USDA Predicts Record Corn and Soybean Crops

Cindy Zimmerman

A little bit more corn and a lot more soybeans compared to last year is what USDA is forecasting in the latest report out today. U.S. soybean producers are expected to produce a record 3.82 billion bushels in 2014, up 16 percent from last year according to the Crop Production report issued today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National …

Audio, Corn, NCGA, USDA

Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy

Cindy Zimmerman

This is the first of a four part series on Nutrient Management sponsored by FS/GROWMARK In March of 2013, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency hosted a meeting of stakeholders to announce the beginning of a statewide Nutrient Reduction Strategy. Marcia Willhite, chief of the Illinois EPA Bureau of Water, says the first step in implementing this strategy was to get …

Audio, Conservation, GROWMARK, Water

WD Farr Scholarship Winners

Jamie Johansen

Congratulations to two young agricultural professionals who were awarded the WD Farr Scholarship during the 2014 Cattle Industry Summer Conference. Ariel Overstreet-Adkins from Big Timber, Montana and Josh Ison from Batavia, Ohio were honored at the first session by the National Cattlemen’s Foundation and the Farr family. They each received a $12,000 graduate scholarship. Ariel will use it to finish …

Ag Groups, Audio, Beef, Cattle Industry Conference, NCBA

SPADE Digs into Data Sharing

Cindy Zimmerman

Many booths at the recent InfoAg Conference sported this little sign: AgGateway – SPADE Participant. We caught up with AgGateway Standards Director Jim Wilson at the John Deere booth to learn more about the SPADE project. “SPADE stands for Standardized Precision Ag Data Exchange,” Wilson explained. As a non-profit industry consortium, AgGateway is facilitating the project which will ultimately benefit …

Ag Leader, Agribusiness, Audio, Info Ag, John Deere, Precision Agriculture, Technology

Traveling with Alltech

Chuck Zimmerman

In just a few weeks I’ll be on the agriblogging highway to France prior to the IFAJ Congress in Scotland. Thank you Alltech for bringing me to the Normandy region for their annual Global Dairy and Beef Conference and the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. During the Ag Media Summit I visited with Alltech’s Ann Hess about this year’s Global …

Ag Media Summit, Alltech, Audio, Dairy, Horses

AgCatalyst Registration Open

Chuck Zimmerman

Version two of AgCatalyst is going to be happening in Minneapolis on October 15-16. This two day conference brings together marketing and communication professionals to learn how to solve agribusiness challenges with a strong focus on digital social communications tools and strategies. You’re invited according to Josh Lysne, AdFarm. He’s in the AdFarm booth at the Ag Media Summit here …

Ag Media Summit, Agencies, Audio

AgCareers.com’s AgWarriors Program Taking Off

Joanna Schroeder

During the AgCareers.com HR & Food Roundtable last year the company announced that they were taking over the AgWarrior employment program. The initiative is targeted to helping veterans find jobs in the agricultural and food industry. Last year, I sat down with Ericka Osmundson with AgCareers.com to learn about the initiative and this year during the 2014 HR & Food …

AgCareers, Audio, Education

Minnesota Congressman at Ethanol Conference

Cindy Zimmerman

The American Coalition for Ethanol meeting in Minneapolis this week honored Congressman Collin Peterson of Minnesota with its highest award for supporters of ethanol, the Merle Anderson award. Anderson, known to many as the Father of Ethanol, presented Peterson with the award, as well as an ethanol lapel pin and a big five dollar contribution for his campaign. Peterson says …

ACE, Audio, Corn, Ethanol

AgCareers.com Agribusiness HR Review Trends for 2014-15

Joanna Schroeder

One of the tools AgCareers.com is becoming well known for is their annual HR Agribusiness Review. During this year’s annual HR & Food Roundtable, the survey team released the preliminary results of the 2014-2015 report. The review provides data on a range of human resource (HR) practices relevant to participating agribusinesses over the last 12 months. Today, 86 agribusiness companies …

AgCareers, Audio, Education

New Holland Celebrating Major Milestones

Chuck Zimmerman

The New Holland Guardian Sprayer was on display during media day last week. Here’s Abe Hughes, VP, North America, in front of the monster sprayer. The front-boom sprayers have been introduced with Tier 4B and you can get them with the available 1,600 US/gallon tank and 120-foot boom options to cover more acres faster than ever. When I visited with …

Agribusiness, Audio, Equipment, New Holland, Video