Paul Schrimpf, PrecisionAg Institute, has an interesting article in his latest PrecisionAg e-news on texting. He writes about an announcement from Jacquie Ream, former teacher and author, on her opinion about kids communicating today:
“We have a whole generation being raised without communication skills,” says Jacquie Ream, former teacher and author of “K.I.S.S. Keep It Short and Simple” (Book Publishers Network). She contends text messaging and the internet are destroying the way our kids read, think, and write.
Say with me, “She sure doesn’t get it.” Kids today are communicating more than ever and texting is just part of it. Maybe she thinks we should get rid of the internet, mobile phones, computers and just get ourselves a bottle of ink and a quill. In fact, if you go to her book promotion site that’s just what you see in the boring introductory flash video (why do people do that?). Interesting ideas from someone who has a book with a title about the KISS principle. I agree with what Paul says in his article.
As for me, I see it as a tool to supplement communication, not one that replaces it. Used to be that we would connect with our friends two ways
call on the phone or show up on the doorstep. My high school daughter can, and does, connect with friends in a half dozen ways I am aware of, and probably more Im not. Why? Because they can.
If you’re ready to retire then maybe you want ag communications to stay the way it has always been. However, the way we communicate is changing and texting is just a part of how farmers are getting information now. Check out Commodity Update and AgWired Mobile if you want to get on the bandwagon and be on the leading edge.
Zimfo Bytes
- Pfizer Animal Health has entered into an agreement to acquire multiple product franchises from Schering-Plough Corporation covering all major animal health species including cattle, swine, equine, and companion animal. Specifically, Pfizer Animal Health will acquire a number of animal health products for sale in the European Economic Area covering the following categories: Swine E. coli Vaccines; Equine Influenza and Tetanus Vaccines; Ruminant Neonatal and Clostridia Vaccines; Rabies Vaccines; Companion Animal Veterinary Specialty Products and Parasiticides & Anti-inflammatories.
- Bayer CropScience introduces Trilex 2000 seed-applied fungicide for soybeans. Trilex 2000 is a combination of two proven fungicides: Trilex seed-applied fungicide and Allegiance seed-applied fungicide. These two products combine to make Trilex 2000 one easy-to-use, low-rate product for broad-spectrum soybean seed and seedling protection against seed-borne fungi and stand-reducing soil-borne fungi such as Rhizoctonia, Fusarium and Pythium.
- 3TIER, A Seattle-based company which provides assessments and forecasts of renewable energy, unveiled a global wind map that will be available for free. The map is part of “Remapping the World,” a mapping technology initiative that will enhance exploration of the world’s renewable energy resources. The technology is intended to give communities in developing countries – at little or no cost – the information to help them decide whether renewable energy can power their communities. The map provides global wind data at an 80-meter height over a 15 kilometer area for a single year.
Get Your Ag Marketing News On The Move
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Do it and join the dozens of people who are already subscribed to get agricultural marketing news in the fastest and easiest form available. Once you subscribe then we’ll deliver the news to you in headline form so all you have to do is look at your phone. It just doesn’t get any easier than that.
Will we break your text limits? I don’t think so. Since we started the new service last week we haven’t been sending more than about 4 headlines in a day. It could be more, it could be less. It depends on what we find that we think you want and need to know.
The feedback has been great so far. For example, one subscriber told me that he had just left a client meeting and got an AgWired Mobile message with new information about that very same client. He found that helpful. Another subscriber told me that a headline story we sent was going to be helpful to him when he met with a client the next morning. In either case, they don’t believe they would have received that information any other way. Although almost everything pushed through AgWired Mobile will appear on Agwired too and in longer form.
Here’s a couple of examples of some AgWired Mobile feeds from this week:
Penton Media launches targeted online career center: AgriBizJobs.com. Offers services to employers and jobseekers. www.agribizjobs.com
Craig Louder, Utah State University, wins the Alltech Young Scientist Award presented at the Alltech Symposium.
Argonne National Laboratory releases new report on increased efficiency of ethanol plants. Report available at www.ethanolfra.org.
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Naturally Iowa Showcases Bio Standard for Feds
Only one food and beverage exhibitor received an invitation to the 2008 USDA BioPreferred Showcase Conference. Naturally Iowa was one of twenty companies overall to attend the conference meant to give the federal government ideas on how to choose environmentally-friendly products.
The invitation to participate in the conference was only extended to companies that can help the USDA “meet the challenge that Congress has set for us — to increase government procurement and use of biobased products” (source: U.S. Department of Agriculture). Naturally Iowa is currently the only dairy in the world that produces Ingeo? bottles, which are made from plants, not oil.
“Naturally Iowa was very well received at the 2008 USDA BioPreferred(SM) Showcase Conference,” said Richard Jensen, Plant Operations Manager for Naturally Iowa. “We believe that this conference gave the company tremendous exposure as the only dairy company in the world producing biobased Ingeo? containers.” “This conference was an outstanding forum for networking with officials from the GSA and procurement officers,” said William Horner, President and CEO of Naturally Iowa, Inc., “and it gave us a roadmap for taking advantage of the BioPreferred program as we move forward with our plans to aggressively market to the Federal Government.”
Michele Payn-Knoper Launches Cause Matters Blog
Maybe I should start a “Blog of the Week” post or something. It’s getting hard to keep up with all of them but I’ll do my best to point you to them, especially good ones like this one newly created by Michele Payn-Knoper.
She’s a professional speaker and agrifood consultant who has started a new blog “to help build connection between farm gate and consumer plate.”
Michele Payn-Knoper is the author of the Cause Matters blog. “The faces behind the food plate have inspired me to find a better way to share material related to telling agriculture’s story,” she says.
Her latest post is entitled “The First Environmentalist: A Farmer.” Great to read and share during this Earth Day week.
Penton Media Launches AgriBizJobs.com
It looks like companies and job seekers have a new resource in the agricultural industry with this announcement from Penton Media.
Penton Medias Agriculture Group today announced the launch of its new targeted online career center, AgriBizJobs.com at www.agribizjobs.com. The site offers industry employers a growing, qualified audience of agriculture professionals, while providing industry jobseekers with agribusiness-specific, categorized job listings. AgriBizJobs is a joint effort of Penton’s leading agricultural brands including BEEF®, Corn and Soybean Digest, Farm Industry News®, Farm Press®, Hay and Forage Grower® and National Hog Farmer® and will be promoted across all of these branded print and online outlets.
Employers can view complete but anonymous resumes for free, and pay only to connect with a jobseeker. Jobseekers can post resumes in agriculture-specific employment categories and sign up to receive e-mail alerts when new positions are posted that match their search criteria. The sites Anonymous Resume Bank enables both active and passive jobseekers to list their experience and qualifications in a protected environment, allowing them to stay connected to the employment market while maintaining full control of their confidential information.
NAFB Obtaining Waves of Farmer Media Use Info
According to Executive Director, Bill O’Neill, the National Association of Farm Broadcasting is conducting waves of farmer media use surveys this year. It’s their NAFB 2008 National Producer Media-Use Study. He says they’re focusing on larger producers and ranchers (Class 1A, $100,000+ in sales/gross farm income).
I’ll be attending next week’s NAFB Washington Watch program courtesy of the organization to cover it here on AgWired.
He’s got these notes from the first wave (the others will be conducted in April and September):
While Web-based information use among producers has grown thanks to increased access to high-speed Internet connections, radio is holding place as the primary and most-used source of daily agribusiness information. The study’s initial results also reveal that agriculture’s listening patterns have changed little in 10 years, as all Class 1A producers are listening to radio 5.57 days per week — and those who listen specifically to agricultural programming are listening 6.42 days per week.
A new generation of younger producers (below age 50) is indicating more reliance on radio for specific information, and they are spending more time listening. A strong percentage of high-speed Internet users listening to farm radio are tuning to a specific broadcaster. Online, fragmentation is highly evident among producers attempting, without the aid of a reference list, to pinpoint their “most valuable Web site” for agricultural information. Read More
Farm Progress Companies Gets Frequent
Business must be good for Farm Progress Companies. They’re increasing the frequency of two of their publications.
Rural Life increases from its current quarterly publishing schedule to a bimonthly frequency beginning with its July/August issue. Rural Life, launched in 2006, is the industry’s only magazine targeting affluent multiple-acre rural homeowner-consumers. The magazine enjoys wide acceptance by its readers.
Farm Futures expands to 10 issues annually with the addition of a special December bonus issue; formerly a combined November/December issue was published. Farm Futures provides business and management information to more than 204,000 large-scale, high-income U.S. farm operators. Since its reintroduction in 2004, it has garnered solid reader momentum. An impressive 84% of its readers report the magazine provides them with useful information they cannot find in other farm publications.
Get Spicy, Hot with Latin Cuisine
Cinco de Mayo is coming up and the National Pork Board wants to help you spice things up for the Latin holiday…
A recent survey of more than 1,000 chefs across the country reveals: Latin American cuisine is one of the “hottest” ethnic cuisines in 2008. Cinco de Mayo, a holiday that historically celebrates the defeat of the French army by the Mexicans at the Battle of Puebla in 1862, has fast become one of America’s most popular occasions for general celebration and entertaining.
The National Pork Board has teamed up with entertaining experts and co-authors of Latin Chic: Entertaining with Style and Sass, Carolina Buia and Isabel Gonzalez, to offer tips for Cinco de Mayo cooking and entertaining.
“Requiring little preparation, pork is the ideal menu choice for Latin cuisine because the wide arrays of cuts are versatile enough to pair with nearly every flavor,” said Buia. “For example, pork chops or tenderloins can be paired with pre-made fruit or vegetable-based salsas and spice rubs with Caribbean and Latin themes.” Pork’s role in New World cuisine dates back to 1539, when Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto landed in Tampa Bay, Fla. with America’s first 13 pigs, beginning a flavorful tradition that we continue to enjoy today.Read More
Ken Anderson VP of PR at Ayres Kahler
Many of you AgWired readers probably congratulated Ken Anderson last week at the NAMA Convention for his new position with Ayres Kahler as VP/Director of Public Relations. I saw him the first night I was in KC and learned the news. Feel free to send him your congrats when you get a chance.
In his new position, Anderson is responsible for interpreting clients strategic marketing plans through PR and publicity efforts. This includes building and strengthening media relationships in broadcast, print and on-line venues in order to deliver appropriate messages for the agencys clients.
Anderson will also serve as an account director for several of the Ayres Kahlers key clients and contribute to the agencys new business task force.
Anderson has nearly 30 years of communications and marketing experience in Nebraska, including positions with Lexington radio station KRVN and Lincoln-based seed company NC+ Hybrids. Most recently, he was an account executive with a Hastings advertising firm.