Driving Through Florida Agriculture

Chuck Zimmerman

Florida HighwayI just got in to the Four Seasons Resort in Palm Beach, FL. Here’s the scene through my windshield on the way down the Turnpike. I saw lots of cattle and some citrus. Not nearly as much citrus as I used to see coming out of Orlando though.

I miss palm trees and humidity. They think it’s humid in Missouri but . . .

Tomorrow I’ll be speaking at a lunch meeting for FFAA and the Florida NAMA chapter. I was a charter member of the Florida Chapter and am a past President. It was while I was a member down here that I got a NAMA award from Rex Parsons. For those of you who know of him, you’ll understand why I cherish that award.

NAMA

Talking Web 2.0 at FFAA Annual Meeting

Chuck Zimmerman

FFAAThe Florida Fertilizer and Agrichemical Association is holding it’s annual meeting this week in Palm Beach, FL. I’ll be there on Wednesday doing a Web 2.0 luncheon talk. It’s a pre-conference event that includes NAMA members. I’ve been told we’ve got over 100 people registered for lunch so far. I wonder how many of them have a blog or know what Twitter is.

The Florida Fertilizer & Agrichemical Association is a not-for-profit trade organization of fertilizer, limestone, agrichemical manufacturers, formulators, distributors, and dealers.

The Association was formed in 1932. The founding members advocates strong standards for improving agriculture through science and furnishing the Florida growers with dependable and proven agriculture production facts. For decades, FFAA has been committed to this goal and will continue to strive to meet the challenges of the agriculture industry.

Ag Groups

Let’s Have a Successful Ag Media Summit

Chuck Zimmerman

Agricultural Media SummitAgricultural Media Summit mania is in full swing. My in-box has been busy today. So I thought I’d add to the news by letting you know that Successful Farming is sponsoring AgWired coverage of the AMS, along with BASF. I asked Jana Rieker, Sales Development Manager for Successful Farming and Agriculture Online to fill me in on what’s new and how they’re involved with AMS this year.

We have a tremendous presence at the show with John Walter, Agriculture Online Multi-Media Director serving as the current President of AAEA, and Laurie Potter, Successful Farming New Products Editor serving as the Committee Chairperson for the InfoExpo Trade Show.

Successful FarmingWe have seen increases of 30-35% in our online impressions each month over last year. Among them are “CropTechTour” which is sponsored by John Deere, and delivers an interactive field reporting system with maps, video, and commentary from Certified Crop Advisors and Certified John Deere AMS Dealers who post agronomic tips and information about their area. We also have a successful series called Farmers for the Future which is sponsored by DeKalb and the Farm Credit System Foundation.

Agriculture Online was launched in May 1995, with a vision to be a community for farmers to connect with one another to discuss the business of Agriculture. Today, John Walter, and his team of experts continue to lead Agriculture Online into the social media world. We have always delivered tremendous community engagement through our discussion groups, and we continue to grow our site by utilizing other social media tools to enhance the user experience on our site. We have an editor, Mike McGinnis, who has a desk on the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade and is able to get immediate reaction and reporting to provide to our audience in video, audio or email communications. By also tapping into the expertise in interactive media within Meredith Corporation, we are able to deliver our audience more reasons to choose Agriculture Online as their source for information online.

Now that John Walter is a professional blogger I’m sure he and I will be talking at AMS and I’ll share the conversation with you then.

AgWired coverage of the Agricultural Media Summit is sponsored by:
BASF and Successful Farming

Ag Media Summit, BASF

Lunch and Learn Blog

Chuck Zimmerman

Missouri Lunch and LearnInternet? No one’s ever going to use that! Blogs? Fad, not going anywhere.

Four years ago I heard that a lot. Rob Cook and I talk about it in this week’s ZimmCast.

Well, here’s another blog just to show you another example of how the platform can be used. This time it’s Missouri Agriculture’s Lunch & Learn Series.

The goal of Missouri Agriculture’s Lunch and Learn Series is to spread knowledge about Missouri agriculture and the impact livestock and crops have on our rural economies. This series also highlights the important connection between livestock and row crops, as well as the relationship between the growing biofuels industry and the state’s animal agriculture industry.

Ag Groups

CAPC Tails from the Road

Chuck Zimmerman

CAPC Road BlogRoad blogging for pets and parasites is what the Companion Animal Parasite Council is doing this week. The folks at BCS Communications are figuring out this thing called new media.

The CAPC parasitologists and veterinarians are traveling the country this summer between July 24 and August 6 to bring you the latest information on protecting your pets and family from parasites, vector-borne diseases and zoonotic risks.

Animal Health

Digital Cattle News Pioneer

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast-180 - Digital Cattle NewsRob Cook is one of the digital pioneers in agricultural communications. He now works for Vance Publishing overseeing CattleNetwork.com. Rob and I sat down for a conversation about CattleNetwork.com and the Vance acquisition while we were attending the Cattle Industry Summer Conference.

His family has been in the cattle business a long time. He says that about 7 years ago, 6 or 7 feedyards got together to start CattleNetwork.com as an online place to get business information. Since then it has grown to an audience of 800,000 repeat visitors who visit the cattle news portal. Rob says the biggest growth has been in the cow/calf sector.

Income for CattleNework.com comes from subscriptions, distribution agreements (CattleStore.com) and advertising with advertising being the largest source of dollars. He says that they had been working with Vance for some time but did this deal since Vance wanted to provide its customers with a more “blended offering” that includes print, video and web. I asked him how they put out so much content and he says they’ve created a very process oriented system that automates a big percentage of the information collection and distribution. Rob says the model for CattleNetwork.com has been replicated for their AgNetwork.com which covers 15 different commodities.

I asked him if they were considering podcasting and text services and he says they definitely are. He says the number one call they get from producers is a request to make CattleNetwork.com more compatible for phones! Like us here at ZimmComm, he was told 6 years ago that no one would use the internet but those same people now have iPhones and are using texting.

Looking ahead, Rob says their focus in 2009 is creating more value added information. He says they’re also working on a new market reporting system too.
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The program this week ends with music from the Podsafe Music Network. Since we’re talking about cattle and last week was a lot of work with the Beef Board, you get to listen to “Chipped Beef” from the Blackouts. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: Listen To ZimmCastZimmCast 180 (24 min MP3)

Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:Interview With Rob Cook - ZimmCast 190

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, Cattle Industry Conference, ZimmCast

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • The Poncho® insecticide family just got better with its newest member: Poncho 500 seed-applied insecticide. Poncho 500 offers corn growers improved control of wireworm, black cutworm and other insects.

    • Update: Andy Vance, AgWired regular, commented that he was interviewing Kerry Grossweiler, Bayer, when he saw this post show up. You can listen to his interview with him here.

  • The greatly anticipated analysis of certain provisions of the new farm bill by Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute, University of Missouri–Columbia economists is now available on the Web site.
  • The American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers announces Ag Pro Outlook and their 79th Annual Meeting Nov. 11 – 14, 2008 at the Marriott Rivercenter in San Antonio, Texas. Conference attendees will have the opportunity to hear keynote speaker Dr. David Kohl on the Changing Face of Agriculture and Rural Landscape.
  • AgWeb.com has announced the launch of an improved weather section with a more robust packaging of online weather data, tools and information; and a section dedicated to keeping the industry informed of new developments — a press release library where all press releases received by AgWeb.com will be posted.
    Zimfo Bytes

    Global Precision in Denver

    Laura McNamara

    The 9th annual Precision Ag Conference is being held in Denver, CO. The conference kicked off today and will continue through Wednesday, July 23rd. Experts from around the globe will be presenting the latest techniques in precision farming technology. During the reception this evening, I spoke with precision experts from South Africa, India and Egypt. So far, the general idea seems to be that the U.S. is the leader in developing precision technology while the rest of the world puts it to use. We’ll see if that’s really the case.

    I’ll be covering the conference in Denver this week. Updates will be posted on PrecisionPays.com, and most of the content will be used for continued posting on the precision ag Website.

    I must say, the reception on the 12th floor of the Hyatt Regency boasted spectacular views of the Rockies. A few of us couldn’t tear ourselves away from the stunning sunset over the mountains and foothills.

    Ag Groups, Farming, Technology

    Ag in Napa Valley

    Laura McNamara

    Agriculture in Napa Valley sure tastes good. Two weeks ago I was fortunate enough to have a little getaway to Northern California. Of course, I made certain to include a day of Napa Valley wine tasting in my agenda. I visited three wineries in the valley: Cakebread, St. Supery and Frog’s Leap. There are nearly 250 wineries in the wine growing region that boast wines comparable to those of Italy and France. So, there’s plenty of reason to go back.

    Interestingly enough, Cakebread started off as a bakery before it became a Napa Valley winery. Of the 10 wines my friends and I tasted at St. Supery, I would say, in my humble amateur wine-taster opinion, that at least seven of them were great wines and three were exceptional: the cabernet sauvignon, the merlot and the Rutherford merlot. I case you haven’t noticed, I prefer dry reds. Frog’s Leap was the last stop on our mini-tour. Unfortunately, we only had time to taste one varietal and it was the merlot. It didn’t quite hold up to St. Supery. But, hands down, Frog’s Leap had the best landscaping, views and tasting lounge. It also has the best website, if you ask me.

    Agencies

    Texting For Farm Information

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Farmers TextingJust when you think you’ve figured out the new media way to communicate with farmers, new options show up. I’ve written about texting since it’s become such a huge method of communicating. Take our AgWired Mobile for example. Well, these farmers in the Phillipines are using text in a big way. This story comes from Poynteronline.

    Farmers can text the Farmers’ Call Centre for news and advice. They also can post questions ranging from pesticides to modern farming technologies and practices. Answers to common questions can be immediately retrieved from archives, while more technical queries are forwarded to the agency’s scientists and experts. Farmers who have multimedia or camera phones can also take photos of sick plants to speed up the diagnosis process.

    International