FMC Field Tour A Two Way Value

Chuck Zimmerman

To get a wrap-up perspective on the FMC Summer Plot Tour I spoke with Tom Becker. Tom is a Retail Market Manager for FMC.

Tom wanted tour participants to leave viewing FMC as a partner in their business, especially since they’re branching out more and more in the herbicide business with new products like Anthem. As part of their outreach effort to ag retailers he says FMC set up this series of plot tour stops to showcase the performance of these new products. Seeing it “live” in the field is the best product demo I can think of. Tom says participants have asked good questions and in fact the plots were set up to anticipate and answer many of those questions. He says the field tour has a two way value, customers learn what’s new with FMC while FMC learns more about what their customers want.

You can listen to my interview with Tom here: Tom Becker Interview

During lunch at the York, NE tour stop FMC held a drawing for a 40″ flat screen tv. Congrats to Dustin Chrisman, Ag Choice Sales Mgr. from McCool Junction for being the lucky winner!

FMC Summer Plot Tour – York, NE

Agribusiness, Audio, FMC

Improving Soil & Water Conservation

Chuck Zimmerman

CTIC TourThe Ag Resource Coordinator for the Livingston County, IL Soil & Water Conservation District is Terry Bachtold. He was one of the coordinators for the CTIC Indian Creek Watershed Project field day. He says this project is all about water quality and what farm management practices will help improve it. A good percentage of farms in the watershed have signed up, in fact, I believe it’s about half of them!

Terry says these farmers are using different techniques to apply nutrients and conducting much more testing so they can fine tune how and when and where they make applications, including moving to more summer time application. They’re hoping to see results within three years with more farm participation and adoption of these new practices within a couple years after that.

You can listen to my interview with Terry here: Interview with Terry Bachtold

CTIC Indian Creek Watershed Project Field Tour Photos

AgWired coverage of the CTIC Indian Creek Watershed Field Tour is sponsored by
Agribusiness, Audio, Conservation, CTIC, Fertilizer

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Pioneer Hi-Bred unveils FIT® Studio, an extension of Pioneer FIT Services.
  • To help producers mow and condition more hay in less time, John Deere introduces the Triple-Mounted Mower-Conditioner for 2012.
  • The United Soybean Board and soybean checkoff will co-sponsor the American Soybean Association’s Conservation Legacy Awards as a way of recognizing U.S. soybean farmers who demonstrate outstanding environmental and conservation achievements.
  • A partnership between America’s soybean farmers and the Sherwin-Williams Company has received the Presidential Green Chemistry Award from the EPA. The honor recognizes the development of an innovative new paint formulation that utilizes soybean oil and recycled plastic bottles and reduces volatile organic compounds by 60 percent.
    Zimfo Bytes

    Precision Gets Social

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Social media was part of the buzz at the InfoAg Conference this year. The conference is held every other year. This means that since the last one we’ve had a new iPhone, the iPad and Android! I’ve got some interesting stories to post on our Precision Pays website that include how a new company is using the iPad for precision applications.

    So this is the stage from this morning when Paul Schrimpf, Croplife Media Group, Jeremy Wilson, Crop IMS and I conducted back to back session on social media. I want to thank all the folks who tweeted in using the conference hashtag – #InfoAg. Click on the link to see what the conversation was all about.


    2011 InfoAg Conference Photo Album

    Precision Agriculture, Social Networking

    Corn Growers Honor Senator Conrad

    Cindy Zimmerman

    ncga kent conradNational Corn Growers Association (NCGA) President Bart Schott and his wife Linsey of Kulm, ND were pleased to present this year’s NCGA President’s Award to their Senator Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) during Corn Congress events this week in Washington. The President’s Award is given annually to a leader who has worked to advance issues important to corn growers and agriculture.

    “I have had the privilege of working with Senator Conrad for several years both on the state and national levels,” NCGA President Bart Schott, a grower from Kulm, N.D., said. “NCGA greatly appreciates his continued leadership and support for the agriculture community, including his work on biofuels legislation and two previous farm bills.”

    “I am honored to receive this award from the National Corn Growers Association,”Sen. Conrad said. “America’s agriculture producers are the backbone of our nation. They deliver the safest, healthiest and least expensive food supply anywhere in the world.”

    Senator Conrad is a fifth-generation North Dakotan and has represented his home state in Washington for five successive elections. During his 20-plus years as an advocate for North Dakota and agriculture, Senator Conrad helped write the 2002 and 2008 farm bills and fought unfair trade practices that hurt North Dakota’s economy. He has also introduced comprehensive energy legislation that would make the United States more energy independent.

    NCGA

    Wyffels Corn Strategies Strategy

    Cindy Zimmerman

    wyffels corn strategies illinois2011 marks the seventh year for Wyffels Corn Strategies and it just continues to get bigger and better. I talked with event coordinator Matt Barnard and Wyffels Hybrids director of marketing Jeff Hartz, pictured here together enjoying the Illinois event on Wednesday.

    The concept for the event started in 2005 when the company gathered a small group of growers at a hotel in Springfield, IL. “There wasn’t really anything in the industry that just educated growers to get better at what they do,” Matt told me. “We now are moving them around Illinois and Iowa and last year we had about 1200 folks that joined us.”

    The event this week was held on the Pratt family farms in Dixon, Illinois and next week it will be held July 20 in Malcom, Iowa at the farm of Marty and Dustin Cummings. Farmers who would like to attend can find out more here.

    Listen to or download my interview with Matt here: Matt Barnard with Wyffels Hybrids

    Jeff says Corn Strategies is not a high pressure sales event, it’s just a way they can help the “freethinkers” they serve. “We define a freethinker as somebody that knows more about their operation and their soil than the average farmer,” he explains. “Those kind of people who take the time to really get inside their acres really can find value with a company like Wyffels.”

    Jeff adds that Wyffels’ customers have come to look forward to the Corn Strategies event each year. “They keep coming back and more of them keep coming back every year,” he said. “We think we’re on to something pretty special that really embodies our company and what we’re all about.”

    Listen to or download my interview with Jeff here: Jeff Hartz with Wyffels Hybrids

    Wyffels Corn Strategies 2011 Illinois Photo Album

    Audio, Corn, Seed

    Life’s Tools

    Melissa Sandfort

    There’s a pile of old tools sitting in the shed and they look a little bit like this. Included are wrenches, tire irons, scissors – and that’s just the top layer! This collection got me to thinking about other life tools necessary to build a family, a career and relationships within our communities. I wanted to share my short list, along with some examples from my own life:

    Patience – When my 2 ½ year old wants to stop to empty his bladder on every fencepost between our house and the babysitter’s house, I remind myself that it’s new and exciting and he’s proud of himself.

    Love – for the land, the animals and the people around us.

    Faith – a firm foundation that He has a purpose in life for us and that we’re all meant to influence and impact each other, no matter how small the gesture.

    Understanding – Miscommunication can be damaging. Communicate often and clearly and I’ve learned that if I don’t understand, just listen. (What’s the saying? I’m from Venus?)

    Humility – With an English/Communications background, I’m used to red ink but I can’t hit backspace in life. A friend said last week, “If I’m going to eat my words, I’d like them to be soft.” Use soft words.

    Patience – I’m still working on this one, that’s why it’s on the list twice.

    Humor – My husband took my son for a tractor ride…on his lawn tractor that’s for ages 3+ and daddy was driving.

    Happiness – A husband who appreciates my cooking. Clean laundry. Our closest neighbors are ½ mile away.

    This list is just a start. I hope my pile of “tools” will still be around in 100 years via my son. And even though they may be a bit rusty, if he blows off the dust he will see that these are an absolute “must have” in this life.

    What does your pile of tools look like?

    Until we walk again …

    Uncategorized

    Illinois Farm Family Hosts Wyffels Corn Strategies

    Cindy Zimmerman

    wyffels corn strategies illinoisThe Wyffels Corn Strategies 2011 event in Illinois this week was hosted by one of the best looking farm families you’ll ever see.

    Pictured here, starting with Bill Wyffels on the left, are Mike and Susan Pratt, Peter and Emily Pratt, Andy and Katie Pratt, and the absolutely adorable Natalie and Ethan, who are the 5th generation in the Pratt farm family. They were all the gracious hosts to about 600 farmers who attended the Wyffels event. (Click on the photo for a bigger version.)

    I talked with Katie about what all is involved in hosting such an event. “We took approximately ten acres out of one of our corn fields, six of that was planted to grass where the exhibit area, parking and tents were set up, and the rest of it was set to plots,” she said. They were all set up and ready to go on Monday, when that straight line windstorm that blew across Illinois and Iowa hit. “But, amazingly, the weather is wonderful today and the corn is standing back up again, thank God!” Katie said.

    Katie also talked about her other job, as an Illinois Farm Families blogger on WatchUsGrow.org. “That’s where several women are blogging just about daily life on the farm and answering questions,” she said.

    Listen to or download my interview with Katie here: Katie Pratt

    Be sure to check out the Wyffels Corn Strategies 2011 Illinois Photo Album for more cute photos of Natalie and Ethan!

    Audio, Corn, Seed

    Wyffels Corn Strategies is Learning Experience

    Cindy Zimmerman

    wyffels corn strategies illinoisThe farmers who attended the Wyffels Corn Strategies 2011 event in Dixon, Illinois on Wednesday were challenged to “learn at least one new thing” to help improve their operations, but most probably got lots more than that out of the day.

    Dr. Mike Boehlje, agricultural economist with Purdue’s Center for Food and Agricultural Business, shared his thoughts on “All Things Volatility” with the growers. “We are seeing volatility at an unprecedented level,” he said, both in terms of corn prices and the cost of inputs. “I mean, when you lose about a buck off the price of corn in two days – that used to be the price of corn, a buck, and we lost that in two days.”

    Dr. Boehlje’s main advice for growers is to determine their cost of production per bushel, not per acre. “That’s what you sell,” he said. “Knowing your costs is a critical part of any successful business, whether it be manufacturing widgets, or automobiles, or corn.”

    Listen to an interview with Dr. Boehlje here: Dr. Mike Boehlje

    wyffels corn strategies illinoisAnother presenter at the event was Jim Bower, owner and president of Bower Trading, who talked about some of the factors growers should consider in making decisions out ahead.

    “These next two to three weeks are going to be terribly important to price discovery,” he said. “They’re going to do themselves well to pay really close attention to the models of weather and how they impact the market on a daily basis.” Jim says he is particularly concerned right now about a potential weather pattern developing that would push the extremely hot and dry weather that has been sitting over Texas and Oklahoma up into the Midwest and Eastern Corn Belt, which could push yields down.

    Jim talked about other important factors that are more long term than the weather, such as increasing global demand for protein.

    Listen to or download my interview with Jim here: Jim Bower

    Wyffels Corn Strategies 2011 Illinois Photo Album

    Audio, Corn, Seed

    Corn Grower Perspective On Conservation Project

    Chuck Zimmerman

    CTIC TourOne of the participants on the CTIC Indian Creek Watershed Project Field Tour was Mike Plummer. Mike was representing the Illinois Corn Growers who are one of the stakeholder group supporters of the project. I sat down with him to get his perspective on the project.

    Mike says that the Illinois Corn Marketing Board is working with the project in an advisory capacity. He says the participating farms are putting some very good management practices in place from which they are collecting data to study. From a corn grower perspective the watershed is a great place to start since it is highly tile drained. The management practices developed will be useful in other parts of the state. He hopes the project will show which management practices will improve quality without harming yield. You can listen to my interview with Michael here: Interview with Michael Plummer

    CTIC Indian Creek Watershed Project Field Tour Photos

    AgWired coverage of the CTIC Indian Creek Watershed Field Tour is sponsored by
    Ag Groups, Audio, Conservation, Corn, CTIC