Journalism’s Future and A New Term For You

Chuck Zimmerman

Me RelaxingEvery once in a while the agriblogger gets caught relaxing. This time it was WFMB farm broadcaster, Leah Guffey who got the picture. I received it via MMS this morning.

So you may be wondering, what is MMS? Here’s the definition.

Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) is a new standard in mobile messaging. Like SMS (Short Messaging Service), MMS is a way to send a message from one mobile to another. The difference is that MMS can include not just text, but also sound, images and video. It is also possible to send MMS messages from a mobile phone to an email address.

Formats that can be embedded within MMS include:

* Text (formatted with fonts, colours, etc)
* Images (JPEG, GIF format)
* Audio (MP3, MIDI)
* Video (MPEG)

Just when you thought you had text messaging figured out.

While I’m on the subject of “new” you should check out this post on “From the X Degree.” via Teaching Online Journalism This is about how you/me/your customer is and will be consuming news or perhaps your own company’s information.

Me WorkingYou might want to say that we’re just “early adopters” and that somehow this means that since not everyone in America is doing this or consuming this then perhaps it’s not something your company or news organization should be doing. Tempting if you’re afraid of the future I guess. However, it is the future of journalism and how people will be and are consuming information.

This second picture is thanks to NAFB Executive Director, Bill O’Neill, who caught me Tuesday right before Sec. Schafer showed up for our Washington Watch meeting.

Uncategorized

CNBC Special with Corn & Soybean Digest Columnist

Chuck Zimmerman

Tyler BruchWhile I was attending the Commodity Classic I met the crew from CNBC that’s been following Tyler Bruch who’s a farmer and columnist for Corn and Soybean Digest. I guess their production is complete and they’ve been promoting it with a series of video clips. You can find one of them here.

Corn & Soybean Digest’s Brazil columnist, Tyler Bruch, 28, will be featured in a special CNBC business news program this Sunday, May 4 at 9 p.m. central time. His company, Global Ag Investments, will be profiled. Also, Bruch will explain how he transitioned from being a young, Emmetsburg, IA, farmer to a 50,000-acre farmer in Bahia, Brazil. Click below to link to three promotional pieces about the full program. The program will also be featured, in part, on NBC’s TODAY show Monday, May 5.

Farming, Publication, Video

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer appointed one producer alternate member to serve on the Hass Avocado Board. Kay S. Wild, from Vista, Calif., has been immediately appointed to complete the term that ends on Oct. 31, 2008.
  • Hero insecticide from FMC Corporation recently received an expanded label and now can be used to control tough foliar pests that can impede plant health and overall plant quality and yields. Hero is now the standard for fast knockdown and longer-lasting residual control of tough foliar pests in soybeans and other crops.
  • Syngenta Crop Protection announced that the U.S. EPA has approved Warrior II with Zeon Technology® for broad-spectrum insect control in more than 23 crop groups. Warrior II is a more concentrated formulation of Warrior with Zeon Technology®, and will provide storage, handling and container disposal advantages.
  • The Andersons, Inc. announced it has acquired Douglass Fertilizer & Chemical, Inc. as an addition to its Plant Nutrient Group. Douglass Fertilizer, based in Maitland, Fla., is primarily a specialty liquid nutrient manufacturer, retailer and wholesaler serving a variety of agricultural and to a lesser degree industrial and turf markets primarily in Florida, the southeast U.S. and the Caribbean.
Zimfo Bytes

Biofuels Digest Finds Global Impact on Rising Food Costs

Laura McNamara

The media has been pointing fingers at biofuels, blaming them for rising food costs. But a study from The Biofuels Digest suggests rising food costs are the result of global pressures, such as China’s increasing demand for meat. Biofuels Digest says their study finds that for every bushel of grain used to make U.S. ethanol, six are used to support Chinese meat demand.

A change in Chinese meat consumption habits since 1995 is diverting eight billion bushels of grain per year to livestock feed and could empty global grain stocks by September 2010, according to a new study from Biofuels Digest.

The study, “Meat vs Fuel: Grain use in the U.S. and China, 1995-2008,” concluded that a complete shutdown of the U.S. ethanol industry would extend the deadline only until 2013.

“It’s not food, it’s not fuel, it’s China,” said Jim Lane, editor of Biofuels Digest and author of the report.

The study determined that China’s meat consumption since 1995 has increased by 112 percent to 53 kilograms per person per year.

“If the Chinese people had consumed the same amount of meat, per person, in 2007 as in 1995, there would have been enough grain left over to support 927 million people with food for an entire year,” said Lane.Read More

Agribusiness, Beef, Energy, Ethanol, Farming, Food

Rhea + Kaiser Turns 30

Chuck Zimmerman

Rhea & KaiserRhea + Kaiser are turning 30 today. Happy Anniversary Steve and Van.

Rhea + Kaiser Marketing Communications is celebrating its 30th anniversary today. Since Steve Rhea and Van Kaiser co-founded the company in 1978, the business has grown from a six-person advertising agency into a full-service, integrated marketing communications agency with more than 110 employees.

“Van and I saw the opportunity to create and manage an independent agency specializing in agriculture, but we had no idea where this business might take us,” said Rhea, president and CEO. “We’re proud of our accomplishments and grateful to our employees and clients who have become our allies along the way.” Read More

Agencies

Summarizing Some New Media Work

Chuck Zimmerman

NAFB Mult BoxFor those of you who wonder what I mean when I mention a “mult box,” here’s a picture of NAFB’s in heavy use at yesterday’s Washington Watch session. It’s what allows multiple people to easily connect to the audio feed from a podium for example. If you want to help the media out then you need one of these at your press conference.

Today’s a travel day for the agriblogger. I’m looking forward to some email catch up on the plane and a little analysis of some of the new things we’re doing like AgWired Mobile and AgWired Live TV. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

For you aspiring new media ag journalists I thought I’d summarize a one person multi event coverage week. Here’s some stats from the last few days:

370 digital photos, 215 of them loaded into 2 Flickr sets
15 audio interviews/press conference recordings
2 live video/audio streamed press conferences
1 YouTube video
posting/udpating on 5 different blogs
1 recorded/edited podcast
2 client site media production training sessions
12 mobile service story updates

Not too bad for an old guy, eh? If I can do it, then I know that you can do it too. Need help, just give me a call.

NAFB Washington Watch Photo Album

RFA Press Conference Photo Album

NAFB

AgWired Live TV at National Press Club

Chuck Zimmerman

AgWired Live TVHere’s the AgWired Live TV in all it’s glory today. This is the setup that live streamed yesterday from the Sec. of Agriculture’s office and then this afternoon from the National Press Club. My Mac on my briefcase on a chair.

I am looking into some new camera options but I think we demonstrated some new technology in the ag media world and at a very timely event, the NAFB Washington Watch. It’s been a learning experience.

One thing is for sure though, how we distribute information is changing and that’s why “new media” continues to be applicable.

RFA Press ConferenceFor some perspective, here’s the “other” cameras that were in the room today. Lots of media attended this press conference. I would estimate that besides the ones on the dial conference call there were over 50 journalists in the room, including 11 other video cameras.

The only place you could watch this press conference live though was here on AgWired and our Domestic Fuel site. We really did almost nothing to promote it but there were still several dozen viewers of the live stream and who knows how many will view the recorded versions.

You can see an online photo album from the press conference here: RFA Press Conference Photo Album

Ethanol

Live RFA Press Conference at 1pm, Eastern – Updated

Chuck Zimmerman

Post Update: I recorded this AgWired Live TV stream of today’s press conference and updated this post so you can watch the recording. Keep in mind that I just started this yesterday and I was only using my Mac with the built in camera and microphone recording what you heard in the room.

The Renewable Fuels Association, along with National Corn Growers and National Farmers Union will be holding a press conference today at 1pm eastern time. It will be at the National Press Club. How convenient is that, since I’m here and we’ll be finished with the NAFB Washington Watch program by then. So my plan is to stream it live here. The press conference features:

The Honorable John Block, former Secretary of Agriculture
Tom Buis, President, National Farmers Union (NFU)
Bob Dinneen, President of the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA)
Rick Tolman, CEO, National Corn Growers Association (NCGA

The topic will be: “Farmers and Ethanol Industry to Present the Facts On Food Price Increases.” This topic just won’t go away and it’s at least in part due to the immense amount of misinformation being spread in the media, most notably this week, the Washington Post with their irresponsible series called, Global Food Crisis.

I’m hoping to be able to stream the press conference live this afternoon and you’ll be able to watch it here with the following player. Basically, starting at 1pm or within a few moments of that, you should be able to click on the player and see the live stream. A lot depends on the internet connection I’ll have there. In any case, I’ll also be recording it to post on Domestic Fuel as well.

Post Update: Here is a recording of the live stream from today in two segments:

Ag Groups, Ethanol, Food, Video

Senator Harkin is Hopeful

Chuck Zimmerman

Senator Tom HarkinThis morning NAFB members are getting fully updated on the farm bill as well as other issues here in the Russell Bldg. First up on our program was Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, who was looking a little tired as he took the podium.

The Senator told us that he expects (hopes/dreams) that we’ll actually have a farm bill by today or tomorrow after the House and Senate conferees spent all day yesterday, including meeting with the Administration, on hammering out a final agreement. We’ll see. However, he did provide the group with quite a few numbers and statistics on what we should expect from the final bill.

I asked him what specialty crop producers could expect and you can hear his answer here: ww-08-harkin-specialty.mp3

NAFB Washington Watch Photo Album

Audio, Farm Policy, NAFB

Ceres First to Brand Bioenergy Seeds

Laura McNamara

ceres.pngAs technology unleashes more and more energy possibilities from more and more crops, it can get a little confusing as to which plants can do what. Ceres, Inc. plans to clarify bio-friendly seeds with its new bioenergy seed brand.

Energy crop company Ceres, Inc. plans to market its agricultural seeds and traits under the trade name Blade Energy Crops in the United States. Company president and CEO Richard Hamilton unveiled the new brand at the BIO World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology in Chicago earlier today.

“Blade will be the first multi-crop seed brand supplying the new market for non-food, low-carbon biofuel feedstocks,” Hamilton said. These biomass-dense crops will be grown as raw materials for next-generation biofuels and biopower. One of the great appeals of energy crops is that they can thrive on agricultural lands that are ill-suited to food production.

“Supported by the latest technology in genomics-based breeding, trait development and compositional analysis, we are positioning Blade as a premium seed brand for biofuel and biopower feedstocks. For growers, that means high yields and greater yield stability. Downstream, it means easier processing, and ultimately, more energy per ton of biomass,” said Hamilton. “From both an economic and environmental perspective, if we are going to turn plant matter into fuel, we should use feedstocks that give us the maximum fuel yield per acre.”

The company says the Blade name was inspired by its first crops, switchgrass, sorghum and canes, which are from a category of closely related grass species, known as C4 grasses. C4 grasses are the natural world’s most efficient engines of photosynthesis, the process by which plants store solar energy in the form of carbohydrates. New technologies have made it possible to convert the most abundant form of these energy-rich molecules, called cellulose, into renewable fuels.

Agribusiness, Corn, Energy, Farming, Seed