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 …
Thad Simons 2013 Agribusiness Leader of Year
The President/CEO of Novus International, Thad Simons, is the National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) 2013 Agribusiness Leader of the Year. This award, which is NAMA’s highest honor, will be presented at the Opening General Session of the 2013 Agri-Marketing Conference, “Forging New Frontiers,” April 18, 2013, in Kansas City, Missouri. I’ll be there to see Thad receive his award. The award …
Twitter Doesn’t Always Reflect Views of General Public
I love Twitter but have wondered for some time how the “voice” you hear compares to the general public, most of whom are not using Twitter. I am no fan of The Pew Research Center but they just came out with some interesting results from a project on just this subject. The reaction on Twitter to major political events and …
Precise Disk Drills from New Holland
Just how important is it to plant seeds precisely as you’d like to? Very important. That’s why New Holland has come out with a new series of disk drills. Whether seeding into summerfallow or stubble, New Holland’s new P2000 Series disk drills slice through crop residue to ensure precise, uniform seed placement with very low soil disturbance. Both the new …
ASTA Seed Treatment Guide
A guide to seed treatment stewardship is a new project by the American Seed Trade Association along with a collaboration of seed companies, researchers and organizations like CropLife America, National Corn Growers Association and Farm Bureau. Growers will soon find “The Guide to Seed Treatment Stewardship” online. I spoke with Andy Lavigne, ASTA President/CEO, during Commodity Classic about this project …
Bayer Connect Turns One
During the Bayer Ag Issues Forum it was announced that Bayer Connect is one year old. Happy birthday! Bayer Connect is where Bayer CropScience pulls in all their social media channels and content. I visited with Beth Roden, Director of Communications & Bayer CropScience NA Coordinator, Bayer CropScience. She says Bayer Connect was created to provide not only farmer customers …
Mount Your iPhone in a John Deere Cab
You knew it had to be coming didn’t you? OEM’s creating custom mounts for your mobile device in their cabs. John Deere has announced them along with several other things during last week’s Commodity Classic. Patrick Sikora updated ag media on what is going on with the John Deere FarmSight system that was announced at Commodity Classic two years ago. …
Commodity Classic Media Man
I don’t know what the final, final totals are but before it ended the 2013 Commodity Classic broke records that include 6,180 attendees, 3,024 of which are growers and 1,024 first time attendees. The high number of first time attendees was especially pleasing to Ken Colombini, Communications Director for the National Corn Growers Association. I sat down with him during …
Veterinarians on Call Videos
Zoetis has created a series of YouTube videos with veterinarians to show the public how farmers of all sizes take care of their animals. In new YouTube videos released today, swine veterinarians Dr. Matthew Turner of North Carolina and Dr. Tara Donovan of Wisconsin join veterinarians and farmers from across the country in speaking out for responsible livestock farming by …