New SMS Video Tutorials on YouTube Page

Melissa Sandfort

Insights Weekly

Some people were born with a voice destined for radio. Fortunately, Ag Leader training specialist Jessica Ahrens, who possesses all the qualities of a great broadcaster, decided to pursue a career in precision agriculture and is a member of the SMS Support Team! Many have heard her voice through a number of educational resources available including classroom training, free online webinars and the video tutorial series created to help growers use the software to manage their data.

Jessica tells us what you can find on the YouTube channel. Listen to Jessica explain

The SMS tutorial videos are fast and easy to access from home or the tractor cab through Ag Leader’s YouTube channel. No more shuffling through a mix of guidance, hardware and software videos on the Ag Leader YouTube channel – SMS tutorials now have their own home at http://www.youtube.com/agleadersmstutorials. This YouTube channel is solely committed to all things SMS. Let Jessica walk you through your SMS software, and then take a minute to “favorite” the channel in your browser – this is one site you won’t want to forget!

And you can access the videos anywhere! Listen to Jessica explain

Become a fan of Ag Leader on Facebook today, and get the latest precision ag videos on the YouTube channel. For more information about Ag Leader products and services, or to visit the blog site, go to www.agleader.com.

Ag Leader, Agribusiness, Video

NAMA Executive Committee Meeting

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast 379The executive committee of the National Agri-Marketing Association is hard at work on the business of the organization. At this quarterly meeting we review financials, committee reports, updates on the annual meetings, awards program and more. We’re also making sure we’re on the path laid out by the strategic plan.

NAMA Executive Committee MeetingI’ll have an update from our new President, Paul Redhage, FMC and Jenny Pickett, NAMA CEO, after our meeting concludes later today.

NAMA is in great shape financially and membership was up in 2012! Good news. How about considering becoming a member if you’re not? Young professionals have a special membership rate and if you become involved in your local chapter you’ll make friends and contacts within the industry that will be good for your career in many ways. Take a few minutes to join today.

Post Update: After our meeting concluded I had a conversation with Paul and Jenny that I’d like to share.

Listen to this week’s ZimmCast here: Looking Ahead with NAMA

Join NAMA Today
Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsors, GROWMARK, locally owned, globally strong and Monsanto, Roundup Ready Plus, for their support.

The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired. Subscribe so you can listen when and where you want. Just go to our Subscribe page.

Ag Groups, NAMA

Get Schooled in Ants

Jamie Johansen

Lucky largeThe nationwide School of Ants has found a home at the University of Florida. The school is an example of citizen science, a project where anybody can collect and submit data for experts to review and compile.

Ants are collected from personal yards and neighborhoods and then entomologists identify each species and plot its location. These digital maps provide a snapshot of any distribution around the county.

“Knowledge of the presence of a species of ant might help for things like quarantine and control, if the species is a problem,” said founder Andrea Lucky, and assistant scientist with UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. “If we find a rare ant, or an ant that’s way outside its known range, we many want to keep an eye on it purely for academic purposes.”

The program originated at North Carolina State University in 2011, between Andrea and Rob Dunn, a biology assistant professor. The expansion and movement of the headquarters to Florida has the team excited due to it having more ants than any other state.

“We want to really focus on Florida,” Lucky said. “The ant populations are so diverse, and we’re eager to get a handle on what’s here.”

Identifying that the invasive Asian needle ant had spread beyond its original home has been one of the school’s biggest accomplishments. The pest kills native ant populations in hardwood forests and carries a painful stinger.

If you are interested collecting ant specimens and mailing them in, be sure and record the location and time the ants were collected. Volunteers can register at the school’s website.

You can also keep up with the program by following them on Facebook and Twitter.

Education, Research

Learn, Laugh, & Lead at 2013 CCA Bootcamp

Jamie Johansen

image003The Cooperative Communications Association’s 2013 Professional Development workshop will be here before you know it. Register by January 11 to attend the CCA Bootcamp held January 29th & 30th in Bloomington, IL.

Be sure to pack your tools of the trade including camera and/or video camera to fine tune skills in web design, photography, videography & social media. The world of agriculture communications is an ever changing industry. Here is what you can look forward to absorbing during the two-day bootcamp.

“Guerilla Strategies for Good Web Design”
Presented by Business Builders:

We all want our websites to look good and function well, but how do you know what “good” really is? No matter what software or platform you use to create your sites, there are some elements that all good websites have in common. This session will give you the what, why and how to get in and get out with a stellar site.

cca bootcamp“Surveying Your Battle Map”
Presented by Jim Polus, Illinois Farm Bureau Videographer:

If a picture paints a thousand words, how much more of the story can video tell? The popularity of short videos has surged in recent years and has many applications for communicators today. Jim will talk about equipment, storyboarding, software and tips for creating amazing videos on any budget.

“Using All the Weapons in Your Arsenal”
Presented by Barb Adelman, Elan Studios Photography:

Show of hands – how many of us ever take our cameras off the “auto” setting? Today’s digital cameras at any level can take great pictures – if you just know what settings to use and when. This session will help you understand the basics of photography and how to use those “other” options on your camera to take better pictures.

“I Don’t Know But I’ve Been Told”
Presented by Tricia Braid, Illinois Corn Growers Association:

Social media is here to stay and new sites keep appearing almost daily. How do you decide which ones are right for your organization? It’s a decision that must be made with many factors in mind, including how the platform fits with your existing PR strategy and company goals and culture. Tricia will share some of her experiences with the Corn Growers and the Illinois Farm Families initiative as examples of successful social media campaigns.

Agribusiness, Events, Photography, Social Media

FMC Seeking Registration for Anthem on Cotton

Cindy Zimmerman

bwcc13-akinFMC Corporation is working on registration of a new herbicide for resistant weed control in cotton by 2014. Growers at the Beltwide Cotton Conferences had a chance to hear more about it this week from Scott Akin with FMC.

“Anthem is going to be a valuable pre-emergence herbicide I think for cotton growers across the belt for use against grasses and small seeded broadleaf weeds, particularly Palmer ameranth,” Scott said.

As growers heard at the Beltwide, and most already know, glyphosate-resistant Palmer ameranth pigweed continues to spread across the cotton belt – showing up in even Arizona this past year, so FMC is working hard on field testing for the registration of Anthem in 2014. Anthem has already been registered for use on corn and is expected on soybeans soon.

To find out more, listen to my interview with Scott here: Scott Akin interview

2013 Beltwide Cotton photo album

beltwide-fmc

Audio, Beltwide Cotton, Corn, Cotton, FMC

O’Brien Named Senior Vice President for AEM

Talia Goes

OBrien_CharlieThe Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) has named Charlie O’Brien as senior vice president in recognition of his expanded leadership responsibilities for the association. These include activities under AEM’s new strategic plan, initiated in 2012, to better serve all members’ current and future business-development needs.

In addition to increased responsibilities since joining AEM in 2007, O’Brien has taken a leadership role with expanded responsibilities in development of strategic initiatives to achieve the plan’s Key Result Area (KRA) goals and objectives, and AEM goals development to continue implementation of the strategic plan. He was also instrumental in development of the vision for launch of AEM’s successful AG CONNECT Expo and Summit, now on its third show, to take place January 29-31, 2013 in Kansas City, Missouri.

The initial AEM strategic initiatives focus on increased advocacy, a services plan to respond to membership-survey results and a new financial model to sustain expanded services and activities. New initiatives being implemented for 2013 include increased member engagement, market information services and global business development.

O’Brien joined AEM in 2007 as vice president. He serves as agriculture sector leader and also oversees AEM’s market information, technical/safety and member services areas. O’Brien came to AEM with more than 20 years of experience in the off-road equipment industry. This includes president and CEO of FPC Financial as well as Farm Plan & AgLine (Canada) product manager and sales manager for John Deere Financial; branch manager and director of strategic initiatives for Deere Financial’s England operations; and Deere Financial management positions in sales, market and business development, and risk management.

AEM

Her New Home

Melissa Sandfort

SurpriseOur little filly named Surprise is now a permanent resident of Kansas, but still in the family. She made the 7-hour trek this past weekend to my in-law’s house and from the looks of things, has already bonded with her new family. If she didn’t like cattle and cattle dogs before, she better learn and learn quickly as she may even turn out to be a good enough horse to help with rounding them up when it’s time to be sold.

My father-in-law thought Surprise was too hard to pronounce so he’s named her “Prizey”. I’m protesting and still calling her Surprise.

The great part about being in Kansas is that the grandkids can still see her and our son will still get to ride her when we go for visits (once she gets a bit older). I’m hoping that he takes an interest in animals, and if not, there’s always hope for our daughter.

You know that’s why we got horses, right? Because growing up, I always dreamed of having a horse but my dad thought I was too involved in other activities and sports to actually take care of one. So because of those repressed childhood dreams, I bought a horse! (That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.)

She’s such a pretty little filly with her winter coat on.

Until we walk again …

Uncategorized

Beltwide Cotton Loves Ag Media

Cindy Zimmerman

bwcc13-groupThere were a few tears and a lot of laughs as the National Cotton Council hosted dinner to thank members of the ag media for their many years of covering the Beltwide Cotton Conference.

We all gathered together after dinner for a memory photo – click on the picture for a larger image. Many of us pictured here have known each other for 20-30 years! Are we really that old? At least one person with us – the young lady seated second from the left – wasn’t even born when most of us were starting our careers! That is Amy Mohundro with NCC and she seemed to enjoy listen to us old folks reminisce.

Next year will be a different format for the Beltwide, without the Production Conference and exhibitors that have been the main draw for the media over the last couple of decades. But the technical conferences will remain and NCC is hopeful that media serving the cotton belt will still attend to get new information out to producers.

Thanks so much to Marjory Walker and Cotton Nelson and the rest of the NCC staff for making the media’s job so easy. This was only my second Beltwide – the first was well over 20 years ago – but I had a really great time catching up with old friends like former NAFB president John Winfield and his wife Mary. I had not seen them for 15 years! And thanks also to Monsanto for sponsoring a well-equipped and comfortable media room.

Thanks also to FMC Corporation for sponsoring our coverage and allowing me to be a part of this event. I will be adding more posts and audio to this post with Cotton later. On my way now to join Chuck in Key West for a day of R&R.

2013 Beltwide Cotton photo album

beltwide-fmc

Beltwide Cotton, Cotton, FMC

FarmFirst Dairy Cooperative Has New Logo

Melissa Sandfort

dairyFarmFirst Dairy Cooperative board of directors recently unveiled its new logo. The identity symbolizes the newly formed cooperative’s vision and commitment to its members.

The logo and brand identity were approved by the FarmFirst Dairy Cooperative’s board of directors and will be integrated throughout membership and marketing efforts as the new cooperative establishes its presence in the industry.

Agribusiness, Cooperatives, Dairy

What Was the Top Story of 2012?

Melissa Sandfort

Our latest ZimmPoll asked the question, ”How do you feel about the fiscal cliff compromise?”

Our poll results: Forty-one percent said Sick of Congress; thirty-two percent said Disgusted; 15 percent said Disappointed; five percent said Pleased and Hopeful; and one percent said Thrilled. Looks like the majority of you are tired of hearing about Congress!

1.9.13graph

Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, ”What do you think is top story of 2012?” 2012 was a wild year for farmers. What do you think the top story was? We’re listing the top ones we’ve seen here and on other farm news sites like AgriMarketing.com. There certainly are more stories. Feel free to add your ideas if they’re not on the list here in comments or in comments on the poll.

ZimmPoll is sponsored by New Holland Agriculture.

New Holland, ZimmPoll