ScanControl In The Palm of your Hand

Chuck Zimmerman

Scan ControlAt first glance the news about ScanControl’s service and software enhancements is pretty difficult to digest. Pretty technical language for one thing and lots of it. That’s why I was very glad to see that they included a link to a flash demo. Pictures speak a thousand words or at least make something like this easier to understand!

You can find the demonstration here.

ScanControl, a global provider of data collection solutions that “put crop management in the palm of your hand,” announced enhanced scalable support for smart phones, Wireless devices, GIS, and barcode technologies in CropTrak™ software, providing vineyards and diverse agricultural businesses with on-demand, cost saving crop sampling and field operation reporting.

CropTrak’s new “Sync over Cellular” wireless synchronization eliminates delays in field data collection by connection through cellular networks to instantly enter and remotely synchronize field data. The benefit of on-demand reporting of crop status and field operations is automatically obtained through immediate updates to databases and spreadsheets, without the time, cost, and labor of returning to the office to manually enter new information.

Agribusiness

Soybean Sun Protection

Chuck Zimmerman

ARS Photo - Soybean PlantThis is an interesting story since it was put out by the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service. I can’t find this iSOY Technology Corporation online anywhere though. It’s nice that they’ve made this announcement but it leaves you with very little information and in my quick search I couldn’t find much either.

SoyScreen, a biodegradable sunscreen derived from soybean oil, could be a step closer to becoming a commercial product for health-conscious consumers. On October 3rd, the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) granted an exclusive license on the patented sunscreen technology (US no. 6,346,236) to iSOY Technology Corporation of Cary, Illinois. The license stems from a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) in which iSOY is working with ARS chemists Joe Laszlo and Dave Compton to scale up production of SoyScreen, as well as create variations of it having different properties.

They developed SoyScreen at the ARS National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research in Peoria, Ill., where 100 full-time scientists explore innovative new ways to create value-added products from U.S. crops, particularly corn and soybeans.

In SoyScreen, they envision a skin- and hair-care product that could expand the market for U.S. soy oil. Of the 17.6 billion pounds consumed domestically, 628 million pounds of soy oil is used for industrial purposes, according to the American Soybean Association’s Soy Stats page.

USDA

Newly Designed Website For O & B

Chuck Zimmerman

Osborn & BarrTheir latest e-newsletter says they have a newly designed website so you know we have to check that out. One of the features that I think is great is video with people who work there telling us about why they believe in their company, Osborn & Barr Communications.

Joe Osborn, president, states that two things make Osborn & Barr unique: “We have elected to specialize in five markets. We are able to bring depth, background and context in each market and we have been fortunate to have blue-chip clients…and the ability to matrix them.” Cheryl Bergeron, creative director; and Kiersten McCarty, associate public relations director are also currently featured on videos. More employees and quotes are found under the Faces section and Work section.

Agencies

Russell Graves, Photographer

Chuck Zimmerman

I’ve been meaning to write about Russell Graves for a while. Finding out that he’s blogging forced me to go ahead. I’ve been receiving his newsletter and am very impressed with his photography and writing. Now you can find him at RussellGraves.com Updates. I’m not posting any pictures because I think you need to go there to see what he does for yourself. If you want the full meal deal then visit his website for an extensive stock photo collection. Here’s what his profile says:

Russell Graves is many things: He’s an agricultural science instructor at Childress High School, and award winning photographer and writer whose credits include many magazine covers and books on wildlife and agricultural subjects. In addition, he’s a keynote speaker. Raised in the tiny Texas town of Dodd City, Russell brings small town humor and values to his presentations. A life spent in close contact with the natural world makes his speeches and photography unique.

Uncategorized

New MBIC Board Member Blue Geier

Chuck Zimmerman

MBIC Report PodcastEach of the next three weeks on the MBIC Report we’ll be featuring the 3 new board members starting with David “Blue” Geier of Region Two, northeast Missouri, who is from California.

You can listen to this week’s MBIC Report here: Download MP3 File

The MBIC Report is an AgWired podcast which you can subscribe to using the link you’ll find on our “Blogs & Podcasts” page or on the newly designed MBIC website.

Ag Groups, Audio, Beef, Podcasts

Missouri Ethanol Groundbreaking Next Week

Chuck Zimmerman

CornTalk podcastCornTalk, a weekly program for the Missouri Corn Growers Association, features an interview with David Vogt, Presidnt of Missouri Ethanol, LLC. Missouri Ethanol, LLC is breaking ground for a new ethanol plant to be built in Laddonia, near Mexico, MO. Vogt talks about the project and the groundbreaking ceremony to be held on November 7.

You can listen to this week’s CornTalk here: Download MP3 File

CornTalk is a weekly AgWired podcast which you can subscribe to using the link you’ll find on our “Blogs & Podcasts” page.

Ag Groups, Audio, Corn, Podcasts

Meet The Guild of Agricultural Journalists

Chuck Zimmerman

Guild of Agricultural JournalistsOnce you get involved with the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) you get exposed to people in many other countries so as time permits I’ll try to draw your attention to interesting things from the international world of ag communications. I just saw a recent e-Alert from the Guild of Agricultural Journalists of Great Britain (GAJ).

The first thing that struck me was the tagline, “Writing, broadcasting and press communications in farming, horticulture and countryside” They have over 600 members. Kind of makes you wonder what ag communications would be like here if our groups all “merged” and work for a common cause.

The GAJ was formed in 1944 and has five main objectives:

To promote a high professional standard among journalists who specialise in agriculture, horticulture and allied subjects.
To represent members’ interests in their relations with representative bodies in the agricultural industry.
To provide a forum, through business meetings and social activities, for members to meet eminent people in the agricultural industry.
To maintain contact with associations of agricultural journalists overseas.
To promote schemes for the education of members of the Guild and for the provision of suitable entrants into agricultural journalism.

The Guild is:

Open to all journalists, PR practitioners and other communication specialists involved in agriculture and horticulture, this professional guild exists primarily to represent the collective interests of its members.

International

Heinert Joins Bader Rutter

Chuck Zimmerman

Bader RutterThis is why I posted that picture of the new FFA Officers. Those are some very impressive young adults who will be found throughout the agribusiness industry as time goes. Take for example, Seth here who’s joined Bader Rutter

Seth Heinert has joined Bader Rutter & Associates as an assistant account executive in the agency’s Lincoln, Neb., office. Prior to joining Bader Rutter, Heinert was a speaker/facilitator for Cross Anchor Presentations. A Hulett, Wyo., native, Heinert holds a bachelor’s degree in animal science from the University of Wyoming. He is active in FFA and has served as a national FFA officer.

Agencies

Almost 12,000 Unique Visitors To AgWired

Chuck Zimmerman

AgWired readership continues to grow. We look at those web stats frequently and the end of the month makes for a good comparison point. So far we’ve had almost 12,000 unique visitors to AgWired and growing daily. We had 133,000 page views last month. Once again last month we had more new visitors and total visits than any previous month by a significant percentage. Our average daily traffic increased too.

Amazingly, although we are a seriously search engine optimized website 93 % of our visitors come directly from typing our url into their browser or from a bookmark. In fact, 35 % of news visitors add us to their favorites. An equal number come from search engines and links from other websites (about 3.5%/ea.). We’ve also had visitors from 72 countries that can be identified with the top ones being European Union, Australia, Slovenia and Great Britain. There are quite a few unidentified’s and I know the EU isn’t a country but they must have their own domain extension.

Someone seems to like what they see I guess. All I can say is “thanks for visiting.” I’m a little overwhelmed by how well AgWired has been received. The kind words of support we’ve received mean a lot. We wouldn’t have this level of traffic if it wasn’t for word of mouth since we haven’t had any budget to do some serious promotion yet. We’d like to do so and are currently seeking the support to make that happen. If you’d like to assist please let us know.

Stay “tuned in” because there’s a lot more to come. Oh, and if you need help setting up your blog, we’ve got a growing list of clients for whom we’re designing and building sites and conducting training. Our rates are reasonable.

Uncategorized

Domestic & International Events Impacting Farm Policy

Keith Good

FarmPolicy.comKey developments in both the domestic and international arenas this past week are likely to have an impact on the future of federal farm policy.

Following on the heels of a $3 billion Senate Agriculture Committee deficit reduction bill, the House Agriculture Committee on Friday passed a similar measure containing $3.7 billion in cuts to federal agricultural spending.

Although both bills contained reductions in direct payments and conservation programs, the House bill included $844 million in cuts to the food stamp program. This provision encountered too much political opposition on the Senate and was not a part of that Committee’s legislation.

Still, each plan will have to be approved by the respective body and then differences will need to be resolved in House Senate conference.

On the international front, the W.T.O. Doha trade negotiations picked up some potential momentum on Friday when the European Union released their counter-offer to a previous U.S. proposal.

However, reaction to the EU’s latest offer was tepid at best.

Saturday’s New York Times noted that, “the proposal came under immediate attack from all directions: from the United States and Brazil for being inadequate and from France for going too far.”

Interestingly, the recent Congressional budget activity and the on-going Doha talks are intertwined.

An editorial in Thursday’s New York Times pointed out that the Senate budget measure contained a provision that “extends the subsidies paid to growers of cotton, rice and other commodities until 2011, subsidies that were supposed to expire in the 2007 farm bill.”

The editorial pointed out that U.S. “trade negotiators say the Senate Agriculture Committee’s move will make their job at the trade organization talks more difficult. It’s hard to preach the free trade gospel abroad when lawmakers at home are busily taking care of their own special interests.”

This is just another reminder of how domestic political activity increasingly has broad ramifications on the world stage.

Keith Good writes The FarmPolicy.com News Summary, an Email newsletter containing a summary of news relating to U.S. farm policy which is published most weekdays. To sign up for this FREE publication, just send an Email to this address.

Farm Policy