Deere Offers New Compact Utility and Specialty Tractors

Cindy Zimmerman Leave a Comment

John Deere has announced a new compact utility tractor line up and a new specialty tractor, along with some updates.

The new John Deere 3D Series compact utility tractors, including the 3025D, 3035D and 3043D models, offer a powerful, affordable and easy to use solution for a wide range of jobs. Equipped with a gear-drive transmission and available in three horsepower offerings, the 3D Series tractors are designed to tackle everything from pulling and hauling to cutting and tilling.

“Our customers need rugged, tough machines that can tackle a variety of jobs, just like they do. Whether they own large acreage and want a simple, reliable machine for a variety of jobs, or grow crops, like fruits and nuts, and need a durable support tractor, the versatile 3D Series provides a great solution,” said DeMark Cole, product marketing manager, John Deere. “Customers are demanding a gear-drive transmission in the compact utility tractor market, and our 3D tractors provide just that – a simple, dependable, affordable gear-drive machine.”

In addition, John Deere has added a new tractor to its specialty lineup – the premium high-crop 5115RH – and made ergonomic updates to its model year 2020 5GN and 5GV tractors. John Deere offers a new 5GV cab option for 5GN tractors, and a new optional front hitch for 5GNs.

The new 5115RH with base 230/95 R40 tires provides 26.9 inches (68.3 cm) of crop clearance to the drawbar and 28.6 inches (72.6 cm) of clearance to the center of the axle. Optional factory-installed integrated guidance, documentation and telematics, minimizes crop damage in fields where bedded crops like vegetables are planted.

AgWired Precision, John Deere, specialty crops, Tractor

New ASTA Officers

Cindy Zimmerman Leave a Comment

ASTA officers (LtoR): John Latham, Wayne Gale, and Brad May

The American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) announced its newly-elected officer team this week during the organization’s Policy & Leadership Development Conference (PLDC) in Denver, CO. Members of the FY2019-20 ASTA officer team—officially taking office on July 1 are:

Chair: Wayne Gale, Stokes Seed
First Vice Chair: John Latham, Latham Hi-Tech Seeds
Second Vice Chair: Brad May, BASF

A third generation seedsman, incoming Chair Wayne Gale began his career as a computer analyst and ultimately joined Stokes Seeds in 1984. He has been with Stokes Seeds—a major distributor of vegetable and flower seeds in Canada and the Northeastern United States—for more than 30 years. Gale has served several roles over the years on the ASTA Board of Directors, in addition to serving as President of the First–the Seed Foundation (FTSF). At FTSF, he has been the key driver of Tomatosphere — a hands-on school program that teaches students about plant science through experiments with “space seeds.” The popular program has engaged more than 3 million students across the U.S. and Canada since its inception in 2001. Stokes Seeds is based in Buffalo, NY, and Gale and his wife Isabel live in Fonthill, Ontario, Canada.

ASTA also presented its 2019 Distinguished Service Award this week to Alan Galbreth, who has spent his entire 43-year career in the seed industry working for the Indiana Crop Improvement Association (ICIA), where he was appointed CEO In 2011. He serves on various committees within AOSA/SCST, AOSCA and ASTA, including as Chair of the former ASTA Seed Analyst Liaison Committee and more recently as Chair of the ASTA Seed Industry Relations Committee.

ASTA, Seed

Advancements with Ted Danson to Feature AMVAC SIMPAS

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An upcoming episode of Advancements with Ted Danson will highlight recent advances in agriculture, including AMVAC’s unique SIMPAS® (Smart Integrated Multiproduct Prescription Application System) technology. Viewers will learn about the ISO-based tool, which allows farmers to automate and variably apply multiple inputs across a field.

“SIMPAS fulfills our dream at AMVAC of being able to apply crop inputs to a field in a manner that’s consistent with the way an inkjet printer works. Farmers install SmartCartridge™ product containers into their SIMPAS equipment and prescription software controls where each product is applied,” said Eric Wintemute, CEO of AMVAC. “SIMPAS applies only what’s prescribed precisely where it’s needed, enhancing crop yields while avoiding the expense and environmental loading that have long been associated with treating entire fields to control only the ‘localized problems’ that aren’t uniformly present throughout the field. We think this technology will be game-changing and a big win for farmers and society in general.”

The segment will also show how the SIMPAS software controls the application rate of each product through a patented system, so that farmers can apply prescriptively, exactly where needed. SmartCartridge containers eliminate the need for pouring and mixing crop protection and nutritional products, so worker productivity and safety are improved. Patented SIMPAS software enables agronomist-generated prescriptions to be easily uploaded to automatically create an immutable time-stamped record of product placement; a key element of food-chain traceability.

We got an explanation of the SIMPAS system at the 2018 Farm Progress Show from Simplot Regional SmartFarm Manager Caleb Schultz.

Audio – Caleb Schultz, Simplot, explains AMVAC SIMPAS system


AMVAC at the 2018 Farm Progress Show

AgWired Precision, AMVAC, Audio, Precision Agriculture, Technology

Precision Ag Bytes 6/19

Cindy Zimmerman Leave a Comment

  • InfoAg 2019 is offering a full day pre-conference tour this year of America’s Central Port in St. Louis with an afternoon of field demonstrations on Monday July 22 prior to the conference July 23-25 at Union Station.
  • In conjunction with its year long 125th Anniversary celebration, the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) is issuing five $10,000 grants to non-profit organizations who partner with AEM member companies and/or their distribution networks to cultivate the next generation of the equipment industry’s workforce.
  • After a record number of entries, Syngenta is proud to announce the three finalists in its annual #RootedinAg contest. These finalists, who will each receive a mini touch-screen tablet, will now compete for the grand prize – $500, plus a $1,000 donation to the winner’s favorite local charity or civic organization. The voting period for the contest, now open on the #RootedinAg Contest page, also gives anyone who casts a vote the chance to win a $50 American Express® gift card through a special drawing.
  • Smart Ag, a technology company that develops autonomous farming solutions for row crop agriculture, announced the opening of its headquarters this spring in Ames, Iowa. The 12,000-square-foot facility devotes half of its floorplan to office space for a growing number of employees, currently 25. The other half has been designed to meet Smart Ag’s unique research and development and manufacturing needs.
  • SOIL HEALTH: A Global Imperative, the 4th annual meeting of the Soil Health Institute, will be held July 16 – 18 in Sacramento. Registration is $300 for attendees with a special price of $100 for farmers and students.
  • In celebration of National Pollinator Week (June 17‒23), Syngenta is bringing awareness to a variety of individuals and organizations that champion pesticide product stewardship and help pollinators thrive. All this week, Syngenta is sharing videos on the SyngentaUS Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube channels highlighting people who are practicing pesticide product stewardship and the protection of pollinators.
  • Mahindra & Mahindra’s Farm Equipment Sector (FES) announced an investment in Switzerland based agri technology firm Gamaya SA.
AgWired Precision, Precision Ag Bytes, Precision Agriculture

Two Receive ASTA Honorary Lifetime Member Award

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The American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) Honorary Lifetime Member Award was presented to two seed-industry professionals at the organization’s Policy & Leadership Development Conference this week in Denver.

Blake Curtis, Senior Vice President of Management and Sales for the family seed company Curtis & Curtis, has held a number of volunteer leadership positions over the years. From 1986 to 1995, Curtis served as Caucus Chairman, then Minority Whip, and finally Minority Leader on the New Mexico State Legislature. He has been President of the New Mexico Seedsmen’s Association, a member of the New Mexico State University Board of Regents, and held a variety of leadership positions with ASTA, including Chair from 2012-2013.

John Duesing of Corteva Agriscience, described as a “road warrior and relentless advocate for ASTA and intellectual property protection for seed,” has been an active member of ASTA’s International Executive Committee for the past five years, and has been instrumental in shaping ASTA’s U.S. Plant Variety Protection (PVP) strategy and its involvement in UPOV policy and the International Seed Federation.

AgWired Precision, ASTA, Seed

Renewable Fuels Association Features E85 Can-Am Conversion

Chuck Zimmerman Leave a Comment

Can-Am Ethanol ConversionDuring the Fuel Ethanol Workshop (FEW) this year the Renewable Fuels Association featured a racing Can-Am X3 (2018 model) which has been converted to running on E85. This beautiful vehicle wrapped with the RFA’s “Fueled With Pride” image, has been racing this season. The extra horsepower provided by the E85 fuel has provided a performance boost as you’ll hear RFA’s Robert White say in a conversation I had with him (listen below). TIDD Racing is the team racing the Can-Am and they loaned it to RFA for the FEW.

Can-Am E85 Conversion ChartRobert says that TIDD Racing contacted him to discuss opportunities for more horsepower and torque. So they did some research on companies doing E85 conversions and found Evolution PowerSports who had a pretty simple solution. Robert says the conversion gave the Can-Am an extra 50 horsepower! To promote it at FEW he says they gave away 1,000 t-shirts.

Besides the Can-Am in the RFA booth Robert says the organization was very involved in the Fuel Ethanol Workshop program.

  • Geoff Cooper, RFA CEO, gave the opening keynote address
  • Robert was featured in an Association Roundtable: A Look at Our Industry’s Health, the Strength of Its Policy Foundation and the Best Path Forward to Growing Our Market. He also moderated a panel: Building a Plant Culture that will Attract and Retain Top Talent
  • Kelly Davis moderated a panel: Positioning Your Plant Now to Maximize the Coming Opportunities in Low Carbon Fuel Markets and Carbon Sequestration
  • And as we reported previously, Missy Ruff received the TRANSCAER 2018 Chairman’s Award

You can listen to my interview with Robert here: Interview with Robert White, RFA

AgWired Energy, Audio, Biofuels, Ethanol, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA

Happy Pollinator Week!

Cindy Zimmerman Leave a Comment

The birds and the bees, the bats and the butterflies, and the Bayer Blue Ribbon beekeepers are all in the spotlight this week for the 12th annual National Pollinator Week celebration.

Pollinator Week was initiated and is managed by Pollinator Partnership. Twelve years ago the U.S. Senate’s unanimous approval and designation of a week in June as “National Pollinator Week” marked a necessary step toward addressing the urgent issue of declining pollinator populations.

The Bayer Bee Care Program is celebrating National Pollinator Week by honoring those who are working hard to support bees and other pollinators around the country. The company announced Blue Ribbon Beekeepers to recognize the outstanding achievements of young people who have made a positive impact on their communities through beekeeping or pollinator-related research.

These Blue Ribbon Beekeepers include past winners of the annual Bayer Bee Care Program Young Beekeeper Award, as well as other outstanding up-and-comers in the beekeeping industry. The inductees are:

Catherine Trusky, 17, of Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Hayden Chrisman, 17, of Commerce, Texas
Jake Reisdorf, 16, of Carmel, California,
Jonathan “JD” Murphy, 18, of Denison, Texas
Kate Riding, 15, of Redmond, Oregon
Leo Schirokauer, 18, of Shaker Heights, Ohio
Tucker Leck, 12, of Neodesha, Kansas

Learn more about them from Bayer.

AgWired Precision, Bayer, Bees, pollinators

Animal Ag Bites 6/17

Carrie Muehling Leave a Comment

  • National Beef Packing Company, LLC now owns the Iowa Premium beef processing facility located in Tama, Iowa. This transaction enables National Beef to expand its beef processing operations into the State of Iowa and add over 850 employees to the National Beef family.
  • The American Feed Industry Association is now accepting applications for the 2019 Feed Facility of the Year program. The winners will be recognized at the 2020 International Production & Processing Expo, being held Jan. 28-30, in Atlanta, Ga.
  • The American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) is pleased to announce that Gina Tumbarello, AFIA’s director of international policy and trade, has been reappointed to serve on the U.S. Foreign Agricultural Service’s Agricultural Technical Advisory Committee for Trade in Grains, Feed, Oilseeds and Planting Seeds.
  • The American Feed Industry Association is pleased to announce the addition of Mallory Gaines as its manager of market access and trade policy, effective June 10.
  • Expanding U.S. export markets is vital to the success of American pork producers, but trade disputes with some of our top markets, most notably China, are hampering growth and have caused severe financial harm to U.S. hog farmers, National Pork Producers Council Vice President and Counsel of Global Government Affairs Nick Giordano said at a Global Business Dialogue event in Washington, D.C. Giordano’s full remarks can be read here.
  • Connectiv, the Business Information Association, announced winners of its second annual Connectiv Innovation Awards, which included WATT Global Media in the category of Leveraging Ecosystem Partners. Andy Smith, Director of Innovation & Technology for WATT Global Media, accepted the award at the Connectiv Executive Summit on May 16, 2019. WATT’s award was for “Using Digital Convergent Technology (DCT) to Optimize Production Workflow.”
  • Kristyn Nigon was selected as the 2019 Vita Plus summer intern. She will be working with the Vita Plus Loyal team to gain experience in dairy management and the feed industry, as well as conduct her own research project and learn more about Vita Plus for the duration of the summer.
  • The National Pork Board is seeking applicants for the 2019 student social forces team. The applications are open now through July 8 at Pork.org/SocialForces. The social forces team will advocate for pig farming through social media usage. Selected applicants who successfully complete all outlined milestones will be eligible for a $500 scholarship.
  • U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced that signup begins June 17 for the new Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program, the cornerstone program of the dairy safety net that helps dairy producers manage the volatility of milk and feed prices, operated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency.
AgWired Animal, Animal Bites

ZimmCast 619 – President Trump’s Visit to Ethanol Plant

Chuck Zimmerman Leave a Comment

In this week’s program you will hear from industry attendees to President Trump’s visit to Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy (SIRE) in Council Bluffs, IA.

Included in the program are:
President Trump at SIRE

  • Mike Jerke, CEO, SIRE
  • Craig Floss, President/CEO, Iowa Corn Growers
  • Mike Naig, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture
  • Kevin Ross, farmer and 1st VP, NCGA
  • Monte Shaw, Executive Director, IRFA
  • Geoff Cooper, President/CEO, RFA

Geoff provides a wrap-up of the program since I was able to talk with him after the President had toured the facility and given his speech.

That’s the ZimmCast for this week. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

Listen to the ZimmCast here: President Trump visits Ethanol Plant

AgWired Energy, Audio, Biofuels, Energy, Ethanol, ZimmCast

New Dates for New Ag International InfoAg in Brazil

Cindy Zimmerman Leave a Comment

New Ag International is looking forward to taking two concurrent conferences to Brazil in August 2019.

InfoAg International Conference & Exhibition, a three-day event jointly organised with the International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI), will run in Campinas, São Paulo State, Brazil from 28-30 August 2019. These are new dates.

This event will run concurrently with the largest biocontrol event in Latin America. After the successful Biocontrol LATAM 2016 in Brazil and 2018 in Colombia, the industry is gathering back in Brazil. New Ag International will be taking its Biocontrol LATAM Conference and Exhibition to Campinas Wed 28 – Fri 30 August.

The deadline for the Early Bird Rate ends this Friday June 14, so please register online now to save.

AgWired Precision, Biostimulants, Biotech, Events, New Ag International, Precision Agriculture