For Ag Journalists

Amanda Nolz

For Ag Journalists is a website published by Fred Meyers, a freelance writer who shares his expertise in the field with those wanting to enter into the wild field of ag journalism, too. As a student learning the ins and outs of this profession, I like to reference Fred’s columns from time to time. Fred shares articles, tips, a forum, quotes and more on his interactive website that is dedicated to helping others share the food production story. Fred’s insights into the future of agriculture are quite interesting, and his quotes on life will inspire you in your own. Here is an excerpt from his website…

fredmyersmugsmiley“I have always been driven by the search for excellence in this profession. I seek the facts, encourage my imagination and often go where no one has gone before. A test a few years ago confirmed what I’ve long suspected. That is, I am a visionary. If you don’t already know this, visionaries are often obstructed in what they attempt to do and criticized for the way they view the future. In the end, however, I have no regrets. I have always firmly believed life should be an exciting trip, a time of doing only what is enjoyable and of supporting and promoting a chosen profession.” -Fred Meyers

Take a look at Fred’s website. Whether you are a writer or not, he has quite a few tips on how to conquer the challenges we face in agriculture. Why don’t you head over there now? It may just perk up your Tuesday afternoon…

ACN

The National Farm Machinery Show Will Go On

Chuck Zimmerman

Cindy is on her way to cover the National Farm Machinery Show and will have reports here starting tomorrow. For anyone wondering if the recent weather problems might have affected it, Cindy offers the following:

Despite the icy weather that recently affected parts of Kentucky, the 2009 National Farm Machinery Show and Championship Tractor Pull will proceed as scheduled.

More than 150,000 Kentucky residents were still without power this week after ice storms the last week of January, prompting President Obama to declare more than 90 counties a major disaster area and order federal aid to supplement local recovery efforts.

Still, the 44th National Farm Machinery Show will return as planned to the Kentucky Exposition Center February 11-14. The nation’s largest indoor farm show features the future of farming with row after row of the newest products and services, hands-on demonstrations of the latest technological advancements, and a variety of free seminars.

National Farm Machinery Show

BAGnewsNotes Dissects Photos

Amanda Nolz

Have you heard of BAGnewsNotes? It’s a website I recently discovered that dissects and unveils the hidden meanings behind photographs. Probably like many of you, I’m a photograhy junky, and I love to learn anything and everything about the art of taking quality, meaningful photos. I truly believe that a good photograph can take the place of an article if it includes key messages to tell the story. That’s why it’s so important that we focus on capturing the crucial elements on a given subject when the opportunity arises.

OBAMA/STIMULUS EDUCATIONAnyway, I think you should check out BAGnewsNotes. This website focuses on accuracy in photojournalism through the analysis of political photos. It’s certainly an interesting change of pace for someone like me that looks at cattle photos all day long. Plus, the writer digs right in to try to understand why the photographer snapped the image at a particular angle to give the photograph more significance. There is definitely a trick or two to learn at this site. Check it out, and let me know what you think.

Uncategorized

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Future Beef Partners Inc. is launching two game-changing products developed for leaders in Finance, Risk Management, Procurement, or Sales in the beef industry. BeefScout uses proprietary technology to provide market driven prices through a web-based tool to benchmark forward prices on cuts and trims of beef. Their second product, BasisGuard, writes forward contracts using the BeefScout benchmark prices.
  • Gary Vermeer, Founder and Chairman Emeritus of Vermeer Corporation in Pella, Iowa, died Feb. 2, 2009, at the Comfort House of Pella. He was 90 years of age.
  • Bader Rutter & Associates received a Customer Innovation award for best site design using the Pageflex platform.
  • Deere & Company announced an adjustment to the number of employees who will go on indefinite layoff later this month at the John Deere Davenport Works. Total number of employees impacted by this layoff is 200.
    Zimfo Bytes

    Morning Moon

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Morning MoonThis was the morning moon that was staring me in the face when I went outside a while ago. Pretty cool view to start the day so I thought I’d share it.

    So, what’s new in your world? Cindy will be heading to Louisville, KY today for the National Farm Machinery Show and I’ll be finishing preparations for my presentation at the Weed Science Society of America convention which will be taking place in Orlando. How come I got snow and ice in Louisville the last two years and Cindy gets a little rain, maybe this year? Probably because I’m going to Orlando (in the 80’s).

    Uncategorized

    Communicating Renewables Summit

    Chuck Zimmerman

    ZimmCast-207 - Communicating RenewablesIf you’re involved in getting the message out about renewable energy then there’s a new conference just for you. It’s the “Communicating Renewables Summit.” In this week’s program Cindy talks to conference founder, Joanna Schroeder, 4RCommunications.

    Some of you probably know Joanna from her days at the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (now Growth Energy). ZimmComm New Media and Domestic Fuel are media partners with the Summit.

    Communicating Renewables SummitThe Summit takes place April 21-23, 2009 in Minneapolis, MN at the Hilton Minneapolis.

    Energy Security. Economic Viability. Environmental Sustainability. Core benefits of the alternative energy industry. But how do you most effectively communicate these benefits without losing credibility with your target audiences? The first annual Communicating Renewables Summit is the only conference dedicated to the success of communicators working in the alternative energy industry. Discussions will cover issues such as: One Message Does Not Fit All; Common Pitfalls Felling Communicators Engaged in an Issues Management War; Sink or Swim: The Importance of Unification of Messages; Developing Media Relationships in a Hostile Environment; the Role of Public Policy in the Short-Term Viability of the Alternative Energy Industry; and more.

    This week’s program ends with music from the Podsafe Music Network. It’s called, “To The Summit,” by Jon Schmidt. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

    You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: Listen To ZimmCastZimmCast 207 (17 min MP3)

    Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:Interview with Joanna Schroeder - ZimmCast 207

    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

    Audio, Energy, ZimmCast

    National Agriculture Day 2009

    Chuck Zimmerman

    National Agriculture DayNational Ag Day is coming up very soon. Are you going to the “Investing in the future of agriculture and the future of America” Meet-and-Mingle Luncheon in Washington, DC? If so, please send me a photo since I will not be there. Here’s the details on it:

    March 12, 2009
    12:30–2:30 p.m.
    Cannon House Office Building
    25 Independence Avenue SE, Washington, D.C.
    Caucus Room

    Invited speaker:
    Senator Tom Harkin

    Honored guests include 50 student delegates from FFA, 4-H and AFA

    Hosted by the Agriculture Council of America in celebration of National Ag Week.

    National Ag Day materials are now available online.

    Ag Groups

    Fleming Leads Interactive For Lessing-Flynn

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Josh FlemingLessing-Flynn has launched an interactive division with Josh Fleming at the helm.

    In response to a rapidly accelerating demand for web and online advertising capabilities, Lessing-Flynn has launched a new division of the firm designed to help clients develop marketing strategies and programs using the web and other interactive technologies.

    “We’ve been helping clients with websites and other online marketing tactics for several years, but as clients and marketers are looking to take more of their marketing online to
    help reduced marketing costs and measure their return on their marketing investment, it has become critical that we offer a more serious level of support in this area,” said Tom Flynn, President of Lessing-Flynn.

    The new division will be led by Josh Fleming. Fleming has worked in interactive marketing for seven years with Dice.com and The Integer Group managing digital strategy and projects for clients. Fleming has also spent time at Gannett, Pulitzer and Tribune Publishing and graduated from the University of Missouri with a bachelor’s degree in English.

    The interactive division will offer full-service interactive marketing, including web design/development, search engine optimization, online advertising, direct marketing, blog
    sites, social media marketing, web analytics and other services.

    Agencies

    Zimfo Bytes

    Melissa Sandfort

      Zimfo Bytes

    • The Hondo Group announced their green partnership with the Joint US-China Cooperation on Clean Energy. The Hondo Group will deliver a variety of creative services including green branding and development and Web site re-design.
    • Monsanto announces the launch of the Cotton Community, a new online Web site designed to encourage farmer-to-farmer exchanges on topics such as variety performance and agronomic practices. The site was put together as part of the on-going commitment to provide cotton farmers with in-depth information on the latest Deltapine Class of ‘09 varieties.
    • Ag Leader Technology, Inc., introduced the patent-pending SureStop electric row clutch for row crop planters. SureStop clutches, the latest component of Ag Leader’s SeedCommand system, provide growers with a low-maintenance, user-friendly solution to reduce seed costs and increase yield potential.
      Zimfo Bytes

      Join My Session at NAMA

      Chuck Zimmerman

      NAMA Session 2009At this year’s Agri-Marketing Conference I’ll be moderating a sizzling breakout session on social networking. We’re going to have some hot solutions for all of you who are scratching your heads over Twitter, Facebook, forums, blogs, podcasts, YouTube, Flickr . . . The theme is Hot Ideas, Sizzling Solutions in case you were wondering.

      This great looking group will be your panel, (l-r) David Coustan, Vice President, Digital, Edelman Digital, Kyle Flaherty, Director of Marketing and Social Media, BreakingPoint Systems, David Brazeal, General Manager, Learfield Data and yours truly. The session is titled, “Social Media DOES Fit in Your Marketing Decision – Moving Beyond This Decision.” Here’s the session description:

      Social media is everywhere these days. It is no longer a question whether social media fits your marketing strategy. Now it’s a decision of, “How? Where? What type?” Learn how to take the first steps in answering these questions and working to complement existing strategies.

      The panelists, from both inside and outside of the agriculture industry, will share real-life examples of social media successes and failures. Take their hot ideas and lessons learned to create sizzling solutions that make your organization stand out!

      Dave Coustan, Vice President, Digital, Edelman Digital

      Dave was one of the first official corporate bloggers for a national brand, serving as blog master and social media strategist for Fortune 1000 Internet service provider EarthLink. He has led best practices sessions on social media strategy and corporate blogging at nationwide events.

      Kyle Flaherty, Director of Marketing and Social Media, BreakingPoint Systems

      Kyle is an experienced social marketing and technology communications professional with a broad range of skills characterized by successes in high-tech marketing communications, public relations, social media, web development, community creation and community engagement.

      David Brazeal, General Manager, Learfield Data

      After attending J-School at the University of Missouri, David Brazeal worked as a radio reporter and wire service editor. Then the Internet lured him away from the newsroom. Now, he uses his experience to help clients communicate better with their customers and employees through a wide range of social media tools.

      And you know who the farm podcasting agriblogger is.

      NAMA