Farm Policy Facts Relaunches Education Campaign

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fpf-logo-706x155A diverse coalition of agricultural organizations that came together during the 2008 Farm Bill debate under the name Farm Policy Facts announced that they are stepping up education activities during the 113th Congress.

Farm Policy Facts will communicate with the media and members of Congress via regular email alerts that will include a mix of farm policy news, detailed analysis and case studies of farm policy in action. Former journalists and legislative experts – including Rene Pastor, a longtime commodities reporter with Reuters, and Tom Sell, a former Hill aide and USDA official and cofounder and managing partner of Combest, Sell & Associates, LLC. – will be regular contributors.

Agribusiness, Education, Farm Bill, Farm Policy, USDA

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  • Mathews Company a global manufacturer of high quality, innovative agricultural equipment, promoted Joseph Shulfer to President.
  • Laurie Ovesen won the 2012 Drive Green Challenge grand prize of a John Deere 1023E Sub-Compact Utility Tractor with loader and box blade from Washington Tractor in Sumner.
  • Valent U.S.A. Corporation is pleased to announce that Jim Petta has been promoted to manager of its biorational business unit.
  • The new normal for animal feed costs will be at least $5 corn and $300 soybean meal according to Thomas Elam of FarmEcon who spoke at the Meat and Poultry Research Conference.
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Great American Wheat Harvest Documentary

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast 383Here’s a great project to show your support for. It’s a film documentary in production now called The Great American Wheat Harvest. In this week’s program I’m sharing a conversation with film producer Conrad Weaver during AG CONNECT Expo and U.S. Custom Harvesters Convention. I put the program together in a noisy Atlanta Delta Sky Club this morning because that’s how the @AgriBlogger rolls!

Conrad is a video producer that helps companies who want to tell their story. He also produces documentary films and grew up on a dairy farm.

How does your bread get to your table? What’s involved in producing the food that we eat? How does wheat get harvested? These are a few of the questions we’ll answer in this exceptional new documentary film that’s in production right now.

Over the course of the next 10 months we’ll be filming the story of the harvest. Every year in May dozens of harvesting crews head to Texas for the annual harvest run. The wheat belt states – as they are often referred to – run from Texas to the Canadian border and custom harvest crews travel across these states and into Canada harvesting the wheat that feeds the world. We’ll be traveling with a couple of harvest crews this Summer, filming the stories of harvest. More than 2 Billion bushels of wheat are harvested every year from American and Canadian wheat fields and half of this wheat is shipped overseas to feed a hungry global population.

Be sure to check our web site to follow our progress! www.GreatAmericanWheatHarvest.com

Learn more about the documentary project in this week’s ZimmCast here: Great American Wheat Harvest

Watch the trailer here:

Find out how you can support this project here. You can even sponsor a day of film production! In coming days I’ll also be sharing interviews with families being featured in the film as well as with sponsors.

Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsors, GROWMARK, locally owned, globally strong and Monsanto, Roundup Ready Plus, for their support.

The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired. Subscribe so you can listen when and where you want. Just go to our Subscribe page.

Agribusiness, Audio, Harvest, ZimmCast

Headline AMP Makes Headline Even Better

Cindy Zimmerman

Headline fungicide has been one of the most successful crop protection products in the history of agriculture, but combining Headline with other chemistries makes it even better.

basf-13-carenAt the recent BASF Crop Protection “Fields of Innovation” symposium, BASF Technical Service Representative Dr. Caren Schmidt talked about how adding Caramba™ fungicide to Headline created Headline AMP for maximum protection from foliar diseases and improved Plant Health.

“[We’re] trying to make Headline better,” Caren explained. “We wanted to look at bringing post-infection control to Headline [and] some complementary movement withing the leaf to aid in disease control.” But she was quick to add that this is not a cure for fungal growth once it’s actually visible; no fungicide can cure it at that stage.

Caren said they’ve seen about a two bushel per acre increase in corn yields using Headline AMP compared to Headline, adding that when fungicides were used, it produced the top yields among corn using fungicides in the National Corn Growers Association numbers in 2011 and 2012.

Caren also explained why some growers would still use just Headline. “I think having multiple sites of action is really where people want to be, especially if they’re using multiple fungicides within a given season. People have had such great experiences with Headline… it’s been on the market for eight years… if you like it, why would you switch?”

Listen to an interview with Caren here: Dr. Caren Schmidt, BASF

BASF Grower Symposium Photo Album

Audio, BASF, Corn, Crop Protection, Farming

2013 is Ram Brand Year of the Farmer

Chuck Zimmerman

There was no way I couldn’t take some post Super Bowl time to share the Ram Trucks commercial. It sure caught us by surprise and pleasantly so. Here’s why:

Paul HarveyIn our newest Ram brand commercial, we dedicate 2013 to celebrating the American farmer. Share the video, and join the Ram brand throughout the year as we celebrate the people, the food and the lifestyle that keep America growing.

WELCOME TO THE YEAR OF THE FARMER.

And just to sweeten it a little bit how about helping the FFA?

You watch the video, you share a badge, the Ram brand makes a donation. Help us raise $1 million to support FFA and assist in local hunger and educational programs.

So watch the commercial. It’s worth it just to listen to broadcast legend Paul Harvey!

Post Update: I neglected to add that this project is being conducted by Ram Trucks in alliance with sister company Case IH.

Video

AgFanatics #10

Cindy Zimmerman

agfanatics-2The AgFanatics celebrated their 10th podcast this past week with some good ‘ole fashion back and forth market discussion. Cory joins from the road on this episode, as the guys touch on news from the CME regarding trading hours, weak ethanol numbers, and South American weather and logistical concerns. Also, Cory finally gets his chance to tell the world about what he enjoys doing in his spare time!

AgFanatics can be found on Itunes or right from the front page at www.agrivisor.com.

GROWMARK

Use Ethanol Save a Car – Great Biofuels Video

Joanna Schroeder

LOVE IT!

The winners of the 3rd Annual High School Renewable Fuels Video Contest hail from Muscatine, Iowa and wow are they clever. Alli Burns, Ana Arzate and Sariah Garrido of Muscatine took the top price in the “Fuel the Future” video contest for high school students that was sponsored by Faegre Baker Daniels, LLP. The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) awarded the team its $1,000 prize during the 7th Annual Renewable Fuels Summit. The video, titled “Fuel the Future” beat 37 other entries.

IRFA Video Winner CheckSecond place, and winner of a $600 prize, was awarded to Sam Fathallah of Marion, Iowa for his video entitled, “Why You Should Use Ethanol 15.” Fathallah is an eleventh grader at Linn-Mar High School.

Third place was awarded to Drew Laviada-Garmon and Tiler Lemkau of Muscatine for their “Gangnam Style” spoof entitled, “E15 Style.” The two Muscatine High School seniors won $400 for their video.

“The renewable fuels industry needs to look no further than the IRFA YouTube page for its next big promotional video,” said IRFA Communications Director T.J. Page. “The IRFA congratulates the ‘Fuel the Future’ winners as well as each of the Iowa high school students who took on the challenge of entering this contest.”

So for those of you reading our blog who live outside of the U.S., let me give you a little context to the video. It is a superb spoof of an ASPCA commercial, a non profit that rescues animals, that featured Sarah McLachlan and her hit song “In the Arms of the Angels”.

You can watch all of the videos that were submitted at IRFA’s YouTube channel.

IRFA Renewable Fuels Summit Photo Album

Biofuels, Ethanol, Video

Consider Joining a CSA

Joanna Schroeder

It may be a bit chilly in the Midwest, but it’s never to early to think about spring planting and fall harvest. Iowa Secretary of Agriculture, Bill Northey, is encouraging Iowans to consider joining a local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program that will give them access to fresh, locally grown produce throughout the growing season.

CSA from Leopold at Iowa State“CSAs are a great opportunity to partner with a farmer and share in the harvest of fresh, nutritious, locally grown fruits and vegetables,” said Northey. “I know fresh Iowa grown produce may be far from mind during the cold days of winter, but it is a great time to sign-up for a CSA as it gives the farmer more time to plan for the growing season and ensure a good variety of produce for subscribers.”

Northey explained that through CSAs, farmers sell a certain number of subscriptions, or shares, and then provide a portion of their harvest to those members, typically on a weekly basis, throughout the growing season. This allows the customers to share in the farming risk as they may receive an abundance of produce during good growing years, but less when there are difficult growing conditions. Iowa has seen significant growth in the number of CSAs, growing from 50 in 2006 to more than 90 in 2012.

Once you join, members typically receive a box or bag of fresh produce, but some farms may offer other products such as eggs, honey, baked goods, meat, herbs, or flowers. Most CSAs arrange convenient delivery sites for weekly pickup. In many cases, farmers will invite customers to visit the farm to learn more about their operation, a great educational tool for consumers who would like to learn more about where they food comes from. In addition, some farmers also offer discounts to members who work on the farm during the growing season.

Produce, Vegetables

BASF and John Deere Help Fight Soybean Disease

Cindy Zimmerman

BASF Crop Protection and John Deere have teamed up to help soybean farmers fight disease with an effective fungicide and a targeted way to apply it.

deere-nozzleSoybean growers who purchase $300 or more of Priaxor™ fungicide from BASF before March 15, 2013, may qualify to purchase John Deere spray nozzles between April 1 and May 31, 2013 with no payments and no-interest financing for 150 days. (See offer details here)

Priaxor fungicide provides continuous protection against a broad spectrum of plant diseases. More than 75 trials conducted by BASF in 2010 and 2011, in the U.S., reveal that soybean acres treated with Priaxor fungicide out-yielded untreated land 87 percent of the time.

John Deere nozzles offer precision sprayer performance and accuracy. With a variety of specialized sprayers, there is a solution for every grower and every soybean acre, including the Twin-Air nozzle for high-coverage applications with on-target spraying, providing uniform coverage – perfect for low crops with complex canopies.

basf-garyThis enhanced and targeted coverage maximizes applications of Priaxor fungicide by distributing it evenly on soybean leaves. Once applied, Priaxor fungicide continuously delivers its chemistry throughout each leaf. This brings more consistent disease protection and post-infection disease controls, providing Plant Health benefits that can result in greater yields.

Gary Fellows with BASF explained how Priaxor works and how it compares with Headline during the recent BASF Grower Innovation Symposium – listen or download here: Dr. Gary Fellows on Priaxor

Agribusiness, Audio, BASF, Farming, John Deere, Soybean

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