Last year on Halloween I was blogging the Appaloosa World Show for Steve Taylor and crew at the Appaloosa Horse Club. This year Steve is a master agriblogger and handling the job very well. Here’s a picture from his posts at the show this week.
Probably the toughest job I’ve had all week at the Appaloosa World Show in Fort Worth was being on a panel of judges to evaluate entries in the pumpkin carving contest. Our great supporter, Gary Raak, Twin Cities Feather-Lite, organized the competition and even hauled in the pumpkins.
Steve’s also got an online photo album started for the show.
Laser Pumpkins
We’ve got the candy ready for the evening onslaught and will be dishing it out in between calls from automated political campaigns. It’ll all be over next week!
I saw this on Gizmodo and thought you might enjoy it.
You could risk cutting yourself with a knife. Or you could buy one of those mini saw kits that always break off in the pumpkin. Or, if you really want to misuse company/lab equipment, you can requisition a laser cutter to carve your Halloween pumpkins. That’s what Doug did, and he has no regrets other than that the results “smell bad.”
Agricultural FINDERBINDER Going To Print
The first edition of the Agricultural FINDERBINDER is now going to print according to Cory Cart. I just spoke with him about how things are going with what promises to be the most complete resource of agricultural media listings available.
He says they completed their pre-sales phase earlier this month and are gearing up to start getting it in the hands of agricultural marketers who want and need to be able to contact ag media representatives. He says they’ll be shipping a disk with the printed binder so that you can import contact data into your computer. Cory says they’ve got over 1,500 media outlets listed with about 2,700 contacts. To be listed a media outlet had to have at least 51 percent of its coverage on some subject related to agriculture. He says they’re also planning a tabbed section on rural lifestyle outlets.
To get your copy you can call Sandi Lomonaco at 405-759-3373 or order online.
Listen to my interview with Cory here: ag-finderbinder-update.mp3
You can also download the interview with this link (mp3).
New Media on Minds of Marketing Officers
Okay agrimarketers. Here’s your Friday new media lesson courtesy of Epsilon. I’ve selectively added some bold enhancements for points of particular interest.
Chief Marketing Officers at many of the biggest brands in the nation are seeing a major shift in the marketing landscape. Almost two-thirds (63%) of the 175 marketing executives surveyed see an increase in their spending on interactive/digital marketing while 59% report a decrease in traditional marketing spend.
So how does new media play into the overall marketing mix according to this survey?
CMOs of the biggest brands have been early adopters of new media with social computing and blogs receiving the most interest whereas instant messaging and interactive TV ads were the least popular.
* Social computing (including word of mouth, social networking sites, viral advertising, etc.) was the most popular emerging channel with 42% of marketing executives expressing interest in adding it to their marketing mix.
* Blogs were the second most popular emerging channel: 35% of marketing executives want to pursue blogs and 19% already use blogs
* Almost one-third of CMOs mentioned Podcasting as an area of interest: 31% are interested in adding Podcasting to their marketing mix and 18% already have.
* Mobile devices also elicited interest: 29% are interested in Mobile Devices (Phones/PDAs) and 22% have added them to their marketing mix.
You can download a pdf of the report here.
Zimfo Bytes
- The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology is releasing a new CAST Commentary — Convergence of Agriculture and Energy: III. Considerations in Biodiesel Production — during special presentations at the National Farmers Union and the National Coalition for Food and Agriculture Research in Washington, D.C. The full text is available here, along with many of CAST’s other scientific publications.
- Cherrie (Sherry) Curtis, farm Safety Day coordinator from New Boston, Texas, was chosen by the Progressive Agriculture Foundation to receive a Toyota Tundra. Curtis, the 4-H and Youth Development Agent with Bowie County Extension, received the keys to the truck Oct. 22 in Indianapolis during the 2008 Progressive Agriculture Foundation annual dinner and reception. She was chosen amongst nearly 400 Safety Day coordinators from across the country.
- AgCareers.com will host a Webinar, “Deliver Effective Performance Improvement Plans”, Friday, Nov. 7, 2008, at 11:00 am (EST); 10:00 am (CST); 9:00 am (MST) and 8:00 am (PST). For further information, and to register for this web seminar please click here.
- USDA has released a vegetable and melon outlook that provides current intelligence and forecasts the effects of changing conditions in the U.S. vegetables and melons sector (including potatoes, pulses, and mushrooms). Topics include production, consumption, shipments, prices received, trade and more.
Michael Peterson Receives Spirit of Hope Award
It looks like my friend Michael Peterson, who is a real friend of agriculture, just received a major award from the USO at a ceremony at the Pentagon on Tuesday. This is a picture of him on a “My Real Life, Strong For America” tour stop in Nebraska.
Award-winning country music artist Michael Peterson, a special friend of The American Legion, is being honored with the prestigious Spirit of Hope Award. The award, named in honor of the late radio, television and film star Bob Hope, is bestowed upon Americans who, like Bob Hope, have demonstrated, in the words of award creator, the USO, “tireless dedication to our country and to U.S. troops both in times of peace and war.”
Songwriter and recording artist Peterson was nominated for the award by the United States Army in recognition of his youth-motivating “My Real Life, Strong for America” nationwide tours as well as his many visits to entertain troops at military venues. The “My Real Life – Strong For America” tour, which is being presented by the Army and supported by sponsors such as the American Legion, challenges students, civic and business leaders and other community members to engage in building their communities through initiatives and programs employing what supporters consider traditional American values.
The American Legion maintains a close association with the multiple Grammy and CMA (Country Music Association) award nominee. Peterson has performed at annual national conventions of The Legion and acts as spokesperson for the veterans service organization’s Legacy Fund. The Legacy Fund provides scholarships for children of military personnel who have lost their lives in post-9/11 conflicts.
MyMachinery.com Launches
You can now find my machinery online. I mean, you can now find your machinery at MyMachinery.com.
Farm Journal Media announced today its launch of MyMachinery.com, a new agricultural equipment–focused Web site. With this Web site launch, Farm Journal Media is also forming a new partnership with Fastline Publications, Inc.
MyMachinery.com will be a comprehensive site that unites the entire machinery channel within one Web site—providing a unique venue for farmers, dealers and manufacturers. The site raises online connectivity in the farm equipment business to a new level and makes it possible to buy and sell both new and used machinery, locate dealers, appraise equipment, research machines, find salvage parts and learn the latest machinery-related news. In addition, visitors can tap into insightful blogs,take part in online discussions and watch interesting videos.
Colleen Callahan Commercial
The election is getting closer and none too soon for those of us who are very, very tired of all the commercials. However, I thought I’d give another plug for Colleen Callhan, farm broadcaster, who says she’s the underdog in her race for Congress in Illinois. She’s still looking for last minute donations to keep this commercial on the air.
Increasing AgrAbility
A great project to help farmers with disabilities or injuries is the AgrAbility Project. This is a national project which is handled by various state organizations. While I was at Sunbelt Ag Expo, I spoke with AgrAbility In Georgia Project Manager, Rebecca Brightwell. She describes how they help farmers in need so they can keep on farming.
For example, they might need a tractor lift but don’t have the resources to obtain one. She says they can help find those resources for the farmer. The Georgia project has a blog too.
The program this week ends with music from the Podsafe Music Network. This one is called “Reasonable Ability” from General Fuzz. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.
You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: 
ZimmCast 193 (14 min MP3)
Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:Interview with Rebecca Brightwell - ZimmCast 193
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
FFA Multimedia Maniacs
I know it seems like Cindy or I are at just about every ag event out there but we just can’t make them all. One of the ones I’d love to cover though is the FFA Convention. However, these kids are doing a great job online by themselves. I know there are some of you “old-timers” who are still scratching your heads over this new media thing but if an old guy like me can do it, you can too.
The FFA news crew has a blog, many videos and lots of pictures on their site. On the video side, I think they should make the embed available for those of us who want to place a video on their website like this one below with the officer’s election. Fortunately they’re using Blip.tv so I could find it.
So, if you couldn’t be at the convention like me, just take a few minutes and get energized looking at some of the online content they’ve got.