AgWired

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!

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!

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?

Now, 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!

The 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!

You’ve probably seen this already but just in case you haven’t it’s worth knowing and noting. According to a survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press:

The internet, which emerged this year as a leading source for campaign news, has now surpassed all other media except television as a main source for national and international news.

For young people, however, the internet now rivals television as a main source of national and international news. Nearly six-in-ten Americans younger than 30 (59%) say they get most of their national and international news online; an identical percentage cites television.

I realize you’re going to say, “But Chuck, that has nothing to do with “farm” news.” Au contraire. It has everything to do with farm news in my opinion. It says to me that if you want your news and information to reach your members and customers, then you need to be online in a search engine friendly environment. Unfortunately most websites are still built on old technology. Then you’ve got the corporate control factor that puts up barriers to freely and easily getting that information. This isn’t to say that traditional farm information channels don’t reach farmers but that there is a growing alternative where there is a huge amount of diversity and where farmers increasingly will go for the information they want and need.

I think this offers opportunities, not problems. Maybe a good new year resolution would be to have your company experiment with new media options!