This is the view people attending the Farm Progress Show will have from Hwy. 72 at exit #144. Once they get to that exit they’ll know where they are.
I’m staying up in Clinton, IL which is really not far away. I made my reservation back in March and the closest I cold find was this room. It ought to be interesting.
AgWired coverage of the 2007 Farm Progress Show is sponsored by 
It’s a hot one here on move in day at the Farm Progress Show but I’ve seen nothing but smiles so far. The media tent is open and AgWired is set up and posting.
In case you didn’t know it we have paved streets that are lined on the sides with gravel. Of course it won’t rain this year. It sure beats the 3 feet deep black mud of past shows right outside the media tent.
I’ll be on location early in the morning and we’ll be here for the whole show. I don’t know how many news releases and media invites I’ve received so far but it’s a lot. Laura and I are going to have a planning session to try to divide things up and cover as much as we can.
AgWired coverage of the 2007 Farm Progress Show is sponsored by
Dow AgrogSciences and the Australian company Hexima Limited are teaming up to research ways to offer cotton growers a greater command over their crop. The joint effort wants to improve technology in the cotton industry in as little as two years.
Dow AgroSciences LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company, is collaborating with Hexima Limited to test cotton plants using Dow AgroSciences proprietary genetic constructs. The agreement involves the completion of a series of milestones over the next 18-24 months, resulting in the delivery of viable transformed cotton seeds to Dow AgroSciences to provide better solutions and more options to cotton growers.
“This collaboration represents Dow AgroSciences’ commitment to provide differentiated solutions to customers globally through unique technology and capabilities,” Daniel R. Kittle, PhD, Vice President, R&D, for Dow AgroSciences.
“Hexima is pleased to be expanding our relationship with one of the world’s leading agriculture companies,” Dan O’Brien, CEO, Hexima Limited.
Dow AgroSciences currently produces PhytoGen™ brand cotton seed and is marketing WideStrike™ Insect Protection for the U.S. cotton market.
Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Just when I thought I had all the John Deere releases in hand, in comes another one. This time it’s about completing their acquisition of the Ningbo Benye Tractor & Automobile Manufacture Co. Ltd. business, located in Ningbo in southern China. John Deere had announced signing a definitive agreement in June.
The acquisition expands John Deere’s product line for Chinese farmers and enhances the company’s worldwide capacity to produce low horsepower tractors. In China, Deere currently builds tractors in the 60 to 120 horsepower range at a joint venture tractor factory in Tianjin while Benye mainly builds tractors in the 20 to 50 horsepower range.
Benye is the largest tractor manufacturer in southern China and currently receives 95 percent of its revenue from sales within China, although it has exported to 70 countries worldwide. Deere expects to leverage Benye’s product range and manufacturing capacity for sales in China and into other Asian, African, and Commonwealth of Independent States markets.
Deere has provided products and services to the China agricultural market since 1976 and has manufactured equipment in China since 1997. Currently, the company manufactures combines in Jiamusi and tractors in Tianjin.
Osborn & Barr has a new Executive Management Team in place. These 5 people will report to Joe Osborn and Steve Barr.
The new Executive Management Team will take over functional management of the agency on a day-to-day basis. In addition, the team will assist Osborn and Barr as they focus efforts on developing more strategic and long-term growth opportunities for the agency. The Executive Management Team includes:
Cheryl Bergeron has been promoted to Chief Creative Officer. In her new role, she will supervise the entire agency’s creative output, growing digital services division and production groups. Her charge will be to continue to improve our product in every way.
Steve Kunkel has been promoted to the new position of Chief Operating Officer. Now in his new role, Kunkel will oversee the entire organizational process including how the introduction of new clients into the agency, project workflow, and the client’s ultimate satisfaction. In addition, he will continue to lead the account teams for several of our clients and facilitate the account planning function.
Rhonda Ries-Aguilar, a 15-year O&B veteran, serves as the agency’s Chief Financial Officer. She is not only responsible for not running the financial, legal and technology side of O&B for the agency, but also serves as oversight on our client’s financial matters.
Michael Turley rejoins Osborn & Barr as Executive Vice President. In his new role, Turley will be responsible for client relationships, networking alliances and new product and service development.
Hugh Whaley, who has been with the agency for 11 years, has been promoted to president of the O&B Association and Government business unit.
YouTube is moving a little slow for me this morning but I’m finding an increasing number of ag videos in there. I’ve now got 69 videos uploaded which have been viewed a collective 61,000 times!
Here’s one from Monsanto which is titled “Renewable Fuels: From Farm To Fuel Pump.” In it you’ll see leaders of both the American Soybean Association and the National Corn Growers Association talking about how productive our growers are.
How many times has your company been featured and found on YouTube?
It’s show time in Progress City, IL (near Decatur) and the weather is looking beautiful.
I’m off to the big show today and will be reporting on all the activities of the 2007 Farm Progress Show. My sponsor for this year’s coverage is New Holland. We’re going to find out what’s “new” with New Holland right here so don’t forget to check your feeds or just browse on back.
I know that one of the highlights of the New Holland tent is going to be Jay Leno’s Ecojet car which runs on biodiesel. It will be on display and on Wednesday a very important person will be stopping by to pay a visit.
Laura McNamara will be helping me out this week for a couple days. We’ll be working out of the New Holland sponsored media tent so if you’re trying to find either of us that’s the first place to look.
Here’s the weather outlook according to the Weather Channel:
Today Aug 27 Sunny 90°/65°
Tue Aug 28 Sunny 94°/68°
Wed Aug 29 Mostly Sunny 94°/68°
Thu Aug 30 Partly Cloudy 81°/63°
AgWired coverage of the 2007 Farm Progress Show is sponsored by
This is the field I posted a picture from last week which shows that corn harvesting has begun here in Missouri. It’s the first field I’ve seen that’s been combined.
With some beautiful weather in store in the midwest there might be some competition for farmer’s time this week as the Farm Progress Show kicks off in Decatur, IL.
Philippa Stevenson is blogging on the Rural Network in New Zealand. She’s “a freelance journalist and columnist with a 26-year career in journalism. She specializes in reporting primary industries, science and the environment. ”
Here’s some information on the Rural Network. It’s “a community for, by and of rural people. Here, you’ll find news, information, topical opinion and useful advice contributed by specialists and community members.
The Rural Network is the initiative of Dow AgroSciences, which has been providing New Zealand farmers with cost-effective solutions to pasture and crop production problems for 50 years. It just seemed like a good idea for a new era.”
I have never met someone who grows worms for a living but that’s what Dr. Patrick Meeus is doing for Pfizer Animal Health. He’s a parasitologist and specializes in worm research. So at the Pfizer VMRD facility he works on the development of de-wormers.
They call his part of the facility the “Worm Farm.” You can hear him tell how they do the research in my interview with him. He says they are constantly looking for the latest parasites in the field which they bring into the lab to do tests with. There are only about a half a dozen people working in his facility and they have a pretty tough schedule since as he puts it “worms don’t take a day off.”
You can listen to my interview with Dr. Meeus here: pfizer-vmrd-07-meeus.mp3
Or if you’d like you can download it here: 
Dr. Patrick Meeus Interview
