Almost 1.1 million U S Farms Have Internet Access

Chuck Zimmerman

National Agricultural Statistics ServiceIt’s really official that 51 percent of U S farms have internet access now! That’s up 3 percent from 2003. The percentage of increase is smaller than in past surveys showing some levelling off in farms obtaining internet access. This makes some sense when you consider that the average age of a farmer continues to move upward. I can’t see the number declining though and at 51 percent that means that almost 1.1 million farms are online! That’s a significant number.

Audio, USDA

State Fair Beef Promotion In Missouri

Chuck Zimmerman

MBIC Report PodcastIt’s state fair time in Missouri and in this week’s Missouri Beef Industry Council Report, we learn about what the organization is doing to promote beef in Sedalia, MO. Cindy interviews MBIC marketing director, Dawn Thurnau.

Ag Groups, Audio, Beef, Podcasts

Missouri Drought Subject of CornTalk

Chuck Zimmerman

CornTalk PodcastMO Governor Matt Blunt has requested a disaster declaration for farmers in over 100 counties in Missouri due to drought conditions. In this week’s CornTalk, the weekly interview program of the Missouri Corn Growers Association, our guest is Judy Grundler with the Missouri Department of Agriculture who discusses the crop conditions around the state, what the crop losses mean for Missouri, and the details of the crop disaster declaration.

Ag Groups, Audio, Corn, Podcasts

ZimmCast With Kim Lang

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast 28 - Kim LangThis week’s ZimmCast is an interview with Kim Lang, Valmont Irrigation. It’s one of several I conducted at the recent Agricultural Media Summit. Kim talks about a niche product they’re testing on carrot farms in California. In order to gain greater acceptance and entry into this lucrative market her company has created a product to sort of “open the door.” Then I’m sure they hope to find access to other markets for their products.

Ag Media Summit, Agribusiness, Audio, Podcasts, ZimmCast

Consumer Confidence & Producer Attitudes On The MBIC Report

Chuck Zimmerman

MBIC Report PodcastIn this week’s Missouri Beef Industry Council Report, chairman David Dick of Sedalia talks about consumer confidence and producer attitudes, two recent surveys released by the beef industry. You can see the surveys using these links: Consumer Confidence & Producer Attitudes

Ag Groups, Audio, Beef, Podcasts

The Energy Bill Is The Topic of CornTalk

Chuck Zimmerman

CornTalk PodcastThis week’s CornTalk is with Missouri Corn Merchandising Council chairman Terry Hilgedick of Hartsburg and the topic is the Energy Bill passed last week by Congress and what it means to Missouri corn growers. CornTalk is a weekly podcast on AgWired that’s produced for the Missouri Corn Growers Association.

Ag Groups, Audio, Corn, Podcasts

Interview With The AMS Chairperson

Chuck Zimmerman

Ag Media Summit Chairperson Betsy FreeseThis year’s Ag Media Summit chairperson is Betsy Freese, livestock editor for Successful Farming. I was able to interview Betsy during the InfoExpo. Betsy talks about the event and says we’ll be in Portland, OR next year!

Ag Media Summit, Audio

ZimmCast With Gary Myers

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast 25 - Gary MyerOne of the seminars at the Ag Relations Council meeting focused on “Ethics in Public Relations” and one of the panelists was Gary Myers, founder and past president of Morgan & Myers. Gary is still providing council to the agency. I spoke with him about his thoughts on this subject and his suggestions for young people entering the profession.

Ag Media Summit, Agencies, Audio, Podcasts

Special ZimmCast With Diane Johnson, ED For LPC

Chuck Zimmerman

Agricultural Media SummitI’m here in Milwaukee now. Nice breeze coming in off the lake. Downtown is busy because it’s Germanfest. I thought it was Germanfest here every weekend. Actually I think it is for some people.

Ag Media Summit, Audio, Publication

Special ZimmCast With IFAJ President From Ireland

Chuck Zimmerman

International Federation of Agricultural JournalistsI hope you like an Irish accent because you’ll get one in this special edition ZimmCast. The president of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists is David Markey. He’s CEO of IFP Media in Dublin, Ireland and he’s my guest in this interview program. He’s also presenting at the Agricultural Media Summit that gets underway this weekend. I caught up with him in his office and I think you’ll enjoy hearing him talk about IFAJ and why it’s good for us to get together and trade information from around the world.

Ag Media Summit, Audio, IFAJ, ZimmCast