Iraq Seed Industry Needs Help

Chuck Zimmerman

Iraq FlagI don’t know if this provides some opportunity for a U-S business but according to the latest FAO release there’s a real shortage of quality seed in Iraq. Perhaps some of our companies here could help out? Anyone know of this already being done?

Rebuilding Iraq’s collapsed seed industry – Country has suffered severe losses of important seeds – FAO appeals for $5.4 million

8 August 2005, Rome – Iraq’s seed industry has collapsed and the country is currently not able to meet farmers’ needs for improved crop varieties, FAO warned today. The lack of high-quality seeds could seriously threaten Iraq’s food security situation, the UN agency said.

High-quality seed is one of the most critical inputs for sustainable agricultural production. FAO has launched an appeal for a $5.4 million project to rebuild the national seed industry.

Iraq had a relatively stable and functioning public-sector controlled seed industry before the war in 2003. After the war, research and seed production facilities have greatly deteriorated.

Official Iraq Government Website (I couldn’t seem to get the “English” version though)

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Blogosphere Behavior Analyzed

Chuck Zimmerman

Comscore NetworksNow for some serious research on the online activity of blogs. The folks at Comscore Networks have released the results of a study that you might find interesting. It doesn’t have a breakout for farmers but I think you will gain some insight into even their media usage from this. I am still asked by professional marketing people “what is a blog?” and even after explaining I’m sure some of the folks I’ve spoken with still wonder if anyone would visit a “blog.” Well they do and in a serious and growing way. For example, in this study they report a 45 % increase in visits from internet users to the 400 blog domains they analyzed in the last year! I found this study thanks to a link on the Fast Company weblog. Here’s some tidbits from their news release and you can also view the full report here.

50 Million Americans Visited Blogs During the First Quarter 2005, According to New comScore Study
First Comprehensive Study of the Actual Online Behavior of Blog Visitors Now Available

RESTON, Va., Aug. 8, 2005 – comScore Networks today released a report detailing the scale, composition and activities of audiences of Weblogs, commonly known as “blogs.” The report, which was sponsored in part by Six Apart and Gawker Media, found that nearly 50 million Americans, or about 30 percent of the total U.S. Internet population, visited blogs in Q1 2005. This represents an increase of 45 percent compared to Q1 2004.

Other key findings of the Behaviors of the Blogosphere report include:

* Five hosting services for blogs each had more than 5 million unique visitors in Q1 2005, and four individual blogs had more than 1 million visitors each

* Of 400 of the largest blogs observed, segmented by eight (non-exclusive) categories, political blogs were the most popular, followed by “hipster” lifestyle blogs, tech blogs and blogs authored by women

* Compared to the average Internet user, blog readers are significantly more likely to live in wealthier households, be younger and connect to the Web on high-speed connections

* Blog readers also visit nearly twice as many web pages as the Internet average, and they are much more likely to shop online

“The fact that we found 30 percent of the online population to have visited blogs clearly underscores the commercial importance of consumer generated and driven media,” said Dan Hess, senior vice president of comScore Networks. “It’s noteworthy that while the blog audience is already quite large and growing, its demographic composition relative to the total population will appeal to many marketers.”

For more information contact Jeremy Shermak.

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Cows As Living Billboards

Chuck Zimmerman

Painted CowsNot only is this an interesting way to advertise but it’s in my home county of Sarasota, FL. I was alerted to the story on Adrants and the images and story information comes from NBC6.net. Basically the Golden Palace online casino dyed the cows and to make the PETA people happy they dyed “Go Veg” on the other side. The owner says “the cows are just happy they weren’t branded.”

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Food Policy Conference Announced

Chuck Zimmerman

Food Policy ConferenceThis looks like an interesting conference, especially if you’re interested in reaching consumers with a food message. You can find the conference brochure here and registration information here.

Held each year, the National Food Policy Conference is a key national gathering for those interested in agriculture, food and nutrition policy. The Conference is coordinated by the Consumer Federation of America, in cooperation with the Food Products Association. This year’s two-day conference will highlight an examination of consumer behavior and attitudes towards food, and a discussion of agricultural subsidies. Now in its 28th year, the conference is held at Washington’s National Press Club. Major speakers include leaders from government, the food industry, public health organizations, and the consumer community, addressing issues related to food safety, nutrition, biotechnology, and food and agriculture policy.

Ag Groups

Livestock Sales Blog

Chuck Zimmerman

Perkins Livestock SalesI’m always on the lookout for how someone’s using a blog in the ag world. The ever alert Cyndi Young, Brownfield Network, sent me a link to this site. It’s for Perkins Livestock Sales, Inc. It’s their website and they post information on it about their sales and that they think will be of interest to their customers. Shows you how you can use a blog!

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FFA Live On RFD-TV

Chuck Zimmerman

FFAOnly one more FFA convention in Louisville, KY. Get a preview of what it will be like on FFA Live on RFD-TV

FFA Live! on RFDTV Announces Aug. 29 Show
INDIANAPOLIS – Mark your calendars now for the next FFA Live! show on RFD-TV. The show will run from 8-9p.m. eastern (7-8 p.m. central) on Monday, Aug. 29, and will have a special feature on Expedition Chesapeake—a 30 day, 355 mile on the water
journey through the Potomac River Basin ending at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Agriculture teacher Eric Fitzgerald and 16 of his students (all FFA members) from Turner Ashby High School in Rockingham County, Va., studied the connection between the rivers and the Chesapeake Bay and the critical role farmers can play in reducing pollution in our waterways when they are provided with tools and resources to do so. Eric and two students will share their experiences and some of the valuable scientific information they collected with the help of a probe supplied by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

National FFA officers Emily Horton and Jay Kelley will reveal plans for the 78th National FFA Convention, Oct. 26-29— the last convention in Louisville, Ky., before FFA makes the move to Indianapolis.

For more information contact William F. Stagg, 317-802-4243.

Media

WTO Makes Several Appointments

Chuck Zimmerman

World Trade Organization Hong Kong MinisterialA couple of announcements from the World Trade Organization. You know there’s a very important meeting in Hong Kong this December and AgWired hopes to cover it live.

Hong Kong Commerce Secretary elected chair of the Sixth Ministerial Conference

The General Council, on 29 July 2005, elected Mr. John Tsang, Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology of Hong Kong, China, as the chair of the Sixth Ministerial Conference.

Elected vice-chairpersons were: Austria’s Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Labour Dr. Martin Bartenstein; Barbados’ Senior Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Antoinette Miller; and Nigeria’s Minister of Commerce Idris Waziri.

Meanwhile, the General Council chair Amina Mohamed announced that the new New Zealand ambassador, Crawford Falconer, is the consensus candidate to replace Mr. Tim Groser as chairperson of the agriculture negotiations and the Cotton Sub-Committee from 1 August 2005.

And in another important announcement:

Lamy announces his four Deputy Directors-General

Director-General Designate Pascal Lamy informed the General Council of the four people he has chosen to be his deputy directors-general. Mr. Lamy, who assumes office on 1 September, told the General Council in a statement that he has selected Alejandro Jara of Chile, Valentine Rugwabiza of Rwanda, Harsha Singh of India and Rufus Yerxa of the United States. Their terms of office will begin on 1 October.

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Live Webcast of Indiana Crop Outlook

Chuck Zimmerman

Brownfield NetworkIf you want to know the latest about the Indiana crop then you’ll want to be online August 12.

Brownfield Streams Indiana Crop Report at the State Fair
Indianapolis, Indiana August 1, 2005—Brownfield, America’s Ag News Source will stream a “live” Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service crop report briefing on Aug.12 at 9:00 a.m. in the Our Land Pavilion at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.
The briefing will cover the crop estimates released that day by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. Discussing Indiana’s agricultural situation will be Lt. Governor Becky Skillman, who serves as Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development; Andy Miller, Director of Indiana Agriculture and Chris Hurt, Purdue Extension Economist. Dean Randy Woodson of Purdue Agriculture will be the moderator and Brownfield farm broadcaster Gary Truitt will host the event.
“The weather this summer has made crop yields very difficult to estimate. This will be the first official estimate of this year’s crop and will set the tone for the market for the rest of the marketing year,” said Truitt.
The event is open to the public and will also be carried live on the web by Brownfield. Producers who want to listen to the Webcast will find a link on the Brownfield homepage at www.brownfieldagnews.com.

For more information contact Lane McConnell: 573.556.1242 or Cyndi Young: 573.556.1229.

Media

DTN Going Mobile

Chuck Zimmerman

Data Transmission NetworkWhile people in some of the traditional media are still trying to hold on to the good old days DTN is working hard to transition to the future. I haven’t seen them publish a farmer media usage study and yet they’re moving forward. I used to work there so I know it’s not any easier for them to change than anyone else. They were the cutting edge of information delivery with the satellite-delivered weather, market and news data. But people need to be mobile. That was always one problem with the “old system.” You had to be there in front of the monitor to get it. Now you don’t!

DTN Launches Mobile Product
DTN Mobile™ provides real-time market information, weather and ag news via cell phone, SmartPhone or PDA

OMAHA, Neb. — DTN, a leading business-to-business provider of real-time information services, announces the launch of DTN Mobile™, a service that gives agriculture professionals access to real-time market information, weather, and news via mobile phones and PDAs.

DTN Mobile, customers now have even greater access to a complete package of market analysis and commentary, real-time quotes, and highly-localized weather and agriculture industry news—even when out in the field. A companion to DTN’s online and satellite services, DTN Mobile enables users to always stay in touch with the information they need while on the move.

“DTN Mobile extends the great value our customers receive from DTN”, according to Robert Gordon, chief executive officer, DTN. “They can now access the time-critical information that they rely on each day while out in the field or away from the office”.

In addtion to DTN Mobile the company has also annouced several other new products including:

DTN Dairy™, the industry’s only source of comprehensive dairy-specific market, weather and news information available directly to customers with a single subscription.

DTN Grains™, which delivers real-time market, weather, agriculture news and production information specifically tailored to individual U.S. grains producers.

DTN Livestock™, the industry’s only direct source of comprehensive livestock-specific market, weather and news information available to producers with a single subscription.

For more information contact Sandi Scott.

Media

ZimmCast With Kim Lang

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast 28 - Kim LangThis week’s ZimmCast is an interview with Kim Lang, Valmont Irrigation. It’s one of several I conducted at the recent Agricultural Media Summit. Kim talks about a niche product they’re testing on carrot farms in California. In order to gain greater acceptance and entry into this lucrative market her company has created a product to sort of “open the door.” Then I’m sure they hope to find access to other markets for their products.

You can listen to my interview with Kim here Download MP3 File

Dual Span PivotHere’s a picture of what a dual span system looks like. This is the product Kim talks about in her interview.

Some of you may know this but Kim was my boss once upon a time at DTN. That’s a few years ago now. I just found out that Kim’s going back to DTN, starting August 22 as Director of Advertising! How about that for coming full circle?

Ag Media Summit, Agribusiness, Audio, Podcasts, ZimmCast