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Baxter Black: On The Edge of Common Sense 3-25-13


I came of age listening to Evan Slack every morning on the radio telling us the current market. “Higher, higher, higher!” he’d say. Every week I could read a four-word headline in the Livestock Weekly by Elmer Kelton describing how the sheep market is goin’ to San Angelo in a Handbasket! Then DTN came along. You could have a primitive computer in your own office where Mike Hansen kept you abreast of the commodity market in live time.

Carry yourself into the new century. We still have weekly ag papers, daily radio broadcasts, television has become a factor, not to mention bloggers, consultants, brokers, economists and professors whose content runs from aquaculture to EPD’s! Not only do we have mountains of information, it is offered through a blizzard of sources!

Today those people responsible for bringing you this wealth of ag info are no longer just radio, just internet, just newsletter, just magazine, just weekly paper, just television, or just blogger. No, they are any number or combination of sources by any number of columnists, reporters, broadcasters, journalists, commentators or salesmen!



Together we have become the AG MEDIA!

The title of Ag Reporter still rings true, but to bring our job description into this century we need a better honorific. Just flippin’ through the pages of my brain I came up with AgCaster, AgMan, AgNouncer, AgTattler, AgTeller, AgPositor, AgMonger, AgaMemnon, maybe AgCap for captain, AgScatter which has a musical lilt to it and could refer to scattering seeds or, of course, scattering manure … either of which is appropriate, but I particularly wouldn’t mind being called an AgMeister.



“And that’s the corn news for tonight! This is your AgMeister Rich Hawkins, along with Joe Cornely, the Tassle King signing off. To hear a replay please tune into my Ear Book, brought to you by Bio Popcorn which gives you your minimum daily requirements of Cumadin, Vitamin A and insulin … in your choice of flavors; Vinegar Sea Salt, BBQ or Garlic and Onion!”

Which brings me into the second and equally essential part of Ag Media; sponsors! In virtually any project, nothing happens until someone puts up the money! You might think if you are forced to pay money to watch cable, satellite, on-line, or rabbit ears, you should not have to watch commercials. Wrong! Imagine watching the DirecTV logo 24 hours a day. Advertisers pay to be on shows. Shows pay to be on Networks. Networks pay to be on cables and satellite providers. Everybody pays their part.

On the other hand, a huge portion of what we see in commercials on U.S. Farm Report and RFDTV are informative and educational. The AgMedia and their sponsors are a big part of our continuing education, in addition to keeping us in touch with fellow farmers and ranchers across the country. They are the “net” in our network.

Well, that’s it for this column. This is Baxter, your BozoAgMeister, representing the non-educational, seedier side of AgMedia. Like I said there’s a place for us all! ❖


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