It’s official now – the 2012 Commodity Classic was a major record-breaker. Final attendance at the event surpassed all previous turnout records with a total of 6,014 attendees, up 25 percent increase from last year’s record of 4,826 attendees. Once again, farm families represented over half of the participants, with 3,505 growers, spouses and children attending. “We broke records in …
Get Ready for the NASCAR Pioneer Hi-Bred 250
Pioneer Hi-Bred has been a major sponsor of the Iowa Corn Indy 250 for many years – now the DuPont business will be title sponsor for the May NASCAR Nationwide Series race at the Iowa Speedway. The Pioneer Hi-Bred 250 will be held Sunday, May 20, at the Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa. “This is a great event for the …
John Deere Announces Final Tier 4/Stage IV Engine
During a press conference at the 2012 Commodity Classic, John Deere unveiled its final stage Tier 4 solution, the John Deere Integrated Emissions Control System. Deere’s Barry Nelson said this is a major announcement that continues John Deere’s 175 years of innovation. “The past few years we have been spending millions and millions of dollars to develop new technology for …
Ag Leader Moves Into Precision Water Management
Ag Leader Technology is moving into the fast-growing precision water management market with new company acquisitions. To integrate water management into its expanding precision farming portfolio, Ag Leader has acquired Soil-Max, manufacturer of the market-leading Gold Digger tile plow, and the assets of Gradient, Inc., a related company which revolutionized the control of tile plows with the Intellislope GPS-based control …
GROWMARK Building Fertilizer Storage Facility in Iowa
GROWMARK is building a dry fertilizer storage facility at Stuart, Iowa that will have the capacity to hold 15,000 tons and will complement the acquisition of CF terminals made by GROWMARK in 2011. Construction will begin in spring 2012 and completion is expected in fall 2012. The facility will have rail receiving capability from the Iowa Interstate Rail System which …
Partnerships at Commodity Classic Important to BASF
BASF Crop Protection is one of the biggest sponsors of Commodity Classic, encompassing everything from the hotel shuttle buses to scholarships and other awards programs to the final banquets. BASF participated in both the American Soybean Association (ASA) and National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) banquets during the 2012 Commodity Classic and was honored to have company executives speak during those …
Farm Bureau Members Donate to Hunger Program
The Farm Bureau “Harvest for All” program continued to grow in service to hungry Americans in 2011. The farm and ranch families of Farm Bureau last year raised more than $556,273 and donated more than 10 million pounds of food to the program operated through Feeding America, a total of nearly 13 million meals. In addition, farmers and ranchers tallied …
What’s New With Wheat
Caught up with the execs of the National Association of Wheat Growers and U.S. Wheat Associates at the 2012 Commodity Classic to find out what’s new with wheat. What’s really new for NAWG is a brand new scholarship program with BASF just announced at the Classic, and CEO Dana Peterson says they are happy about the scholarship but sad about …
NCGA Has Missouri Corn Membership Machine
Missouri Corn Growers president Billy Thiel is a membership machine for the National Corn Growers Association. During the NCGA Awards banquet at the 2012 Commodity Classic, Billy became the 17th member of the Walter Goeppinger Recruiter Hall of Fame, an honor which comes with a classy new blazer. Billy led the way in recruiting new members for the NCGA in …
BASF Promotes Applicator Training
Fighting herbicide resistant weeds depends as much on the proper application techniques and equipment as it does on using the right products. BASF Crop Protection has partnered with application technology specialist Dr. Bob Wolf, retired Professor Emeritus of Kansas State University, to help growers get the most out of their pesticides by using best application practices with the On Target …