Raven Makes Big Announcements at RIS

Posted on June 6, 2013 by Jamie

The 2013 Raven Innovation Summit wrapped up last night with an awards banquet honoring Raven Industries dealers from across the world. The two-day event consisted of the announcement of brand new innovative technologies, a trade show and educational break-out sessions where dealers got all their questions answered about the new product launches.

During the opening session general manager and vice president of Raven Industries, Matt Burkhart, had the privilege to finally make the hard work and years of research public. Raven is recognized as a leader in precision agriculture and has been introducing leading edge technology since 1978. Maybe the most coveted new product is the Viper 4, a fourth generation Viper loaded with simplicity, power and connection.

Listen to Matt’s complete product launch presentation here: Product Launch Announcement

I also got to sit down with Matt and he shared how the passion for Raven’s Applied Technology Division is helping farmers feed the world. Their mission to do this is surrounded by growing their core, expanding internationally and focusing on information management.

Listen to my interview with Matt here: Interview with Matt Burkhart

Check out photos from the event here: Raven Innovation Summit Photo Album

2013 Raven Innovation Summit

Posted on June 3, 2013 by Jamie

This week Raven Industries will be holding their 2013 Raven Innovation Summit in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The event will provide an opportunity to discuss industry trends and to learn from Raven dealers and partners from across the globe. Raven Industries is eager to share how they are continuing to evolve and change along with the entire agriculture industry. This summit they will take the opportunity to showcase these changes.

I am excited to have the chance to attend their event this year, representing the ZimmComm team. Later this week you will be able to find interviews with Raven leadership, summit attendees, as well as producers and links to photos here and at PrecisionPays.

Raven Industries have gone mobile this year with an event app and texting servies. Text “RIS13″ to 57682 for general questions and download Guidebook from the Apple App Store or the Android Marketplace.

World Backup Day

Posted on March 31, 2013 by Chuck

Happy Easter which is falling on World Backup Day. Have you taken the pledge?

The World Backup Day Pledge

I solemnly swear to backup my important documents and precious memories on March 31st. I will also tell my friends and family about World Backup Day – friends don’t let friends go without a backup.

It is very important that you should not only do this today but very regularly. Your data may very well be “your business” quite literally. It is here at ZimmComm New Media. We archive the masters of all our photos, audio and video files. This is important to everyone including agencies, media, agribusiness and farmers.

I get asked about this quite a bit and have been meaning to write about it. World Backup Day reminded me to get it done.

Here’s our work flow for backing things up.

1. Local computer backups

Each of our computers has a local backup of all data. For our PC’s I have them automatically backup to our shared server. The server is a computer itself that resides on our office network system. We’re currently using an HP Home Server unit that has a capacity of about 4TB of data. Each computer is backed up weekly or in the case of a laptop, whenever it is connected to the network after being on a long road trip. The server has built in syncing software which allows us to create custom settings for each machine’s backup. You can use other software on your computer to sync straight to an external hard drive. I use a program called SyncBack for this.

For our Macs I use Time Machine, which is part of the Mac OSX operating system. Time Machine backs up to a small local hard drive. I have tried many of them and the most reliable seem to be Seagate external hard drives. I travel with one that holds up to 500GB of data. This small hard drive also serves as a great place to temporarily store photos/audio/video until I archive them which I’ll go into later.

Regardless which type of smart phone or tablet you’re using today, this local backup can play an important role with them, not just your computer itself. If you’re using an iPhone or iPad then make sure you sync with iTunes often to keep your device backed up. I can just about guarantee you’ll be glad you did. The same goes with your Android device or whatever you may be using.

2. Cloud computer backups

Besides this local backup we use BackBlaze to back up computer data regardless of being PC or Mac. It is less expensive than other options and very simple to use. Some of those other options include Apple’s iCloud, which I use for syncing all my Mac/iPhone/iPad data, Google Cloud Storage, Dropbox, which we use for sharing all kinds of files easily, and of course services like Carbonite. There are lots of choices for cloud backups today. Their benefits include the fact that your data can be available from anywhere, anytime, if you need it. Continue reading →

Smart Machine Technology Growing Bigger Farms

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Chuck

Dr. Terry Kastens is an Emeritus Professor from Kansas State University. He’s back to farming now and spoke during a Learning Center Session at Commodity Classic sponsored by John Deere. The session topic was “Better Data, Better Decisions: the ROI of Smart Machine Technology.

One of the first points Dr. Karstens makes is that every new technology requires an investment. That provides an opportunity for larger farms who can spread their investment out over more acres, or units of production. It’s the age old economy of scale thing. So, for this reason you would expect larger farms to adopt new technology quicker than smaller farms. That is in fact the case and he says that we can expect to see more consolidation in row crop farms analogous to what we’ve seen in the livestock industry.

Another point made in the presentation was that some technologies are adopted at a rapid rate and others at a much slower rate. In the precision ag sector an example of quick adoption is the use of yield monitors. But he says that making sense out of yield monitor data and actually varying rates of fertilizer as one example are being adopted much slower.

Listen to my interview with Dr. Kastens to hear more of his comments on this: Interview with Dr. Terry Kastens

XL Solutions at Raven Industries

Posted on March 11, 2013 by Jamie

Experts in Raven Industries’ applied sciences division have been busy bringing new and innovative technologies to the door step of growers across the country.

The 2013 Commodity Classic was the place to display these new products and Raven Industries was there to do so. I spoke with Paul Welbig who oversees a lot of the product management issues at Raven. Looking into the future he shared how their goal is to continue to enhance products that save farmers time and money. Slingshot is one of those data management systems that can improve efficiencies on the farm.

“An innovation of technology has been a key point to a lot of growers here. There operations are dependent upon the various technologies that are available out there and we try to integrate those technologies together to eliminate the complexities and provide them a faster ROI because they are integrated into their solutions.”

“Some of the new stuff that we are really talking to producers about here is a couple of different things. We have what we call out Envizio Pro XL, which is a field computing device. Envizio Pro has been around a little while…[Envizio Pro XL] does basically what it says, an extra large screen so people can see it a lot easier.”

Listen to my interview with Paul here: Interview with Paul Welbig

2013 Commodity Classic Photo Album

Taking a Look Back at Agriculture From the Future

Posted on February 26, 2013 by Chuck

Let’s pretend we’re in the future as in 2025 or 2050 and take a look back at agricultural production. Let’s do it with Rich Kottmeyer, Senior Executive and Global Agriculture & Food Production Leader, Accenture. That’s what we watched Rich do on stage during the Bayer CropScience Ag Issues Forum and that’s what I asked him to do when we had time to visit afterward.

Rich says, “I think the number one thing we’re going to look at is how we empowered the small holder farmer, how we allowed them to get advice and how we’re able to do that through their mobile phone through digital technology.” Referring to data he says that more important than data are analytics. That data will be simple. He says “big data needs to lead to small insights.”

You can listen to my interview with Rich to get more insights from the future here: Interview with Rich Kottmeyer

2013 Bayer CropScience Ag issues Forum Photo Album

One Goal App For Poultry Industry

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Jamie

No one can argue that technology makes things easier and for poultry veterinarians and nutritionists, Novus International has a new app, called One Goal, to do just that.

At last week’s International Production & Processing Expo, Dr. Marco Quiroz, poultry veterinarian for Novus, shared how the app can revolutionize how information is gathered in the field allowing vets and nutritionists to establish and monitor preventive medicine and nutritional programs for their clients.

This app for mobile devices is a portable and convenient health assessment tool. It creates a database for the clinical history of a poultry company and can be used in every field visit to monitor bird health. The One Goal platform is currently running in the United States, but spreading worldwide.

Marco was on hand during the expo to answer questions and give personal demos for attendees. In the following interview he shared how this new technology can save vets time and energy and responses from those who already have it in their hand.

Check out my complete interview with Marco: Interview with Marco Quiroz

You can find photos from the event here:International Production & Processing Expo Photo Album

Enzymes in the Making at Verenium

Posted on January 31, 2013 by Jamie

Two years ago Novus International announced the partnership with Verenium. This partnership has focused on bringing new enzyme solutions into the animal nutrition industry.

Jamie Levine, president and CEO of Verenium, was present for this year’s International Production & Processing Expo in Atlanta, GA. I met up with him and discussed what this collaboration means for animal agriculture and what they have in the works for 2013.

“Verenium is an industrial enzyme company which means that we develop enzymes for a series of end market users. With Novus we are collaborating on enzymes for the poultry and swine industry, but we also provide enzymes for other industries like corn ethanol and the oil and gas industry. And we will be expanding that list as well.”

“For us our core technology is about taking enzymes from very harsh environments in nature and applying it to the industrial settings.”

Looking into the future, Verenium’s mission is to develop new products to meet unmet needs of the industry. They are constantly asking themselves, are there enzymes out there that will bring technology in and help solve some problems for the feed industry.

Check out my complete interview with Jamie here: Interview with Jamie Levine

International Production & Processing Expo Photo Album

More Power to You at Iowa Power Show

Posted on January 29, 2013 by Cindy

With more than a century of history, the Iowa Power Farming Show has become the third largest farm show in the United States, according to show director Tom Junge.

“We have over 300,000 square foot of exhibit space and about 750 exhibitors,” Junge said. “One thing we take pride in is we have all ag displays. We have three different floors of big equipment and three floors more of smaller equipment.”

Last year the show attracted some 22,000 farmers from Iowa and several other surrounding states and Junge says it takes quite a bit of snow to keep them away. “Over half our attendance now is coming from at least two hours out,” he said.

Junge says Ag Leader Technology is a major sponsor of the show. “We wanted to work with a company that is progressive and precision is very crucial to farming,” he said.

Listen to my interview with Tom here: Interview with Tom Junge

2013 Iowa Power Farming Show Photo Album

See more coverage of the Iowa Power Farming Show on PrecisionPays.com.

FarmLogs Obtains Seed Funding

Posted on January 28, 2013 by Chuck

More mobile farm applications are coming. This one from FarmLogs.

FarmLogs, the Michigan startup and Y Combinator alum that helps farmers digitally manage their farm to increase profitability, today announced that it has closed a $1 million seed funding round co-led by Huron River Ventures and Hyde Park Venture Partners. Hyde Park Angels, Silicon Badia Ventures, and First-Step Fund participated in the investment along with angel investors. The funding allows FarmLogs to expand its team and to further develop its mobile applications in time for the 2013 planting season.
Launching almost exactly a year ago, the farm management software company has quickly helped modernize farming by bringing critical farm data online. FarmLogs replaces paper record keeping with simple, easy-to-use software that is accessible via smartphone or web browser. With FarmLogs, growers can plan, manage and analyze their farm’s operations in order to increase yield and profitability. The tool allows farmers to quickly forecast and measure profits, track expenses, and more efficiently schedule operations.

“We built a product that my family and other farmers were asking for. Our customers around the world tell us that they could never go back to the old way,” said Jesse Vollmar, CEO and co-founder of FarmLogs. “We are on a mission to create world-changing innovation in agriculture. This funding allows us to accelerate our growth to help even more farmers take advantage of modern technology.”

FarmLogs helps row crop farmers (corn, soybeans, wheat, etc.) save time and gain total visibility into all aspects of the farm in one place. A dashboard gives users a daily snapshot of a farm’s performance, access to maps, calendars, weather conditions, market prices and relevant news. Field activities such as planting, fertilizing, and harvesting can be quickly logged in the web browser, or right from the field using the GPS enabled mobile app. Users can then drill down into their farm’s performance to learn from previous results and use that information to make smarter, more efficient farming decisions.

Managing Your Equipment Maintenance

Posted on January 24, 2013 by Chuck

There are lots of companies that have developed products or services without realizing how valuable they may be to the agricultural industry. In this week’s program we’ll meet one of them, eMaint Enterprises. I had an enjoyable conversation yesterday with Rona Palmer.

When it comes to farming, eMaint offers farmers a system to keep track of equipment maintenance and it can be scaled from a one user, one tractor operation to a very large fleet operation. The first thing I learned is what CMMS stands for (see below). Rona says the system is very user friendly and that you don’t need a degree in computer management to use their service. Service plans start at $40/month. The service is managed by web browser access which you can do from any internet connected computer or tablet or smartphone. Find out some of the ways eMaint is helping a farmer’s bottom line in this week’s program.

eMaint Enterprises has been providing innovative CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management Software) solutions since 1986. eMaint was one of the first CMMS providers to develop a completely web-based “Software as a Service” (SaaS) model for more rapid implementation at a lower total cost of ownership.

Our growing client-base consists of over 16,000 users worldwide across 1,000 sites ranging from small & medium sized organizations to Fortune 500 corporations including manufacturers, service providers, fleet operators, energy and utility companies, health care facilities, universities, municipalities, and facility and property managers, among others.

Listen to this week’s ZimmCast here: Maintain Your Equipment with eMaint

Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsors, GROWMARK, locally owned, globally strong and Monsanto, Roundup Ready Plus, for their support.

The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired. Subscribe so you can listen when and where you want. Just go to our Subscribe page.

2013 Top-10 New Product Winners

Posted on January 9, 2013 by Melissa

Results are in for World Ag Expo’s Top-10 New Products competition. The winners will be showcased at the 46th annual World Ag Expo. A group of judges made up of farmers, ranchers and industry professionals selected the Top-10 New Products.

ADA Enterprises: This first-of-its-kind product provides a safe, healthy and comfortable environment for newly-weaned calves, replacement heifers and veal calves.

Freeman, a division of Allied Systems: baler attachment

Barrier Systems, LLC: While watching television coverage of hundreds of volunteers filling sandbags during a flood in Fargo, N.D., general contractor Joe Hartley thought, “There has to be a better way.”

Clemens Vineyard Equipment, Inc.: a product that could dramatically change the way American growers plot and plant their vineyards and some tree crops.

L&H Airco: System featuring breakthrough technology to cool warehouses, processing facilities and other large enclosed areas

Click here to see the complete list of Top-10 products.

Happy Gadget Year

Posted on December 31, 2012 by Chuck

Hello and welcome to the last day of 2012. Have you taken our last ZimmPoll of the year yet? How would you rate 2012? 1 = Poor, 5 = Excellent Let us know what you think?

We’ll have some end of the year stats and thoughts for you as soon as we get final numbers, etc. It’s always interesting to see where we’ve been, what we’ve done, how we’ve done it.

So, you’re wondering why there’s a picture of an iPad mini on here right? That’s because I think it represents the continuing change we’re seeing in how people consume media, get news and information and stay connected socially. Mobile communications just continues to develop and evolve and that’s just as evident in the agricultural industry as anywhere else. Look at a lot of the stories we’ve done this year over on Precision Pays and you’ll find more and more companies turning to tablets and mobile apps to provide their customers with more efficient ways to do business.

I’m an Apple iOS fan even though I also own and use an Android device as well. I think the iOS platform is more stable and has more options and when it comes to tablets the iPad rules. I’ve been counseling a number of friends and family on what type of cover they should get for their new iPad or iPhone and what apps they should get. If you’ve got questions about these please post them in comments and I’ll do my best to get you an answer. BTW. I love my iPad mini. For anyone who travels a lot it has my highest recommendation. Feel free to ask me why.

So, happy gadget year and may you always have good service and wifi!

The Gene Chip

Posted on December 14, 2012 by Jamie

The gene chip my sound somewhat futuristic, but it is actually something we have capabilities of using today. Alltech is on the cutting edge of research on the gene chip. Kate Jacques is Alltech’s director of nutrition and serves as part of the research group for the gene chip.

The science behind the gene chip is state-of-the-art and it was exciting to hear Kate describe how all producers can utilize this technology soon. I talked with her after she presented to both dairy and beef producers at this year’s Global 500.

“The gene chip is microarray and it is a very exciting new technique to measure your animals response that animal science has had in ages. Basically, it allows us to directly follow gene expression. Remember that genetics give us better animals, but it’s the expression of those genes that gives performance and profit. We use it in lots of studies to follow responses to diets.”

Listen to my interview with Kate here: Kate Jacques - Global 500

Kate shared how the gene chip can be used to improve immune response, advance carcass quality and remove stress from the environment.

Listen to Kate’s complete presentation here: Kate Jacques - Global 500

Check out all the photos from this years Global 500 here: 2012 Global 500 Photo Album

Syngenta Shares New Product Lines at NAFB

Posted on November 30, 2012 by Jamie

It was obvious Syngenta was excited to talk about all the new and innovative things they have going on in the soybean and corn labs at the recent National Association of Farm Broadcasting’s annual Trade Talk.

I spoke with Scott Erickson, Soybean Genetics Portfolio Manager for Syngenta. He shared how they are tackling all the things that can rob yields during the growing season and save farmers time and money.

“Well, we work on the seed part of the business which would be NK brand soybean varieties. Our focus is how do we put together the best genetic package that can deliver the most yield potential to todays soybean growers.”

“A lot of soybean farmers know CruiserMaxx Beans from Syngenta. That’s a registered insecticide and fungicide that we sold under the CruiserMaxx label, but now we have also launched a new fungicide focused on root strength called Vibrance. Soybeans from Syngenta this year, if purchased with treatment on them, will all come with CruiserMaxx Beans plus Vibrance. That is a great way to get the seedling off to a great start.”

Listen to my complete interview with Scott here: Scott Erickson - Syngenta

I also sat down with Chuck Lee, who is head of the corn division for Syngenta. He shared his enthusiasm for a great new product that will create drought tolerance in corn fields all season long.

“So, obviously we have lots invested in corn. We have lots of exciting things just this year that are coming out in the corn space. And probably one of the most exciting is our Agrisure Artesian technology. It’s a drought tolerant technology. It provides season long drought protection. It has really been an effective trait. We have more than 1,000 farmer strip trials out this year and in those strip trials they have increased yields up to 15% in moderate and severe drought environments.”

Listen to my complete interview with Chuck here: Chuck Lee - Syngenta

2012 NAFB Convention Photo Album

iPad mini Impressions

Posted on November 26, 2012 by Chuck

I have been using my iPad mini for about four days now. Just thought I’d share a few thoughts since I’ve been getting emails and messages from people wondering which iPad they should buy this holiday season. My advice includes taking a serious look at the mini. Here’s mine in my hand displaying the AgWired App at full screen.

The first impression I had of the new iPad mini is of course the size. It’s more like a paperback book than a large hardback. It is lighter and that makes extended reading or browsing much easier on your hands and arms. I have no problem with the smaller screen. I got the wifi only version since I have two phones that can make a hotspot. Why have another plan?

The mini uses the same lightning connector as the iPhone 5 so now I have two cables! I was going to buy an extra one until I realized the iPad mini comes with one.

Battery life on the mini has been impressive. I’m not doing a bench test review here but after using the device over several days I had only used a fraction of the battery that my (now old) iPad would have for the same amount of use.

This is just a first impression. I’m impressed! I love the size, the battery life and my travel bag is now lighter. I have no negative comments. Do you have one? What do you think? Please feel free to comment.

2012 Global Farmer Roundtable at WFP

Posted on October 29, 2012 by Cindy

This year’s Global Farmer Roundtable at the World Food Prize hosted another great group of producers from around the world. Participants at this event included 17 producers from Canada, Honduras, India, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, South Africa, Swaziland, United Kingdom, Uruguay, US, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

This annual roundtable is organized by Truth About Trade & Technology (TATT), a nonprofit advocacy group led by farmers, and this is the 7th year for the event. “We took the farmers to Iowa State to the seed lab first then went out to Couser cattle farm at Nevada,” said TATT Chairman Emeritus Dean Kleckner. “But the best part was the roundtable discussion as they talked about what they saw in agriculture coming down the road and what they wanted to happen.”

Dean says most of the producers want to use biotechnology, even those coming from countries where the use of biotech crops is prohibited. “Biotech is here to stay, it’s the new conventional agriculture,” he said, noting that those producers who are unable to use biotech crops believe they are at a disadvantage. “And I agree with them that they are disadvantaged against the U.S. and Argentina and Canada and South Africa and other countries that do use biotechnology.”

Dean said Rajesh Kumar of Salem, India was the 2012 recipient of the Kleckner Trade & Technology Advancement Award. “India is a country that does not allow biotech except for cotton and they’ve had tremendous yield increases in India with biotech cotton,” he noted.

Rajesh farms 55 acres in southern India, using irrigation to grow sweetcorn, tomatoes, brinjal (eggplant) and other vegetables and he would very much like for his country to embrace biotechnology. “India has a desperate need for agricultural biotechnology,” he said in a TATT press release. “It is for our overall self-development that tools like biotechnology must be available so farmers can produce enough food for our people.”

You can see more photos from the TATT Global Farmer Roundtable on their Facebook page.
Listen to my interview with Dean from World Food Prize: Interview with Dean Kleckner

View the World Food Prize Photo Album here.

AgWired coverage of the World Food Prize is sponsored by Elanco

Monsanto’s Robb Fraley Talks Technology at WFP

Posted on October 26, 2012 by Cindy

Biotechnology and precision agriculture technology are twin advancements in farming that are working together to help increase productivity to feed the world.

Monsanto‘s executive vice president and chief technology officer Dr. Robert Fraley addressed the topic of game changing innovations that are shaping the future of green technology during the 2012 World Food Prize Borlaug Dialogue last week in Des Moines.

“What’s exciting is the explosive amount of new technology that’s possible,” said Fraley, noting that while biotechnology is important – and in fact is the most rapidly adopted technology in the history of agriculture, there is so much more. “The advances in science and technology, across plant breeding, across equipment, across information technology – and biotechnology – are going to be part of that systems approach that will allow us to meet and exceed that need” for increasing food production to meet a growing population.

“It’s clearly possible for us to achieve doublings or triplings in crop yields as we are fully able to deploy and use technologies to meet that need,” Fraley noted.

Fraley had a really interesting observation about technology advances in farming equipment. “There’s more computational power in today’s tractor than there were in the first spaceships,” he said. “And that’s giving farmers literally the capability to farm meter by meter and use that information technology to be more precise in the positioning of seeds and chemicals.”

And did you know that every Indian farmer now has a cell phone? “The ability now to prescribe agronomic recommendations, to warn in the advance of insect flights, has become a global part of the incorporation of those tools,” said Fraley.

Listen to Fraley’s comments at the World Food Prize here: Monsanto's Robb Fraley

View the World Food Prize Photo Album here.

AgWired coverage of the World Food Prize is sponsored by Elanco

PowerSuite Nominated for Technology Award

Posted on October 12, 2012 by Melissa

PowerSuite for Retailers is the first and only cloud-based sales and customer management tool designed specifically for U.S. Ag retailers. XS’ PowerSuite application was one of 11 products recently nominated for the ARA/AgGateway Technology Award. The winner will be featured during the ARA Annual Conference & Expo in November and will receive $1,000 to a charity of choice. The contest runs through October 18.

PowerSuite was created due to an expressed need from field reps and managers of U.S. Ag retailers for on-demand access to their customer’s sales information for reports and analysis.

You can vote for PowerSuite here.