Catching Up With BASF Great Grower Kip Tom

Cindy Zimmerman

The last time we chatted with BASF Great Grower Kip Tom of Indiana he was with his son Kyle at the BASF Agricultural Solutions Media Summit. When we caught up with him this time, he was with his adorable grandson Kamden at the Farm Progress Show.

We talked with Kip about the impact of the drought this summer on Tom Farms in Leesburg, Indiana. “In my 39 years of practicing this occupation, I can very easily say this is the most challenging year we’ve ever faced in regards to dryness and high temperatures,” Kip said. “We’ve got fields that have 200 bushel APHs (actual production history yield) that are going to be done in the 20-30 bushel range.”

Kip says some farmers may have backed away from using fungicides when the dry weather continued so long, but he had a different viewpoint. “We looked at the results of prior years in other areas that were having yield challenges and we moved forward and applied fungicides to our corn and soybean acres because we’ve seen that it did add yield even under a stress year.”

With a smaller crop expected this year in the United States this year, Kip says other countries will be positioned to benefit from the shortfall. “I just came back from Argentina and Uruguay and I can tell you that producers down there are making investments to make sure they can maximize yields,” he said. “They’ve never seen these kind of returns.”

Kip urges other growers to look forward to 2013 with confidence. “Let’s get past this year, let’s focus on next year, let’s make sure we put the right amount of nutrients out there to maximize yields next year, and let’s not sit here and cry woe is me – let’s put our chin up, pick out the right crops to grow next year and maximize those returns.”

Listen to my interview with Kip here: Kip Tom interview

Audio, BASF, Farming

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Melissa Sandfort

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  • Serge Traylor is the newest Osborn Barr member, serving as director on the company’s Monsanto Commercial account.
  • A new quarterly agricultural finance survey was recently launched by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
  • Z Tags North America L.P. is proud to welcome David Jameson as its new Regional Sales Manager for the North Central Region.
  • The Conservation Technology Information Center will celebrate its 30th anniversary on Oct. 25, 2012, in St. Louis, Mo., with a pair of panel discussions exploring the past, present and future of agricultural conservation.
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    Koch and AGROTAIN Together at FPS

    John Davis

    The 2012 Farm Progress Show gave Koch Agronomics the opportunity to showcase its acquisition of AGROTAIN really for the first time to this audience, since it was just finalized in October of 2011. We got to find out more about Koch and how AGROTAIN fits with that corporation during a media breakfast at the show.

    VP of commercial operations for Koch Tom Snipes explains the acquisition of AGROTAIN was a natural fit for his company. “With this new platform [of Koch’s agribusiness delivery system] that we established a couple of years ago, we really feel like by adding the resources around our [research and development] function, agronomy function, and things like that, we’re really going to be in a great position to bring a lot of innovative nutrient management technologies to the grower,” he said. It’s his first visit to Farm Progress Show, and he’s amazed and excited to be there. “We’ve got a huge opportunity to educate the grower on nitrogen management.”

    Listen to Cindy’s interview with Tom here: VP commercial operations Tom Snipes

    Koch’s Director of Agronomy Greg Schwab echoes his colleague’s thoughts about nitrogen management, especially in light of this year’s drought. “This year was pretty rough for farmers, but we’re hoping that they’re going to be focused on next year,” he says. He warns about some of the issues going into the fall because of the dry weather. He urges farmers to wait until they have good soil moistures and temperatures of less than 50 degrees 6 inches down, a real concern with the hot weather this year. Schwab says he was very excited the day he learned Koch would be acquiring AGROTAIN because he had worked with AGROTAIN during his time at the University of Kentucky. “It was a great day when I was able to call those guys and say we’re going to be colleagues!”

    Listen to Cindy’s interview with Greg here: Director of Agronomy Greg Schwab

    2012 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

    AgWired coverage of the 2012 Farm Progress Show is sponsored by New Holland and Monsanto Roundup Ready Plus
    Ag Groups, Agribusiness, Audio, Farm Progress Show

    Farm Groups Urge Senate to Oppose Disaster Bill

    John Davis

    A coalition of about a dozen agriculture groups, including the American Farm Bureau Federation, the American Soybean Association, the National Association of Wheat Growers, the National Corn Growers Association, the National Farmers Union, and the National Milk Producers Federation has urged Senate leaders to “refrain from supporting” any legislation resembling the House-passed disaster bill should it come up in the Senate. This news release from the AFBF says the letter sent to Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) states that “such a measure would detract from the larger mission of passing a long-term farm bill.”

    “This is something our groups do not support,” the letter stated. “We strongly urge you to refrain from this as we fear that passage of a bill similar to the House bill could result in further delays in completing a full five-year farm bill.”

    According to the group, in comparison to a disaster bill, completing a five-year farm bill would deliver assistance to eligible livestock producers nearly as quickly and would put into place certainty for future years, and it is paid for in both the House and Senate versions. This highlights the House disaster bill’s $600 million price tag, which clearly would impact funding available for long-term agriculture needs.

    The current farm bill expires at the end of this month, and the group makes the case that the Senate and House versions of the new farm bill have the provisions for disaster relief with long-term benefits.

    AFBF, Ag Groups, ASA, Farm Bill, NAWG, NCGA

    Bigger Baling From New Holland

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Another “what’s new” from New Holland includes a new BigBaler like this 340 model. On site at the Farm Progress Show to talk about it was Scott Wangsgard.

    New Holland’s next generation BigBaler sets a new benchmark in baling performance. With up to a 20% increase in capacity and up to 5% denser bales, the BigBalers significantly improve productivity and profitability. The BigBaler 330 produces 3’x3′ bales while the BigBaler 340 produces 3’x4′ bales.

    The all-new MaxiSweepTM pickup has been completely redesigned featuring a new full-width feed assist roller with paired overshot-undershot augers at both ends to pull in material to ensure that every last stem of profitable crop is safely baled. The addition of a standard roller windguard helps pre-compress the crop mat before the pickup tine so ensure continuous smooth crop flow from the swath to the baler and prevents crop flow disturbance for uniform bale production.

    Pulling this BigBaler is a New Holland T7 Series tractor with CVT transmission.

    Listen to my interview with Scott here: Interview with Scott Wangsgard

    2012 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

    AgWired coverage of the 2012 Farm Progress Show is sponsored by New Holland and Monsanto Roundup Ready Plus
    Agribusiness, Audio, Equipment, Farm Progress Show, Forage, Hay, New Holland

    The Mobile Office Combine From Case IH

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Case IH equipment provided a few media opportunities at the Farm Progress Show. This combine doing a field demo is just one of them. Nathan Weinkauf, Global Marketing Manager, gave me a run down of what’s new.

    Nathan says their new Axial-Flow Combines for 2013 have completely redesigned cabs that are common across all models. He says it’s a true mobile office. It even has its own portable refrigerator. You’ll hear him describe a number of other features that set these combines apart from others. In addition to the new combines Nathan says that in 2013 Steiger Quadtrac will be available in the Steiger Rowtrac machines.

    Listen to my interview with Nathan here: Interview with Nathan Weinkauf

    2012 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

    Agribusiness, Audio, Case IH, Farm Progress Show

    Digital Media Changing Ag Communications

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Digital Media. It’s a wonderful thing don’t you think? I know the ZimmComm team does! How is it affecting how agriculture’s story is being told? That’s a question being dealt with in Paulsen Marketing’s latest thought paper, “Digital Media’s Evolution and Impact on Telling Agriculture’s Story.” To find an answer to this question, Paulsen interviewed prominent ag journalists and I was happy to be included in this distinguished group.

    If you’re a PR professional or marketer hoping to place stories, it’s important to understand what journalists and their audiences look for. It also helps to know about the benefits and the challenges of digital media.

    The change from mass communications to masses of communicators creates new opportunities for journalists and their audiences. People can easily access a wide variety of information from a wide variety of sources.

    Some ag journalists use digital media to form partnerships with their audiences.

    “It’s made it easier in how it keeps me connected and grounded to the folks that I serve,” said Jeff Caldwell, multimedia editor, Successful Farming. “It’s a lot easier to become friends almost with some of the guys we seek information from regularly.”

    Key take-aways from the study include:

    • All media is social
    • Opportunities to collect information, collaborate and connect are abundant
    • Anticipating what the audience wants – plus where and when – is a competitive necessity

    Agencies, Media

    GROWMARK Supports Farm Bill Now Efforts

    Cindy Zimmerman

    As part of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, GROWMARK is in full support of the Farm Bill Now Coalition that will be taking its message to Capitol Hill next week when Congress is back in session.

    GROWMARK Government Affairs Director Chuck Spencer says there are two basic reasons Congress should pass a five year farm bill this month. “One, because it expires September 30 and we would go back to the ’49 Act. Two, is that it’s traditionally passed on a five year basis which gives you a good planning horizon,” he said. “We need certainty in the market place.”

    Chuck is confident Congress will do something in the short time they have before the current farm policy expires at the end of the month. “I know there’s a lot of talk about eight days of session in September and that it’s going to be difficult. It can be difficult. But we saw the Senate pass in one day a farm bill, the House Agriculture Committee pass in one day a farm bill. When the motivation is present to take action, we have seen our elected leaders do so,” Chuck said.

    While there are options of a short or longer term extension of the current farm bill being considered, Chuck notes that Congress will have lots of other issues to deal with during a lame duck session, such as the expiring estate tax provisions that agriculture would like to see extended – or better yet, have the estate tax eliminated altogether.

    Listen to or download my interview with Chuck. Chuck Spencer, GROWMARK

    Audio, Farm Bill, GROWMARK

    Bayer Surveys Farmer Concerns at FPS

    Cindy Zimmerman

    Drought and weather concerns topped the Bayer CropScience Farm Progress Show survey this year about issues and opportunities facing farmers.

    Not really surprising, given this summer’s challenging drought – 73 percent of respondents to Bayer CropScience’s daily survey noted climate and weather problems as the biggest challenge experienced on their farm this year. Weed resistance ranked second in terms of challenges this year, with 18 percent of growers reporting this to be of significant concern on their farms.

    The grower survey was part of Bayer CropScience’s new “One World to Grow On” trade show exhibit that was unveiled in Boone, featuring a holistic approach to help growers identify ways to establish a healthy harvest which is vital to farming families and their communities, not only next season but for years to come.

    I had the opportunity to chat with Bayer Head of Profiling and Market Support Harry Streck during a media luncheon on FPS, and we talked about the problem of weed resistance world wide and how that fits in Bayer’s “One World to Grow On” theme. The “profiling” part of Harry’s title refers to how Bayer screens compounds for crop selectivity and weed spectrum.

    “Resistance is all over the world, wherever intensive row crop agriculture is being practiced,” Harry said. “In Europe, the problem is most acute in the cereals. In Latin America, Brazil and Argentina, they’re locked into the same agricultural dynamics as we are in the United States.” Basically, he says, anywhere you practice one weed strategy over and over again, that’s the common recipe for developing resistance, which is why they are getting the message of respecting the rotation out worldwide.

    “We recognize there are similarities throughout the world and there are some platforms that combat problems that have similar angles,” he said. “But it’s a big world and there are lots of differences.”

    Listen to my interview with Harry here: Harry Streck with Bayer CropScience

    2012 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

    Audio, Bayer, Farm Progress Show, weed management

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    Melissa Sandfort

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