During the Commodity Classic I met April Hemmes, 2011 Midwest Region winner of the Monsanto Farm Mom of the Year contest. Thanks to Janice Person for taking the photo. April is the farmer in the family. Her husband works at a job in town. She was nominated by her daughter. Here’s an excerpt of the essay she wrote for the …
BASF Personality Profile – Neil Bentley
We’re starting a new series here on AgWired to tell you more about the people behind the products at BASF Crop Protection. Our first BASF Personality Profile features Neil Bentley, Director of Marketing for BASF’s U.S. crop business. Neil started his career in retail agriculture in northwest Illinois and became a sales rep for BASF and American Cyanamid (dating yourself …
Outstanding Young Farmers Attend Ag Day Activities
During National Agriculture Day activities we heard from 2011 National Outstanding Young Farmer Chad Budy and his wife Danielle from Oklahoma. They were introduced during our Meet & Mingle lunch. Chad and Danielle were introduced by Orion Samuelson. Both Chad and Danielle come from families with five generations in farming. They have a diversified farm of row crop and livestock. …
The Expanding World of Hog Feed Choices
Once upon a time, commercial hog diets consisted mainly of corn and soybeans, but the menu has greatly expanded out of necessity since commodity prices increased a few years ago. That expansion has brought with it both opportunities and challenges for producers, according to Iowa State University Professor of Animal Science Dr. John Patience, who spoke to swine veterinarians last …
Increasing Productivity Through Innovation
I met Lykele vanderBroek, Global COO, Bayer CropScience, during the 2012 Ag Issues Forum. He was on the welcoming committee to all the media who attended this event. When it was my turn for an interview with him I asked him what take away message he wanted us to have. He says that global trends like increasing population, higher affordable …
Important Issues to Sorghum Producers
During Commodity Classic I got to visit with Terry Swanson, Chairman, National Sorghum Producers. I asked him what his message is to not only sorghum producers but all the farmers belonging to the four commodity groups at Classic and he says, “We have to be unified.” He says that altogether they’re still a small group of people that need to …
Stabilized Nitrogen For Faster Plant Start
The Director for Agronomy for Koch Agronomic Services, Greg Schwab, visited with me in the media room at Commodity Classic. Greg runs the company research program. He says they have twenty five land grant universities working on their products. He coordinates that effort. Since it’s planting season I asked him what advice he has for growers. Greg says that with …
How #1 Pork Producer Deals With High Feed Costs
When you’re the number one pork producer in the world, higher feed costs take a big bite out of the bottom line. At the Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica (BIVI) Swine Health Seminar in Denver, Dr. Steve Pollmann, President of Western Operations for Murphy-Brown, LLC shared some of his thoughts on dealing with high feed costs in commercial pig production. “We’re the …
Dupont Cellulosic Ethanol Program
During the recent Pioneer Hi-Bred media event, “Turning Insight Into Action,” Chet Holingshead visited with Steve Mirshak, Global Business Director for Dupont Cellulosic Ethanol. Steve conducted a presentation titled, “DCE – Achieving Sustainable Residue Harvest Goals for Energy Independence.” The company is constructing a cellulosic ethanol plant in Nevada, IA with construction to start later this year. Steve talks about …
Talking Corn and Soybeans with BASF
Weeds were a big topic of concern for farmers who visited the BASF Crop Protection exhibit at Commodity Classic this year and with planting season now upon us and commodity prices looking good, growers are really looking to control those yield-robbers. In soybeans, early-season weed competition poses a potential 6 to 10 percent yield loss. In corn, weeds allowed to …