One Pass Biomass From AGCO

Chuck Zimmerman

AGCO Biomass One PassAGCO is one of the companies working on a prototype biomass harvest/transport system. At POET’s Project LIBERTY Field Day they demonstrated a pulled behind baler system to harvest corn cobs and stover.

Dean Morrell, Product Marketing Manager for Hay and Forage Harvesting, was on site and talked with me about their system. He says it’s a one pass system which utilizes combine technology and durable large square baler technology. He says the material doesn’t touch the ground and makes for a very clean bale product. They had to do some major customization on the equipment and they have two units out working in the field as part of the development process.

You can listen to my interview with Dean below.

POET Project LIBERTY Field Day Photo Album

Audio, Biofuels, Corn, Equipment, Ethanol, Technology

R&D At Fluidigm

Chuck Zimmerman

Fluidigm Andy MayWhen it comes to research and development at Fluidigm Corporation, one of the key people involved is Andy May. In my interview with him he puts the high level technology Fluidigm develops into easy to understand terms. You’ll find out why this is necessary when we get into the whole DNA sequencing issue and how Fluidigm has pioneered some of the latest mechanisms to work with it. Forward a link to the interview to your favorite R&D’er!

Andy says there are two main products they’ve been developing. One of them is called Slingshot which he says is a very accurate method of measuring concentrations of DNA samples. The other product, which his group is focused on, is called AccessArray which streamlines the preparation of small regions of DNA for sequencing using the current generation of sequencing platforms. He says there has been a huge change in the technology used for DNA sequencing in recent years and people are looking for new ways and improved methods for introducing samples into those instruments. Like the whole Fluidigm System, these products help streamline the work flow and in fact are more production devices than just measurement devices.

The new Fluidigm products have been developed in conjunction with early access clients and several systems have been sold and are now available via general release.

You can watch or listen to my interview with Andy below:

Agribusiness, Audio, Biotech, Research, Technology, Video

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Bayer CropScience officially opened its new Cotton Research and Development Laboratory in Lubbock, Texas.
  • New Holland’s new WORKMASTER tractors bear a trusted name, and the same important qualities that made the original WORKMASTER tractors so popular in the 1960s.
  • A team of researchers led by University of California, Riverside (UCR) Professor of Chemical Engineering Wilfred Chen has constructed for the first time a synthetic cellulosome in yeast, which is much more ethanol-tolerant than the bacteria in which these structures are normally found.
  • Steve Pickle and Eddie Walley have joined SFP as regional account managers, and Jennie Martin has stepped into a newly developed position as event coordinator.
    Zimfo Bytes

    BASF Headline Harvest Report – Purdy, MO

    Cindy Zimmerman

    headline harvest kipAt least some farmers are finished with their harvest.

    BASF sent me to southwest Missouri last week to visit with a couple of farmers in Purdy about their harvest. I told you last week about world famous Kip Cullers’ harvest, today we hear from his neighbor, Curtis Schallert – who also uses Headline fungicide, by the way (no coincidence!).

    Curtis says the wet weather posed some challenges but he got it done. “We got a good start at the end of September,” he told me. “We got finished up about ten days ago with our corn before the last big rain, so compared to most we are very fortunate.”

    He grows wheat, soybeans and corn and uses Headline on most of his acres. “I started with Headline and was satisfied with the results on my wheat and soybeans and in the past few years started using it on corn,” he said. He uses Headline on select acres of his corn and estimates that he gets a 6-7 bushel per acre increase in yield for those acres.

    Here is a YouTube video of my interview with Curtis.

    BASF, Farming, Video

    Get “Mobile Updates” at Trends in Agriculture Conference

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Commodity UpdateCommodity Update is making mobile updates possible from this week’s NAMA Trends In Agriculture Conference. Sign up for yours now.

    Sign up today for Mobile Updates and maximize your Trends in Agriculture experience. It’s FREE. Registration enters you to Win an iPhone or iPod touch, your choice!

    Please note: Your privacy is of utmost importance to us. Your cell phone number will not ever be shared or sold; in fact, it will be discarded at the close of the conference.

    NAMA

    Farm Bureau Helps Provide Beginning Farmer Info

    Cindy Zimmerman

    The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) is helping to support the future of agriculture by assisting in the creation of an information clearinghouse for beginning farmers.

    afbfAFBF has teamed up with the Agriculture Department’s National Agricultural Library to create the National Curriculum and Training Clearinghouse for Beginning Farmers and Ranchers. The program will help those who have decided to pursue a career in agriculture and will help support Farm Bureau’s commitment to rural development.

    “This is a great opportunity for Farm Bureau to provide information to beginning farmers on how to start and stay in farming and ranching,” said AFBF President Bob Stallman. “We are providing in-kind support to the National Ag Library with outreach, publicity, educational seminars and our annual conference where other project grants will be highlighted.”

    The clearinghouse will use the grant money to develop a Web site and databases to serve beginning farmers and ranchers, with particular focus on those categorized as underserved. The clearinghouse will provide education, training, outreach and mentoring materials to beginning farmers and ranchers across the United States. AFBF will serve as a conduit for distribution of the information.

    Read more here.

    Uncategorized

    BASF Headline Harvest Report from SW Missouri

    Cindy Zimmerman

    headline harvest kipThe harvest is running about a month behind schedule just about everywhere, including Missouri, which only had half the corn crop and a third of the soybean crop harvested as of November 1.

    BASF sent us out on the road this week to talk to some farmers about the late harvest and we started at the top, with World Soybean Yield Champion Kip Cullers of Purdy, who says this is the latest harvest he has ever seen. “We started combining corn August 12 and its now November and I’ve never combined corn in my entire life in the month of November, we should have been done a month and a half ago, and we’ve just barely started on soybeans,” Kip said.

    Nevertheless, Kip says he is still seeing good yields, thanks to Headline fungicide. “Probably 15-20 bushel an acre increase in corn and about the same in soybeans,” he said. This year in particular he notes the importance of standability in the corn that has not yet been combined. “We sprayed Headline on every acre of corn and the corn’s actually standing there waiting on us, but some of my neighbors’ corn that don’t have Headline on it and it looks like a tee-total wreck to me.”

    Here is a video interview with Kip, along with some B-roll video of him harvesting beans this week, followed by the audio from the interview. And check back for more Headline harvest reports over the next month or so.

    Audio, BASF, Soybean, Video

    Biomass Harvesting From Case IH

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Case IHOne of the companies exhibiting their developmental corn cob harvest/collection equipment at the POET Project LIBERTY Field Day was Case IH. Representing them again this year was Sam Acker, pictured sitting in their booth during the speeches. I spoke to him to find out what’s new with Case IH in this area this year.

    Sam says they’re demonstrating an Axial-Flow 8120 combine and biomass harvesting system. The combine features a massive 350 bushel grain tank and has an attached biomass cart which is receives power from the combine. The cart has an adjustable cleaning system to tailor the cob/stover sample how you want it.

    You can listen to my interview with Sam below and watch a video clip of the equipment lined up and waiting demonstration starting with Case IH.

    POET Project LIBERTY Field Day Photo Album

    Agribusiness, Audio, Biofuels, Corn, Energy, Equipment, Ethanol, Video

    Learn How Wheat Works

    Chuck Zimmerman

    How Wheat WorksThe Wheat Foods Council has launched an interactive website called How Wheat Works. It’s purpose is to deliver a farm-to-fork education on wheat while enabling a better understanding of its nutritional value.

    At www.howwheatworks.com, participants of all ages can virtually grow, harvest and mill their own kernels to create their desired wheat food. For each participant, the Council will donate two pounds of flour, up to 90,000 pounds, to Operation Homefront, a non-profit that provides assistance to needy U.S. troops and their families.

    “How Wheat Works is an exciting educational opportunity to take wheat kernels from farm to fork in a virtual world, while providing wheat flour, which holds endless meal possibilities, for needy U.S. troops and their families,” said Carol Pratt, M.S., R.D., Wheat Foods Council nutrition expert. “This unique mixture of subjects like agriculture, milling, baking and nutrition allows people to better understand wheat’s role in a healthy diet.”

    How Wheat Works combines 3-D animation, still photography, video and factual information to chronicle wheat’s path from field to table. Each of the program’s four phases – growth, harvest, milling/baking and the grocer’s aisle – takes just a few minutes to complete, while the program spans the course of four days. Interactive opportunities include the selection of the type of wheat to be grown and wheat flour to be milled, based on the participant’s preferred wheat food creation.

    Ag Groups, Education, Wheat