A Global Epidemic

Jamie Johansen

fps-13-344-editedWeed resistance just might have been the hottest topic of discussion at the Bayer CropScience tent during the 2013 Farm Progress Show. They hosted a panel on Weed Resistance in the Americas, to highlight the global epidemic. The commonality each of these panelist seemed to bring to the table was diversity and how it needs to be implemented across each farming operation.

Bayer’s Senior Product Development Manager, Ariene Cotie, served as the moderator and panelists included:
– Dr. Steven Powles, Director of the Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative, University of Western Australia.
– Dr. Aaron Hagar, Associate Professor of Weed Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
– Pedro J. Christoffoleti, Associate Professor of Weed Science, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil.
– Harry Strek, Head of Profiling & Market Support Weed Control Research Biology, Bayer CropScience, Germany.

After the panel, Dr. Powles spoke with me on how Australia is managing their resistance problem with methods not yet tried here in the United States

“Our weeds are really a big threat because they have developed moldable herbicide resistance, so we really have a problem. We’re getting on top of it, but it’s not easy. We have learned that we can’t depend of chemicals”

Listen to my interview with Dr. Powles here: Interview with Dr. Steven Powles

I also had the chance to talk with Pedro Christoffoleti about what Brazil is doing locally that differs from what we are doing in the United States and how education is the key.

“I came to the US to see how the problem of herbicide resistance is and how the US is dealing with the problem, since we also have the same problem there but with different weeds. It’s a great opportunity to visit farmers, retailers and universities here and exchange ideas to see if we can deal with this big problem. In my opinion it is the biggest problem in sustainable agriculture today.”

Listen to my interview with Pedro here: Interview with Pedro Christoffoleti

Check out photos from the event here: 2013 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

Coverage of the 2013 Farm Progress show is sponsored by Bayer CropScience, Growmark and New Holland
Audio, Bayer, Farm Progress Show, weed management

RFA and NCBA to Debate Renewable Fuel Standard

Cindy Zimmerman

Representatives of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) will be squaring off to debate on the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) this week in Washington D.C.

AgriTalk and Agri-Pulse will be hosting the debate via broadcast and the web on September 12 starting at 11:00 am Eastern time live from the Longworth Building, Room 1300. Participants will be RFA president and CEO Bob Dinneen and NCBA Vice President Government Affairs Colin Woodall.

ncba-logo“We appreciate the opportunity to discuss the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). America’s cattlemen and women are not opposed to renewable fuels; it’s the arbitrary mandate of their use that is at issue,” says Woodall. “This mandates places cattle feeders and the entire cattle sector on an un-level playing field for the finite amount of corn produced.”

RFA-logo-13“The Renewable Fuel Standard is decreasing our dependence on foreign oil, creating jobs, and revitalizing rural communities. I am all geared up to explain the facts and debunk the negative attacks,” Dinneen says. “It is an excellent time for this debate. USDA is expecting a robust corn crop and just last month USDA issued a report showing that food prices are rising at a slower rate than expected.”

Questions from AgriTalk and Agri-Pulse listeners and readers will be included in the debate led by Mike Adams and Sara Wyant. If you have questions on this topic, please submit them to Host@AgriTalk.com or to Sara@Agri-Pulse.com no later than Wednesday, September 11. The Agri-Pulse team will be live tweeting from the event @AgriPulse. Look for the hashtag #RFSdebate.

Agri-Pulse, Beef, Ethanol, Media, NCBA, RFA

Head of DuPont Argentina Addresses IFAJ

Cindy Zimmerman

ifaj13-dupontThe country manager for DuPont in Argentina addressed the IFAJ 2013 Congress during the last day of activities for the event and he talked about the importance of the country for his company.

“DuPont is a science company and we want to produce solutions for some of the biggest challenges in the world and one of those is feeding the world,” said Juan Vaquer, DuPont Argentina. “Argentina is a country that can produce food for ten times its population. It has 40 million people, it produces food for 400 million people. So we believe that the combination of DuPont Pioneer science and Argentina’s capabilities can be a good combination for providing a solution for the food challenge.”

Juan added that some of the challenges in doing business with Argentina, such as volatility for example, are actually advantages. “Our growers are very agile in adapting new technologies,” he said. “It’s pure Darwinism, survival of the fittest.” Interview with Juan Vaquer, DuPont Argentina

Listen to Juan’s address to IFAJ here: Juan Vaquer, DuPont Argentina, speech to IFAJ13
2013 IFAJ Congress Photo Album

Coverage of the 2013 IFAJ Congress is sponsored by Novus International and Dupont Pioneer
Agribusiness, Audio, IFAJ, International, Pioneer

2013 IFAJ Congress Group Photo

Chuck Zimmerman

Here’s the whole group of 2013 IFAJ Congress participants at our La Campiña lunch tour and stop. Thank you Case IH and New Holland for your support.

2013 IFAJ Congress Group

2013 IFAJ Congress Photo Album

Coverage of the 2013 IFAJ Congress is sponsored by Novus International and Dupont Pioneer
Case IH, IFAJ, International, Media, New Holland

BASF Plant Health – Weather or Not

Cindy Zimmerman

fps13-basf-souljeKeeping plants healthy in all types of weather conditions was the theme of a BASF Crop Protection presentation at the 2013 Farm Progress Show and if there ever was a year of weather extremes, this has been it.

“You can come up with an extreme spell of dryness, an extreme spell of wet weather, you put them together and technically speaking it’s a ‘normal’ distribution of moisture but a producer will tell you it’s anything but,” said meteorologist Greg Soulje. He gave an overview of 2013 weather, how 2012 set the table for this year, and what he expects for the harvest season. Interview with meteorologist Greg Soulje

fps13-basf-kenFarmer Ken Dalenberg of Mansfield, Illinois – who is also an agronomist – talked about his experiences farming in adverse weather conditions and how fungicides are one management tool he has in his toolbox to grow good crops.

Ken says whether it’s late planting like this year or early like last year, fungicides have been important both years to moderate crop stress. “In 2012 when we had the drought, it was important to keep the plant alive as long as we could,” and Ken said the use of fungicides helped slow down respiration and keep yields. “This year, with the early wetness, delayed planting, early wet season and now flash drought…we did have a season that did allow the plant to pollinate and so we should have average to above average yields if we can maintain plant health.” Interview with farmer Ken Dalenberg

fps13-basf-ajBASF’s AJ Woodyard discussed the BASF fungicide portfolio and how they help maintain plant health in all weather condiitons.

“In the corn market, our primary product recommendation is Headline AMP…because it delivers two modes of action that give you the best disease control on the marketplace and number two also give you the most yield benefit,” said AJ. “Priaxor is a recent addition to our portfolio…it brings a unique chemistry into the row crop market that delivers some advance plant health benefits.” Priaxor is recommended for early timing in corn and also soybeans.

Among the benefits that the fungicides offer are disease protection and more efficient utilization of nitrogen in wet weather, as well as improved photosynthesis and reduction of ethylene in dry weather. Interview with BASF's AJ Woodyard

2013 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

Audio, BASF, Crop Protection, Farm Progress Show

ZimmComm Hits 100,000 Photos During IFAJ 2013

Cindy Zimmerman

“I got a Nikon camera, I love to take a photograph, so Mama don’t take my Kodachrome away.” Paul Simon

ifaj13-cattle-crossingSometime last week during the IFAJ 2013 Congress, ZimmComm reached a milestone of 100,000 photos in our eight-year-old Flickr account.

We picked this photo as our 100,000th – since we are not exactly sure but it’s one of our favorites. It was from the livestock tour where the gauchos led a cattle drive across a river. Video to follow soon – it was pretty awesome!

Actually, we now have 100,334 photos in 447 sets, dating back to May 2005. Back in the day, that would have been a whole lotta Kodachrome! Our photos have been viewed nearly 5.5 million times and average about 30,000 views per day. Some day we would like to catalog all of these photos and make them easier to find – if anyone thinks they would like to take on that job, contact us and let’s talk.

2013 IFAJ Congress Photo Album

Coverage of the 2013 IFAJ Congress is sponsored by Novus International and Dupont Pioneer
IFAJ, Livestock, Photography

Vote for Your Favorite FMC Anthem Singer

Cindy Zimmerman

fmc-finalistsFour agricultural students will win scholarship prizes in this year’s FMC “Stand & Be Heard Anthem Singing Contest.” Alexandra Carpenter, Noelle Goodson, Hayley Hall and Alexander Raun (pictured here with FMC’s Paul Redhage) were recently selected by a panel of judges and then traveled to Nashville to take part in a professional Music City recording experience.

FMC Anthem Stand and Be Heard“The quality of this year’s finalists illustrates the great future for agriculture. From across the nation, we had a number of excellent students participate and the finalists exemplify the best of the best,” said Tim Thompson, FMC Agricultural Solutions North America product manager.

The finalists’ updated performances are posted on www.FMCcrop.com/contest and the final round of online voting will run through September 15 to determine a grand prize winner. The finalist who receives the most votes will win a $10,000 scholarship. The three remaining finalists will receive $5,000 scholarships. Winners will be announced on Sept. 18.

FMC Corporation continues to invest in farming’s future by bringing innovative crop protection products to the industry, including two new herbicides, Anthem® and Anthem® ATZ. For more information on FMC crop protection products, please visit www.FMCcrop.com.

Agribusiness, Crop Protection, FMC

IFAJ 2013 Finale Features Evita and Maria

Cindy Zimmerman

ifaj13-evitaA beautiful performance of Evita’s “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” was the highlight of the IFAJ 2013 Congress Gala Dinner on the last night of a very memorable trip.

One of the event organizers, María Mosquera, said the Congress was a lot of hard work but well worth the effort. “We had almost 200 people registering from 30 countries,” she said. “The most exciting part is seeing when you plan something and you dream about it and suddenly you see it comes true.”

ifaj13-mariaMaria says they were so proud to be able to show off their beautiful country and its agriculture to the rest of the world. “We think that we are an open door to the rest of Latin America,” she said. “That’s what we would like the IFAJ to do now, come more to Latin America.”

The Congress saw the founding of a new Latin American agricultural journalist network with 15 countries in the region signing on to share knowledge and expertise between them. Interview with IFAJ 2013 organizer María Mosquera

Below is a video of the performance that we enjoyed during the Gala Dinner.



2013 IFAJ Congress Photo Album

Coverage of the 2013 IFAJ Congress is sponsored by Novus International and Dupont Pioneer
Audio, IFAJ, Video

Zimfo Bytes

Talia Goes

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Michael Torrey Associates welcomed Tara Smith to the government relations and association management firm on August 12.
  • BASF inaugurated its new research facilities in Research Triangle Park (RTP), North Carolina at a grand opening ceremony.
  • Agrium Inc. announced that it has entered into a Consent Agreement with the Canadian Competition Bureau and thereby cleared the Canadian competition review process in order to proceed with the acquisition of Viterra Inc.’s Canadian retail assets.
  • The U.S. Grains Council’s (USCG) 11th International Marketing Conference and 53rd Annual Membership Meeting will be Feb. 10-12, 2014, in Long Beach, Calf.
Zimfo Bytes

Talking Chemicals with Bayer

Jamie Johansen

bayer randyBayer’s Media Luncheon during last week’s Farm Progress Show was a great opportunity to talk with experts in both fungicide and herbicide products.

Randy Myers, Fungicides Product Manager for Bayer, was on hand to talk fungicides at the recent farm show. He covers fungicides across the board, but we specifically chatted about Stratego YLD and Prosaro in regards to corn, soybeans and wheat.

“One thing we have been working on for corn growers is a new application timing. Over the past few years a tassel application has been consistently used across the Midwest, but we’re also looking at an additional timing early season between B4 and B7. Farmers are going across fields anyways making a herbicide spray. What we have been able to research is if you spray a fungicide in the tank at the same time you can save those application costs and the consistent return on investment is quite impressive.”

Listen to my interview with Randy here: Interview with Randy Myers

bayer jeffSenior Corn Herbicide Product Manager, Jeff Springsteen, took time to talk weed resistance. A growing global problem for growers with little light at the end of the tunnel. Jeff shares what many farmers aren’t doing to help decrease the weed epidemic.

“Unfortunately, there are a lot of farmers not doing ideal things to keep weed resistance from growing. Key things are utilizing full use rates. For years we have tried to cut the cost down by using half the rate. And thats one of the worst things you can do from the standpoint of developing weed resistance. We need to encourage our farmers to use full use rates and use multiple modes of action.”

Listen to my interview with Jeff here: Interview with Jeff Springsteen

Check out photos from the event here: 2013 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

Coverage of the 2013 Farm Progress show is sponsored by Bayer CropScience, Growmark and New Holland
Audio, Bayer, Corn, Farm Progress Show, Fungicide, Herbicide, Soybean, weed management, Wheat