Getting Social with NCGA and GROWMARK

Cindy Zimmerman

ZimmCast 337In this week’s ZimmCast you can hear about how GROWMARK is using social media to create a buzz and how the National Corn Growers Association is using social media for membership recruiting and grower services.

At the NCGA biennial Membership Symposium last week in Florida, Chuck talked with Director of Development Tim Brackman and Nebraska Corn Growers Association chairman Brandon Hunnicutt about the symposium program that featured a variety of topics, including use of social media. Brandon is pictured here on the left with Tim on the right.

Meanwhile, at the at the Pursuit of Maximum Yields event last week in Iowa, I interviewed GROWMARK Electronic Communications Specialist Heather (Miller) Thompson about how the GROWMARK system is using social media and smartphone tools, like Facebook, Twitter and QR codes. They are also promoting CropNAtion, a social site for agriculture introduced last year. “That’s still really in it’s infancy,” Heather said. “We’re trying to get word spread about it to get a base and also waiting for an iPhone and Android app that should be out any day now.”

Listen to this week’s ZimmCast here: ZimmCast with NCGA and GROWMARK

Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsor, GROWMARK, locally owned, globally strong, 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.

Audio, Corn, GROWMARK, NCGA, ZimmCast

Rural Broadband Opportunities

Chuck Zimmerman

You could look at this map and see lots of black areas that show there is no local broadband coverage and think negatively. Or you could see these areas as opportunities like the FCC does. This is an interactive map released last week showing areas with “potential” for broadband support via a program as described in their release. I agree with this statement contained in it, “Broadband has gone from being a luxury to a necessity for full participation in our economy and society for all Americans.”

The FCC today announced steps to close our nation’s gaps in mobile service as part of the agency’s groundbreaking reforms under the Connect America Fund, which the Commission adopted last year to put America on the path to universal broadband and advanced mobile coverage by the end of the decade. The Commission recently released a public notice (PN) announcing a reverse auction to award $300 million in one-time Mobility Fund Phase I support starting the implementation process. It also has developed and released a new interactive map to illustrate areas potentially eligible for support.

FCC Chairman Genachowski said, “As our new map demonstrates, millions of Americans still live, work, and travel in areas where advanced mobile networks have not been built out. Through the FCC’s Connect America Fund, we’re helping complete our nation’s wired and wireless infrastructure, which will lead to job creation, economic growth, and innovation in the 21st century.”

Internet

Majority of Corn Yield Contest Winners Use BASF

Cindy Zimmerman

Last year was a challenging year for corn growers, but the winners in the 2011 National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) National Corn Yield Contest proved that good yields are still possible with good crop protection.

Nearly two-thirds (61%) of the winners for last year’s growing season used a BASF Crop Protection product to achieve their outstanding yields, according to the folks at BASF Crop Protection. They report that half of the 18 national winners applied Headline® fungicide or Headline AMP™ fungicide to their winning cornfields, and contest winners also used other BASF crop protection products including Guardsman Max® herbicide and Status® herbicide.

BASFIn the national 2011 NCGA Yield Contest, BASF Crop Protection products helped to capture three first-place finishes, four second-place finishes and three third-place finishes. Headline AMP was overwhelmingly the fungicide of choice, helping yield four of the top five overall national winners.

For the third consecutive year, David Hula of Charles City, Virginia, had the highest overall yield. By producing 429.02 bushels per acre (bu/A), Hula’s winning fields more than doubled the national yield average. Hula utilized Headline AMP on his winning cornfields.

“I’ve used Headline on my winning yields for the past two years. This year I used Headline AMP, which includes the same active ingredient as Headline fungicide but with an added triazole, and my corn looked better than ever,” Hula said. “Each year, BASF fungicides prove an ability to fight disease, provide Plant Health benefits and help maximize yields. There are a lot of things when you’re growing corn that aren’t predictable, but the fungicides from BASF always provide consistent reliability.”

Winners in the contest will be recognized on Friday, March 2, at the National Corn Yield Contest State Award Winners Breakfast during the 2012 Commodity Classic in Nashville.

BASF, Commodity Classic, Corn

Beef’s Shrinking Environmental Footprint

Cindy Zimmerman

Contrary to popular belief, eating beef is not bad for the environment and Dr. Jude Capper with the Department of Animal Sciences at Washington State University has the research to prove it.

Jude talked about her findings to the media and during National Cattlemen’s Beef Association committee meetings at the recent Cattle Industry Convention in Nashville. “There’s a popular perception that the advances we’ve seen in productivity over the last 30-50 years have had a negative environmental impact,” she says. “But by improving productivity and everybody better understanding how to feed and raise cattle, we’ve actually cut the carbon footprint per pound of beef by 16% since 1977.”

Jude also busts the myth that grass fed beef is better for the environment. “On average, a grain fed system is going to be significantly more environmentally friendly than a grass fed system,” she says. The main reason is that grass fed animals are harvested at a lighter weight, but they take longer to get to that weight. “They take an average of 606 days to get from birth to harvest, versus about 420 or so in the corn-fed system,” Jude explains. “That means more total animal days (for grass fed), and that’s more feed, more land, more water, and more energy – and so therefore greater carbon footprint overall for the grass fed.”

Listen to my interview with Jude here: Jude Capper Interview

2012 Cattle Industry Convention Photo Album

Audio, Beef, Cattle Industry Conference, Livestock, NCBA

Keeping Beef Safer than Ever

Cindy Zimmerman

American consumers have never had a safer supply of beef, but there’s always room for improvement, according to Dr. Guy Loneragan, professor of food safety and public health at Texas Tech University,

At the recent Cattle Industry Convention in Nashville, Guy presented some of his recent research to committees of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA). “Our research focuses on both pre-harvest and harvest aspects to safety,” he said, particularly on the prevention of salmonella and E. coli.

Guy says that there are several ways producers can do even more to avoid problems on the pre-harvest level. “The first thing I would say is for producers to stay engaged and be engaged, because knowledge is a very powerful weapon,” he said. “Beyond that, the industry has invested quite heavily into the development of several promising controls, like pro-biotics – the beneficial bacteria we find in yogurt, some strains appears to be quite effective in cattle too.”

At the harvest level, Guy says great strides have been made toward preventing contamination with disease-causing organisms. “There has been since 2000, more than 90% reduction in ground beef testing positive,” he said. “The challenge is, once you make all those tremendous gains, the ability to make more gains becomes less.”

However, Guy adds that while improvements at the harvest level have been largely focused on beef as the potential source for organisms like E. coli, recent outbreaks of produce contamination have focused more attention in that realm.

Listen to my interview with Guy Loneragan here: Guy Loneragan Interview

2012 Cattle Industry Convention Photo Album

Audio, Beef, Cattle Industry Conference, NCBA

The Next Big Thing In Ag Communications/Social Media

Chuck Zimmerman

I tweeted this yesterday morning, “Chuck. What’s the next “big” thing in ag communications/social media?” I get asked a lot. What do you think?” And I got replies thank you very much. Here are some of them:

From Twitter:

currently, Pinterest RT @AgriBlogger: “Chuck. What’s the next “big” thing in ag communications/social media?” What do you think?

Pinterest RT @AgriBlogger: “Chuck. What’s the next “big” thing in ag communications/social media?” I get asked a lot. What do you think?

Understanding integration of new technologies, forces & needs. Are you agile enough to adjust? RE: next big thing in ag comm/sm @AgriBlogger

@AgriBlogger I think #Pinterest…..

@AgriBlogger Rural #4G LTE and the smart #farm #app revolution?

@AgriBlogger Video, both one-on-one , group and broadcast streams are the next wave in social media.

Rise of the App Internet http://bit.ly/xu9GSz MT @AgriBlogger: What’s the next “big” thing in ag comm/social media?” What do you think?

From Facebook:

If we knew, it wouldn’t be the next “big” thing. I think Pinterest is catching a lot of momentum though. Google+ doesn’t seem to be getting much traction though. Probably the next “big” thing hasn’t arrived yet or we just aren’t aware of it.

We almost have it today but a “reality tv” show about the farm. That is correct and unbiased (well maybe slanted a little our way)! You could be the leader Chuck. BTY, I don’t want to be in it.

So there seems to be one word that’s popping up enough to take a look and that’s Pinterest. Hopefully I won’t get in trouble here but I have been aware of Pinterest for a while since my daughters use it and have showed it to me. I looked at it and mostly saw fashion photos and thought, “This is not for me.” Interestingly, the responses above mentioning Pinterest are all from women. I’m not sure what to make from that but . . . If you search “agriculture” in Pinterest you’ll find a couple of boards and some pins. “Pinterest is an online pinboard.
Organize and share things you love.” How about agriculture photos and images? Maybe this is a good place to share your farm message!

You’ll also notice in the responses that mobile apps and 4G LTE are mentioned. I personally agree with this. We’re going to see more and more use from mobile devices and the apps that let us do customized tasks.

Please feel free to add your thoughts via comments.

Social Networking

Winners in NCBA Youth Cattle Judging Contest

Cindy Zimmerman

More than 200 young people from 25 states participated in the youth cattle judging contest held in conjunction with the 2012 Cattle Industry Convention and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) Trade Show in Nashville, Tennessee last week. The youth competed for honors and cash prizes in the fourth annual competition. The contest is sponsored by Farm Credit, and livestock panels were sponsored by Priefert Ranch Equipment.

NCBA youth programs were championed by former NCBA President Andy Groseta of Cottonwood, Ariz., who prompted the organization to develop additional programs for youth in the cattle industry. The judging contest has grown significantly since first introduced at the 2009 Cattle Industry Convention, where 60 young people competed.

More than 1,000 young people attended the convention, which attracted a record crowd of 8,216.

First place winners in the competition categories were:

Novice Division – John Kohl McAdams, Adkins, Texas
Junior Division – Madison Shults, Dinosaur, Colo.
Senior Division – Gibson Priest, Calhoun, Ga.
Team Placing/Senior Division – Lincoln County (Tenn.) Senior Team A
Collegiate Division – Chris Mackey, University of Tennessee
Team Placing/Collegiate Division – University of Georgia

2012 Cattle Industry Convention Photo Album

Beef, Cattle Industry Conference, Livestock, NCBA

Lowell Catlett Sees Bright Future for Ag

Cindy Zimmerman

Dr. Lowell Catlett, New Mexico State University economist and futurist, has been looking into the agricultural crystal ball for nearly 30 years. I remember seeing him speak back when Timbuk3 had their one-hit wonder “The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades” and Lowell used to gallop on stage to that tune wearing sunglasses.

That song was a hit back in 1986 and Lowell is just as funny, interesting and relevant as ever. I saw him at the Pursuit of Maximum Yields event organized by the GROWMARK system’s FS Green Plan Solutions in Bettendorf, Iowa Thursday and haven’t laughed so hard and learned so much in a long time.

One thing that makes him so entertaining is his facial expressions – that’s why I wanted to use several photos here. He makes his points without the aid of power points – he certainly doesn’t need them!

All of the 250 farmers at the event this week will certainly remember without the aid of a power point what Dr. Catlett called “The Crap Factor” – that is higher disposable income to buy more crap. “The quality of our life has gone up dramatically and the price to have (the necessities) relative to our income has gone down,” he says. That allows people to buy more extras, and in the case of developing countries, it means they have more income to buy more protein.

Lowell also talked about how smart phones are helping farmers. “You’ve got the ability to take that mobile technology and do plant diagnostics with it,” he said. In the future, he sees the use of open source hardware (not just software) and 3D assembly that could allow manufacturing to actually be done on site with local materials, like building tractors on farms in developing nations.

Listen to my interview with Lowell Catlett here: Lowell Catlett Interview
Photos from Iowa Pursuit of Maximum Yields Event

Audio, GROWMARK, Precision Agriculture

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • ADVOCIN (danofloxacin mesylate) is now available from Pfizer Animal Health – offering a cost-effective fluoroquinolone alternative for the treatment of bovine respiratory disease.
  • Agriculture Future of America works to assist young people pursuing agricultural-related careers by providing academic financial support and by partnering with other organizations to offer scholarship opportunities.
  • Farm Press and Penton Media are bringing back the Mid-South Farm and Gin Show Mobile App for the 2012 edition of the “Gin Show.”
  • Purfresh, Inc., announced the appointment of Dr. Brian Westcott as president and chief executive officer.
Zimfo Bytes

The SoilWeb App

Chuck Zimmerman

Add another app to your Ag Apps folder on your smartphone. It’s free for both iPhone and Android users. The app, SoilWeb, combines online soil survey information with the GPS capabilities of smartphones.

The SoilWeb app is a portable version of the UC Davis California Soil Resource Lab’s Web-based interface to digital soil survey data from USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Because the app provides soil survey information in a mobile form, it is particularly useful for those working in the field.

Until recently, a disadvantage of Web-based soil survey formats was that user access was limited to desktop computers with an internet connection. That’s one reason that NRCS soil scientist Dr. Dylan Beaudette, while still a graduate student at UC Davis, developed the SoilWeb app in collaboration with NRCS and the UC Davis California Soil Resource Lab.

SoilWeb can retrieve a graphic summary of soil types in response to a user inquiry in the form of soil profile sketches. Each profile sketch shows soil horizons, often compared to a vertical ice cream sandwich made up of layers of soil. Soil names, locations and taxonomic categories are also shown.

Apps