The American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture has an online game you can play to help teach about where your food comes from and how it gets to your dinner plate.
It’s called My American Farm. It’s a very simple educational program that would be good for kids to play with and learn from.
It’s time to look forward to the annual Farm Progress Show. I sure hope you’ve got your hotel reservations.
Rich in history and tradition, the 56th annual Farm Progress Show, to be held September 1, 2 and 3 in Decatur, Ill., offers plenty for visitors to see and do which includes an expanded exhibit area, field and livestock demonstrations, and a whole lineup of events.
This year’s show is set to host more than 500 exhibitors displaying new farm equipment, tractors, combines and farm implements; seed and crop protection products; and many other production items. Ag manufacturers and suppliers from across the country and around the world are set to participate. The show always features the latest agricultural high-tech equipment including computer-controlled guidance systems, GPS-based management systems, and a long list of state-of-the-art information and technology available for today’s farms.
Field demonstrations are a show mainstay and include side-by-side equipment, tractor and combine performance comparisons on hundreds of corn acres available for harvesting and tillage demonstrations.
Media are reminded to get registered so they have credentials available upon arrival.
Today Cindy and Carly will be heading to Ft. Worth, TX for the combined IFAJ Congress/Ag Media Summit. I’m sure going to miss everyone but that doesn’t mean I won’t be lurking online!
Since so many Twittering friends will be attending this week please use the #AgMS hashtag in your tweets so we can all follow along.
The program is going to be great in this first ever combined meeting. Attendees can attend either, or, or both overlapping programs. There’s going to be a lot of fun and fellowship with plenty of professional improvement activities and farm tours. You’ll be able to follow along here since our coverage this year includes sponsors, Successful Farming, Novus International and Pioneer Hi-Bred. We really thank them for their support.
BASF may be excited about the the new herbicide on the block Kixor moving in, but they are continuing to see growers get more profitability from their crop with Headline fungicide.
While the field day in Belleville, IL on Tuesday was focused on Kixor herbicide technology, Headline had a role to play in the show as well. Western Illinois BASF business rep Skip Shively talked to growers about how Headline can help even late in the season with late-planted crops. “There’s been a tremendous amount of stress on crops this year and the later planting has given us an opportunity to enhance yields with Headline, particularly with disease control in the first part of August,” Skip said.
“The best application timing for corn would be full tassel to the brown silk stage,” he added. “On soybeans, we’re looking at an R-2 to R-3 time frame.”
BASF Kixor Herbicide Technology plot tour photos
Listen to my interview with Skip here:
There wasn’t a big crowd at the BASF Kixor Herbicide Technology plot tour event in Belleville, IL on Tuesday since many were out spraying, but the nearly 30 who attended were very interested in hearing and seeing what the new family of products from BASF could do for them.BASF
Southern Missouri and Illinois farmer Eric Doza says he attended to learn how to get rid of some of the weed problems that he has. “Mare’s tail, giant ragweed, morning glory, velvetleaf, you name it, it’s there,” he told me. He thinks that the Kixor technology is what he is looking for to get more profitability from his crop.
Kaleb Hellwig, who is district sales manager for BASF in the southern MO and IL region, says they have been getting great feedback from growers at field days around the countryside. “All the growers that have been able to see the Kixor family of products work are really impressed with the speed of control and the completeness of the broadleaves that it controls and that it will allow them a better tool to go in and plant earlier in a no-till situation in particular.”
Final approval and registration for the Kixor technology is expected soon and at that time BASF will be launching several brands based on the technology, including Optill, Integrity and Sharpen.
See photos from the BASF Kixor Herbicide Technology plot tour in Belleville here on Flickr.
Listen to my interviews with Kaleb and Eric here:
BASF reps around the country are excited about getting the new Kixor™ technology on the market for growers soon.
Tracy Mellendorf, pictured here in the center with other BASF reps at a Kixor field day in Belleville on Tuesday, is a recent graduate of Southern Illinois University with a degree in weed science and has been working for BASF since April. Her research project was “Burndown Control of Mare’s Tail with Kixor Products” and she found that it was very effective for one of the most pesky weeds in this part of the country. “I always tell people that I worked with it in grad school and I chose to keep coming and working with it for my career,” she said. “So I’m definitely very excited and a true believer in the product.”
BASF is looking forward to getting final registration for products containing Kixor herbicide technology, hopefully by the end of August.
BASF Kixor Herbicide Technology plot tour photos
Listen to my interview with Tracy here:
BASF is anxiously awaiting final registration for the herbicide technology known as Kixor™.
“It’s going well, the registration is anticipated shortly,” said BASF Tech Service rep Dennis Belcher. “This is kind of a unique registration because it’s actually being reviewed by three countries – Canada, Australia and the United States.”
Belcher says once the technology is approved, they will put four “Powered by Kixor” herbicides on the market, including Optill, Integrity and Sharpen for corn, soybeans, sorghum and other crops. “These products will be made in Hannibal, Missouri and we’ve had the plant ready to go and we will be selling some products after we get registration yet in 2009.”
BASF Kixor Herbicide Technology plot tour photos
Listen to an interview with Dennis here:
It’s cheap, it’s easy and it’s a way to communicate one to one with people who might not otherwise hear your message. Those are three good reasons for beef cattle producers to use social media like Twitter and Facebook to reach out in ways they have never been able to before.
David says the issues management committee meeting at the recent Cattle Industry Summer Conference was all a’twitter with talk about how the industry can use social media to combat misinformation and activism. “There are a lot of different issues – food safety issues, animal welfare issues, environmental issues – there are many things that come up every day,” David says. “You always kind of knew who was shooting at you and know you don’t know who’s shooting at you or where they’re shooting from so you have to cover all the bases.”
David says using Twitter and Facebook helps producers extend their reach to the general public. “We’re looking at getting our producers out there and getting them to carry the message forward,” he said. “They need to be telling the story because it comes from them and people trust that.”
Listen to my interview with David here:
BASF is proving that Kixor™ can really kick butt.
During a plot tour in Belleville, IL today, growers and dealers got a look at what Kixor™ powered Sharpen herbicide can do to glyphosate-resistant Mare’s-tail. Belleville Research Center station manager Ron Krausz with Southern Illinois University showed off the plot trials. “It is a burndown type product because of its mode of action, so we can actually apply it to Mare’s tail that is up in the spring early and get good control,” he said.
Krausz told the group that Kixor could be the long-awaited replacement for atrazine. “We’re seeing the same level of control with this compound by itself as we saw with atrazine, back when we could use atrazine at 3-4 pounds to the acre,” he said.
The Belleville tour was one of over 100 plot tours planned by BASF this summer to demonstrate the performance of Kixor® herbicide technology.
See photos from the BASF Kixor Herbicide Technology plot tour in Belleville here on Flickr.
Listen to an interview with Ron Krausz here:
