Custom Harvesters in Great American Wheat Harvest

Chuck Zimmerman

Kent Braathen U.S. Custom HarvestersLet’s visit with a couple of U.S. Custom Harvesters leaders, Kent Braathen and Tracy Zeorian. I met them during AG CONNECT Expo earlier this year when a big announcement was made about the film documentary “The Great American Wheat Harvest.” The film is in production now with a hopeful release date of Ag Day in 2014. Tracy says that when she was first approached by film producer Conrad Weaver she was a little unsure where this would go. But she has learned that “He’s showing the story that we live and the heart of what we do.”

Kent who is the new President of U.S. Custom Harvesters says they’re very excited to be on board with this project since it will showcase what they are all about. He grew up in the business where like many custom harvesters, it’s a family affair. The film will help the public and folks in Washington, DC and local politics better understand the importance of their industry to the public. He encourages other organizations and companies to come on board and support the film.

Tracy Zeorian U.S. Custom HarvesterTracy has written a great blog post for Ag Day in which she details the evolution of the custom harvest industry. Here’s an excerpt.

The reputation of the custom harvest businesses has changed since the early days. When the industry was in its early years, crews were made up of only men. There were no trailer houses. The custom harvester camps had none of the luxuries of today. Men would sleep in partially filled grain trucks or under grain trucks, tents or barns. The men relied on farmers’ wives for food and often bathed in rivers and lakes.

Custom harvest businesses have evolved in the past 69 years. Combines are larger and headers are longer. The modern-day custom harvest crew is more than likely a family-owned business. They have modern RV’s with all the luxuries of home, including a shower AND washer/dryer. Some crews opt to stay in motels while on the road and eat in restaurants. Children have grown up helping, either at the trailer house or in the field. If they’re really lucky, they’ve experienced both. We still chase that ripening wheat from Texas to the Canadian border! Fall crops, such as corn, soybeans and sunflowers, keep some of these crews on the road for up to six months.

You can listen to my interview with Kent and Tracy here: Interview with Kent Braathen and Tracy Zeorian

The GREAT AMERICAN WHEAT HARVEST is a documentary film that will tell the story of hard-working custom harvesters who travel from the heart of Texas to the Canadian border harvesting the wheat that feeds our Great Country and the World. AgWired is a Silver Sponsor of the project.

Ag Groups, Audio, Wheat

My Field’s Been Droned Dude

Chuck Zimmerman

Aerial Precision AgEver since we’ve been hearing about the whole drone issue in Washington, DC I keep hearing this phrase in my head. But of course farm fields are being droned, by farmers themselves, and for good reasons. Here’s a great story on the subject.

Helicopters are just plain cool, especially if you can operate them by remote control. The Aerial Precision Ag booth at AG CONNECT Expo sold out of their new Multi Ready to Fly units! Using mini hand controlled helicopters for precision ag field imaging work got a lot of attention. These four rotor units were also being demonstrated right on the floor. The devices were first developed for cinematographers but the company quickly realized their great ag application.

I visited with Halee Janes, Aerial Precison Ag, a sister company to Cirrus Rotors, to learn more about these new units they were demonstrating. In the video below you can watch Halee explaining the new units and a short demonstration of them.

Halee says the ag industry can really benefit from aerial imagery for things like checking storm damage, crop production, water damage and getting that information very quickly. The footage from the included camera is stored on an SD card which you would remove and plug in to your computer. The starter kits on sale at the show include everything a farmer needs in a box. Included are a Hero GoPro 3 camera with an SD card that holds about an hour of footage. She says you can quickly get an aerial look at 60 acres, as in just a few minutes. These units can withstand about a 10-15 mph wind, travel up to 2 miles and as high as 400 feet. The batteries included give you about 16 minutes of flight time with wind and heat being the main variables. The units are also pretty customizable as long as you consider the weight.

You can listen to my interview with Halee here: Interview with Halee Janes

Agribusiness, Audio, Equipment, Precision Agriculture, Video

BIVI Panel: Observe, Be Patient & Help Others

John Davis

bivi-vets-13-panelAll this week we’ve been hearing from some of the presenters at the annual Boehringer Ingelheim (BIVI) Swine Health Seminar for swine vets held in San Diego. A panel session that featured Dr. Darin Madson from Iowa State University; Dr. Jim Lowe, a private livestock veterinary consultant in Illinois; Dr. Edgar Diaz, associate director of swine for BIVI; and Dr. Dale Polson, technical resources specialist with BIVI, (seated, left to right) talked about vertical transmission of disease, with BIVI Director of Swine Technical Services Dr. Tyler Holck moderating (standing, on right).

“Understanding [the gilt’s] immunity and her status coming in to that farm is probably the most important thing you can do,” said Madson. “It’s too late once she’s there, because that’s when you’ll have see this vertical transmission.”

Lowe urged the vets attending to have patience and understand that you need to collect data over a number of years to truly understand a problem. “One test result probably doesn’t change my attitude… 10 in a row might tell me something more.”

Diaz echoes the first two sentiments on carefully observing and being patient to gather and consolidate the right amount of data.

Polson told the audience that they need to give to gain and play well with others. While it’s good to work to better the client’s herd, “if we are too narrowly focused and too myopic on just our stuff, we don’t appreciate how much of the effort that we put in dealing with our stuff we could mitigate by giving, collaborating with the neighborhood or across businesses.”

Listen to the panel discussion here: BIVI Swine Health Seminar panel on vertical transmission


BIVI Swine Health Seminar Photo Album

Agribusiness, Animal Health, Audio, Boehringer Ingelheim, Swine, Veterinary

Getting to Know Ag Leader

Melissa Sandfort

Insights WeeklyHere is the next in our series as we introduce you to a few of dedicated precision ag equipment dealers in a series called “Getting to Know Ag Leader”.

We caught up with Ben Martin of Akron Services, Inc. in Illinois.

1) From an agronomy standpoint, what do you consider to be the biggest issues facing growers today?
Today’s investment in seed requires a much higher level of management than many producers have done in the past. Paying attention to hybrids, nutrients, soils and other inputs at different timings and places throughout the field will be key to maximizing productivity and profitability for growers.

2013-02-25 16.05.182) Tell us about how growers in your area are using precision agriculture.
Producers in our area have found value in VRT fertilizer and lime. Of course, using precision to simplify their life is popular too, such as autosteer, and automatic shut-off on sprayers and planters. However, more and more customers are using precision technology to increase management of nitrogen and seeding rates via harvest data and agronomy knowledge and recording data on every operation.

3) What benefits are growers seeing by using precision ag on their farms? Give us some examples.
Our customers using strip-till systems have seen huge benefits using autosteer to efficiently plant their seed in the optimal condition created by the strip-till operation. Before, when steering by hand, seeds planted off of the seedbed would emerge slower and be at a disadvantage the entire year. Also, growers are seeing benefits in fertilizer usage by using harvest data combined with soil tests to correctly fertilizer the areas that are in need of it the most.
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Ag Leader

Zimfo Bytes

Talia Goes

    Zimfo Bytes

  • MANA announced its launch of five new soybean weed control tools: Rumble, Tailwind, Torment, Vise and Outflank herbicides.
  • DuPont Pioneer announced final advancements of 132 new Pioneer brand corn products for 2013, including 36 new genetic platforms.
  • MGEX announced new trading hours for futures and options contracts in the Hard Red Spring Wheat and Index contracts beginning with the Monday, April 8, 2013 trade date, pending CFTC review.
  • Argrievolution Alliance announced that the work on a global ag electronics communication standard by Agricultural Industry Electronics Foundation will create greater opportunities and efficiencies for farmers and equipment.
Zimfo Bytes

Can You Count on Calorie Information?

Cindy Zimmerman

A guest post by Agri-Pulse Editor Sara Wyant

agri-pulseCurrent high rates of obesity in the United States and frequent discussions about eating healthy have many people counting their calories. But researchers say cooking and processing food can make a significant difference in the number of calories consumed – making current nutrition labels systematically misleading.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) held a conference in Boston this month to discuss “Why a Calorie Is Not a Calorie and Why It Matters for Human Diets.”

During the discussions, Harvard University’s Rachel Carmody described research in which she and her colleagues found significant contributions from cooking to human energy budgets. Their results “also illuminate a weakness in current food labeling practices, which systematically overestimate the caloric potential of poorly processed foods,” and “take inadequate account of food processing.”

Highly processed foods are given similar caloric labels as the same foods in an unprocessed state, which does not accurately reflect the biological processes of the human body that impact caloric intake. So, according to these researchers, a Snickers bar label actually underestimates the amount of calories gained, while raw foods are contributing fewer calories than current food tables suggest.

“For example, raw foods are systematically less energy-producing than the same foods cooked,” said Harvard University’s Richard Wrangham. But USDA displays data for the public indicating that cooking foods does not consistently make a difference in their energy value. “The public is thus misled,” he said.

For more than a century, the energy value of foods has been assessed using the Atwater Convention. Wrangham suggested that the Atwater Convention conveys realistic values for foods that are highly digestible, such as white bread.

Click here to read full article

Agri-Pulse

Roberts Seeks to Cut Fat from SNAP

Cindy Zimmerman

Senator Pat RobertsSenator Pat Roberts (R-KS) has introduced legislation that he says would “restore integrity to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps, to save $36 billion in taxpayer dollars while ensuring those in need still receive benefits.”

Roberts found all kinds of little ways to cut SNAP spending waste and fraud that adds up to some substantial savings – even though SNAP is exempt from the sequester. He held a press conference on Tuesday to announce the new bill.

“Times are tough right now for millions of Americans and government spending is out of control. We need to ensure that precious taxpayer dollars are getting to those in the greatest need,” Roberts said. “This bill is a package of straightforward, commonsense reforms that have garnered bipartisan support in the past to address, waste, fraud and abuse. We can and should restore integrity to SNAP for those who rely on it while being more responsible to the taxpayer – and we can achieve billions in real savings without ever affecting food on the table.”

According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Senator Roberts’ bill, the Improve Nutrition Program Integrity and Deficit Reduction Act will save the taxpayer more than $36 billion over 10 years.

Roberts’ legislation eliminates loopholes, duplicative programs, unnecessary bonuses, and restricts lottery winners from receiving benefits. “SNAP funds should go to hungry families, not to lotto winners or toward union dues,” Roberts said.

Read more and listen to Roberts’ press conference here: Sen. Pat Roberts

Audio

Thad Simons 2013 Agribusiness Leader of Year

Chuck Zimmerman

The President/CEO of Novus International, Thad Simons, is the National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) 2013 Agribusiness Leader of the Year. This award, which is NAMA’s highest honor, will be presented at the Opening General Session of the 2013 Agri-Marketing Conference, “Forging New Frontiers,” April 18, 2013, in Kansas City, Missouri. I’ll be there to see Thad receive his award. The award honors outstanding leaders like Thad in agribusiness, education, government service or other agribusiness related areas who exemplify excellence in agribusiness by their significant contributions to the industry.

Thad is seen here addressing the audience for the company’s 20th Anniversary Celebration at the headquarters in St. Louis, MO, a couple years ago. I thought you might enjoy listening to my conversation with him then about the company milestone: Thad Simons Interview

Ag Groups, Agribusiness, NAMA, Novus International

Pigs Start Coughing Long Before Our Brains Hear It

John Davis

bivi-vets-13-loweUnderstanding how early in the production chain a disease actually starts will give veterinarians a better chance at stopping it before it becomes a problem.

“Twenty percent of those pigs are coughing before our brain will let us hear that,” Dr. Jim Lowe, a private livestock veterinary consultant in Illinois, told attendees of the annual Boehringer Ingelheim (BIVI) Swine Health Seminar for swine vets in San Diego. He added that if you work the math of how long it takes a pig to go from infection to cough, you’re looking at 60 days to possibly between 120-150 days. “So if we’re hearing a cough in 15-, 16-, 17- weeks old pigs, those infections likely started back in the farrowing house.” He suggested more patient monitoring of gilts earlier in the process.

Lowe also talked about how swine vets can remain relevant to increasingly larger corporate operations, cautioning those vets are on the verge of becoming not very important, and they can’t just run around trying to cure the problem of the moment. He said vets need to use as sophisticated technology as the big producers are using, lest they become opinion-givers instead of fact-givers. Lowe also touched on the importance of husbandry and taking a holistic approach to managing a swine herd. Using the cattle feedlot business as an analogy, he said how good the caregiver is in the overall production chain makes a 10-fold difference. “The skill of our caregivers is really important, and that’s a real opportunity for us as veterinarians.”

Listen to Cindy’s interview with Dr. Lowe here: Interview with Dr. Jim Lowe


BIVI Swine Health Seminar Photo Album

Agribusiness, Animal Health, Audio, Boehringer Ingelheim, Swine, Veterinary

Iowa – 4th Largest Corn Producer in the World

Joanna Schroeder

irfa-northeyDid you know that if Iowa were a country, it would be the fourth largest producer of corn in the world? Iowa would be behind the number one corn producer, the U.S. followed by China, who has about the same number of acres in production but only 2/3 the production. Number three is Brazil, who with the drought is ahead of us in production (but keep in mind the country’s growing season is a head of ours) and Iowa would be number four. Iowa also produces more than the entire European Union – comprised of 27 countries.

And Iowa has a tiny footprint in comparison to America, U.S. and Brazil. Talk about growing more on less land!

Guess who told me this cool stuff. Iowa Ag Secretary Bill Northey who I had a chance to speak with during the Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit.

Iowa is the largest producer of corn-ethanol in the world with 41 plants producing between 3.5 and 4 billion gallons of fuel per year and the largest biodiesel producer in the U.S. This feat would, if Iowa converted to 100 percent biodiesel and ethanol, make the state entirely energy independent.

You’ll can learn some other cool Iowa facts in my interview with Bill: Iowa- 4th Largest Corn Producer in the World

View the IRFA Renewable Fuels Summit Photo Album.

Audio, Biodiesel, Biofuels, Corn, Ethanol