What’s Up In Washington

Chuck Zimmerman May 7, 2009

Hello and welcome to another ZimmCast. This week I’m going to feature a couple of the interviews I did at last week’s NAFB Washington Watch Issues Forum.

Up first after opening comments is Mark Maslyn, Executive Director, Public Policy, American Farm Bureau Federation. He’s seen here getting all fired up in an interview with Tricia Braid Terry, RFD Radio. That’s what we need in our nation’s Capitol these days, passionate spokespersons for agriculture.

Mark speaks about the mixed results of the opening month’s of our new administration. He says some things are encouraging and some are troubling which you might say about most administrations. On the troubling side he mentions the environment and proposed increased rules and regulations. Climate change regulations are something he thinks should not be ruled on until a lot more questions are answered. On the encouraging side he’s pleasantly surprised at moves on international trade.

Next up in the program is an interview with Ken Hobbie, President/CEO, U.S. Grains Council. I hadn’t spoken with Ken in quite a while so I asked him to tell us what’s new with USGC. We started off talking about the potential impact of H1N1 on demand and Ken says he hopes that consumers will listen to the fact and we can move past it. Another thing that Ken says they’ve invested a lot in is distillers dried grain promotion internationally.

This week’s program ends with music from the Podsafe Music Network. It’s a song titled, “Pearls and Swine”, by Drunken Prayer. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast 218 (20 min MP3)

Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:Interviews with Mark Maslyn and Ken Hobbie - ZimmCast 218

The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired which you can subscribe to using the link in our sidebar. You can also subscribe in iTunes

Ag Groups, Audio, Farm Policy, ZimmCast

Community Chatter on SDSU’s Chicoine-Monsanto Deal

Amanda Nolz May 7, 2009

Monsanto Company announced a few weeks ago the appointment of David L. Chicoine, Ph.D., to the company’s Board of Directors. Dr. Chicoine is currently president of South Dakota State University (SDSU) in Brookings, South Dakota. Dr. Chicoine is also a nationally recognized economist, specializing in public finance, taxation and rural economies.

Prior to joining SDSU in 2007, Dr. Chicoine held various positions of increasing responsibility with the University of Illinois, most recently as Vice President for Technology and Economic Development. His higher education administrative experience at the University of Illinois also includes service as Head of the Department of Agricultural Economics and Dean of the College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the Urbana-Champaign campus.

This appointment has caused quite a stir at South Dakota State University. While many think that this partnership with Monsanto could bring advanced research opportunities to students and faculty, many are concerned about the politics of President Chicoine serving on the Monsanto Board of Directors. While he makes $300,000 as SDSU’s president, Monsanto will give him $400,000 compensation for his time on the board. I have listened intently to both sides of the story, and I can see why there are differing views. If you haven’t read up on this scenario, I have included some of the “hot button” articles in the news for you to read. Let me know your thoughts in this situation. Should a president of a university sit on a company’s board of directors? Are people overreacting, or is the community outburst warranted? What needs to change at land-grant universities, or what could be improved upon in the future? Looking for your thoughts and opinions today.

Some question Monsanto-Chicoine relationship

SDSU president’s dual role as head of Monsanto concerns some

SDSU’s ‘cozy’ deal questioned

Students and faculty concerned Chicoine’s ties to Monsanto could “taint” SDSU research

Collegian Questions Chicoine Monsanto Board Appointment

Uncategorized

Search engine optimization and YOU

Amanda Nolz May 7, 2009

Can SEO’s and Journalists Really Be Friends? This was the question asked by Rachelle Money at CyberJournalist.net. Because journalists often shy away from “stuffing” key words into their articles to gain online traffic, Money explains the art of using SEO’s and how journalists can use them to improve their writing.

The SEO mantra: ‘content is king’ is one shared by journalists. We’ve always believed writing to be incredibly important. The SEO wants to create great content and the journalist wants to write a good news story. Both SEO and journalist want their articles to be read by as wide a readership as possible. It’s important that they appeal to readers and generate some debate. Maybe it’s the journalist’s ego but we want our stories to cause a stir, we want people to respond to them through comment sites, forums and blogs. That means our stories need to be found on the internet in the first place, and that’s why SEO has to become our new best friend. Put simply, we can use SEO to make sure that many more people read our stories.

So, when you are compiling blog posts, updated your twitter or writing an article for publication, do you think about using keywords to reach a wider readership? If so, what are those key words, and how should a person identify them and use them correctly? The world of journalism is certainly evolving, and those not willing to change might be left in the dust. I thought this article might stimulate some dialogue, so let’s compare notes!

Internet

Trucking The Agricultural Highway

Chuck Zimmerman May 7, 2009

Let’s practice a little safe trucking out there guys. Okay?

The American Trucking Associations’ Agricultural and Food Transporters Conference (AFTC) recently released the Manager’s Guide to Safe Trucking During Agricultural Planting and Harvest Season. Available free for download at AFTC’s webpage, this guide provides educational resources for truck drivers and their managers in the agricultural industry, encouraging active strategies to improve safety during peak times of production.

“Promoting safety is important in all agricultural operations but especially critical in the case of truck driving,” said Russell Laird, ATA’s Agricultural and Food Transporters Conference Executive Director. “Our members are glad to share their expertise and best practices with the whole agricultural industry to give them practical strategies they can implement to help improve safety.”

The guide focuses on active strategies for hiring decisions, communicating with drivers, and monitoring and managing fatigue.

Ag Groups

United Soybean Board Supporting Animal Agriculture

Chuck Zimmerman May 6, 2009

Rick Stearn is chairman of the production committee for the United Soybean Board. He was attending the NAFB Washington Watch Issues Forum.

The United Soybean Board was a major sponsor and had people on hand like Rick to address issues like animal agriculture and the impact of animal rights groups. The reason for this Rick says is because domestic animal production agriculture is the number one customer for domestically produced soybean meal (over 96%). He agrees that if animal rights groups who want to end animal agriculture are successful it will change the whole industry since many elements are very interdependent.

Some other issues important to USB from a production standpoint include soybean rust, soybean quality and soybean yield.

You can listen to my interview with Rick here: ww-09-usb.mp3

NAFB Washington Watch 2009 Photo Album

Ag Groups, Animal Health, Audio, Soybean, USB

Help Peanut Producers and Stamp Out Hunger

Chuck Zimmerman May 6, 2009

You can help stamp out hunger while helping America’s peanut producers.

The Georgia Peanut Commission urges consumers to support the peanut industry by donating jars of peanut butter for the U.S. Postal Service Stamp out Hunger day on Saturday, May 9. This event is the nation’s largest annual single-day food drive.

On Saturday, letter carriers in more than 10,000 communities will collect food items and deliver them to local food banks to help some of the millions of Americans, including an estimated 13 million children, who face hunger every day. To find out whether your letter carrier is participating, search the USPS website at www.usps.com for the contact information for your local post office.

Peanut butter is an excellent source of plant protein. With about 8 grams per 2 Tbsp. of peanut butter, a small serving can make a significant contribution to daily protein intake. Peanut butter has an excellent balance of fats. High in mono- and polyunsaturated fats, consumption of peanut butter can contribute to improving cholesterol levels and reducing the risk of disease.

Ag Groups

Do You Still Think Your Website Is A Destination?

Chuck Zimmerman May 6, 2009

Several times in the last couple years I’ve tried to point agrimarketers to the concept of “community” in online communications/marketing. By that I mean the fact that employing today’s new and social media tools allows us to connect and interact with our customers and members in ways we never could before. Using AgWired as an example, I don’t just reach readers who think, “I’ll visit AgWired.com to see what’s new.” I reach them in Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed, Flickr, YouTube, LinkedIn, email and in all the ways those people re-post or pass along or tell their connections. So for you marketers who just look at website visitors, you’re missing a lot of the story.

I still find so many in corporate communications who can’t wrap their mind around this concept. Granted there are a lot of control freaks out there who fear loss of the control they’ve enjoyed for so many years. It’s a mentality that says “I’ll build what I want them to see and give them the choices I want them to make.” But those days are coming to an end.

Today’s consumer (any kind, farmers included) not only want and demand freedom of choice but they’re just creating their own destinations and touch points. They’re leaving the old destination websites behind. I was prompted to write this after reading Steve Rubel’s post on Micropersuasion, “The End of the Destination Web Era.”

After years of erosion it now it appears the destination web era is drawing to a close. This a trend that digital thinkers like Om Malik have long noted. In fact, the numbers prove it.

In March the average American visited a mere 111 domains and 2,500 web pages, according to Nielsen Online. What’s worse, our attention across these pages is highly fragmented. The average time spent per page is a mere 56 seconds. Portals and search engines dominate, capturing approximately 12 of the 75 hours spent online in March. However, people-powered sites like Wikipedia, Facebook and YouTube are not far behind, snagging nearly 4.5 hours of our monthly attention.

He points to an article by ARAnet in conjunction with Opinion Research Corporation that talks about what you can do to break through the clutter. The answer doesn’t include fancy pop up ads.

Long-shunned pop-up ads remained the least favorable option for every audience segment, regardless of age, race, income, sex, region or size of household: 87% of respondents said they were not very likely or not at all likely to read and respond to them.

Their conclusion is that brand mentions in articles is one of the best ways to reach consumers. I would call that “meaningful content” that is posted into social networking locations and on highly search engine optimized websites (blogs). That’s why public relations folks are trying to figure out ways to present information to bloggers now. We’re not your ordinary msm journalists!

Do you get it? Are you willing to venture out into the online conversation or are you going to stay inside your “safe” online house and hope someone comes to visit?

Social Networking

Pork On A Fork

Chuck Zimmerman May 6, 2009

As of right now, the terms “Swine flu” and “#swineflu” are trending at positions 2 and 6 on Twitter. The term “H1N1” is trending in the 10th spot. I think that shows that as much as we’d like to think that everyone, media included, would call this what it is, it’s not happening. This thing blew up way too fast and is now branded in the public psyche. It has meant serious problems for hog producers. However, we shouldn’t give up and in fact, we’ve got an opportunity to do something about it by taking advantage of our new media tools to “get our message out.” How you might ask? Well, get busy and tweet, post on your blog or website and join in this online conversation and make a difference. Here’s an example of how Trent Loos, Faces of Agriculture, is doing it. He’s launching the “Pork On A Fork” campaign to immediately increase demand for pork and I support it and hope you will to. Pass it along.

Here is my plan. I believe we truly need to connect the dots not only for our overzealous lawmakers but for media and consumers globally. You know it has been said that the best way to anybody’s heart is through their stomach. I am launching a campaign and encouraging all people who eat food to enter the Faces Of Agriculture-sponsored event called “Pork on a Fork.”

I’d like you to send photos of family members, friends, customers, anyone, anywhere eating pork. On May 26, the photos will be judged and the winner announced. The winner will receive an all expense paid trip for two to the World Pork Expo in Des Moines, Iowa, June 3-5. I will personally see to it that the winners are given the Royal VIP treatment and access to anything and everything pork-related during the event. All entries will be available for viewing during the entire World Pork Expo plus on all social networking sites. In fact, the winner could be recorded and become a YouTube Pork connoisseur for all the world to see.

Click here (pdf) to find out how you can participate

You can listen to Trent talk about it here: pork-on-a-fork.mp3

The photo above is Trent’s girls Libbi and Lindsi eating a bone-in ham.

Pork

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort May 6, 2009

John Deere Ag Management Solutions and Raven Industries, Inc. announced an agreement to supply customers with a broad suite of application control solutions in the precision agricultural market.
Monsanto has signed a new three year trademark licensing agreement with Chapin International. Chapin will provide new sprayer technology for use with agricultural herbicide products including Roundup PROMAX and QuikPRO.
Pfizer Animal Genetics has successfully completed the move of its DNA-testing facilities, Customer Service and administration from Harahan, La., to new, custom-built facilities in Kalamazoo, Mich., the headquarters of Pfizer Animal Health’s Veterinary Medical Research and Development.

Zimfo Bytes

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