Ag Leader Brings Compass to Farm Progress Show

Melissa Sandfort

Insights WeeklyGrowers looking for a simple and affordable precision farming display now have an entry-level solution, thanks to the new Compass™ display from Ag Leader Technology, Inc.

The Compass display was designed for growers who want a display to use primarily for guidance. With a built-in lightbar, the Compass display provides on-screen guidance and coverage mapping that allows operators to improve pass-to-pass accuracy and easily track where they have been in the field, reducing costly gaps and overlaps.

fps13-agleader-compassMike Olson, Ag Leader North America Sales Manager, was on hand to talk about the new display during Farm Progress Show. He says Compass is simple to operate and set up guidance operations. “The user doesn’t need to know how to set up field information within the display to operate, with the new event feature they can simply create a new event each time they enter a field and go.”

Interview with Mike Olson, Ag Leader

Become a fan of Ag Leader on Facebook today, and get the latest precision ag videos on the YouTube channel. For more information about Ag Leader products and services, or to visit the blog site, go to www.agleader.com.

Ag Leader, Agribusiness

Growth Energy Says You’re No Dummy

Cindy Zimmerman

fps13-growthenergy-buisGrowth Energy announced earlier this week a new campaign with a website You’re No Dummy featuring Mr. Slick and Dummy. CEO of Growth Energy Tom Buis and Gen. (Ret.) Wesley Clark stopped by the Farm Progress Show this week to talk about how the new campaign intends to defend renewable fuels against stepped up attacks by Big Oil.

Buis says there’s a lot of misinformation and too much stretching the truth by the large oil companies so the ethanol industry is taking a stand to push back with the facts. “The attacks in Washington have become more intense,” said Buis. “This is a fight about market share, nothing more, nothing less. We know we have the facts on our side.”

fps13-growthenergy-clarkClark says defending the Renewable Fuel Standard is about defending national security. “For those of us who served our country in uniform, we know it’s about national security, first and foremost,” said the retired general. “All we have to do is give the biofuels marketplace an opportunity to sell to the American motorist.”

Listen to Press Conference here: Growth Energy Press Conference

2013 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

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

2013 Farm Progress Show is History

Leah Guffey

biggest_farm_show_year_back_decatur_1_635011156903480000The 60th Annual Farm Progress Show draws to a close today on the final day.  I had the pleasure of catching up with Show Manager, Matt Jungmann, who said the weather was hot, the crowds were strong and the field demonstrations, well, that’s just Mother Nature.

“For the first time in 60 years we couldn’t harvest a crop because it wasn’t mature.”

Matt went on to say that planning for future years here at Progress City are already underway, making notes and continuing to keep moving ahead to make the Farm Progress Show the place to be for all the latest and greatest agriculture has to offer.

Listen to my interview with Matt here: Interview with Matt Jungmann

The show may be over but we still have lots of interviews to share from the event that will be posted on through next week. Stay tuned and check out the photo album to see hundreds of sights from the show.

2013 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

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

Fueling the Farm Progress Show

Jamie Johansen

fps-13-685-editedYou can only imagine the fuel consumption during the Farm Progress Show. GROWMARK and FS have sponsored the fuel for the largest outdoor farm show for the last 30 years and expect to go through about 2,500 gallons this year. That amount is down from previous years because the field demonstrations had to be cancelled.

Gerald Doty retired from the cooperative seven years ago and was asked to come back and run the fueling station. He eagerly agreed to do a it for three years, but has been here ever since. Gerald said it was a great opportunity for him to stay in-touch with the industry.

“GROWMARK and FS have sponsored fuel for the Farm Progress Show for over 30 years. Typically they would get 50 gallons of free fuel in exchange for us putting a fueled by FS sticker on their equipment, but this year because there wasn’t any field demonstrations we have cut that back to 25 gallons. Here we do this in cooperation with Evergreen FS. Evergreen FS takes care of all the fuel needs inside the fences and we take care of the equipment they need for demonstrations and golf carts.”

Listen to my interview with Gerald here: Interview with Gerald Doty

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, Cooperatives, FS System, GROWMARK

Bayer Markets New Wheat Herbicide

Kristyn Stidham

9612299838_5841056bce_b (250x166)Bayer CropScience released the new Huskie Complete this year. Cereal Herbicides Product Manager for Bayer, Thorsten Schwindt, was very excited to talk about the product here in Decatur, IL at the Farm Progress Show.

A few years back, Bayer released a product called Huskie. The product was successful, but Bayer decided to do some research to extend the product beyond just broad leaf weed control. Huskie Complete is essentially the same product as Huskie, plus one more mode of action for grass control in spring, winter, and durham wheat.

“We believe it’s the most complete herbicide solution and the fantastic thing about Huskie Complete is that it’s all in one product,” said Schwindt.

According to Schwindt, growers have responded positively. He hopes the new hassle free, all-in-one product will continue to benefit growers in the industry.

Listen to my interview with Thorsten here: Interview with Thorsten Schwindt

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, Wheat

NAMA at Farm Progress Show

Chuck Zimmerman

NAMA at FPSThe National Agri-Marketing Association held a reception for agrimarketers attending the 2013 Farm Progress Show. Here’s some of the group that showed up to get out of the sun and enjoy some fun and fellowship.

Efforts like this are part of NAMA’s efforts to reach out to other organizations and find ways to collaborate. It is also a great way to introduce more people to NAMA and encourage membership. The reception was sponsored by Heartland NAMA.

2013 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

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

Illinois Governor Visits Farm Progress Show

Leah Guffey

fps13-governorIllinois Governor Pat Quinn visited the 2013 Farm Progress Show in Decatur this week to honor the memory of a show supporter and to launch a statewide cover crop demonstration project.

The governor proclaimed August 28 as “Emmett Sefton Day” in Illinois in honor of the man who helped secure Decatur as the show location.  Emmett’s family was on hand to accept the proclamation from Governor Quinn as well as local leaders from nearby Richland Community College.  Quinn says, “Illinois farmers have been quick to adopt proven technologies, and each year the Farm Progress Show gives them an opportunity to compare the latest equipment and evaluate the newest field trials of seed varieties and production methods.”

The Farm Progress show alternates each year between Decatur, Ill. and Boone, Iowa. The Decatur site, dubbed “Progress City,” was first used in 2005 and expanded for the 2007 show to host more than 600 exhibitors and record numbers of show visitors. Sefton, a member of the Richland Agriculture Advisory Committee who passed away earlier this summer, was pivotal in securing Decatur as the show site every other year. Governor Pat Quinn press conference

Special thanks to Jeff Nalley, Cromwell Ag Radio Network, for sharing his audio of the governor!

2013 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

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

Corn Growers Strong at Farm Progress Show

Cindy Zimmerman

fps13-ncga-2The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) president Pam Johnson of Iowa and First Vice President Martin Barbre in his home state of Illinois were visiting with farmers and the media at the Farm Progress Show this week.

The farm bill is still a big concern for the corn growers and Pam says they are “not waiting very patiently anymore” for Congress to get the job done. They are strongly encouraging all members to contact their representatives during this August recess and urge them to make some real progress during the few days they are in session during September.

When it comes to membership, NCGA is now over 40,000 strong, which is a lot of voices that can make a big difference. “Our association has shown membership growth every year for the past 15 years,” Martin said. “Makes us feel like we’re really doing our job, really promoting the policy that the members create and making it happen.”

Pam and Martin also talk about the Renewable Fuel Standard, trade, WRDA and biotechnology in the interview and press conference below.

Interview with Pam Johnson and Martin Barbre Press conference with Pam Johnson and Martin Barbre

2013 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

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

Zimfo Bytes

Talia Goes

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Syngenta announced the launch of “Know More, Grow More,” a comprehensive online resource providing growers a birds-eye view of what’s happening across crops to aid management decisions.
  • Lessing-Flynn Advertising earned the position of No. 4216 on the 2013 Inc. 500 list, which recognizes the fastest growing private entities in the country.
  • Journal Communications and the National FFA Organization announce the launch of the updated FFA New Horizons free magazine app for Apple, Android and Kindle Fire devices.
  • According to Technomic, Inc.’s 2013 Volumetric Assessment of Pork in Foodservice, pork is sustaining its popularity having become the foodservice industry’s fastest-growing protein in each of the past two years.
Zimfo Bytes

The Tracks Of My Tears

Melissa Sandfort

fieldsToday Aunt Jeanette writes …

Today was “picking up pipe” day. Normally this is a joyous occasion – filled with laughter, stories (“Remember the time you drove by and honked at me when you knew I was counting rows?”), and reminiscing about the seemingly endless heat of summer. All the while enjoying the scenery – towering cornstalks with ears of corn bursting out of their husks – and imagining the corn flowing from the combine’s auger into the grain cart at harvest time.

Instead, today was somber – hurrying to get the job finished before emotions overtook us. Oops! Too late. I (the driver for the crew) couldn’t help myself. A tear pooled in my eye and trickled down my cheek. I usually try and keep my feelings in check, but this time I just couldn’t do it.

Even though I don’t provide the manual labor required of farmers, I am always in the background being their best cheerleader, encourager, ‘gofer’, etc. I see the countless hours of work, sweat, hope, planning, questioning, and dreaming that go into this profession called farming. And I feel the pain of having those dreams gone in a matter of minutes, caused by a storm that we had no control over.

So, if you see a few teardrops leaving their tracks on my paper, you will know I am thinking about what could have been, but, at the same time, looking forward to what might be – next year.

Because that is what farmers do.

Until we walk again …

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