It’s almost time for the annual Agricultural Media Summit. This image of a good looking steak from the Cattlemen’s Beef Board really makes me wish I as going. But I’ll be doing ag media duty at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally while Cindy and our summer intern Maggie will be at the Ag Media Summit. So we’ve got it covered!
If you’re looking for the best place to promote your company or organization’s products and services, then you’ll want to be at the 15th Annual Ag Media Summit in Buffalo, New York, August 3-7, 2013. This annual get-together, the largest meeting in the United States of the ag industry’s top writers, editors, photographers, publishers and ag communicator specialists, begins with pre-meeting events on Saturday, August 3, followed by the AMS program August 4-7. We invite you to participate as a sponsor or an exhibitor at our InfoExpo or both, and be a part of this important agricultural media event.
Zimfo Bytes
- The Vermont Agricultural Hall of Fame Committee announced the inductees for 2013 based on their accomplishments and significant contributions to Vermont agriculture.
- The Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) honored the latest winners of its agricultural engineering student achievement awards during special ceremonies at the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers’ (ASABE) recent annual meeting.
- Swanson Russell announced the promotion of Kara Cordell and Jenny Rawson and the addition of four employees in its Omaha office: Dakota Braun, Cindi Coulter, Jana Schneider and Kevin Stillman.
- The organizers of the first annual Farm to Table International Symposium announced former Texas Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower as a keynote speaker.
New Addition to Novus Enzyme Solutions Portfolio
Novus International, Inc. and Verenium Corporation announced the name of their new phytase enzyme product, CIBENZA PHYTAVERSE. This new innovative phytase is specifically designed to unlock more of the hidden nutritional value in phytate for improved animal growth and well-being.
The two companies, which entered into a strategic partnership in 2011, designed CIBENZA PHYTAVERSE to have specific performance characteristics that offer significant advantages over current phytase products. These performance characteristics include:
- High in vivo activity under gastric conditions for sustained performance
- Improved activity at low substrate concentrations to maximize phytate hydrolysis
- High gastric stability for activity throughout the upper gastrointestinal tract
- High intrinsic thermotolerance and pelleting stability
- Improved bioavailability due to the elimination of the need for thermo protective coatings
Animal trial results have demonstrated the superior performance characteristics that CIBENZA PHYTAVERSE provides, based on standard metrics such as weight gain, feed conversion ratios and phosphorus mineralization (tibia ash) versus other available phytase products. These results indicate that inclusion of CIBENZA PHYTAVERSE in monogastric diets can provide improved nutrition and economics to the animal feed industry.
Novus and Verenium expect to launch this product in certain geographical regions beginning in 2013.
MyAgCentral: Getting All Info in One Place
Recently, we told you about a new cloud-based precision data service called MyAgCentral.com. During the recent 2013 InfoAg Conference, Chuck was able to catch up with Steve Cubbage, the President of Prime Meridian, a company behind MyAgCentral.com and find out a little more.
“It’s a subscription-based service for growers, retailers and service providers that brings technology together,” Steve said. “There’s a lot of technology out there ,and it’s growing every day, and really to manage that, we felt there was a need to have one site for growers to go to to manage their modern farm.”
Some examples Steve cited was pulling together center pivots control and grain monitoring. He said so many different precision data services serve certain areas, so instead of having the farmer try to keep track of a dozen different websites where the information is stored and analyzed, they can go to one place, MyAgCentral.com and access everything.
“MyAgCentral consolidates that into a single web-based interface, and on top of that, it is also a repository that the grower controls for his own precision ag data that they can go to and disseminate out to their retailers or precision ag team.”
Steve said good collaboration between companies is helping make it easier. Right now, MyAgCentral.com is browser based, but there are ways to use apps to move data from a cloud account to the website through a mobile device. In addition, he points out that his site provides farmers with a place to store all that information as an extra backup, like a safe deposit box, as well as making it easier to share original data.
You can listen to Chuck’s interview with Steve here: Interview with Steve Cubbage, Prime Meridian and MyAgCentral.com
Checking in with the AgFanatics
The AgriVisor AgFanatics podcast has logged 40 episodes since its debut in December 2012, and quite a few since we last talked to them in March, so we decided it was time to check in for an update on how these two wild and crazy ag guys are doing.
“It’s going great, we’re continuing to gain listeners and we’re continuing to talk,” says one-half of the AgFanatics duo, Cory Winstead, account manager with AgriVisor. They did decide to cut back from two episodes a week to one to avoid having some of the same conversations too often, but he and partner Nick Klump are still having fun with it.
“We’ve gotten some of our best feedback when we’ve spent the first five minutes talking about baseball and our lives and our kids,” Cory said. They have spent a lot of time this year focusing on the weather market for grain, the farm bill and other things that interest farmers, such as crop insurance.
The AgFanatics will be podcasting live from the Farm Progress show this year in Decatur, so be sure to stop by and meet them in person at the GROWMARK tent. You can find the AgFanatics podcast page from the link on the AgriVisor homepage.
Get an update on the AgFanatics in this interview with Cory. Interview with AgFanatic Cory Winstead
American Ethanol Wins Ohio NASCAR Race
American Ethanol was in the winner’s circle Wednesday night as Austin Dillon won the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series™ Mudsummer Classic.
This inaugural event was held at one of the world’s most iconic dirt tracks, Eldora Speedway in Ohio. The race, which was the first NASCAR-sanctioned national event held on a dirt track since 1970, brought American Ethanol to the forefront as Dillon finished in front in the No. 39 American Ethanol Chevrolet truck.
“There was a lot of excitement in the NASCAR community about this historic race,” said National Corn Growers Association NASCAR Committee Chair Jon Holzfaster. “Dillon’s win elevated the coverage of American Ethanol and provided an unprecedented opportunity to highlight how ethanol fuels champions on the track while providing consumers real savings at the pump.”
Dillon detailed his journey from Chicago to Ohio, and the role ethanol played, in a blog, providing a look at how flex fuel vehicles, E85 and E15 can help consumers save money as gas prices rise faster than the summer temperatures.
Dillon will race next in the NASCAR Nationwide Series™ race to be held in Indiana this Saturday followed by an appearance in the Sprint Cup Series™ race on Sunday. American Ethanol will be on site promoting the benefits of the biofuel all weekend. American Ethanol is a joint effort between NCGA, Growth Energy and other partners to promote the benefits of ethanol and E15.
Awards for Precision Agriculture
During the InfoAg Conference the 2013 PrecisionAg Awards of Excellence were presented, sponsored by the PrecisionAg Institute. Announcing the awards was Paul Schrimpf, Group Editor, Croplife Media Group and posing with each of the winners is K. Elliott Nowels, Meister Media Group. First up:
Crop Adviser/Entrepreneur Award
Laserplane Arkansas, Inc.
The next award:
Educator/Researcher Award
Dr. John Fulton, Auburn University
You can listen to comments by Dr. Fulton here: Comments from Dr. John Fulton
The PrecisionAg Awards of Excellence shed light on some of the most important people and programs that have helped agriculture realize the full benefits of technology to improve agronomy, efficiency, and stewardship in crop production.
The next award presented during the awards luncheon was:
Farmer Award
Byron & Darrington Seward, Louise, MS
You can listen to comments from our winner here: Comments from Byron & Darrington Seward
And the final award:
Legacy Award
Dr. William Raun, Oklahoma State University
You can listen to comments by Dr. Raun here: Comments from Dr. William Raun
2013 InfoAg Conference Photo Album
The Little Things in Life
This week Aunt Jeanette writes:
Some time ago Melissa wrote a story about pivot stops. We have quite a few of these structures and they are wonderful for keeping pivots out of trees, ditches, roads, or the neighbor’s fields. We also found out they are good places for a bird to set up housekeeping – or should I say ‘nestkeeping’!
During irrigating season, farmers have to find little things to keep them happy. Although we are fortunate to be able to irrigate our crops, being out in a cornfield when the temperature is 98 degrees, the heat index is 105 degrees, the humidity is 90 percent, and there is not a breath of air, just isn’t their idea of a good time.
My husband, Dan, saw this robin’s nest on one of his pivot stops. He didn’t think the nest would survive, but he was able to watch the whole progression of a family of robins from three eggs to three baby robins. The robins have left the nest now, but the empty nest still sits on the pivot stop.
I think it gave him a little something to look forward to when he was irrigating on those miserably hot days.
And I know he smiled every time he saw it. He is just like that.
Until we walk again …
Farm Foundation Publishes Farm Bill Perspectives
You need information, especially when it comes to one of the most important pieces of legislation this Congress will consider: the Farm Bill. That’s why our friends at Farm Foundation, NFP and the National Center for Food and Agricultural Policy (NCFAP), have put together a series of essays by thought leaders in ag and rural America called Perspectives on the 2013 Farm Bill.
“Our intent is to enrich the public debate about the future of food and agricultural policy by providing ideas and perspectives from a diverse range of thought leaders,” according to Neil Conklin, President of Farm Foundation, NFP.
While Congress may finalize new farm bill legislation over the next few weeks, the debate will likely continue. “The role of the federal government in food, agriculture and rural communities will continue to be discussed and debated well into the future,” says Stan Johnson, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of NCFAP. “It is our goal to stimulate a continuing, dynamic conversation on the role and structure of food, agricultural and rural policies.”
And to give you more context, Farm Foundation has a 2013 Farm Bill Reading Room that gives stakeholders some varied viewpoints and options under discussion as Congress continues work on a successor to the 2008 farm bill. Articles are being put in three categories: reports on the politics shaping policies; organizational advocacy or viewpoints; and policy reference and analysis.
How Many Farm Apps Do You Use?
Our latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “What use would you have for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle?”
Our poll results:
· Crop analysis 25%
· Improve nutrient & crop protection efficiency 18%
· Just for fun! 18%
· Maximize yields 15%
· More efficient water use 7%
· Monitor livestock 8%
· Other 8%
So what do you think from the looks of the results? Are UAVs the next big technology “trend” for farmers who need to scout fields?
Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, ” How many ag-related apps do you have?” According to a recent Successful Farming survey, 28% of farmers polled “normally use apps to obtain information on agricultural products and/or services.” Are you one of the 28% and if so, how many different apps to you use? Let us know what you think.
ZimmPoll is sponsored by 
.