2014 International Year of Family Farming?

Chuck Zimmerman

International Year of Family FarmingDuring our weekly AgChat session last night several folks interjected messages about a United Nations sanctioned initiative called the 2014 International Year of Family Farming, Feeding the World, Caring for the Earth. So I had to look at it and can’t say I like what I see. If you click around their website you’ll see some pretty mixed messages. There is a lot of feel good rhetoric about family farming and losing people to the cities. Then you’ll find a video with a page title “Do we really need industrial agriculture?” It’s on YouTube and I couldn’t get past more than a minute or two to realize these folks have an agenda that is not compatible with reality and common sense. It’s just the tired old messaging that farming today is all “industrial” and the evil corporations are taking over the world. You’d think we’re all going to die unless we do what they want. This video is produced by Food MythBusters and the Real Food Media Project. I hate to think of what they hope to teach kids.

I can empathize with the challenges presented by a changing world and changing technology. It does make it tough to make a living from a small patch of ground even here in America. But you’ll also find messages in here about how bad subsidies are. I’m just curious how these folks think they’re going to fund all their feel good programs. Where do they think the money will come from? My bet is that it will be subsidies they want which will then be “good subsidies.” I can’t support this kind of effort and as far as I’m concerned anything with the United Nations involved is suspect.

What do you think? I work in the ag media realm and have my whole career. I saw broadcasting, especially on the radio side, change as consolidation happened and we no longer had truly local ownership. I didn’t cry over it and ask the government to help me. New technology offered us some great new opportunities. Throw in some hard work too! Voila. I’m making a living. I think this can apply to farming today. It is changing and will continue to change. Instead of looking at the work agribusinesses are doing to become more efficient, produce more and safer food, and do so in a sustainable way, as evil, how about looking at it with thanks and gladness that hard working people are making a positive difference that will reap benefits in countries all over the world. Corporations are not faceless entities. They are a business model populated by real people who are also trying to make a living and working very hard at it. I think they need to be rewarded for their work!

It looks like this effort has been going on for a while. Some pretty outdated stuff on the website, especially the blog.

Ag Groups, Farming, International

We’ll Be Winging it in Buffalo

Chuck Zimmerman

2013 Ag Media SummitFull registration for the 2013 Ag Media Summit doesn’t open until May 1 but you can get your hotel reservation made now. Just got mine taken care of.

If you’re looking for the best place to promote your company or organization’s products and services, then you’ll want to be at the 15th Annual Ag Media Summit in Buffalo, New York, August 3-7, 2013. This annual get-together, the largest meeting in the United States of the ag industry’s top writers, editors, photographers, publishers and ag communicator specialists, begins with pre-meeting events on Saturday, August 3, followed by the AMS program August 4-7. We invite you to participate as a sponsor or an exhibitor at our InfoExpo or both, and be a part of this important agricultural media event.

Ag Media Summit, Media

Thornton Promoted at AFBF

Chuck Zimmerman

Mace ThorntonCongratulations to our good buddy Mace Thornton. He’s just been named Executive Director of Communications for the American Farm Bureau Federation. Here’s Mace at last year’s Agricultural Relations Council meeting. Mace just turned that gavel over at this year’s meeting.

Mace will implement AFBF’s communications strategies, manage the Communications Department and staff, and help lead AFBF as a member of its management team.

Mace has more than 28 years of communications experience, with most of this time spent working in agriculture. He joined AFBF in 1990 and has been serving as acting director, communications, since Oct. 1. He has been a senior member of the staff and has contributed to AFBF’s strategic communications, public relations, media relations, issues management, and social media efforts.

Ag Groups

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  • The National Honey Board is seeking persons interested in serving as a Board member or Alternate Board Member.
  • In an effort to further solidify their position as a leader in the nutrient use efficiency and plant health products industry, Horizon Ag-Products announced that it has launched a new corporate identity.
  • The North American Equipment Dealers Association has announced the recipients of its inaugural Dealer’s Choice Award.
  • Vertellus Specialties Inc., the world’s largest producer of pyridine, picolines and pyridine derivatives, announces the hiring of Mike Turner as Director of the Agriculture Business segment.
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Nuts & Bolts of Ag Communications

Chuck Zimmerman

AAEA LPC WorkshopThere’s an upcoming workshop put on by the American Agricultural Editors’ Association and Livestock Publications Council titled, “The Nuts and Bolts of Ag Communications.” It’s part of a continuing series.

The workshop will take place May 16-17 at the Hyatt Regency, Milwaukee. Sessions will include video, photography, ag issues and writing. Registration is $80 for members and $100 for non-members. The deadline for registration is May 7. You can do so by emailing Diane Johnson (put Register for Milwaukee Workshop in subject line). If you wait to pay on site the cost will be $135.

ACN, LPC, Media

Dairy Makes Sense Parody Video

Chuck Zimmerman

Dairy Makes SenseThis is just too good not to share. The Midwest Dairy Association just published Feedin’ A Nation, a very entertaining music parody video.

Thank you to the more than 65 dairy farmers from age 1 to 81 for helping bring this video to life. All footage was filmed at dairy farm family homes in Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota. Join us in “Feedin’ a Nation” by making a food bank donation to ensure the health of all generations! Learn more at http://www.DairyMakesSense.com.

Ag Groups, Dairy, Video

USDA Announces New Conservation Collaboration

Talia Goes

USDA-LogoAgriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced a new federal-private collaboration with DuPont to safeguard natural resources on private lands used to supply bio-based feedstocks for cellulosic ethanol production.

The joint agreement between USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service and DuPont aims to set voluntary standards for the sustainable harvesting of agricultural residues for renewable fuel, and supports rural job creation, additional income for farmers, bio-based energy development, and the safeguarding of natural resources and land productivity.

The announcement involves the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between NRCS and DuPont. USDA, through NRCS, will provide conservation planning assistance for farmers who supply bio-based feedstocks to biorefineries as the industry begins to commercialize. Conservation plan, written for individual operations, will ensure sustainable harvest of corn crop residues while promoting natural resource conservation and land productivity. A conservation plan is a voluntary document, written in cooperation with farmers, which helps them protect natural resources while promoting a farm’s economic sustainability.

Conservation, USDA

Precision Pays iPad mini Winner Happy Farmer

Chuck Zimmerman

Nick Leibold iPad mini winnerHere’s our happy Precision Pays iPad mini Giveaway winner, Nick Leibold. Thanks to his wife, Kendra, for taking the photo. She says Nick will put it to good use on the farm.

Since Nick is standing in front of a John Deere tractor I wonder if he’ll have to get one of their new custom mobile device mounts for the cab! I’m sure we’ll see more and more of those popping up on the farm accessory list!

We thoroughly enjoyed our contest and want to thank everyone who entered once again. Hopefully we’ll get to do it again soon.

Equipment, Farming

World Backup Day

Chuck Zimmerman

World Backup DayHappy Easter which is falling on World Backup Day. Have you taken the pledge?

The World Backup Day Pledge

I solemnly swear to backup my important documents and precious memories on March 31st. I will also tell my friends and family about World Backup Day – friends don’t let friends go without a backup.

It is very important that you should not only do this today but very regularly. Your data may very well be “your business” quite literally. It is here at ZimmComm New Media. We archive the masters of all our photos, audio and video files. This is important to everyone including agencies, media, agribusiness and farmers.

I get asked about this quite a bit and have been meaning to write about it. World Backup Day reminded me to get it done.

Here’s our work flow for backing things up.

1. Local computer backups

Each of our computers has a local backup of all data. For our PC’s I have them automatically backup to our shared server. The server is a computer itself that resides on our office network system. We’re currently using an HP Home Server unit that has a capacity of about 4TB of data. Each computer is backed up weekly or in the case of a laptop, whenever it is connected to the network after being on a long road trip. The server has built in syncing software which allows us to create custom settings for each machine’s backup. You can use other software on your computer to sync straight to an external hard drive. I use a program called SyncBack for this.

For our Macs I use Time Machine, which is part of the Mac OSX operating system. Time Machine backs up to a small local hard drive. I have tried many of them and the most reliable seem to be Seagate external hard drives. I travel with one that holds up to 500GB of data. This small hard drive also serves as a great place to temporarily store photos/audio/video until I archive them which I’ll go into later.

Regardless which type of smart phone or tablet you’re using today, this local backup can play an important role with them, not just your computer itself. If you’re using an iPhone or iPad then make sure you sync with iTunes often to keep your device backed up. I can just about guarantee you’ll be glad you did. The same goes with your Android device or whatever you may be using.

2. Cloud computer backups

Besides this local backup we use BackBlaze to back up computer data regardless of being PC or Mac. It is less expensive than other options and very simple to use. Some of those other options include Apple’s iCloud, which I use for syncing all my Mac/iPhone/iPad data, Google Cloud Storage, Dropbox, which we use for sharing all kinds of files easily, and of course services like Carbonite. There are lots of choices for cloud backups today. Their benefits include the fact that your data can be available from anywhere, anytime, if you need it. Read More

Farming, Technology

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  • Chromatin, Inc., a leading provider of innovative crop breeding technology, sorghum seed products and feedstocks, announced that Robert B. Shapiro has joined its Board of Directors.
  • Farmers and seed dealers from major U.S. crop production regions recently gathered in St. Louis and Peoria, Ill. for “Monsanto Ground Breakers Week.”
  • Case IH announced that they donated two tractors to Milwaukee Public Schools’ Harold S. Vincent High School for their Urban Agriculture class.
  • Organic Alliance, Inc. announced Frank Gomez as the Company’s Director Grower Relations to expand management depth and accommodate new growth opportunities.
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