At the closing dinner for the 2012 Conservation in Action Tour, Trudy Fisher, Executive Director of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality spoke to our group. Trudy told us that she’s a farmer’s daughter and has farming experience herself. For that reason, the things we were seeing and hearing about on the tour are near and dear to her heart. …
Precison Ag Puts Medicine on the Hurt Place
We like new technology and we like our gadgets. We’re called AgNerds. And AgNerds are pretty open to precision agriculture. John McKee is one of us. John is a farmer of corn, cotton, soybeans and wheat. He was a civil engineer prior to farming so precision ag has come natural to him. He was also one of the speakers on …
Corn Technology Utilization Conference Concludes
The 2012 Corn Utilization Technology Conference has come to a close and attendance was officially higher than in 2010. It has been a tremendous showcase of all kinds of research being done to continue to make new products and improve others made out of corn which is “Rooted in Human History (pdf).” To close out the conference and give us …
Precision Ag is a Conservation Tool
During the 2012 Conservation in Action Tour the word “precision” came up multiple times. As precision ag continues to develop it is being seen as an effective tool for conservation plans and practices. One of our speakers addressed this subject. He’s Terry Griffin, farmer and also VP, Applied Economics for new precision ag company, CrescoAg. Terry says one example of …
Conservation Benefits Wildlife
During the afternoon of the 2012 Conservation in Action Tour our speakers talked a lot about how soil and water conservation systems benefit wildlife. One of our presenters was Kay Whittington, Chief of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality’s Management Branch, Surface Water Division. Kay says that the same conservation practices that help farmers manage soil and water quality also …
Most Think Atrazine Settlement Good For Farmers
Our latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “Is Atrazine lawsuit settlement good for farmers?” We posed this question after a lawsuit against Syngenta related to the herbicide was settled with an offer of over $100 million by the company, even thought there has been no evidence of harm in drinking water caused by the product and the plaintiffs in the lawsuit …
The CTIC Cheerleader
I think he’s the head cheerleader for the Conservation Technology Information Center. He’s board member Ron Olson, Mosaic Company, Eastern Region, Senior Agronomist. Ron is seen announcing door prize winners during our lunch at the 2012 Conservation in Action Tour. Ron told me that the actions and work that CTIC has exhibited over many years is what has kept them …
Farm Podcasting Tool
For you iPhone farm podcasters, here’s a new tool to check out. It’s the iRig MIC Cast which is the, “ultra-compact, portable voice recording microphone designed specifically for recording podcasts, interviews, lectures, voice memos, speeches and more. Features include: Features a stereo mini-jack headphone output enabling real-time monitoring of what is being recorded using headphones or speakers. Offers a mini-switch …
Delta F.A.R.M. – Farmers Practicing Conservation
One of the workhorses on the 2012 Conservation in Action Tour was Trey Cooke who is the Executive Director for Delta F.A.R.M. He says that water conservation and water quality is the main focus of the organization right now since it is so important to area farmers. Sediment has always been an issue since many of the non-point source pollutants …
AGROTAIN Efficiently Using a Limited Resource
Thanks to Koch Agronomic Services (AGROTAIN) I was able to attend the 2012 Conservation in Action Tour again this year. I visited with Greg Schwab, Director of Agronomy, during the Conservation Technology Expo which is held after lunch on the tour. Greg is in the photo at their booth in the expo. We talked about how farmers are proactively investing …