Just so you are aware. The agriblogger will be taking a couple of days of R&R starting Friday until Monday so my posting will be “light.” That doesn’t mean there won’t be valuable information right here on AgWired though.
Don’t go away.
Just so you are aware. The agriblogger will be taking a couple of days of R&R starting Friday until Monday so my posting will be “light.” That doesn’t mean there won’t be valuable information right here on AgWired though.
Don’t go away.
One of the sources of a lot of information for anyone needing to research the rural lifestyle market is the USDA Census of Agriculture. You might think it’s just about corn, soybeans, hogs and cattle but you’d be wrong.
According to Gene Danekas, Director of Ag Statistics, USDA-Missouri, (pictured on the left in his booth at the Country Living Olympics) there’s valuable information in there. He says you’ll find information right down to the county and zip code level on all sizes of operations. He says the rural lifestyle farms contribute significantly to the overall U. S. economy as well as local economies. All the data is publicly available via their website.
Gene wants rural lifestyle farm owners to know that they are a vital part of agriculture. He says they’ll be doing an update study at the end of this year when they send out 2 1/2 million questionnaires. The new report should then be available around February of 2009.
You can listen to my interview with Gene here: cla-07-danekas.mp3
In just a few short weeks it’ll be time for the National Association of Farm Broadcasting Convention. I’ll be blogging the whole event so hopefully you’ll be looking forward to that. NAFB’s Executive Director, Bill O’Neill (pictured on the right) attended the Country Living Outlook Conference. I spoke to him about what he was getting out of it.
Bill says that all of the information he heard contributes to a growing body of knowledge about the rural lifestyle market. He’s one of the people who calls it a diversified market. That’s something I heard a lot. Bill says he’ll take back ideas for future research that NAFB will do to enhance their study from last year (pdf) for the benefit of its members.
We also talked about the upcoming convention. It’s the 63rd NAFB Convention and I’ve been to a lot of them but not that many. Bill says they’ll have a panel of marketers on the program talking about the rural lifestyle market.
You can listen to my interview with Bill here: cla-07-oneill.mp3
I don’t know where you’re spending your Halloween but I’ll be at the 2007 World Championship Appaloosa Show in Ft. Worth, Texas. I hope they’ve got candy.
This year’s show has some interesting features like a Chocolatey Challenge ATV Giveaway and a free screenings of the award winning short film , “Trail End,” starring Emmy-nominated actor Barry Corbin.
So to get yourself in the mood you can hear all about it from Appaloosa Horse Club CEO Steve Taylor. He covers the whole program.
You can listen to the interview with Steve here: awcs-07-taylor-pre.mp3
If you’ve ever been down in a hollow on a mid summer day pounding posts then you might wonder why anyone would want to do this for fun. However, at the Country Living Olympics is was cool inside the American Royal building where the Steel Post Driving competition took place.
You can see that we were planting a post garden in the middle of the floor. That was some pretty hard packed dirt floor too.
You can watch the action on YouTube if you’d like:
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Teresa Hinrichs is a country living cheerleader (pictured on the right). She even says so in an interview I did with her right before the Country Living Olympics.
Teresa works on a lot of projects related to agriculture one of which is the Country Living Association. She says that just about any group of people who have some kind of interest related to rural life or agriculture has an association but there wasn’t one for people that share a passion for country living. She says that besides members, sponsor companies were looking for this. There may be lots of places to advertise but the Association creates member engagement which really builds relationships and a sense of community.
She says that growth has been great here in the first year and they’re on track for where they want to be.
I think you’ll enjoy my interview with Teresa here: cla-07-hinrichs.mp3
The Center for Food Integrity is about to kick off it’s 2007 Summit in Indianapolis. The theme is “STATE OF CONSUMER TRUST AND THE FOOD SYSTEM.” It’ll be at the Hilton tomorrow.
You can find the agenda here. It looks like a lot of people will be there talking on subjects including:
Consumer Trust in the Safety and Security of Food
The State of Consumer Trust – Where are we?
2007 Food and Health Survey
2007 Consumer Attitudes on Food Animal Well Being
2007 CFI Consumer Trust Study – Who Consumers Trust
Earning the Social License to Operate around the Globe
Creating Sustainable Outcomes for Contemporary Food Production
Health and Nutrition
Food Safety
Worker Care
Environment
Food Animal Well Being
Different Perspectives on Contemporary Food Production
The Center for Food Integrity is a combination of The Grow America Project and Best Food Nation, two national initiatives established in 2006 to increase public understanding about the food system.
If you want to know what people who live the country life think then just ask them. That’s what we did at the Country Living Outlook Conference. I can assure you that these folks are passionate about where they live.
Take Alan Brend who was on the panel of rural lifestyle practitioners. He says that he does not view how he lives as a lifestyle but rather a way of life. Alan says that he will live no other way and the country way of life is good for kids. He says that having them raise animals and do chores teaches them self confidence and responsibility.
Alan says that when it comes to buying stuff he does all his research on the internet and then buys local. He thinks the Country Living Association has a great deal of potential, especially if it can provide him with resources on its website that would save him time. When I asked him if he thinks the marketers attending understood his needs he says that he could see the light in their eyes as they would nod like they finally understood.
I think you’ll enjoy my interview with Alan here: cla-07-brend.mp3
If you’ve ever had to move a pallet of feed then you have an idea of what it was like to compete in the Country Living Olympics Feed Bag Moving competition.
Imagine having to run with them for a short distance and stack them on another pallet. That’s why we had some worn out competitors. 10 bags and a short run. Whew!
You can see the winning style and form in this video: