Farm Foundation to Host Ag Research & Productivity Workshop

John Davis

A workshop examining the relationship between public- and private-sector research and agricultural productivity growth, both in the United States and worldwide, takes place later this month at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Farm Foundation has teamed up with the the National Agriculture Research Extension, Education and Economics Advisory Board for the April 28th workshop, entitled Agricultural Research and …

Farm Foundation

#agchat Session on Twitter

Chuck Zimmerman

I participated in a very cool use of Twitter tonight. Let’s call it #agchat. That’s the hashtag we used for our tweets to post into the conversation and to reply to each other. As of this post we have 248 tweets posted. Post Update: by ending time we have 331 tweets. The idea is to do this on Tuesday evenings …

Social Networking

The Derry Brownfield Show

Chuck Zimmerman

I had a very enjoyable lunch today with my good friend Derry Brownfield. I know a lot of you know of Derry. He’s that farm broadcaster who is rude, crude, obnoxious, politically incorrect . . . (self description). I worked with Derry for almost 10 years and we covered a lot of miles together. Derry is still hosting his daily …

Audio, Media

Earth Day Beef Rap

Chuck Zimmerman

Nothing fuels an Earth Day dinner better than beef. I think that’s what Beef Ambassador Allison Grainger and friends are telling us in this Earth Day Beef Rap video. Let me know what you think. I’m sure Allison will be watching.

Beef, Video

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

Analyses for residual feed intake are now available from IGENITY for both Bos taurus and Bos indicus breeds of cattle. AgriCharts announced an initiative with Brock Associates to provide a market focused mobile platform to the agricultural industry and Brock Associates’ clients. The mobile platform, available to the public from any mobile-browser provides market quotes, news, weather and Brock Associates’ …

Zimfo Bytes

Rabobank Farm & Ranch Confidence Survey

Chuck Zimmerman

Rabobank has released results of its 2009 Farm & Ranch Survey. A couple of highlight include: * More farmers are using risk management tools * 1/3 of farmers expect crop input costs to decrease * More farmers looking to buy used equipment Rabobank recently launched a survey to gauge farmers’ confidence, and found that, while farmers’ outlook on the economy …

Agribusiness, Farming

Farmer Tweets

Chuck Zimmerman

Just in case you’re wondering if your company should be involved in social media, let me give you another example. This comes from Iowa Farm Bureau. It’s all about a farmer who’s on Twitter to help promote agriculture. I’m really glad to see how Farm Bureau is getting into the online conversation. In fact, I’ll be speaking to their gathering …

Ag Groups, Social Networking

Indiana Family Farms Debuts

Chuck Zimmerman

Gary Truitt, Hoosier Ag Today, has unveiled a new ZimmComm-designed website called Indiana Family Farms. Consumers today are interested in knowing more about how their food is produced. Environmental, safety, and welfare issues are figuring more and more in consumer buying decisions. Yet, most Americans know very little about how their food is produced or the men and women who …

Farming, Media

Are you LinkedIn?

Amanda Nolz

As I prepare to graduate in May and begin my career as a freelance writer, I want to be sure I get started in this field on the right foot. What tools are journalists using, and how do they communicate with each other? Are you on LinkedIn? I have been invited by several people already, but I haven’t taken the …

Internet, Social Networking

NALJA defines leadership

Amanda Nolz

I took a 24 hour trip to Kansas City to give a speech to the North American Limousin Junior Association (NALJA) Board of Directors. I spoke on utilizing online media resources to tell the agriculture story. Before my speech, we all took part in a leadership workshop. NALJA Director Cassiday Woodard explained the importance of leadership in agriculture, and she …

Education