Lee Greenwood at National Farm Machinery Show

Cindy Zimmerman

AgWired continuing coverage at the National Farm Machinery Show sponsored by:
New Holland

2010 National Farm Machinery Show Photo Album

nfmsSyngenta sponsors the Championship Tractor Pull at the National Farm Machinery Show, which kicks off each year to Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA.” This year it kicked off to Lee Greenwood performing his signature song live at the arena and on Thursday morning he was in the Syngenta booth, signing CDs for fans and helping Syngenta kick off a new campaign called “Weeding Out Hunger.”

“This is a very important event for the tractor pull and for Syngenta, there’s a great cause here and that’s feeding America,” Lee told me in a real quick interview as he was signing autographs. You can here more from Lee on today’s AgriTalk from the NFMS.

nfmsI learned more about the campaign, which is associated with Halex GT herbicide, from Carroll Moseley with Syngenta Crop Protection. “We directly affect and feed the population by controlling weeds in corn, this is a product for glyphosate-tolerant corn,” he said. “What better way to relate it to another direct way to impact people more needy than others than to have this Weeding Out Hunger campaign where we are contributing to feeding America affiliates across the United States.”
Find out more about the campaign at WeedingOutHunger.com.

Listen to back-to-back interviews with Lee and Carroll in the player below and here’s a little video from the Syngenta booth.

Audio, National Farm Machinery Show, New Holland, Syngenta

A Message From NFMS For HSUS

Cindy Zimmerman

nfmsAs I was leaving the first day of the National Farm Machinery Show, the message on this young man’s shirt caught my eye.

“I didn’t climb to the top of the food chain to become a vegetarian.”

Ain’t that the truth?

I am heading in for the second day at the show today and the weather is better so I expect traffic will be a little heavier going in this morning. Thanks to John Deere for coverage of the first day of NFMS – check out the posts from yesterday to learn about some of what they have on display and especially what’s NUE. The rest of the show our coverage this week is sponsored by New Holland. Green and blue go well together!

Check out the photos here on the
2010 National Farm Machinery Show Photo Album

AgWired coverage of opening day at the National Farm Machinery Show sponsored by:
john-deere

John Deere, National Farm Machinery Show, New Holland

Getting Ready for Planting Season

Cindy Zimmerman


2010 National Farm Machinery Show Photo Album

nfmsSnow may be on the ground but growers at the National Farm Machinery Show know that planting season is just around the corner, and with the potential for yet another wet spring this year, they are looking at ways to get that job done faster and more efficiently.

John Deere ‘s Ryan Lair was talking with farmers about the 1790 planter on display at the show. “On this machine you can see the two big yellow tanks which we call our CCS, or central commodity system, which allows the customer to have a lot of productivity and a lot of seed being carried on the planter itself.”

That is key when planting windows are tight. “Every year it gets tighter and tighter and the agronomists will tell you that there’s about a seven day window there where you’re gonna get the max out of the crop that you’re planting and anytime that you can carry more seed and control your inputs, that’s where we want to be and where the customer wants to go.”

Listen to Ryan’s interview here:

Audio, John Deere, National Farm Machinery Show

John Deere Makes RowSense

Cindy Zimmerman

nfmsJohn Deere’s AutoTrac™ RowSense™ makes more sense than ever for growers to use automatic guidance in corn, improve harvest efficiency and reduce operator fatigue. That’s because they now offer a universal version that can be used on older models and even other brands of combines and corn heads.

I talked with Aguimar de Souza of John Deere at the National Farm Machinery Show about AutoTrac RowSense and its benefits for growers. We also talked about the adoption of precision technology in his home country of Brazil and other parts of the world. “It’s growing everyday,” he said. “I would compare GPS technology for tractors and combines and sprayers to computer technology many years ago. Now, farmers in South America, North America, Australia, Europe understand that they need to buy these systems to be more productive.”

Listen to or download my interview with Aguimar in the player below and you can watch a video of him talking about AutoTrac RowSense here:

Audio, John Deere, National Farm Machinery Show, Precision Agriculture, Video

Growers Love John Deere 8RT Series Tractors

Cindy Zimmerman

nfmsJohn Deere introduced the 8RT Series tractor just last year and it has quickly become a favorite of both dealers and growers.

Kyle Stewart with John Deere says they debuted the tractor in August so it is new this year to the National Farm Machinery Show. “What we’ve done is completely built from the ground up a brand new 8000 series tractor – the track frame is new, the vehicle frame is new, the whole design is new,” Kyle told me. “We’re getting great response from the farmers. They love the new cab. We’re seeing a lot more track tractors sold than what we saw before in this horsepower range. It’s a real popular product for John Deere.”

Listen to my interview with Kyle in the player below:

2010 National Farm Machinery Show Photo Album

Audio, Farm Machinery, John Deere, National Farm Machinery Show, Tractor

What’s NUE From John Deere

Cindy Zimmerman

AgWired coverage of opening day at the National Farm Machinery Show is sponsored by:
john-deere

2010 National Farm Machinery Show Photo Album

nfmsWhat is NUE from John Deere at the 2010 National Farm Machinery Show is Nitrogen Utilization Efficiency.

I talked to Dave Wendt with John Deere, who was demonstrating the new addition to the 2510 high speed nutrient applicators. “This machine is a 23 row model, set up on 30 inch spacing to not only side dress, but to run in fall or spring pre-plant.”

The machine folds up into a nice 18 foot package for on-road transport, but the really cool thing that Dave was demonstrating was how it hooks up to the PitStop Pro tendering system to help customers quickly and efficiently change anhydrous ammonia tanks without leaving the cab of the tractor.

“Today, to hook and unhook anhydrous tanks manually might take 10-12 minutes,” Dave said. “With the PitStop System, we’re looking at about a minute and a half to two minutes.” The system is controlled through the same GS2 display in the cab that runs the AutoTrac or rate controller.

Listen to or download my interview with Dave in the player below and watch a demo video here:

Audio, Farm Machinery, John Deere, National Farm Machinery Show, Video

Time For A Fuel Change

Chuck Zimmerman

If you’ve ever attended a National Biodiesel Conference then you know Emily Richards and Jason Brock. These music stars are passionate about their belief in renewable fuels and have been regular performers at the conference.

This morning they took the stage during the closing general session and played some songs from a new album they’ve put together to promote biodiesel. I’ll have more on that in a later post. I’ve got full coverage in progress on the Biodiesel Conference Blog and on Domestic Fuel.

In the meantime, I thought you’d enjoy a video of them being joined on stage by National Biodiesel Board Chairman, Ed Hegland and CEO, Joe Jobe. They did a variation of a song you’ll recognize and so give a listen to “Time For A Fuel Change.”

You can also listen to the song here.

Biofuels, Video

Opening Day at National Farm Machinery Show

Cindy Zimmerman

AgWired coverage of opening day at the National Farm Machinery Show is sponsored by:
john-deere

2010 National Farm Machinery Show Photo Album

nfmsIt was kind of a slow start to the 2010 National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, thanks to the weather, but by lunch time it appeared to be just about back to a normal crowd.

I talked with Harold Workman, president and CEO of the Kentucky Exposition Center which handles the big show, and he emphasized that it’s business as usual for the four day show. “We got some pretty northern weather here with 6-8 inches of snow that came in yesterday,” he said. “But the interstates are clear, we got the parking lots cleared off, and a lot of people are coming in to the show.”

This is the 45th year for the show which Harold said started in one little corner of one of their wings and grown to more than 800 exhibitors filling over 1.2 million square feet of blessedly indoor space. “It really has become an icon – kind of a barometer for the agribusiness industry,” he said. Attendance is normally right around 300,000 for all four days of the show, including the Championship Tractor Pull sponsored by Syngenta. That event is just a few years younger than the NFMS and is always a sell out.

Listen to or download my interview with Harold Workman in the player below, and enjoy a little 360 degree view video of one of the exhibit hall wings from high atop the John Deere tower here:

Agribusiness, Audio, Farm Machinery, John Deere, National Farm Machinery Show, Video

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • The Dairy Business Association recently held elections for their board of directors during their Annual Business Conference’s annual meeting. Re-elected for a third term was corporate member Greg Steele. Newly elected dairy producers include Gordon Speirs and Dr. Gordon A. Jones.
  • ANIMART recently donated more than $1,000 to the Dairy Business Association (DBA) on behalf of producer members who purchased Pfizer Animal Health products during a recent program.
  • Advanta US Inc. announces that it has acquired 100 percent of the assets and business of Crosbyton Seed Company.
  • Harlan Little has been named the North American Business Manager for Leica Geosystems’ agriculture group.
    Zimfo Bytes

    Snowy Start to National Farm Machinery Show

    Cindy Zimmerman

    nfmsThe good news is that it’s not snowing now – the bad news is that Louisville got a record one day snowfall of seven inches yesterday, which delayed lots of flights coming in for the National Farm Machinery Show.

    It is pretty cold here – with 28 degrees the official temperature and 16 with the wind chill. So, it is a little slow to start this morning, but I am sure things will get moving right along soon.

    Stay tuned here for coverage from the entire show.

    AgWired coverage of opening day at the National Farm Machinery Show is sponsored by:
    john-deere

    Equipment, John Deere, National Farm Machinery Show