Rural Fiber Fund

Chuck Zimmerman

Thanks to Twitterer Rural_Broadband (who is?) for pointing me to some posts by Geoff Daily at AppRising.com who is supporting rural fiber as the method to bring high speed internet access to rural America. He writes:

Fiber is our future. It’s the only broadband that’s considered true 21st century infrastructure, and only full fiber networks equal world-class broadband.

Whatever broadband we subsidize today rural communities will be left with for decades.
We should do this right the first time and make sure they’re not left behind again.

The Rural Fiber Fund uses government guarantees to unclog billions from the capital markets to shovel-ready rural fiber projects, and sets communities on the path to a connected future.

I’m all for any method that gets us connected!

Post Update: Rural_Broadband contacted me and he’s a rural resident of Southwest Virginia. Here’s part of his message: “So I really want to be sure rural communities have access to broadband as the culture shifts so dramatically to digital media.”

Internet

Argentina Trip Broadens Ag Horizons

Amanda Nolz

flowerThis past June, I traveled with the SDSU Spanish Department to Buenos Aires, Argentina. For an entire month, we attended classes, lived with host families, explored the big city, traveled to vineyards, the Andes Mountains, the rainforest and Iguazu Falls, and learned a lot of Spanish along the way. The month was truly an experience of a lifetime, and I had the opportunity to share that experience at the Kingsbury Co. Cattlemen’s Association’s Annual Meeting in Lake Preston, S.D. this past Saturday.

me-propellingAlthough most of my time in Argentina wasn’t directly related to agriculture, I was submerged in a country that is crazy about beef and wine production. With Argentina’s FMD free status, mandatory animal identification program and grass-fed beef, Argentina can access Japanese and South Korean markets, with ease. Also worth noting: Argentina is number one in the world’s soybean production and number two in world corn production. This global agricultural powerhouse is definitely worth watching in the future, and while I have tons of stories to share from my time spent in South America, this blog post will highlight the most interesting points about this amazing country.

-Argentines eat three times more meat in a given year than Americans, nearly 150 lbs./year.

-Due to an extreme economic recession, the government taxes farmers’ products entering the export market by 50% in order to keep domestic prices low.

-Of the millions of cattle that roam La Pampa (the plains of Argentina), only 10% enter the export market

-The world weather pattern La Nina, has killed 300,000 head of cattle in a terrible drought in Argentina this year.

-During my time spent in Argentina, the farmers were on a 4 month strike against the government.

-Feedyards are a new concept in Argentina, and grass-fed beef is the norm.

Stay tuned for more tales of my Argentine adventures. They range from protests, road blocks, theft, drug lords, wine tasting, rock propelling and more… Don’t miss a beat!

Uncategorized

NAMA Convention In Kansas City Next Four Years

Chuck Zimmerman

National Agri-Marketing AssociationI smiled big when I saw that NAMA will be holding it’s convention in KC, MO the next 4 years. Makes sense to me, how about you? It does seem like we get better participation when it’s held in a central location that is easy for members to get to.

After careful review, the NAMA Executive Committee has announced that the annual Agri-Marketing Conference will be held in Kansas City the next four years. The committee cited two primary reasons: member satisfaction and cost control.

Historically, member participation has been stronger at Kansas City conferences, both in terms of delegate registrations and student competition. This is due in part because its central location makes the city a convenient and affordable travel destination from virtually anywhere in the country.

This year’s convention will be held in Atlanta and I hope to see you there. ZimmComm will be exhibiting once again and it will be in celebration of 5 years in business!

NAMA

Fabulous Farm Babe Interview

Chuck Zimmerman

Pam JahnkeIn case you don’t know the sweet, demure and charming Fabulous Farm Babe, Pam Jahnke, you can read an interview with her in the Wisconsin State Journal. Here’s an excerpt:

Melanie Conklin: I can guess how farming got into your blood, growing up on a farm. But why journalism?

Pam Jahnke: I went to school at UW-River Falls to be an ag lawyer. I went in to my adviser to figure out my classes and he said, “Jahnke, why don’t you wake up and smell the coffee? You never shut up, you’re always talking to everybody, you’re always a catalyst on things. Why don’t you walk across the street and see if journalism has got something that fits you?” I never looked back because this is such a natural fit for me — I don’t know what else I’d do.

Yep. Talking into a microphone is a “natural fit.”

Media

Ubiquitous Broadband

Chuck Zimmerman

With the new leadership in Washington, DC getting ready to take over I’d love to see the list of who wants a handout, bailout or whatever you want to call it. It seems like every group or industry is positioning themselves to get something out of whatever economic stimulus package we get. I just wonder where all this money is supposed to come from when we’re also seeing stories of record government debt at the state and national level. Can you say, “print me the money?”

A story in Business Week talks about those who aren’t happy with the $6 billion in the House Democrats bill slated for broadband development.

“I was incredibly impressed how quickly the House moved,” says Shirley Bloomfield, senior vice-president for federal relations at Qwest Communications (Q), a Denver-based communications provider that serves 14 Western states. “They’ve got some good concepts. But $6 billion is not going to get you to ubiquitous broadband.”

It seems like almost 8 times that is “required.” How about just getting started with what you get and see how it goes? One thing seems to be certain though and that is that we’re going to see continued efforts to develop rural broadband.

Internet

Inaugural Food Could Have Been A Turkey

Chuck Zimmerman

Turkey Tostada EnsaladaActually recipes made with turkey like this Turkey Tostada Ensalada are fit for the inauguration even if they won’t be served there. But that didn’t stop two chefs who offered some dishes they would have served. Looks great to me. I would happily let them serve it any time.

Chefs Rocco Whalen and Mary Sue Milliken might not have been appointed White House Chef, but they shared dishes with the National Turkey Federation (NTF) fit for the President of the United States and his family.

“We wanted to take President-elect Barack Obama’s favorite foods – Italian and Mexican — and challenge chefs to create a turkey centric dish that had presidential status,” said Sherrie Rosenblatt, NTF’s vice president of marketing and communications.

First to the challenge was Whalen, executive chef and owner of Fahrenheit, an urban bistro on the western edge of downtown Cleveland, who thinks his Turkey Bolognese would be perfect for an inaugural event.

“Obama loves Italian food and makes healthful choices for his meals,” said Whalen. “Adding turkey to this classic Italian pasta sauce provides a healthy, flavorful and interesting dish that would satisfy President Obama and his family.” Read More

Ag Groups, Food, Poultry

ASFMRA Members Use New Communications Technologies

Chuck Zimmerman

ASFMRAThe American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers recently surveyed its members and asked them some communications technology questions. I provided some ideas for the questions and they’ve shared the results with me. So here’s some items you might find interesting (I rounded out the #’s).

To start with, of the respondents, almost 70% are over 50 years old and an even higher percent are male. 97% say they have high speed internet access. 24% have visited Facebook. 24% have or visit blogs. 18% download podcasts. 9% use or visit LinkedIn. 55% use or visit YouTube. 5% subscribe to an RSS feed.

I find the RSS feed response interesting. The questions were very simple and perhaps there are some respondents who don’t even know they’re using RSS. But it’s one of the technologies I get asked about very often or find that people don’t understand very well.

Here are some of the additional comments that were posted:

My employer blocks You Tube, Facebook, and many blogging sites.

Most of these items are blocked by company servers

I believe in and use technology. Other than the internet, how do the above relate to the appraisal industry ?

We have an IT dept. that handles all this and sets up limitations for staff.

I read financial and economic blogs every day.

no time for a lot of this.

What is an RSS???

Pod casts, maybe very occasionaly. You tube, but rare, RSS?

Are you going to tell us what RSS is?

Yahoo search engine regularly.

Business operates in a corporate banking environement, many of these features are blocked or prohibited due to security and privacy concerns.

Too out of it to know what RSS is?

DO NOT LIKE LINKED IN OR UTUBE

Ag Groups

International Green Week Trade Show Opens

Chuck Zimmerman

IFAJ Berlin MeetingJanet Kanters has contributed another story from Green Week in Berlin. This one is on the huge food trade show. I’ve wandered around in it before and it really is a place where you can eat your way around the world in one location. The photo is courtesy of Janet too.

An astounding 1,600 exhibitors from 56 countries are presenting a unique trade fair and some fascinating shows dealing with every aspect of agriculture, the food industry and horticulture during International Green Week in Berlin, Germany, Jan. 16-25, 2009.

The world’s largest consumer show consists of a display area covering 115,000 square metres.

With 6,000 square metres, Russia is again staging the largest display by any foreign country on the Berlin Exhibition Grounds. This impressive presentation by the many regions of a country stretching from St. Petersburg to the far reaches of Siberia is given added importance by the first visit to the Green Week by the Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin.

The Green Week is expected to attract a total attendance of more than 400,000, including some 100,000 trade visitors.

During the10-day trade show, industry experts and professionals will be able to attend over 300 conferences, meetings and seminars. Some 150 leading national and international politicians are attending, along with their delegations.

In addition, approximately 5,000 members of the print, visual and sound media from 75 countries, including representatives of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists – which has 40 associate member countries – will be reporting on the events in Berlin.

This year marks the 83rd annual event.

Food, International

The Des Moines Ad Mavericks

Chuck Zimmerman

Lessing-Flynn Ad MavericksI love the name of Lessing-Flynn’s new blog – Ad Mavericks. A name does not a blog make, but it’s a good start.

Welcome to Ad Mavericks, Lessing-Flynn’s blog.

We are members of a Des Moines advertising agency that has been in business for over 100 years and we’re blogging because we have something to say. We think our collective experience will provide an interesting point of view on all things marketing. We’ll hit on everything from agricultural marketing to interactive campaigns to things we like and things we don’t.

We’ll blog about what we know, what we think, and how it impacts your world. Whether you’re a marketer, a farmer, or some kid who found us using Google Image Search, we’re happy you’re here.

So Tom, Jess and Josh, we’ll be watching.

Agencies

Schillinger Seeds Technology Day

Chuck Zimmerman

Schillinger Seeds CrewI couldn’t attend the Schillinger Seed Technology Day last week but thanks to Jess Held, Lessing-Flynn, I did get a photo.

The purpose of the event, held in Queenstown, MD, was to provide a glimpse of:

At a glimpse:
• Behind the Schillinger Story
• Revolutionizing the soybean industry
• Launch of soybean industry firsts
• Meet with several international and domestic end users of non-GMO Soybeans.
• An “in-the-lab” look at high-tech Trait Marker Technology

Agribusiness, Seed