Farmer Veteran Coalition at #NAMA21

Carrie Muehling

Now in its 12th year, the Farmer Veteran Coalition continues to award small grants to farmer veterans. The organization gained many new members this year after the Department of Veterans Affairs shared information about it through a newsletter.

“Veterans are very mission driven. They serve because they have that service gene inherent to them and they are looking for that mission. When they come out of the military, they are looking to continue that,” said Natalie Monroe, Farmer Veteran Coalition. “For so many of them, agriculture becomes that new purpose.”

Monroe said the coalition provides all kinds of things for farmer veterans through the grants, from cattle squeeze chutes to beekeeping equipment.

Natalie Monroe, Farmer Veteran Coalition (3:42)

Audio, NAMA

Traction Introduces Agronomy Solutions

Cindy Zimmerman

Traction has introduced a new lineup of agronomy management tools for both service providers and farmers. Solutions include an agronomy mobile app and web application, designed for soil sampling, soil fertility, lab integrations, recommendations and prescription generation. Traction Agronomy is focused on simplicity, efficiency, and profitability, helping farmers apply the right product at the optimum rate and right time to maximize input usage.

“Our biggest advantage is building everything around a mobile environment,” said Jeff Dearborn, Traction Business Development Director. “Agronomists need the flexibility to analyze soil test results, build prescriptions and send shapefiles from any mobile device. Our solution is designed to handle a complete agronomy workflow for phones or tablets which is a game-changer for the industry.”

Traction Professional Agronomy enables service providers and agronomists to manage an unlimited number of farmers in one cloud-based ecosystem. This end-to-end solution offers seamless integration with soil labs, making it easy to view soil test results and build simple variable rate fertility prescriptions. Paired with Traction’s Field app, the solution becomes even more powerful as prescriptions can be created from your phone or tablet (coming Fall 2021). Other key features of the Field app include field mapping, grid target layout, navigation and sample point logging.

Traction Basic Agronomy helps farmers manage their own agronomy tasks. With similar features found in Traction Professional Agronomy, a farmer can leverage the Traction Field App to log their own sample locations and use a formula to create a fertility prescription. The key benefit to a farmer is how the agronomy platform fully integrates with the other Traction solutions: Basic Accounting and Basic Operations. This level of functionality is unique as farmers can take their agronomic data and apply true costs from accounting entries.

Additional information and a free 30-day trial (farmers only) can be found at www.tractionag.com.

Visit with us and learn more August 3-4 at the InfoAg Conference in St. Louis, booth number 209

Agronomy, AgWired Precision, Precision Agriculture, Technology

Animal Ag News 8/2

Carrie Muehling

  • Cattle producers from across the country will descend upon Nashville, Tenn., Aug. 10-12, for the 2021 Cattle Industry Convention & NCBA Trade Show. The annual event is well-known for its educational content, motivational speakers and hot topics. New for this year is an additional general session on the final day of convention entitled “Sustainability: Opportunity, or a Bunch of Bull.”
  • As “new normals” emerge, effective communication and strong leadership continues to play a crucial role in successful organizations. USPOULTRY’s 2021 Women’s Leadership Conference offers an opportunity for women leaders to hone these skills. Held Aug. 19-20 at the Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort & Spa in Destin, Florida, the conference attendees, from all levels of the industry, will gain insight on a variety of topics.
  • The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that the Dominican Republic (DR) has confirmed cases of African swine fever (ASF). The cases were confirmed as part of a cooperative surveillance program between the United States and the DR. The United States remains free of ASF – an animal disease affecting only pigs with no human health implications – and imports no pork, animal feed or other pork production-related products from the Dominican Republic.
  • They call them Policy Picnics — a mix of food, catching up with friends and getting plugged into regulatory issues. The Dairy Business Association (DBA) and Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative have found that members value the annual summer events, where they connect with each other, lawmakers and the organizations’ experts. The Wisconsin-based groups advocate for their members at all levels of government — DBA in the state, Edge throughout the Midwest — from town halls to the halls of Congress. The organizations held three of the Policy Picnics in July at farms around Wisconsin, and Edge will hold a fourth in August in Sioux Falls, S.D.
  • R-CALF USA, the nation’s largest producer-only national cattle trade association, will hold its 22nd annual convention and trade show Aug. 19-20, 2021, in Rapid City, South Dakota at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center located at 444 Mount Rushmore Road. At its convention, the group intends to strengthen its national strategy to quickly fix the United States’ broken cattle market crisis by restoring competition for both cattle and beef.
AgWired Animal, Animal Agriculture, Animal Bites

Tech Hub Live is Latest Meister Media Event

Cindy Zimmerman

Meister Media Worldwide has been serving agricultural markets around the world since 1932, and while the company was built upon an impressive array of farm-focused magazines, the event side of the business continues to grow in importance.

The recent Tech Hub LIVE conference in Des Moines is the latest edition to the Meister Media family of events says Chairman and CEO Gary Fitzgerald. “We’ve been serving the ag tech or precision space since its earliest days in the ’80s, early ’90s,” said Fitzgerald. “Since then, there has just been an explosion of new technologies, systems, and platforms and it became apparent that a new, more innovative, forward-looking event that covered the entire ecosystem” was needed to bring together a wider segment of the industry.

Fitzgerald was very pleased with the response for the first ever Tech Hub LIVE in July and looks forward to growing the event. “It represented the many different voices necessary to make a new inaugural event the success that it is, so we’re very excited about building for year two and beyond.”

He notes that Tech Hub LIVE, which focuses on the immediate future for ag technology, complements the PrecisionAg Vision Conference, which is normally held in January but had to be cancelled for this year. “But it is coming back January of 2022 in Phoenix and that’s an event that looks 3-5 years down the road.”

Learn more in this interview from Tech Hub LIVE>
Tech Hub Live interview with Gary Fitzgerald, Meister Media Worldwide (6:50)

2021 Tech Hub LIVE Photo Album

AgWired Precision, Audio, Media, Tech Hub LIVE, Technology

Farm Credit Services of America at #NAMA21

Carrie Muehling

After a challenging 2020, things in the agribusiness sector are beginning to head back in a positive direction, according to Marshall Hansen with Farm Credit Services of America.

Hansen said many conversations right now are focused on helping customers protect themselves against the potential for higher interest rates. He said it’s exciting to work with people who are truly innovators in the industries they represent.

“They’re finding ways to do more with less resources all the time,” said Hansen. “To me, that’s really exciting, and clearly innovative when it comes to especially the production agriculture aspect.”

Hansen said the patronage program offered by the Farm Credit system is one of the important tools customers can use to help manage their costs of production and make their businesses better.

Marshall Hansen, Farm Credit Services of America (4:56)

Audio, Farm Credit, NAMA

Industry Ag News 7/30

Carrie Muehling

  • The inaugural episode of the Grower Talks podcast features Drew Echols, President of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association and owner of Jaemor Farms. Join with Drew as we discuss Georgia’s thriving fruit and vegetable industry and how Jaemor, now five generations strong, provides a wide variety of Georgia-grown produce to consumers.
  • The National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) is accepting entries for its 2022 NAFB Membership Directory cover photo contest. The winning entry will receive $100, and the photo will be featured on the cover of the 2022 NAFB Membership Directory. To review contest information or to enter your photo(s), please click here.
  • Zen-Noh Grain Corporation has closed on its acquisition of approved assets from Bunge. Originally announced in spring of 2020, the initial agreement between ZGC and Bunge included 35 operating assets. To help secure regulatory approval, certain Bunge assets and Consolidated Grain and Barge Co., ZGC’s affiliate, assets were selected for divestiture and sold to Viserion Grain, LLC.
  • The summer of 2021 marks an important milestone in the history of technological advancement in American agriculture. One hundred years ago, on Aug. 3, 1921, an aerial crop dusting experiment spawned the birth of the agricultural aviation industry. Watch (and share) the video on the industry’s legacy after a century of agricultural aviation.
  • The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the launch of its first ever Alexa skill, a digital tool for parents and caregivers of infants and toddlers between four and 24 months old. Families who use the MyPlate Alexa skill receive nutrition information on what and how to feed their child based on their age.
  • In April 2019, Mike Builta, a GROWMARK vice president and long-time employee, passed away unexpectedly. To honor his memory, the GROWMARK Foundation will be providing 100 FFA jackets to FFA members in Illinois. The application is available at https://bit.ly/BuiltaJacket2021 and is due September 10 at midnight.
  • Kubota Tractor Corporation announced its first-ever sponsorship with the leader in western sports, PBR (Professional Bull Riders), making them the Official Tractor of the Unleash The Beast, Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour, and Global Cup USA. Kubota will have an exclusive equipment presence at PBR’s top two U.S. tours as well as the five-nation tournament known as “the Olympics of bull riding.” The company also announced it will become the official tractor partner of the WCRA (World Champions Rodeo Alliance) Triple Crown and Women’s Rodeo World Championship for the 2022 season, both of which are aligned with PBR.
  • CLUTCH, a hybrid consultancy and agency with a roster of clients across the agriculture and food value chain, continues to grow its senior leadership team with the addition of agriculture industry veteran Jeff Caldwell.
  • Mark your calendars and make plans to join the Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City and Agri-Pulse for the Ag Outlook Forum. Early bird pricing ends August 20. Register here.
  • The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) announced Gaylen Holloway joined NCGA as the Grassroots and Leadership Development Manager on July 5. Holloway will foster grower activism, execute grassroots advocacy campaigns, and oversee NCGA’s slate of leadership development programs.
Zimfo Bytes

Technology Powering In-Season Decision Making

Cindy Zimmerman

Satellite and aerial imagery have been available for decades, and recent innovation has greatly advanced the ease and quality of drone imagery, but farmers and their advisers are still struggling with making the technology pay off.

A panel of experts at Tech Hub LIVE last week discussed what it will take to better extract the use and value of this technology. Jeremy Wilson, Senior Vice President Field Data Solutions for EFC Systems, and Bruce Erickson, Agronomy e-Learning Director at Purdue University, moderated the panel, which included:
Brian Henze, Agronomy Technology Services Manager, GROWMARK
Matt Carstens, President and CEO, Landus
Erich Eller, President, ForeFront Ag Solutions

“Really the conversation migrated around what is the business model that makes this work,” said Wilson. “It was more what are the steps we can take to bring value to the grower and revenue back into our businesses … because quite honestly having something cool to bring to your grower doesn’t quite pay the bills anymore.”

Tech Hub Live interview with Jeremy Wilson, EFC Systems (4:48)

AgWired Precision, Audio, Precision Agriculture, Tech Hub LIVE, Technology

ZimmCast 675 – Growth of Benson Hill

Chuck Zimmerman

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast.

The ZimmComm Team has been out on the agriblogging highway at several conferences in the last couple of weeks. This is the first time we’ve been able to do this since the end of February last year. And we’ve got quite a bit more on the calendar starting next with the Agricultural Media Summit in KC, MO. I’ll be there this year in Kansas City taking photos for the American Agricultural Editors Association, now know as the Ag Communicators Network and the Livestock Publications Council and helping AAEA with member interviews as the organization celebrates 100 years. We’re cranking out content from these events in virtual newsrooms on AgNewsWire as well as AgWired. So that’s what is going on in our world. Now let’s move on to this week’s program.

Benson HillIn this episode I’m sharing a conversation with Matt Crisp, CEO of Benson Hill, a food technology company that is unlocking the natural genetic diversity of plants for the plant-based food revolution. It is some very new technology they are employing and Matt will walk us through it. There are some terms like Cloud Biology, nutrition security and the company’s CropOS platform that I think you’ll find them very interesting. So, let’s learn more about what is new with Benson Hill.

So, that’s the ZimmCast for this week. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

Listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast 675 - Growth of Benson Hill (21:34)

In case you didn’t know it you can find more podcasts we produce in all your favorite podcast apps. That includes the Golden ZimmComm Mic Podcast, The Ethanol Report, Field Notes from Koch Agronomic Services and the Daugherty Water for Food Podcast. We hope you enjoy listening to them.

Want to sponsor the ZimmCast? Just let me know and we can talk through ideas for your company. I’m AgriBlogger on Twitter or just email me at chuck@zimmcomm.biz.

Subscribe to the ZimmCast in:

Agribusiness, Audio, Soybean, Technology, ZimmCast

Precision Ag as a Process, Not a Product

Cindy Zimmerman

Precision agriculture has come a long way over the past couple of decades, to the point where it has gone beyond individual technologies to integrated systems, which is becoming increasingly important in the sustainability economy.

FieldReveal CEO Matt Hesse told attendees at last week’s Tech Hub LIVE conference that sustainability will be an increasing consideration for growers in their decision making. “We’ve got tool sets that are currently available that are doing things that need to set us up to be better now and for the future,” said Hesse.

FieldReveal and partner AgWorks were premiere sponsors of the inaugural Tech Hub LIVE in Des Moines.

Tech Hub Live interview with Matt Hesse, FieldReveal (1:59)

Agronomy, AgWired Precision, Audio, Sustainability, Tech Hub LIVE, Technology

Hearing Focuses on State of Beef Supply Chain

Cindy Zimmerman

The U.S. House Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture held a hearing Wednesday to examine how to address challenges within the beef supply chain during which several members of Congress echoed the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s (NCBA) longstanding call to expand processing capacity.

Ranking Member Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) recently introduced the Butcher Block Act, a bipartisan bill that would ease regulatory barriers and offer USDA funding programs for small processors looking to expand or add shackle space. “We don’t have enough processing capacity,” said Johnson during his opening statement. “That is a market failure that has negative impacts both to consumers who want to eat the beef as well as producers who are trying to raise it.”

Bill co-sponsor Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) also made remarks at the hearing. “I’ve been excited to see USDA take steps with funding provided through the American Rescue Plan to help increase competition for meat and poultry processing and I believe the Butcher Block Act would help expand these efforts and ensure their longevity,” she said.

Rep. Spanberger also addressed questions to witnesses at the hearing Dr. Jayson Lusk with Purdue University and Dr. Dustin Aherin, Rabo AgriFinance.

House beef supply chain hearing Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) (5:12)

House beef supply chain hearing Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) (5:40)

Audio, Beef, Livestock, Marketing, Meat, NCBA