RFA Ethanol Podcast

Agriculture: A Growing Story

Melissa Sandfort

“Agriculture: A Growing Story” will be the 2010 topic of the annual Farm-City Week Symposium held at the Lancaster Host Resort in Lancaster, Pa., on Thursday, Nov. 18. The public is invited to attend.

The purpose of this symposium will be to explore friendly methods that can help assist the urban media when preparing news or feature stories that could significantly and negatively impact farmers, ranchers and the many agribusiness industries.

The Symposium begins at 10:30 a.m. EST and will continue until noon. Discussions from 11 a.m. until noon will be broadcast live over the nationally syndicated AgriTalk radio show, hosted by another nationally noted broadcaster, Mike Adams. It will be followed by a lunch from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. with a special speaker.

Symposium participants and the lunch speaker will be announced later.

For more information on the National Farm-City Council Symposium on “Agriculture: A Growing Story,” contact Holly Fritz at 610.621.2253 or holly.fritz@hbfritz.com.

The event kicks off National Farm-City Week from Nov. 19-26.

Education, Events

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • The National Dairy FARM Program (Farmers Assuring Responsible Management) is now accepting enrollment in the Animal Care Program. This officially launches the second phase of the implementation process, which includes the start of on-farm evaluations for participating producers.
  • Farmer’s Independent Research of Seed Technologies (F.I.R.S.T.) has selected Farm Journal Media as its exclusive national media partner to publish and distribute its annual results.
  • John Deere and Successful Farming magazine’s Agriculture.com have recently launched an online game called “Steer Your Deere” to showcase the new ActiveCommand Steering (ACS) system.
  • Dow AgroSciences LLC announced it is acquiring the assets of the Colorado based seed company Grand Valley Hybrids.
Zimfo Bytes

Fans Get Pumped Up During Ethanol Pump Rally

Joanna Schroeder

Many people have no idea exactly how many products are made with corn as an ingredient, myself included. But I learned a lot about just how important corn is to our daily lives during today’s Iowa Corn Fed Game Day pump rally held at the Kum & Go in Riverside, Iowa.

Here are a few other things I learned today about the role Iowa corn farmers play:

  • 60 cents of each gallon of E85 purchased stays in the state of Iowa
  • For each gallon of E85 you purchase, 85 cents stays in America; whereas if you purchase E10, only 10 cents stays in America while 90 cents heads out of our borders
  • Iowa is the leading producer of corn and ethanol in the country
  • Iowa boasts 40 ethanol plants that produce more than 3 billion gallons of ethanol each year saving consumers money at the pump with each mile they drive

Now since this promotion was pumping up football fans for the Iowa State versus Iowa game, here are two football facts:

  • Iowa is ranked #9 in the country; yet non-ranked Iowa State has the most difficult schedule this year
  • Iowa State is going to win this year’s football game

So where did I learn these nifty facts? From an actual corn farmer, Dick Gallagher, who was on hand to educate consumers about ethanol blended fuels as well as educate consumers about all the products that have corn in them..shirts, biodegradable plastics, carpet, tires, and more. They all use corn as one of their ingredients and whether you realize it or not, our lives would not, and could not, be the same without our corn farmers. So let’s take a moment to thank them. Thank you!

Speaking of our corn farmers, they are growing enough corn to meet all of our needs for food, feed and fuel, both here in America as well as overseas and they are doing it each year using less land.

Kum & Go was a sponsor of today’s pump rallies and they have been a long-time ethanol supporter. Matt Chase, with Kum & Go told me that 31 of their stores in Iowa sell E85, more than any other retailer, and all of their stations sell E10 blended fuels. This is a photo of Matt with Herky, the mascot of his favorite team.

The Iowa Corn Fed Game Day promotion is sponsored by Iowa Corn Growers Association and continues all week long leading up to game day on Saturday. The game begins at 2:30 pm CST but come early. Iowa Corn will have a booth set up at Krause Family Plaza at 10:00 am where they will hosting some fun games as well as the chance to win $5,000 in free food and $2,500 in free ethanol-blended fuel. You can also sign up online at www.iacornfed.com.

And one last cool fact to leave you with….Herky the Hawk is a HUGE fan of ethanol.

Check out the photos from the pump rally here.

Corn, Ethanol, Food, Video

Bio-Forge Shows Success at Managing Stress

Joanna Schroeder

Thousands of corn acres have been under various types of stress this year, many under the stress of too much rain. Corn that has undergone too much stress doesn’t perform well causing a grower’s yield to be down, and thus his profit. However, growers who have used Bio-Forge have seen their corn manage stress much better, leading to higher yields.

Larry Litner, with StollerUSA, has been spending quite a bit of time with growers this summer and he has seen first hand how Bio-Forge has performed under these stressful conditions. He said that he has been impressed with its performance as have the growers.

“Even starting from the very early spring, we’ve had some wet, cold soils. Then we had a wet summer, so we’ve had a lot of wet stress on all crops, all year long,” explained Litner. He has been out in the fields almost all summer looking at different crops and he said he is seeing with Bio-Forge much better root development. Better root development leads to better performance and he said he’s seeing better pod set on the soybeans and better ear fill on the corn.

“I was checking some fields yesterday, saw a 30 percent increase on pod set with soybeans and we’re seeing 18 rows versus 14 to 16 rows on the ears of corn when we compare treated versus untreated,” said Litner.

Bio-Forge primarily helps to manage stress and by doing that helps the plant to develop a better root system. A stronger, more well developed root system can then better manage a multitude of issues including managing ethylene stress as it begins to accumulate during adverse conditions.

Many growers are applying Bio-Forge with their seed treatment but for for those who don’t, it can also effectively be applied to corn during the v4 to v7 stage of growth and to soybeans just prior to the R1 stage.

You can learn more by listening to my interview with Larry Litner. Bio-Forge Shows Success at Managing Stress

Check out our Farm Progress Photo Album.

Audio, Corn, Farm Progress Show, Farm Shows, Soybean

What’s New With Leica Geosystems

Chuck Zimmerman

AgWired sponsor, Leica Geosystems, was very active at the Farm Progress Show. Here’s the team getting the job done when I stopped by. I spoke with Harlan Little, North American Business Manager, on the far right, to learn what’s new with Leica.

Harlan says they’ve got a lot of interest in their touch screen units, the mojoMINI and mojo3D. He says farmers who stopped by loved getting their hands on them. Precision ag was in more evidence at this year’s Farm Progress Show than I can remember and one of the reasons is increased adoption in the industry. Harlan and I chat about what’s happening in the whole precision area.

You can listen to my interview with Harlan here: Interview With Harlan Little

Farm Progress Photo Album

Agribusiness, Audio, Farm Progress Show, Leica Geosystems

John Deere Brings New Generation of 8R Tractors to the Fields

Joanna Schroeder

John Deere has released its next version of the 8R Tractors that were originally released last year. This upgraded version integrates the “smart-tractor” concept into the row-crop tractors. I caught up with Cody Dicken during the Farm Progress Show to take a look at the new 8R Tractor and learn more about its new features.

“First and foremost, customers will notice new styles and new lights on the front grill. But quickly when they step into it, they’ll notice that the power levels have increased by about a 10-15 percent power increase depending on the model,” explained Dicken.

The 8360R and the 8360RT get up to almost 300 btu horsepower and Dicken continued, “From what we can see, these are the most powerful row crop tractors anywhere in the industry.”

One advantage of the new 8R Tractors is that farmers are easily able to integrate the new GPS technologies into their operations.

“Last year when we came out with the 2010 8R we introduced the Command Center on the seat. This year, we’ve taken the Command Center to the next level,” said Dicken. “We now have an option to enable the tractor with a touch steer display and the GreenStar applications are now available.”

With the Command Center, growers can also operate AutoTrack and SwatchControl Pro, which makes it easier for growers to be able to use the technology.

You can customize the tractor to meet your needs so it works from a small to medium operation all the way up to an extra large operation. Not ready for all the bells and whistles yet? Don’t worry. You can add technologies as your operation grows.

To learn more, visit your local John Deere dealer. They are accepting orders now and manufacturing will begin in January 2011 for delivery in time for next growing season.

You can also learn more by listening to my interview with Cody Dicken. Cody Dicken Talks 8R Tractors

Check out our Farm Progress Photo Album.

Audio, Equipment, Farm Progress Show, Farm Shows, John Deere, Precision Agriculture, Tractor

Introducing Agrisure Viptera for Pest Control

Joanna Schroeder

This year during Farm Progress, Syngenta launched the Agrisure Viptera 3111 trait stack, its new breakthrough in pest control. Syngenta’s Grant Ozipko said that their customers are really excited about the product, and for good reason.

Syngenta customers who are participating in trials are seeing and experiencing a new level of control, the highest level of control soon to be available on the market according to Ozipko, as well as the broadest spectrum of control. Once Agrisure Viptera hits the market in time for the 2011 planting season, it will control 14 different pests including corn earworm, fall army worm, Western bean cut worm, and black cut worm, among others.

The protection is something Ozipko says growers are confident about when they plant the trait stack in their fields. “They’re going to have protection from planting all the way through harvest,” said Ozipko.

Ozipko continued, “At the end of the day, the grower is really driven by yield. We’re experiencing a 14 bushel benefit. Growers are excited about that 14 bushels per acre in the presence of corn earworm.”

This equates to about a half ton truck of grain on every acre and Ozipko said this is a pretty big yield loss if growers don’t control pests.

Regardless of environmental conditions, Agrisure Viptera is going to provide protection against pests. Many farmers in the Midwest suffered from excess moisture this growing season that can lead to mycotoxin or aflotoxin from pests that get into the corn ear. However, planting Agrisure Viptera can reduce damage from those pests, minimizing toxins and help the grower market his grain more effectively.

You can learn more about Agrisure Viptera at www.agrisureviptera.com and by listening to my interview with Grant Ozipko here. Introducing Agrisure Viptera for Pest Control

Check out our Farm Progress Photo Album.

Audio, Corn, Farm Progress Show, Farm Shows, Syngenta

GIPSA Proposed Rule Video Interviews

Chuck Zimmerman

USDAThe most recent USDA/DOJ Public Workshop on competition in the livestock industry may be fading from people’s minds but we’re going to keep the issues discussed and presented alive, most importantly the proposed GIPSA rule that everyone seems to agree would have a profound impact on the industry. What kind of impact though is a source of significant disagreement.

You can watch a series of videos produced by the folks at American Angus Association that might help better educate you on this issue and help form your opinion of what needs to be done. Remember that we’re in a public comment period on this until the latter part of November, so please feel free to leave your comments directly via the web.

GIPSA interviews

Bill Rishel, an Angus seedstock producer from Nebraska, discusses potential impacts of the proposed GIPSA rule change.
Bill Bullard of R-CALF USA discusses potential impacts of the proposed GIPSA rules on the US cattle industry.
Colin Woodall of NCBA discusses potential impacts of the proposed GIPSA rule.
Allan Sents of McPherson County Feeders, Marquette, Kan., discusses potential impacts of the proposed GIPSA rule on the cattle business.
Jerry Bohn of Pratt Feeders discusses potential impacts of the proposed GIPSA rule.

Here’s an overview Angus Report with perspectives on both sides of the proposed GIPSA rule change. For more information, visit www.angus.org. I’ll be doing periodic posts during the public comment period for this issue in coming weeks that will include more interviews.

Ag Groups, Audio, GIPSA, Livestock, NCBA

Fives Minutes with Farm Progress Fuel Sponsor Star Energy

Joanna Schroeder

The Farm Progress Show last week was a huge success, especially for the Farm Progress Show 2010 fuel sponsor Star Energy. They provided all the biodiesel, along with FS Companies of Iowa and Renewable Energy Group (REG). This is the company’s second year providing fuel for all the farm equipment along with generators and such things as gators with Dieselex Gold, a diesel fuel blend enhanced with a 20 percent blend of soy-biodiesel manufactured by Ames, Iowa based REG.

I spoke with Jason Stauffer, Energy Management Specialist/Area Sales Manager for Star Energy about why this sponsorship was so important to his company. He said that there is no better way to demonstrate the benefits of biodiesel than people seeing it in action.

One benefit of biodiesel is its ability to reduce emissions, which in diesel vehicles often present themselves in the form of an unpleasant odor emanating from black smoke. You only have to add a B2 blend to begin to see these issues disappear and when you fuel with B20, you get nothing but clean air as Stauffer noted that many people who stopped by their booth said they didn’t see or small a thing.

Although this particular sponsorship is focused on biodiesel, the company also provides E10, E85 and propane to farmers around Iowa. They have 23 retail locations where farmers can fill up their equipment or an operation can sign up to have the fuel delivered right to their farm.

“We made the choice years ago not to use regular unleaded,” said Stauffer who continued by saying its been a great move for them.

Just like selling renewable fuels to the agriculture market is a no-brainer for them, so is their fuel sponsorship for the Farm Progress Show in 2011.

You can learn more about Star Energy and its Farm Progress Show fuel sponsorship in my interview with Jason. Star Energy Official Fuel Sponsor of Farm Progress

Audio, Biodiesel, Biofuels, Farm Progress Show, Farm Shows

Iowa Corn Fed Game Day Pump Rallies

Joanna Schroeder

If you live in Iowa, then you understand the frenzy that surrounds the Iowa vs. Iowa State football game. The Iowa Corn Growers Association surely does and realized that this game is a great way to educate Iowans about how many products are made with corn – more than 4,000. Some of the everyday products made with corn include toothpaste, milk, the tires on your car, drywall, bubblegum, and more.

I spoke with Mindy Williamson, the Iowa Corn Growers Director of Communications, to learn more about the benefits of their Grid Iron sponsorship, known as Iowa Corn Fed Game Day. “We like to call it the Super Bowl of Iowa because Iowa and Iowa State is our biggest rivalry here,” said Williamson.

This is their second year sponsoring the series, and it includes the Iowa vs. Iowa State football game, basketball game and wrestling match.

“The Iowa Corn Growers in Iowa wanted to get together and talk about things other than ethanol,” said Williamson. “We love ethanol as corn growers but we know there are also 4,000 other products made from corn. We want Iowans to know what those are and how those affect their life.”

Williamson said that one benefit of the sponsorship is that it gives them a venue to educate people about how many products use corn. Another benefit is that they want to bridge the gap between food and fuel and this is a way to do that.  “There’s not a competition there. There is plenty of corn. We are excellent at growing corn for both markets,” explained Williamson.

Iowa Corn Growers have launched a promotion to bridge that gap along with the Iowa Corn Fed Game Day. They are giving away $5,000 in groceries and $2,500 in ethanol. You can sign up on online at www.iacornfed.com or at the upcoming football game or even during some of the pump rallies leading up to the game which are being held September 7, in and around Iowa City. Flex-fuel vehicle drivers can fill up their tank with E85 for .85 cents and any driver can sign up to win food and fuel. Herky the Hawk will also be there to get everyone jazzed up for the game. If you miss the pump rallies, then come on over to the Krause Family Plaza Friday, September 11 starting at 10:00 am. CT.

We hope to see you there rooting for your favorite team! Go ISU! Oops, did I write that…

You can learn more about the Iowa Corn Fed Game Day events by listening to my interview with Mindy here. Iowa Corn Fed Game Day

Audio, Biofuels, Corn