Bill Storey is a broadcaster in Tennessee who stopped by the Beltwide Cotton Conferences. He works for the Tennessee Radio Network. He’s also a photographer so we shared Nikon stories. He says he takes a lot of event photos for Clear Channel that they put online.
Bill says it’s almost impossible to take his picture with a flash and get his eyes open. I guess so. Kind of looks like you’re sleeping on the phone Bill.
He wasn’t though. He was hard at work.
How many of you are subscribing to news feeds? If you’re in agricultural communications and claim to be a professional on top of things then I hope all of you are. There are so many ways to do this today that excuses like, “It’s too complicated” or “I can’t keep up with all the information” just aren’t valid. If you’re using excuses then you’re being left behind. I’m here to help you catch up or get ahead!
Let’s start with the fact that NewsGator products are now free. I’m using their NetNewsWire on my Mac, NewsGator Inbox on my pc and NewsGator Go on my Blackberry. They all sync with each other automatically so that if I read feeds on one device I don’t have to wonder if I’ve read them on another. Of course they also have a web version which I can use from any computer, anywhere, and it syncs as well.
I know a lot of you have a Blackberry, Treo, Centro, Tilt, MotoQ, Helio, iPhone or Blackjack. If so, then get NewsGator Go. It works and can’t be more simple to use. That’s what’s showing on my phone in the picture. They also have a version for Blackberry Enterprise Server.
NewsGator isn’t the only game in town though. You can subscribe in your browser now whether that’s Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari or whatever. You can also subscribe with Google, (Google Reader). I set up and use a customized Google homepage (iGoogle) and have it set up to receive feeds from all our managed websites. That way when I go to my home page I can immediately see, 1.) if all my site feeds are working, 2.) the latest posts to make sure they’re being updated properly by whoever I have posting. I also have Google Reader set up but don’t go to it as often as my other feed resources. One of the cool things about Google Reader is your ability to share your feeds with friends who use it too.
So now that you’re subscribing to news feeds so you can keep up with what’s going on whenever and wherever you want how about creating your own news feed? Think blogging and podcasting. Doesn’t matter if you’re a magazine, radio station, farm group or chemical manufacturer. Your members and customers are doing this. Just because no one can tell you how many farmers subscribe to news feeds, including blogs and podcasts doesn’t mean they aren’t. Why do people think farmers are somehow different than the non-farming public? Here’s a good recent article you might want to read.
This is all powered by the use of rss and no one is having to enter demographic data to subscribe. So for those of you who think I can only use feeds as a communication tool for my business or organization if I can “measure” exactly who is subscribing then I would have to say you just don’t get it. This is why it’s called new media. Your customers and members are going to get their information from somewhere. These tools make it easier for them. So if you don’t supply it, guess where they’re going to get it.
The whackos at PETA must be loving the fact that they’ve shut down the livelihood for a group of peaceful monks. This is a good example of how dangerous these idiots are and why they shouldn’t be taken for granted.
Basically, the monks at Mepkin Abbey supported themselves by selling eggs. However, after a serious amount of PETA harassment they’re shutting down their operation. Read the whole story on the National Catholic Reporter.
“While the monks are sad to give up work that has sustained them for many years, a hard and honorable work of which they are proud, the pressure from PETA has made it difficult for them to live their quiet life of prayer, work and sacred reading,” Gumula wrote. “The monks have also found it difficult to extend hospitality, which is their hallmark, under such conditions.”
The December statement said the monks are looking for “a new industry to help us meet our daily expenses” and hope to remain in an agricultural business, which suits Benedictine tradition of work that fosters contemplation and care for the environment.
Yeah. It does piss me off. Way to go PETA bullies. Pick on a group of peaceful monks who I’m sure are praying for your souls and have already forgiven you for your persecution. It’s amazing to me that anyone gives them money but we’ve got a lot of whackos with a lot of money out there.
The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo boasts 21 star entertainers for this year’s event. Tickets go on sale starting tomorrow (Saturday, January 12).
The 21 different star entertainers scheduled to perform at the 2008 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo represent a wide variety of musical genres. Together, these superstars have garnered numerous music industry honors, including 18 GRAMMY(R) awards, 73 Country Music Association awards and 90 Academy of Country Music Awards.
Here are few from the lineup…
Monday, March 3 Tim McGraw
Tuesday, March 4 Faith Hill
Wednesday, March 5 Kevin Fowler
Thursday, March 6 Alan Jackson
Friday, March 7
Black Heritage Day sponsored by Kroger Food Stores John Legend
Other entertainers scheduled to perform throughout the event include Martina McBride, Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus, Sugarland, Rascal Flatts, John Fogerty, Toby Keith, Clay Walker, Brad Paisley, Duelo/Los Horoscopos de Durango, Miranda Lambert, Big & Rich, Fergie, Dierks Bentley, Pat Green and Brooks & Dunn.
The National Cotton Council and Cotton Board hosted the media with a dinner last night that was the best meal I’ve had at the Opryland Hotel so far. Most of us are leaving this morning as the Beltwide comes to an end.
I want to thank Marjory Walker and Brad Robb for all their help while here and especially for a great dinner. Thanks also to BASF and Quarry Integrated Communications for their sponsorship of my coverage of this year’s Beltwide. A lot of us will be back here in just a few weeks for Commodity Classic. At least some of us will now know our way around the maze.
AgWired coverage of the Beltwide Cotton Conferences
is made possible by: 
This afternoon I had a chance to meet Dr. Mark Lange, President and CEO of the National Cotton Council. This is him speaking at a lunch earlier today.
I actually interviewed him along with Don Molino, Louisiana Agri-News Network and Keith Merckx, Texas State Networks. Of course Don had to ask Mark about the WTO so we got him on a roll.
He says that with cotton acreage down and looking like it will continue to decline this year one of the challenges in the industry is farm management. Many cotton producers are also growing or looking at growing other commodities like wheat and therefore there’s a need to help them deal with a diverse crop. He wouldn’t really make a prediction about acreage decline but said he wouldn’t be surprised to see it be 10 to 12% this year.
Download my interview with Dr. Mark Lange here: Dr. Mark Lange Interview (8 min mp3)
You can also listen to the interview with Mark immediately here: beltwide-08-lange.mp3
AgWired coverage of the Beltwide Cotton Conferences
is made possible by:
The Marketing Manager for Headline for BASF is Jerry Minore (right). He was working the booth this morning and from the sound of it the traffic has been heavy with growers wanting to know about this new fungicide tool.
I know I’ve posted several interviews about Headline but in this one I got Jerry to talk a little bit about the history of the product. For example, he says that they introduced it in 2003 for use on wheat, potatoes, peanuts, sugar beets and citrus. Then in 2005 it got registration for corn and soybeans. Then late last fall for cotton.
Download my interview with Jerry Minore here: Jerry Minore Interview (3 min mp3)
You can also listen to the interview with Jerry immediately here: basf-beltwide-08-minore.mp3
AgWired coverage of the Beltwide Cotton Conferences
is made possible by:
One of the participants in our media round table on sustainability was Berrye Worsham, President & CEO of Cotton Incorporated. Thanks to my good friend Brad Robb I was able to interview Barrye today.
He says that one of the key challenges for marketing cotton today is that word, sustainability, especially from an environmental standpoint. For one thing he says that cotton has had a negative image in this area due to some very outdated and mis-information. So one of the things they’re doing is working to overcome that hurdle.
Another participant in the session was Peter McGrath with J.C. Penney Company. He told us that this is not a fad that will go away soon. So Barrye says that it’s important to know what retailers want since they’re being proactive in making sure that the products they sell adhere to good environmental practices. He says that it’s not that consumers are demanding it but that they assume that companies are acting responsibly.
Some of the ways Cotton, Inc. is communicating it’s message includes surveying farmers for data that can be used to support claims of environmental responsibility and the conducting of one on one meetings with manufacturers and retailers, re-designing their website and doing some industry advertising.
Download my interview with Barrye Worsham here: Barry Worsham Interview (6 min mp3)
You can also listen to the interview with Barrye immediately here: beltwide-08-worsham.mp3
AgWired coverage of the Beltwide Cotton Conferences
is made possible by:
