Travel Day To Ft. Worth, TX

Chuck Zimmerman

IFAJ/AMSToday 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.

Ag Media Summit, IFAJ

Looking Forward to a Headline Year

Cindy Zimmerman

BASF Skip ShivelyBASF 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:

Audio, BASF

Growers Interested in New BASF Herbicide Technology

Cindy Zimmerman

Eric KixorThere 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.

BASF Kaleb HellwigKaleb 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:

Audio, BASF, Farming

Grad Student Makes Kixor Her Career

Cindy Zimmerman

BASF Kixor CrewBASF 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:

Audio, BASF, Farming

Kixor Registration Expected Soon

Cindy Zimmerman

Dennis BelcherBASF 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:

Audio, BASF, Farming

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • On its first anniversary, the United Sorghum Checkoff Program is celebrating a year of progress, from the creation of the organization to the granting of $1.25 million in research funding. The checkoff program was created to address the issue of declining sorghum production and demand.
  • A new study published by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine finds that soyfoods and soy isoflavone supplements have no significant effect on male reproductive hormone levels in men. The literature review indicates that soy does not decrease testosterone levels.
  • U.S. and Canadian farmers are one step closer to realizing the greater whole farm corn yield advantages of a new corn seed trait combination, SmartStax, which is the outcome of a cross licensing agreement and research and development collaboration between Monsanto Company and Dow AgroSciences LLC.
  • Bayer CropScience is expanding its global research and development activities in seeds and traits to include a focus on cereals. The company recently formalized a long-term alliance with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia’s national research organization.
    Zimfo Bytes

    Cattlemen Using Social Media for Outreach

    Cindy Zimmerman

    David DickIt’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:

    Audio, Beef, Cattle Industry Conference, Social Networking

    Kixor Kicks Mare’s Tail

    Cindy Zimmerman

    Ron KrauszBASF 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:

    Audio, BASF, Farming

    Top 10 Most Unusual Fair Foods

    Amanda Nolz

    IMG_2086Get your cotton candy, get your hot dogs, grab your burgers and throw a fritter in there, too. How about a hot beef sundae…What’s that? This is just one of the top ten most unusual fair foods, according to MSN Delish. Chuck posted about these bad boys way back in 2006, and it seems their popularity hasn’t faded away yet. In fact, two weeks ago in Denver, the National Beef Ambassadors demonstrated how to prepare these hot beef sundaes. Here is an excerpt from the article, and I have linked to the ambassador recipe below for your convenience. You can check out the ambassador blog here to learn more, too!

    Touted as comfort food at its finest, the hot beef sundae is a generous helping of buttery mashed potatoes surrounded by slow-roasted roast beef and gravy, sprinkled with Cheddar cheese, and garnished with a cherry tomato. It may look like a sundae, but this baby is all Sunday dinner.

    Other foods that joined Hot Beef Sundaes on the list included: chicken fried bacon, fried avocado bites, spaghetti and meatball on a stick, fried frog legs, pizza cones, Krispy Kreme chicken sandwich, fried Coca Cola and Key Lime Pie on a stick. Well, I guess if it can be put on a stick and fried, you have a tasty state fair treat! Watch out arteries!

    Hot Beef Sundae Recipe

    Food

    Summer Travels

    Amanda Nolz

    This summer has taken me to some exciting places: Indiana, Illinois, Colorado, Minnesota and back to South Dakota! Of my travels, my favorite is, and always will be, going to cattle shows with my family. Last weekend, we attended the 2009 South Dakota Summer Spotlight for a few days of agriculture fun.

    Calli First, I helped judge the South Dakota Beef Ambassador Contest. Congratulations to Calli Pritchard for winning the senior competition. She will represent our state in the fall at the national competition in Arkansas. We had a great group of young people enter the contest, and I’m excited that there are so many people interested in promoting agriculture!

    Next, I helped my sisters get their Limousin calves ready for the show. This takes a lot of work ahead of time, and we were definitely tired once the show was over. The girls had a good day with a few class winners, and even a champion junior showmanship award! Showing cattle takes up a lot of our time, but it’s a great way to market our livestock in our family’s business. Plus, it’s a lot of fun! IMG_2406

    So, as the work week continues, and you start daydreaming about the weekend, I want to know what agriculture industry professionals across the country do in their spare time. Fill me in. Do you go camping, fishing, running or boating? Do you grill out? Go dancing? Take a walk? Ride a bike? Do you attend cattle shows and fairs like me? Do you sit in your Lazy Boy? What do you do for fun?

    Events