Iowans now have a mobile way to locate a local farmers market thanks to the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. Listen to Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey talk about it today: Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey today unveiled the free Iowa Farmers Market app for smartphones that is designed to help Iowans access the more that …
New President of International Seed Federation
The new President of the International Seed Federation is Tim Johnson, Illinois Foundation Seeds. I spoke with Tim about his induction to the position at the ISF World Seed Congress 2012 in Rio de Janeiro. He says it’s an honor to be selected by the general assembly of ISF for the two year commitment. He calls it the “global ASTA” …
John Deere Does Agile Development
Agile Development is not something you might think of when you think of John Deere. It’s a term associated with software development that is “based on iterative and incremental development, where requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between self-organizing, cross-functional teams.” Guess what? That’s what John Deere is doing according to Aaron Senneff, Development Manager at John Deere Intelligent Solutions …
New Chairman of American Seed Trade Association
It’s the passing of the gavel. This time at the American Seed Trade Association convention. Here is new ASTA Chairman, Blake Curtis, Curtis & Curtis, Inc. (left) with past Chairman Mike Gumina, Pioneer Hi-Bred. I spoke with Blake at the end of the convention to find out things went in his opinion and what the future priorities are for the …
John Deere Announces MyJohnDeere.com
Today John Deere announced MyJohnDeere.com and to learn a little about it I spoke with David Everitt, President, Agriculture and Turf Division. Dave has just announced his retirement from John Deere after a long career with the company. The announcements are being made at the John Deere FarmSight Tech Summit. David says this is the most exciting time to be …
ASTA Represents Vegetable and Flower Seed
During the American Seed Trade Association convention the organization’s divisions conduct business and report on activities. One of those is the Vegetable and Flower Seed Division, chaired by Kent Croon, Monsanto. I visited with Kent after his report was given. Kent works in technology development within Monsanto Vegetable Seeds. Kent says that many people think corn and soybeans when they …
Dr. Fred Below is Quotable on BASF Panel
Dr. Fred Below, Professor of Plant Physiology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, was one of many experts on a panel at the recent BASF Agricultural Solutions Media Summit but he had some of the best quotes that were most tweeted from the event. One of his more quotable comments was that because university extension budgets are being “cut …
ASTA Assists With Seed Phytosanitary Issues
During the American Seed Trade Association annual convention committees meet to set policies for the organization for the coming year. One of those is the phytosanitary committee. I visited with Darrell Maddox, Endless Sky Partners, about the work of this committee that he used to chair. Darrell says the committee works with USDA-APHIS to facilitate trade. They work with seed …
GROWMARK Celebrating 85 Years
GROWMARK has two reasons to celebrate this year – the International Year of the Cooperative and GROWMARK’s 85th anniversary. “The cooperative obviously has evolved a lot over those 85 years,” says Dan Kelley, Illinois farmer and president of the GROWMARK Board of Directors. “Energy is still a main part of GROWMARK’s product distribution. Nearly half of our sales continue to …
Educating for Ag Choice
During the 2012 American Seed Trade Association annual convention I met Chuck Larson, Executive Director, Americans for Choice and Competition in Agriculture. Although I had heard of this newly formed organization I didn’t know much about it until we had a chance to sit down and chat. It appears that the main focus of the group is to influence an …