Lightsquared Solution To GPS Concerns Not Well Received By Industry

Chuck Zimmerman

Yesterday Lightsquared announced a “solution” to concerns over interference with GPS systems from it’s proposed wireless broadband network.

LightSquared™, a wholesale carrier building a nationwide wireless broadband network that will create consumer choice and industry innovation, has signed an agreement with Javad GNSS Inc. to develop a system that will eliminate related interference issues for high-precision GPS devices.

The Javad GNSS system can be adapted to work with high-precision GPS devices including those already in the agriculture, surveying, construction and defense industries. (full release)

I’m not sure how forcing farmers and all kinds of people, especially those defending our country, to purchase new equipment that will have to be installed to keep their current GPS systems working is a real solution to what appears to be a very real problem. I’m all for more and better choices for broadband, especially in rural areas but not at the expense of GPS systems that perform very critical functions. This action seems to be an admission by Lightsquared that the concerns are real. Otherwise, why do this? I asked the Coalition to Save Our GPS for their response and got it right away.

“LightSquared has, as usual, oversimplified and greatly overstated the significance of the claims of a single vendor to have ‘solved’ the interference issue. There have been many vendor claims that have not proven out in rigorous tests and the demanding tests of marketplace acceptance. Moreover, this is not a one-size-fits-all situation and a few prototypes does not a solution make. The estimated 750,000 to 1 million high-precision GPS receivers now in use in the United States vary widely: there are hundreds of different high-precision devices used in performing thousands of different tasks. High-precision GPS supports a wide variety of uses, including agriculture, construction, aviation, surveying and many scientific and safety-of-life applications.

“LightSquared also ignores that fact that availability of new products, even if confirmed, does not address this very large existing base of equipment. If and when solutions are available, LightSquared must accept responsibility for paying to replace the existing base of existing equipment with new products.

“In any case, this is not an issue that can be solved with a LightSquared press release. As the FCC and NTIA recently recognized, more testing is necessary to evaluate interference impacts under LightSquared’s latest technical proposals. We welcome the participation of Javad in those tests.”

Equipment, Internet

USFRA Releases Consumer/Farmer Survey Results

Chuck Zimmerman

Today the U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance released the results of a survey they conducted in July/August. They surveyed 2,417 consumers and 1,002 farmers/ranchers, both on a nationwide basis. The graphic below shows a comparison of the top five things consumers want more information about with the top five things farmers/ranchers think are most important to educate consumers about. You can find a more comprehensive summary of the results with this link (pdf).

The survey results will play a key role in guiding discussion of today’s Food Dialogues. You can watch these town hall meetings online and use the #FoodD hashtag on Twitter to follow along and interact with the conversation. One of the panelists is Rick Stott, Executive Vice President, Agri Beef Co. I visited with him yesterday to learn how and why he got involved and what he hopes the event will accomplish.

Rick says that his company has been interested in becoming more open with consumers for many years and thinks the industry should too. He says that there has been a “cloud of unknown” within the ag industry that has “fundamentally allowed other people to tell our story.” He says they have yet to have a negative experience with anyone who has visited their operations. As a result of their own interests he believes what USFRA is doing is very important and that is why he got involved. He says the dialogue concept of the town hall meetings will allow for two way communication and he hopes to see a tremendous amount of interest in watching and participating. Using the internet as the vehicle to make it all happen just makes sense to him. One of the exciting things to him for using this communication platform is that the information will be “filtered” far less than would have been the case just using traditional media channels. He hopes this will make the dialogue healthier.

You can listen to or download my conversation with Rick here: Rick Stott interview

Ag Groups, Agribusiness, Audio, Beef, Farming, Food, USFRA

Apple Pie for Cheaters

Melissa Sandfort

My grandmother can cook and bake about anything. You give her your shopping list with all fresh ingredients from the garden and she can make at least eight different goodies. That was one of my biggest fears when I got married: how in the world was I going to come up with a healthy, hearty meal every night of the week? It’s a talent that I was praying would be passed down from my grandmothers and my mother.

Most days, I don’t do too bad but my weakness when it comes to desserts is pies. Maybe it’s because the only one I’ll eat is my grandma’s chocolate pie. How un-American, I know. Either way, my husband is suffering because of my lack of enthusiasm in this area.

I did, however, stumble across a recipe for an easy apple pie – for cheaters like me. It’s so easy all you do is cut up a couple of apples, toss in some dry ingredients and an egg, then bake. Viola! I now have a happy husband.

You can find my recipe here.

My grandparents went to an orchard last week and brought home 3, 5-gallon buckets of apples. I bet my husband knows what will be in his lunch for the next two weeks!

Until we walk again …

Food

NAFB Foundation Seeking Auction Items

Cindy Zimmerman

Gift certificates, gift baskets, sports tickets, electronics, art work … got any you would like to donate to support the future of farm broadcasting?

The NAFB Foundation is seeking items for its annual fundraising auction at the convention in November.

Generous donations in past years have helped provide financial support and educational opportunities for young people in pursuit of careers in agricultural communications – like this year’s three scholarship recipients and five station and network interns.

Also, new to the auction this year, they are looking for advertising package donations, which any station or network can contribute.

Other ideas:
Hotel stays/Getaway package
Experiences (hunting package, backstage tickets, cattle drive, winery package, etc.)
Jewelry
Handmade quilts
Collectibles and memorabilia

An auction donation form can be found on-line. Contact the NAFB office or email jennifer@nafb.com if you have questions.

NAFB

Canadian Agriculture 101

Chuck Zimmerman

While attending the 2011 IFAJ Congress one of our panel discussions was titled, “Canadian Agriculture 101.” First up was Jack Wilkinson, farm community leader and member of the Canadian Agriculture Hall of Fame, pictured at the podium along with Richard Doyle, Executive Director, Dairy Farmers of Canada and President, International Dairy Federation and Jay Bradshaw, Syngenta Canada. I thought I’d share the remarks made by Richard since I find the dairy industry system in Canada very interesting. It also represents the types of presentations we enjoy at an IFAJ Congress.

A big part of Richard’s presentation deals with the supply management system in Canada that is “based on planned domestic production, administered pricing and dairy product import controls.” There are licensed quotas and various other components to the system which you can read about in this pdf. A good source of information is the Canadian Dairy Information Centre. They national system was introduced in 1970. Listen to his presentation here: Richard Doyle Presentation

2011 IFAJ Congress Photo Album

Coverage of the IFAJ Congress is sponsored by PIONEER Hi-Bred
Ag Groups, Audio, Dairy, IFAJ, International

Adding Jobs To Economy Via Agriculture

Chuck Zimmerman

Well, I guess our latest ZimmPoll didn’t excite anyone judging by the low response. With jobs all the rage in the political scene maybe you’re burned out on the word? Our latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “What is best for ag to add jobs to the economy?” 46% said All of the above to our choices. We also had 24% choose Support development of next generation biofuels; 18% choose Invest in rural economic development; 8% choose Pass FTAs with Colombia, Panama and Korea and 4% choose None of the above. I guess we’ll see what happens as the budget and farm bill debates continue to unfold.

Our new ZimmPoll is now live. We’re asking the question, “Can farmers effectively reach out to consumers with social media?” Seems like a timely questions with tomorrow’s The Food Dialogues about to take place. A USFRA program that will be driven by social media. You probably know where I come down on this. But with all our efforts, are we “reaching” consumers? What do you think? Feel free to comment and take our poll.

ZimmPoll is sponsored by Rhea+Kaiser, a full-service advertising/public relations agency.

ZimmPoll

Unexpected Passing of Shannon Schaffer

Chuck Zimmerman

We were shocked to hear that our friend Shannon Schaffer passed away suddenly over the weekend while on a bicycle ride.

We got to know Shannon when he was with the U.S. Grains Council. In fact, I traveled with him on a trip to Morocco, Egypt and Jordan. You really get to know people when you travel like that. I didn’t have a room for a night at our hotel in Egypt and Shannon immediately offered to let me share his which I did. He was our main guide throughout that trip and kept us all together and on time. He is already missed.

Shannon left USGC to serve as Director of Membership for the National Farmers Union for the past year or so.

Here is the official obituary and details:

Shannon R. Schaffer, age 41, died on Saturday, September 17, 2011. He was the beloved husband of Sheri Schaffer; father of Ashton Schaffer; son of Ronald and Fae Schaffer and brother of Meredith Gulseth (Mark) and Emily Fisher (Alex). In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to an education fund being established for his son, Ashton at T. D. Bank, 308 Maple Avenue, East, Vienna, Virginia 22180.

Funeral services will be held Friday September 23 at 3:00 pm at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Vienna, VA. You can share memories of Shannon on the Tributes.com website.

Uncategorized

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • This year marks the 20th anniversary of the national soybean checkoff program including formation of the United Soybean Board and Qualified State Soybean Boards.
  • Twitter announced that it’s launching a new analytics tool that will initially be available to a select group of partners as a pilot program, but will be made available to everyone in the next few weeks.
  • Agcareers.com to host “Handling Personnel Conflicts” webinar Friday October 21st @ 11 am Eastern.
  • FFA’s CONNECT! campaign has begun. CONNECT! invites you to share stories with us about your favorite FFA experiences, what you’re doing now, and how FFA has impacted your life.
    Zimfo Bytes

    Ruhland Named CEO of Cattlemen’s Beef Board

    Cindy Zimmerman

    The national beef checkoff is entering its second quarter century with a new CEO.

    The Cattlemen’s Beef Board has announced the hiring of Polly Ruhland as Chief Executive Officer for the organization that administers the national checkoff program established as part of the 1985 Farm Bill.

    Ruhland has been serving as the interim CEO since the resignation of Tom Ramey on June 28.

    “Polly was the right choice for this checkoff, and for this industry,” said Weldon Wynn, Executive Committee chairman and Beef Board vice chairman. “She has a powerful passion for the checkoff and for the beef industry, and she has absolutely proven in the last three months that she can run this operation astutely. She has an excellent rapport with staff and our contractors, and I don’t think we could have found anyone at this time who could have done the job as well as she is doing it.

    Polly joined the Beef Board team as director of evaluation in early 2010. Her previous 20-plus years in the beef industry most recently included six years with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), working in the areas of issues management, membership and communications. Prior to NCBA, she served as communication director for the North American Limousin Foundation (NALF), was compliance coordinator for the institutional animal care and use committee at Colorado State University, and was director of communications for the American Gelbvieh Association.

    She holds a bachelor’s degree in English from University of Colorado and a master’s degree in agriculture, with an emphasis in beef industry leadership, from Colorado State University. Polly has one son, Ryan, and lives in Denver with her husband, Randy.

    “The opportunity to serve farmers and ranchers in this way is an unparalleled honor,” Ruhland said. “I am committed to working every hour of every day to promote beef through the unique cooperation and coordination offered by the Beef Checkoff Program.”

    Chuck interviewed Polly at the summer cattle industry meeting last month and you can listen to that interview here. Polly Ruhland Interview

    Cattle Industry Conference

    Minnesota Biodiesel Plant Means Jobs

    Cindy Zimmerman

    The one four-letter word we hear more than any other these days is “JOBS” and that is what the re-opening of a southern Minnesota biodiesel plant this week is all about.

    At the opening celebration of the Renewable Energy Group (REG) REG Albert Lea facility on Monday, Minnesota state representative Rich Murray (left) and local Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Randy Kehr (right) both congratulated REG president Dan Oh (center) on fueling the economy by creating new jobs.

    “They’re great green collar jobs,” said Kehr, who noted the importance of the agriculture industry to the region. “If you take the value-added in soybeans here in Freeborn county on the seven million bushels that were harvested last year, that represents nearly $1,750,000 into our community.”

    Listen to the opening ceremony comments here. REG biodiesel plant opening ceremony

    Rep. Murray said that job creation is the number one priority for lawmakers. “I’m excited about the jobs, that’s why I’m here today,” he told me. “It’s a great value add for agriculture and agriculture is the back bone of southern Minnesota and of the whole state.”

    Minnesota has had an increasing biodiesel blend requirement since 2002, which is slated to go to 20 percent by 2015. “And this plant’s going to help us get there,” said Murray.

    Listen to my interview with Rep. Murray here. Minnesota state representative Rich Murray

    REG Albert Lea biodiesel plant photo album

    Audio, Biodiesel, Soybean