Talk about some inter-agency friendliness. Here’s EPA’s Denise Keehner, Director, Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds and Acting Chief Jason Weller, USDA-NRCS. They were attending the CTIC Conservation in Action Tour and met after luncheon remarks by Denise. I spoke with Denise after her remarks and on the subject of inter-agency cooperation she says it is the best she’s ever …
Welcome to CTIC Community 4 Conservation
Community 4 Conservation is the theme of this year’s Conservation Technology Information Center tour that just completed. To provide an overview of what the 2013 Conservation in Action Tour would cover I spoke with CTIC Board Chair, Dave Gustafson, Monsanto. Here’s Dave getting things started at our first stop of the day. Dave says about this year’s tour, “It’s going …
John Deere Introduces FlexFuel Mower
John Deere has introduced a brand new riding mower that can run on up to 85% percent ethanol blended fuel. The mower is a new Flex Fuel model of John Deere’s popular line of ZTrak mowers. The new, industry exclusive, Z925M Flex Fuel gives landscape contractors and customers with large acreage to mow a new alternative fuel option for their …
House Republican Talks Farm Bill & Budget
Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO) is a member of both the House Agriculture Committee and the House Committee on the Budget, plus she’s a farmer, so her perspective on what’s happening right now to try and get a farm bill passed is important to hear. You may recall that we spoke with her just about one month ago, before the bill …
Senators Question Smithfield Deal
The Senate Agriculture Committee on Wednesday took a look at the proposed sale of Smithfield Foods to Shuanghui International, which would be the largest acquisition of an American company by a Chinese company in history. Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) says the sale raises many questions about issues such as food safety, protection of intellectual property, and increased foreign ownership …
Farm Bill Split Could Happen
Momentum seems to be building for a vote in the House on a farm only farm bill – but only if the votes are there. During a town hall meeting in Oklahoma over the July 4th recess, House Ag Committee Chairman Frank Lucas indicated that he expected leadership to split the bill but he would rather not see that happen. …
Farmers Need Conservation & Research
How important is conservation to farmers? John Hardin, Indiana grain and hog farmer, says that it is the last thing to cut in the farm bill and that coupled with research, they are the most government functions to help farmers! That’s saying a lot. Here’s a farmer who has real bottom line experience in how important being a good steward …
Conservation Resources Vital to Farmers
The Acting Chief of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Jason Weller, welcomed attendees to the Conservation Technology Information Center, 2013 Conservation in Action Tour, being held in Illinois. We got to talk for a few moments this evening and hopefully will have another chance tomorrow on the tour. I asked him how important a farm bill is to a …
iPad-Conrolled Drones at Landmark
Taking your iPad out in the field to fly a drone sounds like a lot of fun. It definitely is for an agnerd! This “fun” activity is becoming a business task more and more. The agronomists at Landmark Services Cooperative are getting in on the fun by using tablet-controlled drones for field scouting. One of the advantages this provides is …
iCropTrak Mobile Farm Management
Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. In this week’s program we’re going to meet the new sponsor of the AgWired App, iCropTrak. We really appreciate their support and hope you’ll check out what they’re doing. To learn all about it I spoke with Aaron Hutchinson, President and one of the founders of Cogent3D, Inc. The company has also pioneered other …