Mount Your iPhone in a John Deere Cab

Chuck Zimmerman

John Deere Press ConferenceYou knew it had to be coming didn’t you? OEM’s creating custom mounts for your mobile device in their cabs. John Deere has announced them along with several other things during last week’s Commodity Classic.

Patrick Sikora updated ag media on what is going on with the John Deere FarmSight system that was announced at Commodity Classic two years ago. All of the many components of FarmSight will be tied into a farmers MyJohnDeere.com account. Those include: JDLink™; John Deere Financial; My Equipment; Field Connect; JDParts; AgLogic™; and StellarSupport™.

Listen to the full John Deere press conference here or watch the video below: John Deere Press Conference

John Deere In-Cab MountsHere’s information on the new mobile device mounts.

The proliferation of smart phones, tablets and other mobile devices has made them popular and essential communications and information resources for today’s farmers and ranchers. As a result, John Deere is introducing mounting brackets and attachments to make it easier and more convenient for producers to have hands-free access and improved viewing of their mobile devices while operating equipment.

These new brackets include a cell phone mount bracket kit, a tablet mount kit, and accessory mounting bracket kit. They are all cross-compatible with current John Deere monitor kits and are customizable to fit each operator’s specific requirements in the cab.

Deere also announced an expansion of their Field Connect soil moisture monitoring system. Thes new environmental sensors include: Weather Station; Rain Gauge; Temperature Sensor; Pyranometer and Leaf Wetness Sensor.

In addition to the soil moisture data provided by the Field Connect system, the new sensors provide data on temperature, wind speed, wind direction, humidity, solar radiation, leaf wetness and rainfall. The sensors are installed in customer fields as part of the Field Connect Gateway.

Agribusiness, Audio, Commodity Classic, Equipment, John Deere

Commodity Classic Media Man

Chuck Zimmerman

2013 Commodity ClassicI don’t know what the final, final totals are but before it ended the 2013 Commodity Classic broke records that include 6,180 attendees, 3,024 of which are growers and 1,024 first time attendees. The high number of first time attendees was especially pleasing to Ken Colombini, Communications Director for the National Corn Growers Association. I sat down with him during Classic for a chat.

Ken says that these growers are coming here to learn how they can improve things back on the farm and find lots to talk about with each other. It is a great place to network with others in the business! Speaking of networking, the media room is a great place for the ag media to network with each other while they’re also utilizing the facilities to post their stories back to whatever media channels they are responsible for. Thanks to Dupont Crop Protection for being the sponsor of the Commodity Classic media room this year!

Listen to my interview with Ken here: Interview with Ken Colombini

2013 Commodity Classic Photo Album

Ag Groups, Audio, Commodity Classic, Corn, NCGA

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  • Broadhead, a Minneapolis-based full-service marketing communications agency, has added three new employees to its team.
  • DuPont said that while new digital technology is allowing farmers to gather massive amounts of data, the real value comes when data drives insights to help them improve their operations’ profitability.
  • Bayer CropScience honored Belzoni, Miss., crop farmer and sustainability advocate Jeremy Jack, 30, as its 2013 Young Sustainable Farmer.
  • Titan Machinery Inc. announced that it has acquired Adobe CE, LLC, consisting of one Case Construction equipment dealership located in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
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Six Secrets of Soybean Success Revealed

Jamie Johansen

classic13-belowMove over Seven Wonders of the Corn Yield World. Dr. Fred Below has a new hit message – the Six Secrets of Soybean Success – and he revealed it for the first time to growers at the 2013 Commodity Classic, thanks to BASF Crop Protection products.

Dr. Below, who is Professor of Crop Physiology at the University of Illinois, was joined by BASF Technical Crop Production Specialist AJ Woodyard for the educational session that drew a record-breaking number of attendees.

Both BASF and Dr. Below shared new data that shows farmers how they can nearly double their yields with a comprehensive pest management plan. Even though they conducted research separately, their results both indicated that growers can maximize yields by using agronomic management program featuring a combination of herbicides, fungicides and insecticides.

classic13-secretsWoodyard highlighted studies that consisted of a combination treatment of BASF herbicides and fungicides in corn, and BASF herbicides, fungicides and insecticides in soybeans, and compared their effectiveness to a glyphosate-based control program. Results revealed soybean yields increased by an average of 6.0 bu/A over the glyphosate-only program.

According to Below, the current average soybean yield in the U.S. is roughly 42 bu/A, and has been hovering around that figure for the past few years. “While it may seem daunting, the quest for 85.0 bu/A isn’t a stretch. Yields of this nature are produced each year in state contests, so we know it can be done,” Below said. “The trick is figuring out how to consistently produce these yield levels, and our research has identified six strategies to help accomplish this task.”

The Six Secrets to Soybean Success are:

  1. Weather
  2. Improve soil fertility
  3. Maximize genetic yield potential
  4. Protect yield potential and maximize seed size
  5. Enhance seed emergence and vigor
  6. Utilize narrow row spacing

Listen to Chuck’s interview with Dr. Below here: Dr. Fred Below

2013 Commodity Classic Photo Album

Audio, BASF, Commodity Classic, Education, Farming, Research, Soybean

Veterinarians on Call Videos

Chuck Zimmerman

Veterinarians on CallZoetis has created a series of YouTube videos with veterinarians to show the public how farmers of all sizes take care of their animals.

In new YouTube videos released today, swine veterinarians Dr. Matthew Turner of North Carolina and Dr. Tara Donovan of Wisconsin join veterinarians and farmers from across the country in speaking out for responsible livestock farming by hosting a film crew to document their work. They are among 12 veterinarians who demonstrate modern animal wellness practices on dozens of U.S. farms and ranches in the YouTube reality series “Veterinarians On Call,” www.youtube.com/vetsoncall.

“Veterinarians On Call”, presented by animal health company Zoetis™, shows the public that regardless of the size of a farm, farmers and ranchers benefit from raising animals in the most comfortable, stress-free conditions and housing. Doing so avoids disease, saves money on care, and keeps animals growing at proper weight until ready for market. In other words it would be counter-productive to and a risk to their businesses if farmers raised stressed, underweight animals. 



The film crews documented veterinarians working on farms as small as a couple hundred animals, to some of the largest U.S. farms responsible for hundreds of thousands of animals a year. The farms are an accurate representation of America’s 2.2 million farms, 97% of which are family-owned.

The 12 veterinarians who volunteered to be filmed are:

Dr. John Groves, Missouri

Dr. Rick Leone, Colorado

Dr. Don Goodman, Texas

Dr. Tom Noffsinger, Nebraska

Dr. Paul Ruen, Minnesota

Dr. Ross Kiehne, Minnesota

Dr. Angie Supple, Iowa

Dr. Pete Ostrum, New York

Dr. Lindsey Peck, New York

Dr. Matthew Turner, North Carolina

Dr. Tara Donovan, Wisconsin
Dr. Lynn Locatelli, New Mexico (to be published 2013)



Agribusiness, Animal Agriculture, Animal Health, Veterinary, Video

Commodity Classic Presidents Speak Out

Chuck Zimmerman

Commodity Classic PresidentsA highlight of the general session of Commodity Classic is the visit with the Presidents. Here are our four commodity group presidents. Moderator Mark Mayfield is seated on the left. To the right of him are Terry Swanson, National Sorghum Producers; Erik Younggren, National Association of Wheat Growers; Pam Johnson, National Corn Growers Association and Danny Murphy, American Soybean Association.

Mark invites each of them to the stage and has a little chat. I think you’ll enjoy those remarks:

Listen to Danny Murphy’s comments here: ASA Danny Murphy

Listen to Pam Johnson’s comments here: NCGA Pam Johnson

Listen to Erik Younggren’s comments here: NAWG Eric Younggren

Listen to Terry Swanson’s comments here: NSP Terry Swanson

Following the individual remarks Mark then asked each group president to chime in on the relevance of rural America. I hope you’ll agree with their well said responses.

Listen to those comments here: Commodity Presidents on Rural Relevance

2013 Commodity Classic Photo Album

Ag Groups, ASA, Audio, Commodity Classic, NAWG, NCGA, NSP

Sec. of Ag Vilsack at Commodity Classic

Chuck Zimmerman

Sec. of Ag Vilsack at Commodity ClassicOur U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack gave a sequester day speech here at Commodity Classic. I have not had time to digest it all but he did start out by saying how happy he is to be visiting Classic because it takes him out of Washington, DC, and especially today. As you can imagine you’ll hear a lot about sequester, budgets, spending, cuts, frustration, etc.

I’ve got both his speech and press conference available for you here to listen, download and share:

Listen to Sec. Vilsack’s speech here: Sec. Vilsack Speech

Listen to Sec. Vilsack’s press conference here: Sec. Vilsack Press Conference

2013 Commodity Classic Photo Album

Audio, Commodity Classic, USDA

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BASF Sponsors Corn Yield Contest

Jamie Johansen

classic-13-jamie-134-editedThe National Corn Growers Association and National Corn Yield Contest State Award Winners Breakfast was help this morning during the 2013 Commodity Classic.

The breakfast recognizes corn growers for their outstanding accomplishments during the past year. It also allows state winners to compare notes and pick up some tips of the trade. Check out the National Winners and State Winners.

Neil Bentley, Marketing Director for BASF’s US Crop Business, addressed attendees and shared how excited he was that BASF was a sponsor of the contest. In an interview with me he also explained some challenges growers across the country are facing and what BASF is doing to help hedge those challenges.

“BASF is really proud to be a sponsor fo the NCGA and the state yield contest winners. It’s really about bringing out the best of the best in terms of corn production. The growers face a lot of challenges out in the marketplace and we know that average doesn’t cut it, so BASF is really proud to be here and be a sponsor of this event to really celebrate those growers who are doing more than average each and every day.”

“Growers face volatility and that’s really a key standard issue within the US market, whether it is commodity volatility or weather volatility, these are really things that growers face each and every day and at BASF we are really trying to find the solutions that can help growers overcome these risks especially when it relates to yield in creating more than what the grower would have expected. Our mission at BASF is to help growers get the most from every acre. And each and every day we are spending more than $2 million in research and development to find these solutions to help growers get more and overcome these risks.”

You can find my interview with Neil here: Interview with Neil Bentley


BASF at 2013 Commodity Classic Photos

2013 Commodity Classic Photo Album

Audio, BASF, Commodity Classic, Corn, NCGA

Intellislope Helps Growers Install Field Drainage Tile

Melissa Sandfort

Insights Weekly

We recently caught up with Russ Mormon, Ag Leader sales representative, at the National Farm Machinery Show who told us a little more about Ag Leader’s Intellislope tile plow control through the Integra display.

Installing field drainage tile improves soil tilth for better root development, lengthening planting windows and providing better nutrient access for crops by removing excess moisture from the soil profile. Intellislope eliminates manual grade calculations, laser tripod setup and repositioning hassles which removes many of the challenges growers have faced in the past, allowing them to tile their fields on their own time, and more economically than hiring contractors.

Watch Mormon in this video as he gives a brief demonstration of Intellislope.

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Ag Leader, Video