Rural Broadband Grows 23 Percent

Chuck Zimmerman

PEW InternetHigh speed internet access is growing in America and according to a new study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project the overall growth was 17 percent in the last year. It was 12 percent the year before. It also looks like rural America is getting wired (and AgWired!). Here’s some interesting tidbits:

Some 55% of all adult Americans now have a high-speed internet connection at home, according to a May 2008 survey conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. The percentage of Americans with broadband at home has grown from 47% in early 2007 and 42% in early 2005. Among individuals who use the internet at home, 79% have a high-speed connection while 15% use dialup.

Older Americans: Those age 50 and over experienced a 26% growth rate in home broadband adoption from 2007 to 2008. Half of Americans between the ages of 50 and 64 have broadband at home. Some 19% of those 65 and older had home broadband access as of April 2008.

Rural Americans: 38% of those living in rural American now have broadband at home, compared with 31% who said this in 2007, or a growth rate of 23% from 2007 to 2008.

Internet

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Alpharma Inc. announced a significant initiative expected to stimulate business opportunities for livestock producers suffering from recent flooding in the central U.S. agricultural heartland. Alpharma will donate a portion of all U.S. livestock product sales recorded in July to help fund flood relief efforts throughout the Mississippi River valley. The flood relief program will apply to Alpharma’s extensive line of livestock medicated feed additives.
  • DuPont business Pioneer Hi-Bred announced that it has identified and incorporated new proprietary molecular markers into its soybean research program. The new markers significantly enhance the company’s ability to bring to market soybeans resistant to three common destructive soybean pests – Asian Soybean Rust, soybean aphids and frogeye leaf spot.
  • Syngenta and DuPont announced an agreement to share the costs to prepare the regulatory studies for DuPont™ Cyazypyr™, a new broad spectrum insecticide for the control of lepidoptera and sucking pests.
  • CHS Inc. announced it has formed a joint venture with Triangle Ag LLC, Ulen, Minn. Under the agreement, CHS and Triangle Ag will combine agronomy services throughout central and east central North Dakota, including construction of a 25,000-ton crop nutrients plant with the ability to receive 110-rail car shipments near Hannaford, N.D. A crop protection product and seed distribution center will also be part of the joint venture.
    Zimfo Bytes

    Tweeting With Twitterfone

    Chuck Zimmerman

    TwitterfoneI’m not sure yet how well this will work but the first time I tried it things went okay. I can now update my Twitter account by using Twitterfone. It lets me call a number and leave a voice message that’s converted to text and submitted to my account.

    TwitterFone is free service that lets you update your Twitter feed using your voice from any mobile or cell phone. You call it, speak your tweet, and hang up. A short while later, your tweet will be posted on Twitter. Magic!

    TwitterFone is great for when you’re on the go – in the car, on a train, or running between meetings – and don’t have WiFi or time to log on to the internet.

    I got my invitation code this morning and got started.

    Uncategorized

    New NCGA Director of Communications

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Nancy KoesterI’m sure I’m waiting in line to meet the new Director of Communications for the National Corn Growers Association. She’s Nancy L. Bunker Koester and she started on Monday.

    In this position, Nancy will lead NCGA’s communications team and direct public relations and media relations for the organization.

    Nancy is an Accredited Business Communicator (ABC) with more than 20 years of experience in organizational and marketing communications, public relations, research, event planning, and education. For the past 11 years, she served as owner and principal of Bunker Koester & Associates, an organizational and marketing communications and market research company.

    Prior to starting her own firm, Nancy held positions at Monsanto, Brown Shoe Company, Emerson Electric, Jefferson Smurfit and United Technologies Communications. She also taught undergraduate and graduate-level courses at Webster University and St. Louis Community College.

    Ag Groups, NCGA

    Zimfo Bytes

    Melissa Sandfort

      Zimfo Bytes

    • Massey Ferguson® 6400 and 7400 Series high horsepower tractors with new generation Tier III engines burn cleaner and smarter for greater fuel efficiency. Both the Dyna-VT™ CVT transmission on the 7400 Series, ranging from 100-155 PTO HP, and Dyna-6™ transmission, from 100 to 180 PTO HP, on the 6400 Series deliver power and torque more efficiently and effectively in the field and in transit.
    • Katherine DiMatteo, who served as executive director of the Organic Trade Association (OTA) from 1990 to 2006, was named President of the World Board of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements at their General Assembly held in Vignola, Italy.
    • RFD-TV, LLC announced a multi-year affiliation and distribution agreement with Verizon that set forth the terms and conditions for carriage of RFD-TV on Verizon’s FiOS TV service nationwide. Beginning this summer, RFD-TV will be rolling out carriage and will become available to customers in all FiOS TV service areas over the following months.
    • The message Chuck Leavell, Rolling Stones keyboardist, shared during his keynote address at the Ag in the Classroom conference in Costa Mesa, Calif., was “today’s children are increasingly disconnected from the natural world and schools can play a big role in fixing this.” Leavell addressed the teachers present not as a musician but as a Georgia tree farmer and the author of the 2007 American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture Book of the Year The Tree Farmer.
      Zimfo Bytes

      Interested in Podcasting

      Chuck Zimmerman

      If you’re a regular reader of AgWired then you know we’re new media evangelists (blogs, podcasts, and all sorts of online social networking). So when I see a pretty mainstream media outlet do a story on this I like to pass it along. This time it’s about podcasting and it’s in Investors.com.

      Podcast audiences have branched out far beyond just geeks. And advertisers are starting to like them, too.

      After having placed ads with Web sites and search engines, more advertisers are starting to spread their ad dollars to audio and video podcasts in an attempt to reach certain consumers.

      Podango Productions President is quoted in the article as saying:

      “With podcasting, the audiences tend to be very specific, very targeted,” he said. “That takes care of your challenge as a brand marketer.”

      That’s what podcasting is about in a nutshell. I’d call agriculture a pretty niche topic in terms of the media world today.

      Via Podcasting News.

      Podcasts

      New Holland Gets 3 ASABE AE50’s

      Chuck Zimmerman

      New Holland Forage HarvesterNew Holland has racked up some awards from the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers. They got three AE50 Awards.

      The AE50 Awards are based on new technology or the advancement of existing technology intended principally for producing, processing, storing, packaging or transporting agricultural, food and other biological products. To be nominated, a product must have the potential for broad impact on its area or industries. Only 50 products are chosen for the award each year.

      The company received awards for the following products:

      FR9000 Series self-propelled forage harvesters (pictured)

      BR7090 round balers

      The T9050 4WD tractor

      Agribusiness, Tractor

      Meyocks Group Goes Independent

      Chuck Zimmerman

      Meyocks GroupThe Meyocks Group is brave enough to be independent.

      Doug Jeske, chief operating officer of The Meyocks Group advertising agency, has acquired the firm from Hy-Vee, the two parties announced today. The Meyocks Group will continue to be advertising agency of record for Hy-Vee.

      “This change in ownership gives The Meyocks Group the opportunity to operate and grow as an independent firm,” says Jeske, who joined the firm in 1993 and was elected to its management team in 1996. Jeske was named chief operating officer in 2006 and has been running the day-to-day operations of the agency since last December. “This transition will be seamless for our clients and our team members,” he says.

      Hy-Vee purchased The Meyocks Group in 1994 when it was known as Meyocks Benkstein Associates. The agency later operated as Meyocks & Priebe Advertising. Richard “Dick” Meyocks retired in 1995 and passed away in 1996. Co-founder Ken Benkstein remains a senior counselor with the firm.

      Agencies

      Horse Traveling

      Chuck Zimmerman

      ZimmCast-177 - Horse Travel NetworkIf you’re planning on traveling with a horse then you might want to check into the advice and help of some experts. The experts at Horse Travel Network. This is a new venture which was just announced at the National Appaloosa Show. They’re not tied to just one breed either by the way.

      Mark HardyMark Hardy is the President of Horse Travel Network. This morning he and I sat down and wound up talking far longer than I think we planned but he’s an interesting guy and this new venture sounds like it’s got some great potential. One of the things I find most interesting is how they’re totally internet based and have already got over 700 people signed up and it’s brand new! Word of mouth is working for them big time. The site will include advice, forums, blogs and of course, listings. It’s going to take advantage of some social networking applications which are really popular today.

      The Horse Travel Network is a new sponsor of the Appaloosa Horse Club and offering their members a special deal right now of a free membership.

      The program this week ends with music from the Podsafe Music Network. In the spirit of traveling I chose “Travel Ditty Guitar” from Acoustic Rosh. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

      You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: Listen To ZimmCastZimmCast 177 (13 min MP3)

      Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:Interview With Mark Hardy - ZimmCast 177

      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, Horses, ZimmCast

      Bader Rutter + Two

      Melissa Sandfort

      Bader Rutter, an integrated marketing services agency based in Milwaukee has added two associates to its public relations group.


      Allyssa Berry joins the agency as an assistant account executive. A native of Pattonsburg, Mo., Berry recently graduated from the University of Missouri with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural journalism. She will be working on the Dow AgroSciences account.

      Rick Stoner joins the agency as an account executive. A native of Milwaukee, Stoner most recently served as a public relations account executive at Alpaytac in Chicago. He will be working on the firm’s animal health account, Merial.

      Agencies