I’m not sure if there’s a coup going on at AgriTalk or what.
Mike Adams is on the outside looking in (left) while Mike Perrine’s got the microphone. I think he could do it but . . .
Stay tuned as the AgriTalk saga continues on AgWired.
AgWired coverage of the 2008 Commodity Classic
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Yes. It’s time once again for another edition of “Guess Who’s Boots.” These boots were seen around the show this afternoon.
The first person to post a comment with the correct answer will win a ZimmComm Logo mini speaker for their iPod.
Get your thinking cap on and post your guess. I’ll provide clues if I have to. . .
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I think Leah Guffey, WFMB, Springfield, IL is becoming an AgWired regular.
Today it was all about color coordination as Leah’s hair matched her shirt and even the media ribbon on her name badge here at the Commodity Classic. Her son calls it “peanut butter and jelly” hair.
I think the highlights look marvelous don’t you. I had to make sure you got both sides for the full effect. Leah is just one of the many ag journalists here at the show. Last I heard, we’ve now got 140 registered media attending, an all time high.
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Steve Hawkins is managing director of The Context Network in West Des Moines, Iowa – and formally with Delta and Pine Land Company and Asgrow Seed Company. He was also one of the presenters at the BASF seed treatment media event at Commodity Classic this week.
His topic was values within the seed industry. “Seed treatments have gone from protection of the seed through to planting to the ability to protect the crop post-planting. That’s a significant shift that we have seen in the last few years,” said Hawkins.
He says this has affected the decision points for growers. “We see the decision points being moved earlier,” he said. “The ability to see and control pests before they have an economic impact and efficiency leads to ability to farm more acres.”
Listen to Steve’s presentation here:
basf-hawkins.mp3
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A record crowd converged on the 2008 Commodity Classic trade show this afternoon, welcomed by the bean guy.
There are over 4,450 registered attendees at the Classic this year and more than 140 media – both new records. The Classic photo album is up to date now with about 60 photos so far – but lots more to come!
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Dr. Dirk Voeste from BASF Crop Protection Headquarters in Germany enlightened the media at Commodity Classic on the process of getting science on the seed at BASF.
According to Dirk, BASF seed treatment means protection plus vitality. He discussed the BASF concept of the German word “Verbund.”
“Verbund is not translated,” he explained. “It means really the linkage of expertises of various areas out of BASF. Polymer research, pigment research, agrichemicals, plant health, biotechnologies – which we will bring together for seed treatment to leverage it for American growers.”
“It’s like a recipe when cooking, you have to bring individual pieces together to get to a fine result at the end and BASF has all these recipes in house,” he added.
Dirk says BASF is planning to launch nine new products in the next two years to help improve the bottom line for US growers of various commodities.
Listen to my interview with Dirk here:
basf-dirk.mp3
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Seed treatment was the topic for BASF’s media symposium at Commodity Classic and a little show and tell with seedlings showed what their new Stamina fungicide seed treatment can mean for growers.
Cristina Pagani is the researcher who conducted the experiments for BASF and she explained a little bit about the results here. The active ingredient in Stamina is the same used in Headline fungicide and trials show it improves seedling emergence under conditions of high disease pressure, cold, wet soils and where corn follows corn.
Stamina fungicide seed treatment was just registered for corn this month and another new BASF fungicide seed treatment registration is expected this fall.
Listen to my interview with Christina here:
basf-christina-edit.mp3
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Andy Lee is the director of business operations for US Crop Protection at BASF. In this position, he oversees all sales and marketing functions for BASF inthe US crop protection market.
In his presentation at BASF’s “Science Behind Seed Treatments” media symposium at the 2008 Commodity Classic in Nashville, Andy told the ag journalists that they are the answer to helping growers accelerate their yields to get closer to the record breaking corn and soybean yields that have been achieved in recent years. “It’s the information that you can get out to growers and retailers to show them how they can, if not achieve 154, maybe they can get 56 or 65, rather than the average yield,” he said.
Andy talked about the amazing success story of Headline fungicide, which was 70 percent of the market share for fungicides last year. “The Headlline that was used in corn and soybeans in 2007 gave growers over $450 million more income,” he said. “Three million acres of soybeans treated with Headline gave us 13.5 million bushels of extra beans. Seven million acres of corn treated with Headline gave us 112 million bushels (more). Basically, what that is is about 105,000 semis loaded with grain of new crop, new soybeans, new corn that previously the US market did not produce before.” And, more importantly, this was without any new acreage.
Listen to Andy’s short and informative presentation here:
basf-lee-presentation.mp3
The BASF Flicker Photo Album has been updated with all the images from yesterday’s symposium and the riverboat fun afterward.
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I know I’m a little behind with the program this week but what better venue to introduce a new image icon for the ZimmCast than Commodity Classic. We’ve got 4,300 people registered already and more walk-ins will show up I’m sure. There’s also 128 registered media here so far. Both of those are records according to media room manager Bob Callanan, American Soybean Association.
In this week’s program I talk to Bob about the media room then I wandered around and asked around 20 media representatives what they were excited about and planning on covering here at the conference. For the most part it’s a serious set of answers but we also had fun with it. The interviewers aren’t usually the interviewees if you know what I mean. Prices, the farm bill, how grain growers are dealing with their recent successes financially are just some of the topics you’ll hear mentioned. You’ll hear some of the most recognizable voices in the business from farm broadcasters to magazine and web editors. I hope you enjoy it.
You can download and listen to the ZimmCast here: 
ZimmCast 160 (23 min MP3)
Or listen to this week’s ZimmCast right now:zimmcast160-2-28-08.mp3
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
Like Cindy, I want to thank BASF and New Holland for once again being our sponsors of our coverage of Commodity Classic. We’ll have lots of feature content on their involvement with the show as well as other interesting news and show coverage as we find it.
AgWired coverage of the 2008 Commodity Classic
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