Burton Eller was fighting for the rights of cattle producers when Ronald Reagan was president, but now he plans to finally ride off into the sunset and spend more time on the ranch. Burton has served the cattle industry in many capacities, most recently as National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) Senior Vice President of Member Services and Industry Affairs. He …
Rhea + Kaiser Adds Technical Writing Emphasis
Rhea + Kaiser is expanding its areas of agency services to formally include technical writing. “We have always valued and embraced technical writing at R+K,” said CEO Diane Martin. “It’s time to use our expertise in this discipline to garner greater value for both the agency and our clients.” This new area of emphasis allows R+K to accomplish several core …
Find the Data Offers Crop Comparisons
Here’s a cool on-line tool that offers yield and production comparisons of various crops by county. I received an email a few weeks ago from the guy who built the tool for a comparison engine called “Find the Best,” and also FindtheData.org. Woody Robinson is a recent graduate of the University of California Santa Barbara who now works for FindTheBest, …
Heat Beats the Corn Crop
The hot, dry summer has taken a toll on the corn crop, according to the latest USDA forecast. The estimate for corn production this year is now 12.5 billion bushels, down 3 percent from the August forecast but still more than last year and would still be the third largest corn crop in history. Yields are expected to average just …
Pioneer Offers Local Resources to Improve Profitability
Pioneer Hi-Bred’s big announcement at the 2011 Farm Progress Show was a new program focused on evaluating innovative production practices on a local basis through a national network of agronomy trial managers (ATMs). “The focus is really local,” says Curt Clausen, Pioneer agronomy sciences director. “It’s really about local crop management, innovation and knowledge.” Pioneer is doubling the number of …
Growers Learn From Illinois Soybean Challenge
Some of the high yielding innovators in the 2010 Illinois Soybean Yield Challenge were at the 2011 Farm Progress Show to talk about the program and what they learned. The Shipman Elevator Team, sponsored by BASF, took first place in District 6 last year and also won the Novel Practices Award in the challenge funded by the Illinois soybean checkoff. …
NASCAR Driver “Blown Away” by FPS
There were quite a few race cars mixed in with the tractors and combines this year at the 2011 Farm Progress Show in Decatur, Illinois. In addition to the American Ethanol NASCAR Sprint Series car at the Growth Energy exhibit, over at the Illinois Corn Growers exhibit, the Illinois Family Farmers NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Kenny Wallace was signing autographs …
Richard Childress Races Green, Farms Blue
NASCAR team owner and former racer Richard Childress was at the 2011 Farm Progress Show last week to talk about the partnership between the racing series and American Ethanol, but he also put in a plug for the New Holland equipment he uses in his farming operation. “I been over to the New Holland booth,” Richard said during a press …
Corn and Ethanol Catch up at FPS
The media tent is always a great place for people in the industry to catch up with each other – like Renewable Fuels Association president and CEO Bob Dinneen and National Corn Growers Association incoming president Garry Niemeyer of Auburn, Illinois. I talked with both of them about challenges in Washington, ethanol policies, and the ability of corn growers to …
Farm Progress Show Field Demo Hosts
I was out watching the field demos in the hot sun yesterday and was pleased to meet the hosts of the demo plots Dawn and David Brix. “We take care of about 225 acres that we use for combine and tillage tune up and then Tuesday and Wednesday during the shows we have demos out there,” David told me. They …