The third AG CONNECT Expo will be held January 29-31, 2013 at the Kansas City Convention Center, according to the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), which started the global agribusiness trade show in 2010. The show is now on a biennial schedule synchronized with Agritechnica, the global agriculture trade show in Hanover, Germany, owned by the German Agricultural Society, DLG. The two global agriculture trade exhibitions – Agritechnica in Europe and AG CONNECT Expo in North America – coordinated timing of their show dates for the convenience of exhibitors and attendees with global business interests.

“Agriculture today is increasingly global, and AG CONNECT Expo is a global trade show offering industry professionals the best information and the best people possible, without boundaries,” said Tim Merrett with Deere & Company, who is serving as AG CONNECT Expo 2013 chair. “We have succeeded with this goal and will continue to provide a quality gathering place for sharing global agricultural ideas and management trends.”

Exhibit space sales for AG CONNECT Expo 2013 are now open, and deadline is September 15, 2011 to receive priority status with the first round of exhibit space assignments.

AG CONNECT Expo and AEM will be visiting with attendees at the 2011 AMS InfoExpo next week in New Orleans, so we will be sure to find out more there!

Mike says they just announced the addition of advanced seed tube monitoring to their displays. This allows farmers to take their Integra display and monitor singles and doubles in their spacing along with other things. This helps make sure you’re getting the best performance from your planter. Mike says farmers are most interested in auto steering since many haven’t implemented it yet and also planter clutch control which allows section control.

Looking ahead Mike says that he wants farmers to take a look at their OptRx crop sensor technology which allows for on the go variable nitrogen application. He says data they’ve seen from fields using this technology is amazing.

Listen to my interview with Mike here: Interview With Mike Olson

2011 AG CONNECT Expo Photo Album

Dr. Below developed the “Seven Wonders” as a tool to teach farmers the relative importance of management factors that can impact corn productivity, ranking the top seven factors that can positively impact corn yields. “In our quest to grow 300 bushels and to improve crop management, we need to know those management factors that have the biggest impact on yield and make sure we manage those correctly,” he told me during an interview at the AGROTAIN exhibit during AGCONNECT Expo.

Fred ranks weather and nitrogen as the top two corn yield world wonders. “These wonders interact with each other so that every single thing about nitrogen application and use by the plant is affected by weather,” he says. So, while farmers can’t control the weather, they can control nitrogen loss due to the weather. To that end, Dr. Below included SUPERU® (with AGROTAIN technology) as part of a high tech fertilizer package in his studies. “The AGROTAIN technology like SUPERU is designed to mitigate weather-induced nitrogen losses. This lets the plant respond to the nitrogen, rather than have it be lost,” he said. “So preventing nitrogen loss is number one on the list for achieving high yields.”

The other five “wonders” on Dr. Below’s list include: hybrid selection, previous crop, plant populations, tillage and chemicals.

Listen to my interview with Dr. Below here: Dr. Fred Below

2011 AG CONNECT Expo Photo Album

Listen to Harlan explain each of these and what they offer to farmers who want to take advantage of the efficiencies offered by the latest precision products here: Interview With Harlan Little

Leica’s SteerDirect Solutions

The Leica mojoMINI also has a number of new features, making this entry-level display a must-have for any farm operation. The Leica mojoMINI is a great solution for anyone looking for an affordable way to start saving money in the field by enhancing driver accuracy and reducing overlap. Plus, with new features like Boundary Recording, Coverage Mapping and Continue Field, the Leica mojoMINI is even more useful.

2011 AG CONNECT Expo Photo Album

“Feeding the World – 9.3 billion people for dinner in 2050″ is the theme of Alltech’s lecture tour this year that kicked off during AG CONNECT Expo on Saturday. Dr. Mark Lyons, International Project Director for Alltech, says AG CONNECT was a great place for them to start. “We have operations in 90 countries, we’re selling into almost 120 countries,” Mark said. “So for us, it’s an excellent venue. Having a stop in Georgia is one thing, having a stop here at this event is much different.”

Now the lecture tour moves on to stops along the eastern part of the U.S. and then the western part. “We’ll have 23 stops in North America and over 100 stops globally,” Mark said. “It culminates in our symposium in May in Kentucky. It’s a very important part of what we do. We estimate that we get in front of about 20,000 people a year.” There were several hundred at the event in Atlanta.

Listen to my interview with Mark here: Dr. Mark Lyons

Watch Mark’s portion of the lecture tour here:

2011 AG CONNECT Expo Photo Album

Hugh says they now have 23 national and regional organizations that have joined in the alliance with an eleven member board. They just added a board member from the National Milk Producers Federation. Of course, the Chairman is Bob Stallman, President of AFBF! Now that the organizational structure is in place Hugh says the next step is to select or identify a company with a proven track record of creating opinion changes with the general public. He says they are also talking with and open to more organizations joining in and the board just approved a strategy to involve agribusinesses as well. They’ve received proposals from 4 firms to become their legal counsel and hope to have a selection made soon.

You can listen to my interview with Hugh here: Hugh Whaley Interview

2011 AFBF Annual Meeting Photo Album

Dr. Kockler says 66% of their members are farmers and they are completely independent of subsidies, depending on revenue from projects they work on. Their mission is “progress for farming.” He says the AgriTechnica has 2,500 exhibitors. That’s big! In comparison he says AgriTechnica is about 10 times bigger than AG CONNECT in terms of physical size but about the same in terms of educational sessions and content.

You can listen Randall’s interview with Dr. Kockler here: Interview With Dr. Jochen Kockler

2011 AG CONNECT Expo Photo Album

Don says he wanted the farmers attending the show that were here from all over the world to know how good and healthy peanuts are for them. He says peanut butter is more than just a “bread spread.” He also told me that the 2010 season had about every kind of weather condition possible but wound up with a pretty good crop and they expect better weather in 2011.

You can listen to my interview with Don here: Don Koehler Interview

2011 AFBF Annual Meeting Photo Album

You can listen to my interview with Gene here: Interview With Gene Catrambone

2011 AG CONNECT Expo Photo Album

Martin said that one of the differences for this show from last year was having a lot more visitors and he credits having other organizations holding their meetings at the same time with helping. He says the location was very desirable for exhibitors. They use the show to hold their own meetings with dealers and customers. He says they want the show to attract big growers who are looking to invest. He also makes a point about how the show is put on by a non-profit organization, the Association of Equipment Manufacturers. Martin also talks about the relationship with AgriTechnica, the largest European show, and says they have even invested in AG CONNECT Expo. Beginning now the two shows will run in off set years.

You can listen to my interview with Martin here: Interview With Martin Richenhagen

I have several more interviews to post from AG CONNECT Expo but am transitioning over to the AFBF Annual Meeting so I’ll see you from there. Our show photo album is now complete. I hope you enjoy them.

2011 AG CONNECT Expo Photo Album

Cindy and I have more stories that we’ll be posting over the next several days. I’m heading over to the American Farm Bureau Federation Annual Meeting. They’ve got another general session starting real soon. See you from there.

2011 AG CONNECT Expo Photo Album

Betsy says that between 2008 to 2010 they found that the economy had an impact but that they’re still interested in organic and locally grown food although their use of those foods hadn’t really increased during this time. The economy is probably the reason as they are making fewer trips to the grocery store. They also looked at what types of meat they were consuming and found that beef and pork were stable while chicken had declined very slightly. Fresh fruit and vegetable use went down also probably due to the economy. There was a whole part of the study on food safety. In the past two years food safety confidence was steady although it had declined in the time period before this survey. She says the local food movement seems to have hit a plateau in the last couple years. She says that there is a lot that farmers can take away from the study. She thinks it is very important that farmers don’t try so hard to segment what kind of farmer they are, as in organic vs. non-organic and try to work together more.

You can listen to my interview with Betsy here: Interview With Betsy Freese

2011 AG CONNECT Expo Photo Album

Neil was encouraged by the turnout at his session and he hopes they left better able to assess how they can better integrate mobile smartphone technology into their operation. He thinks mobile technology is still in a growth mode but will change how we communicate and work within the industry. The ag industry is no different than others that are being transformed by new technology. He says wifi is also essential on farms to take full advantage of these technologies. He also believes farmer adoption of smartphones is just a matter of time.

You can listen to my interview with Neil here: Interview With Neil Mylet

2011 AG CONNECT Expo Photo Album

The American Farm Bureau Federation Annual Meeting is also in full swing after this morning’s Foundation Flapjack Fundraiser. I did not get to that breakfast but enjoyed one in the AFBF Media Room area with several other reporters. I’m back to the AG CONNECT Expo media room now and getting ready to do some posts and more interviews on the floor. Cindy will be working over at AFBF until I transition over there later today.

We hope you are warm and safe wherever you are.

2011 AG CONNECT Expo Photo Album

2011 AFBF Annual Meeting Photo Album

Han Duk-soo spoke at a town hall forum sponsored by American Farm Bureau during the Ag Connect Expo on Saturday and then held a press conference, accompanied by AFBF’s Congressional Relations Director Chris Garza. “The momentum is very high now, I would say there’s no objections from US industry,” Han said during the press conference. “President Obama is very strong on passing this agreement, so I think it will be submitted to congress by the administration soon and if it is submitted, I think Congress should act within 60 days.” His hope is that it will be finished by the end of June.

Han sees no downside to the agreement for U.S. agriculture. “The beneficial impacts on the part of US exporters of agricultural products into Korea is huge,” he said. “It’s 100 percent beneficial to the US agricultural sector.”

Listen to or download Han’s press conference comments here (questions are not all audible): Han Duk-soo

2011 AFBF Annual Meeting Photo Album

There are 12,000 AG CONNECT Expo and AFBF registrants with more than 60 countries represented outside the U.S. By comparison, the first Expo had 7,700 registrants. There are 382 exhibitors covering 174,500 square feet of space in the trade show that includes the AFBF Pavilion. There are pavilions in the show from Argentina, Brazil, Germany and Italy. The first show had 312 exhibitors. So the show is growing and will now move to a rotation of every other year. The next show will be held back in Orlando, FL, site of the first one.

You can listen to the full update session and download the audio here: AG CONNECT Expo Update Session

2011 AG CONNECT Expo Photo Album

The first of the Town Hall Forums held Saturday at AG CONNECT Expo in the Successful Farming Innovations Theater was “The Shrinking Environmental Footprint of Agriculture” which was moderated by former National Resources Conservation Service chief Bruce Knight, a third-generation rancher, farmer and conservationist from South Dakota. He says he’s amazed by the progress in agriculture just in his lifetime is amazing. “I think about my own father coming home from World War II and still using horses to put up hay. I got started using 16 foot equipment. Now we’re using GPS guidance systems. It is an incredible adventure for all of us in agriculture.”

Two excellent presenters provided some good information for people in agriculture to know and share about how American farmers and ranchers continue to produce more food while using less natural resources. Karen Scanlon, executive director of the Conservation Technology Information Center, talked about advancements in row crop production. “It’s fortifying for farmers and those who support farmers to recognize that there have been impressive achievements in the last few decades and it’s also encouragement that we can continue to do more.”

Dr. Jude Capper of Washington State University, a livestock carbon footprint expert, talked about the importance of looking at the footprint in terms of the production, not the animal. “Compared to 1944, now we have bigger cows, they eat more feed, but they also give more milk, so milk yield per cow has increase four fold since 1944,” she explains. “We’ve cut cow numbers by 60 percent, but we also make 59 percent more milk, so that cut the total carbon footprint per gallon of milk, which is huge.”

I interviewed Bruce, Karen and Jude about conservation, carbon footprints and sustainability which you can listen to or download – or both!

Listen to my interview with Bruce here: Bruce Knight

Listen to my interview with Karen here: Karen Scanlon

Listen to my interview with Jude here: Dr. Jude Capper

2011 AG CONNECT Expo Photo Album

Here are (l-r), Ray Prock, Jeff Fowle and Nate Taylor. They each took turns talking about Twitter and then answered questions. Our session today covered the importance of social media, technology/tools, Twitter and Facebook after which participants broke up into groups. I hope we’ll see more of these at various events throughout the country during the year. I’m working on one to take place at the Western Farm Show in Kansas City, MO next month. More on that later.

Photos have been updated in our AG CONNECT Expo photo album and Cindy and I have a lot more stories to come as the show rolls on and we transition over to the American Farm Bureau Federation annual meeting which gets into full swing tomorrow morning with the opening general session.

2011 AG CONNECT Expo Photo Album

According to Thomas the economy is recovering but at a very slow pace. I asked him if there was room for optimism and he said it was more like “less room for pessimism.” He says that things are pretty good for the ag sector of the economy. With people around the world building wealth they’re spending more on food. As he put it, “It doesn’t look too bad right now.” and “The world is getting wealthier and as it does that it is changing its diet.” He doesn’t see this trend reversing. I thought he made an interesting observation that in talking with ag groups they “have a good sense of history.” So the bottom line is that the ag sector is relatively healthy compared to the rest of the economy but we should keep in mind that the world has changed, mostly for the better, and make financial decisions accordingly.

You can listen to my interview with Thomas here: Thomas Cunningham Interview

2011 AG CONNECT Expo Photo Album

The winners from left to right are:
Next Generation of Ag Award — Elliott Marsh from Statesboro, Georgia
Ag Woman of the Year — Beverly Hall from Baxter, Tennessee
Community Advocate Award — Ray Bowman from Frankfurt, Kentucky

You can see more photos from the opening ceremony in the
2011 AG CONNECT Expo Photo Album

In the meantime you can check out our photo album from the link below. It’s growing by the hour!

The preview day is history and it’s party time in Atlanta.

Post Update: You can listen to the opening ceremonies here: AG CONNECT Expo Opening Ceremonies

Here’s an edited video version of the opening ceremonies:

2011 AG CONNECT Expo Photo Album

Now we are starting the second AG CONNECT Expo, which will be held every other year after this year, and Charlie says the show has really come together this year to be what they envisioned. “It’s certainly a larger footprint than we had last year,” Charlie says. “It feels like people really stepped it up a little bit more this year and it’s really looking good on the show floor this year.”

Charlie says it worked out very well for them to team up with American Farm Bureau, as well as other groups such as the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, to have co-located events. “That’s kind of been the strategy all along is to have key meetings associated with it and then have the trade show and the educational events as part of the trade show. We’re trying to be as efficient as we can with everybody’s time.”

Listen to my interview with Charlie here: Charlie O'Brien

2011 AG CONNECT Expo Photo Album

You can listen to Tim talk about all that’s being offered from John Deere here: Tim Merrett Interview

Follow along with the media touring John Deere during the show:

2011 AG CONNECT Expo Photo Album

Cindy and I are getting ready to head out on the floor and talk with some of the folks that are here. Later this afternoon we’ll live stream the opening Celebration of Agriculture Reception. I’ll have that posted on the top of AgWired this afternoon or you can find it on our AgWired Live TV page.

2011 AG CONNECT Expo Photo Album

I spoke with Josh Daniel, State Vice President from Oconee County, and Beth Hickey, State Vice President
Stephens County, about their involvement in the expo. “We’re helping with some of the educational breakout sessions and with some of the other educational opportunities and tours that AG CONNECT is offering,” Beth told me.

They are both very excited about meeting people from the agriculture industry all over the world. “It’s really a joy to meet people in the industry and seeing the way it’s growing and changing and always learning more about agriculture,” said Josh.

Listen to my interview with Josh and Beth here: Georgia FFA at AG CONNECT

2011 AG CONNECT Expo Photo Album

There are already more media folks here than last year in Orlando. In fact, Julie Harker with Brownfield Network commented that last year it was just her and Chuck here!

I took photos and recorded Julie interviewing show director Sara Mooney, who says they are happy being co-located with the American Farm Bureau annual meeting this year. “We’re really excited about it,” Sara said. “We’re going to have over 380 exhibitors on the show floor with AG CONNECT and American Farm Bureau Trade Show Pavilion.”

In addition to the exhibit hall, Sara says there’s also an extensive education program, with over 30 brand new sessions and topics as well as Innovation Theater sponsored by Successful Farming. The show, which is sponsored by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), officially opens this evening with the grand opening ceremony and will run through Monday afternoon.

Listen to Julie’s interview with Sara here: Sara Mooney

2011 AG CONNECT Expo Photo Album

We’ll be on the floor throughout the next several days conducting interviews, attending educational sessions and taking lots of photos. Speaking of photos, I have started the official ZimmComm photo album: 2011 AG CONNECT Expo Photo Album

Thank you to AG CONNECT Expo for making it possible for ZimmComm to cover this show. It is the 2nd one and we’re looking forward to many more in coming years.

There will be a lot more people at this second event than there were at the inaugural event in Orlando last year and there will be even more educational opportunities – including breakout sessions, the Progressive Farmer Innovations Theater, new Town Hall forums, and Farm Journal Media presents.

Sustainability is the number one issue for agriculture and the first on the agenda for educational breakout sessions starting on Friday at 9:30 am. Business Management is on tap for Friday afternoon from 1:30-2:30 with two concurrent sessions, The Impacts of Risk on Supply Chain Management and Implementing an On-Farm Research Program for Your Farm.

Saturday will have three different time frames with concurrent sessions – a total of 11 different sessions on all kinds of topics including land values, irrigation, precision technology, environmental issues, weather, markets, and even using smart phones on the farm. Sunday sessions in the morning and afternoon will focus on topics such as first aid, financial planning, on-farm wireless internet, no till and timber for biomass.

Two final sessions on Monday morning will answer the questions How Does Your Farm Measure Up? and When Is the Best Time to Buy Your Fertilizer?

There is so much more I can’t get it all in one post – check out the list of educational opportunities here or use the handy search function on the AG CONNECT website to create a customized agenda based on your own personal interests.

This agvocate training session is being conducted by the AgChat Foundation. If you’ve got questions please feel free to send an email to info@agchat.org.

See you there.

Prock said the plan includes a three-hour hour hands-on session featuring ACF Board members and others in the AgChat community as trainers and presenters.

“The training held in Chicago was an incredible success,” Prock says. “We saw farmers start blogs, create Facebook pages and do videos after that. We will be less intense in Atlanta however we think the focused few hours will provide a great base and with the support network participating in these other events, there will be a lot of opportunity to use and further develop these skills.”

Additional details are in development. Questions can be directed to Prock via email at info@agchat.org.