During the last couple weeks I’ve seen more growth in agricultural interests using Twitter than ever. I’m talking companies, agencies, farmers, ag media. This is a great sign. One of my favorite posts on Twitter yesterday started out, “Tweeting from tractor . . . ” Yes folks, your customers and members are there. Are you? If not, why not? I’d …
What’s Up In Washington
Hello and welcome to another ZimmCast. This week I’m going to feature a couple of the interviews I did at last week’s NAFB Washington Watch Issues Forum. Up first after opening comments is Mark Maslyn, Executive Director, Public Policy, American Farm Bureau Federation. He’s seen here getting all fired up in an interview with Tricia Braid Terry, RFD Radio. That’s …
Trucking The Agricultural Highway
Let’s practice a little safe trucking out there guys. Okay? The American Trucking Associations’ Agricultural and Food Transporters Conference (AFTC) recently released the Manager’s Guide to Safe Trucking During Agricultural Planting and Harvest Season. Available free for download at AFTC’s webpage, this guide provides educational resources for truck drivers and their managers in the agricultural industry, encouraging active strategies to …
United Soybean Board Supporting Animal Agriculture
Rick Stearn is chairman of the production committee for the United Soybean Board. He was attending the NAFB Washington Watch Issues Forum. The United Soybean Board was a major sponsor and had people on hand like Rick to address issues like animal agriculture and the impact of animal rights groups. The reason for this Rick says is because domestic animal …
Help Peanut Producers and Stamp Out Hunger
You can help stamp out hunger while helping America’s peanut producers. The Georgia Peanut Commission urges consumers to support the peanut industry by donating jars of peanut butter for the U.S. Postal Service Stamp out Hunger day on Saturday, May 9. This event is the nation’s largest annual single-day food drive. On Saturday, letter carriers in more than 10,000 communities …
Monsanto Planting Updates
Monsanto keeps moving forward into the online conversation with regular Planting Updates. Do you think these are that much different than the news you get from the “regular media.” Tyne Morgan is the Monsanto “reporter” out in the field. In this episode you not only get a planting update you also hear what farmers think the general public thinks of …
Do You Still Think Your Website Is A Destination?
Several times in the last couple years I’ve tried to point agrimarketers to the concept of “community” in online communications/marketing. By that I mean the fact that employing today’s new and social media tools allows us to connect and interact with our customers and members in ways we never could before. Using AgWired as an example, I don’t just reach …
Pork On A Fork
As of right now, the terms “Swine flu” and “#swineflu” are trending at positions 2 and 6 on Twitter. The term “H1N1” is trending in the 10th spot. I think that shows that as much as we’d like to think that everyone, media included, would call this what it is, it’s not happening. This thing blew up way too fast …
#AgChat Session
We just concluded another great #AgChat session via Twitter. Here’s the questions posed. Q1: What are differences between the 2 main types of ag production – local & nat./int?. Advantages & disadvantages? Q2: Family farmers vs. ind. ag, how can you distinguish between 2 approaches (family vs. big) & validate need for both? Q3: How can we share positive msg …
Find IFAJ On Twitter
Have you made your reservation for the IFAJ Congress/Ag Media Summit yet? We’ve got ours in. To help you keep up with what’s going on at this year’s IFAJ Congress a new Twitter account has been set up: @IFAJ. The beautiful background is the U.S. delegation to last year’s IFAJ Congress. For you Twitter experts, please remember to use the …