Agriculture Ministers from the G20 nations reached agreement this week on a plan to reduce world food price volatility. “The consensus reached today by the G-20 Agricultural Ministers marks an historic union of resolve in combating the pressing challenges of hunger and food price volatility confronting our world with greater regularity,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in a statement from …
Proposal Could Cost Farm GPS Users
A company that wants to create a new, integrated wireless broadband/satellite network is facing opposition from agricultural global positioning system (GPS) providers and users. As we reported on Precision Pays, Virginia-based company LightSquared has proposed to set up 40,000 wireless broad-band stations across the nation on a frequency that is right next to the one used by GPS. Opposition to …
Outlook For Export Markets
Mike Dwyer is Director of Global Policy Analysis, Office of Global Analysis, Foreign Agriculture Service/USDA. He was a keynote speaker at the National Sunflower Association Summer Seminar. Everyone wants to know what the markets will be like in the future. Mike’s job was to tell us what he thought export markets would be like in the next ten years. He …
Keep Your Nose to the Grindstone
Meaning: Apply yourself conscientiously to your work; or to continue to work very hard, without stopping. Origin: There are two rival explanations as to the origin of this phrase. One is that it comes from the supposed habit of millers who checked that the stones used for grinding cereal weren’t overheating by putting their nose to the stone in order …
7R Series Tractors Unveiled by John Deere
With a focus on increased power, versatility, capacity and improved operator comfort, John Deere introduces the 7R Series Tractors for the 2011-2012 season. These completely new row-crop tractor models have many of the performance features found in the larger 8R Series, making them even more productive in the field. The 7R Series Tractors come with a wide array of new …
Going Green At Iowa Corn Indy 250
Guess where I’ll be next. Yep. The Iowa Corn Indy 250. This will be my fourth time getting to cover the race. It is the fifth running of the race which is presented by Pioneer. This year the Iowa Corn Growers are making it green in a unique way. This will be the first Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented under …
The Sunflower Social Discussion
My session number one on Social Media: New Marketing Tools has concluded at the National Sunflower Association Summer Seminar. This afternoon I’ll be conducting round two which is a how-to session to get into specifics and help attendees create and start managing their social networking accounts and answer questions. We had a good crowd this morning. Most are on Facebook, …
Tools To Reverse Sunflower Acres Decline
The educational part of the National Sunflower Association Summer Seminar is underway. The first session is dealing with “Reversing the Trend of Declining Acres: Will We Have the Tools?” This panel includes scientists from USDA and North Dakota State University as well as representatives of the NSA. They are speaking a language that I don’t have but what I’m getting …
Ethanol Might Be An Issue In Presidential Race
So, “Will ethanol be an issue in presidential race?” Maybe, maybe not. But I’m here to tell you, when I talk to anyone in agriculture this is a very hot topic. So it will be interesting to see how the candidates deal with it. In response to our survey, 58% say yes and 42% say no. What do you think? …
Zimfo Bytes
Brandt launched the new 8200 Contour Commander heavy harrow. The new Kuhn MDS xx.1 series fertilizer spreaders, available in working widths of 33′ to 59′ and capacities of 17.5 to 67 cubic feet, replace the prior MDS 5 series. A new CAST paper examines the science and regulation of food from genetically engineered animals. Download the full text here. AgWeb, …