Prior to joining the Wheat Growers team, Antonsen was the head of origination for the Minnesota Soybean Processors plant in Brewster, Minn. Before that he was a merchandiser for the South Dakota Soybean Processors facility in Volga, S.D.

Today was the inaugural MGEX conference call in conjunction with the Stats Canada agricultural data releases, following the release of March Intentions of Principal Field Crop Areas, 2012 report. The call included commentary on the data from Dennis Cajigas from Zaner Group. The first call had several Canadian journalists tuned in, as well as farm broadcaster Al Gustin of KFYR in Bismark, ND who asked about the impact recent developments regarding the Canadian Wheat Board may have had on this year’s planting intentions in Canada.

All of the MGEX conference calls are posted on the exchange website – links right on the front page. Contact Rita Maloney or Joe Victor at MGEX if you would like to receive notices about upcoming calls.

Listen to today’s MGEX Canadian crop conference call here: MGEX Canadian Conference Call

What’s really new for NAWG is a brand new scholarship program with BASF just announced at the Classic, and CEO Dana Peterson says they are happy about the scholarship but sad about the circumstances that brought it about. “We are pleased to join with BASF to honor a longtime friend of wheat, Mr. Jerry Minore. He passed away just recently from a sudden illness and we were sorry to see him go,” Dana said.

Because Jerry just passed away less than a month ago, the details on the scholarship are still being developed, but Dana says they will be announced soon and available on the NAWG website.

Dana says they are thrilled with the record turnout of over 6,000 producers at Classic this year and pleased to celebrate their fifth year being one of the commodity groups that join together for the event.

Listen to my interview with Dana here: NAWG CEO Dana Peterson

I also spoke with U.S. Wheat president Alan Tracy at the wheat industry booth and he told me how excited they are about export opportunities in Asia, noting that they just celebrated their golden anniversary in Philippines. “In Asia, we continue to do very well,” he said. “I just returned from the Philippines where we celebrated the 50th anniversary of our having an office there in Manila.”

Alan says the Philippines have become at least the 5th largest market for U.S. Wheat. “This year it’s going to be 95% of their wheat comes form the United States,” Alan said, adding that the export market makes up about half of the U.S. crop in a given year.

Listen to my interview with Dana here: US Wheat President Alan Tracy

2012 Commodity Classic Photo Album

Paul Rea, Vice President of U.S. Crop Protection for BASF, says Jerry passed away suddenly just a few weeks ago. “It was a real loss and everyone was looking for a way we could remember his service so what better way than to award a memorial scholarship in his name,” said Paul.

Listen to or download Paul talking about BASF’s commitment to the future of agriculture and the new scholarship: BASF VP U.S. Crop Protection Paul Rea

BASF has funded the Jerry Minore Memorial Scholarship for up to $5,000 per year the next three years. Applications for the scholarship program will be accepted through the end of 2012, with the first recipients to be announced at next year’s Commodity Classic.

This year, for the fifth consecutive year, BASF partnered with the American Soybean Association (ASA) and the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) to present another six students with scholarships.

Recipients of the $1,000 NCGA scholarships, pictured here with Paul Rea and NCGA Chairman Bart Schott, are (left to right): Andy Chamra, a junior at Iowa State University pursuing agricultural business; Denise Beam, a sophomore at Pennsylvania State University pursuing a degree in animal sciences with an agricultural business management minor; Gracie Weinzierl, a sophomore at Illinois State University majoring in agricultural education in addition to crop and soil science; Andrew Perry, a sophomore at the University of Missouri-Columbia, studying agricultural economics and plant science; and Bethany Olson, a junior at Iowa State University specializing in agricultural business and international agriculture.

Melissa Schenck of Boston, Kentucky – pictured here with Paul and ASA president Steve Wellman – was chosen as the 2012-2013 ASA SOY scholarship recipient. Schenck, a senior at Nelson County High School, will pursue a degree in agriculture communications at Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky, beginning this fall.

Melissa says she plans to go to Murray State University and major in ag communications or ag business. “Getting a scholarship from ASA and BASF means that college is going to be easier to pay for,” she said. “This scholarship has taken a load off my shoulders” and her parents too! She’s never been to Commodity Classic before and is really enjoying it.

Listen to or download an interview with Melissa here: ASA-BASF Scholarship Winner Melissa Schenck

See video of all scholarship winners here:

2012 BASF Science Behind Photo Album

“We’re estimating corn plantings at about 94 million acres, the largest plantings since 1944,” said Joe Glauber at the forum. “We’re projecting soybean area at 75 million acres. That’s very similar to last year’s levels.” Last year, actual planted acres totaled 92.3 million for corn and 75.2 for soybeans, so if Glauber were voting in the ZimmPoll, his answer would be “more corn, less soybeans.”

USDA is also predicting wheat acres to increase 3.6 million acres to 58 million and cotton lower at 13 million acres.

This is just USDA’s guesstimate at this point. The planting intentions survey of farmers is being done now and results will be released at the end of March. What do you think the answer will be? Vote in the ZimmPoll and let us know!

Entertainers in the lineup for the evening include Darryl Worley, John Conlee, Sarah Darling, Mike Snider, and Joey+Rory. (We just saw Joey+Rory, best known for their hit “Cheater, Cheater, last week in Nashville at the Cattle Industry Convention – they’re great!)

“The Evening of Entertainment will cap off three days of learning sessions, policymaking, networking and a sold-out, record-setting trade show that has the 17th annual Commodity Classic on pace to be the largest in history,” said Commodity Classic co-chair Jeff Sollars.

Commodity Classic will be held March 1-3 at the Gaylord Opryland Convention Center in Nashville, Tenn., and is presented annually by the National Corn Growers Association, American Soybean Association, National Association of Wheat Growers and National Sorghum Producers.

Chris was already pretty familiar with the crop protection business before he took the job with BASF, since his family owns Valley Sprayers in Park River, ND. Chris also has a master’s degree in plant pathology from North Dakota State University. “In my role with BASF, I get the opportunity to work with many people all throughout agriculture – including growers, retailers, distributors, university folks, consultants,” he said.

One of the things that BASF does to help aerial applicators is sponsor Operation S.A.F.E. (Self-Regulating Application and Flight Efficiency) fly-ins around the country. “It’s an opportunity for applicators to get their equipment calibrated and do pattern tests,” Chris said. “A little over 1200 planes have gone through these SAFE fly-ins, 150 different locations all over the United States.”

Many aerial applicators, like Valley Sprayers, also do custom ground applications for their clients, which Chris says is very important for cereal crop growers in his part of the country. “We often will make an application of Headline in the tank with our herbicide applications in that 3-5 leaf stage, and growers are consistently capturing a 4-6 bushel yield bump with that application,” he explained. “As the season progresses, we have an opportunity to apply fungicide again at the flag leaf time and our products at that time would be TwinLine® or Headline.” Finally, at flowering time, Chris says they have the head scab product called Caramba®, “again growers are consistently capturing anywhere from a 5-10 bushel yield advantage and reducing the toxins associated with scab infections.”

Listen to or download my interview with Chris from NAAA here: Chris Wharam with BASF

2011 NAAA Convention Photo Album

Bill Pool is a Minnesota native who most recently was Vice President and Regional Sales Director for Farm Market iD. Prior to that he held sales and marketing positions for Technekes LLC, American Cyanamid and Cargill.

Wheat Growers is a grain and agronomy cooperative. Interestingly, members now grow more corn and soybeans than wheat!

“The secretary’s return for a third straight visit is testament to the value of our grower constituency in Washington,” National Corn Growers Association President Garry Niemeyer said. “Given the concerns farmers have around the federal budget and 2012 farm bill discussions, the secretary’s message will be of great importance to attendees.”

”We are privileged and honored to have Secretary Vilsack as the keynote speaker for the Commodity Classic General Session,” said American Soybean Association President Alan Kemper. “The secretary’s visit will be a highlight of this dynamic event where farmers share ideas, network and learn about future trends in agriculture.”

Commodity Classic is the nation’s largest farmer-led, farmer-focused conference and trade show, presented annually by the National Corn Growers Association, American Soybean Association, National Association of Wheat Growers and National Sorghum Producers. For more information, visit CommodityClassic.com.

“Stamina F3 Cereals arms our growers with an effective seed treatment for their small grain seedlings,” said Don Guy, Marketing Manager, BASF Cereals Portfolio. “As one of our SeedSolutions treatments in our cereals offering, Stamina F3 Cereals delivers excellent disease control, convenience of use and low-dusting application. Stamina F3 Cereals has a red colorant and its higher application rate makes it very suitable for on-farm applications. Stamina F3 Cereals also complements Stamina® F3 HL fungicide seed treatment, which is designed specifically for commercial application.”

Stamina F3 Cereals delivers the benefits of three active ingredients that work together to provide broad-spectrum seed and seedling disease control in small grains. These three active ingredients, F500® (the same active ingredient in Stamina and Stamina F3 HL fungicide seed treatments, Headline® fungicide and TwinLine® fungicide), triticonazole (active ingredient in Charter® fungicide and Charter® F2 fungicide seed treatments) and metalaxyl (active ingredient in Acquire® fungicide seed treatment) have proven performance as shown in BASF’s current Crop Protection Solutions and SeedSolutions offerings. Seed treatment application with Stamina F3 Cereals has been associated with more rapid and increased emergence of seedlings under certain cold conditions.

Corn growers intend to plant 92.2 million acres of corn for all purposes this year, up 5 percent from last year and 7 percent higher than in 2009. If realized, this will be the second highest planted acreage in the United States since 1944, behind only the 93.5 million acres planted in 2007. Soybean planted area for 2011 is estimated at 76.6 million acres, down 1 percent from last year. If realized, the United States planted area will be the third largest on record. All wheat planted area is estimated at 58.0 million acres, up 8 percent from last year. All cotton plantings for 2011 are expected to total 12.6 million acres, 15 percent above last year.

Read the whole report here.

*POST UPDATE*
Listen to commentary about the report from Brian Hoops on Midwest Market Solutions who participated in this morning’s Minneapolis Grain Exchange (MGEX) Crop Report Conference Call.

Attendance at the annual meeting of corn, soybean, wheat and sorghum growers shattered previous records. Total attendance was more than 4826, breaking the previous record at Nashville three years ago by almost 300. Total number of growers was over 1600, compared to the previous record of 1513 in 2009 in Grapevine. The number of media was down a bit, but still a pretty substantial 126. Next year, Classic is back in Nashville, maybe to set yet another record!

In a show of unity, the leadership of the National Corn Growers Association, the National Association of Wheat Growers, the American Soybean Association and the National Sorghum Producers issued a joint statement on the federal deficit and debt reduction following the conclusion of the Classic business sessions.

“We note that agriculture made a down payment in cutting spending when the Department of Agriculture directed $4 billion in savings under the Standard Reinsurance Agreement for federal crop insurance toward deficit reduction. We believe any further reduction in discretionary spending should recognize and reflect this contribution. We would also note that agriculture-related programs represent less than one-half of one percent of the federal budget.

“Looking forward, we believe any meaningful approach to deficit and debt reduction in the FY2012 budget must encompass all entitlement programs and all discretionary spending. We look forward to working with Congress and the Administration to develop a budget that successfully addresses the need for federal deficit and debt reduction balanced with the need of ensuring a successful agricultural economy.”

2011 Commodity Classic Photo Album

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“Each of these projects features transdisciplinary, regional, integrated teams, including scientists from institutions that represent underserved populations.” said Roger Beachy, director of USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture that awarded the grants.  “This approach represents a new paradigm in how USDA science can best solve critical issues facing agriculture today.”

Linda P.B. Katehi, UC Davis Chancellor, added, “We are honored and pleased that the grant awards recognize the expertise and leadership of UC Davis in the field of plant genomics. We look forward to the practical solutions for agriculture and for the environment that will arise from these collaborative projects.”

Preceding the event, the National Association of Wheat Growers will host a reception for congressional staff members to experience the event and meet with representatives from their individual state wheat commissions.

“Charter F2 combines the benefits of Charter® fungicide seed treatment and AcquireTM fungicide seed treatment for convenience of use and excellent seed safety whether applied on-farm or commercially,” said Chris Exton, Marketing Manager, Seed Treatments for BASF Crop Protection. “Charter F2 is a ready-to-use formulation that controls a broad spectrum of the toughest diseases to help barley and wheat seedlings get a strong start.”

Charter F2 can be mixed with Stamina® fungicide seed treatment for a broader and enhanced spectrum of disease control, as well as Axcess™ insecticide seed treatment for insect control.

Ken Miller, both a grower and ag retailer who lives in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, said that he has been selling Stoller USA products for 12 years and has been using them for 10 years. I asked him when he became a believer and he said two years for him to believe in the product. Miller uses Bio-Forge, Sugar Mover Plus and X-TRA power. He is routinely seeing 12-14 bushel per acre increases in his corn yields, 6-7 bushels per acre increases in his soybean yield and 5-7 bushel per acre increases in his wheat yields. One of the benefits he noted was that the Bio-Forge helped the plant to make a “massive root system” that enabled it to take up the nutrients from the soil.

Donny Carpenter, a grower from Dimmitt, TX first began using Bio-Forge on his wheat. Last year, due to increased commodity prices for wheat, he increased his acreage and used Bio-Forge for the first time as a seed treatment. He noted that early on he couldn’t tell the difference between his Bio-Forge treated and untreated acres, but when the crop began to boot, this changed.

“We had a crop that stood better, didn’t try to fall because there wasn’t any lodging and it out yielded the untreated area by 12-15 bushels per acre.”

Although Carpenter plans to reduce his wheat crop this season (commodity prices have dropped again for wheat) he will be using the Bio-Forge on his corn and cotton this year and plans on experimenting with various types of applications.

I asked them both what they recommend for other growers and Carpenter encouraged other growers “to give it a shot.” Miller said, “Use Stoller products because they are proven.”

You can download (mp3 file) or listen to a Ken’s interview here:

You can download (mp3 file) or listen to Donny’s interview here:

Commodity Classic Photo Album

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You’ll hear the panel says what sustainability isn’t and provide some good reasons why farmers are very much involved with this issue.

You can listen to the commodity group leaders with Mark below.

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Exports and trade was the first subject to come up in the interview. Karl says exports are vitally important and the U.S. is the biggest exporter in the world. He says trade has been very sporadic depending on the time and country you’re talking about. There are a number of trade agreements in the works that could be very important in the future.

You can listen to Karl and Mark below.

Commodity Classic Photo Album

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One of the country’s biggest challenges is water scarcity – the country has been in a drought for nearly 10 years. Emery told me that the drought has flown down through many of the crops and water has become a very scarce commodity and has become one of the company’s biggest challenges.

However, Stoller has some products that help growers address some of these challenges including Root Feed. “For example, Root Feed has become very popular because it builds the root system of the tree or plant. So it actually makes it a more durable plant and able to overcome some of these stress periods,” explained Emery. “And also the development of the product Bio-Forge has been very timely because we’re now using it after a drought stress or heat wave. Afterwards, we apply Bio-Forge and we get a much quicker recovery of the plant.”

Bio-Forge can be used universally, whereas Root Feed, Emery notes, is limited to where there is a good fertigation system.

The importance of root systems is very new to growers in Australia and Emery says that his team spends a good amount of time educating the grower about the importance of strong, healthy roots. Emery concluded, “The roots are the brains of the the plant. So they need to be doing everything they can to have a robust, continually growing root system under their crop.”

Listen to my interview with Richard below.

Ag Associates Conference Flickr Album.

This will be the 15th annual Commodity Classic for soybean, corn, wheat and sorghum growers and their families, to be held March 4-6 right next to Disneyland. The theme for 2010 is “Cruising to Success.”

Growers who attend the 2010 Commodity Classic are sure to benefit from the value of attending a trade show with nearly 800 booths representing the equipment, technology, products and services of today’s leading agricultural businesses and organizations.

Emcee of Commodity Classic’s General Session, Mark Mayfield, better known as “The Corporate Comedian,” will intrigue and entertain attendees with his hilarious presentation style. They will also hear what is on the minds of commodity group presidents and learn more about the facts and fiction facing today’s farmers from economist and futurist Dr. Jay Lehr. Because Lehr’s forecasts are based on in-depth knowledge of U.S. farm, energy and environmental legislation, as well as international farm support programs, he brings informed insight to identifying future risks and opportunities facing American agriculture.

How Wheat Works combines 3-D animation, still photography, video and factual information to chronicle wheat’s path from field to table. Each of the program’s four phases – growth, harvest, milling/baking and the grocer’s aisle – takes just a few minutes to complete, while the program spans the course of four days. Interactive opportunities include the selection of the type of wheat to be grown and wheat flour to be milled, based on the participant’s preferred wheat food creation.

Here’s one of them captioned:

Wheat Leaders at Pastas Doria, Bogata, Colombia, with Supply Chain Manager Guillermo Botero.

Great use of Flickr to “photo-blog” a trip. Find all the photos in their event set.

Coppock is an experienced association leader with deep ties to the agricultural community having been raised on a farm in Oregon and serving as an advocate for production agriculture for the past decade. He joins ARA from the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) where he served as the organization’s CEO since July of 2001.

Beginning on November 1, Daren Coppock will begin transitioning from his current position with NAWG to ARA and will be working full time for ARA by January 1, 2010.

Washington State University plant pathologist Tim Murray says wheat stem rust has been in the United States since the early 1900s but this new strain could pose new problems. “The Ug99 strain is a new strain of this fungus that emerged in Africa in 1999,” he said. “That fungus has since spread in West Africa and there is concern in the United States that if it eventually gets here it could cause problems.” Over 80 percent of the wheat varieties currently grown globally are susceptible to the disease.

Scientists in the U.S. are working together coordinating a surveillance program to watch for the fungus, similar to the Asian soybean rust program. “It’s very similar to Asian soybean rust with the rusty red color on the plants and both spread by aerial spores,” Tim said.

No time frame for when, or if, the fungus could arrive in the U.S., but Tim says they are working on a recovery plan and they are investigating which fungicide will be most effective on it. “There are materials registered now that can be used,” he said.

Listen or download to an interview with Tim Murray here:

USW’s West Coast Office staff maintains a liaison with the grain export trade and constituent state wheat commissions, hosts visiting foreign trade delegations, leads the USW crop quality improvement efforts, and serves the needs of USW offices around the world.

While at the University of Idaho, Campbell received undergraduate degrees in agribusiness and agricultural systems management and a master’s degree in agricultural economics. He also participated in the University of Idaho’s College of Agriculture Tour of Taiwan in 2007 and interned for Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company in Puunene, HI. His professional experience working as an agricultural economist for a cattle feedlot in Alberta, Canada, and growing up on a ranch in Condon, OR, also speak to Campbell’s knowledge of the many stages of agriculture that he will apply in his new position.

Announcement of the first year’s winners is planned to correspond with the World Food Prize held in Des Moines, Iowa, on October 15, 2009.

“As I understand it, we are either right at the record or over it, so that is phenomenal,” said National Corn Growers Association CEO Rick Tolman. Unofficial numbers I heard were about 4500 total registration with 1500 of those actual corn, soybean, wheat and sorghum farmers.

Rick says he was pleased to see the producer organizations for four different commodities coming together for the first time under one banner. “We’re too small in agriculture to be fighting among our selves,” Rick said. “Things like Commodity Classic bring us together and help us realize how much we have in common.”

Concerns about potential changes to the 2008 Farm Bill surfaced at Commodity Classic this week, as the Obama administration unveiled its budget proposal which calls for cuts in farm program spending. “The farm bill is a five year program and we just went through a whole two years of discussions to get that done and finally we get it signed and it hasn’t even been implemented yet and they’re talking about changing it,” Tolman said. “That’s a principal I think is wrong.”

Listen to an interview with Rick here:

2009 Commodity Classic Photo Album

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BASF hosted a panel at the conference to examine how today’s technology can help manage disease in wheat and cereals to meet the growing global demand for grain. The panel featured analyst Arlan Suderman of Farm Futures Daily, who set the stage by summarizing the global view for wheat production and demand, noting that production did exceed demand last year for the first time in several years, but demand also increased, so stocks remain tight.

“Rebuilding stocks is difficult due to wide yield variability caused by weather and disease,” Suderman said. “Greater yield stability and productivity will be essential for meeting the world’s food and feed needs over the next five years.”

Listen to Suderman’s comments here:

Download Suderman’s comments with this link – Arlen Suderman

After Suderman’s comments, BASF technical experts on plant disease, Drs. Gary Fellows and Gary Schmitz, talked about how BASF products can help increase global production of wheat and other cereal grains by controlling the most aggressive diseases that affect those crops.

“Preventing disease right from the beginning is important to get seedlings off to a healthy start,” Dr. Schmitz said. “As the plant matures, disease pressure increases, so it’s critical to continue protecting the plant throughout its lifecycle.”

BASF’s product portfolio for wheat includes Charter® and Stamina™ fungicide seed treatments, Headline®, TwinLine™ and Caramba™ fungicides.

2009 Commodity Classic photo album

BASF at Commodity Classic photo album.

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