USDA Forecasts Increased Corn and Bean Acres

Cindy Zimmerman

USDA’s 2020 Prospective Plantings report released Tuesday forecasts eight percent more corn acres this year compared to 2019 and ten percent more soybean acres. Corn planted area for all purposes in 2020 is estimated at 97.0 million acres, up 8 percent or 7.29 million acres from last year. Compared with last year, planted acreage is expected to be up or …

Audio, Corn, Planting, Soybean, USDA

Syngenta News from Commodity Classic

Cindy Zimmerman

Syngenta had a couple of big announcements at the 2020 Commodity Classic, including a collaboration with Truterra (formerly Land O’Lakes SUSTAIN) to offer a “step-change in stewardship and conservation best practices for U.S. growers while helping them focus on maximizing acre-by-acre productivity and profitability.” This technology-based alliance will make use of data analytics from both the Truterra™ Insights Engine and …

Audio, Commodity Classic, Corn, Soybean, Sustainability, Syngenta

USB Puts Protein First

Carrie Muehling

A panel at the 2020 Commodity Classic in San Antonio discussed the role played by all types of protein when it comes to global nutrition efforts. “We know that worldwide we are going to have an extreme need for protein by the year 2050,” said Polly Ruhland, United Soybean Board (USB) CEO. “We know that protein is one of the …

Audio, Commodity Classic, Soybean, USB

Bayer Launches Soybean Products, Programs for 2020

Carrie Muehling

Bayer continues to roll out new products and efforts to help farmers fight weed resistance during the coming growing season. The company plans to launch XtendFlex soybeans in spring of 2020, pending regulatory approval. “It’s really important when you think about all the challenges growers have on their farms from the resistance to the tough to manage weeds where growers …

Audio, Bayer, Soybean

Acceleron Protects From Various Challenges

Carrie Muehling

A key message from Bayer at the 2020 Commodity Classic encouraged growers to ensure they’re fully protected from whatever Mother Nature might throw at them during the approaching growing season. One way to do that is to use Acceleron Seed Applied Solutions on corn, soybean and cotton acres. “As you look at the investment that farmers are making today from …

Audio, Bayer, Commodity Classic, Corn, Cotton, Seed, Soybean

Northern Commodity Transportation Conference to Debut

Cindy Zimmerman

The inaugural Northern Commodity Transportation Conference (NCTC) is being held March 11-12 in Bloomington, Minn. The conference is being organized by Ag Management Solutions (AMS), in conjunction with commodity groups from Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, and is focused on uniting the commodity transportation industry to discuss trade and transportation issues and challenges. Transportation and non-tariff barrier topics such …

Agribusiness, Soybean, Trade, transportation

Seeing Our Future Clearly at 2020 Commodity Classic

Chuck Zimmerman

Thanks to a #Classic20 attendee for helping me with this photo outside the convention center in San Antonio. It’s kind of like déjà vu since the weather was pretty nice yesterday and now we’ve got a wind warning and temps dropping into the 20’s tonight. Same thing happened at the Cattle Industry Convention just 3 weeks ago. I’m getting ready …

Commodity Classic, Corn, NAWG, NCGA, NSP, sorghum, Soybean, Wheat

Farmers Rank Top Products on Precision Ag Reviews

Cindy Zimmerman

Precision Ag Reviews, an independent resource to help farmers make decisions about precision ag equipment, has ranked the top five products of 2019 according to thousands of reviews received by farmers. “More than 3,000 reviews of precision farming products were submitted to Precision Ag Reviews online and in person at farm shows across the country in 2019,” said Stacie McCracken, …

AgWired Precision, Audio, Precision Agriculture, Soybean

Partnership Testing 100 Percent Biodiesel in Fleet Trucks

Cindy Zimmerman

A new partnership is conducting a year-long test project to demonstrate viability of 100 percent biodiesel (B100) in high-mileage fleet applications. Under this partnership, five trucks owned by ADM will be outfitted with Optimus Technologies’ Vector fuel system, an innovative technology that enables diesel engines to run almost entirely on sustainable biodiesel. The trucks will be used in daily fleet …

Audio, Biodiesel, Soybean

Plasma Blue Debuts at Biodiesel Conference

Cindy Zimmerman

A novel process using electricity and liquid plasma to induce the transesterification process needed to produce biodiesel is generating a lot of interest at the National Biodiesel Conference this week in Tampa. The Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council saw the potential for the technology, developed by scientists at the University of Minnesota, which could produce six gallons of biodiesel …

Audio, Biodiesel, Soybean