FMC Agricultural Products Group announces the Conquer with Cadet Sweepstakes, inviting growers to visit www.FMCcadet.com and listen to the personal stories of corn and soybean growers who have had success with best practices while using Cadet herbicide. Online participation will be rewarded with a chance to win a John Deere Gator utility vehicle.
In addition to the John Deere Gator grand prize, five first place winners will receive a $250 Home Depot gift card. An additional 20 people will receive $100 Home Depot gift cards as a second place prize. Entries must be submitted by May 30 in order to be eligible for prizes.
You can learn a lot in just a short time. Our friends at FMC have launched a video series they call the Authority Minute, a chance to educate growers and retailers about the importance of having an effective weed management program. Chuck caught up with host Jake Turner at the recent National Farm Machinery Show, just one stop on the cross-country trip Jake is taking.
“The Authority Minute is a series of interviews with all kinds of folks about soybeans and weeds and their concerns with resistant weeds and weed pressure,” Jake explained, adding they talk to everyone from farmers to university researchers to chemists to wholesalers. “Everybody who can help growers get the most yield and control resistant weeds.”
So where does Jake find the best place to talk to producers? Diners!
“Growers know where the good food is, and that’s where you usually can talk to them, too.”
In addition to getting some good information, you might also win the ultimate tailgate package, including a Bose® Portable Sound System, a customized tailgate tent, a YETI® Tundra® Cooler, an XL Big Green Egg® Grill, Omaha Steaks® gift card, four tailgate chairs, a grilling tool set, tailgate table and tailgate games all valued at approximately $5,000. Plus, there’ll be a a number of first and second places prizes for a total of $15,000 in prizes. Check out news.authorityminute.com for more information.
Taking the initiative with a good pretreatment herbicide doesn’t just pay benefits for the original producer, but it could also stop the spread of weeds to other regions of the country. Bob Hooten with FMC explained during the recent National Farm Machinery Show that their Authority product could have helped stop the spread of Palmer amaranth, a plant that kicks out millions of seeds.
“So it only takes one plant to cover up to cover up your whole acres. Folks in the South have a major problem already, and it’s spreading north. Folks in the North can ignore it and then wait until they have a major problem, but we’re now spending $20-25 an acre to try to control this pest,” Bob said.
He added that FMC has a variety of Authority products, depending on your location, tillage amounts, and weed resistance problems. It’s part of a good management program that can be custom-tuned to an individual farm’s needs. “One peg doesn’t always fit the same hole, so we are building things as the customer needs them.”
More information about the full Authority line of products is available here.
Agriculture students from across the country will get the chance to showoff their musical talent for a chance to win scholarship prizes in FMC’s second annual “Stand and Be Heard Anthem Singing Contest” starting March 1.
“FMC is focusing on the future of agriculture,” Tim Thompson, the company’s Agricultural Products North America product manager, told Chuck during an interview at the National Farm Machinery Show. Students in NAMA, FFA, and 4-H the chance to win up to $10,000 in scholarship money. They have until June 15, 2013 to get their entry in, when the public votes on who they like best. A panel of judges narrows it down a bit more, and four finalists will also have the opportunity to go to Nashville to work with a music producer and record their version of the National Anthem. Tim said it’s a great way to show the future of agriculture how much this country cares. “We had 170-plus students who participated with videos a year ago, almost 200,000 votes that came in and we got down to four.”
The Authority Minute is a video podcast series by FMC that has come about because as Paul Reghage, FMC, says, “Growers were telling us they like to hear from other growers.”
So FMC developed the Authority Minute series which Paul says will be at least 18 episodes. These short interview segments include farmers, retailers, consultants and researchers including not only FMC researchers but Monsanto as well since Authority is part of the Monsanto Roundup Ready Plus Platform. To watch the Authority Minute visit the website and get registered to be eligible for one of $15,000 worth of prizes. Every time a farmer views a video it adds another entry in the drawings.
Besides the Authority Minute Paul says it’s time for round two of the Anthem Stand Up & Be Heard Singing Contest. The format is similar to last year and March 1st is when students can submit their entries on the website. Paul says the program has worked well for FMC. He says the company has a theme of Investing in Farming’s Future which includes supporting youth in agriculture.
Of course one of the big purposes of the National Farm Machinery Show was to display the latest in farm machinery. Our friends at New Holland were there and proudly showed their latest T8.420 tractor to enthusiastic crowds who couldn’t resist climbing up and seeing all the new bells and whistles inside. Gary Wojcik with New Holland went over some of the new features with Chuck.
“This is the new two-wheel drive, high horsepower with front wheel assist tractor,” adding that it has the highest horsepower in the industry, also featuring an AutoCommand CVT transmission. Gary said it also has the longest wheelbase in the industry that provides a smooth ride but still turns as sharp as any tractor out there.
Under the hood, Gary said they have a very efficient engine. They’ve taken the 9-liter Cursor engine and switched it to a common rail, which helps more finely control the injectors. “We’re going to produce more power with less fuel.”
Finally, crawling into the cab, operators will be impressed with how they can make the steering wheel, console and touch-screen monitor fit them to be the most comfortable.
Look for delivery of this beauty to dealers sometime this fall.
The recent National Farm Machinery Show is touted as one of the biggest and best agricultural expos of the entire year, and it seems to live up to it billing, in no small part, due to the efforts of Rip Rippetoe (pictured during a TV interview), the new President/CEO of Kentucky Fair Board and his talented staff.
“People from all over the United States and the world come here because they know this is the place where you’re going to learn the latest trends, the best technology, and be able to meet and talk to people who are in the industry from all across the world and find out what it means to be in the ag industry,” Rip said.
With more than 860 exhibitors in a 1.2 million square foot indoor facility, attracting more than 300,000 visitors and pumping $22 million into the economy, Rip said it’s tough to see everything in just one day. He added that despite the facility being home to other noteworthy ag events, such as the North American Livestock Expo, the Kentucky State Fair, and beef and horse shows, they hope to do more and be even bigger in the future.
“I think there’s always opportunity. The question is: ‘How do we do it?’ People said we were maxed out on space last year, and our staff got creative and found ways to get more efficient and added booths [this year],” adding that they still sold out four weeks before the show, and they want to find a way to get those who have been on waiting lists to be part of the show.
We hear a lot about weed resistance but don’t forget about insect resistance. That’s why I visited with Adam Prestegord (not pictured), product manager for FMC’s insecticide business. We talked about Capture LFR. This product protects a seed or young seedling, even a biotech variety, before an insect can do some damage!
Farmers can use liquid Capture LFR as an at-plant insecticide to create a zone of protection. This means healthier plant stands, increased root size and ultimately greater yield. Learn more about what FMC is doing in this are in my interview with Adam at the National Farm Machinery Show.
The American Soybean Association announces a new partnership with FMC Corporation and NACHURS — the 2013 Soy Booster Plot Program. ASA is seeking 125 growers across the soybean-growing region to enroll by the March 2 deadline and conduct a Soy Booster field trial on their farm during the 2013 production season.
ASA, FMC and NACHURS will work with the participating growers to conduct field trials utilizing FMC’s Capture LFR (Liquid Fertilizer Ready) insecticide and NACHURS HKW6 liquid starter fertilizer on soybeans. These trials will give individual soybean farmers the opportunity to observe and measure for themselves how the application of Capture LFR insecticide with HKW6 starter fertilizer will enhance profitable production on their farm.
Growers will need to devote 20 acres treated with Capture LFR and NACHURS HKW6 liquid starter fertilizer and 20 acres untreated. Products for treatment will be provided free of charge and participants must be able to apply the starter fertilizer and liquid insecticide in-furrow to all row units as they seed soybeans. Growers who complete the Soy Booster plot program will receive a free 7” Kindle Fire HD, 16 GB with WiFi.
This year we got an update from Janae (formally Althouse) Tapper on this precision harvest technology and grower adoption of it.
“John Deere harvest identification is really important to the cotton growers so they can understand how many modules are being built with in a field. We are really looking at continuing to reduce labor requirements that are needed in cotton production especially around 7760. We understand that with the introduction of that machine we are building four modules for every one traditional module. So, it increases labor to go out and tag each of those individual modules.”
“In our technology division we saw a use to utilize the RF ID reading technology that we have in the round module wrap to enable them to reduce that manuel labor going out and tagging the modules. We are automatically reading those RF ID tags in the modules and sending that information to the display in the cab of the machine.”
Janae shared that cotton producers are continuing to be on board with the adoption of precision agriculture. And since the launch of time & money saving technology, John Deere’s growers are sending in very positive feedback.
New Display (TM) cotton harvest aid from FMC Corporation showed good results in limited use last season and the company is now looking forward to expanded use this season. Rusty Mitchell gave us some of the technical details about Display already, Randy Childress then talked to us about the results he saw last year in the field.
Randy covers west Texas and into New Mexico for FMC and was able to see Display at work as a harvest aid for cotton in his area. “Did a very good job, pleasantly surprised with the effects we got with this in a tank mix,” Randy said. “Display gave us a very versatile product that we used in a lot of different conditions.”
Randy says Display offers the same advantage of Aim herbicide in that it can be used without harm to cover crops like wheat. “Display fit like a glove,” he said. “You can put it out, take the leaves off the cotton without harming any adjacent crop or the cover crop.”
Display was just released last August so this will be the product’s first full year of commercial availability for cotton growers throughout the cotton belt.
Marjory Lynch Walker and T. Cotton Nelson have staffed the news room at the Beltwide Cotton Conferences for many, many of the event’s 58 year history and while they are not sure what the changes in store will mean for media attendance, they are looking forward to moving ahead.
“Media attendance has always been healthy here. We’ve had as many as 50-60 members here,” Cotton told me, adding that attendance has continued to be strong over the years, even as less growers have been attending. That’s why Cotton says they appreciate Monsanto’s sponsorship of the news room. “Their support has allowed us to have the equipment in here, a big room, food for the media – just to make it a really good working environment for the media.”
Cotton notes that there will still be lots of information to get out to producers with the revamped schedule for Beltwide next year. “We realize the transfer of technology by the news media of the information that’s presented here is great for cotton growers,” he said.
Despite changes planned for Beltwide Cotton Conferences in 2014 that mean no more technical exhibits, FMC Corporation remains committed to involvement in technology transfer within the cotton industry, according to Product Manager Stu Throop.
“Needs are changing just as the industry’s changing,” said Stu, pictured here on the left with some of the FMC team at Beltwide. “The anchor to this is the technology exchange and that’s the part that’s going to be maintained and expanded on in the future.”
Stu says the cotton industry is important to FMC. “We have a history in the cotton industry going back to the beginnings of our company,” he said. “We were able to come in cotton with a series of new brands as the boll weevil eradication program was implemented and cotton acres increased … we just happened to have the right chemistry at the right time.”
With the advent of resistent weed strains, Stu says FMC been able to develop new products to help cotton growers remain competitive. “We’re playing a role in weed pest management in cotton and we’re very excited about some of the chemistries still to come.”
You might remember Chuck doing a post about these great Acala Farms cottonseed oils after World Dairy Expo last year. We got to find out more about them from Tom Wedegaertner, Director of Cottonseed Research and Marketing for Cotton Inc., who says that they are hoping the specialty oils will help increase public awareness of cotton as a food crop.
“Per capita consumption of cottonseed oil is about three pints per person,” Tom explains. “It’s a wonderful frying oil, has a very high smoke point, so a lot of restaurants use it in their deep fat fryers.” Tom says it’s also used in salad dressings because it has a very light, delicate taste that lends itself well to adding other flavors.
San Antonio Marriott Executive Chef Donald Hoffman provided a demonstration and taste test for the media so we could find out for ourselves just how great these flavor-infused cottonseed oils are. First, he made Salmon Salpicon featuring the Jalapeno Lime and Cilantro flavored oils. He also made a BBQ sauce with Chipotle flavor on chicken breast sauteed in fresh-roasted garlic cottonseed oil.
You can watch Chef Donald demo the salmon recipe in the video below and if you want to find out more about these great tasting cottonseed oils, go to Acala-Farms.com.
FMC Corporation is working on registration of a new herbicide for resistant weed control in cotton by 2014. Growers at the Beltwide Cotton Conferences had a chance to hear more about it this week from Scott Akin with FMC.
“Anthem is going to be a valuable pre-emergence herbicide I think for cotton growers across the belt for use against grasses and small seeded broadleaf weeds, particularly Palmer ameranth,” Scott said.
We all gathered together after dinner for a memory photo – click on the picture for a larger image. Many of us pictured here have known each other for 20-30 years! Are we really that old? At least one person with us – the young lady seated second from the left – wasn’t even born when most of us were starting our careers! That is Amy Mohundro with NCC and she seemed to enjoy listen to us old folks reminisce.
Next year will be a different format for the Beltwide, without the Production Conference and exhibitors that have been the main draw for the media over the last couple of decades. But the technical conferences will remain and NCC is hopeful that media serving the cotton belt will still attend to get new information out to producers.
Thanks so much to Marjory Walker and Cotton Nelson and the rest of the NCC staff for making the media’s job so easy. This was only my second Beltwide – the first was well over 20 years ago – but I had a really great time catching up with old friends like former NAFB president John Winfield and his wife Mary. I had not seen them for 15 years! And thanks also to Monsanto for sponsoring a well-equipped and comfortable media room.
Thanks also to FMC Corporation for sponsoring our coverage and allowing me to be a part of this event. I will be adding more posts and audio to this post with Cotton later. On my way now to join Chuck in Key West for a day of R&R.
Cotton growers in the Southeast have been dealing with weed resistance since the first case was confirmed in Georgia in 2005. While it spread rapidly in that region, Texas cotton growers have been comparatively resistance-free – but not anymore, according to Dr. Paul Baumann with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension who gave growers an update at the Beltwide Cotton Production Conference Tuesday.
“Over the past couple years, 2011-2012, we saw a dramatic increase in the number of reported or suspected sites, particularly for common waterhemp,” he said. “We have confirmed resistance in a large percentage of these sites. Bottom line is – we’ve got the issue.”
That’s mainly in southern Texas, but there is resistance rapidly developing in the plains as well where they have found a large number of sites with resistant Palmer ameranth pigweed. “We that being one of the major cotton production areas, this is a big issue for us,” Dr. Baumann said.
He says they believe one reason Texas has been slower to develop resistance to glyphosate is that growers have already been using multiple modes of action, which is the primary way to fight the problem.
The FMC team at the 2013 Beltwide Cotton Conferences has been hard at work here talking to growers about Display and Anthem. We sincerely appreciate their support making coverage of this year’s event possible. Since this is the last year that technical exhibits will be a part of the Beltwide, the FMC folks say they will miss this opportunity to interact with cotton growers, but they will still be involved in other shows in cotton producing areas.
Growers who stop by the booth here at Beltwide have been signing up to win $250 gift cards for Cabela’s – they had a drawing for one yesterday and will draw for another today. Stop by and win!
During the Tuesday morning general session of the Cotton Production Conference in San Antonio, Gaylon Morgan with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service gave a review of 2012 in cotton production.
“Several of the states are going to set record yields this year,” Gaylon said, particularly in the Southeast and the Delta.
“As you move further west into Texas and Oklahoma, we were better than 2011, but we still only harvested about 72% of our cotton acres in Texas and Oklahoma only harvested about 50% of total cotton acres,” he continued, explaining that that was due in part to a continuation of the drought, but also to an early freeze. “Up in the high plains of Texas we had an early freeze October 8 in the irrigated cotton that was doing fairly well there that more or less ended the season for them.”
Way west in Arizona and California where the cotton is irrigated, yields are pretty consistent, but they did observe glyphosate resistant Palmer ameranth for the first time. “So the monster is moving further west,” he noted.
National Cotton Council president and CEO Dr. Mark Lange gave his Washington update during the Beltwide Cotton Production Conference on Tuesday, explaining what the taxpayer relief act passed on New Year’s Day means for them with the extension of the 2008 Farm Bill.
“One thing they didn’t do was make any cuts,” Mark told me during an interview. “All that means is the next four year farm bill is going to have five years worth of cuts in it. That’s going to make coming to a good resolution about farm policy all the more difficult.”
The big problem is all of the major issues that Congress has to deal with in the next 60-90 days – including sequestration, debt ceiling and the budget. Mark says he is concerned with what the farm bill extension might mean for the WTO cotton trade issue with Brazil. “I know the U.S. government will be talking with the Brazilians in the next week or so and we should get some feedback,” he said.
FMC Agricultural Products Group announces the Conquer with Cadet Sweepstakes, inviting growers to visit www.FMCcadet.com and listen to the personal stories of corn and soybean growers who have had success with best practices while using Cadet herbicide. Online participation will be rewarded with a chance to win a John Deere Gator utility vehicle.
