Precision Ag News 8/4

Carrie Muehling

  • 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.
  • The Soil Health Institute (SHI), the non-profit charged with safeguarding and enhancing the vitality and productivity of soils, has announced that six new scientists and three interns have joined the Institute.
  • Precision Planting, LLC has released a new frame-mounted row cleaner product, Reveal, for nationwide commercial availability through its Premier Dealer network.
  • Share the story of how conservation is part of your farm operation and you could be recognized with a Conservation Legacy Award. The awards recognize farm management practices of U.S. soybean farmers that are both environmentally friendly and profitable. More information on past winners of the award and how to submit your application is available in the “About” section under “Awards” on the American Soybean Association website. All applications must be submitted by Sept. 10, 2021.
  • Ubees, a precision beekeeping and pollination services provider, announced that it has secured $8 million in growth capital. This funding was led by WindSail Capital Group, a Boston-based investment firm focused on energy innovation and sustainability.
  • Moleaer, the leading nanobubble technology company, and RainAg, a leading provider of liquid fertilizer products, announced its partnership to market new nanobubble-infused fertilizers combining Moleaer’s patented and award-winning nanobubble technology with RainAg’s patent-pending Rain Technology.
  • New Holland North America introduces its T7 Heavy Duty Tractor with PLM™ Intelligence to the line of agricultural tractors. The refreshed operator environment and introduction to PLM™ Intelligence technology sets the new benchmark in this category of tractors – creating a range of customization features that enable operators to personalize their tractor to their individual preferences.
  • Nufarm Americas Inc. announced the launch of Leopard™ Herbicide. Leopard is the latest in Nufarm’s portfolio of innovative herbicides formulated to deliver exceptional planting flexibility for soybeans, field corn and cotton.
  • Solvita® Soil Tests capture key biological, chemical and physical traits indicating healthy functioning in a farm system. The usefulness of Solvita® commercial soil health tests as valuable tools to predict soil health indicators such as Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) and Total Nitrogen (TN) has been confirmed by long term field research conducted by the University of Guelph and released in Soil and Tillage Research, September 2021.
AgWired Precision, Precision Ag Bytes, Precision Agriculture

Praxidyn MixMate at Tech Hub Live

Carrie Muehling

A family business still operating on the farm is changing the world of sprayers with Praxidyn MixMate. The automated chemical blending and record keeping system is designed to be portable, adding efficiency to sprayers already working in the field.

“People are getting the message of how inefficient the average sprayer is, and they’re looking for those efficiencies,” said Doug Applegate, CEO and owner. “Here at Tech Hub, particularly, they’re looking for data connections and that type of thing. Those are all things that we really focused on, the in-field type things, now we’re starting to focus on the office efficiency, so data connection from the field to the office is a big deal.”

Applegate said two of his sons are the engineers behind the product, and they build all of the circuit boards on the farm. He does expect to need more space for the growing company soon, as they move beyond corn and soybeans into other crops and also expand their presence internationally.

Tech Hub Live interview with Doug Applegate, Praxidyn (4:01)

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

Meet Gate 39 Media

Carrie Muehling

Gate 39 Media is no stranger to the agriculture industry, beginning in the manufacturing sector and then gaining experience in financial services and commodities that has led to ag technology and ag services.

“I’ve always had the commodity business as part of the clients that we served, but when the market crashed in 2008, manufacturing took a big hit. But the commodities business actually grew stronger during that time period,” said Shane Stiles, president of Gate 39 Media.

Stiles said as the company has grown and expanded on the technology side, they now work on mobile applications and even build technology for ag tech startups. Stiles attended the 2021 Agri-Marketing Conference in Kansas City.

Shane Stiles, Gate 39 Media (10:54)

Agencies, Audio, NAMA

Benson Hill Launches Food System Innovators Program

Cindy Zimmerman

Benson Hill, Inc., today announced the launch of the Benson Hill Food System Innovators Program to collaborate with leading farmers and evaluate its technologies in commercial production environments.

Insights from the FSI Program will further expand the capabilities of the Company’s proprietary CropOS® technology platform and optimize field-specific product outcomes and quality traits. One near-term focus of the FSI Program is to continue maximizing the protein content of the Company’s innovative soybean varieties intended for the human food ingredients market.

“With Benson Hill’s Food System Innovators Program, we’re able to be on the cutting edge of what’s happening in agriculture today,” said Benson Hill Food System Innovators Program farmer Aaron Lee of Cornerstone Family Farms in Salem, Indiana. “We’re striving to produce the best product we can and add value to our operation, and Benson Hill is right there beside us. We’re eliminating waste, improving efficiency and driving toward a more sustainable operation. It’s exciting to play a role in changing the food system.”

The FSI Program includes farmers in six states for the current crop year and is designed for farmers who have a demonstrated track record as early innovation adopters, including deploying precision agriculture technologies. Participating farmers will benefit from early access to the latest Benson Hill product concepts and potential premium opportunities in plant-based protein and other high-value markets.

“Real-time feedback on performance, productivity and other factors is foundational to future innovation at Benson Hill,” said Benson Hill CEO Matt Crisp. “Our farmer partners recognize the growing market demand for plant-based food solutions as an opportunity rooted in better seeds. They share our vision for a modern and more resilient food system that can deliver high-quality, high-protein, sustainable ingredients to meet this demand while supporting strong farmer ROI.”

The Benson Hill Food System Innovators Program is one of several farmer programs the Company has developed to deliver food made better from the beginning through its integrated supply chain. Learn more at www.bensonhill.com/farmers.

Learn more from Crisp about Benson Hill in the latest episode of the ZimmCast.

ZimmCast 675 - Growth of Benson Hill (21:34)

AgWired Precision, Audio, Farming, Food, Precision Agriculture, Technology

Retired Sen. Roberts Keynotes AMS

Cindy Zimmerman

Retired Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) was happy to see many old friends in the farm publication world at the official opening of the 2021 Agricultural Media Summit in Kansas City Monday and he had plenty of stories and opinions to share.

The former senator, who served 40 years in Congress and just retired last year, believes carbon capture and climate mitigation is the biggest story in agriculture right now, along with the “packer-cowboy range war.” He also praised the members of the Livestock Publications Council and Ag Communicators Network. “A lot of people in this room are responsible for shining the light of truth into darkness, they are journalists par excellence,” he said.

Entertaining as always, it’s worth an hour to listen to Roberts’ wisdom and wit.

Keynote address – Retired U.S. Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas
Ret. Sen. Pat Roberts remarks 1 hour 3 min

2021 Ag Media Summit Photo Album

Ag Media Summit, Audio

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