In just a few days Syngenta Seeds will be holding the grand opening celebration of their new headquarters in Minnetonka, MN and Cindy will be on site to document the celebration in pictures and with interviews.
While I was attending the Farm Progress Show I visited with Syngenta’s Bruce Battles and Tracy Mader in their exhibit about one of their upcoming new traits called Agrisure Viptera. They believe that this product, which is due out in 2010, will take a corn grower’s yields to the next level.
Bruce says that when they were doing research on the product they discovered a whole new class of vegetative insecticidal proteins. Agrisure Viptera™ Broad-Spectrum Lepidopteran Trait
The Agrisure Viptera trait is the first of many new traits being developed from an entirely new class of Vegetative Insecticidal Proteins (VIP) within the Agrisure system of high-performance corn traits.
During the development of Agrisure Viptera they’ve looked at the collection of pests which they call the Multi-Pest Complex and found that it has cost American corn growers up to $1.1 Billion/year in lost yield and grain quality. They believe Agrisure Viptera can help mitigate that risk for the grower.
You can listen to my interview with Bruce and Tracy here:
As many of you may know, Atrazine is celebrating its 50th birthday. To learn more about it and what it means I spoke to Chuck Foresman, Syngenta Manager, Weed Resistance Strategies and Sherry Duvall Ford, Syngenta, Head, External Communications. We were at the Farm Progress Show in the media tent.
Chuck says that the product helped farmers back in the late 50’s and sustains its usefulness today. It’s used on many acres and particularly those devoted to conservation tillage. He says over the years farmers have learned a lot about how to use it and continue to see great value in it. One thing he mentions that is interesting is that even when Syngenta came to the market with a new class of herbicide called Callisto they found that using them together they work better than separately. He says Atrazine is found in over 40 different mixes today to control weeds in corn.
I asked about concerns that people have about the safety of Atrazine and Sherry says it’s probably the most studied products on the market. She wants the public to know that drinking water is completely safe where Atrazine is concerned. They work very closely with EPA on this.
Chuck points out that a looming threat in the field is glyphosate resistance and Atrazine plays a role to control many of the weeds that glyphosate controls so the they work to sustain each other. You can find a lot more information on the Syngenta Atrazine website.
For 50 years, farmers around the world have relied on atrazine — one of the triazine family of herbicides — to fight weeds in corn, grain sorghum, sugar cane and other crops. And for good reason: it’s still one of the most effective, affordable and trusted products in agriculture today.
Syngenta believes in atrazine, its effectiveness, its safety, its importance to agriculture – in the U.S. and worldwide.
You can listen to my interview with Chuck and Sherry here:
The corn was still green but that didn’t stop a rainbow of combines from demonstrating their skills at the 2009 Farm Progress Show in Decatur, Illinois last week.
Someone mentioned to me the other day that because there are more farm shows being developed in other countries and due to the shape of our economy we probably will see fewer international visitors to shows here in the U.S. However, at this year’s Farm Progress Show I saw lots of them. While I was in the Ag Leader Technology exhibit (sponsor of our Precision Pays site) I spoke to a couple of our international visitors from Argentina, Matias Abadie and Axel Von Martini. They are standing in the photo. Axel does research and brought a group of 72 farmers to the U.S. and their tour ends here at the show. Matias works as an Ag Leader dealer in Argentina.
Both of them echo what we’re seeing here at home and that is growing adoption of precision technology and for many of the same reasons as their American counterparts (reduce input costs for example). In fact, they make a point that we’re living in a global market so farmers around the world are sharing similar challenges.
They also make it clear that information is much more accessible than it used to be and the internet has really helped with that. I’ll bet they visit Precision Pays!
New Holland, one of the sponsors of our coverage of the Farm Progress Show was the first company of its kind to join The Biodiesel Alliance. To talk about it I spoke with Gene Hemphill, New Holland and Tom Verry, National Biodiesel Board. NBB was the founder of the Alliance.
The Biodiesel Alliance is a diverse coalition of organizations, agencies and businesses from across the nation who find common ground in their support for biodiesel fuel. Founded and managed by the National Biodiesel Board, the Biodiesel Alliance supports information sharing and opportunities to help advance the use of clean-burning, renewable biodiesel fuel that meets high industry standards. As a result, the Biodiesel Alliance is instrumental in helping others to recognize the benefits of biodiesel to human health, the environment, national energy security and the US economy.
Gene and New Holland have been big supporters of the biodiesel industry since the days when it was called soydiesel. The company has been innovative in warranting their tractors on blends of biodiesel fuel up to 100 percent. They’ve also encouraged their dealers to join the alliance and many, many people to join the Biodiesel Backers.
Tom says the number one issue facing the industry right now is the proposed RFS2 that EPA has put forth and for which they’re soliciting comments until later this month. The proposed regs require 1 billion gallons of biomass biodiesel by 2012. That should be accomplished mostly by biodiesel but EPA is penalizing biodiesel through its measurement of its carbon score from the controversial indirect land use issue. He says they’re failing to take into account things like increased efficiency and production of soybeans.
You can listen to my interview with Gene and Tom below:
New dynamics are shaping the future for agriculture and farmers need to be watching the markets more closely than ever before to keep ahead of the game, according to market analyst Arlen Suderman with Farm Futures.
“There’s a lot of money flow factors that drive the money, that tie what happens in grains to the bond market, the energy market, the value of the dollar,” Arlen said during a talk at the BASF tent during the 2009 Farm Progress Show. “That creates a lot of uncertainty, but there’s also reasons why it happens on a day to day basis.”
Arlen talked about factors like crude oil, corn and soybean stocks, export demand and much more. “Part of the real key over the next six months is when do we get that first frost, that will be a major driver in the soybean market with demand being so strong and that will set the tone for corn and wheat as well,” Arlen said.
Listen to or download a brief interview I did with Arlen right after his presentation:
The ethanol organization Growth Energy had a strong presence at the 2009 Farm Progress show, stressing the strong ties the renewable fuel has to agriculture and rural America. “If you want to revitalize rural America, the production of renewable fuels and energy is the greatest economic opportunity that’s come along in my lifetime,” CEO Tom Buis told me in an interview. Tom’s lifetime in agriculture began as a grain and livestock farmer in Indiana, then moved to Washington DC as an agricultural advisor to members of Congress, and as president of the National Farmers Union prior to taking his current position earlier this year.
Growth Energy was encouraging farmers to sign up for a chance to win a new, flex-fuel Ford F150 at the Farm Progress show – and urging them to join the eTeam, which CEO Tom Buis says is an important way farmers can play a role in getting the word out about the benefits of ethanol. “The eTeam is a way that everybody can get involved at whatever level to help do that, because it’s going to take a team effort,” Tom said.
Growth Energy also introduced a new initiative at Farm Progress called labelmyfuel.com, which we reported on live from the show as it happened. Organization co-chairman retired Gen. Wesley Clark says the concept of country of origin labeling for fuel makes sense from a national security perspective so people know where they are sending their money. “But beyond the national security argument, I think there is a strong case to be made for America’s own domestic liquid fuel, which is ethanol,” Clark said. “There’s no doubt that if people could see it at the pump, day after day, and choose if they want their money to go overseas or stay right here and bring prosperity at home and help America’s communities and farmers – it will stay right here.”
Listen to back-to-back interviews with Buis and Clark here:
One of the press conferences at Farm Progress Show featured USDA Rural Development. To start it out we heard from Colleen Callahan, Illinois State Director for Rural Development. The former farm broadcaster was very comfortable in the media tent on the other side of the podium! She introduced new USDA Rural Development Under Secretary, Dallas Tonsager.
Tonsager used the opportunity to talk about new grants and loans especially in the area of energy and water systems. He says they should be awarding funds for broadband projects soon as well.
Tonsager announced new energy grants and loans across the country totaling more than $13 million. He also announced a large grant and loan totaling $716,000 to South Lawrence Water Corporation as provided under the consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance and continuing Appropriations Act of 2009.
You can listen to the press conference remarks below:
There are acres of photos available on line in our Flickr photo albums from Farm Progress Show 2009. The ZimmComm media team of Carly, Chuck and myself took hundreds of photos around the show and picked the best for the albums. We have 433 in the regular show album so far (Chuck still needs to load a few more) and another 129 in the BASF photo album. Feel free to download and use any photos you would like – or any of the audio we have loaded on the site – no charge!
It was a busy three days and both the weather and attendance must have been record setting. This was my first show, but from what I understand, there has probably never been a show in history that had the kind of picture perfect weather we had all three days. It’s always either cold and rainy, dry and windy, or ridiculously hot. You just can’t complain about three days of blue skies, moderate temperatures and cool breezes!
We still have LOTS more posts to do from the show, so we will be working on that over the long holiday weekend as Chuck and I celebrate our anniversary with a weekend at Lake of the Ozarks! We sincerely thank our sponsors BASF and New Holland for bringing you our coverage here on Agwired and AgLeader Technology on Precision Pays.
While I was driving my golf cart through the Farm Progress Show yesterday I shot a short video clip so you can see what the crowd was like. You can also get a sense of how nice the weather was and is again today.
For many in the ag media, events like the Farm Progress Show are opportunities to catch up with friends. Cindy and I saw good friend Leah (Guffey) Banister. Leah’s wedding July 4th was my last trip on the road for almost 2 months. Leah used to be a farm broadcaster in Springfield, IL and now works for their convention and visitor’s bureau. She was showing us her new Nikon D500 camera.
We may compete with each other at times but when it comes down to it, ag journalists share a lot of time together at events like this and face a lot of the same challenges. I like how we’re always willing to help each other out and it has been great to be here at the show and see so many friends in the media and agrimarketing.
The New Holland Rustler utility vehicle isn’t the only attention grabber here at the Farm Progress Show. The retro Boomer 8N is also front and center. I spoke with New Holland Product Manager, Paul Trella, about their new products like the Boomer 8N.
The latest addition to the company’s Boomer line, the redesigned 8N features distinctive, timeless styling, a Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) that creates a fun, easy, car-like driving experience as well as a variety of customizable accessories. First sold in 1948, this updated version of the classic 8N is now available to consumers seeking reliable power wrapped in a compact and time-honored package.
Of course the Rustler is also getting attention and Paul says customers are saying, “It’s about time.” Of course you can get the new vehicles in New Holland blue but you can also customize them in camo or black or probably any color you’d like. I’ve got several photos of them in our photo album.
You can learn more about the new things from New Holland in my interview with Paul below and you can see the Rustler in action in this video clip:
Glyphosate resistance is a growing problem for growers in the Midwest, according to Dr. Bryan Young with Southern Illinois University, who gave a presentation on the issue and how to handle it at the BASF tent during Farm Progress Show 2009.
“Without a doubt it is growing,” Bryan says. “The largest problem is the glyphosate resistant mare’s tail but now we are seeing resistant waterhemp showing up, it’s present in several states now.” Bryan says growers need to start implementing different strategies, using a combination of weed control, to help prevent the spread or even the evolution of resistant weeds on their own operations.
Dr. Young was also on the Kixor panel in the BASF theater this week, talking about the new chemistry and the Kixor-powered herbicides that are awaiting final registration from EPA any day now.
A major focus for New Holland here at the Farm Progress Show is their lineup of haying equipment. I spoke with Gary Wojcik who provided an overview of all the different products New Holland has just introduced.
New Holland’s new H5980 heavy-duty wheel rake is built for the rigorous demands of hay growers requiring high-speed, high-volume, flat-land raking. The rake can be operated at speeds as high as 15 mph.
With eight 60″ raking wheels on the left side and nine on the right, the H5980 rakes an area up to 30′3″ wide. This offset design turns all the crop, ensuring uniform crop drydown. There’s no need for a center kicker wheel, so the operator can drive faster. A convenient hydraulic adjustment allows the operator to change windrow width from the tractor seat to produce a finished windrow as wide as 72″.
Gary says most of these products will be available by year end and now is a good time to pre-order which will also help them plan their production to meet customer’s needs.
Today I had the privilege of climbing to the top of a five story Sukup grain storage bin to get a bird’s eye, 360 degree view of the grounds of the Progress City. Standing high above the crowd I could see and snap photos of the record crowds and all of the exhibits and activities going on below me. Although I was shaking the whole way up the staircase, due to my fear of heights, I tried to capture the energy and beautiful weather we have had this week.
It was pretty spectacular to look over the entire expanse of the site after walking ground level up and down the streets on foot or riding in a golf cart – or the New Holland Rustler! I was very impressed with the effort put forth by the exhibitors, the beautiful landscaping and how each exhibit seemed to be more inviting than the next.
Even though I have been exposed to agriculture all of my life because of my parents’ careers, I guess I never knew how really interesting it is. Chatting with my parents about how the corn fields look and what chemicals they use on them is not usually in our everyday conversation!
I have learned so much about corn and soybeans and yield and machinery these past couple of days, I have a new appreciation for the people who produce the food that I eat every day. Farming is pretty darn hard work and a lot more complicated than most people probably think.
The weather really has been incredibly beautiful – everyone says it is the best weather they have ever had for the show. No rain, no excessive heat, not brutally cold. Is this Progress City or Panama City? If it will be like this again next year, sign me up!
It’s looking like a record breaking Farm Progress Show and to learn more about how it’s going I spoke with Jeff Lapin, President, Farm Progress Companies.
He says that opening day was record attendance and the streets have been full. Exhibitor feedback has been great. And of course this has to be some of the nicest weather we’ve had at a show in some time. Having permanent sites which have been improved so much with paved streets and exhibitors who have invested a lot in their exhibit areas also helps make for a unique and enjoyable atmosphere for attendees.
World champion soybean grower Kip Cullers is sharing the stage with three other award-winning corn and/or soybean grower in the BASF Theater at the Farm Progress Show, sharing how Headline® fungicide factors into the formula behind their success.
Kip was joined by fellow Missouri growers Gary Porter and Jerry Cox, as well as Texas corn grower champ Steve Albracht during a panel discussion yesterday which will be repeated this afternoon. All of them credited Headline fungicide with helping them maintain high yields in both corn and soybeans.
“Ya gotta use it, it’s just a no-brainer,” Kip says simply. “You gotta decide if you want to be on the ‘die and dry’ program or the ‘ripen and yield’ program – I prefer the ripen and yield program.”
We had a very enjoyable day two morning out here at the Farm Progress Show. AgWired Live TV ran for hours and we had lots of viewers coming and going! I’m taking a break and going back to the hotel shortly to work on some of the photos, video and audio interviews that we’ve conducted. Let’s just say it’s been very busy around the media tent and working with our sponsors.
So enjoy the photos. We’ve got lots more being added. Like this one from midday yesterday in the media tent. Now that’s a lot of ag journalists crowded around the tables!
Pop quiz – who is the governor of Illinois? Since that Blago guy moved on earlier this year, the governor’s office in Illinois has been somewhat quieter, not being in the national spotlight so much, so Governor Pat Quinn has not exactly become a household name. He probably would like to keep it that way!
The decidedly more low-key and down to earth Gov. Quinn rolled up his shirt sleeves and paid a visit to “The World’s Fair of Agriculture” on Tuesday, strolling through the site and holding a press conference at the New Holland media tent. “I have been so impressed by the energy, the enthusiasm and the turnout here at the Farm Progress Show,” the governor said. “This is the first time I have been here as governor of Illinois. I understand our state, when it comes to growing the economy, it starts with agriculture.”
Governor Quinn stressed the importance of growing crops for biofuels and the need to continue improving the rural economy with increased high speed internet access.
Listen to or download Gov. Quinn’s opening remarks here:
Corn growers nationwide are represented here at the Farm Progress Show by the Illinois Corn Growers Association. New ICGA representative Tricia Braid-Terry, former farm broadcaster, spoke with me today during our AgChat tweetup about all the things they’re doing in their tent.
To start with you can participate in a contest to Win a Wii. Lean more about that on their website. Tricia says they’re really focusing a lot of their information on carbon footprinting. In fact, you can follow some very large black footprints around their tent! They’re easy to find with 30+ foot high corn stalks and an E85 blimp hovering over the tent. They also help attendees with submitting comments to EPA about the RFS2.
She says that the National Corn Growers Association and Indiana Corn Growers are also participating in the exhibit. Indiana has their mobile biofuels unit on display.
Commodity Classic took place in Anaheim, CA. You'll find all of Chuck, Cindy and Joanna's photos here.
Happy Ag Week
It's time to thank our farmers and ranchers for all their hard work to feed us.
In this week's program I interview Linda Tank, CHS, Inc., who is Chair of the Agriculture Council of America, the group coordinating National Ag Day. Learn more about their activities, especially this week in Washington, DC.
In just a few days Syngenta Seeds will be holding the grand opening celebration of their new headquarters in Minnetonka, MN and Cindy will be on site to document the celebration in pictures and with interviews. 
As many of you may know, 
Someone mentioned to me the other day that because there are more farm shows being developed in other countries and due to the shape of our economy we probably will see fewer international visitors to shows here in the U.S. However, at this year’s Farm Progress Show I saw lots of them. While I was in the 
and 
New dynamics are shaping the future for agriculture and farmers need to be watching the markets more closely than ever before to keep ahead of the game, according to market analyst Arlen Suderman with 
The ethanol organization 
Growth Energy also introduced a new initiative at Farm Progress called 
One of the press conferences at Farm Progress Show featured USDA Rural Development. To start it out we heard from Colleen Callahan, Illinois State Director for Rural Development. The former farm broadcaster was very comfortable in the media tent on the other side of the podium! She introduced new USDA Rural Development Under Secretary, Dallas Tonsager.
Tonsager used the opportunity to talk about new grants and loans especially in the area of energy and water systems. He says they should be awarding funds for broadband projects soon as well.
There are acres of photos available on line in our Flickr photo albums from Farm Progress Show 2009. The ZimmComm media team of Carly, Chuck and myself took hundreds of photos around the show and picked the best for the albums. We have 433 in the 
It was a busy three days and both the weather and attendance must have been record setting. This was my first show, but from what I understand, there has probably never been a show in history that had the kind of picture perfect weather we had all three days. It’s always either cold and rainy, dry and windy, or ridiculously hot. You just can’t complain about three days of blue skies, moderate temperatures and cool breezes!
We still have LOTS more posts to do from the show, so we will be working on that over the long holiday weekend as Chuck and I celebrate our anniversary with a weekend at Lake of the Ozarks! We sincerely thank our sponsors 
For many in the ag media, events like the Farm Progress Show are opportunities to catch up with friends. Cindy and I saw good friend Leah (Guffey) Banister. Leah’s wedding July 4th was my last trip on the road for almost 2 months. Leah used to be a farm broadcaster in Springfield, IL and now works for their convention and visitor’s bureau. She was showing us her new 
The 
Glyphosate resistance is a growing problem for growers in the Midwest, according to Dr. Bryan Young with Southern Illinois University, who gave a presentation on the issue and how to handle it at the 
A major focus for New Holland here at the Farm Progress Show is their lineup of haying equipment. I spoke with Gary Wojcik who provided an overview of all the different products New Holland has just introduced.
Gary says one of the newest tools in the lineup is their 
Today I had the privilege of climbing to the top of a five story 
Even though I have been exposed to agriculture all of my life because of my parents’ careers, I guess I never knew how really interesting it is. Chatting with my parents about how the corn fields look and what chemicals they use on them is not usually in our everyday conversation!
It’s looking like a record breaking Farm Progress Show and to learn more about how it’s going I spoke with Jeff Lapin, President, 
World champion soybean grower Kip Cullers is sharing the stage with three other award-winning corn and/or soybean grower in the 
We had a very enjoyable day two morning out here at the Farm Progress Show. AgWired Live TV ran for hours and we had lots of viewers coming and going! I’m taking a break and going back to the hotel shortly to work on some of the photos, video and audio interviews that we’ve conducted. Let’s just say it’s been very busy around the media tent and working with our sponsors.
The decidedly more low-key and down to earth Gov. Quinn rolled up his shirt sleeves and paid a visit to “The World’s Fair of Agriculture” on Tuesday, strolling through the site and holding a press conference at the New Holland media tent. “I have been so impressed by the energy, the enthusiasm and the turnout here at the Farm Progress Show,” the governor said. “This is the first time I have been here as governor of Illinois. I understand our state, when it comes to growing the economy, it starts with agriculture.”
Corn growers nationwide are represented here at the Farm Progress Show by the Illinois Corn Growers Association. New ICGA representative 
It's time to thank our farmers and ranchers for all their hard work to feed us.
