Uploading and downloading...

It's not everyday you meet someone like Bart Ruth. 


At first sight, Bart's an easy-going, unassuming Nebraska farmer who obviously loves farming. Speak with him for 5 minutes and you begin to see the professional agriculturalist who has done so much for the industry in the US, through promotion of soybeans overseas and globally through his involvement in the Eisenhower Fellowship amongst other groups.


In the 24 hours I've been here, we've planted soybean (no-till), sprayed fertiliser and pre-emergence herbicide and discussed public image issues at length, not all of these at the same time I hasten to add!


Bart's open mind and vision for the future is key to his effectiveness as an industry advocate. This, coupled with his voracious appetite for information (the blackberry didn't stop beeping while we were planting!) keep him informed, so he speaks with authority.


Frustratingly, I find myself struggling to communicate home (a combination of poor Skype connection and lack of mobile coverage), while Bart's constantly soaking up farm and industry information via the blackberry, his son (Geoff) and his agronomist.


Using technology has to-date had it's challenges for many of us, not least adoption of new methods of communication (e.g. Twitter, blogging) and associated costs of mobile access to this information.


Bart proves that you can farm and make use of technology without having to blog (I'm going to teach him the basics later - poor sod!) or tweet. Bart's a great communicator and has spoken at numerous events, but you won't find his stuff on Youtube. LinkedIn is about the only social media that he currently subscribes to.


I guess the lesson is listening (technically known as downloading) is as important as talking (uploading).


So now I'm going to download some more information from Bart while I'm here and stop uploading this blog!!