Having Your Say
Forums
A few sites have forums where other users can post messages for reading and responding. (These facilities can be called newsgroups, discussion groups, bulletin boards, guestbooks, Letters to the Editor, or soapbox).
on 31/10/03@griculture Online - Successful Farmer magazine
One of the most conspicuous features of this substantial site is its discussion forums where messages can be posted and read. While it is a US site, and so most messages are from US farmers, others (including Australians) also post messages. Of course, some US messages could be equally relevant to Australian farmers. There is a wide range of forums including on farm business, land, marketing, news, women in agriculture, weather, computing, IPM talk, machinery, marketplace, and precision agriculture.
Other features include agriculture news reports with worldwide agricultural news stories updated hourly and news articles, email advice of agricultural news, and articles from Successful Farming magazine, covering topics such as machinery, news, markets and technology. A "Link Ranker" is a directory of Web sites with user ratings. "Blue ribbon" services for subscribers include 45 different market reports daily, marketing advice, and @g Innovator daily, including moderated discussion groups.
on 31/10/03Farm Journal Today
Included here for its forum for discussion topics and chat rooms with scheduled conferences.
on 27/01/04Rangeland
http://www.rangeland.com.au/See under Agricultural Auction Sites and Markets. This site is included here for its 30 plus discussion forums on a variety of agriculture related subjects.
on 06/02/04RegionalAustralia.gov.au
http://www.regionalaustralia.gov.au/forums/index.cfmSee under Government Services. This site is included here for its numerous discussion groups for rural and regional Australians.
on 27/01/04Tackroom.com.au
http://www.tackroom.com.au/See under Agricultural Auction Sites and Markets. This site is included here for its numerous discussion forums and chat room relating to equine animals and accessories.
Newsgroups
Below are listed usenet newsgroups that are directly relevant to agriculture. We have hyper-text linked them so clicking on their URL will call up your browser's news server and the headers for the group concerned.
news:alt.agriculture
news:alt.agriculture.beef
news:alt.agriculture.commodities
news:alt.agriculture.fruit
news:alt.agriculture.misc
news:alt.agriculture.technology
news:alt.sustainable.agriculture
news:bionet.agroforestry
news:clari.biz.industry.agriculture
news:clari.biz.industry.agriculture.releases
news:sci.agriculture
news:sci.agriculture.beekeeping
news:sci.agriculture.poultry
news:sci.agriculture.fruit
news:sci.agriculture.ratites
Mailing lists
Mailing lists are an enormously useful communication and information-gathering tool. The basic operation of a mailing list is that you "subscribe" by sending an email with a message such as "subscribe" to the list operator (there is no charge). Any subscriber can then send a message to the list, and every subscriber receives every message sent.
Subscriber numbers can range from a handful to many thousands. As a result, some mailing lists can become very active, with perhaps dozens of messages posted per day. Some mailing lists are available in "digest" version, that is, the messages are collated and sent out only once per day (or per week). Some lists are "moderated", that is, a "moderator" checks each message for relevance and civility; others are "unmoderated". There is a grey area between moderated digests and email newsletters ("e-zines").
It is incredibly simple to start your own mailing list. A number of commercial organisations offer mailing list facilities for free - in return for a short advertisement at the end of each message. A couple sites offering these services are www.Egroups.com and www.topica.com.
on 31/10/03Ozlist
A list of Australian-based email mailing lists, arranged by category (including agriculture).
on 31/10/03The Queensland Department of Primary Industries
The Queensland Department of Primary Industries operates around 30 publicly-accessible mailint lists. The main ones are listed here. The complete list, along with subscription details, are available from http://lists.dpi.qld.gov.au/.
| agwomen-1 | send messages to majordomo@peg.apc.org with the following in the body of your message: subscribe agwomen-l your email address |
| agwebtalk
aussie-agteach-net aussie-beef-net aussie-cotton-net aussic-croc-net aussie-dairy-net aussie-deer-net aussie-fieldcrops-net aussie-fish-net aussie-hort-net aussie-ostrich-net aussie-pork-net aussie-poultry-net aussie-sheep-net aussie-sugar-net PMPNET-L |
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Some Others... | mecis-nn-open | Part of the Meat industry Electronic Communication and Information Systems project at the University of Central Queensland, Rockhampton. The list address is mecis-nn-open@cqu.edu.au. |
| tp |
emailgroup for farmers and friends. To exchange
information, help with computer problems and talk about whatever takes your
fancy. For further information, contact perentie@bigpond.com.
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| welink-l | Part of the research project into the needs of Queensland rural women being conducted by the Queensland University of Technology. Send a message to majordomo@peg.apc.org with the following in the body of your message: subscribe welink-l |
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Following is a list of overseas mailing lists. They are dominated by the USA but used by people from all over the world, including Australia. as of 31/10/03TopicaA searchable directory listing hundreds of email mailing lists and discussion groups. Just enter a topic you are interested in (or browse the directory), and a list of mailing lists/discussion groups covering that topic is returned. This site also let you start your own discussion groups or emailing lists for public or private use free of charge. |
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| AGRIC-L | Send a message to LISTSERV@UGA.CC.UGA.EDU including in the body of the message: subscribe AGRIC-L |
| BEEF-L | Send a message to Listproc@listproc.wsu.edu including in the body of the message: subscribe BEEF-L |
| BEEFTODAY-L | Send a message to Majordomo@angus.mystery.com including in the body of the message: subscribe beeftoday-l |
| DAIRY-L | A very active list. It is also a moderated list, meaning it is vetted by a moderator for relevance (and politeness). Send a message to listserv@umdd.umd.edu including in the body of the message: subscribe DAIRY-L |
| FARM-MGT | Send a message to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU including in the body of the message: subscribe FARM-MGT |
| GRAZE-L | For sheep and temperate climate cattle producers. Even though the host is located in New Zealand most messages are still from the US. Send a message to listserv@taranaki.ac.nz including in the body of the message: subscribe GRAZE-L |
| ICAN_MG | International Communicators in Agriculture Network. Send a message to almanac@ecn.purdue.edu including in the body of the message: subscribe ICAN_MG |
| SHEEP-L | This list allows you to nominate a subset of topics of interest. Send a message to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.UU.SE including in the body of the message: subscribe SHEEP-L |