Hoosier Ag Today On The Air

Chuck Zimmerman

Hoosier Ag TodayThere’s a new kid on the air in Indiana. No. Wait. He’s not new. He’s old. Or rather, he’s been on the air in Indiana for a long time. You know what I’m saying? He’s Gary Truitt and he’s announcing Hoosier Ag Today.

Truitt Communications is proud to announce the creation of Hoosier Ag Today, a series of radio programs hosted by veteran farm broadcaster Gary Truitt. These programs will focus exclusively on the issues and events that impact the Indiana agricultural community. “Indiana agriculture has experienced tremendous growth in the past 2 years, and we are going to tell the story of what this means to all 6.2 million Hoosiers,” said Truitt.

Hoosier Ag Today will fill a void that exists in Indiana farm broadcasting by providing in-depth, in-state coverage of the dynamic changes taking place in Indiana agriculture. With a team of farm broadcasters, Hoosier Ag Today will be in the field and in touch with listeners providing program content that is relevant to their farming operations and daily lives.

The Hoosier Ag Today concept has been greeted with enthusiastic support by Indiana farm leaders and broadcasters. “Your commitment to this critically important sector of economy is admirable and appreciated,” said Lt. Governor Becky Skillman, who also serves as the state’s Secretary of Agriculture. “I like the way Gary is heading with Hoosier Ag Today because he is going to focus on Indiana agriculture,” noted Steve Lankford, General Manager of WRAY AM/FM in Princeton, IN.

Media

Blogging For Business Success

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast81 - Keeping Word and Life and FitnessThis week on the ZimmCast I’m trying out a some new technology and would love your feedback. My interview was done using Skype and I’m hoping to further develop the voice over internet way of doing audio interviews for all our projects.

This week I interview Cali Yost, who is one of the premier work/life strategy experts in the United States. Her subject matter may not seem very “agricultural” on the surface but it applies to everyone. But besides having a really good message and method to help people who are trying to balance their work and personal lives and stay healthy, Cali is a blogger. She has her own company and blogging has been a big factor in her success to date. I thought you might want to hear from someone who is using blogging to develop her business. She “gets it.” You’ll find Cali at WorkLifeFit.com.

One of the things you’ll hear is how passionate Cali is about her subject. I can’t emphasize enough how important this is to be a successful blogger. She loves what she does and that comes through in her writing and in her voice and it’s what’s attracting people to her website. What she’s doing has an application for any company or organization anywhere. I hope you’ll enjoy this interview and get some insights into how you can apply new media strategies to your company.

Listen here: Listen To ZimmCastZimmCast 81 (13 min MP3)

The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired which you can subscribe to using the link in our sidebar. You can also subscribe in iTunes.

Audio, ZimmCast

The Latest On NAIS

Chuck Zimmerman

National Insitute for Animal AgricultureI’m not the only one on the road doing a little road agriblogging this week. Starting Tuesday, you’ll be seeing posts here from Cindy who will be attending the National Insitute for Animal Agriculture’s ID-Info Expo 2006. This is “A conference and trade show featuring the latest information on the National Animal Identification System, state projects and other identification and information systems technology.”

ID-Info ExpoCindy won’t just be blogging from the conference though. She’ll be taking pictures, recording interviews and publishing them onto a daily “virtual press room” which will be emailed out as a Word document with links to the multi-media content to agricultural journalists nationally. It’s all part of the new media world service offered by ZimmComm New Media.

So, this should be interesting. Maybe we’ll be able to Skype each other in between posts!

Ag Groups, Livestock

Agriblogging From The Sunshine State

Chuck Zimmerman

Florida Citrus ExpoAnother week and another road trip. This time I’ll be heading out to the Citrus Expo in Ft. Myers, FL. The theme is “Citrus Production in Transitional Times.”

This is a multi-blogging trip as I work with Southeast AgNet on the development of their new blog site, AgNet Online. Here’s another example of how the lines are blurring in the media world. This is a traditional broadcast company, that now owns a publication, a trade show and is starting to blog and podcast.

This is my old stomping grounds since I grew up in Sarasota, just to the north of Ft. Myers. And Gary Cooper, owner of Southeast AgNet was a business partner of mine once upon a time. It’ll be interesting seeing some faces I haven’t seen in over 15 years and I’m looking forward to it. So I’ll be posting here starting Wednesday.

Citrus, Media

Tree Talker

Chuck Zimmerman

Tree TVI thought this was unusual enough to bring to your attention. Tree TV. It’s pretty much just what it says it is.

For example, check out this video. To get an example of the news, look here. Arborculture is closely related to agriculture so it makes sense to show it here. The arborist is Ken Six who also hosts an audio program called Arbor Talk.

And that’s about all I have to say about that.

Uncategorized

Farm Broadcaster Now Agriblogging

Chuck Zimmerman

Waitt AgriBusinessAnother farm broadcaster joins the ranks of agribloggers. He’s Peter Shinn, Brownfield’s Wait AgriBusiness Network and he’s back from a stint with the Iowa Air National Guard.

Peter’s just getting started with his blog. It’ll be interesting to see how it develops. Once you start blogging are you still a farm broadcaster or something more?

Media

St. Louis Ag Club Turns 25

Chuck Zimmerman

St. Louis Ag Club 25 Year AnniversaryThe St. Louis Agribusiness Club is celebrating 25 years and to help them do it, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Mike Johanns will be on hand. The first fall meeting of the organization will be held on Friday, September 15. Here’s more details:

2006-07 Kick-off Meeting and 25th Anniversary Celebration

11 a.m. — Networking and Social Noon – 2 p.m. Luncheon & Program
Location: Crown Plaza Hotel – Clayton, Grand Ballroom on lower level, 7750 Carondelet Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63105 (Garage parking with fee waived. Driving directions – below)
$25 with advance registration – NO SHOWS WILL BE BILLED.
RSVP: E-mail GatewayNAMA@yahoo.com or call 636-449-5040 by September 5th.

Ag Groups

IFAJ 2006 Flickr Photo Album

Chuck Zimmerman

Feed Your Senses 2006My senses have been fed and it’s nice to be home. I almost have everything sorted out, including getting my photos from the Congress uploaded to Flickr.

So, if you want to feed your visual sense then visit my unedited photos from the IFAJ 2006 Congress. You can watch them as a slide show or individually. If you need a higher resolution version of one of them just send me an email and identify which one.

IFAJ 2006 Flickr Photo Album

AgWired coverage of IFAJ 2006 was sponsored by: Pioneer-HiBred

IFAJ, Pioneer

Steve Mercer Is DOC Of U. S. Wheat Associates

Chuck Zimmerman

I can’t seem to find a picture of Steve for some reason but I’m sure I can get one and add it later. Steve, if you’re reading this can you email me one? Thanks.

U.S. Wheat Associates is pleased to announce the appointment of two new staff members. Steve Mercer joins the organization as Director of Communications and Liz Jayankura is appointed as Trade Policy Specialist. Both start their duties early in September.

Mr. Mercer will be responsible for planning and implementing all communications supporting USW’s export market development, trade policy and producer-directed programs. With a career focused primarily on integrated marketing communications in agriculture, most recently he was U.S. public relations lead at AdFarm in Kansas City, Mo. Among other responsibilities there, Mr. Mercer managed industry relations programs in the domestic cereal grains and sugarbeet markets.

Ag Groups