Iowa Great Grower Pleased with Progress

Cindy Zimmerman

Another of our 2012 BASF Great Growers is Steve Miller of West Union, Iowa in the northeast part of the state. He farms with his dad Henry and is pictured here with his adorable son Cam – the picture of a true family farm!

I was actually supposed to interview Steve and his dad back in the freezing December of 2009 for BASF Headline Harvest reports, which was certainly not the best harvest year to do interviews! It just so happened that the frigid day we were scheduled was the same day that little Cam decided to enter the world, so dad and granddad both were a little tired and preoccupied. We did interview Henry but Steve had other matters on his mind that took priority.

This year, little Cam is big enough to start learning about farming and the season so far has been fabulous. As of last week, Steve says they were already half done with beans and the corn was coming up. “We got the corn sprayed so we’re sitting pretty good,” Steve said.

According to USDA, nearly all of the corn in Iowa is planted already and over 80% is emerged and most of it in good to excellent condition. Steve probably has the rest of his beans planted by now since 85% was planted in the state as of Sunday with over a quarter of the crop emerged.

Last year, the wind blew all their corn down, “so we definitely took a look at height on corn and root structure and doing more of the smart stacks,” he said. They are sticking to their normal 50/50 rotation and were happy to be able to get lots of preparation for planting done last fall.

Steve said they did change their herbicide program for corn this year. “We went to a pre-emerge herbicide. Last year, we went post-emerge and we got caught when it started raining and rained for about two weeks,” he explained. “So we’re doing things differently to make sure we get the chemical where it needs to be at the right time.” They scout both corn and soybeans to determine the best time to apply Headline.

BASF wants to know – what types of crop protection products are you using this year on soybeans? Answer the Production Poll here.

Listen to or download my interview with Steve here and watch for more Great Grower interviews coming up. BASF Great Grower Steve Miller

Audio, BASF, Corn, Crop Protection, Farming, Soybean

Farm Families Return to DC This Summer

Melissa Sandfort

The nation’s top crop and the farm families who grow it will return to the U.S. capital this summer for the fourth year in a row as part of the Corn Farmers Coalition educational program that debuts June 1, at Union Station, an important venue for reaching policymakers inside “The Beltway.”

Corn farmers from 14 states and the National Corn Growers Association are supporting the Corn Farmers Coalition program to introduce a foundation of facts seen as essential to decision making, rather than directly influencing legislation and regulation.

The Corn Farmers Coalition is launching its major advertising campaign by taking over every available ad space at Union Station. The effort will also put prominent facts about family farmers in Capitol Hill publications, radio, frequently used websites, and other Metro locations in June and July.

The coalition will meet with media, members of Congress, environmental groups and others to talk about farming’s bright future: how U.S. farmers, using the latest technologies, will continue to meet the demands of a growing population and how this productivity can be a bright spot in an otherwise struggling economy.

Corn, Farming

Dr. Pearse Lyons Wraps Up Alltech Symposium

Chuck Zimmerman

The 2012 Alltech International Symposium has concluded. The “Magic Man” as he was called more than once during the event is Dr. Pearse Lyons. Here he is on stage during the closing session this morning.

I was able to ask Pearse his thoughts in closing at the end of the session. He says “What a pity it’s over.” He’s ready for another three days! Looking to the future continued growth of Alltech his key word is “speed.” Not speed that compromises quality but speed that grows the company quickly and perhaps even bigger than they currently envision.

Listen to my closing interview with Dr. Lyons here: Interview with Dr. Pearse Lyons

2012 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

Agribusiness, Alltech, Audio

Tom and Anya’s Future

Chuck Zimmerman

The 2012 Alltech International Symposium was all about the future and everywhere you looked the faces of Tom and Anya looked back at you. These young children represented all children and many of the presentations here focused on what their world will be like as they grow up. So, after seeing Tom and Anya in pictures we were treated to meeting them on stage at the end of the Symposium.

Here’s Dr. Pearse Lyons with little Tom and Anya. How cute is that? And when you see children like Tom and Anya how can you not help but want to make their future world even better than the one we’ve grown up in?

2012 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

Agribusiness, Alltech

An Alltech View of China

Chuck Zimmerman

His presentation was titled, “The Great Call of China.” Dr. Mark Lyons talked about what he has learned about the culture and opportunity represented by the China market. In fact, he’s learning the language right now and Alltech predicts that the country may represent 25% of their business in the future.

At the 2010 Symposium we got a glimpse at this market from Joaquin Pelaez is the Senior Vice President for Product Excellence at Yum! Brands, Inc. In this morning’s closing session Mark expanded greatly on some of those ideas from what he has found out from his time in China. For example, he says he conducted a survey in which the word Respect came up over and over. In his presentation you’ll learn from his observations and perhaps these will serve you well if you ever work in the China market. Mark concluded his remarks saying that it’s the perfect place for the aspiring CEO!

Listen to Dr. Mark Lyons talk about the China market here: Dr. Mark Lyons on China

2012 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

Agribusiness, Alltech, Audio, International

Agriculture.com® wins two MobileWebAwards

Melissa Sandfort

Less than one year after the re-launch of m.Agriculture.com, the site has been awarded two MobileWebAwards from the Web Marketing Association for Best Magazine Mobile Website and Best Magazine Mobile Application.

The two awards come shortly after the announcement of the industry-first Mobile Commerce Messaging suite of offerings. The new services include a unique [A] Deals feature that provides farmers with direct marketing promotions and discounted offers from advertisers.

After m.Agriculture.com was launched in 2010, its developers soon began testing new services most appropriate for mobile use. These services included dynamic, multimedia content like video, slideshows, and an “app tray.”

The mobile site helps farmers keep up with the latest markets, weather, news, technology, and now input buying opportunities.

Apps, Media

Monsanto Purchases Precision Planting, Inc.

Melissa Sandfort

In line with its vision of delivering yield to farmers sustainably, Monsanto Company announced it reached an agreement to purchase planting technology developer Precision Planting, Inc., a proven leader in improving yields through on-farm planting performance.

The Precision Planting team will become part of Monsanto’s Integrated Farming Systems unit, which utilizes advanced agronomic practices, seed genetics and innovative on-farm technology to deliver optimal yield to farmers while using fewer resources. Precision Planting has a long history of innovations that optimize planter performance and increase yield potential, including the new FieldView™ technology, which offers an application designed to monitor all critical aspects of planter performance and crop data analysis. That will complement Monsanto’s planned Integrated Farming Systems offering of science-based agronomic seed prescriptions combined with next-generation precision equipment to help farmers boost yields and reduce risk.

The Precision Planting operations will remain in Tremont and all Precision employees will be offered their continued jobs in Tremont. Monsanto agreed to pay $210 million for the business, plus a performance-based payment of up to $40 million.

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close this summer.

Agribusiness, Precision Agriculture

Parents Should be Responsible for Child Nutrition

Chuck Zimmerman

Our latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “Who should be responsible for child nutrition?” I am all for good food nutrition for our children. But who is responsible? It seems like the government thinks it should have some control. I’ve heard and read lots of people saying we need more nutrition education. But don’t we have more than enough of that? How long has USDA made good nutrition information available? But we still see the problem of overeating. So, here’s what our poll found. 72% said Parents! I say, amen to that. Of course then you might ask why aren’t parents doing a better job of controlling what their kids eat. 24% said All of the above and 4% said Schools and no one chose specifically Government or Nutritionists. Interesting results.

Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, “Which group should restaurants consider experts on animal care?” This past weekend many folks in agriculture participated in an online thank you campaign for Domino’s Pizza. Why? Because the restaurant chain made a decision based on good humane animal practices and did not give in to the demands of the animal activist group HSUS. So, let us know your thoughts on this question. We appreciate it.

ZimmPoll is sponsored by Rhea+Kaiser, a full-service advertising/public relations agency.

Food, ZimmPoll

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Merck Animal Health announces the U.S. approval of ZUPREVO (tildipirosin) – a new macrolide antibiotic for the management of bovine respiratory disease.
  • Miller Electric Mfg. Co. has announced the launch of its Miller Online Store, offering an engaging, customer-friendly shopping experience for the DIY segment.
  • Charleston|Orwig was recently voted Top Workplace in Wisconsin for the third year. This year the agency ranked 11th of 56 in the small business category.
  • Collegiate FFA is now accepting applications for its National Collegiate Agricultural Ambassador program.
    Zimfo Bytes

    Alltech’s FoodPrint Discussion Dinner

    Jamie Johansen

    The Carbon FoodPrint was the topic of debate for one of the Discussion Dinners at the 2012 Alltech International Symposium. Moderator, Damien O’Reilly, Irish National Television and Radio Broadcaster, lead the dialogue on perception vs. reality. Delegates enjoyed a tasty chicken dinner while chatting about how much of the carbon footprint hype is branding and how much is changing operations.

    “It is a very timely discussion because everybody in the world knows more or less what we we mean when we say your carbon footprint. It is a relatively new phenomenon I suppose, but people are becoming more conscious about it and their impact on it.”

    “I hope we can provoke a debate here about the food industry and food companies and what they are doing. Some have signed up for the foodprint idea which is to say we have reduced our carbon footprint by 5 or 7%. But some questions asked are how can we monitor them?”

    Listen to moderator, Damien O’Reilly’s interview here: Interview with Damien O'Reilly

    2012 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

    Agribusiness, Alltech, Audio