Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue has been on a five-state “Back to Our Roots” Tour to gather input on the 2018 Farm Bill, meeting with farmers, ranchers, foresters, producers, students, governors, USDA employees, and other stakeholders. This is the first of two RV tours the secretary will undertake this summer. This first RV Tour features stops in five states: Wisconsin, Minnesota, …
CropTrak Continues Steady Success
In an industry where tech start-ups abound, CropTrak is a self-made success story in the precision ag space by simply selling a good product that people want to buy. The company started in 2009 and has just continued to grow year after year “with a little rinky dink booth at InfoAg” and little to no marketing, as VP of sales …
AEM Honors Next-Generation Ag Engineers
The Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) honored the latest winners of its agricultural engineering student achievement awards during the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers’ (ASABE) recent annual meeting. ASABE engineering student branches receiving “AEM Trophy Awards” in 2017: • First Place: Oklahoma State University • Second Place: University of Wisconsin-Madison AEM initiated the awards in the 1930s as …
John Deere Works for Ag Retailers
The ag retailers who supply products and services are the main point of contact between John Deere and the farmers who put them to work. “They’re the ones that really serve the customer at the local level,” said Chip Donahue, manager of business segment strategy for Deere. He and colleague Randy Kasperbauer, product manager for the API platform, gave a …
Don Funk Relaunches Midwest Seed Genetics
The founder of Channel Bio Corp is leading a team of entrepreneurs to relaunch Midwest Seed Genetics across the Corn Belt for the 2017/2018 growing season. Don Funk acquired Midwest in 2001 and it was one of the regional brands under Channel Bio when it was purchased by Monsanto in 2004. He is re-acquiring the brand to provide “farmers meaningful …
Ethanol Report on EPA Hearing and Court Decision
Last week’s court decision on what EPA can consider when setting volume obligations for biofuels under the Renewable Fuel Standard was still fresh in mind as the industry provided feedback on the agency’s most recent proposals for next year during a public hearing in Washington D.C. this week. In this edition of The Ethanol Report podcast, Renewable Fuels Association president …
New from Case IH
Case IH made a number of new product announcements for 2018 this week. For starters, they launched the next generation of Maxxum series tractors that “combine efficient power, versatility, comfort and convenience to handle the day-to-day demands of beef, dairy and row crop operations.” The 2018 line up includes Maxxum ActiveDrive 4, Maxxum ActiveDrive 8, and Maxxum CVXDrive tractor configurations …
Precision Ag is John Deere Connected
A significant percentage of the more than 100 companies exhibiting at the InfoAg Conference last week were proud to promote that they were John Deere Operations Center Connected. Stu Pocknee with Precision Terrain Solutions of Australia specializes in landforming and agricultural water management, basically “anything to do with putting an implement behind a tractor and changing the shape of a …
EPA Hearing Draws Biofuels Supporters
Over 140 witnesses provided feedback to the Environmental Protection Agency Tuesday on the agency’s recent proposed volume obligations under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), with the majority supporting renewable fuels. Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Bob Dinneen thanked EPA for proposing to maintain the 15 billion gallon requirement for conventional renewable fuels in its 2018 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) …
Another Successful InfoAg
The 2017 InfoAg Conference was another success with 1363 attendees from 22 countries, 104 exhibitors, and 98 speakers. Conference secretary Quentin Rund says this was the 22nd InfoAg, which has grown quite a bit since it moved to St. Louis in 2013. “The exhibit hall has increased, and our attendance has also been terrific,” he said. With 22 countries represented, …