BASF Donates to Hurricane Florence Relief

Cindy Zimmerman Leave a Comment

BASF is helping support Hurricane Florence disaster relief efforts in North Carolina.

BASF has donated more than $150,000 in funds and supplies to the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina and the American Red Cross-Greater Carolinas, including equipment such as generators and extension cords. The donations were made on behalf of BASF employees at its Research Triangle Park and Charlotte locations.

The Food Bank donation of $50,000 will provide an additional 250,000 meals, water, and non-food essentials to partner agencies who are currently distributing needed resources to the thousands affected by the hurricane. “The Food Bank of Central & Eastern Carolina is one of our valued community partners in the Raleigh-Durham region and this donation helps families that are going through extreme food insecurity as a result of the hurricane,” said Paul Rea, Senior Vice President, BASF Agricultural Solutions located in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.

The American Red Cross is providing a range of relief services to those impacted by the hurricane in Charlotte and surrounding communities, including meals, snacks, overnight shelter, and mental health and health transportation. “Many BASF families live and work in the greater Charlotte area. We believe it is our responsibility to support the community, and areas surrounding our site, in their recovery from the impacts of Florence,” said Gerry Podesta, Senior Vice President, BASF Dispersions & Resins located in Charlotte, North Carolina.

AgWired Precision, BASF

Zimfo Bytes 10/19

Carrie Muehling Leave a Comment

  • Amy Rohweder joins Charleston|Orwig as media buyer and planner.
  • The new Food and Farm Facts Junior edition, produced by the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture, is now available. Copies of Food and Farm Facts Junior may be purchased for $3.00 each. A price break is available for purchases of 25 or more ($2.00 each). Visit http://bit.ly/FFFJR18 for more information and to order copies.
  • The new addition to the IFYE Association of the USA, Inc. (formerly International Farm Youth Exchange) program adds the opportunity not only to live with a host family, but to job shadow professionally with a member of the family as well. A pilot program implemented by Syngenta recently ended a successful exchange with Lisa Schmid, an IFYE from Germany. She job shadowed and lived with three Syngenta professionals who work at the company’s Minnetonka, Minnesota, location.
  • Next week, the city of Indianapolis will transform into a sea of blue jackets when the National FFA Convention & Expo kicks off for the ninety-first time. This time-honored tradition, where innovators and leaders of tomorrow come together, will be held in the Circle City Oct. 24-27, 2018.
  • Swanson Russell has been selected as agency of record for the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board.
  • Scott Partridge, former vice president of global strategy for Monsanto, now part of Bayer, has been named the company’s U.S. General Counsel.
Zimfo Bytes

Export Exchange Pre-Tours Underway

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Export Exchange team from Mexico visits Kansas in 2016 (USGC photo)

The 2018 Export Exchange starts next week in Minneapolis, but many teams of international buyers are already here in the United States participating in pre-event tours around the Midwest.

The tours include three teams from Mexico who will visit Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Kentucky and Iowa to see U.S. corn, sorghum and distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) production and supply as well as assess current crop conditions during their stops. Two teams are visiting states before Export Exchange and one will be visiting after the event concludes.

In addition, a trade team interested in corn and DDGS from Vietnam will visit Illinois after participating in Export Exchange. While in Illinois, the Vietnamese party will engage in specialized crop tours of the 2018 corn harvest, as well as visit an ethanol plant and trans-loading facility.

Export Exchange is a biennial educational and trade forum for U.S. feed grains sponsored by the U.S. Grains Council (USGC), the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) and Growth Energy that will host approximately 200 international buyers and end-users organized into 21 USGC trade teams. It will be held Oct. 22-24 in Minneapolis.

Corn, distillers grains, Ethanol, Exports, USGC

Timac Agro USA Launches Accelerated Leadership Program

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Timac Agro USA, a leading provider of crop nutritional solutions, has launched an Accelerated Leadership Program to recruit candidates to join their team of visionaries in the agricultural industry.

Candidates under consideration for this new leadership program will be emerging college students with work experience in the range of 5 years. They will undergo an in-depth training process with a professional rotation of key business units over a 4-month period. Candidates will be recruited and interviewed in 2018 for an enrollment in the 2019 program. Submission deadline is November 23, 2018. Resumes are to be submitted via the Accelerated Leadership Program web page.

“Timac Agro USA is committed to continuous innovation in agriculture and customer satisfaction. Training new leaders will encourage fresh ideas, new growth and success for the company. We look forward to welcoming new team members,” said Alexandre Goullier, CEO Timac Agro USA.

Enrollees in the program will rotate through several divisions of the organization including finance, operations, sales and supply chain and then placed in the leadership role where they can further develop their skills and be mentored by other leaders within Timac Agro USA.

Learn more here.

Agribusiness, AgWired Precision, careers, Education

Triazole Chemistry Sets Lucento Apart

Cindy Zimmerman Leave a Comment

When FMC’s Lucento fungicide is approved for use later this year in corn, soybeans and peanuts, it will offer a new, effective tool for managing fungicide resistance.

“The first thing that sets Lucento apart is the triazole part of that chemistry, that flutriafol,” said FMC Technical Service Manager Matt Wiggins during a recent field day in Sparks, Georgia. “You’re getting the most systemic, longest-lasting residual triazole in the market.”

Wiggins says Lucento is flutriafol plus the SDHI bixafen, which adds additional leaf spot and rust control and helps control resistance. “Now we’re fighting those hard to control diseases with multiple modes of action and we’re seeing a pretty good yield boost with it,” Wiggins added.

Lucento is expected to receive approval by the end of this year to be available for growers in 2019. Learn more in this interview – Matt Wiggins, Technical Service Manager, FMC

Lucento fungicide is not registered for sale or use in the United States. No offer for sale, sale or use of this product is permitted prior to issuance of the required EPA and state registrations.

2018 FMC Georgia Field Day Photo Album

AgWired Precision, Audio, Corn, Crop Protection, FMC, Fungicide, Peanuts, Soybean

Vice President Visits Sunbelt Ag Expo

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Vice President Mike Pence spoke to farmers at the Sunbelt Ag Expo in Moultrie, Georgia Tuesday and toured agricultural damage caused by Hurricane Michael.

“A once-in-a-generation storm that dealt a direct and devastating blow to Florida’s panhandle and Sunbelt’s farm country,” said Pence, who visited Decatur County and toured a feed mill damaged in the storm.

Listen to the Vice President at Sunbelt –
VP Mike Pence addresses 2018 Sunbelt Ag Expo

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, former governor of Georgia, accompanied Pence and his wife Karen on their tour of the state. Pence was briefed on the agricultural damage by Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black, who was interviewed by Randall Weiseman of Southeast AgNet about the extent of the hurricane’s destruction.

Listen to that interview here –
Southeast AgNet interview with Gary Black, GA agriculture commissioner

Randall also caught up with Alabama Farmers Federation President Jimmy Parnell at Sunbelt and asked him about the damage in the Southeast corner of Alabama.

Listen to that interview here –
Southeast AgNet interview with Jimmy Parnell, ALFA president

Audio, Government, Sunbelt Ag Expo

Precision Ag Bytes 10/17

Carrie Muehling Leave a Comment

  • Headed into the last quarter of 2018, U.S. sales of tractors and combines were in the plus column overall, according to the latest report from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers.
  • The American Society of Agronomy will provide a corn nitrogen use efficiency webinar sponsored by Verdesian Life Sciences on Tuesday, December 4, 2018 from 11 am – 12 pm Central, 12 pm – 1 pm Eastern. Register here.
  • Backed by research and development from the Propane Education & Research Council, the 2Fuels dual fuel system technology allows producers to bring diesel engines into compliance with ever-increasing emissions standards without purchasing new equipment. Producers purchasing dual fuel systems can also qualify for the Propane Farm Incentive Program for additional savings of up to $3,000. More information about this program is available at www.propane.com/farmincentive.
  • USDA’s National Organic Program is working to make it a little easier for certifiers and businesses to export organic products to Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and Mexico. The organic industry may now utilize the USDA Electronic Trade Document Exchange System (eTDE) to submit and approve organic export certificates and send them to participating foreign trade partners. Foreign trade partners can electronically review information about shipments leaving the U.S., validate printed export certificates, and pull electronic certificates directly into their own systems.
  • As part of Get To Know GMOs Month, GMO Answers created a new graphic that explains what the term GMO stands for. Recent research shows that Americans don’t know that much about GMOs, and want to know more about the technology, and the new graphic focuses on the basic of GMOs.
AgWired Precision, Precision Ag Bytes

Manito Transit acquires Baucom Truck Service

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Manito Transit is continuing its expansion effort with the acquisition of Baucom Truck Service, a trucking company based in Camp Point, Illinois.

General Manager Jim Bobitt says the acquisition will improve capacity in southern Illinois and southeastern Missouri. “We’re here to support our FS member network and service is definitely a priority,” said Bobitt. “We’re not trying to grow for the sake of growth. We’re growing where it does support our members.”

Baucom has 27 drivers (a combination of company drivers and owner/operators) that haul propane and anhydrous ammonia, adding to the current Manito Transit fleet of nearly 150 trucks serving customers in 13 states. The company distributes fuel oil, bio diesel, soybean oil, ethanol, chemicals, lubricants, grain and fertilizer for farm, commercial, and industrial use.

Learn more in this interview with Bobitt. Interview with Jim Bobitt, Manito Transit

AgWired Energy, Audio, FS System, GROWMARK, transportation, Trucks

Alltech Trace Minerals Optimize Animal Health

Carrie Muehling Leave a Comment

Alltech is having great success with its organic trace mineral products that mimic nature’s organic trace minerals but are better absorbed by the animal.

“We make the trace minerals in a way that they’re more absorbed and more retained in the body so we have better mineral status,” said Brad Rortvedt, Regional Sales Manager with Alltech. “By having better mineral status in the animal, or in humans, we can have better immunity and better overall performance.”

Research shows using these trace minerals with mature females improves the lifetime performance of their offspring. This could mean seeing heifers reach first sign of estrus more quickly and having a better first service conception rate, for example. Rortvedt was at the 2018 World Dairy Expo, talking with producers about the importance of trace minerals and optimizing performance in today’s dairy industry as genetics continue to improve.

Listen to Jamie’s interview with Brad here: Interview with Brad Rortvedt, Alltech

2018 World Dairy Expo Photo Album

AgWired Animal, Alltech, Audio, Dairy, World Dairy Expo

Insight FS Launches New Website

Cindy Zimmerman Leave a Comment

Insight FS launched the new InsightFS.com website this week to better communicate its products, services and customer connection capabilities.

“We have a broad base of customers, from homeowners looking for home heating solutions to farmers looking for seed, feed and energy,” said Insight FS Marketing Specialist, Angie Greving. “We built a site that could address the needs of each of our audiences and get them to the right contacts for better customer experience.”

The new website utilizes contact forms within each of its divisions to better address the unique needs of customers in agronomy, precision farming, grain marketing, agri-finance, animal nutrition, turf, propane and fuels and lubricants. The site also clearly shows the scope of products and services that are offered at the 22 Insight FS locations throughout Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Insight FS, part of the GROWMARK system, is headquartered in Jefferson, Wis., serving customers in Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

AgWired Precision, FS System, GROWMARK