Veris Technologies is doing what any committed any company specializing in agricultural technology should do: it’s thinking ahead and developing products it anticipates farmers will need in the near future. Representative Eric Lund says that’s why Veris has developed near infrared mapping. The technology is designed primarily for mapping soil carbon, a need that Eric explains might not be relevant right now, but one that is imminent.
“That’s a technology that really doesn’t have a commercial need right now because farmers aren’t needing to map their carbon,” Eric said. “But, in a couple of years, they may be able to sell soil carbon under a soil carbon sequestration program where they would really need to map beginning levels of carbon and ending levels of carbon. We have developed technologies that will enable them to do that cost effectively using near infrared sensing.”
Eric says the measurements obtained through infrared mapping are high quality measurements because they formed from direct contact versus remote imagery. Currently, researchers are using the technology and Eric expects the technology to be adapted to the commercial agriculture sector within the next two to four years. Especially, he says, in light of current levels of food and energy needs around the world:
“With demand for products high and the need to be able to produce as much food and fiber and energy as we can, anything we can do to produce more food and more fiber and more energy with the same or even less inputs is going to be good for the farmer, environment and basically everybody,” Eric said. “Consumers especially.”
I interviewed Eric about Veris Technologies’ carbon mapping applications. You can listen to my interview here:
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Getting more corn yield per acre was the theme of an interview I did with Shannon Hauf, Monsanto Area Technology Development Manager for Minnesota and Iowa. Shannon was attending a Monsanto Technology Showcase Tour event in Elkhart, IA.
I got to speak with her after listening to a field stop that was all about “stress mitigation.” Shannon says that about three years ago during drought conditions in Illinois, farmers who had planted Monsanto’s YieldGard Rootworm technology were getting yield increases that were two to three times better than what Monsanto had anticipated. So in the following years she says they’ve been doing a series of stress mitigation trials. Those are now being done with the YieldGard VT Triple technology. In plots like the ones we were able to see, you can physically see the difference on the plants themselves.
Simulating drought here on the farm for this tour stop was accomplished by using a tent that allows light to pass through but not rainfall.. . The purpose of the stress mitigation tent is to determine how biotech traits help protect the corn plants from dry weather and other stresses. I can vouch for the fact that the drought-applied plants looked just as healthy as those that received plenty of moisture. Shannon says they monitor conditions below the ground using soil moisture probes and those show that the root structure for the YieldGard VT Triple plants under stress is significantly deeper than the conventional corn hybrids.
She finds it very interesting that this stress mitigation benefit is an “added value” to the technology that was originally developed to assist with weed control and to control pests.
One other thing that Shannon wants growers to consider to increase corn yield is planting more plants per acre. Because advances in germplasm and traits enable corn plants to tolerate higher plant densities, she says a 10 percent increase in plant populations per acre is recommended which will put “more ears on that acre.”
You can listen to my interview with Shannon here:
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Cows wearing headsets. Uh. Right. I want to know if they can subscribe to farm podcasts.
The same Global Positioning System (GPS) technology used to track vehicles is now being used to track cows.
But Agricultural Research Service (ARS) animal scientist Dean M. Anderson has taken tracking several steps further with a Walkman-like headset that enables him to “whisper” wireless commands to cows to control their movements across a landscape—and even remotely gather them into a corral.
He and his colleagues realize this is a highly futuristic technology, but they can envision a time when these technologies will be affordable and useful for a range of applications, from intensive animal operations to monitoring and controlling the movements of some wildlife species and even household pets.
The commands vary from familiar “gathering songs” sung by cowboys during manual round-ups, to irritating sounds such as sirens and even mild electric stimulation if necessary to get cows to move or avoid penetrating forbidden boundaries.
Investment in Africa is spurring economic innovation and growth throughout the continent. There’s no question about that for the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer.
“Make no mistake about it,” Schafer said. “Investment in agriculture, investment in the structure of agriculture to move food to the market, is an investment in Africa’s future.”
Schafer urged private sector investors to build stronger partners and markets in Africa at the 2008 U.S. Africa Agribusiness Forum Friday. The ag secretary said in order to truly develop a successful farm to market infrastructure in Africa, the private sector must get involved. Schafer pointed out that much of Africa lacks the basic fundamentals needed for thriving agriculture markets. He said things as simple as storage, refrigeration, a consistent supply of electricity, expertise in where to sell and how to sell simply don’t exist in many African regions. (more…)
We had two Under Secretaries talk to us here today. It was my first time to meet our USDA Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics, Gale Buchanan. He was here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference to talk about the need for research in a growing bio economy. In fact, he sees a need for a tremendous amount of research to address the opportunities presented by the whole energy picture.
He also talked about how impressed he was at last week’s Bio Energy Awareness Days in Washington, DC where 35 different universities made presentations.
You can listen to my interview with Gale here:
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Two key words in a presentation at the Transition To A Bio Economy Conference were flexibility and diversification. These are important to managing risk, especially in R&D for renewable fuels.
Our presenter was Gordon Rausser, University of California, Berkeley, who was here with his assistant Maya Papineau. I interviewed them both together after the presentation. Gordon says that we should be looking at R&D risk as a portfolio of opportunities. He says we should be managing the overall risk by recognizing the inter-relationships among the technologies and their ultimate commercialization. He also says that stand alone analysis will miss much of the opportunities that will arise.
When it comes to flexibility he suggests giving yourself options so that you can take advantage of new opportunities as they arise. He says that current ethanol plants are vulnerable going forward since they don’t have the flexibility to move to different feedstocks.
Maya talked about probably breakthroughs in renewable energy technology. She says that it’s important for how you use public and private R&D resources to maximize the investment.
You can listen to my interview with Gordon and Maya here:
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Next week’s on-location activities for ZimmComm New Media start off at the Corn Utilization & Technology Conference, CUTC, in Kansas City, MO. I’ll be there producing content for Corn Commentary as well as right here on AgWired.
If you don’t know anything about CUTC then you will after you listen to this week’s program. I was in the NCGA offices yesterday and spoke with Nathan Fields, Director, Research & Business Development. Nathan explains that the CUTC is held every other year and focuses on the corn processing industry. They focus on the opportunities coming up in the next couple of years and attract public and private researchers, government people and those directly involved in the industry.
He says that program elements will focus on improving corn wet milling efficiency as well as more this year on the dry grind ethanol process. There will be exhibits from companies that produce equipment for the industry as well as government and seed producers.
This week’s program concludes with music from the Podsafe Music Network. It’s a song titled, “Burnt Popcorn” by a band called general fuzz. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.
You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast 172 (17 min MP3)
Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:
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The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired which you can subscribe to using the link in our sidebar. You can also subscribe in iTunes
An agricultural research facility in Florida fears the 10 percent reduction in ag research funding will close its doors… and abruptly abort research on a nameless, mixed breed of cattle. The St. Petersburg Times reports:
Indeed, few people have ever seen cattle like these. Unless you’re knowledgeable in bovine research, the cross-bred calves huddled in tall grass of the pastures near the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Subtropical Agricultural Research Station at Chinsegut Hill may appear rather strange.
The animals are so new, in fact, that they don’t even have an official name yet.
Rather, research scientists at the facility refer to them simply as an F1 composite breed, a catch-all name that indicates they are the mixed offspring of several beef cattle breeds in this case American Angus and Brahma cattle, plus the South American Romosinuanos that are a product of more than a decade of genetic research.
While Coleman praised the calves’ aesthetic virtues, his hope is that they will someday lead to a tastier, more profitable breed of beef cattle.
Though that result is a long way off, Coleman fears it may never happen at all…
With the Bush Administration calling for a 10 percent cut in agricultural research in its proposed USDA budget for 2009, Coleman said this agricultural research station is one of three targeted for closing. (more…)
According to Executive Director, Bill O’Neill, the National Association of Farm Broadcasting is conducting waves of farmer media use surveys this year. It’s their NAFB 2008 National Producer Media-Use Study. He says they’re focusing on larger producers and ranchers (Class 1A, $100,000+ in sales/gross farm income).
I’ll be attending next week’s NAFB Washington Watch program courtesy of the organization to cover it here on AgWired.
He’s got these notes from the first wave (the others will be conducted in April and September):
While Web-based information use among producers has grown thanks to increased access to high-speed Internet connections, radio is holding place as the primary and most-used source of daily agribusiness information. The study’s initial results also reveal that agriculture’s listening patterns have changed little in 10 years, as all Class 1A producers are listening to radio 5.57 days per week — and those who listen specifically to agricultural programming are listening 6.42 days per week.
A new generation of younger producers (below age 50) is indicating more reliance on radio for specific information, and they are spending more time listening. A strong percentage of high-speed Internet users listening to farm radio are tuning to a specific broadcaster. Online, fragmentation is highly evident among producers attempting, without the aid of a reference list, to pinpoint their “most valuable Web site” for agricultural information. (more…)
At the opening general session of the Alltech Symposium a big award is given. This year it was presented to one of Alltech’s own. It’s the Alltech BioScience Medal of Excellence.
Dr. Ronan Power, Phd, Director of Research, Alltech, is the Director of their new Nutrigenomics Center. He’s seen here receiving his award (center) with Alltech President, Dr. Pearse Lyons to the left and Dr. Karl Dawson, Alltech Director of Worldwide Research to the right.
Today Alltech opened the first ever Nutrigenomics Center at its headquarters in Lexington, KY. This state of the art facility will be employing 80 researchers doing cutting edge research in nutrition and genomics. Nutrigenomics is the study of the relationship between diet and gene expression.
To officially open the center, a ribbon cutting was held this morning with Alltech President, Dr. Pearse Lyons and Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear.
I’ll be posting interviews with them soon but caught the ribbon cutting on video too. That’s part of that whole “new media reporter” thing you know. I’m loading video from the Alltech Symposium onto their YouTube account just so you don’t get confused.
Those who’ve vowed to drop the pounds for their New Year’s resolutions should drink milk. At least, that’s what Loyola Marymount University suggests. The university says milk is great for helping pinch in that waistline.
If your New Year’s resolution is to lose weight, calcium and dairy can help, according to new research by Loyola Marymount University Professor of Natural Science Hawley Almstedt and her student Alexandra Hybki. The everyday nutrients found in milk may be the key to helping you size down this year.
People on fad diets or extreme weight loss plans often avoid dairy products because they believe those foods are high in fat. Some dieters go so far as to completely stop consuming dairy products. Research indicates that not only will those dieters not lose weight, but even more importantly, the lack of calcium and dairy will have a harmful impact on bone material density, according to Hybki and Almstedt.
The study also found most Americans do not consume their daily recommended amounts of calcium, especially when dieting. In all age groups, men typically consume more calcium than women. Men ages 20-39 average more than the daily intake, while only 80 percent of women in the same age range meet the recommended amount. Women between 40-59 years of age reach only 62 percent of the recommended calcium intake, whereas men in this age group reach 81 percent. It is critical people consume the appropriate amount of calcium, which plays a major role in helping build and maintain bone density, thereby reducing the risk of osteoporosis.
What’s important is keeping the birds happy. Happy birds produce better eggs and more of them… right? Right or wrong, the United Egg Producers say, either way, free-range birds aren’t necessarily “happier.”
Animal rights activists have long alleged that hens in modern cages live a horribly stressed life, but new research appears to debunk those claims. Researchers have discovered that free range hens experience just as much or more stress than hens raised in modern, conventional cages.
A recent study conducted by Dr. Jeff Downing at University of Sydney measured corticosterone, a hormone produced in response to stress or fear, in eggs from free range and modern caged hens. The study showed that the levels of the hormone were similar in both types of eggs.
“This study confirms what America’s egg farmers already knew,” said Gene Gregory, president of the United Egg Producers, the nation’s leading trade association for U.S. family egg farmers. “That well-run, clean modern cage housing systems have many benefits for hens as well as consumers.” Separate research studies also show that hens raised in conventional cages tend to have fewer diseases and live longer, Gregory added. (more…)
Overweight children can lose weight by incorporating peanuts into their regular diet. At least, that’s what research published in the December issue of Pediatrics suggests.
High risk overweight adolescents, ages 10-15 can lose weight while substituting an ounce of peanuts or peanut butter for other less healthy snack choices. The study, “Weight Loss in Overweight Mexican American Children: A Randomized Controlled Trial” describes the “Family Lifestyle and Overweight” (FLOW) Prevention Program, which is in a school setting. It is being conducted by Baylor College of Medicine and the United States Department of Agriculture- Agricultural Research Service (USDA/ARS) Children’s Nutrition Research Center in Houston, Texas.
This study is highly significant because it is one of the first to show that the highest risk minority group, Mexican-Americans, can successfully lose weight and improve blood lipids in a school-based intensive intervention program. This is an important feat considering 37 percent of Mexican-American children in the US are overweight and obese, which is even higher than the 34 percent of overweight children in the general population.
FLOW participants lost statistically significant amounts of weight at 3 months and were able to keep it off through 6 months, which is not often seen in weight loss programs. The intervention group also significantly reduced total and ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol levels at 6 months compared to the control group adolescents.
A new Beef Eco-Report suggests that “green” food isn´t necessarily organic food and conscious consumers might have to start choosing between the two. Analysts at the Hudson Institute’s Center for Global Food Issues say that beef produced with grains and growth hormones produces 40 percent less greenhouse gas emissions and saves two-thirds more land for nature as compared to organic grass-fed beef.
To reach these startling conclusions, analysts at the Hudson Institutes´s Center for Global Food Issues used beef production models from Iowa State University’s Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture and greenhouse gas emissions estimates from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (UN IPCC).
More than 95% of beef produced in the United States is raised on grain-based diets in feedlots, using supplemental growth hormones, both natural and synthetic. The report details the extensive human and environmental safety requirements for the use of supplemental hormones on feedlots, as well as the growing body of environmental monitoring studies showing no significant negative impacts from their use. Instead, the data show major environmental benefits of this production system: Saving 2/3 more land for nature and producing 40% fewer greenhouse gas emissions per pound of beef produced. (more…)
Cull cows and their feeding habits are at the center of research underway at North Dakota State University’s Hettinger Research Extension Center. The study is being done in cooperation with South Dakota State University. The Center’s Michelle Stamm says the multi-state southwest feeders project is monitoring the feeding of a group of cull cows for 100 days and then will send the cows to slaughter. The cows will be fed in one of three ways: some cows have a self-feeder type diet of commercial product with grain, some cows are being fed with local barley silage and barley grain and the last group of cows is being fed a corn and hay diet. Michelle says the project is tracking the input costs going into the feeding of the cull cows and is also looking at what the producer would earn when the cows go to slaughter.
Cull cows make up around 16 percent of ranch income. Michelle says she has talked to feed industry producers in Iowa in the past and they indicated they finished rather well with the cull cow market.
It’s certainly no surprise that crops are cultivated in Germany, but some of the country’s farms, equipment and practices held a few surprises. Both the German Agricultural Society and John Deere hosted a visit to the BASF Gutsbetrieb Rehhütte, or the BASF Deer’s Den Farm, in Limburgerhof, Germany left a couple reporters from our group incredulous at how clean a farm could be. Stone tiles paved a courtyard of sorts between equipment garages, sheds and farms silos. Some not-so-familiar looking equipment also prompted some curiously raised eyebrows. Though, I must admit, we all recognized the three John Deere tractors in Albert’s shed and he was very excited to show them off. The history of the farm was also an attribute that’s rather atypical for an American farm. The Limfburg Estate was first documented in 1035. BASF took over the land and began farming it in 1899. (more…)
Biofuel development and marketing is getting a boost. Energy crop company Ceres, Inc. and the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station of The Texas A&M University System are collaborating in high biomass sorghum production for biofuels, through an exclusive, multi-year joint research and commercialization agreement.
These plants are not designed to produce grain, but rather vast amounts of biomass — the raw material for a new generation of biofuels made from stems, stalks and leaves.
Today, sorghum-to-ethanol production uses the grain, like corn, but the plants themselves hold the greatest potential for biofuel production, says Peter Mascia, Ceres Vice President of Product Development. He notes that new technologies are making it possible to utilize the carbohydrates that comprise plant cell walls, called cellulose.
“As these technologies mature, farmers will transition from growing as much grain per acre to producing as much biomass as they can per acre, with as little energy and agronomic inputs as possible. This means new crops and specialized hybrids like these high-biomass sorghum types will be needed,” Mascia said.
As part of this agreement, Ceres will obtain exclusive commercialization rights to TAES’s high biomass sorghum hybrids developed in the joint research program. The TAES program will receive royalties as well as financial and technology support from Ceres. Other aspects of the collaboration were not disclosed. (more…)
Software enabling cattle producers to safeguard the health of their herds will soon be online. Researchers at Kansas State University are developing software that will help producers maintain secure feedlots and give them an informational database for understanding the impact of specific diseases.
The feed yard security project is funded by the United States Department of Agriculture and the Kansas Animal Health Department. Mike Sanderson, associate professor of production medicine at K-State’s College of Veterinary Medicine is heading research that involves surveying feed yards across the state, from those with about 1,000 head of cattle to those with more than 125,000 head. The research is leading to the development of software to evaluate biosecurity and biocontainment at feed yards.
Sanderson’s other project is the development of a Web-based modeling tool to help cattle producers evaluate the impact of cow-calf diseases on their herd. Although such modeling is common regarding the financial risks of beef production, Sanderson said that in the beef industry it is more unusual to find such modeling tools for disease risk. (more…)
The American Business Media Agri-Council is starting a quarterly report for those of us in the ag media called, “Agri-Intelligence Report.” It’s an e-newsletter filled with information from research they’ve conducted among other things. For example the first issue includes this summary statement from the 2005 Harris Interactive, Agricultural Media Study.
. . . which concluded that farmers and ranchers are spending increasingly more time on the Internet and have a desire to learn more about the use of digital media. When asked how the time they currently spend with Ag media or information services, including the Web, will change in the next 3-4 years, 37 percent of farmers and ranchers anticipated that they will be spending more time on Internet sites. More specifically, more than half of the younger generation of respondents (between ages 20-39) said they will spend more time on Internet sites in the next 3-4 years. Furthermore, the study indicated that researching products or services and checking the weather are the top two ways farmers and ranchers use the Internet, with more than half going online to learn about technological advancements in farming and 42 percent to purchase new products or services.
On October 16 they’ll be announcing the results of a new Forrester study on marketers, end users, and decision-makers which is in the field now. To subscribe to the Report just send them an email. You can read the brochure, “Agri Media Works 24/7″ here (pdf).
AgNite is a celebration of America’s Food and Agriculture Industry, an event held in conjunction with the 2008 Republican National Convention. Pictures are included from a Feeding America food aid packing event held early in the day at Second Harvest Heartland.
An IRON Solution
I learned all about IRON Solutions and IRON Search at the Farm Progress Show.
IRON Solutions has new capitalization and is working with the Farm Progress Companies to publish printed inserts of their equipment listings. Listen to my interview with President/CEO Darwin Melnyk.
Veris Technologies is doing what any committed any company specializing in agricultural technology should do: it’s thinking ahead and developing products it anticipates farmers will need in the near future. Representative Eric Lund says that’s why Veris has developed near infrared mapping. The technology is designed primarily for mapping soil carbon, a need that Eric explains might not be relevant right now, but one that is imminent.
Getting more corn yield per acre was the theme of an interview I did with Shannon Hauf, Monsanto Area Technology Development Manager for Minnesota and Iowa. Shannon was attending a 
We had two Under Secretaries talk to us here today. It was my first time to meet our USDA Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics, Gale Buchanan. He was here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference to talk about the need for research in a growing bio economy. In fact, he sees a need for a tremendous amount of research to address the opportunities presented by the whole energy picture.
Two key words in a presentation at the Transition To A Bio Economy Conference were flexibility and diversification. These are important to managing risk, especially in R&D for renewable fuels.
Next week’s on-location activities for ZimmComm New Media start off at the 
He says that program elements will focus on improving corn wet milling efficiency as well as more this year on the dry grind ethanol process. There will be exhibits from companies that produce equipment for the industry as well as government and seed producers.
According to Executive Director, Bill O’Neill, the 
At the opening general session of the Alltech Symposium a big award is given. This year it was presented to one of Alltech’s own. It’s the Alltech BioScience Medal of Excellence.
Today 
Cull cows and their feeding habits are at the center of research underway at 
It’s certainly no surprise that crops are cultivated in Germany, but some of the country’s farms, equipment and practices held a few surprises. Both the German Agricultural Society and John Deere hosted a visit to the BASF Gutsbetrieb Rehhütte, or the BASF Deer’s Den Farm, in Limburgerhof, Germany left a couple reporters from our group incredulous at how clean a farm could be. Stone tiles paved a courtyard of sorts between equipment garages, sheds and farms silos. Some not-so-familiar looking equipment also prompted some curiously raised eyebrows. Though, I must admit, we all recognized the three John Deere tractors in Albert’s shed and he was very excited to show them off. The history of the farm was also an attribute that’s rather atypical for an American farm. The Limfburg Estate was first documented in 1035. BASF took over the land and began farming it in 1899.
Biofuel development and marketing is getting a boost. Energy crop company 
“As these technologies mature, farmers will transition from growing as much grain per acre to producing as much biomass as they can per acre, with as little energy and agronomic inputs as possible. This means new crops and specialized hybrids like these high-biomass sorghum types will be needed,” Mascia said.
Software enabling cattle producers to safeguard the health of their herds will soon be online. Researchers at 
The 
I learned all about IRON Solutions and IRON Search at the Farm Progress Show.
