Happy Easter

Chuck Zimmerman

Happy Easter AgWired fans. Today is a day of celebration since it marks the greatest event to ever happen in the history of the world. Jesus rising from the dead.

Since so many people will be celebrating by coloring Easter eggs and cooking big meals I think we should give thanks to God for our bounty and sending His Son as our savior. And if it’s not too presumptuous, I also want to thank our farmers and ranchers who produce the safest and most nutritious and bountiful food supply in the world. In fact, I would apply that to all farmers anywhere in the world.

Uncategorized

USDA April Sense of Humor

Chuck Zimmerman

USDA does have a sense of humor. At least Mary Ann Leonard at the National Agriculture Library does. Here’s her April Fool’s Day post on the NAL Blog. It’s so good I had to share it. The photo credit is, “by Extraterrestrial Farmers United Intergalactic rights reserved.”

USDA, the “Every Day, Every Way” Department, made its play for the hearts and minds of visitors to our Nation’s Capital by employing alien crop circle technology to carve the Department’s logo into the grass of the National Mall.

Tourists lucky enough to be on the observation deck of the Washington Monument on April 1st got a bird’s eye view of the spectacular sight.

Strangely, however, only one photo of the phenomenon — the one you see above — was released. All other photos were eerily erased without any known intervention.

Miraculously, the green expanse is expected to be back to normal by Friday, April 2nd, just in time for the crowds that will descend on the Mall and the Tidal Basin area this weekend to see this year’s cherry blossoms.

USDA

AgWired iPad

Chuck Zimmerman

The (first) AgWired iPad has arrived and is fully synced and ready for action. Give me a day or two to use it and I’ll be writing about my impressions.

In the photo are my iMac, iPad and iPhone. You can get a perspective on size from that. From a very quick first impression, it has a beautiful screen and readability is significantly easier than iPhone. I’m thinking some shirt makers have got to be coming up with a pocket design that is, let’s just say, huge! LOL. As if you’d be putting this thing in a pocket anyway.

My case and a couple other accessories are still on their way and I’ll be including them in my ongoing review. For now, let me just say that AgWired looks awesome on an iPad!

Uncategorized

National iPad Day

Chuck Zimmerman

Alert and soon to be uber-cool AgWired fan, Curt Blades, is in line at the Apple Store in Des Moines to obtain his iPad. Yes folks. Pics like this one are all over the web this morning on National iPad Day.

Curt says there’s at least 100 in two lines, one for reservations and one for walk-ins. If he sends one after his pick up I’ll add it later.

Yours truly is hoping that the big brown truck shows up today since there is no mid Missouri Apple Store.

Post Update:

Here’s Curt’s iPad being checked out. He’ll beat me to having his synced but if all goes well, mine will be done by end of day too.

So why does anyone care? Keep reading AgWired and you’ll see the story unfold as this new technology continues to change the way we consume and use media.

Uncategorized

ABM Agri Council/Readex Research Farmer Media Study

Chuck Zimmerman

It looks like we’ll have another study out next month on how farmers use media, especially “digital.” The American Business Media’s (ABM) Agricultural Council and Readex Research will conduct a major agricultural research study that will explore the use of digital, mobile and social media channels by farmers and ranchers. I hope they survey some AgChatters! There has been a lot of this research done in the past couple years. It will be interesting to see how this study compares to the others.

The study’s objective is to gain new insights into how specific digital channels fit into the overall behavioral pattern of farmers and ranchers and to understand how these channels layer onto other traditional channels in terms of influencing behavior.

“We believe this research will add significant new information to the industry’s knowledge base and enable Ag media companies to better serve the needs of Ag marketers,” said Bill Miller, vice chairman of Meister Media Worldwide and chair of ABM’s Agri Council.

Some of the specific question areas the study will address include: how often farmers and ranchers view, visit, attend or use different Ag media or information sources; what media and information sources farmers and ranchers use at different points in the decision-making process; and how the importance of various media and information sources is likely to change in the next three to four years.

The study is currently in the field, with results available in April 2010.

Media

AgChat Foundation Farmer Board Member Welcomes You

Chuck Zimmerman

Let’s go ahead and meet another farmer member of the Board of Directors of the AgChat Foundation via YouTube. He’s Jeff Fowle, California. As the fourth generation to farm and ranch at his current location, and raising the fifth, it is extremely important to Jeff that the land remains productive, the environment healthy and the water plentiful. “Engaging in a positive manner through social media and other outlets is essential in order to effectively communicate with the public what, why and how we do what we do. An educated public and consumer, is agriculture’s best insurance policy for future generations to share our passion and commitment to providing the safest, most abundant and affordable food supply in the world. It is an honor and a privilege to be able to work with such a diverse and enthusiastic group of agvocates on what is certain to be a most rewarding endeavor.”

You can meet some other board members on the AgChat YouTube channel. Yes, we’re into social media folks, direct from the farm.

Video

AgChat Foundation To Help Farmers With Social Media

Chuck Zimmerman

That weekly AgChat Twitter conversation is nearing its one year anniversary and it has helped energize and inspire many farmers to engage online to agvocate for their industry using social networking tools like Twitter and Facebook. Still wondering if farmers are engaged online?

Today the AgChat Foundation has been announced via Twitter. This farmer led group “is designed to empower more farmers to leverage social media as a tool to tell agriculture’s story. The Foundation will educate and equip farmers and ranchers with the skill set needed to effectively engage on Twitter, Facebook, blogs, YouTube, Linkedin and other social media services. It will give them knowledge to unlock new tools to effectively tell their story. Research shows that social media is a growing opportunity for farmers to have a stronger voice in educating people about the business of growing food, fuel, feed and fiber.” I interviewed Mike Haley, one of our farmer board members, about the announcement and have posted it below.

The Foundation is farmer led but I have the honor to serve on the founding board as an Agribusiness Liaison. In addition to a board of directors we also have an advisory board which I’ve listed below. You can find this information and more on the AgChat Foundation website. Let me also say a big thank you to Michele Payn-Knoper for getting this all started a year ago!

Board of Directors:
Chris Chinn – Missouri, Farmer
Jeff Fowle – California, Farmer & Rancher
Mark Gale – Wisconsin, Agribusiness Liaison
Eliz Greene – Wisconsin, Consumer & Healthcare Liasion
Darin Grimm – Kansas, Farmer
Mike Haley – Ohio, Farmer
Shaun Haney – Alberta, Canada, Farmer
Michele Payn-Knoper, CSP – Indiana, Professional Speaker
Ray Prock, Jr. – California, Farmer
Chris Raines, Ph.D. – Pennsylvania, Extension
Tricia Braid Terry – Illinois, Checkoff Liaison
Chuck Zimmerman – Missouri, Agribusiness Liaison

Advisory Board:

James Andu, Vancouver, British Columbia – Your Local Foods
John Blue, Indiana – Truffle Media
Zach Hunnicut, Nebraska – Hunnicut Family Farms
Janice Person, Tennessee – Monsanto
Brent Pohlman, Nebraska – Midwest Labs
Craig Raysor, Tennessee – Gillon & Associates
Nate Taylor, Illinois – ZedX
Mace Thornton, Washington D.C. – American Farm Bureau Federation
Dr. Scott Vernon, California – California Polytechnical Institute San Luis Obispo
Tim Zweber – Zweber Family Farms

Let’s meet board member Mike Haley. Mike is a fifth generation grain and cattle farmer in northern Ohio. Mike believes not only in raising healthy crops and animals, but also working to ensure that future generations will be able to continue to do the same. This not only means that Mike must continuously work to ensure that his farm is operating in a sustainable way, but also that others understand what farmers are doing on a daily basis to ensure that they are acting in a socially acceptable manner. “Social media is a valuable tool that allows us to communicate with others across the country about our farming operation while we are working on daily tasks.”

In my interview with Mike we talk about farmer use of social media and what we hope to accomplish with the AgChat Foundation. I’ll be interviewing all our board members over the next several weeks.

You can listen to my interview with Mike here.

Farming, Social Networking

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Syngenta announced the first European registration of the new fungicide isopyrazam, which is expected to enhance significantly its market position, notably in cereals.
  • AgriLabs has introduced two novel awards available to young veterinarians actively working with beef and dairy operations. Named as a tribute to Dr. W. Bruce Wren, each award will provide a $5,000 grant for professional-development training, ultimately helping these veterinarians better serve their producer-clients. The first two grants will be awarded in August 2010, with completed applications due June 15, 2010.
  • Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health is partnering with the Dairy Calf & Heifer Association (DCHA) to educate dairy leaders through the 2010 Leadership Program.
  • University of Illinois researchers recently identified a new soybean aphid biotype that can multiply on aphid-resistant soybean varieties. Soybean aphids are the No. 1 insect threat to soybean production in the North Central region of the United States.
    Zimfo Bytes

    4-H Leadership Has Some Explaining To Do

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Thanks to our Amanda for letting the world know about 4-H allowing the Humane Society of the United States to participate in their conference. Shocking but true. I was going to post a news release from 4-H that was sent to me about a new fundraising effort but I don’t think I will.

    Instead, I would like to call on the leadership of 4-H to explain their decision. I’m sure supporting ag groups would love to know. You can read lots of comments about this matter on their Facebook Page. After scrolling though pages of them I don’t see an official response. C’mon 4-H. It’s the age of social engagement and you’re not using your opportunity. Even one of the deceivers at HSUS has left comments!

    I invite you to post a comment here and let us know what you were thinking. I only wish I had been involved in 4-H when I was young but I never took that opportunity. I’ve met many wonderful people through the organization over the years though. This news was very disturbing and I hope we get a response soon.

    If there still is anyone wondering why this would be disturbing then I encourage them to visit HumaneWatch for information that includes facts and actual documents that reveal their true vegan agenda.

    Post Update: Here’s the full response by the 4-H National Headquarters (via NIFA Facebook Page). Hard to believe but true.

    4-H National Headquarters statement regarding the presence of the Humane Society of the United States at National 4-H Conference

    Today at 8:07am

    Each year, 4-H National Headquarters puts out a call to internal and external groups to propose workshops for presentation at the National 4-H Conference. When received, the proposals are reviewed independently by youth and adult members of the planning committee. The planning committee then considers the reviews for all submitted workshop proposals and selects a set of them as most acceptable for National Conference.

    Workshops are an opportunity for youth to self-select topics of their interest. Materials disseminated at workshops generally are copies of slides and/or general information brochures/toolkits that are mostly available via the web.

    For the 2010 National 4-H Conference, a proposal titled “Animal Instincts: Service Learning and Animal Welfare” was submitted by the Humane Society of the United States. It was reviewed by the planning committee and found acceptable. The proposal addressed the National Conference central theme of citizenship and showed alignment with programming areas for community service, youth volunteerism, service learning, and youth voice. Read More

    Ag Groups

    Spring Planting Advice

    Chuck Zimmerman

    ZimmCast 254It’s spring planting time and in this week’s program you’ll hear some ideas and suggestions for row crop farmers. I interviewed Syngenta Crop Protection Technical Support Representative, Michael Leetch this morning.

    He’s based in Iowa and says there are areas that still have up to five percent of their corn left standing. Couple that with a very wet start to the spring and there are challenges out there. He thinks the big issue is “timeliness.” Soil preparation is behind due to the winter and early spring challenges and that includes using a pre-plant, soil active herbicide which he’s a big proponent of. He’s afraid there will be some very loose soil out there that never fully froze due to early snow cover. However, we’ve had some good weather all of the sudden that’s helping dry things out.

    We also discussed topics like insect pressure and nematodes in corn fields. I asked about post-emergence weed control and he brought up the issue of glyphosate resistance. He says there’s no way post-emergence weed control is going to be enough so that’s why pre-emerge is so important and when you factor resistance in it might be time to look at a conventional herbicide that has an alternative mode of activity.

    Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsors, Novus International, and Leica Geosytems for their support.

    You can listen to this week’s ZimmCast below.

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

    Agribusiness, Audio, Syngenta, ZimmCast