New Kid in the Wyffels Hybrids Family

Cindy Zimmerman

The Wyffels Corn Strategies event in Dixon, Illinois last week was a first for regional manager Dave Rolli. “I’ve been on the job for just about seven months, started back in December,” Dave told me. “It’s just been a great company to work for and they really do treat their employees like family.” Dave was in charge of organizing the …

Audio, Corn

Farm Foundation Reports on What’s Driving Food Prices

Cindy Zimmerman

The agricultural policy organization Farm Foundation, NFP released a new report today on What’s Driving Food Prices for 2011. Foundation president Neil Conklin says the report is a follow up to similar studies they commissioned when prices were up in 2008 and 2009. “The purpose of the report this time is to provide both policy makers in the public sector …

Audio, Corn, Ethanol, Farm Foundation, Food, Soybean

Soil Sampling With An iPad

Chuck Zimmerman

Precision Earth. Has a nice ring to it doesn’t it. Would you guess it’s an iPad app for soil sampling? Didn’t think so. At the 2011 InfoAg Conference I learned about it when I saw their booth in the trade show. Pictured are Chris Tucker (left), Precision Earth and Aaron Hutchinson, Cogent3D, Inc. holding an iPad showing Precision Earth in …

Agribusiness, Apps, Audio, ZimmCast

Wyffels Corn Hybrids More than Numbers

Cindy Zimmerman

The slogan for Wyffels Corn Hybrids is “More than a Number” which is the company’s philosophy when it comes to both their customers and their hybrids, but they do keep adding more numbers to their lineup of corn hybrids. “We released 12 new products this last year,” said Wyffels Product Development Manager Bob Jackson at the 2011 Wyffels Corn Strategies …

Audio, Corn, Seed

Argonne Studying Biofuels Production

Chuck Zimmerman

During the CTIC Indian Creek Watershed Project field tour we heard a presentation from Cristina Negri, an agronomist with the Argonne National Laboratory. Cristina told us about a project they are working on in the watershed to see what types of agricultural production will work best for biofuels. They’re looking for marginal land that doesn’t lend itself to growing corn …

Audio, Biofuels, Conservation, Corn, CTIC, Ethanol, Research

Lightsquared Threat To GPS

Chuck Zimmerman

I spent a lot of my career in the broadcasting business and never saw the Federal Communications Commission take action like they have been on the proposal from a company called Lightsquared to utilize high-powered, close-proximity transmissions from a network of ground stations that would cause substantial interference with GPS signals.. It is unheard of for them to allow a …

Agribusiness, Audio, Internet, Precision Agriculture, Technology

FMC Field Tour A Two Way Value

Chuck Zimmerman

To get a wrap-up perspective on the FMC Summer Plot Tour I spoke with Tom Becker. Tom is a Retail Market Manager for FMC. Tom wanted tour participants to leave viewing FMC as a partner in their business, especially since they’re branching out more and more in the herbicide business with new products like Anthem. As part of their outreach …

Agribusiness, Audio, FMC

Improving Soil & Water Conservation

Chuck Zimmerman

The Ag Resource Coordinator for the Livingston County, IL Soil & Water Conservation District is Terry Bachtold. He was one of the coordinators for the CTIC Indian Creek Watershed Project field day. He says this project is all about water quality and what farm management practices will help improve it. A good percentage of farms in the watershed have signed …

Agribusiness, Audio, Conservation, CTIC, Fertilizer

Wyffels Corn Strategies Strategy

Cindy Zimmerman

2011 marks the seventh year for Wyffels Corn Strategies and it just continues to get bigger and better. I talked with event coordinator Matt Barnard and Wyffels Hybrids director of marketing Jeff Hartz, pictured here together enjoying the Illinois event on Wednesday. The concept for the event started in 2005 when the company gathered a small group of growers at …

Audio, Corn, Seed