Dupont’s Pioneer Hi-Bred is reporting strong seed performance for Plenish high oleic soybean varieties despite challenging growing conditions in 2011.
“I’ve had great success with Plenish high oleic soybeans,” said John Motter, director, United Soybean Board and chair of the Ohio Soybean Council. “During this year’s harvest my Plenish soybeans yielded higher than my overall farm average at 55 bushels an acre, and agronomic performance was outstanding.”
Pioneer launched the high oleic soybean trait in its industry-leading lineup of Pioneer® brand Y Series soybean varieties, with key defensive and agronomic traits such as soybean cyst nematode resistance, phytophthora and sudden death syndrome tolerance, and excellent field emergence and harvest standability.
Pioneer will continue to work closely with growers who are trained in growing specialty crops under identity preserved conditions in targeted geographies based on processor collaboration to produce Plenish high oleic soybeans for continued product testing. Pioneer currently is collaborating with ADM in central Indiana, Bunge in northwest Ohio and Zeeland Farm Services in Michigan on contract production programs to produce Plenish high oleic soybeans in 2012.
Why pack cases of flyers or brochures to stack in your trade show booth when you can just bring along an iPad to display more information in a multi-media format?
Pioneer Hi-Bred used to bring along more than 50 different product brochures to trade shows. Now they bring an iPad with a company-branded app. Pioneer, along with GROWMARK, worked with Float Mobile on these projects. Here’s what they did with GROWMARK.
At the 2011 Farm Progress Show, GROWMARK used an interactive “Yield Maximizer” game to draw attendees to their booth and keep them there longer. It’s part of a larger trend that’s going on in agribusiness – using innovative mobile technology to showcase products and services in unique ways.
“The FS/GROWMARK System upped its technology ante at the 2011 Farm Progress Show. Our goal at the show is always to engage and share valuable information with the farmers and other interested parties who attend. Making use of iPad-powered games that attracted attention, entertained show-goers, and conveyed information about our strong and diverse product lines was very effective,” said Ann Kafer, GROWMARK’s director of communications and marketing services. “We also debuted cropNAtion.com at the show and signed up those wanting to participate in the new social media platform for information about crop production across the country — farmer to farmer.”
It may not be another world record, but Kip Culler’s soybean yield of of 108.8 bushels per acre this year was enough to win him another place in Missouri’s 100 Bushel Club.
The southwest Missouri soybean rock star took first place in the irrigated category for this year’s Missouri Soybean Association yield contest, while Steve Riegel of Washington won the conventional category with a yield of 86.3 bushels per acre. Both used Pioneer® brand Y Series soybean varieties, as did Steve Turner of Hopkins who was the runner up in the conventional category with a yield of 83.3 bushels per acre.
Kip set the world soybean yield record in 2006 with 139 bushels per acre, then beat that the following year with a yield of 154.57 bushels per acre. When another grower achieved a yield of more than 100 bushels per acre in 2008, the 100 Bushel Club was formed and Kip was inducted. Last year he broke his record again with 160.6 bushels per acre. So, while Kip is likely pretty disappointed with his 2011 beans, it’s still a winning yield and pretty stunning considering the weather conditions this year. Congrats, champ!
The sponsor of the IFAJ Master Class program is Pioneer Hi-Bred. Representing Pioneer here at the Congress is Lonetta Ragland, seen here talking to the Master Class a few days ago.
I visited with her about the Master Class program. She says that Pioneer is proud to sponsor the program because they fully understand the importance of agricultural journalists especially in countries where there may not be freedom of the press. Like me, Lonetta saw strong enthusiasm, energy and appreciation from the class participants. She hopes to have continued interaction with them after the Congress. Lonetta gave them some real world experience during the program by conducting a “press conference.” She says that feedback from this year’s participants will be used to plan for the next program.
Pioneer Hi-Bred’s big announcement at the 2011 Farm Progress Show was a new program focused on evaluating innovative production practices on a local basis through a national network of agronomy trial managers (ATMs).
“The focus is really local,” says Curt Clausen, Pioneer agronomy sciences director. “It’s really about local crop management, innovation and knowledge.”
Pioneer is doubling the number of ATMs currently in the field to over 40 in the next three years. “This is the next level of service to our customers,” Curt said during the Pioneer press conference at FPS.
Listen to Curt’s press comments, introduced by Pioneer’s Jerry Harrington, here. Curt Clausen of Pioneer
One of the real live Pioneer ATMs out in the field is Jake Vossenkemper from the Decatur area, who says growers have hundreds of agronomy questions that they want answered. “They want to do the best job they can just like everyone else and our job is to step in and help them answer those questions,” Jake says.
Jake says Pioneer has been performing some specific experiments in certain regions, like an intensive soybean management experiment to look at factors that have been shown to consistently increase soybean yields. “Some of those factors include seed treatments, foliar applied pesticides and fungicides, as well as planting date,” he said.
By any measure, the 9th AgCareers.com North American Ag HR Roundtable was a big success and next year will likely be even bigger and better.
I talked with Emily Gray with the University of Tennessee College of Ag Sciences and Natural Resources who has attended every one of the nine roundtables. “This is a very valuable event,” she told me. “It gives us as career service professionals from the universities a great opportunity to network with companies who hire our students. We’re always impressed year after year with the variety of companies who attend, the interest they have in our students and the number of companies we’re able to network with.”
There were 90 companies in attendance at the event this year, the most ever by far according to AgCareers.com, with a wide variety ranging from precision agriculture, to seed companies, biotechnology, and even artificial insemination.
Pioneer is one company that has supported the Roundtable from the beginning, hosting three of the nine events at company headquarters in Iowa, including the very first one. I didn’t get a chance to interview them – but here is a photo of a few of their representatives – Alan Roberts, Tom Drake who conducted one of the breakout sessions, and Human Resources Manager Cindy Heser.
Finally, I interviewed the sole international participant at the Roundtable, Mick Hay of the Australia-based Rimfire Resources – but I somehow didn’t get a photo of him. No matter, you’ll enjoy his Aussie accent in the interview!
Mick says Rimfire is a recruitment and consulting business specializing in agribusiness – kind of like a down under AgCareers. “Not as much an on-line model as AgCareers, but we’ve got a relationship where we took the AgCareers site and launched that in Australia,” Mick says. He was glad to be able to attend the Roundtable and get some new ideas to implement back home.
Start your engines, NASCAR fans, because the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) and Pioneer HI-Bred are offering NCGA members a chance to win a NASCAR dream day to the Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, Bristol, Tenn., on Saturday, Aug. 27.
The dream day race package includes access to the DuPont-Pioneer hospitality tent, a pit tour, and a visit with racing legend Jeff Gordon. To enter, just visit www.ncga.com/racing and sign up for NASCAR-NCGA’s Fuel for Members Program before 12 pm central time this Friday, Aug. 5. The winner will be randomly selected from those NCGA members who have signed up for the Fuel for Members program.
Fuel for Members is one of the benefits of belonging to NCGA and state corn grower associations, providing exclusive access to discounted NASCAR tickets and merchandise and insider access to America’s most popular sport. Plus, members receive discounts on goods and services from a wide range of NASCAR partners including: UPS, DirecTV, Office Depot and MGM Resorts.
NCGA is part of the American Ethanol partnership with NASCAR, which began racing on 15% ethanol this season.
The CEO of the Indy Racing League is Randy Bernard, seen shaking hands with Iowa Corn Growers CEO, Craig Floss, during last weekend’s Iowa Corn Indy 250 activities. I spoke with Randy who says that the League has been working to create a lot more buzz and excitement this year. Judging by the sell out crowd for the Iowa race, things must be working.
I asked him to comment on the relationship with Pioneer and the Iowa Corn Growers. He said, “The fact that we’ve got a great title sponsor here with Iowa Corn Growers and that we run ethanol . . . this is the type of sponsor that we love to be working with because ethanol is a very important part of our business and next year we’re going to E85 to show pump relevancy.”
Here’s what the hood of the Iowa Corn Indy 250 official pace car looks like. It’s proudly displaying the Pioneer logo as the presenting sponsor.
Todd says the relationship with the Iowa Corn Growers in sponsoring the Iowa Corn Indy 250 has been very beneficial. As he puts it, “It’s a great event for the state of Iowa. It’s great for agriculture.” All of the cars racing this evening will be running on 100% corn ethanol showing how well the fuel performs in an engine. Pioneer brings in a lot of their customers for the event. In fact, I’ve heard that there will be approximately 2,500 farmers at the race track today. I’ll be out on location this afternoon in advance of tonight’s race. Let’s hope the weather improves. Todd Frazier Interview
At the Commodity Classic Pioneer announced a “partnership with NBC Learn, the education arm of NBC News, to bring science to life for high school students in Iowa and Illinois. The program is focused on building students’ understanding and interest in agricultural science by providing innovative, video-based educational resources to schools at no cost.” I spoke with Todd Frazier about the program to learn more.
You can listen to my interview with Todd here: Interview with Todd Frazier
Through this partnership, Pioneer will fund subscriptions to the NBC Learn Science Collections for 40 schools in Iowa and Illinois for the 2011-2012 school year. The partnership was announced at Commodity Classic in Tampa, Fla.
Through the grant from Pioneer, NBC Learn will make available more than a thousand video clips from NBC News archives, plus current NBC News science coverage, to Iowa and Illinois teachers, students and schools to use as teaching tools.
“Meeting the challenge of doubling agricultural productivity by 2050 is dependent on the next generation of young talent with an interest and understanding of agriculture,” said Judd O’Connor, vice president – Pioneer Hi-Bred. “We are proud to support the expansion of the NBC Learn science curriculum across Iowa and Illinois to help engage young people in the opportunities available in this growing industry.”
“NBC Learn is proud to partner with Pioneer and DuPont to make compelling real-life stories of agricultural science available to students and teachers. Through this effort, NBC Learn hopes to inspire a new generation of students devoted to innovation in agriscience,” said Soraya Gage, executive producer – NBC Learn.
I joined the press conference late but you can listen in here (includes Q&A): Pioneer Press Conference
My American Farm is a great and personal sounding name. It’s the url for a Pioneer sponsored project that’s conducted by the American Farm Bureau Federation. I spoke with Angela Mayfield (right) about what’s new with the project.
Angela says that MyAmericanFarm.org is a free online resource that now has 12 games covering different topics on agriculture. They all meet core content standards for elementary teachers grades 3-5. Of course the games are fun for students of all ages. Besides adding games there is also updated ag information content. The resource is available to any school anywhere.
This morning Pioneer Hi-Bred announced a new generation of corn hybrids under the AQUAmax name that will work well in dry environments. I joined the press conference during opening remarks. You can listen in and download below.
DuPont business Pioneer Hi-Bred launched a new generation of corn hybrids developed and tested to help deliver a yield advantage in water-limited environments, allowing growers to minimize risk and maximize productivity. These hybrids will be offered to growers under the Optimum® AQUAmaxTM brand name.
These hybrids, introduced for planting in 2011, contain a collection of native corn traits that improve water access and utilization and deliver greater yields in water-limited conditions. The initial class of Optimum AQUAmax innovations will include five hybrid platforms across a range of maturities and technology packages. While the 2011 launch size is limited and primarily targeted in the western Corn Belt, the technology advancement is an important milestone toward the longer-term objective of bringing breeding and biotechnology solutions to drought-prone environments.
Here at ZimmComm we’re all about creating an army of agvocates. That’s why we support efforts like this one from the National Corn Growers Association with support from Pioneer Hi-Bred.
Starting in January 2011, NCGA will launch a series of hour-long social media training webinars sponsored by Pioneer for farmers. Each month, NCGA members, state corn association staff and others interested in using the Internet to promote today’s farming will take part in live online presentations that will focus on how growers can benefit personally and professionally using various social networking mediums.
In addition to covering the mechanics of utilizing social media, webinar curriculum will include strategies for goal-based outreach, developing content for conversations and becoming an online ambassador of the corn industry. The goal of the program is to grow the enthusiasm and activity of corn farmers who will use social networking as a useful tool to connect and educate policy makers, regulators and the general public.
Pioneer made my day a little sweeter yesterday when a package of holiday cookies arrived on our doorstep in a cute Pioneer Plenish coffee mug.
Can’t show you a photo of the cookies because daughter Chelsea and I gobbled them up. We didn’t even save any for Chuck, they were just so AMAZING! Chocolate chip and cranberry and I presume made with Plenish(TM) high oleic soybean oil. They tasted like they were just baked! Thanks to the Plenish team at Pioneer Hi-Bred for the treat.
We’ve been hearing about Plenish for some time now and have even had a taste of the soybean oil used in cooking and in salad dressings at events like Commodity Classic. Pioneer VP for Crop Genetics R&D John Soper talked about the Plenish soybean trait during an interview at NAFB Trade Talk last month and said it is coming for growers in 2012. “It’s a great new product, the first really biotech trait for end use,” he told me. “It provides an oil much more like olive oil, very stable, very heart-healthy, doesn’t require hydrogenation so no trans fatty acid issues. Really a wonderful product for end users and the food industry.”
John also talked about some other new products in the pipeline, like improved drought-tolerant corn. Listen to my interview with John here: Pioneer's John Soper
Plenish was also one of the topics addressed by Pioneer senior marketing manager for soybeans Don Schafer during Trade Talk. He explained that they still need to get regulatory approval for the new soybean trait before it can go on the market. “That is one of the things we have to do in the industry is make sure that we have this product completely registered worldwide so that the grower doesn’t have any concern about being able to utilize the crop in the marketplace,” Don said.
Don also discussed the 29 new Y-series soybeans from Pioneer coming out in 2011, which will bring the total for the Y-series up to about 80. Listen to Don’s interview here: Pioneer's Don Schafer
I’ve been looking for an excuse to post a Kip Cullers photo and decided the time was right. Kip, the king of bionic ag, is modeling at Farm Progress Show with an iPad showing what’s new with Pioneer Hi-Bred. That’s my connection here since I actually have an interview I did with Pioneer’s Drew Porter.
Drew says the biggest news is Optimum AcreMax 1, “the industry’s first
in-the-bag solution for corn rootworm refuge.” He says it helps place the right product on the right acre. In the future they will “continue to focus on additional reduced refuge technologies to bring even that next level of simplicity to the Optimum AcreMax platform.” They’re also very excited to be showcasing the Y Series soybean lineup using accelerated yield technology.
You may not find a bottle of Plenish high oleic soy oil on your local supermarket shelf just yet but that doesn’t mean there isn’t some taste testing going on. At the Farm Progress Show Pioneer Hi-Bred conducted a cooking demonstration and had samples of food cooked with the product outside their exhibit.
Farmers want a soybean with strong agronomics and increased demand. Enter Plenish™ a Pioneer® brand soybean with an enhanced oil profile and increased oil stability. Plenish™ high oleic soybean oil will have 0g trans fat and 20 percent less saturated fats than commodity soybean oil and 75 percent less saturated fat than tropical palm oil.
There are currently more soybean acres cultivated in North America than any other oilseed crop, making Plenish™ high oleic soybean oil a cost-effective and sustainable trans fat solution.
I learned more about it from Russ Sanders, Marketing Director. He says Plenish represents a significant re-making of soybean oil. They’re making it “like olive oil” from the standpoint of taste and health benefits. It will begin appearing in fast food and snack food products in coming years. It will allow labels to carry the no trans fats label. For farmers, Plenish, will come in Pioneer Y Series genetics.
One of the most unique pieces of equipment on display at the Farm Progress Show was a wind machine. This hurricane on wheels is named after the Greek God of the cold north wind – Boreas. Unfortunately we couldn’t fire this monster up for a demonstration due to safety concerns but it still got a lot of attention.
To find out just what Pioneer is using it for I spoke with Scott Nelson, Agronomy Research Manager. He says it was developed to screen all their hybrids for tolerance to brittle snap, early root lodging and late stand ability. Every hybrid gets screened by the machine. The machine has 85 hp. fans that can drive a wind up to 100 mph. Scott says waiting for natural winds was too unreliable so this machine has increased their ability to test more frequently. There are four of these machines in use. He says this program has improved their product stand ability tremendously.
Pioneer Hi-Bred announced IMPACT today. That’s Intensively Managed Product Advancement, Characterization and Training trials. The announcement was made at a press event in their exhibit at the Farm Progress Show. I spoke with Brent Wilson about the new initiative. You can listen to him describe what this means for Pioneer’s customers in my interview below.
Pioneer Hi-Bred announced plans to expand a new, innovative research initiative across North America for the 2011 growing season. The program supports a 50 percent increase in the number of experimental products Pioneer can test to help growers ultimately get the right product on the right acre to maximize productivity.
Pioneer’s IMPACTTM program, which stands for Intensively Managed Product Advancement, Characterization and Training trials, will significantly increase Pioneer’s investment in local research and development, helping to maximize grower productivity and profitability. These plots provide local testing of multiple products at the last stage before they are advanced for sale to growers. Evaluations take place on growers’ farms, emphasizing local testing to match products with regional growing conditions.
The IMPACT program also marks a unique cooperative effort between Pioneer’s research efforts and its sales organization, linking product development and advancement with the company’s “Right Product, Right Acre” strategy to help producers get the best results from each acre.
For breakfast this morning I went to the Bunge M.O.E. at the Pioneer Hi-Bred exhibit at the Farm Progress Show. My biscuit and ingredients were cooked with Plenish, the new high oleic soybean oil being developed by Pioneer. Bunge Chef Adam was doing the cooking and you can meet him in the video clip.
It’s not just farmers who visit the Farm Progress Show. Politicians have a great opportunity to interact with constituents and prospective voters. One of them is former Iowa Governor Terry Branstad who is hoping to become Governor again! Terry is pictured second from the left with his new Pioneer Hi-Bred cap.
I spoke with him after our photo opp. He lives in Boone County right near the show. He says agriculture is one of the bright spots in the economy. Without the permanent location of the show he says conditions would have been very different today. However, even with all the rain he’s expecting a great show day. He remembers the wet weather during his term as Governor in 1993 but this year may go down as wetter than that.
You can listen to my interview with former Governor, running for Governor, Terry Branstad here: Interview With Terry Branstad
In this week's program Chuck talks with Mike Adams, AgriTalk.
Chuck and Mike often wind up at the same events all over the country so it seemed like a good idea to do a little AgriTalking about the changes they've seen in the ag media landscape.
“I’ve had great success with Plenish high oleic soybeans,” said John Motter, director, United Soybean Board and chair of the Ohio Soybean Council. “During this year’s harvest my Plenish soybeans yielded higher than my overall farm average at 55 bushels an acre, and agronomic performance was outstanding.”
The southwest Missouri soybean rock star took first place in the irrigated category for this year’s 
One of the real live Pioneer ATMs out in the field is Jake Vossenkemper from the Decatur area, who says growers have hundreds of agronomy questions that they want answered. “They want to do the best job they can just like everyone else and our job is to step in and help them answer those questions,” Jake says.
By any measure, the 9th 
There were 90 companies in attendance at the event this year, the most ever by far according to AgCareers.com, with a wide variety ranging from precision agriculture, to seed companies, biotechnology, and even artificial insemination. 
Finally, I interviewed the sole international participant at the Roundtable, Mick Hay of the Australia-based 
At the Commodity Classic Pioneer announced a “
My American Farm is a great and personal sounding name. It’s the url for a Pioneer sponsored project that’s conducted by the American Farm Bureau Federation. I spoke with Angela Mayfield (right) about what’s new with the project.
Pioneer made my day a little sweeter yesterday when a package of holiday cookies arrived on our doorstep in a cute 
In this week's program Chuck talks with Mike Adams, AgriTalk.
