AgChat Tonight

Chuck Zimmerman

AgChatIt’s time for another AgChat and I’ll be your guest moderator this evening. AgChat takes place via Twitter from 7-9pm Central.

I’m choosing the topic of climate change since we just finished the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. If you’re an AgWired community regular you know I am more than a skeptic when it comes to man made climate change. I think there’s way too much disagreement in the scientific community to make any policy decisions on this issue. I’m all for doing what we can to be good stewards of our natural resources but I see this whole thing as a political power grab and social engineering experiment by people who wants things their way or no way. I think it’s immoral and criminal how many activist groups, politicians and others are employing scare tactics to feather their own nests. But, hey, that’s just my opinion.

I know you’ve got an opinion of your own and AgChat tonight will be an opportunity to present it and “chat” about it and how the issue affects farming and agriculture in general. Of course, what affects ag affects consumers so let’s keep that in mind.

There are a lot of different applications you can use to participate. Here are a few:

Twubs – Highly recommended. Just use your Twitter ID to login.
TweetChat – Usually works great for me.
Tweetie – For Mac or iPhone – My Twitter app of choice.
TweetDeck – Full featured for Mac/PC or iPhone.
Seesmic – For PC, Blackberry and Android.
Open Beak (formerly Twitterberry) – For Blackberry.
ÜberTwitter – For Blackberry.
Search Twitter – The Twitter search engine.

There are certainly more than these. If you’d like to share your favorite feel free to post it in comments.

See you in AgChat.

Uncategorized

NAFB Internet Usage Study

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast 244The National Association of Farm Broadcasting recently released its latest Internet Usage Study. Cindy spoke with Ted Haller at their convention and I thought I’d have a chat with him about it too since the organization sent our a release on it last week. You can download a pdf with some of the key findings of the study on their website (pdf).

nafb-internet-usageThe survey explores producer activity and preferences in accessing the Internet for agricultural business information, as well as use of texting and social media. Specific to broadcaster interests, it also probes interest in e-newsletters and the preferred content of agribusiness-focused Web sites.

Among key findings noted by Haller in the new research:

  • the Internet is revealing “quintiles” of usage — a sign of what Haller calls “settling,” with indications of core usage in the low range of 20 percent and the high range of 50 percent, depending upon the specific online behavior/activity surveyed
  • those producers using the Internet are very active, for the most part, with e-mail, weather, markets, and futures the top draws
  • unlike other media, “what I do not do” is still a larger number than “what I do;” but the “I do’s” appear to be in normal quintiles and represent an attractive target

Agribusiness marketers and agencies interested in specific demographic detail or a customized presentation should contact Ted Haller at teddymedia@live.com. Association member broadcast organizations interested in learning more about how the NAFB Internet Usage Study© may benefit their cross-media programming strategies and local business development can contact Mike Parry at mike@nafb.com.

As you’ll hear Ted say in our conversation, traditional media options like radio will not go away. However, the use of the internet by farmers will only continue to grow and these numbers are proof of that. He also describes how useful the internet is now to companies with a limited budget and those who have a “big budget” and are now spreading it across more media options.

Thanks to AgWired Sponsor, Fluidigm, for their support of the ZimmCast.

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.

Audio, Internet, Media, NAFB, Social Networking, ZimmCast

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Growers planting Pioneer brand sorghum hybrids recently won 11 of the 15 national categories in the 2009 National Sorghum Producers Yield and Management Contest. Eight of these growers won with Pioneer sorghum hybrid 84G62.
  • Brandt Consolidated, Inc. announced the acquisition of Monterey AgResources, headquartered in Fresno, Calif.
  • Proceed Concentrate, a second formulation of new Proceed seed treatment fungicide, has been registered by the U.S. EPA.
  • A new Web site has been designed to guide people of all ages through the process of launching a farming career. The site is supported by an alliance of five agricultural organizations: Ohio State University Extension, the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association, Cuyahoga Countryside Conservancy, the Ohio Department of Agriculture, and the Organic Food and Farming Education and Research Program.
    Zimfo Bytes

    Social Networking Rising

    Chuck Zimmerman

    PC World has an article out titled, “2009: Year of the Social Network.” In it the point is made that we saw social networks like Twitter and Facebook show that they aren’t just for techies but everyone who wants to be connected with others who share their interests. The growth in these networks has been phenomenal.

    Perhaps most significant is that companies in various industries started to see how social networks can help boost business even in a recession.

    That’s even true in agribusiness as we’ve seen the rise in the number of farmers and companies employing social media channels to communicate. I would describe a lot of it on the company side as experimental and in some cases perhaps just a token effort as if by having a Twitter account they “get it” and can now get back to “the way we’ve always done things.” It’s my opinion that when a company doesn’t think social media is worthwhile it’s because they don’t have a commitment to it and have internal skeptics who go out of their way to portray any effort at utilizing social media as a poor use of resources, often dredging up statistics that are in reality comparing apples to oranges.

    But there are a growing number of companies (I include ad agencies here) who are finding social media mechanisms enhance their overall communication strategy. I think we’ll see a lot more do so in 2010 and by the end of next year we’ll have a lot more data to show how well these channels are working, even in agribusiness.

    ZimmComm has had the honor and pleasure to consult with and help in the creation and production of social media for many agribusiness organizations. We’re ready to do so again in 2010. Keep us in mind if you need help or would like to include us on your communications team.

    Social Networking

    New From Novus For Beef

    Chuck Zimmerman

    NAFB Trade TalkNovus International is new to the beef market and at the NAFB Trade Talk session their focus was on preparing for winter feeding and early spring calving. With them to talk about research he’s done on their products was Dr. Monty Kerley, University of Missouri.

    Dr. Kerley says that he’s had a special interest in “strategic supplementation” which means putting the nutrients the animals need with the forage they’re consuming to maximize performance, increase average daily gain and enhance reproductive development and to do it with less feed. With Novus he says they’ve focused on bypass methionine products. He says that these products help the sustainability of beef producers by increasing their bottom line while making for efficient use of resources. In my interview with him he also discusses some of his latest research.

    You can listen to my interview with Dr. Kerley below:

    See more NAFB and NAMA Trends photos here.

    Agribusiness, Animal Health, Audio, Beef, NAFB, Novus International

    Happy Holidays From AdFarm

    Chuck Zimmerman

    adfarm-holidayThe folks at AdFarm want you to create your own, “‘Twas The Night Before . . . ”

    It’s a season of giving…

    But rather than giving you all a card this year, we thought we’d give you a chance to have some farming fun. Click the link below to enjoy some holiday AgLibs from AdFarm.


    http://www.adfarmonline.com/Holiday/

    And what about all that money we saved by not printing cards? Well, we’ve donated it to our community food banks.

    Happy Holidays,

    AdFarm

    Agencies

    Happy Holidays From CattleNetwork

    Chuck Zimmerman

    drovers-holidayHappy Holidays and Best Wishes for the New Year from Drovers CattleNetwork, the source for cattle news.

    On behalf of you, our sponsors and the Kansas City Airport Hilton, more than $19,000 worth of food is being distributed to the Harvesters — The Community Food Network and City Union Mission to help those in need this holiday season.

    Harvesters’ network of more than 550 nonprofit agencies feeds more than 60,000 people each week. Almost half of those receiving emergency food assistance from Harvesters are children.

    Happy Holidays!

    Your CattleNetwork Team

    Media

    Agrievolution 2010

    Chuck Zimmerman

    agrievolution-2010It seems like more and more meetings are being held in conjunction with the first ever AG CONNECT Expo. This invitation only event is called Agrievolution. The first one took place in Rome in 2008. Some portions of the program may become open to the public.

    The Second World Summit on Agricultural Machinery will be hosted by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers on Monday & Tuesday, January 11 & 12, 2010 at the Waldorf Astoria, Orlando, Florida in conjunction with AG CONNECT Expo 2010. This second Summit will again identify challenges affecting the agriculture industry across the globe, and will provide a global platform from which to address issues impacting the industry. In addition to identifying crucial global agricultural and equipment manufacturing issues, the intent would be for the group to issue position statements and serve to coordinate collaborative efforts among the world regions for the betterment and advancement of the industry.

    AEM

    Fastline Top Ten Ag Twitter Users

    Chuck Zimmerman

    ag-twitter-users2You know social media has become part of the ag communications world when you start seeing top ten lists like this one from Fastline (Part 1 and Part 2). I’m honored to have been selected for it and congratulate all the folks listed. There are many, many people now using social media like Twitter and all the other channels to tell their story and that includes farmers who want the public to better understand them and their business.

    Social media has really taken the world of agriculture by storm in 2009. The ag community on Twitter has blossomed substantially and there were some standouts that Fastline has named our Top 10 Ag Twitter Users of 2009.

    There are so many people in agriculture that have gotten involved with Twitter and social media in 2009, it would have been impossible for us to list them all. However, each of you plays an important role in telling agriculture’s story and we appreciate all that everyone does. Keep up the great work and keep working hard for ag.

    The list includes:

    @mpaynknoper
    @jplovescotton
    @gilmerdairy
    @raylindairy
    @tykerman1
    @troyhadrick
    @agriblogger Yours Truly!
    @farmerhaley
    @jefffowle
    @akleinschmidt

    Media, Social Networking