BASF And ASA Programs

Chuck Zimmerman

ASA TentAt the American Soybean Association tent, BASF is providing lunch for members of state soybean associations as well as ASA. Here’s a couple of the folks from BASF, serving their customers.

I visited the tent and spoke with ASA VP, Rob Joslin. He’s national membership chairman and really enjoys the relationship that has developed with BASF. For example, he likes a program called Secure Optimum Yield. This program is in its second year. He says, “It’s an opportunity for members of the ASA to try some Headline and take it to yield, send those results in and BASF will pick up the cost of an ASA membership.”

BASF ASA ScholarshipAnother program with BASF that Rob likes is the Scholarship program. ASA is funding a $5,000 scholarship for the children and grandchildren of ASA members.

If you’re out here at the Farm Progress Show, then you can stop by the ASA or BASF tents to learn more or just visit the ASA website.

The American Soybean Association (ASA) is pleased to announce the 2008-09 Secure Optimal Yield (SOY) Scholarship. The SOY Scholarship is a one-time $5,000 award to an eligible High School senior who plans to declare agriculture as a degree area of study at the University of their choice. The award is
to be used directly for tuition, fees, and/or books, not to exceed $2,500 per semester, and not to exceed tuition amount with other fee dedicated aid. The scholarship is managed by ASA and sponsored by BASF Corporation.

You can listen to my interview with Rob here: fp-08-joslin.mp3

You can also download the interview with this link.

AgWired coverage of the 2008 Farm Progress Show
is sponsored by: BASF and New Holland

Ag Groups, Audio, BASF, Farm Progress Show, New Holland, Soybean

Monsanto Talks Sustainability

Laura McNamara

Michael Doane, Monsanto's Sustainability Team LeadThe recent surge in profitability within the agriculture sector is giving farmers and ag companies a bit of room to breath. But, Monsanto says, just a bit. Michael Doane, Monsanto’s Sustainability Team Lead says that with profitability comes responsibility: a responsibility for the agricultural climate of the future. There are big questions, Michael says, that begged to be asked, and, hopefully, answered. How do we meet the growing demand? How do farmers fit into the growing needs of the recent future? What will the world look like for our children? Will it be a world, Michael asked, that has a lot of pressure on its resource base?

“We’re going to have to produce more food on the same acres between now and 2050 then we’ve produced in the last 10,000 years combined,” Michael said. “That’s pretty substantial. That’s going to get us to twice the level of annual food production in 2050 versus today.”

Michael says responding to such demands is a responsibility that must be shared throughout the ag sector. But, he says, Monsanto is eagerly doing it’s part to help.

“This conversation about sustainability kind of hit us right between the eyes,” Michael said. “We went out and started talking to a lot of people about agriculture; and what doing more with less would look like; what would be important there.”

Ultimately, Michael says, Monsanto’s goal is to make farmers more productive and, consequently, more financially successful.

“Our goal is to make every farmer we serve better off the next year than they were the previous year,” Michael said.

And, Michael says, that goal is meant to benefit farmers all over the world.

“In developing countries we think we also need to do that,” Michael said. “So, we’ve committed to helping 5 million resource-poor farmers, who are simply trying to feed their families, do that.”

But, as much as Monsanto recognizes its role in securing the future of farming and the future of feeding the world, the Michael says finding long-term, sustainable solutions will be a team effort.

“It’s going to be the ‘we’ collectively that does this,” Michael said.

You can download and listen to Michael Doane’s entire speech at the 2008 Farm Progress Show in Boone, IA here: fp-08-doane.mp3

You can also download the speech with this link.

Check out our Farm Progress Show 2008 Photo Album.

AgWired coverage of the 2008 Farm Progress Show
is sponsored by: BASF and New Holland

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

Animal Health, Ethanol, Forestry, Horses, Livestock, NAFB, NAMA, Podcasts

Farm Progress Show Rain

Chuck Zimmerman

Farm Progress Show RainDay 2 of the Farm Progress Show is getting off to a wet start.

This is rain dripping off the media tent. Thank goodness our sponsor, New Holland, has a nice place for us to work in.

Yesterday was dry and dusty and today’s the opposite. That’s kind of typical for the show though. Laura and I are at the AgWired Media Central working on some photos and interviews from late yesterday. We’ll have them posted soon. Meanwhile, here’s a short video clip of what it’s like right now.

Check out our Farm Progress Show 2008 Photo Album.

AgWired coverage of the 2008 Farm Progress Show
is sponsored by: BASF and New Holland

BASF, Farm Progress Show, New Holland

Electric Shock “Therapy” for Soil

Laura McNamara

All it takes to find out what kind of soils and elements are found in a plot of land is just a bit of electric charge. Veris Technologies has developed a method for determining soil ratios using electricity:

“What we’re looking at here is using AC voltage or very low voltage injecting it into the soil with two electrodes,” Paul Drummond said. “Then, we’re actually measuring the voltage with another pair and the conductivity is actually driven by the sand, silt, clay content of the soil. So the heavy clays are highly conductive, silts are in the mid-range and sands are very poor conductors.”

Paul says the electric-shocking instrument will take readings every second and will read the conductivity of each particular location. This, he says, offers the farmer information on the relative sand, silt or clay differential or texture within the particular area of the field. Paul says farmers can then use this information to “generate a yield potential map and ultimately an input map based on those soil differential zones.”

Paul says soil conductivity is an old technology that dates back to mining exploration in the 1920s, but Veris is the first to use the technology for agricultural applications. Paul adds that the agricultural climate today is ripe for the development and adaption of such precision ag technologies:

“In the last few months we’ve seen inputs just rise dramatically, and if you’re going to stay competitive in this environment you’re really going to have to pinpoint your inputs and really minimize your expense on areas that aren’t very productive,” Paul said. “It’s really the time for precision ag to really become a reality.”

I interviewed Paul about Veris’ electric soil mapping technology. You can listen to my interview with Paul here:
paul-drummond-preag-08.mp3

Agribusiness, Audio, Equipment, Farming, Technology

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • New Holland’s BB9000 Series large square balers produce consistent, dense, solid bales that stack well and withstand repeated handling. Overall bale density has been increased by up to five percent with product enhancements. Additional improvements include a new, narrow hitch for greater maneuverability, and oil-immersed gearboxes and automatic greasing for reduced service requirements and improved durability.
  • Syngenta Seeds, Inc. and John Deere Risk Protection, Inc. announced that the USDA’s Federal Crop Insurance Corporation has approved Syngenta Agrisure and other approved biotech corn seed brands for a broadened crop insurance endorsement that provides insurance premium discounts to farmers. This extends the program for discounts of certain federally-reinsured crop insurance policies and simplified terms to growers who use multiple biotech corn suppliers.
  • Elanco announced that Lilly has signed an agreement to acquire the worldwide rights to the dairy cow supplement, Posilac (sometribove), as well as the product’s supporting operations, from Monsanto Company.
  • Vermeer Ag announces the launch of three new products: The Vermeer FINAL CUT Feed Chopper (designed to work exclusively on Vermeer BP8000 Bale Processors), 605 and 604 Super M Series Balers and TM1200 mower.
    Zimfo Bytes

    Cavena Nuda Oats yields well for New Bothwell Producer

    Harry Siemens

    Cavena Nuda Oats

    Cavena Nuda Oats

    Harry Siemens – Uli Gehrer is one of a small group of producers who has invested time and money in diversifying into raising a new naked oats variety called Cavena Nuda on his farm near New Bothwell. While these growers had enough seed to plant nearly 1,500 acres, Gehrer has 460 acres on his farm while the total amount is closer to 1,100 that the growers will harvest in 2008.

    Uli called from the combine after harvesting the first 160 acres to report a yield of 3,600 pounds to the acre, considerably more than the 2,500 pounds to the acre he harvested in 2007. When converting that to what regular oats would yield, he said it was more like 105 bushels an acre in normal oats. However, since the hulls, representing about 25 percent of the weight, come off at the combine and pass through the machine back into the soil, the yield is closer to 140 bushels an acre.Read More

    Uncategorized

    Farm Progress Show Video

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Just so you didn’t think Laura and I were only shooting still photos and doing audio interviews (besides AgWired Live TV) I’ve got a couple of video clips to share with you. I’m trying out a new Flip Video camera at this show. It’s pretty simple in terms of shooting and uploading your video to YouTube.

    First up, I’ve got a short clip from this morning’s Monsanto press conference:

    After that I visited the American Soybean Association/BASF lunch tent. Basically, BASF (our sponsor) bought lunch for any member of ASA. I also ran into soybean growing superstar, Kip Cullers:

    Then, I wandered by the Trimble demonstration area and they were running a New Holland (our sponsor) tractor:

    Finally, Laura and I left the show site around 7pm:

    Check out our Farm Progress Show 2008 Photo Album.

    AgWired coverage of the 2008 Farm Progress Show
    is sponsored by: BASF and New Holland

    Agribusiness, BASF, Farm Progress Show, New Holland, Video

    Aggie-Lance Makes Farm Progress

    Chuck Zimmerman

    ZimmCast-184 - Aggie-LanceI finally got to meet the creator and founder of Aggie-Lance, Mark Jewell, here at the Farm Progress Show. He came by with his daughter, Nora, who is appropriately attired in Aggie-Lance baby gear. I caught a picture of her sleeping through an interview with her Dad.

    Actually, Laura McNamara interviewed Mark. I thought that would be kind of appropriate since she does freelance work for us. You see, that’s what Aggie-Lance is all about.

    Erin HolteName a business task. Any business task. Picture it in your mind. Got it?

    Perfect. Now its time to post it on Aggie-Lance. We are your project outsource resource in the agriculture industry. Our database of freelance professionals is ready to help you get work done.
    Contractors, Freelancers, Site Development, Graphic Design, Renewable Fuels, and much more!

    Post it. Bid it. Let them do it for you.

    You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: Listen To ZimmCastZimmCast 184 (12 min MP3)

    Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:Interview with Mark Jewell - ZimmCast 184

    Check out our Farm Progress Show 2008 Photo Album.

    AgWired coverage of the 2008 Farm Progress Show
    is sponsored by: BASF and New Holland

    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

    Agribusiness, Audio, BASF, Farm Progress Show, New Holland, ZimmCast

    BASF Still Making Headlines

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Gary Schmitz and Nick FasslerTwo of the BASF team members on location at the Farm Progress Show are (l-r) Gary Schmitz, Midwest Regional Tech Manager and Nick Fassler, Tech Manager for Plant Health. Headline is still making headlines so I spoke to them together about how the product has been developing in the corn and soybean markets.

    Nick says Headline is making great progress in these markets. He says they’re working with all the major seed companies, especially with new corn genetics. An example would be Monsanto. Nick says they have a partnership which began last winter since as he puts it, “They see the benefits of Headline over the top of their genetics.” They’ve been working since the start of the collaboration to develop data jointly.

    BASF TentI asked Gary how crops look in his territory. He says it’s been a trying year for midwest growers but that in areas that didn’t get flooded out, “the crops are actually looking pretty good right now.” It’s been a wet season and Gary says that means more disease which is just what a product like Headline is made for. He says that the weather provides growers an opportunity to maximize their yields with Headline.

    Nick says BASF sees additional opportunites with Headline in other crops, like cotton, for which they recently received registration. He says they’re working with Monsanto on this crop too.

    Growers will find lots of goodies if they stop by the BASF tent which located on Seventh Street here in the show.

    You can listen to my interview with Nick and Gary here: fp-08-nick-gary.mp3

    You can also download the interview with this link.

    AgWired coverage of the 2008 Farm Progress Show
    is sponsored by: BASF and New Holland

    Agribusiness, Audio, BASF, Farm Progress Show, New Holland

    Corn Progress

    Laura McNamara

    Mark Dehner, Marketing Manager Refined and Renewable Fuels for Bob Dickey, First Vice President of the National Corn Growers AssociationThere’s a lot the National Corn Growers Association is looking forward to in the next few months. I caught up with Bob Dickey, First Vice President of the association, at the 2008 Farm Progress Show in Boone, IA today. He says corn growers are counting on good weather, a good harvest and a good relationship with the new Secretary of Agriculture who’ll be named after this year’s Presidential election. In the meantime, Bob says representatives from the 33,000 member organization are on site here at the Farm Progress Show to get out their grassroots message:

    “Our mission is to create and increase opportunities for corn growers,” Bob said.

    A lot of those opportunities have come from ethanol in recent years. Bob says ethanol technology is continually progressing. Cellulosic technology is proving to be the newest frontier in the industry and Bob says, the National Corn Growers Association is behind cellulosic development 100 percent.

    “We get behind the cellulosic industry because that will help enhance the overall industry,” Bob said. “And so we’re very supportive of what’s going on in the cellulosic side of the ethanol industry, whether it be switchgrass, sweet sorghum, alfalfa, wood chips, corn stalks, corn cobs, whatever. We’re excited.”

    I interviewed Bob about what he feels are the important issues for corn growers. You can listen to my interview with Bob here: fp-08-dickey.mp3

    You can also download the interview with this link.

    AgWired coverage of the 2008 Farm Progress Show
    is sponsored by: BASF and New Holland

    Ag Groups, Agribusiness, Audio, Ethanol, Farm Progress Show, Farm Shows, Farming