Just over four years ago, AJ Woodyard, joined the BASF team as a young, driven and enthusiastic scientist. Since then he has continued to bring his excitement for the agricultural industry into helping growers get every penny out of their investment. In this BASF Personality Profile, we get to meet AJ and learn more about his background and passion for …
Swanson Russell at 50 Years Old
2012 was a good year for Swanson Russell. The agency turned 50 and for the first time surpassed $100 million in capitalized billings. Capitalized billings are an industry standard used by agencies as a uniform means of comparing agencies that offer a variety of services. “In our industry, becoming a $100 million agency is a significant milestone,” said Dave Hansen, …
XL Solutions at Raven Industries
Experts in Raven Industries’ applied sciences division have been busy bringing new and innovative technologies to the door step of growers across the country. The 2013 Commodity Classic was the place to display these new products and Raven Industries was there to do so. I spoke with Paul Welbig who oversees a lot of the product management issues at Raven. …
Early Registration Deadline for NAMA Conference
It’s time to get your registration completed for the 2013 Agri-Marketing Conference that takes place April 17-19 in Kansas City, MO. Save some $’s and do it now. The ZimmComm team will be there with a Connection Point booth to share what’s new in our world. Hope you stop by and say hi. Share this message with your friends in …
Zimfo Bytes
DuPont Pioneer and Mendel Biotechnology, Inc., have entered into a license collaboration to evaluate and commercialize new gene leads for increased water use efficiency and improved photosynthesis in corn. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is revising the Standards for Grades of Almonds in the Shell. Tim O’Connor, President and CEO of the U.S. Potato Board, has accepted an offer to …
Custom Harvesters in Great American Wheat Harvest
Let’s visit with a couple of U.S. Custom Harvesters leaders, Kent Braathen and Tracy Zeorian. I met them during AG CONNECT Expo earlier this year when a big announcement was made about the film documentary “The Great American Wheat Harvest.” The film is in production now with a hopeful release date of Ag Day in 2014. Tracy says that when …
My Field’s Been Droned Dude
Ever since we’ve been hearing about the whole drone issue in Washington, DC I keep hearing this phrase in my head. But of course farm fields are being droned, by farmers themselves, and for good reasons. Here’s a great story on the subject. Helicopters are just plain cool, especially if you can operate them by remote control. The Aerial Precision …
BIVI Panel: Observe, Be Patient & Help Others
All this week we’ve been hearing from some of the presenters at the annual Boehringer Ingelheim (BIVI) Swine Health Seminar for swine vets held in San Diego. A panel session that featured Dr. Darin Madson from Iowa State University; Dr. Jim Lowe, a private livestock veterinary consultant in Illinois; Dr. Edgar Diaz, associate director of swine for BIVI; and Dr. …
Getting to Know Ag Leader
Here is the next in our series as we introduce you to a few of dedicated precision ag equipment dealers in a series called “Getting to Know Ag Leader”. We caught up with Ben Martin of Akron Services, Inc. in Illinois. 1) From an agronomy standpoint, what do you consider to be the biggest issues facing growers today? Today’s investment …
Zimfo Bytes
MANA announced its launch of five new soybean weed control tools: Rumble, Tailwind, Torment, Vise and Outflank herbicides. DuPont Pioneer announced final advancements of 132 new Pioneer brand corn products for 2013, including 36 new genetic platforms. MGEX announced new trading hours for futures and options contracts in the Hard Red Spring Wheat and Index contracts beginning with the Monday, …