The Leica mojo3D may be pre-ordered now, and will begin shipping March 29. For more information about the Leica mojo3D and other ag guidance solutions from Leica Geosystems visit www.AgGuidance.com.

I interviewed Harlan and you can learn all about the new features and benefits of the new mojo3D in our discussion. He also talks about the mojoMINI which he’s holding in his hands in the photo.

You can listen to my interview with Harlan below.

Commodity Classic Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the 2010 Commodity Classic
is sponsored by: and

Yong says the key one for him was seeing the pace at which people are doing plant and animal research and picking up new technologies. He says it was easy to see it at the conference with not only the researchers in attendance but also in the exhibitors space with the growth of vendors coming to the show.

Fluidigm conducted a workshop titled, “Enabling High Sample Throughput SNP Genotyping for Plant and Animal Studies.” Speakers included Curt Van Tassell, USDA-ARS, Bovine Testing; Jim Seeb, University of Washington, Salmon Conservation and Nanne Faber, Enza Zaden, Seed Quality Control. Yong says they had great attendance and are planning on conducting a workshop like this at future conferences.

Fluidigm was also an exhibitor and Yong says the show once again proved a great place for the company to be. He said that they had a lot of interaction with people who were not familiar with their system that includes SNP genotyping and a new product line that does sample preparation for next generation sequencing. He feels very optimistic for the future after Fluidigm acquired recent new customers, USDA-ARS and Bayer CropScience.

You can listen to my interview with Yong below:

Translated, that means farmers aren’t waiting for a service truck to arrive in their field to fix the problem. Leica has found that about 90 percent of the service calls related to ag electronics can be “repaired” remotely, as it is primarily a matter of adjusting the various settings to the terrain and the task at hand.

So just what is Leica Geosystems? To start with it’s part of a nearly 200-year-old Swiss company with a long heritage of pioneering measurement solutions around the world. That background has been why they believe they can offer a strong lineup of precision ag products to today’s farmers.

Here’s some more information from a company background sheet:

Based in Heerbrugg, Switzerland, Leica Geosystems is a global company with tens of thousands of customers supported by more than 3,500 employees in 28 countries and hundreds of partners located in more than 120 countries around the world.

Simplified steering solutions – easy to install non-hydraulic steering options and integration to third-party equipment to simplify the installation process. However, this sometimes results in lower accuracy steering solutions as well.

You can find additional information on how to participate here, or you can go directly to the USDA’s comment website to leave your thoughts. Remember, the world is run by those who show up, so speak out to leave your voice in this discussion.

As of February 3, 2010 over 1400 comments have been received and processed by the USDA, 700 of which are generally positive. A breakout of all comments by state follows.

Did you know? According to a Roundup Ready Alfalfa fact sheet, “Growers report producing up to .9 more tons of alfalfa forage per acre due to more effective weed control with greater crop safety. The result: an additional $85 per acre of profit potential and an increased food supply for all. Studies have shown that due to fewer weeds, relative feed values can be improved 20% or more with Roundup Ready alfalfa. Dairy farmers appreciate the consistency of the hay delivered by the Roundup Ready alfalfa system, and trials show estimated increases in milk production per acre of 14% more than dairy cows fed alfalfa treated with conventional weed control systems. Because a healthy stand of Roundup Ready alfalfa is highly competitive with weeds, growers do not need to treat with herbicides as often.”

I can see me using one of these to participate in AgChat for example. Or do just about anything else I want to do on the web. Will it replace my Mac? No. Do I want one? Yes. I’m on the notification list for when they become available

A large, high-resolution LED-backlit, IPS display. An incredibly responsive Multi-Touch screen. And an amazingly powerful, Apple-designed chip. All in a design that’s thin and light enough to take anywhere. iPad isn’t just the best device of its kind. It’s a whole new kind of device.

The high-resolution, 9.7 inch LED-backlit, IPS display on iPad is remarkably crisp and vivid. Which makes it perfect for web browsing, watching movies, or showing off photos. It’s also been designed to work in any orientation — portrait or landscape. And because it uses a display technology called IPS (in-plane switching), it has a wide, 178° viewing angle. So you can hold it almost any way you want, and still get a brilliant picture, with excellent color and contrast.

While many seed producers are using molecular breeding techniques, the capacity of the available test systems has been limited. Fluidigm’s technology increases output more than ten-fold and reduces the cost-per-data point to a mere fraction obtainable with standard 384 well plates for “high-throughput” genotyping. “Until recently, breeders throughout the world could only dream of such a technique, yet now Fluidigm is making this a reality,” Worthington explained.

Fluidigm provides molecular breeders with BioMark™ and EP1™ systems, along with Fluidigm’s microfluidic-based Dynamic Array™ IFCs to provide superior data quality, a fast and easy workflow, and significantly higher throughput and cost savings for high-throughput SNP genotyping studies.

Traditionally in a breeding experiment, new crops had to be grown, traits selected, plants cross-bred, and then seeds grown again to maturity to check the results. After each cross-breeding, the perfect plant had to be identified out of many thousands that had been bred with exactly the same desired characteristics. This research could easily spread over years or even decades. With molecular breeding techniques, breeders are now able to dramatically decrease cost and timelines to select the best seeds for the market place.

Well, the International Poultry Expo has made things easy this year with an iPhone app. The IPE app is free and gives attendees access to all events and exhibitor information right on their iPhones. The app is available from Apple’s app store by searching for “IPE”. It’s a great way of using the latest technology in a very practical way and giving attendees a paper-free way to always know how to find exhibitors or where the next event is being held. Pretty cool! I expect we will be seeing that a lot more at conventions.

2010 International Poultry Expo photo album

AgWired coverage of International Poultry Expo is sponsored by:

The Ag Leader booth was one of the ones displaying the “New Product” banner. I asked Mike what was new. He says there have been several new products released recently by the company including their new INTEGRA display. The 12.1 inch screen combines the operation control options Ag Leader is known for, with a built-in full-featured steering and guidance system including an on-screen lightbar.

Mike says most of the growers he spoke with know they need to implement precision technology but are asking questions about how they can use it in their operation.

You can watch or listen to my interview with Mike below:

AG CONNECT Expo Photo Album

I spoke with Marketing Manager, Ryan Molitor, this afternoon about Slingshot. He says Slingshot represents a breakthrough in connectivity, online services and hardware. It can deliver advanced RTK correction signal technology and high speed internet using wireless in the cab.

You can listen to my interview with Ryan below:

AG CONNECT Expo Photo Album

Doug says that over the years ag equipment companies have seen an opportunity to work more closely together so two years ago there was a first meeting of a broad range of equipment manufacturing groups from around the world who met in Rome to seek ways to work together for the benefit of the industry. He says it’s no coincidence that this second meeting in taking place in conjunction with AG CONNECT Expo. The show is a global showcase for agricultural technology and it made sense to co-locate Agrievolution. Participants are here from all over the world representing a high percentage of the industry. They’ll talk about the state of the industry today and then tomorrow meet in groups to determine areas of opportunity to come together as a broader set of organizations. And that leads them right into AG CONNECT Expo.

AG CONNECT Expo Photo Album

You can listen to or download Doug’s full opening remarks about the U.S. ag industry here: Download audio file (agconnect-10-devries-2.mp3)
Download (mp3)

You can also listen to or download my interview with Doug below: