Auburn Student Blogger Critiques Us

Chuck Zimmerman

Lara's BlogI know that Auburn University has people who get new media. A trackback to a post on AgNewsWire.AgWired.com.com alerted me to an example of it. It led me to Auburn public relations student, Lara’s Blog. Lara had to critique an audio news release (what we call a Talking News Release) and she found one we produced and distributed for the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council.

I’m happy to say she wrote very positively about the release. Way to go Cindy, who is our main editor.

What I’m very impressed with is Lara though. Here’s a budding public relations professional who’s blogging while still a student. She’s creating an online resume that a prospective employer can visit and within a few moments know more about her and her capabilities than any traditional resume will ever show. Not only is she providing us a glimpse into her abilities and personality but she’s using one of the new media tools that are going to be a standard part of the work she’ll be doing for her clients in the future. She’ll be able to provide her clients with advice based on personal experience.

I can tell you without reading more than a few posts that Lara would get my serious consideration. How many of you public relations professionals are blogging? Want to dip your toe in the water. Give me a call or better yet, get in touch with Lara.

Public Relations

Premise Registration By Manitoba Pork

Chuck Zimmerman

Harry SiemensManitoba Pork Council is circulating premise registration forms to the more than two thousand swine production units across the province. The Canadian swine industry, as part of its preparation for participation in a national multi-species livestock identification and traceability system, is collecting registration information from all farms that produce swine. In conjunction with the premise registration, swine farms will also receive new tattoo numbers.

Manitoba Pork Council emergency preparedness and technical affairs specialist Jeff Clark said the premises registration kit requests information such as the plot of land on which they farm using the legal land description on their certificate of title and, to clarify, a premise is the actual farm.

“We’re not so much interested in the actual producer but rather the plot of land, the barn, because that will be central to traceability, to tracking disease movement etceteras, production information such as types of animals, numbers of animals, manure storage, manure application and then contact information, both the barn owner and also barn workers,” said Clark. “In the event of an emergency authorities will have to get a hold of the owner but they’ll also need to get a hold of whoever it might be on farm and, in some cases, those might be different people.”

By using the premises, MPC will assign market tattoo numbers that will be specific to each premise. Clark notes the original goal was to have producers begin using their new tattoo numbers on May 1st but there have been requests to push that back to June 1st. The intent is to coordinate this so all hog farms in western Canada can switch to the new tattoo numbering system on the same day.

Siemens Says

International

Farm Journal’s Henderson Wins Grand Neal

Chuck Zimmerman

Pam HendersonPame Henderson has won a big award for Farm Journal. I hope Pam enjoyed the presentation. The Waldorf-Astoria is a nice little facility don’t you know.

Pam Henderson, Crops and Issues Editor of FARM JOURNAL has been awarded the Grand Neal Award, the premier prize of the 52nd Annual Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Awards for editorial achievement. The Neal Awards are described as the “Pulitzer Prizes” of business-to-business journalism.

As the first agricultural journalist ever to be honored with a Grand Neal, Henderson was chosen from 32 category winners announced at a luncheon attended by journalists, publishers, media executives and advertisers from all sectors of U.S. business at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. There were 101 finalists out of 1,250 entries in the American Business Media (ABM) competition.

You can read the American Business Media release here and see a list of all the awards.

Publication

Rural Broadband Use Growing Fast

Chuck Zimmerman

PEW InternetI almost missed a memo from the PEW Internet & American Life Project (pdf) that shows that although rural broadband internet use is lower in rural vs. urban America, it’s catching up fast.

The report says:

. . . rural areas show fast growth in home broadband uptake in the past two years and the gap between rural and non-rural America in home broadband adoption, though still substantial, is narrowing. By the end of 2005, 24% of rural Americans had high-speed internet connections at home compared with 39% of adult Americans living elsewhere.

This means the use of new media communications options to reach rural (farm) Americans is a only going to continue to grow in importance.

Internet

Some New Media Tidbits

Chuck Zimmerman

I thought I was done for the day until I stared checking my feeds. Email me if you don’t know what “checking my feeds” means.

I noticed on Blog Business Summit a link to the slides (pdf file) that Anil Dash used in his presentation at the SXSW Interactive. Even without hearing Anil they’re worth a read if you’re still wondering about blogging for business. Good stuff in there.

While you’re at it you can hear a panel discussion on Podcasting 2.0 here (57 min MP3). It features Chris Pirillo, Eric Rice and Rob Greenlee.

Bonus info tip: Even President Bush encourages the use of new media. Now if he had just mentioned ZimmComm . . .

Podcasts

Gator Style Information Conference

Chuck Zimmerman

NETC Conference 2006Here’s a conference I wish I could attend. At my alma mater no less. How ’bout them Gators? I wonder if “electronic publishing” could be code for blogging? Where do you think I learned all my “skills?”

The purpose of the NETC conference is to share information among agricultural extension information technology professionals and users. Sessions, workshops, and special discussion panels will focus on the latest technology and examples of how innovative technologies are applied in real extension situations. Topics include web site development, video conferencing, electronic publishing, GIS/GPS, networking, extension standards, and accountability management to name a few.

University

Magazines and a Website Working Together

Chuck Zimmerman

Stop Soybean Rust Award NoticeStopSoybeanRust.com won an award at the recent Media Industry Newsletter’s Best of the Web ceremony in New York. The website is a joint venture of Successful Farming’s Agriculture Online and Vance Publishing.

“The Web site, StopSoybeanRust.com, has been the right communications tool for a time-sensitive topic like soybean rust, but we also saw the need to get the word out through the magazine, where we have the widest reach with farmers. I think the award shows how committed we have been to helping farmers stay informed on this big issue,” said Agriculture Online Editor John Walter.

Hey John, it’s the website that won the award right? Actually I really like the fact that a cross-platform approach like this was used by 2 different publishing companies. Very cool.

Internet, Publication

Texas Style Farm Podcasting

Chuck Zimmerman

I just love it when someone “gets it.” Texas A&M gets it.

One of the first people we interviewed on AgWired was Blair Fannin with Texas A&M Ag Communications. He’s a farm podcasting pioneer. Maybe the first. I just noticed a reference to a paper he presented at the recent Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists annual meeting, titled, “Podcasting Agricultural News” (pdf file). You ought to take the time to read the paper. Blair provides some measurable documentation of his efforts such as one program back in late 2004 that received over 14-hundred requests, which I assume he means downloads.

Blair summarizes his report in words that I can’t agree with more:

Podcasting bypasses traditional media. Instead of Texas A&M Agricultural Communications having to pitch audio news to radio outlets, we send the information directly to our audience via a RSS podcast feed with audio through the Web.

Podcasting opens a new door to target general consumers and agricultural producers with audio news content. Further, this may penetrate younger audiences who are more inclined to use portable .MP3 player devices.

You are right on target Blair. Thanks to the March ACDC News for the alert.

Podcasts, University

Sinift New GM For Intl. Agri-Center

Chuck Zimmerman

Jerry SiniftHe must have done a good job as the “interim” manager this year.

Jerry Sinift, interim general manager of the International Agri-Center, was officially appointed to the post by the Board of Directors on Wednesday, March 22. Sinift has been managing the non-profit organization since his predecessor resigned in December.

Sinift also announced the promotion of International Agri-Center staffer, Erin Machado, to facility director for Heritage Complex, filling his shoes there. Machado began her career with the Agri-Center in 1999 as the coordinator for the Learning Center at Heritage Complex, which opened to great fanfare in October, 2000. Two years later, she was named assistant facility director.

Farm Shows