A People’s Garden On Earth Day

Chuck Zimmerman

USDA BuildingI think I heard something about today being Earth Day. I can’t say that it really excites me. Maybe it’s because farmers tend the land every day and view care of their property as an integral part of their life. So why do we need a special day? Maybe it’s because this day has been used by so many people and organizations who are antagonistic to modern day agriculture and even to human existence. The Earth Day website says it, “marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970.”

Whatever it is, I guess it just “is.” In Washington, DC, USDA is celebrating.

In honor of Earth Day, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack declared the entire grounds at the USDA Jamie L. Whitten Building as ‘The People’s Garden’ and unveiled plans to create a sustainable landscape on the grounds.

“USDA is an every day every way kind of department and this garden will help illustrate the many ways USDA works to provide a sustainable, safe and nutritious food supply as well as protect and preserve the landscape where that food is produced,” said Vilsack.

Do we really need to “honor” Earth Day? I don’t get it. What is there about this that engenders honor? During our #agchat session last night it was pointed out that maybe today is an opportunity to connect farming with consumers. Is that what the Earth Day people want? Seems like most of them want the opposite.

The photo is the view of the west side of the Department of Agriculture from the National Mall between 12th and 14th Streets, SW, in 1930. Apparently the Washington, DC Public Library is putting photos into Flickr sets now. I thought that was pretty interesting. Does the fact that we’re now planning to have sustainable landscaping mean we didn’t have sustainable landscaping? How do you define that anyway? I’m just in a questioning frame of mind I guess.

USDA

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Stephen Russell has joined the staff of Allflex USA as a Feedlot Specialist; Paul Flint has been hired as the Swine Business Development Manager; and to support sales and marketing efforts in the states of California, Arizona and Nevada, Shauna Trusas has been promoted to Western Regional Manager.
  • The StollerUSA products team of sales representatives and dealers continues to grow. Serving farmers in Minnesota, southern Wisconsin and north/central Illinois will be Darwin Lawson (608-553-4053); Scott Gooden (217-637-0880) in the Missouri and southern Illinois territories; in North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, Colorado, and Nebraska, Larry Desaire (308-258-0885).
  • The Agricultural Retailers Association is pleased to announce that Michelle Hummel has joined its team as the organization’s new director of marketing and communications.
  • AgCareers.com is hosting a brief web session that will go beyond reviewing the basic challenges of employing Hispanic talent and share ideas on how to embrace and use these challenges to the advantage of your organization to positively impact results. The web seminar will be held May 8, 2009, at 11 a.m. (EST).
    Zimfo Bytes

    Twitter #agchat And Join The Conversation

    Chuck Zimmerman

    #agchat Twitter SearchWe had another great @agchat Twitter session last night. If you haven’t participated then plan on next Tuesday evening between 7-9pm central. Our moderator is Michele Payn-Knoper who gets us started and poses questions. Here are the ones we tackled last night.

    • Q1 (via @jcabdriver) What does Earth Day mean to you? Is it the same/dif for Ag v Food? Why?
    • Q2, as a follow up to Q1: Is enviro pressure on ag higher or lower than last year? (also via @jcabdriver) How should we respond?
    • Q3 (via @mpaynknoper): What specific messages and tactics can #ag learn from HSUS, Farm Sanc, et al w/Prop 2?
    • Q4: (via @TruffleMedia) Groceries show the food but not how it is made; where is that line in marketing? Is there a line? (BTW on Q4: International guests, please educate us as to the awareness level of how food is made. )
    • Q5: If you had 1 recommendation for ag to create a message , what would it be, who would it involve & how would you execute it?
    • Q6: What would you like next week’s agchat to focus on? Ideas for questions?

    You can use Twitter search to find all the posts done during our session. We had lots of ideas and a little bit of humor thrown into the mix. We also had a good representation of people from other countries showing our growing international reach. I recommend that you Earth Day people take a look at these comments since a lot of them targeted the whole Earth Day concept. I think we concluded that we need to look at the questions posed even more and come up with some action steps to address the concerns about how agriculture is being attacked by organizations with political/social agendas that are very harmful to the industry and really to “humans” in general.

    It was interesting to hear how many acknowledge the complete lack of success of many attempts to create a unified voice for agriculture. We’ve seen a number of campaigns come and go over the years. Unfortunately agriculture and agribusiness is so diverse and competitive it may not be possible for farm groups and companies to do this on their own.

    That’s why I propose that we in ag media and ag agencies may want to do this ourselves. Why not? I would be very happy to lend my support to any campaign that would help the consuming public get to know agriculture and farming better.

    So, remember to check out #agchat every Tuesday evening. And besides being able to scroll back through the posts using Twitter search you can also subscribe to the RSS feed of that search topic, which is another way you can keep up with the ongoing social media conversation. Just use this RSS feed url in your favorite news reader.

    Uncategorized

    Farm Foundation Sponsors Animal Welfare Forum

    John Davis

    farmfoundationforum3Make plans to attend the next Farm Foundation Forum Tuesday May 5th from 9 to 11 am at the National Press Club, 529 14th Street NW, Washington D.C. when the group takes a look at animal welfare as it relates to production agriculture:

    Presenters will be:

    * Paul Shapiro, Humane Society of the United States,
    * Tim Amlaw, American Humane Association,
    * Dr. Jim Reynolds, American Veterinary Medical Association and the University of California-Davis,
    * Bob Krouse of Midwest Poultry Supply, and
    * Dr. David Blanford, Penn State University.

    If you’ve never been to a Farm Foundation event before, you’re in for quite a treat. One of the great things the group does is promote an honest, free discussion of the issues facing agriculture today. So, if you’re used to conferences where everyone agrees with everyone else and not much substantive discussion takes place, this will open your eyes to just how valuable good, lively… but civil… discussion of an issue from multiple points of view can be.

    To reserve your spot, contact my friend Mary Thompson at mary@farmfoundation.org. They’ll even have a cup of coffee waiting for you.

    Farm Foundation

    Tour de Texas This Summer

    Chuck Zimmerman

    IFAJ/AMSThank you to Greg Lamp for pointing out that you can attend post IFAJ/AMS tours this year even if you’re not a member of AAEA, LPC or IFAJ. So how about some NAFB’ers joining in the fun?

    Looking for a whole new way of seeing the U.S.A. this summer? Look no further. The Ag Media Summit in conjunction with the International Federation of Ag Journalists is offering three post tours immediately after the Summit. What an opportunity to see more of Texas than just Fort Worth, and be able to get photos and stories along the way.

    There’s no early sign-up discount for these tours so you can mull it over for awhile before you decide. Also, if you want to bring a friend or family member along, there are no restrictions. You don’t have to be an AAEA, LPC or IFAJ member to join this inquisitive group of Texas travelers.

    For details on the three tours, log on to www.agmediasummit.com or www.ifaj2009.com. In the meantime, here’s a quick recap of the Texas tours planned for you this summer. Read More

    ACN, Ag Media Summit, IFAJ, LPC

    Greener-Schnitzels

    Chuck Zimmerman

    “Man & Cow” Greener-Schnitzels – Episode #1 – Since the domestication of animals, man and cow have always enjoyed a special relationship. However, in this new era of increased environmental awareness, this special relationship has gotten a bit strained.

    Put a man, a cow and some methane in a YouTube video and this is what you get:

    Feel free to pass it forward.

    Environment, Video

    Ag Career Women

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Ag Career WomenAre you a woman working in agriculture? There’s a new social networking site created by Rhonda Werner called Ag Career Women. It’s “resource for Women in the Ag Industry to network with other women, gain valuable career information and share experiences.”

    Follow Rhonda on Twitter or find her group on Facebook or LinkedIn.

    It’s a good example of how you can use Ning. Don’t know what Ning is? Ning empowers people to create and discover new social experiences for the most important people and interests in their lives.

    Farming, Social Networking

    Getting to Know All Your Options

    John Davis

    westerhausenOK, you go to school, you get your degree and you’re locked into that career choice for the rest of your life, right? Well, today’s students don’t want to be locked into just one job. It’s not a matter of attention deficit. I think it has to do with their quest to keep learning. Well, during the recent Novus International Undergraduate Networking Day, the Missouri Colleges Fund scholars got the chance to see just what their options might be.

    One such student was Alexis Westerhausen, a sophomore studying biological chemistry at Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Mo., who said she was impressed by how interested the companies’ were in the students, considering they were undergrads and many of them hadn’t even made definite career plans yet. And she said the tour gave her an education she didn’t get at school.

    “Colleges don’t portray to us all the opportunities we have in the science field. So it’s kind of neat to see these local businesses that are interested in us.”

    Westerhausen said she was also surprised how many other jobs you could move to within a company like Novus. As you might remember from earlier posts, many of the Novus staff either started out in a different part of the company or in a different career with another company altogether. That gave Westerhausen some solace that she doesn’t have to be locked into only one job her entire career.

    “That does kind of comfort me, because, right now, I’m really interested in chemistry. But it’s nice to know that I’m not stuck there for the rest of my life.” She’s glad there are companies that are willing to help her expand into other areas… if that’s where her life carries her.

    Listen to my whole conversation with Alexis here: Westerhausen.mp3

    2009 Novus International Undergraduate Networking Day Photo Set

    Novus International

    John Deere Photo Library

    Chuck Zimmerman

    John Deere Photo LibraryDoing a story on farming or tractors? Need a good quality photo? John Deere has help in the mail.

    I just got my John Deere Photo Library Volume Seven.

    Here’s a new way to send out your photos. In the box was a folded up cut out tractor with tiny magnets holding different parts together. Inside was a John Deere USB memory stick containing the photos listed in the printed catalog. The memory stick contains programming to allow you to easily browse the photos by category in a browser too.

    There are a lot of photos available including scenic shots in addition to pure product photos. Seems like a good way to provide journalist (yeah, that includes bloggers!) with complimentary content and in a useful format.

    What do you think about this idea?

    Agribusiness, John Deere, Public Relations

    Podcasting Audience Grows

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Podcast Research Edison AbritronEdison Research and Arbitron have produced some very interesting new data (pdf) on media usage. Some tidbits that stood out for me include:

    • 43% of Americans are aware of podcasts and 20% have listened to them
    • Internet access from any location is now approaching 9 in 10 Americans
    • Dial-up is down to less than 1 in 6 homes with internet access
    • Growth of iPod/portable MP3 players continues in 35-64 age demo
    • Digital radio audience continues to listen to AM/FM radio


    Americans are increasingly enhancing their use of traditional media with new ways to control how, when and where they consume information and entertainment

    Use of online radio, online video, podcasting, and iPod/MP3 players are on the rise

    Consumers say flexibility, control and variety drive their use of online and portable media options

    Podcasts