Food and Farming Canada

Chuck Zimmerman September 19, 2008

The traveling agriblogger is now resting comfortably in Chicago O’Hare, waiting on the next flight. So far, so good this morning. You can see what the sunrise looked like outside my plane in Columbus, OH this morning using this link.

While doing some more email work I noticed that Lilian Schaer, Food and Farming Canada, is now following me on Twitter. That led me to her blog where I read her post about returning from Portoroz, Slovenia and the IFAJ Congress with much sympathy and understanding. If you haven’t done any international travel then you haven’t had some of these kinds of “adventures.” I think those of us who have can, all relate though. Besides blogging away, it looks like Lilian is an excellent Tweeter!

More posts from the IFAJ Congress will be showing up on AgWired in coming days.

Ag Groups, IFAJ, International

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort September 19, 2008

The National Farmers Union has recognized House Committee on Small Business Chairwoman Nydia M. Velázquez for her leadership on rural small business issues and renewable energy development. She was presented with their 2008 Golden Triangle Award, the highest honor bestowed by this national organization. Chairwoman Velázquez has been honored twice with this distinction awarded annually in recognition of efforts to improve opportunities for rural small firms.
Hubbard Feeds recently launched a webinar to educate dairy producers on feeding distillers grains to replacement heifers. The webinar is presented by Alvaro Garcia, DVM, MS, PhD, and dairy specialist for South Dakota State University Extension. Topics covered include heifer feeding program objectives, nutritional benchmarks, climate and heifer performance, and using alternative feeds and crop residues in heifer rations. Click here to view this webinar program.
Novus International Inc. announced that they sustained no flood damage at their Alimet production facility as a result of tidal surges and rain from Hurricane Ike. Novus personnel were evacuated prior to landfall of the storm and there were no injuries.
Valley Irrigation is introducing the industry’s first line of GPS Ready irrigation control panels. The GPS Ready PRO2 Pivot Control Panel and GPS Ready AutoPilot Linear Control Panel currently are available from Valley dealers. The GPS Ready Select2 Pivot Control Panel will be available later this year.

Uncategorized

Stabilized Nitrogen Center Explained

Cindy Zimmerman September 18, 2008

Media got the first look at the Allen R. Sutton Stabilized Nitrogen Center prior to the official grand opening on Tuesday in St. Louis and our tour guide was Dan Kuttenkuler, project manager for Lange-Stegmann and AGROTAIN International.

Dan explained how the center uses a falling curtain granulation process for quality control and production efficiency. The process allows finished products to be manufactured to a specific size for different markets. “By varying the size of the holes in the screens we are able to control the final size of the product,” Dan says. “We have an agricultural market which is used to grow corn, wheat and cotton, we have a turf and ornamental and we also serve the golf industry which is very specific in terms of types and height of grasses.”

The Center is designed to meet the increasing demand for stabilized nitrogen fertilizer, with a production capacity of 125,000 tons annually.

Listen to an interview with Dan here: agrotain-kuttenkuler.mp3

AGROTAIN Grand Opening Photo Album

Agribusiness, Fertilizer

Wind Damaged Corn

Chuck Zimmerman September 18, 2008

We’ve heard a lot about wind damage to corn but I guess it’s not just limited to here in Ohio.

Pam Fretwell, Conklin Companies, was working here at the Farm Science Review and shared a few photos of the damage in Illinois.

That’s going to be tough to harvest!

Farm Science Review Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Farm Science Review is being sponsored by Monsanto and the Propane Research and Education Council.

Corn, Farm Science Review, Farming, Propane

Farm Science Review Corn Harvest Information

Chuck Zimmerman September 18, 2008

Here’s the New Holland crew after just finishing corn harvesting at the Farm Science Review. I spoke to Mike Craig about what they found.

He says they had been running for two days and that they were getting between 130 to 150 bushels with 18 to 20% moisture.

I asked him what’s new from New Holland and he says it’s their 8 row corn head with stalk chopper on each row unit which he says, “Allows us to chop the stalk as the ear is being pulled off from it to help with the residue on the ground.” He says it’s on display at their exhibit. Mike also says he really enjoys the interaction with farmers at the show.

You can listen to my interview with Mike here: fsr-08-craig.mp3

Farm Science Review Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Farm Science Review is being sponsored by Monsanto and the Propane Research and Education Council.

Audio, Corn, Farm Science Review, New Holland, Propane

3,000 Horsepower From Corn

Chuck Zimmerman September 18, 2008

While I was visiting the Ohio Corn Growers exhibit at the Farm Science Review I had a nice talk with 5 time IHRA Funny Car Champion Mark Thomas. Here he is explaining his car to an FFA student.

Mark is not only a professional drag racer but a farmer himself. He has 500 Holstein cows and farms 2,200 acres of corn, soybeans, wheat, and alfalfa. You’d think that would be enough to keep him busy!

One of his passions is ethanol. He basically grows his own fuel and has had a mission to help educate the public about this renewable energy source. So that’s part of his message here at the show. I asked him about how his farm business was going. He says that the past year or so has been pretty good but it’s basically making up for years that weren’t so good. However, he says that there’s a lot of uncertainty about the future and with the problems lately in financial markets there’s good reason to wonder.

He says the question he gets asked most often standing by his funny car is, “How much horse power?” It’s got 3,000 HP and goes from zero to 250 mph in 5.7 seconds! Of course he runs on ethanol and he says the car uses just over a gallon of ethanol per second.

You can listen to my interview with Mark here: fsr-08-thomas.mp3

Farm Science Review Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Farm Science Review is being sponsored by Monsanto and the Propane Research and Education Council.

Audio, Corn, Ethanol, Farm Science Review, Propane

Ohio Corn Educating About RFS

Chuck Zimmerman September 18, 2008

The Ohio Corn Growers Association have a nice building on the grounds of the Farm Science Review. One of their board members has been involved with it for many years. He’s Ron Rockhold, pictured on the right. Ron says he farms in southern Fayette County and has been on the board for going on 20 years. He spends one day working in the exhibit and one day with his brother “taking in the sights.”

Ron says this show is a great thing for agriculture. He says the message they’re trying to get across to growers is what’s happening with legislation, especially the farm bill and the rfs standard. In fact, he says, “. . . talking about the RFS which is even more important than the farm bill because it increases the demand for corn and has raised the price of corn to where farmers are getting their money from the market now instead of from the government.” That’s something he says he’s always wanted to see.

You can listen to my interview with Ron here: fsr-08-rockhold.mp3

Farm Science Review Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Farm Science Review is being sponsored by Monsanto and the Propane Research and Education Council.

Ag Groups, Audio, Corn, Farm Science Review, Propane

Precision Ag At Farm Science Review

Chuck Zimmerman September 18, 2008

Harvesting corn and soybeans isn’t the only field demonstration you’ll see at the Farm Science Review. There’s also a section devoted to precision agriculture.

I went out to the field when these got started and spoke with John Deere’s Jamie Bultemeier (pictured on the left). He was conducting a precision tillage demonstration. Jamie’s an agronomist by training so he focuses on crop production as it relates to seeding, tillage, sprayers and GPS equipment.

In his demonstration he was tying two of those together. He says they have a John Deere 2510S strip till rig being guided by John Deere RTK sub inch accuracy steering to allow for repeatable planting next spring. After running down a row a little ways he stopped to talk with farmers and they commented on how moist the ground was even though there had been little rain of late.

Questions he gets asked a lot include, “How should I set it? What fertilizer should I use? What kind of attachments should I put on?” He says he’s spoken with about an equal number of farmers who are using the technology and those who aren’t yet.

You can listen to my interview with Jamie here: fsr-08-bultemeier.mp3

I also caught Jamie doing an end of the row run during his demonstration which you can watch here:

Farm Science Review Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Farm Science Review is being sponsored by Monsanto and the Propane Research and Education Council.

Audio, Farm Science Review, John Deere, Precision Agriculture, Propane, Video

Reviewing Farm Science

Chuck Zimmerman September 18, 2008

I think this year’s Farm Science Review has had the best weather of any farm show I’ve ever attended. Of course they had to go through some nail-biting times just prior to the show when the remnants of Hurricane Ike blew through. In this week’s show I talk with show manager, Chuck Gamble. He says he’s all about promoting agriculture. In fact, he received one of the new Honorary Farm Broadcaster awards from ABN Radio on the opening day.

One of the new things at the show this year is the re-naming of Chemical Ave. to Conservation Ave. He says this was done “to honor (farmers) who I call the ultimate conservationists.”

Another new feature of the show is a “wireless internet cloud.” Chuck says that they didn’t have cable out to the show site but this year they laid in fiber optic and put up over 50 small towers around the exhibit area. It’s fast, reliable and everywhere. So besides us media types, exhibitors now have a new resource.

I’d love to see other farm shows adopt this type of infrastructure at their permanent sites.

The program this week ends with music from the Podsafe Music Network. Since I just attended a swine health seminar you get to listen to “Rocket Science” from Brain Buckit. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast 187 (15 min MP3)

Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:Interview with Chuck Gamble - ZimmCast 187

The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired which you can subscribe to using the link in our sidebar. You can also subscribe in iTunes

AgWired coverage of the Farm Science Review is being sponsored by Monsanto and the Propane Research and Education Council.

Audio, Farm Science Review, Farm Shows, Internet, Propane, ZimmCast

Soybean Harvest Demo at Farm Science Review

Chuck Zimmerman September 17, 2008

Speaking of corn, how about soybeans? They were also ready to harvest here locally at the Farm Science Review.

Mid afternoon a selection of combines like this one from New Holland sprang into action in front of the crowd. I didn’t get any data on the crop but it looked pretty good. Although we had some rain early in the week prior to the show things have dried up again enough for it to be very dusty in the fields.

Farm Science Review Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the Farm Science Review is being sponsored by Monsanto and the Propane Research and Education Council.

Farm Science Review, New Holland, Propane, Video

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