Planting With Precision

Chuck Zimmerman

Bruce SauderPrecision agriculture applications continue to grow and develop and were on display at Sunbelt Ag Expo. Let’s use Precision Planting as an example. I spoke with Bruce Sauder about what is new with the company that producers were getting to see in their exhibit.

He says that some of the new units that they’ve come out with this year include a 20/20 RowFlow Module that controls the population rate of seed as you move through the field and swath control for minimizing overplanting. Bruce says the swath control can save as much as 2 bushels of seed in a 240 acre center pivot.

You can listen to my interview with Bruce below:

Sunbelt Ag Expo 2009 Photo Album

AgWired coverage of Sunbelt Ag Expo is sponsored by Growth Energy.

Agribusiness, Audio, Precision Agriculture

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Global Animal Management announces the launch of its newly renovated Web site designed to educate consumers on the importance of animal identification.
  • More than 150 area residents joined global animal health company Alltech to celebrate the opening of its new facility in Clovis on Thursday, Oct. 15.
  • Farm Journal Media is proud to announce its new event, Marketing Rally 2009, which will feature the world’s largest marketing roundtable, with all 16 advisers participating in a live taping of “U.S. Farm Report.”
  • Jack Maddux of Wauneta, Neb., received the 32nd annual National Golden Spur Award from the Ranching Heritage Association in Lubbock, Texas.
    Zimfo Bytes

    State of the Blogosphere 2009

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Technorati State of the BlogosphereThe 2009 Technorati State of the Blogosphere is worth your time to read through. The final segment of the report will be released today. Here’s just a couple of tidbits from the report and you can listen to my interview with Richard Jalichandra discuss the report here.

    The rise of the professional blogger continues. 70% of Part-Timers, Pros, and Self-Employeds are blogging more than ever . . .

    Bloggers describe significant, positive impacts on their personal lives, but even more bloggers have experienced positive career and business impacts. 70% say that they are better known in their industry because of their blog.

    Over half of the corporate bloggers blog to attract new clients for their business, while most part-timers (61%) want to make additional money and almost three quarters self-employed bloggers try to draw in new customers for their business. But no matter the type of blogger, the most important reason for them all is either to share their experience and expertise or to speak their mind.

    After the Introduction you’ll find report segments on:

    Day 1 — Who Are the Bloggers?

    Day 2 — The What and Why of Blogging

    Day 3 — The How of Blogging

    Day 4 — Monetization And Revenue Generation, Brands in the Blogosphere

    Day 5 — 2009 Trends: Political Impact of Blogging, Twitter Usage

    Uncategorized

    Colleges On Display At Sunbelt Ag Expo

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Sheilachu GomezThere are exhibits from land grant colleges throughout the southeast at Sunbelt Ag Expo. As a member of the Gator Nation I had to spend some time with the University of Florida.

    One stop in their building was with a display for the Florida Center for Renewable Chemicals & Fuels. On hand to tell their story was Sheilachu P. Gomez, Assistant Director, pictured here. She says the Center is primarily for the development of the technology to convert biomass to ethanol and organic acids. They have two patents that have been purchased by two companies already (an ethanol patent to Verenium and organic acids patent to Myriant). They have a pilot plant for cellulosic ethanol production to optimize biomass conversion at the campus and have a planned plant to be located in Perry, FL. The last is a partnership with Myriant and Buckeye. In the future Sheila says they’re looking more into the value added products of the production process.

    You can listen to my interview with Sheila below:

    Sunbelt Ag Expo 2009 Photo Album

    AgWired coverage of Sunbelt Ag Expo is sponsored by Growth Energy.

    Audio, Energy, Ethanol, Sunbelt Ag Expo

    Sunbelt Ag Expo Security

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Sunbelt Ag ExpoI don’t know how much of a security concern there is at farm shows today like Sunbelt Ag Expo but in Moultrie, GA the police looked like they were on the cutting edge with their unique tricycles.

    I noticed more security around the second day than the first. Perhaps that was due to more kids out?

    Sunbelt Ag Expo 2009 Photo Album

    AgWired coverage of Sunbelt Ag Expo is sponsored by Growth Energy.

    Sunbelt Ag Expo

    We Really Do Love Farmers

    Cindy Zimmerman

    According to a new poll, we really do love farmers.

    I Love FarmersA nationwide survey conducted for the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) found broad public respect and trust for family farmers and support for corn as food, feed and fuel. Ninety-five percent of those polled find farmers to be trusted messengers on issues such as agriculture, corn products and ethanol – and ethanol itself was supported or strongly supported as a good fuel alternative by 65 percent.

    That’s 95 percent said they trusted farmers. Even the corn growers were surprised by the results. “We expected to see some pretty solid results in this polling, but the final numbers were beyond what we imagined,” said NCGA President Darrin Ihnen, a farmer in Hurley, S.D. “This high level of support is gratifying, and it is also a challenge for us to work hard to maintain the trust consumers have placed in us.”

    NCGA“Farming is under attack in the mainstream media because some reporters seem to have the wrong idea about modern American agriculture,” Ihnen said. “One of our goals at NCGA is to help educate the media and the public about how current technology has helped family farmers do their traditional jobs more efficiently, more effectively and more affordably.”

    The survey of 1,000 U.S. voters nationwide was conducted in mid-September by David Binder Research and has a margin of error of 3.1 percent. For more information on the survey, please visit NCGA Web site www.ncga.com.

    If you have not done it yet – join the “I Love Farmers” fan club started by some Cal-Poly students earlier this year. You can donate, buy cool stuff like hats and shirts, or just support them. The group is working to help young people understand the importance of knowing where our food comes from and who produced it – a very noble goal.

    Corn, Farming, NCGA

    Baling Hay at Sunbelt Ag Expo

    Chuck Zimmerman

    I got out in the field on Wednesday at Sunbelt Ag Expo and the most active area was hay baling. As you’ll see in the video clip, there were a lot of machines being demonstrated. I also stopped at the precision ag demonstrations and will have an interview from there to post later as well as getting to learn about switchgrass at a plot that was grown here for the first time this year.

    Sunbelt Ag Expo 2009 Photo Album

    AgWired coverage of Sunbelt Ag Expo is sponsored by Growth Energy.

    Hay, Sunbelt Ag Expo, Video

    Sunbelt Update From Mr. Peanut

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Tyron SpearmanHe says he’s been the media director for Sunbelt Ag Expo for 32 years and he’s Mr. Peanut. Actually he’s Tyron Spearman, Spearman Marketing. Tyron also reports for Southeast AgNet.

    At Expo Tyron coordinates all the requests of the media here covering the event. In the photo he’s giving us an overview of the show during our media breakfast. Tyron says the show is “excellent.” The weather has cleared up from the rain of last week and he thought the setup went a lot easier than normal. He says the first day crowd was estimated between 40 – 50,000 which was very good for an opening day. The challenge now is the good weather which has farmers out in their own fields. I asked him about the peanut crop and he says that after the largest crop in history last year the crop was reduced this year. Challenges during the planting season meant that there are actually 3 separate crops being harvested this year with the last one coming in later in November.

    You can listen to my interview with Tyron below:

    Sunbelt Ag Expo 2009 Photo Album

    AgWired coverage of Sunbelt Ag Expo is sponsored by Growth Energy.

    Audio, Sunbelt Ag Expo

    Vermeer Rolls Out the Rancher

    Cindy Zimmerman

    Vermeer had cow-calf producers in mind when they designed the new Rancher 665 round baler.

    vermeerAccording to Vermeer Forage Marketing Manager Dan Belzer, the new Rancher 665 baler design fills a niche many cow-calf producers have been asking for – basically, the ability to produce bigger bales with a “right-sized” baler that requires less horsepower. “Now, with a minimum 60 hp tractor, every day cow-calf producers can roll up large-diameter bales, which they can easily move around with their medium-sized loaders. Also, because the Rancher 665 baler is ‘right-priced’, it’s very competitive with used late-model balers in the same class, which gives Rancher 665 baler owners the extra peace of mind of having new product warranty.”

    Belzer adds, “the name depicts a no nonsense, tight-fisted, independent, rugged, individual” – kinda like the guy in the promo photo. Looks a bit like a young Baxter Black to me – is he for real?

    Equipment, Hay, Livestock

    Sunbelt Ag Expo Field Demos

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Sunbelt Ag ExpoField demonstrations are in full swing at Sunbelt Ag Expo. I’ve updated the photo album for you and am taking off but have a lot more to post.

    I’ll continue posting over the next day or so. Stay tuned.

    Sunbelt Ag Expo 2009 Photo Album

    AgWired coverage of Sunbelt Ag Expo is sponsored by Growth Energy.

    Sunbelt Ag Expo