eCotton Launches MyModules App

Chuck Zimmerman

At the Beltwide Cotton Conferences I met Joe Wyrick, President, EWR, Inc. His company has a division called eCotton which “is dedicated to supplying the information processing needs of the cotton industry.” One of the new ways they’re doing that is with a brand new smartphone app called MyModules.

Cotton producers can register new cotton modules and have them transmitted to the gin automatically, with GPS coordinates if you like.

View the status of all of your modules.

View summary status of all of your bales.

This caught my attention since it is available for the iPhone and Android platforms. Joe gave me a demonstration on his iPhone.

Joe says the app electronically solves the problem of getting harvested cotton module data from the grower to the gin. It’s a two way flow so the grower also gets information back from the gin. A helpful feature is that the app captures data for later transmission if there is no local mobile carrier signal. That’s pretty handy.

Learn more about this new ag app in my interview with Joe here: Interview with Joe Wyrick

2012 Beltwide Cotton Conferences Photo Album

AgWired coverage of 2012 Beltwide Cotton Conference is sponsored by
Agribusiness, Apps, Beltwide Cotton, Cotton

FMC On Display

Chuck Zimmerman

During the Beltwide Cotton Conferences there’s a program track called “New Developments From Industry.” Our sponsor, FMC, conducted two of those sessions, including one by Craig Heim on a product they expect registration on later this year. Now that’s new!

Craig says they anticipate the new product will have the trade name Display which is a combination of two PPO herbicides. He says this will be a very low use rate product providing superior defoliation performance. He says cotton growers should keep their eye on FMC mid year when they hope to receive registration.

Listen in to my interview with Craig here: Interview with Craig Heim

2012 Beltwide Cotton Conferences Photo Album

AgWired coverage of 2012 Beltwide Cotton Conference is sponsored by
Agribusiness, Audio, Beltwide Cotton, Cotton, FMC

A Look At This Year’s Beltwide Cotton Conferences

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast 333This year’s Beltwide Cotton Conferences attracted about the same size crowd as last year according to National Cotton Council Vice President of Producer Affairs, Craig Brown. I sat down with Craig to find out how he thought things were going and to talk about upcoming format changes for the annual event.

Craig says this is the second year they have shortened the production conference and added more seminars and educational sessions. There are a lot of them! Workshops were very well attended and in fact Craig says they had to add chairs to some of them. He mentioned the social media sessions which is a first. As Craig puts it, “everyone here’s got something strapped to their hip,” referring to all the smartphones in use. It sounds like the Cotton Council is getting ready to go more “social!”

We also discussed the major changes coming to Beltwide after next year’s event. Starting in 2014 Beltwide will only be a 1 1/2 day event without the production conference and trade show. It’ll focus in on technical sessions. This decision has come after a lot of study and thought during the last couple years.

To learn more about the changes coming to the Beltwide listen in to this week’s program: Beltwide Cotton Conferences

Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsor, GROWMARK, locally owned, globally strong, 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.

2012 Beltwide Cotton Conferences Photo Album

AgWired coverage of 2012 Beltwide Cotton Conference is sponsored by
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Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Bayer CropScience released two new mobile apps for the cotton market: the Variety Selector Tool and Seed Planner.
  • Valley Irrigation and CropMetrics were presented with the Irrigation Association New Product Contest Award in Agriculture at the 2011 Irrigation Association Show.
  • Farm Industry News has announced the 22 products it has chosen as the recipients of its 2012 FinOvation awards on farmindustrynews.com. Click here to vote.
  • Tom Barber, Ph.D., associate professor and Extension cotton agronomist with the University of Arkansas, has been recognized by his peers from across the Cotton Belt as the 2012 Extension Cotton Specialist of the Year.
    Zimfo Bytes

    Pork Board Celebrates 20 Years of Cindy

    Cindy Zimmerman

    The National Pork Board is celebrating Cindy today. Not me, that would be Cindy Cunningham, or “communications professional extraordinaire,” as NPB VP of Communications Michael Wegner calls her.

    cunninghamOur good friend is being celebrated today for 20 years of service to America’s pork industry. As Mike notes, Cindy “helped guide the pork industry through the price collapse in 1998 and through the H1N1 disaster in 2009. She’s also helped the industry avert a few thousand other crises — large and small — in between and since. And crisis management is just a small part of her job description. We all can be thankful she has chosen to dedicate these past 20 years to serving pork producers.”

    I am thankful to have known Cindy for all those 20 years and that she is one of the exclusive club of three Cindy-Cyndi’s – which includes us and Cyndi Young of Brownfield Network. We’re kind of a big deal.

    When I told her I wanted a photo to do a post about her anniversary at NPB, she said nay, nay. Of course, we have dozens of photos of her over the years – always lovely. And we have to say yeah, yeah.

    Love you muchess, Duchess!

    Pork, Public Relations

    New Holland Announces Boomer 555 Contest Winners

    Chuck Zimmerman

    New Holland has announced the eight regional winners of their Boomer 555 Contest. This was a great promotion and we congratulate the winners. Lots of interesting and well done photo, video and written entries were submitted. These winners will enjoy the use of a Boomer tractor protected by the “industry-leading Boomer Guard-5 Warranty” for the next five years!

    • Daniel Del Vicario, Merrimack, NH
    • Wounded Warriors In Action Foundation (WI), Apollo Beach, FL
    • Joe Caffee, Geneva, IN
    • Melissa Horejsi, Webster, MN
    • Duncan Smith, Mtn. Grove, MO
    • Standing Stone Brewing Co., Ashland, OR
    • KR Equestrian, Schomberg, ON
    • Tristen Crooks, Weyburn, SK

    Agribusiness, Equipment, New Holland, Tractor

    2012 Cotton Market Outlook

    Chuck Zimmerman

    We’ve had a look back at the cotton industry in 2011 but how about 2012? At the Beltwide Cotton Conferences we got that outlook from J. Michael Quinn, Carolinas Cotton Growers Cooperative.

    He started with a look at supply and demand. The December acreage projection was down from the November report. December had a significant slow down in mill use of cotton but expectations are for that to improve. The export outlook is kind of a mixed bag with the possible impacts very much up in the air at this point. One of those impacts is world economic conditions and a lot of uncertainty right now. Exports are good though. Michael has a lot of great information in his report.

    Listen in to Micheal’s report in its entirety here: 2012 Cotton Market Outlook

    2012 Beltwide Cotton Conferences Photo Album

    AgWired coverage of 2012 Beltwide Cotton Conference is sponsored by
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    2011 Cotton Year In Review

    Chuck Zimmerman

    How did things go in the cotton industry in 2011? The answers were included in a Beltwide Cotton Conferences general session presentation by Dr. David Wright, University of Florida. Florida wound up the 13th largest cotton growing state last year as an fyi.

    David says there was just too much that happened in 2011 to cover it all but he hit on the highlights. He says expectations were high at the beginning of the season due to the high price of cotton. Projections were for increased acreage. However, the harvest was significantly lower than expected. The problem was the loss of about a third of the cotton planted. It was a wild weather year!

    Listen in to David’s report in its entirety here: 2011 Cotton Year In Review

    2012 Beltwide Cotton Conferences Photo Album

    AgWired coverage of 2012 Beltwide Cotton Conference is sponsored by
    Ag Groups, Audio, Beltwide Cotton, Cotton

    Beef Checkoff Launches “Cow Chow”

    Cindy Zimmerman

    Move over FarmVille – there’s a new game in town. The beef checkoff has launched a super cool, clever and creative way to educate people about what cows eat. It’s called “Cow Chow” (you have to love that!) and it’s an online game and video series designed to answer common questions about cattle diets.

    cow chowThe 10-question game and corresponding videos encourage consumers to explore what cattle eat from birth to the feedyard. The first-of-their-kind “Cow Chow” videos were filmed almost exclusively by cattle in Kansas, South Dakota, Texas and Florida wearing specially-rigged GoPro cameras to share this important animal care story from the cows’ eye view.

    Curious consumers can now see exactly what cattle really eat every day as they compete in an interactive quiz game. Upon completion of the game, users can post results and badge to their Facebook page, and challenge their friends to beat their best score. The Cow Chow game and videos emphasize the attention cattle farmers and ranchers pay to their animals, their land and their communities.

    “We know people are interested in what cattle eat,” says Roger Butler, a dairy producer from Lake Okeechobee, Fla. “Cow Chow shows how proper cattle diets help farmers and ranchers raise high-quality, great-tasting and nutritious beef they can feel good about feeding their families.”

    The “Cow Chow: Exploring What Cattle Eat” game and videos are hosted on the checkoff’s ExploreBeef.org website where consumers can also learn more about beef safety, environmental stewardship, animal care and beef nutrition. The videos are also available on the Explore Beef YouTube channel.

    “By using social media outlets such as Facebook and YouTube, we’re hoping to reach a new generation of beef consumers,” says Butler. “Cow Chow takes people to the farm via video, showing them how and where their food is raised, and the commitment cattle farmers and ranchers have to raising safe, healthy beef.”

    Beef

    The 4020

    Melissa Sandfort

    I’ve done so much writing about my grandfather and his old farm equipment. You’ve seen his boots and his weathered hands, but you’ve never seen a picture of HIM. Well, here he is. This was taken at my dad’s farm sale in December and he’s standing in front of his 4020.

    I say “his” because the most popular tractor of its time, the John Deere 4020 was the very first of my grandfather’s diesel-powered tractors. He bought it around 1965 and I bet if we dug long enough, we could find the bill of sale.

    As I mentioned, the farm sale represented a sort of end-to-the-farming-era for my family. However, we couldn’t let this one slip away, so my brother bought this tractor to keep it in the family. My brother commented the day of the sale when I asked if he wanted more photos taken, “I don’t get all sentimental about this stuff like dad does.”

    I think this photo would tug at a heart-string for anyone in my family.

    Until we walk again …

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