Meet Del Birkhofer, the brand new executive director of the swine business for Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Inc (BIVI). Del has 26 years of experience in the animal health industry, working with Merck and Merial, and he is happy to make this move to BIVI at this point in his career. “I was looking at my future and BI is one …
Getting To Know Ag Leader
Here is the next in our series as we introduce you to a few of dedicated precision ag equipment dealers in a series called “Getting to Know Ag Leader”. We caught up with Kevin McIlravy of Precision Ag Results Maddock, ND: 1. From an agronomy standpoint, what do you consider to be the biggest issues facing growers today? I think …
World Ploughing Champ Tire Goes to Mitas
Barbara Klaus, an Austrian driving a New Holland tractor mounted with Mitas tires, took first place in the conventional ploughing world championship held in Olds, Alberta (Canada). Her teammate Margareta Heigl won the silver in reversible ploughing driving a Steyr tractor. John Whelan of Ireland won the reversible ploughing category. Apart from their success in the overall championship’s results, Barbara …
Agri-Pulse Open Mic with Bill Wykes
New on Agri-Pulse this week: Bill Wykes is a soybean farmer and the past chair of the Illinois Soybean Association. He is a strong advocate of biotechnology and utilization of science and innovation in agriculture. Wykes is concerned about regulatory and trade issues facing biotechnology and has encouraged the ISA to host a symposium on the dynamics of international biotechnology./em> …
Professional Development Awards of Excellence
The National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) will honor four recipients of the 2013 Professional Development Awards of Excellence on Wed., Sept. 18 at the NAMA Fall Conference in St. Louis. These awards honor NAMA members based on outstanding achievement in the professional development areas. This year, Awards of Excellence will be presented in the areas of marketing communications, public relations, product/species …
America’s Farmers Food Drive
Nearly 15 percent of households in Illinois face food insecurity, which amounts to an estimated two million people, according to Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger relief organization. In Macon County alone, more than 16,500 people struggle to find food. Families in these farming communities are often busy helping to feed the world, but do not have access to …
BASF DPM is a Gator
Dr. Brianne Reeves with BASF Crop Protection has a DPM from the University of Florida – that would be a plant doctor, not a foot doctor. We interviewed the lovely and talented Dr. Reeves a couple of times this year but I never knew she was a fellow Gator until last week when she talked to the Southern Media Symposium …
Cost of Raising Children Born in 2012
The USDA released its annual report, Expenditures on Children by Families, also known as the Cost of Raising a Child. The report shows that a middle-income family with a child born in 2012 can expect to spend about $241,080 ($301,970 adjusted for projected inflation*) for food, shelter, and other necessities associated with child-rearing expenses over the next 17 years. This …
Doing Corn
These days around our parts, you may hear the phrase “We’re doing corn today” quite often. I think of city folks who go to Hy-Vee or their local grocery store, pick up a few ears of sweet corn for the evening meal, take it home, shuck it and grin as the butter runs down their chin and arms to their …
GROWMARK Report on China Demand
Is demand from China really driving commodity prices? That was the question that GROWMARK economic and market research manager Kel Kelly set out to answer in a recent research report. “Overall the report concludes that China does not have the dominant impact on commodity prices that everyone thinks they do,” said Kelly in an AgWired interview. “The primary reason for …