It Feels Like Spring Today

Chuck Zimmerman

Missouri RiverI sometimes get asked how you can find something to write about everyday, much less multiple times a day. I’ve been blogging over a year and haven’t run into that problem yet. There’s inspiration everywhere, like alongside the Missouri River today. Since it was so warm here in Missouri I took a break for some biking on the Katy Trail. All I had was my Treo phone camera.

I highly recommend taking a break and getting away from the computer. Great way to let the creative juices flow. Mine were doing that as I sat next to the Missouri River for a while in the sun. Expect to see the result of today’s meditation soon.

As I was riding along, heading to this spot on the river I passed a couple of farmers out in a field just wandering around. I’m sure they had a purpose. It’s such a nice day I think they’re just itching to get something done. A little further along I passed a guy with a Bobcat pushing around some dirt at the edge of one of his fields. The smell of freshly turned earth has got to be one of the best I know of!

Spreading FertilizerThen there was this guy out spreading what I assume was fertilizer. He was moving fast which is partly why it’s not a good picture. I love my Treo but great camera it is not. I think he was hurrying to get done so he could get home and pack before flying out to Commodity Classic tomorrow.

Uncategorized

Student Bloggers Sponsor Interview

Chuck Zimmerman

MonsantoKicking off our coverage of Commodity Classic 2006 is an interview with Tami Craig Schilling, Monsanto Public Affairs Director, about their Future Ag Journalist Fellowship program which is sponsoring our student bloggers, Mary Irelan and Margy Fischer. Tami explains how the program came about, why they picked Mary and Margy and what the objectives of the program are. She said that if this works well it might be something they’ll do again. If so, AgWired is ready, willing and able to do our part to help.

You can listen to my interview with Tami here: Listen To MP3 File Tami Craig Schilling Interview (10:42 MP3 File)

Mary and Margy should begin posting today, although we won’t be travelling to Classic until tomorrow.

Agribusiness, Commodity Classic

Solid Manure Injection Testing

Chuck Zimmerman

Harry SiemensThe Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute in Humboldt, Saskatchewan hopes to field test a new and improved prototype solid manure injection system this spring.

Beginning with a prototype precision manure applicator that could distribute solid and semi solid manure on the soil surface, engineers at the PAMI have developed a flexible screw conveyer type single injection device that can deliver manure under the soil surface.

Project leader Dr. Hubert Landry says the next step is to fabricate a tool bar attachment that will connect the injection devices onto the existing prototype. “The components development and testing for the injection device itself was completed last fall,” said Landry. “Now, we need to integrate that injection system to our prototype land applicator.”

The researchers added a toolbar attachment at the back of the trailer type implement. That attachment is on a parallel linkage for depth control. “We’re looking at two rows of disc openers and have six of the injection devices that PAMI developed,” he said. “The toolbar attachment at the back of the machine will allow us to bring the manure from the existing distribution system to the disc openers using that injection device which is basically a flexible screw conveyer.”

Landry says fabrication of the components developed last fall will occur in the next two months, to be field-testing as soon as weather allows. He estimates the testing phase will take about two years and a finished prototype for manufacturing at that time.

Siemens Says

International

Aliens Getting Our Cows

Chuck Zimmerman

Cow Abduction Thanks to Andy over on World Dairy Diary for this one. This is worth a look. Here’s what he wrote:

I have officially found the coolest website of all time. The California Milk Processor Board, the Got Milk people, has launched cowabduction.com – The official site tracking the alien abduction of dairy cows around the globe. Site features are numerous, including video of victims’ herdowners, pictures of the missing and exploited cows, tips and tricks to ward off the alien abducters, and frequently asked questions about the aliens and the missing cows. There is also a feature where you can warn your friends and neighbors of the dangers of cow abduction. The site is fun, fun, and really really fun. Check it out, and let me know your favorite part.

So let us know what you think. What’s the purpose? Are these the rustlers we’ve been hearing about?

Dairy

Blogs Not A Passing Fad

Chuck Zimmerman

Thanks to one of our subscribers for the heads up on this excellent article on blogging posted today on the Wall Street Journal titled “Blog Epitaphs? Get Me Rewrite!”. It’s not long and I suggest you read it. I couldn’t even begin to cover all of it here. Basically, the author, Jason Fry starts out talking about all the recent main stream media articles that suggest that the blogging “fad” is fading. As it regards that he has this to say:

Reports of blogging’s demise are bosh, but if we’re lucky, something else really is going away: the by-turns overheated and uninformed obsession with blogging. Which would be just fine, because it would let blogging become what it was always destined to be: just another digital technology and method of communication, one with plenty to offer but no particular claim to revolution.

My bet: Within a couple of years blogging will be a term thrown around loosely — and sometimes inaccurately — to describe a style and rhythm of writing, as well as the tools to publish that writing. This is already happening: One of the chief problems with some chronicles of blogging’s demise is their confusion about definitions, a confusion that’s mirrored in efforts to measure blogs’ popularity or to say anything that can apply to bloggers as a group.

He makes another good point in talking about the fallacy in thinking that blog popularity should be measured by how many in-coming links there are from other sites. Amen to that. Although AgWired is linked to on a number of websites, out traffic has grown consistently and our visitors come to us directly (almost 98%) instead of from links on another website. Links are fine but we don’t judge our success by that measure. I like to think that our visitors desire to come here on their own, bookmarking the site and telling their friends and colleagues who then do the same. I love WOMA!

Blogging will not go away. I am not at all surprised to hear that most blogs don’t survive long (about 10% do). How many businesses last more than 1 year? BTW. ZimmComm is just about to celebrate its second anniversary. Oh yeah. Oh and BTW. Since we got into this blogging thing at the end of the first year, our revenue has doubled year over year. Oh yeah again. Blogging and podcasting are tools that the savvy marketer will recognize and use to their advantage. They aren’t meant to be an exclusive strategy. They are part of a very successful one.

Uncategorized

This Quasimojo Member Won’t Be Forgotten

Chuck Zimmerman

Here’s a post I really wish I didn’t have to do. I received an email a little while ago that Andy Markwart, the editor of John Deere’s “The Furrow” magazine just passed away. I only just got to know Andy in the last year or so since I’ve become involved with AAEA and IFAJ. Andy was one of the members of the popular Quasimojo band that played at their events. I know I will join many people in missing Andy. The news was a shock and he and his family will be remembered in our prayers.

Andy has been on AgWired in the past, including an interview I did with him late last October. You can also see him in two other posts, here and here.

Here’s the funeral information supplied by AAEA this morning:

Andrew J. Markwart, 43, Shawnee, KS, passed away Friday, February 24, 2006. Visitation will be 4-8 p.m., Tuesday, February 28, 2006, at the Amos Family Chapel of Shawnee. Services will be 10:30 a.m., ednesday, March 1, 2006, at Holy Cross Lutheran Church, 7851 West 119th St., Overland Park, KS. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Capitol Federal Savings, c/o the Markwart Children Education Fund, 5700 Nieman, Shawnee, KS 66203.

Andy is survived by his wife, Thelma, and their two children, Marlaina (7) and Owen (3). Condolences can be made at www.amosfamily.com.

Agribusiness, Publication

E-Watch Your Release Results

Chuck Zimmerman

E-WatchThe folks at PRNewswire have been listening to their clients and are now offering users who send a news release a “complimentary” service to find out about online “use” of a release that’s sent via their US1 wire. It’s called E-Watch Media Monitoring.

Beginning February 27, you can receive complimentary online media monitoring when you send a news release over any US1 newsline. US1 Media Monitoring will monitor thousands of online news sources for mentions of your organization for 30 days after the release is issued.

When you send a US1 release, you’ll receive an e-mail prompting you to activate your monitoring account. Once you click on a link in the e-mail, you’ll receive a username and password, allowing you to log into the site where you can view results, add keywords to track products, issues and industry players as well as forward articles to colleagues and save articles to download into clip reports.

Monitor more than 14,000 online news sources and blogs.

This is interesting especially since they mention blogs separately from news sources. I wonder what the difference is in a blog and a news service. I may have to send out a release through PRNewswire to see how they generate a report. I realize how much agencies in particular want to measure their PR efforts, something I think is difficult and very easy to mis-interpret and mis-represent. For example, let’s say you know how many reporters open and look at your release and maybe they even download an image or audio file. Does that mean they used your release? How would you report that information to your client? At least with online media like this service will monitor you can actually see the story. At least it sounds like it. Has anyone used this yet? How do you like it? Does it provide you with the information you need?

Media

Listen To Michael, Mary and Margy

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast58-Commodity Classic WeekIt’s Commodity Classic week here on AgWired. That means you must enter our contest to win a video iPod, which is being sponsored by New Holland and watch for event coverage that includes student bloggers Mary Irelan and Margy Fischer, sponsored by Monsanto. This week’s ZimmCast is a little different. No one on one interview. You can hear some of the music from Michael Peterson’s new CD, “Down on the Farm” and I interviewed both Mary and Margy to find out what they want to accomplish at Classic and what they think about blogging it.

You can listen to this week’s ZimmCast here: Download MP3 File (13:11 MP3 File)

The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired which you can subscribe to using the link in our sidebar.

You can also now find the ZimmCast on CoolCast Radio or subscribe in iTunes.

Agribusiness, Audio, Commodity Classic, Podcasts, ZimmCast

Rural High Speed Internet Rising Quickly

Chuck Zimmerman

The availability of high speed internet access in rural America is the subject of the latest study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Around 24 percent of rural Americans were using high-speed connections to the Internet in their homes by the end of 2005, the Pew Internet & American Life Project reported Sunday. This is an improvement over the 16 percent of rural Americans with broadband connections in 2004, but below the 39 percent of urban and suburban Americans using high-speed connections at home in 2005, said John Horrigan, associate director for research at the Pew Internet Project.

Overall rural internet penetration has risen quickly in recent years, with 62% of adult rural Americans at the end of 2005 with internet access, compared with 70% of adults in urban and suburban locales. This 8 percentage point gap is about half the rural-non-rural gap at the end of 2003. Coupled with fast growth in broadband adoption, the internet profile of rural America is slowly becoming more like the rest of the nation.

Internet

Podcasting With A Vatican Official

Chuck Zimmerman

Cardinal Arinze PodcastThis has absolutely nothing to do with agriculture but I thought it was very cool. I use it as an illustration of how podcasting is not some sort of goofball strategy. I subscribe to the Cardinal Arinze Podcast. It’s “podcasting with a Vatican official” and he’s really good at it and so are the people doing the production. In fact, they’re even doing video podcasts. I just like the new logo they emailed me. In case you wonder who he is, Wikipedia has this:

Cardinal ArinzeFrancis Cardinal Arinze (born November 1, 1932) is the Cardinal Bishop of Velletri-Segni in the Roman Catholic Church and has been the Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in the Roman Curia under popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI. Arinze was one of the principal advisors to John Paul, and was considered papabile (a possible pope) before the election of Benedict and still could be, depending on the length of Benedict’s Pontificate.

Podcasts