Shot a little video of our wet and wild ride on the Maid of the Mist at Niagara Falls during the Ag Media Summit last week. Some of the folks you might recognize include Rich Jefferson, Chris Clayton, Sally Behringer, Anita Vanderwert, Amy McDonald, Barb Ulschmid, and Harlen Persinger, among others.
Lisa Hightower Joins United Fresh Produce Association
I love seeing a fellow Florida Gator out in the ag communications workplace.
Dr. Lisa Hightower has joined United Fresh Produce Association as the association’s new communications manager. Lisa will produce the Inside Fresh United weekly online newsletter, develop content for United’s website and social media sites, work with news media, and promote awareness of United Fresh events, including the upcoming Washington Public Policy Conference.
Lisa brings skills in journalism, photography, and publication design to her new role at United Fresh. She has developed communication and education campaigns on a wide range of agricultural issues, including food safety, sustainable agricultural practices, beginning farmer training, and enterprise development. Lisa also has experience using social media to reach diverse audiences.
“Lisa’s experience with social media and promoting awareness about critical agricultural issues will help United Fresh keep its members and the fresh produce industry informed and engaged,” said Ray Gilmer, vice president of issues management & communication.
Nitrogen Loss Stinks at AMS
Everyone has experienced that nasty smell of a well-used porta potty on a hot day. Okay, so that’s what nitrogen loss smells like. Yuck.
Kerry Overton with Koch Agronomic Services was the guy who treated unsuspecting visitors to his booth at the Ag Media Summit InfoExpo to the “here, smell this” experience. Gotta tell you, it was gross, but it made the point.
The solution to nitrogen loss? AGROTAIN® nitrogen stabilizer products. Find out more at HonestAgricutlure.com.
Watch the video and imagine the smell.
2013 Ag Media Summit Photo Album
BASF and the Southern Acre
To paraphrase Spiderman, with great research dollars comes great responsibility – something that the Crop Protection division of BASF, The Chemical Company, takes very seriously.
“Our division is one of many divisions of BASF and one of the smaller divisions, but we have continuously gotten the highest amount of R&D dollars for our work,” says Ulf Groeger, BASF Crop Protection North America R&D Director. “That means there is a responsibility on our side to have it pay off for the company.”
Ulf told the Southern Ag Media Symposium last week at BASF headquarters in North Carolina that it takes nearly $300 million and 7-10 years to bring a new product to market, and while corn and soybeans are a major market for them, southern crops are important as well. “In the area of herbicides, we are looking at Engenia, a new generation dicamba formulation for use post emergence on broadleaf weeds in dicamba-tolerant crops,” he said. “We are also working a herbicide-tolerant rice system with a broad activity on grasses, including ALS-resistant grasses and red rice.”
BASF has recently launched the new fungicide innovation Xemium for southern growers joining Priaxor and Merivon on the market, and they soon expect full registration for Sercadis for rice.
Listen to or download my interview with Ulf here: Interview with Ulf Groeger, BASF
John Deere Gearing up for Product Launch
At the Ag Media Summit last week, our friends with John Deere were talking about the upcoming 2014 product launch in Columbus, Ohio.
“We’re launching a lot of our new products for 2014 at the Columbus Convention Center,” said Barry Nelson. “We’re bringing in about 45 of the ag media … and the final wave of all the dealers that come in to learn about the new machines that they’re going to be able to sell.”
The theme is “Delivering Distinctive Value” and Barry says it’s not just about the machinery itself, but the technology that goes with it. “A lot of the new technology we’ll be rolling out – new wireless systems, advancements in precision technology,” Barry added.
We are looking forward to being there next week in Columbus, Ohio, Aug. 21-22, for the 2014 John Deere product launch event. It will be me there this time, since Chuck will be at the AgVocacy 2.0 Conference in Charlotte, NC. Can’t wait!
Listen to my interview with Barry from AMS here: Interview with Barry Nelson
2013 Ag Media Summit Photo Album
DPP Graindesk Mobile App
With more growers relying on mobile technology for their daily farming operations, Farms Technology, L.L.C., a wholly owned subsidiary of DuPont Pioneer, has upgraded its Dynamic Pricing PlatformSM (DPPSM) Graindesk mobile app to reflect sellers’ changing needs for updated grain-market information.
The free DPP mobile app puts your preferred buyers’ bids at your fingertips, enabling you to make, monitor and manage offers to sell corn, soybeans and wheat 24 hours a day.
The DPP Graindesk mobile app also delivers updated market information with the ability to create and manage futures-only and cash offers. Through mobile messaging, buyers can communicate with sellers directly through the mobile platform.
DPP Graindesk offers are monitored with every tick of the futures market from 8:30 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. and from 7 p.m. to 7:45 a.m. Utilizing the CME Group electronic markets, the DPP Graindesk facilitates an automatic connection between grower-approved offers and buyers’ hedge orders. With patented e-Pit®services, DPP Graindesk can place a hedge order, receive confirmation of the fill, execute the cash purchase, and notify both buyer and seller in seconds. Before the DPP Graindesk and the upgraded DPP Graindesk mobile app, growers interested in selling grain contacted merchandisers to get a price or waited for a price notification via a scheduled text message.
The DPP Graindesk mobile app is compatible with both Android and iPhone devices. Download the free mobile app at the App Store or Google Play store.
BASF Hosts SWSS Weed Contest
BASF had the honor of hosting the 34th annual Southern Weed Science Society Weed Contest this year at headquarters in North Carolina.
“It’s where new and prospective weed scientists working on their Masters or PhDs with various universities are here for a contest,” said BASF’s Dr. Dan Westberg. That contest included everything from weed and herbicide identification, to problem solving and calibration.
BASF also hosted a southern ag media symposium at the same time as the weed contest, so we could learn more about the SWSS and what BASF has to offer southern growers. “We’re considering developing Zidua (herbicide) in peanuts, particularly for season long grass and broadleaf weed control,” Dr. Dan explained. Interview with Dr. Dan Westberg, BASF
Glenn Oliver is responsible for managing the BASF Research Farm where the weed contest was held and he says quite a bit of planning and work went into the event. “It starts in January when we try to figure out the herbicide symptomology plots…go over grower problems,” Glenn said. “Then you start out in the spring and start planting and hoping it will be ready to go the first week of August.” They did have some problems with a wet spring, but Glenn says it all worked out and culminated in beautiful weather last week for the contest. Interview with Glenn Oliver, BASF
Contest coordinator Tom Eubank with Mississippi State says 54 students from eight southern universities participated in the the weed contest. He says it is a very “intellectually challenging contest” for the students, particularly the farmer problem segment of the competition where “they’re tasked with figuring out the problem and then giving a proper response to address the issue and preventing it from happening again in the future.”
Eubank says there has been a resurgence of interest in weed science as a profession because of resistance issues. Interview with Tom Eubank, Mississippi State weed scientist
All of the individual and team winners were recognized during a great dinner at the Angus Barn in Raleigh on Wednesday night. The top team winner was long-time champion and Dr. Dan’s alma mater University of Arkansas. Coming in second and third were Virginia Tech and Mississippi State. Check out the photo album for all the winners!
Zimfo Bytes
- Swanson Russell announces the promotion of ten employees in its Lincoln office: Andrew Clabaugh, Jeralee Hahn, Rachel Hrabik, Aaron Jarzynka, Katie Sands, Justin Schnick, Kaila Shirey, Jessica Simpson, Charlie Stephan and Amber Wolff.
- The Illinois Soybean Association and its farmer-leaders, along with leading U.S. agricultural organizations and biotechnology providers, would like to invite you to the International Biotechnology Symposium on August 26, 2013, in Champaign, Ill., the day prior to the 2013 Farm Progress Show in Decatur, Ill.
- AgGateway is now receiving nominations for its annual Ron Storms Memorial Award, which recognizes distinguished individual efforts in the promotion of electronic standards and protocols in agri-business.
- Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc. (BIVI) has contributed $75,000 annually through its Advancement in PRRS Research Award to fund three selected research studies.
Corn Crop Lowered but Record Still Expected
Despite a wet spring causing a challenging start to the season, the 2013 corn crop is still looking to break new ground this year, according to the latest USDA production estimate out today.
Corn production is forecast at 13.8 billion bushels, up 28 percent from 2012. If realized, this will be a new record production for the United States. Based on conditions as of August 1, yields are expected to average 154.4 bushels per acre, up 31.0 bushels from 2012. If realized, this will be the highest average yield since 2009. Area harvested for grain is forecast at 89.1 million acres, unchanged from the June forecast but up 2 percent from 2012.
Soybean production is forecast at 3.26 billion bushels, up 8 percent from last year and could be the third largest on record. This report reflected a re-survey from the June acreage report which had a large amount of unplanted acres in 14 major producing states. The re-survey resulted in a downward revision of less than one percent from the June report at 77.2 million acres.
Brian Hoops of Midwest Market Solutions analyzed both the Crop Production report and the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimate report on the Minneapolis Grain Exchange crop call immediately after today’s release. MGEX Crop Call with Brian Hoops
Answering Consumer Questions about GMOs
The agricultural biotechnology companies that develop genetically modified seeds (GMO) have united to launch a broad, new initiative to provide accurate information and answer the toughest questions about GMOs and how our food is grown. GMO Answers is produced by the members of The Council for Biotechnology Information, which includes BASF, Bayer CropScience, Dow AgroSciences LLC, DuPont, Monsanto Company and Syngenta.
This week’s ZimmCast features an interview with Fran Castle Rowland, senior manager of global brand management and media relations for BASF, about the purpose of GMOAnswers, the questions they have received so far, and just how they hope being more transparent will help educate the public about the importance of biotechnology in food production.
Listen to this week’s ZimmCast here: Providing Answers to GMO Questions
Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsors, GROWMARK, locally owned, globally strong and Monsanto, Roundup Ready Plus, for their support.