New Hay Tools From New Holland

Chuck Zimmerman

New Holland Hay ToolsA major focus for New Holland here at the Farm Progress Show is their lineup of haying equipment. I spoke with Gary Wojcik who provided an overview of all the different products New Holland has just introduced.

Products include: BR7000 Series Round Balers, Carted Wheel Rakes, Crop Mergers,
H6000 Series Disc Mowers, H7000 Series Discbine® Disc Mower-Conditioners,
H8000 Series Speedrower® Self-Propelled Windrowers, Automatic Bale Wagons, BB9000 Series Large Square Balers, BC5000 Series Small Square Balers, Roll-Belt™ Round Balers and Tedders.

New Holland Hay ToolsGary says one of the newest tools in the lineup is their Heavy Duty wheel rake.

New Holland’s new H5980 heavy-duty wheel rake is built for the rigorous demands of hay growers requiring high-speed, high-volume, flat-land raking. The rake can be operated at speeds as high as 15 mph.

With eight 60″ raking wheels on the left side and nine on the right, the H5980 rakes an area up to 30’3″ wide. This offset design turns all the crop, ensuring uniform crop drydown. There’s no need for a center kicker wheel, so the operator can drive faster. A convenient hydraulic adjustment allows the operator to change windrow width from the tractor seat to produce a finished windrow as wide as 72″.

Gary says most of these products will be available by year end and now is a good time to pre-order which will also help them plan their production to meet customer’s needs.

You can listen to my interview with Gary below:

Farm Progress Show Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the 2009 Farm Progress Show
is sponsored by: BASF and New Holland

Audio, Farm Progress Show, New Holland

Bird’s Eye View of Farm Progress Show

carly

Farm Progress 2009Today I had the privilege of climbing to the top of a five story Sukup grain storage bin to get a bird’s eye, 360 degree view of the grounds of the Progress City. Standing high above the crowd I could see and snap photos of the record crowds and all of the exhibits and activities going on below me. Although I was shaking the whole way up the staircase, due to my fear of heights, I tried to capture the energy and beautiful weather we have had this week.

It was pretty spectacular to look over the entire expanse of the site after walking ground level up and down the streets on foot or riding in a golf cart – or the New Holland Rustler! I was very impressed with the effort put forth by the exhibitors, the beautiful landscaping and how each exhibit seemed to be more inviting than the next.

Farm Progress 2009Even though I have been exposed to agriculture all of my life because of my parents’ careers, I guess I never knew how really interesting it is. Chatting with my parents about how the corn fields look and what chemicals they use on them is not usually in our everyday conversation!
I have learned so much about corn and soybeans and yield and machinery these past couple of days, I have a new appreciation for the people who produce the food that I eat every day. Farming is pretty darn hard work and a lot more complicated than most people probably think.

The weather really has been incredibly beautiful – everyone says it is the best weather they have ever had for the show. No rain, no excessive heat, not brutally cold. Is this Progress City or Panama City? If it will be like this again next year, sign me up!

Check out more of my bird’s eye view photos on the Farm Progress Show Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the 2009 Farm Progress Show
is sponsored by: BASF and New Holland

BASF, Farm Progress Show, New Holland

Farm Progress Show Update

Chuck Zimmerman

Farm Progress ShowIt’s looking like a record breaking Farm Progress Show and to learn more about how it’s going I spoke with Jeff Lapin, President, Farm Progress Companies.

He says that opening day was record attendance and the streets have been full. Exhibitor feedback has been great. And of course this has to be some of the nicest weather we’ve had at a show in some time. Having permanent sites which have been improved so much with paved streets and exhibitors who have invested a lot in their exhibit areas also helps make for a unique and enjoyable atmosphere for attendees.

You can listen to my interview with Jeff below:

Farm Progress Show Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the 2009 Farm Progress Show
is sponsored by: BASF and New Holland

Audio, Farm Progress Show

Headline® Grower Panel at the Farm Progress Show

Cindy Zimmerman

BASF panel at FPS09World champion soybean grower Kip Cullers is sharing the stage with three other award-winning corn and/or soybean grower in the BASF Theater at the Farm Progress Show, sharing how Headline® fungicide factors into the formula behind their success.

Kip was joined by fellow Missouri growers Gary Porter and Jerry Cox, as well as Texas corn grower champ Steve Albracht during a panel discussion yesterday which will be repeated this afternoon. All of them credited Headline fungicide with helping them maintain high yields in both corn and soybeans.

“Ya gotta use it, it’s just a no-brainer,” Kip says simply. “You gotta decide if you want to be on the ‘die and dry’ program or the ‘ripen and yield’ program – I prefer the ripen and yield program.”

See photos of BASF at Farm Progress Show here on Flickr.

Listen to or download interviews with Kip, Gary and Jerry here:

Audio, BASF, Farm Progress Show

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Bayer CropScience announced an investment of $25 million for further enhancing operational safety at its Institute, W.Va. site.
  • Farm Journal Media announces that the nation’s longest-running daily agricultural television program is moving to a new and improved time slot on RFD-TV. Beginning Aug. 31, 2009, AgDay will air weekday mornings at 8:00 a.m. EST/7:00 a.m. CST.
  • Ernest Keith, Ph.D, Product Development and Technical Services Manager for Novus Nutrition Brands, LLC, has been selected to serve a three-year term on the editorial board for the Professional Animal Scientist.
  • McCormick Company teamed up with clients, suppliers, local businesses and employees on Thursday, August 27, to celebrate 20 years of McCormick operating in Kansas City.
Zimfo Bytes

Live From Farm Progress Show

Chuck Zimmerman

Media TentWe had a very enjoyable day two morning out here at the Farm Progress Show. AgWired Live TV ran for hours and we had lots of viewers coming and going! I’m taking a break and going back to the hotel shortly to work on some of the photos, video and audio interviews that we’ve conducted. Let’s just say it’s been very busy around the media tent and working with our sponsors.

So enjoy the photos. We’ve got lots more being added. Like this one from midday yesterday in the media tent. Now that’s a lot of ag journalists crowded around the tables!

Farm Progress Show Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the 2009 Farm Progress Show
is sponsored by: BASF and New Holland

Farm Progress Show

Illinois Governor Visits Farm Progress Show

Cindy Zimmerman

AgWired coverage of the 2009 Farm Progress Show
is sponsored by: BASF and New Holland

Farm Progress Show photo album

Pop quiz – who is the governor of Illinois? Since that Blago guy moved on earlier this year, the governor’s office in Illinois has been somewhat quieter, not being in the national spotlight so much, so Governor Pat Quinn has not exactly become a household name. He probably would like to keep it that way!

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn at Farm Progress 2009The decidedly more low-key and down to earth Gov. Quinn rolled up his shirt sleeves and paid a visit to “The World’s Fair of Agriculture” on Tuesday, strolling through the site and holding a press conference at the New Holland media tent. “I have been so impressed by the energy, the enthusiasm and the turnout here at the Farm Progress Show,” the governor said. “This is the first time I have been here as governor of Illinois. I understand our state, when it comes to growing the economy, it starts with agriculture.”

Governor Quinn stressed the importance of growing crops for biofuels and the need to continue improving the rural economy with increased high speed internet access.

Listen to or download Gov. Quinn’s opening remarks here:

BASF, Farm Progress Show

Corn Growers Giving Away a Wii

Chuck Zimmerman

Chuck interviews Tricia Braid-TerryCorn growers nationwide are represented here at the Farm Progress Show by the Illinois Corn Growers Association. New ICGA representative Tricia Braid-Terry, former farm broadcaster, spoke with me today during our AgChat tweetup about all the things they’re doing in their tent.

To start with you can participate in a contest to Win a Wii. Lean more about that on their website. Tricia says they’re really focusing a lot of their information on carbon footprinting. In fact, you can follow some very large black footprints around their tent! They’re easy to find with 30+ foot high corn stalks and an E85 blimp hovering over the tent. They also help attendees with submitting comments to EPA about the RFS2.

She says that the National Corn Growers Association and Indiana Corn Growers are also participating in the exhibit. Indiana has their mobile biofuels unit on display.

You can listen to my interview with Tricia below:

Farm Progress Show Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the 2009 Farm Progress Show
is sponsored by: BASF and New Holland

Audio, Corn, Farm Progress Show

AgChat Tweetup at Farm Progress Show

Chuck Zimmerman

AgChat Tweetup at Farm Progress ShowHey AgChat fans. We had a tweetup today in the Country Financial tent this afternoon and many of us who have only communicated via Twitter got to meet face to face for the first time. Here’s most of our group.

What is AgChat? Learn more by visiting AgChat or looking back through post via Twitter Search.

AgChat was started by Michele Payn-Knoper, Cause Matters. I finally got to meet her and we discussed why she started the Twitter conversation about agriculture and what she believes it is accomplishing.

You can listen to my interview with Michele below:

AgChat at Farm Progress ShowThis evening AgChat was moderated live from our hotel, Decatur Conference Center, and a number of AgChatters showed up in a room where we had good internet access.

The topic was biofuels. Responses to questions show there is still a lot of misunderstanding about the production of fuels like ethanol and biodiesel and the truth about tax credits vs. subsidies and more.

Farm Progress Show Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the 2009 Farm Progress Show
is sponsored by: BASF and New Holland

Farm Progress Show

BASF at FPS09

Cindy Zimmerman

BASF Mike Hofer at FPS09BASF was hoping that Farm Progress Show 2009 would be the big kick off for Kixor, but registration by EPA remains “imminent.”

BASF Kixor fanStill, Kixor is the new star of the BASF exhibit at the FPS09, complementing the company’s powerhorse fungicide Headline. Kixor product manager Mike Hofer says they are getting to really talk with growers in the Midwest to show them the new class of chemistry to control broadleaf weeds in a wide range of crops. “Of local interest has been mare’s tail,” Mike says. “The family of products powered by Kixor is very effective from a burndown perspective on mare’s tail.”

Mike says they do expect registration for Kixor in the United States this month – really, any day now – but it has already been approved in Argentina and Chile and the first product was sold last week in Argentina. Growers at the Farm Progress show are able to listen to experts talk about the efficacy of Kixor-powered products, which include Integrity for corn, Optill for soybeans and Sharpen for a wide range of crops, as well as Treevix for fruit and nut crops. They can also see the results of the product on plot tours at the show.

See photos of BASF at Farm Progress Show here on Flickr.

Listen to or download an interview with Mike here:

Audio, BASF, Farm Progress Show