Boehringer Ingelheim to Join NASCAR Farm American Team

Cindy Zimmerman

The start of the 2012 NASCAR season was delayed due to rain at the Daytona 500 Sunday, but next year the field could include a new player with a new partner.

Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc. (BIVI) has signed a letter of intent to develop a business plan for partnering with the Furniture Row Racing NASCAR team’s Farm American program for the 2013 season. David Korbelik with BIVI’s Cattle Division is pictured here (left center) with South Dakota cattle producers Stacy and Troy Hadrick (left and right) and Pat Driscoll of Furniture Row Racing.

“There has never been a better time to show support for American Agriculture. It is a strong, vibrant business that consumers need to know more about – that’s why we’re so honored to work with Furniture Row Racing to develop a plan on becoming a Farm American partner in 2013,” said BIVI Cattle Division executive director Colin Meyers. BIVI’s cattle division introduced a new way of thinking this year called Prevention Works and Meyers says the partnership with Farm American enhances this industry commitment.

Furniture Row Racing created the Farm American program in 2010, an initiative to bring awareness to the importance of keeping America’s food supply produced in the United States. “We are thrilled that a world-class company like Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc. has shown an interest in becoming a 2013 partner with our Farm American program, which continues to attract attention in the agriculture community,” said Joe Garone, general manager of Furniture Row racing.

Boehringer Ingelheim, NASCAR

The Farm Industry News FinOvation Awards

Chuck Zimmerman

Since I was just posting about a FinOvation Award I thought it was a good time to share more information about these annual awards presented by Farm Industry News. To help explain them I spoke with Jodie Wehrspann, Senior Editor at Farm Industry News. She’s pictured here presenting one of the awards to Brian Deverman, Pioneer Hi-Bred, for their Plenish, high-oleic-oil soybeans.

Jodie says FIN has been conducting the FinOvation awards for many years to help recognize companies appearing in their publication. The awards are selected by readers and a panel of product testers. This year 22 awards were presented. Having your award come primarily from publication reader voting has to be meaningful to the winners since it is their customers selecting them and their new products. This year Jodie says they started a “Best of Show” award which was again selected by readers. That award was won by Geringhoff for their folding corn head.

Listen to my interview with Jodie: Interview with Jodie Wehrspann

2012 National Farm Machinery Show Photo Album

Coverage of the National Farm Machinery Show is sponsored by Fastline AgRacer FMC New Holland
Audio, Media, National Farm Machinery Show

OmniRow Planter Control Wins FinOvation Award

Chuck Zimmerman

One of the FinOvation Award winners this year and presented at the 2012 National Farm Machinery Show was Raven Industries, sponsor of the AgWired App (got it yet?). Pictured is Doug Prairie, Product Manager, receiving his award from Jodie Wehrspann, Farm Industry News. I spoke with Doug about their award for the OmniRow planter control system. He says it’s one of their new products that is unique because it utilizes a hydraulic motor that installs directly at the row unit which gives you full individual row population control.

For maximum yields and efficiency, Raven’s groundbreaking new OmniRow™ advanced planter control system takes you where others can only dream of going. Its fully integrated design, with RTK sub-inch accuracy and patent-pending planter control technology, gives you the power to control seeding rates by row or sections with more precision and reliability than ever before.

Listen to my interview with Doug: Interview with Douglas Prairie

2012 National Farm Machinery Show Photo Album

Coverage of the National Farm Machinery Show is sponsored by Fastline AgRacer FMC New Holland
Agribusiness, Audio, National Farm Machinery Show, Precision Agriculture

Visiting With Abilene Machine

Chuck Zimmerman

One of the companies I visited with at the 2012 National Farm Machinery Show was Abilene Machine, Ag Replacement Parts. I didn’t know much about this company until I spoke with Andrew Roelofsen and Jay Russell. Andrew says they’re sporting a new company logo and re-positioning the company in the minds of their customers.

Of course we always ask “What’s new?” According to Jay, what’s new in time for the show are hood options for the John Deere 3020. Abilene is offering OEM-quality replacement hoods at a fraction of the price.

Listen to my interview with Andrew and Jay : Interview with Abilene Machine

2012 National Farm Machinery Show Photo Album

Coverage of the National Farm Machinery Show is sponsored by Fastline AgRacer FMC New Holland
Agribusiness, Audio, National Farm Machinery Show

Sec. Vilsack Applauds Ethanol Producers

Chuck Zimmerman

This morning Ag Secretary Vilsack spoke to the 2012 National Ethanol Conference. I’m sharing Cindy’s story that is also posted over on our sister site, Domestic Fuel:

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack expressed his personal strong support and gratitude for the ethanol industry during an address at the National Ethanol Conference on Friday.

“We owe ethanol producers in this country a debt of gratitude because we’re paying less at the pump because of what you do,” Vilsack said, noting that prices are about $1 less than they would be without ethanol.

Vilsack also thanked ethanol producers for providing jobs, contributing to a record trade surplus in agriculture and helping to increase net farm income. “In 2011, net farm income for the first time exceeded $100 billion,” he said. “Even adjusted for inflation, this is the best farm economy we’ve seen in four decades and one of the principal reasons is because you all have figured out this new value-added opportunity called renewable fuels.”

Vilsack said he was pleased with the action taken by EPA to allow registration of E15. “If we’re worried about the Straits of Hormuz, if we’re worried about Iran, one way we can be less stressed about this is getting E15 in the tanks of cars across this country,” he said.

E15 is important to Secretary Vilsack, but so is maintaining the Renewable Fuel Standard. “Make no mistake about this. Just because it’s in the law doesn’t mean it will always be in the law.” Vilsack says the success of the ethanol industry has gotten the attention of the oil industry which is trying to modify or eliminate the RFS. “We need to make sure we maintain the Renewable Fuel Standard. It is important to the security of this country that we move toward that 36 billion gallon mark.”

Listen to or download Vilsack’s speech here: Secretary Tom Vilsack at 2012 National Ethanol Conference

Cindy also did a very quick interview with the Secretary, asking about his outlook for the ethanol industry and the importance of maintaining the RFS. Listen to or download that interview here: Secretary Tom Vilsack interview

You can watch Secretary Vilsack’s speech here:

2012 National Ethanol Conference Photo Album

Ag Groups, Audio, Energy, Ethanol, RFA, USDA

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Kubota Tractor Corporation proudly unveiled the Grand X – the revolutionary new generation of its deluxe M-Series line; the M100GX, M110GX, M126GX and the M135GX.
  • Farmers can better predict corn yields throughout the year using a site-specific Web application developed and commercialized by Advanced Ag Solutions LLC.
  • Bunge Limited announced an agreement for acquisition of Climate Change Capital Group Limited.
  • The National Corn Growers Association recently released its newest World of Corn statistical look at the corn industry both domestic and worldwide.
    Zimfo Bytes

    Pioneer Turning Insight Into Action

    Chuck Zimmerman

    With a little help from Chet Hollingshead, we have some interviews to share from the Pioneer Media Event, “Turning Insight Into Action.” The event took place in the Carver Center on the Pioneer campus. First up is Josh St. Peters, Marketing Manager, Corn. He spoke to the topic of “Leading the Market in Refuge Management
    Optimum® AcreMax® Insect Protection Technology Family.”

    Josh says that Pioneer is excited to be rolling out a new line of AcreMax products. He says there are two new products in the line, Optimum AcreMax and AcreMax Xtra. These provide new levels of refuge insect control. He says it will be a big launch. Learn why from Josh’s comments in the interview with Chet.

    You can listen to Chet’s interview with Josh here: Interview with Josh St. Peters

    Agribusiness, Corn, Pioneer

    National Farm Machinery Show Attendance Up

    Chuck Zimmerman

    The 2012 National Farm Machinery Show was almost a record setter. This was good news for the more than 850 companies exhibiting.

    The 2012 National Farm Machinery Show was one of the most successful ever, with significant increases over the previous year in attendance and revenue. Despite a continually-challenging agriculture and economic climate, the 47th National Farm Machinery Show welcomed 305,512 visitors through the gates in four days, the third highest total in event history, shattering last year’s number of 302,424.

    Early indications show revenue also increased. Sponsorship revenue increased 10.5 percent over last year, the largest increase since 2009 and exhibit space revenue nearly reached $4 million for the first time in the event’s 47 year history.

    2012 National Farm Machinery Show Photo Album

    Coverage of the National Farm Machinery Show is sponsored by Fastline AgRacer FMC New Holland
    National Farm Machinery Show

    Advocating for Agriculture 101

    Chuck Zimmerman

    If you pass an Advocating for Agriculture class then you might be an Agvocate. The Kentucky Corn Growers Association posed the question, “You’re not a ‘factory farm.’ But how do you tell people?” to farmers at the National Farm Machinery Show. The idea was to challenge farmers to share agriculture’s story.

    “I wanted to do something different, something that would really get farmers thinking about how they can advocate for agriculture,” said Jennifer Elwell, Kentucky Corn Growers Association communications director. “At the show, we chatted with growers about the topics that are most important to consumers such as food safety, environmental concerns and animal welfare.”

    The approach taken by Jennifer and other volunteers working with her was based on the CommonGround Program. Here are steps they encourage farmers to take.

    10 Ways to Advocate for Agriculture

    1. Search.
    Conduct an online search. Don’t limit yourself to Google. Search on social media sites and blogs as well. Learning from what consumers, critics and other influencers are saying in the social media realm is crucial. This will be the best way to gain intelligence about what issues are most important.

    2. Monitor.

    Set up a monitoring service. Platforms like HootSuite or TweetDeck allow you to easily review what others are saying about you and other farming and food topics.

    3. Think.

    Think about your audience. Doing this will help determine who you want to read your content. Once you figure this out, knowing your audience’s personality traits will guide you when you write content.

    4. Select.

    Select your favorite place to play. Pick what online platform you like most, and stick with it. When you like doing something, normally you will continue the behavior. The same is true for the online world.

    5. Respond.

    Respond to misinformation. Don’t let misconceptions about farming and food go unanswered. If you come across a misconceptions, don’t stand by, react.

    6. Mediate.

    Never shout – be positive. No one likes it when someone shoves their opinion on them in person, so don’t consider doing it online.

    7. Ask.

    Pose questions to your followers and friends. Questions can be about food or agriculture. When you pose a question, make sure you moderate the discussion.

    8. Promote.

    Promote yourself online. Spreading the word about what you are doing as a farmer and agvocate is simple. For instance, if you write a blog, let everyone on Facebook and Twitter know you have a new post. This will increase visibility and followers. Also consider retweeting or reposting relevant social media content, pictures and blog posts that support agriculture. Giving others a voice can help you expand yours.

    9. Answer.

    Answer all posts or mentions. Being responsive and timely is good social media etiquette. When you post on one social media platform, make sure you post on all of them.

    10. Share.

    Share your story. Many people are not connected to what really happens in agriculture or rural America. Others can attempt to tell your story, but it is better told by the true expert – YOU!

    Farming, Social Networking

    New Holland TS6 Series Tractor

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Lean and mean is how New Holland is describing their new all purpose TS6 Series tractors. These tractors are made in Mexico. I spoke with Thierry Mahe, General Manager at the production facility. He says they’ve had a limited release of these tractors and based on the success of that launch they’ve now ramped up production for a full launch.

    The four TS6 models range from 90- to 115-PTO horsepower: two models are equipped with 4-cylinder engines and two models feature 6-cylinder engines. All four models are available with either 2WD or 4WD, and with a flat-deck ROPS operator station or an all-weather cab.

    TS6 tractors are available with a choice of three rugged transmissions: an 8F x 8R synchronized transmission with mechanical shuttle, an 8F x 8R synchronized transmission with hydraulic shuttle and a 16F x 8R DualPowerTM transmission with hydraulic shuttle. The DualPower transmission has an underdrive for each forward gear to provide more torque at the push of a button. An optional 4-speed creeper range is available for all transmissions.

    Listen to my interview with Thierry: Interview with Thierry Mahe

    2012 National Farm Machinery Show Photo Album

    Coverage of the National Farm Machinery Show is sponsored by Fastline AgRacer FMC New Holland
    Agribusiness, Audio, National Farm Machinery Show, New Holland, Tractor