Farm Tech Spotlight

What Are Podcasts and RSS Feeds?

Automatic delivery of ag news and audio programming to your computer

The term “podcasting” comes from the words “iPod” and “broadcasting.”  If you have a teenager, then you’re likely familiar with the ubiquitous iPod. Kids use them to listen to music.  But iPods (or MP3 players in general) aren’t just for kids.  They can be a valuable tool for getting information you can use on your farm.

For example, the Red River Farm Network posts podcasts of their daily farm broadcasts on their website (www.rrfn.com). By subscribing to these podcasts, the audio files are automatically downloaded to your computer for listening at your convenience.

The good news is you don’t need an iPod to listen to podcasts. You can either listen to them right on your computer. Or, if you like portability, you can opt to transfer the podcast to an iPod or other MP3 player and bring it along in the truck or tractor cab.

There are a number of free podcast services available. Perhaps the most popular is iTunes (www.apple.com/itunes -- Click the “Download now” button and follow the instructions to install it on your computer).

RSS Feeds
In addition to podcasts (which include audio and/or video content) you can also subscribe to text-based content.  These are called RSS feeds which stands for “Real Simple Syndication.”

RSS feeds include article headlines, summaries and links back to full articles on the web.  RSS uses XML technology to syndicate web content, sending it directly to your desktop, your web browser, or a web-based RSS reader.  That way, instead of visiting a specific web site to search for news articles or clogging your email box up with subscriptions, RSS feeds simply alert you when content of interest appears on your favorite websites (Note however, that not all websites offer RSS feeds).  Often times, sites will use RSS symbols similar to these to designate that they offer RSS feeds.

For example, the National Agricultural Statistics Service has both a “News and Coming Events” RSS feed, and a feed available for all their reports (www.nass.usda.gov).

Using RSS requires a special news reader (sometimes called an aggregator) that displays RSS content from the web sites you select. There are many different readers available. Most function as desktop software that you download and install on your computer. However, several web-based news readers are available too. One such “web-based” service is “My Yahoo!”  Simply sign up for a free account at Yahoo (www.yahoo.com – Click the “Free mail: Sign Up” link toward the right side of the screen).

To help you get started, we have developed a step-by-step tutorial to walk you through the process of subscribing to podcasts and RSS feeds which can be downloaded at www.smallgrains.org/podcast.pdf.  Have fun!

Podcast Sites
Red River Farm Network (www.rrfn.com)  – Daily broadcasts are broken down into Country Morning, Agriculture Today, and Closing Markets.

Economic Research Service Broadcasts (www.ers.usda.gov) – Broadcasts about the economics of food, farming, natural resources, and rural America.

National Agricultural Statistics Service (www.nass.usda.gov) – NASS currently provides free podcasts of their broadcast reports. These are discussions of the latest USDA ag production reports and other news.

Of course, you can also subscribe to popular national programming, such as NPR’s Talk of the Nation or NBC’s Meet the Press, for example, directly from their websites.

RSS Sites
National Agricultural Statistics Service (www.nass.usda.gov) – Free RSS feeds of their reports

USA.gov (www.usa.gov
/Topics/Reference_Shelf/Libraries/RSS_Library/Agriculture.shtml) – Lists RSS feeds for Agriculture, the Environment and Energy

National Agriculture Library (www.nal.usda.gov) – RSS feeds on a number of agricultural topics

Chicago Board of Trade (www.cbot.com/cbot/pub/page/0,3181,1931,00.html) – A number of reports relating to the CBOT.

Again, you can also subscribe to popular national news service feeds such as Reuters, the Wall Street Journal, and MS/NBC for example.