Getting Precise With John Deere Upgrades

Chuck Zimmerman

Kayla ReynoldsKayla Reynolds works in the John Deere Ag Management Solutions area just like Mike Park. She was our teacher in the “classroom” part of our media/analysts session this week at the John Deere product introduction.

Kayla focused on 4 main topics related to precision ag. They are long range RTK, shading optimization, GS2 rate controller expansion and Swath Control Pro for planting. Don’t worry if you’re not familiar with what these mean. She explains it in an interview I did with her after her presentation.

It appears that John Deere has made some significant strides in the area of precision ag. For example the new long range RTK allows a grower to operate their equipment with sub inch accuracy at up to 12 miles from the base station instead of the 6 miles previously possible.

You can listen to my interview with Kayla here: launch-07-reynolds.mp3

John Deere Product Launch Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the John Deere product launch is sponsored by Precision Pays

Audio, John Deere, Precision Agriculture

Scalable Accuracy in Precision Ag Products

Chuck Zimmerman

John Deere 9630TAt the John Deere product introduction we got to see some big iron in action. One demo involved this 9630T which has an amazing stability functionality built into it including a new AirCushion walking I-beam suspension system.

While I was at this field station I interviewed Mike Park, Factory Marketing Manager, Ag Management Solutions. Mike talks about John Deere’s precision ag products including their new APEX 2.0 software. He says that although not every customer is ready to invest in some of these tools he highly recommends they talk about them with their local representative. When I asked him if a grower can stair step into the precision products he says they call it, “scalable accuracy,” meaning that there are different levels of investment that will all utilize similar components.

John Deere Product Launch Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the John Deere product launch is sponsored by Precision Pays

John Deere, Precision Agriculture, Video

John Deere Recommends Biodiesel

Chuck Zimmerman

Don Borgman Being InterviewedThe Director of Ag Industry Relations for John Deere is Don Borgman. Here he is getting interviewed by Mike LaPorte, KRVN.

Don says that although biofuels isn’t a real focus for John Deere at their product launch what’s going on in the development of biofuel products is having a real impact on their business. He highly recommends that producers use a blend of biodiesel in their John Deere equipment.

You can listen to my interview with Don here: launch-07-borgman.mp3

John Deere Product Launch Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the John Deere product launch is sponsored by Precision Pays

Audio, Biodiesel, John Deere

Sesitivity Surveillance By Pfizer Animal Health

Chuck Zimmerman

Jeff WattsDr. Jeff Watts is the associate research fellow, head, Laboratory Sciences, Microbiology Support Laboratory at the Veterinary Medicine Research and Development facility for Pfizer Animal Health. That’s a long title and he’s in charge of some pretty serious research. At the recent media event held at the VMRD he spoke about, “antimicrobial susceptibility testing of BRD pathogens.”

Wow. You may not think you will understand something that sounds that complex but you’d be wrong. He put what he does in easy to understand language which I needed when I interviewed him. First he reviews the type of research he’s done. To start with he focuses on their products and checking for resistance. Since Pfizer has several products to treat for BRD which have different modes of action he says the producer has choices which they can use if a resistance problem were to show up.

You can listen to my interview with Dr. Watts here: pfizer-vmrd-07-watts.mp3

Or if you’d like you can download it here: Download MP3 FileDr. Jeff Watts Interview

Animal Health, Audio

Zimfo Bites

Laura McNamara

  • AgriLabs announces the addition of Dr. Joel Ehrenzweig to its Technical Services team. David Cunningham, Executive Vice President, announced the appointment of Dr. Joel Ehrenzweig as Technical Services Veterinarian focusing on companion animal products. Cunningham said, Joel has an excellent background in the companion animal industry both as a practicing veterinarian and in management. We are looking forward to his contribution and guidance as AgriLabs continues to increase its presence in the companion animal market. Ehrenzweig comes to AgriLabs from FLAVORx where he was Vice President of the Veterinary Division and Technical Services Director.
  • AgriMarketing Magazine points to industry sources that say that Helena and Agrium, are working together to buy crop protection products. View the story to see what else their sources tell them about this story.
  • Pennsylvania‘s tobacco farmers will receive $11 million from tobacco companies after a North Carolina court ruled in Pennsylvania’s favor in a case that stems from a 1999 agreement between states and the nation’s largest tobacco companies. “After working for nearly two years to secure payments, this settlement is a victory for Pennsylvania’s 500 tobacco growers,” said Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff. Payments were delayed due to tobacco manufacturers’ concerns about their obligations under the federal Fair and Equitable Tobacco Reform Act, which was passed by Congress in 2004. The federal act provided for a tobacco quota buyout for most growers, but not Pennsylvania and Maryland. The North Carolina court’s decision makes clear that the tobacco companies still have an obligation to continue payments to the tobacco trust through 2010, which was established to help Pennsylvania and 13 other states. When the act passed, the companies stopped making payments and Pennsylvania and Maryland took action. Maryland farmers received a $13 million settlement, which is to be paid through 2010.
Zimfo Bytes

The Great Ethanol Pumpkin

Chuck Zimmerman

The Ethanol PumpkinThis is a pretty incredible work of art. At least I think I’d call it art. I don’t know about you but I’ve never carved a pumpkin that I’d be willing to enter into a competition.

This “ethanol” pumpkin was carved by William Hughes from Versailles, Ind. It turned out to be one of the award winning pumpkins at the Indiana State Fair. After the fair concluded, the pumpkin made an appearance at Endress + Hauser’s Greenwood, Ind. facility. Some of their employees are posing with it. They make measuring instruments and automation solutions for industries like ethanol production.

In case you can’t make it out, the pumpkin displays stalks of corn, the “e” logo and a car. The pumpkin weighed in at more than 400 lbs.

Ethanol

Learn About John Deere Tractors

Chuck Zimmerman

7230 With Front End LoaderHere’s a shot of Willie Vogt, editorial director, Farm Progress Companies, in a John Deere tractor at the field day yesterday. His test station was behind the 5000 series tractors with 4 wheel drive that were also on display for test driving. Willie is in a 7230 tractor in the picture.

At my first demo station I spoke with Mike Alvin, John Deere Division Manager, 5000 Series Tractors. Mike is responsible for marketing these tractors throughout North America. In my interview with him he talks about what’s new with the tractors and what dealers have been doing while out in the field demonstrations.

John Deere Product Launch Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the John Deere product launch is sponsored by Precision Pays

John Deere, Tractor, Video

EPIC at NAMA Boot Camp

Cindy Zimmerman

NAMA Boot Camp“Marketing at Top Speed” was the lesson presented to agrimarketers at the NAMA Boot Camp Thursday in Kansas City by Ethanol Promotion and Information Council Executive Director Tom Slunecka. He educated the participants to become “ethanol evangelists” because of the important role ethanol is playing today in the entire agricultural industry.

EPIC is one of ZimmComm’s dearest clients (we love all of our clients!) so we sponsored Tom’s presentation at Boot Camp. After his talk, Tom had about a dozen mini Team Ethanol Indy Car replicas to give away so I came up with a list of questions for the participants to answer and win one of the cars. Most of the questions were pretty easy – like what kind of car can run on 10 percent ethanol? (Answer: virtually any car made after 1980) The one that stumped most everyone until somebody looked it up in the handout materials was – about how many vehicles on the road today are “flex-fuel” or capable of running on up to 85 percent ethanol? The answer is 6 million.

NAMA

John Deere Products From a Customer Solutions Perspective

Chuck Zimmerman

John LagemannThe agricultural media met for breakfast this morning prior to some classroom presentations and heard from John Lagemann, John Deere, Vice President, Sales – Ag Marketing, Lenexa.

John says they’re very pleased with the product introduction that’s taking place. He says the event allows the company to share product and strategic plans with their partners. He says that “Dedicated Leadership” consists of two elements that include John Deere and dealers.

According to Lagemann the products we’re seeing on display have come about from a lot of R&D that includes customer input. He says that this year’s product introduction is being presented from the customer perspective in a way they’ve never done before. They used a very comprehensive presentation that contained a full range of equipment for all types of customers. He says their goal is to help customers maximize revenue and minimize cost.

You can listen to John’s comments here: launch-07-lagemann.mp3

John Deere Product Launch Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the John Deere product launch is sponsored by Precision Pays

Audio, John Deere

DTN, Progressive Farmer To Hold Inaugural Ag Summit

Laura McNamara

DTNFarmers and growers will have the opportunity to talk business, politics and more at the first-annual DTN/Progressive Farmer Ag Summit. Mark your calendars for early December.

DTN and The Progressive Farmer magazine announced today that it will host its first agriculture summit on December 5-7 at the Palmer House Hilton Hotel in Chicago.

The Progressive Farmer MagazineThe 2007 DTN/Progressive Farmer Ag Summit, “Grow and Prosper: Producer Strategies for High-Risk, High-Reward Agriculture,” will help growers identify grain industry trends for 2008 and refine their marketing and business strategies to deal with them.

“Today’s producers are faced with more market swings, technological advancements and agricultural policy changes than ever before,” said Robert Gordon, chief executive officer, DTN. “The 2007 DTN/Progressive Farmer Ag Summit offers agriculture professionals valuable information to help address these and other industry challenges. The summit further demonstrates DTN’s commitment to providing agriculture professionals with the most advanced, real-time information and services that can help them farm smarter.”

Summit events include farmer panels and informative break-out sessions. Farmer panels will focus on integrating new management models and technology into farm expansion, advances in precision guidance system technology and new strategies for merchandising and marketing grain.
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Ag Media Summit, Agribusiness, Farming