Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Pioneer Hi-Bred and MapShots announced Pioneer will acquire controlling ownership of MapShots Inc. This new relationship will allow Pioneer to extend its Pioneer FIT mapping service and information available through GrowingPoint Web site record-keeping service.
  • Kip Cullers of Purdy, Mo., won the Missouri Soybean Association’s 14th Annual Yield Contest with the top overall yield with 117.1 bushels per acre using Pioneer’s 94B73 soybean variety. Charles Hinkebein of Chaffee, Mo., won the conventional category with a yield of 109.3 bushels per acre using Asgrow’s 4903 soybean variety. Hinkebein also claimed top honors in the No-Till category with a yield of 92.3 bushels per acre using Pioneer’s 94M30 soybean variety.
  • Schillinger Seed has introduced eMerge Genetics – a new division of the company focused exclusively on non-GMO soybean seed. eMerge fills a growing market demand for food-grade, non-GMO soybeans from both overseas food companies that require non-GMO products and domestic food companies who are increasingly looking for healthier food ingredients.
    Zimfo Bytes

    Agriculture’s Endless Career Possibilities

    Amanda Nolz

    I didn’t always know that I wanted to pursue a career in agriculture. I grew up on a cattle ranch in Eastern South Dakota, and because I lived in a “big” city, I was constantly teased for being a cowgirl. I hated being thought of as a hick, and when I started high school, I vowed to change my reputation and NEVER tell anyone that I had cattle at my house. Besides, I figured it wasn’t really a big deal anyway. It’s not like I would EVER get a job in the agriculture industry anyway.

    Well, a lot has changed since those high school days. As a senior agricultural journalism student at South Dakota State University, I look forward to graduation and officially beginning my career in an incredible industry that feeds and clothes the world! However, with the suffering economy, the job hunt is a struggle for many college students.

    That’s why I was so excited that a new resource just for agricultural professionals was created, AgJobNetwork! This is how the AJN Works – if you have a job opening at your organization, feel free to post it here. See something you’re interested in, or that a friend would like? Apply – or Forward. Yep. Its that simple! agjob2

    My friend at AJN, Mark Jewell, informed me of some cool things going on in 2009. Beginning February 1, AJN will be starting the 28 Days of Job Casting. This will include 1 pod cast every day during the month of February. Mark will interview 1 job seeker every day – and post their interview on the job blog. Updates will be sent out to whom ever wants to listen…especially recruiters! Best part is that it is totally free!

    So stay tuned for updates at AJN. Whether you’re a job seeker or you’re looking for someone great to hire at your place of business, AJN is truly THE up and coming resource for agricultural professionals. Thanks for the heads up, Mark!

    Media

    AgWired’s Agricultural Communications Reading List

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Are you as tired of the “Top Ten . . . ” lists popping up everywhere as I am? Yeah. I thought so.

    But a conversation last night over the future of ag communications prompted me to put together a list of AgWired posts during 2008 that all relate to where things are going in communications today and that goes for agricultural communications. If you still think farmers are somehow different than “normal” people then you haven’t spent any time with a bunch of farmers. I know I have this year. Some of them are ahead of me when it comes to online communications! So here’s a list of some topics/posts that might be worth a review if you’re trying to come to grips with the change that is happening (whether you like it or not).

    1. A YouTube Justification: Now you can even load high definition video and it’s still free. Why wouldn’t you go where your customers and members are?

    2. iPhone: It’s not just a phone, it’s a “platform.” And the others are playing catch up. Just this morning we discussed blogging an event with just this one device. I’m tempted to try it. It’s a step toward complete mobile communications freedom.

    3. Social Networking: We’ve always done it. We’re just doing it online now.

    4. Twitter: With Twitter and all its related applications this has become a monster of an information delivery system.

    5. Internet Continues To Grow As News Source: Only television ranks higher now.

    6. More Media Fragmentation and Diminished Importance of Reach: If you’re still using old school measurement standards then you may be wasting a lot of money.

    7. Some Social Media Wisdom: It’s not about lots of eyeballs it’s about the right set of eyeballs.

    8. Survey of Rural Lifestylers: Or Ruralpolitans or whatever you want to call them. They’re online and searching for information.

    9. New Media On The Minds of Marketing Officers: And it should not only be on your mind but you should be a part of the conversation.

    10. Online Faster and Older: The myth that it’s all about young people is just that, a myth.

    11. Texting For Farm Information: They’re doing it in places like the Phillipines!

    12. The Growing Business of Blogs: That growth is driven by the niche orientation of blog content. The very thing that some think is a weakness (not).

    13. Blogging/Podcasting Exploding: And this study finds that people think more positively about a company that blogs.

    14. AgWired Mobile and AgWired Live TV: Texting is becoming more important as a way to distribute information and we can “broadcast” live from just about anywhere.

    15. Podcast Audience Grows Significantly: Like as in 40% growth.

    16. Go With NewsGator and Keep Up: This is about getting your rss feeds on your phone. We’re carrying our news and information around with us now. As an update to it you can now get them on your iPhone with the NetNewsWire app.

    Uncategorized

    Is Twitter For Me?

    Amanda Nolz

    For quite some time, the technology gurus have been excitedly promoting Twitter and it’s benefits. Sure, the concept is simple…

    Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?

    Yet, I remain skeptical about incorporating it into my life. When I first heard about Twitter, I couldn’t imagine the practical uses of Twitter from the standpoint of a cattle producer. As a busy college kid, I didn’t foresee myself keeping up with another online account to go along with Facebook, MySpace, my blog Chewing The Cud, my blog/newsletter BEEF Daily and my FOUR email accounts. And, as an ag journalist, I wasn’t quite sure how it could be incorporated into professional reporting. I mean, do people REALLY want to know what I’m doing all the time?

    pw_biggerNow, I’m an avid reader of blogs, and one of my favorites is Confessions of The Pioneer Woman. She was a city girl that grew up on a golf course in Los Angeles, and she fell in love with a Oklahoma cattle rancher, had four children, and cooks calf nuts for supper. She details her country life on her blog with recipes, photography tips, ranch stories, and home improvement posts. She works in videos, voting and reader interaction into her blog. She has thousands of readers from all over the world. In brief, she is a great blogger and user of new media. It was with Ree, the pioneer woman, that I finally discovered just how effective Twitter could be.

    She posts her Twitter messages on her website, and I realized how interesting they were. Some talked about what she was having for supper, others described the chores she was doing on the ranch…nothing was relevant to anything important, but I still cared what she had to say.

    So I jumped on the bandwagon, and I created an account. I think it’s time you joined the frenzy, too! Start your account and discover the possibilities. It could be your most successful marketing move!

    Media

    Recipe App For iPhone

    Chuck Zimmerman

    bg_mainHere’s a great story from our World Dairy Diary site I thought you might be interested in. Do you know of any iPhone apps being developed for agriculture right now?

    Kraft Foods is making it easier for busy consumers to plan meals, search recipes and even locate the nearest store through a new downloadable application for iPhone and iPod touch users. The application is called iFood Assistant and is available on the Apple App Store for 99 cents. It is billed as the first of its kind for a food or consumer packaged goods company.

    “People’s lives are becoming increasingly complex and they’re looking for relevant content and solutions to make their lives easier,” Ed Kaczmarek, director of innovation, new services at Kraft, said in a statement.

    More than 7,000 recipes can be found on the app. Once the recipe is chosen, iFoodAssistant creates an itemized shopping list, the ingredients can be viewed by which grocery isle they are located in and can be deleted as they go in the shopping cart. The recipes and shopping lists can be shared with others. Another click locates the most convenient store and promotional offers if available. Video cooking demonstrations can be viewed or shortcuts located like the “Dinner Tonight” and “Recipe of the Day” sections.

    Kraft designed the application to include partners that provide relevant content or tools. The tools are “all different ways for people to save time or money or both,” said Basil Maglaris, a spokesperson for Kraft Foods. “People are leading more wireless lives so that’s the opportunity for us to provide food ideas, and more interactive experiences.”

    Food

    Will We Have a Livable Future?

    Chuck Zimmerman

    The Agriculture and Public Policy GatewayWhat do you think about this new website project by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health? Their Center for a Livable Future has launched the site to “enable research on the critical links between agriculture and public health.” Do you think they understand production agriculture and have farmer’s best interests at heart? Is this needed? Who defines a livable future?

    The Agriculture & Public Health Gateway is a unique information resource for journalists, public health and agricultural professionals, advocacy and community organizations, policy makers and educators. Gateway can be accessed at http://aphg.jhsph.edu.

    “Public health and agriculture are intricately linked, and there is a growing interest in the complicated connections between them,” said Robert Lawrence, MD, director of the Center for a Livable Future. “The Gateway places important and reliable information about these connections in one central location and makes it easy to access. We hope all who are concerned about a sustainable food system and about improving the health of the public will benefit from this resource.”
    Gateway’s purpose:

    • Inform those who want to learn about the connections between public health and agriculture
    • Strengthen the capacity of communities, organizations and the media to access reliable information on these topics
    • Connect communities, organizations and individuals to facilitate knowledge sharing and open a collaborative dialogue
    Visitors can browse Gateway by subject to find reports, peer-reviewed journal articles, relevant organizations and other research tools. The site’s database search provides access to millions of resources related to agriculture and public health and is simultaneously linked to databases from the National Library of Medicine (PubMed), the National Agricultural Library (AGRICOLA), the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (National Agricultural Safety Database) and the World Resources Institute (EarthTrends).

    Other Gateway resources include links to glossaries, listservs and newsletters, online photos and images, and event listings related to agriculture and public health.

    Farm Policy, Internet, University

    Zimfo Bytes

    Melissa Sandfort

      Zimfo Bytes

    • The R-CALF USA Board of Directors is pleased to announce that the group’s 10th annual convention and trade show will take place Jan. 23-24, 2009, at the Best Western Ramkota Hotel in Rapid City, S.D.
    • Individuals interested in precision agriculture should mark their calendars for the next edition of the popular Information Agriculture Conference, set for July 14-16, 2009, at the Crowne Plaza in Springfield, Ill.
    • Case Construction Equipment announced that it has launched an extensive redesign of its Web site to accommodate the needs of its global audience. Featuring a dramatic new look, robust content and an intuitive site structure, the optimized site provides streamlined navigation and useful resources for visitors to the site.
    • Agricultural customers of United Phosphorus, Inc., will continue to benefit from the expertise of John Oppelt as he moves to the position of business development manager with sister company, Advanta U.S.
      Zimfo Bytes

      Woods Wanderings

      Chuck Zimmerman

      Tree DownIt seems like the end of the year holidays are the only time I get to wander back through the woods behind ZimmComm World Headquarters.

      We’ve got a lot of cedars and last winter’s ice storm wasn’t very kind to them. I went on a photo shoot this afternoon to see what condition they were in. This one looks like it was just pushed over and seemed to be saying, “Help me, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.” I hope none of you have to say that Wednesday night!

      Over the next couple days we may do a little looking back at 2008 from an AgWired perspective.

      Uncategorized

      Talking Gadgets on RFD Today

      Chuck Zimmerman

      RFD Radio NetworkThis morning I was a guest on RFD Today, hosted by my good friend, Tricia Braid Terry. We talked about electronic gadgets (GPS, Mobile Phone, iPhone apps, etc.).

      With her permission I’ve got a link to our segment of the show here in case you’d like to listen: rfd-12-26-08-gadgets.mp3

      GPS units are cool and I got my first one for Christmas, a Garmin Nuvi. I did use my Blackberry GPS Service but found out that you have to have a phone signal for it to work. These more traditional units don’t have that limitation though. They’re very handy gadgets for anyone. The prices are right too. So even if you didn’t get one for Christmas you might want to shop online now.

      Audio, Media

      Happy Holidays

      Chuck Zimmerman

      Happy Holidays From AgroPressThe Happy Holiday-ness continues here on AgWired. And why not? There’s 12 days of Christmas to start with right? And most of you are on holiday for another week or so.

      So here’s one from Goran Djakovic, Serbia, AGROPRESS. He’s currently VP of IFAJ and wishes us, Mir Boziji, Hriston se rodi? Wishing you all peace for the Holiday Season and a prosperous New Year!

      Media