also provide ways for reverse communication from the audience (so I hope you’ll provide some feedback to Fluidigm).
You can learn a lot more about the technology offered by Fluidigm by visiting their website where you’ll also find several opportunities to communicate with them. Here’s where you can find an overview of their technology.
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.
It may be dairy week for ZimmComm but that doesn’t mean it’s the only segment of the industry we’re working on. I’ll be introducing you to a new client later this week for example that is also new to agribusiness. In the meantime, this week’s program is about an old client. And I don’t mean old as in “they’re old.” I mean one of our long time clients, the Renewable Fuels Association.
As I posted earlier, RFA has a new logo. That prompted me to call on CEO Bob Dinneen, the Reverend of Renewable Fuels, to find out what the new look signifies for the organization. To start with, Bob says that RFA has doubled in staff size in the last 18 months with new staff in the area of communications, research and lobbying. He sees a bright future for ethanol and RFA even in spite of continuing challenges like the proposed RFS2 that EPA is working on.
So, get up to date with RFA and listen to this week’s podcast. The program ends with some music from Music Alley (formerly Podsafe Music Network). It’s a song titled, “The Milk Mix” by The Mighty Blue Ford. I hope you enjoy it and thanks for listening.
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.
In this weeks program I chat with new a US Grains Council CEO/President, Tom Dorr. The announcement was just made that the former U.S. Undersecretary for Rural Development will be replacing the retiring Ken Hobbie in November. Ken has held the position for the past 18 years and has been with USGC for 33 years.
Heres a photo of Tom I took from a Farm Foundation Forum I attended. In fact, as I looked back through posts here on AgWired, hes been kind of a regular! Were really looking forward to working with Tom in his new position.
Tom farmed in Iowa before moving to Washington, DC and is taking the helm of the organization as it is about to celebrate 50 years in 2010. He says his first priority will be to work with the Council’s membership, Board of Directors, and staff to clearly define, not just the challenges, but the opportunities for international grain trade.
So, listen to my conversation with Tom as we discuss his new position and the challenges he sees in the future.
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.
Since we made the change in our AgWired Mobile service this week by working with Joel Jaeger at Commodity Update I thought I’d get him on the phone to find out how things are going in the text messaging world and discuss these new media communications platforms we’ve been developing.
There is a growing amount of data from public sources like USDA-NASS to private (Nicholson Kovac, Successful Farming) that shows how fast the adoption of web based social and new media and mobile phone technology is among farmers. This means that companies and their ad agencies are scrambling to take advantage of the low cost investment in mechanisms that let them communicate directly with their customers and members. I’m betting that agribusiness still shows a lower rate of social media adoption than the general public but that gap is narrowing in my opinion. According to a post on Mashable, 2/3 of marketers now use social media in some capacity. The few who still aren’t don’t cite that they see a lack of value in social media but rather that they don’t know where to begin or how to measure effectiveness. This according to a story on eMarketer. Ahh, that measurable effectiveness thing. I just wonder how marketers measure the effectiveness of any campaign, including ones that use traditional media options. Do you know? I don’t believe that “impressions” necessarily means anything. I’d rather know how much product I sold as a result of my marketing investment. How are you measuring that? Are you measuring that?
So, listen to my conversation with Joel as we kind of ramble along about these subjects and bring up some anecdotes from our own experiences.
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.
48% of large acre corn/soybean growers send 5 or more text messages a day! That’s just one of the findings from a survey conducted by Nicholson Kovac. In this week’s program you can hear Sheree Johnson, Nicholson Kovac Senior VP and Director of Media talk about their findings.
Just when I was about to write a post inspired by Jeff Jarvis, on media measurement I received the announcement about the agency survey and it’s a lot more relevant to you agrimarketers out there. Nicholson Kovac took the initiative to survey growers to find out information that is needed by agencies and companies who are having to make decisions on media choices to reach their customers. Well they sure found out that farmers are online and involved socially. Also amazing is how much they depend on and use their mobile phones.
Here’s some more information on what they found.
Sixty-two percent of large acreage, U.S. corn and soybean growers have sent or received text messages during the past year, according to the newly released Agriculture New Media Usage Study (corn and soybean segment focus), conducted by Nicholson Kovac, Inc. (www.nicholsonkovac.com) The Agriculture New Media Usage study is the first-of-its-kind in the agribusiness industry. It provides comprehensive insight on the use of social media and new media among large acreage corn and soybean growers – including Internet usage, social networking and mobile phone activities − for business and social purposes.
“We know that crop producers, especially larger operators, are fairly tech savvy, but nothing exists that we are aware of that validates and confirms their use of new media and social media tools,” said Sheree Johnson, senior vice president, director of media services, Nicholson Kovac. “This new media research provides a number of eye-opening statistics on how corn and soybean growers use their phones and computers, and how they are engaged in social networking.”
In addition to the percentage of growers sending or receiving text messages, the study reveals the high degree of frequency of texting, as well as other mobile phone activities such as taking photos, e-mailing, downloading ring tones, accessing GPS and more. Forty-eight percent of those texting send five or more texts per day, and 63 percent of respondents indicated they have taken pictures with their mobile phones.
The 35-page study also explores in detail the Internet usage of these growers, including how they are accessing their Internet and for what topics they search:
Forty-seven percent spend five or more hours per week online, and 23 percent spend 10 or more hours online
Besides utilizing e-mail, accessing weather and market reports are the highest ranked in terms of Internet use for their business/farm
In addition, 85 percent of respondents indicated that they visit Web sites related to their farm operation, and 76 percent check manufacturers’ Web sites
The study also explored the presence of crop producers on Facebook™, Twitter™ and other social networking sites. It also details growers’ usage of blogs, forums and/or message boards. Search engine usage and preference were also explored.
“While there appears to be some confusion and lack of familiarity about social networking, blogging, etc., when social networking brands (ie., such as Facebook or Twitter) were mentioned, many respondents confirmed they are actively using these sites,” said Johnson. “The early adopters and growers who are influencers in their communities are already engaged in exploring new media platforms.”
During the recent Ag Media Summit my friends at Gibbs & Soell conducted an “Ag Industry Pulse Check: Use of Digital and Social Media.” It’s a survey of attendees to gauge their feedback on the subject. To learn about the results I spoke with Gardner Hatch, who you can contact to get the full story.
It was very interesting to note that although over 94% expressed high levels of confidence with proposing the use of digital and social media, a high number (39.7%) said their top challenge was “unclear ROI to justify efforts.” So although they like and are comfortable with new media options they aren’t clear how to justify them. I think it’s interesting since these social media mechanisms are so “measurable.” However, there seems to me to be a lingering fear and or distrust of using measurements that don’t include all of a person’s demographic data. As if somehow, the visitors to a blog on agriculture aren’t farmers. Of course, some may not be but on the other hand why would you not think that visitors to a topical blog are involved or at least very interested in the subject?
Gibbs & Soell also had a drawing at the Ag Media Summit for a new iPod touch. The winner is Bob Callanan, American Soybean Association.
So, listen to my conversation with Gardner as he reviews the results of the survey and we discuss what they mean.
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.
In this week’s program Cindy and I do a review of some of the ZimmComm activity of late and look ahead. We’re going to continue to roll down the agriblogging highway this summer. Actually Cindy gets to do a little extra in coming weeks while I recuperate from this pneumonia bug. In fact, we recorded the program in my hospital room yesterday! That’s a first.
Some of the items we go over include our sponsorship of the Beef Ambassador Blog, the Southern Peanut Growers Conference, Cattle Industry Summer Conference and Beef Board Blogging, social media presentations to the American National Cattle Women and U.S. Grains Council Delegates Meeting. Looking ahead we’ve got the combined IFAJ Congress and Ag Media Summit, American Phytopathological Society mtg., American Coalition for Ethanol convention, BIVI seminar and then the big and bad Farm Progress Show. Yes, it’s a busy summer and we’re loving it.
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.
Steve Tucker had a busy day. Things can kind of get that way when you’ve been featured in a major news story by an outlet like CNN. This twittering farmer took the time to talk with me via Skype and his mobile phone this afternoon about what is actually a shared experience since yours truly was also quoted in the story. My hat is off to reporter John Sutter for doing a great job. He’s from Oklahoma so I guess he had a good background to draw on!
Steve’s Twitter followers have more than doubled today. He got a comment back from a non-farmer who said, “Keep us entertained for those of us for those of us who have to live our life in a cubicle.” As Steve puts it, “I walk out of my front yard and I’m in my office.” Here’s one of his tweets from today talking about the social aspect of what he’s doing, especially when he’s got time on the tractor:
Last year I would sit in my tractor and think, man I’m lonely. 2day I think, where is everyone going to fit in this cab?
I think that this is a great example of how social media/networking can help bridge the communication gap between farm and non farm.
The National Biodiesel Conference is taking place in Grapevine, TX. Chuck is on the scene and adding to the ZimmComm photo collection.
New NAFB Executive Director
If you don't know Mark Vail then meet him in this week's program.
Mark will officially start as the Executive Director for the National Association of Farm Broadcasting on March 1. We chatted via Skype and talked about what he sees as the priorities and challenges of the organization.
AGCO is providing a great example of how to integrate social media and networking into their communications strategy and to learn more about what they’re doing I spoke with Sue Otten, Director, Corporate Communications & Brand Communications Worldwide. In our conversation we talk about why the company has invested in very active social communications channels. Sue says that it’s a great way to “learn” from their customers and target a new demographic too.
As you can see in this image from their homepage they’ve put the spotlight on their Facebook page where you can see photos and video from their participation in AG CONNECT Expo. They’re working consistently to create online content relevant to their products and their customers.
The survey explores producer activity and preferences in accessing the Internet for agricultural business information, as well as use of texting and social media. Specific to broadcaster interests, it also probes interest in e-newsletters and the preferred content of agribusiness-focused Web sites. 
To learn more about 
The moderator was Lindsay Hill, 
Besides talking about how the agency was started in 1951 and how it has evolved I thought it very interesting to hear how they’re working with clients on new communications channels. For example, they say that clients are surprised at how low the costs are to get started with social media. They also offer some good advice for implementing it into a communications plan like making a commitment to it and staying engaged. They also acknowledge the difficulty with measuring ROI for digital marketing campaigns but with a little effort there are ways to judge how well it’s working for you.
3G-enabled smart phones, the “Tweeting Farmer,” and unusual partnerships are all part of the new ag community. This general session will feature practical case studies from marketers inside and outside of agriculture that have forged new links with their customers using new media and non-traditional collaboration. Joe Grigsby, VML, Leslie Bradshaw, a farm kid and University of Chicago educated Communications Manager with New Media Strategies in Washington, D.C., and Joel Jaeger, Commodity Update shared their experiences.
Their ag database has 2.5 million U.S. farmers and ranchers. They can pull specific farmographic data like number of acres, type of crop and how they own that farm. They also cross reference the farm data with their residential database of 220 million consumers as well as a business database of 14 million of which about 1 million are specific to ag. Clients range from technology to seed to irrigation and includes small business and Fortune 500 companies. 
Larry says that when he first arrived at USDA he started working on a manual typewriter but he did move up to an electric one. One thing is for sure, he has seen the communications technology go through major changes. Haven’t we all? How about starting a retirement blog Larry? Listen to him reminisce about his time at the USDA in this week’s program. 
During a day in Fluidigm headquarters in South San Francisco I spoke with Howard about why he contacted us and what the company hopes to accomplish with our project. He says that agribusiness is a critical business for them. They’ve been working more with pure research companies up to this point but he says agricultural research comprises high volumes of samples and testing and that’s where they believe they offer the industry some significant advantages. 
As I posted earlier, RFA has a new logo. That prompted me to call on CEO Bob Dinneen, the Reverend of Renewable Fuels, to find out what the new look signifies for the organization. To start with, Bob says that RFA has doubled in staff size in the last 18 months with new staff in the area of communications, research and lobbying. He sees a bright future for ethanol and RFA even in spite of continuing challenges like the proposed RFS2 that EPA is working on.
Heres a photo of Tom I took from a Farm Foundation Forum I attended. In fact, as I looked back through posts here on AgWired, hes been kind of a regular! Were really looking forward to working with Tom in his new position.
Here’s some more information on what they found.
It was very interesting to note that although over 94% expressed high levels of confidence with proposing the use of digital and social media, a high number (39.7%) said their top challenge was “unclear ROI to justify efforts.” So although they like and are comfortable with new media options they aren’t clear how to justify them. I think it’s interesting since these social media mechanisms are so “measurable.” However, there seems to me to be a lingering fear and or distrust of using measurements that don’t include all of a person’s demographic data. As if somehow, the visitors to a blog on agriculture aren’t farmers. Of course, some may not be but on the other hand why would you not think that visitors to a topical blog are involved or at least very interested in the subject?
If you don't know Mark Vail then meet him in this week's program.
