Farmobile Works with ARA to Improve Supply Chain Profitability

Carrie Muehling

Farmobile is partnering with the Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) to help ARA members maximize revenue when it comes to commercial fleets.

Farmobile’s Bradford Warner has a background in logistics, and he noticed when he came to the agriculture industry that it lagged behind others when it comes to efficiency and managing fleets.

“It’s been a very promising relationship, because when you have an association like ARA that’s so focused on member benefits, this is a very logical connection then to an ag tech provider like a Farmobile that’s all about empowering ag retailers to not only have good fleet data but to have good agronomy data to do what they’re doing,” said Warner, who participated in the virtual 2020 ARA Conference & Expo.

Farmobile’s Steve Cubbage said these types of metrics are relatively new compared to most precision ag or agronomy data sets that have been around for the past 20 years. He especially emphasized the importance of being able to use information coming from machines in mixed fleets, providing a common platform for customers who are managing fleets and using variable rate technology. To learn more, visit aradc.org/fleet.

Interview with Bradford Warner & Steve Cubbage, Farmobile 9:51

AgWired Precision, ARA, Audio, data

Industry Ag News 1/22

Carrie Muehling

  • The American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture’s Feeding Minds Press released a new book, My Family’s Soybean Farm, along with a companion educator guide. My Family’s Soybean Farm is now available in paperback for purchase directly from Feeding Minds Press, Amazon and Barnes & Noble online. Special bulk pricing is also available.
  • A strong majority of farmers/farmworkers say the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted their mental health, and more than half say they are personally experiencing more mental health challenges than they were a year ago, according to a new American Farm Bureau poll. A presentation with additional detail on the full survey results is available here.
  • U.S. Wheat Associates has created a new film titled “Wholesome: The Journey of U.S. Wheat” that shows how the people in the export supply system maintain the wholesome, reliable character of U.S. wheat.
  • The U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol welcomed its first Latin America-based members: Central America Spinning Works El Salvador, Cone Mills, Colhilados, Fabricato, Gama Textil, Global Textiles, Grupo Industrial Miro, Grupo Vivatex, Hilanderia de Algodon Peruano, Honduras Spinning Mills, Industrias Cannon de Colombia, Industrias Merlet, Industria Textil del Pacifico, Junior de Mexico (OGGI Jeans), Manufacturas Kaltex, MT Textiles, OA, Playeras Mark, Premium Knits, Quality Knits, Ropa Siete Leguas, SJ Jersey Ecuatoriano, Tavex, Textufil, Textiles Marie Lou, Textil del Valle, WT Sourcing and Zagis. Among other benefits, membership enables these mills and manufacturers to prove that the cotton fiber element in their textiles is more sustainably grown.
  • The National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) shares news of the passing of Lory Williams. Williams joined NAFB at KGNO Radio in 1995 then continued her farm-broadcast career at KBUF Radio in Garden City, Kansas, until leaving there in late 2019 to take care of her husband who was ill. During her time as an NAFB member, Williams was named the 2003 South Region Horizon Award recipient, contributed to the Chats newsletter, and served as a South Region Director.
  • GROWMARK 2021 FFA Essay Contest state winners. Winners include: Maggie Handfelt of East Dubuque, Illinois, Sydney Benscoter of Marengo, Iowa, Marleigh Worden of Greenville, Michigan, Madilynn Lippa of Montrose, Missouri, Lily Wolf of Hamilton, Ohio, and Sydney Burling of Lake Mills, Wisconsin. The theme of this year’s contest was “If you could invent a new technology to improve agriculture, what would it be?” Students were encouraged to think creatively, not necessarily realistically, as they described their ideal invention.
  • Commodity Classic has set the dates for its 2021 Special Edition, which will take place March 2-5, 2021 as a digital experience. Registration will open Tuesday, January 26, 2021 at CommodityClassic.com. The registration fee is waived for the first 5,000 farmers, thanks to the generous support of sponsors. All other registrants and farmers after the first 5,000 will be charged $20.
Zimfo Bytes

Precision Ag News 1/20

Carrie Muehling

  • The InfoAg Conference is scheduled live and in person for August 3-4, 2021 at the St. Louis Station Hotel in St. Louis, MO! Sign up here to receive updates on speakers, special events, health and safety protocols and more.
  • Harvust is the winner of the seventh annual Farm Bureau Ag Innovation Challenge, becoming the 2021 Farm Bureau Entrepreneur of the Year. AFBF, in partnership with Farm Credit, announced the winner at AFBF’s Virtual Annual Convention.
  • AgReliant Genetics announced Christy Toedebusch will join the executive leadership team as Vice President of Marketing, Digital Agriculture and Business Development.
  • Cory Atley, Ohio’s four-time crop production yield winner, announced a new brand – Advanced Yield Select Crop Inputs – for the purpose of helping growers “make the most of every dollar they spend on crop inputs on every acre they farm.” Atley, who farms more than 8,000 acres of leased and family ground, is known by many for his high yields and appearance in the reality show “Corn Warriors.”
  • To meet the constantly changing demands of the business of farming, John Deere has improved the look, feel and navigation features of its popular cloud-based system – Operations Center – to bring new levels of clarity and organization to farm data management. Another improvement John Deere made to the Operations Center is the addition of the new Work Planner feature farmers can use to streamline their work setup experience and help operators start working more quickly in the field.
  • Terra Vera has announced its launch, offering innovative solutions to replace conventional pesticides and increase product safety and consumer confidence within the agriculture industry. Using patented technologies compliant with EPA regulations, Terra Vera offers producers a safe, effective, and sustainable approach to rid crops of contaminants while preserving the quality and yield of their products.
  • Agriculture has become an expert at collecting data but continues to fall short of the economic and environmental promise the information bonanza represents. The Sustainability Ag Research Action Team (SARAT) of the National Corn Growers Association has made integrating and managing the wealth of information coming from the farm a priority for 2021.
AgWired Precision, Precision Ag Bytes, Precision Agriculture

Managing Bt Resistance in Cotton

Carrie Muehling

The Beltwide Cotton Consultants Conference featured a panel on a very important topic for cotton growers in recent years, which is managing resistance to Bt insecticides that control bollworms. One of those on the panel was Mississippi State entomologist Dr. Jeff Gore.

“An important thing that we need to always remember is that these Bt traits are still extremely valuable for us,” said Gore. “I think it’s important to just always remember that even though we’re seeing some resistance and we’re having to spray some, it’s not the end of the world. The Bt is still providing a lot of value.”

Gore encouraged growers to avoid Bt corn varieties in order to help fight Bt resistance in cotton, noting that planting Bt corn in this region do not typically see the same return on investment as planting the same varieties in other parts of the country. Although he recognized the Bt trait can also be an important tool for corn, he urged growers across the Mid-South to save it for cotton.

2021 Beltwide - Jeff Gore, Mississippi State 7:47

Audio, Beltwide Cotton, Cotton

Heliae® Agriculture and Rizobacter Collaborate

Cindy Zimmerman

Heliae® Agriculture has announced a new strategic collaboration with Rizobacter, a subsidiary of Bioceres Crop Solutions Corp., a global leader in sustainable solutions for agriculture, to deliver unique soil and crop nutrition technologies for farmers.

Through this collaboration, Heliae® Agriculture will integrate Rizobacter’s world class biological solutions into their comprehensive product and technology offerings, starting in January 2021. Adoption of inoculants and other biological solutions is growing, driven by increased farmer awareness and demand for more environmentally sustainable agricultural practices to increase yields and profits.

Eric Lichtenheld, President and CEO of Heliae stated, “Creating this strategic collaboration between our PhycoTerra® microalgae products and Rizobacter’s biological products enables growers nationwide to focus on building soil structure and root performance that drives higher yields and healthier fields.”

“Rizobacter has a strong focus in biologicals and sustainable crop solutions,” said Ricardo Yapur, CEO of Rizobacter. “This new collaboration enriches our offering of an integrated natural nutrition program provided by selected microorganisms, providing a variety of plant and soil health solutions for growers.”

Heliae® Agriculture is focused on developing microalgae products and bringing them to the market. The groundbreaking development of PhycoTerra® provides a balanced food for the soil microbiome to improve plant vigor and crop performance, even under stressed conditions.

Norm Davy, Chief Revenue Officer at Heliae® Agriculture, says the collaboration between Rizobacter and Heliae® Agriculture will provide farmers throughout the United States and Eastern Canada with new solutions that will add value to their farming operations. “Rizobacter’s understanding of local growers’ needs and their exceptional research and development talent makes them an excellent supplier partner that will allow us to bring incremental biological solutions like the PhycoTerra® and Rizoliq TOP® HC to more farmers.”

AgWired Precision, Precision Agriculture

Biodiesel and Renewable Diesel Rise to Meet New Opportunities

Cindy Zimmerman

The biodiesel and renewable diesel industry kicked off the 2021 Virtual National Biodiesel Conference and Expo Tuesday with an optimistic outlook for the future of America’s sustainable petroleum diesel replacement.

The theme of this year’s conference is “Rise 2021” and in his annual state of the industry address, National Biodiesel Board CEO Donnell Rehagen pointed to several factors contributing to increased demand for biodiesel and renewable diesel.

“Last year we unveiled Vision 2020, our plan to grow to over six billion gallons by the year 2030, and, with advancements in feedstocks, 15 billion gallons by 2050,” he said. “The biodiesel and renewable diesel industry believes, with strong data I might add, we will have the production and market demand to reach this previously unimaginable goal by 2030.”

Specifically, Rehagen said states across the country have embraced sustainable fuels as part of their own efforts to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions within their borders. Those efforts took on greater significance during the pandemic as Americans witnessed natural reduction of smog and pollution from drivers staying home and using less petroleum.

Beyond the growth in demand for traditional biodiesel and renewable diesel in on-road and off-road transportation applications, the increasing use of Bioheat® as an oilheat replacement, as well as interest in renewable jet fuels, are expanding new markets for the industry.

Rehagen also reminded virtual attendees that at last year’s conference in Tampa, the industry was celebrating the recently reinstated biodiesel tax incentive, which continues to encourage growth.

“By renewing the biodiesel tax incentive through 2022, Congress sent a strong signal that it supports growth in the biodiesel market and provided a much-needed economic lifeline to biodiesel producers and farmers across this country,” he said.

Listen to Rehagen’s state of the industry address and follow up press conference below:
2021 Biodiesel Conference state of the industry address - NBB CEO Donnell Rehagen (18:43)

2021 Biodiesel Conference NBB CEO Donnell Rehagen press conference (28:44)

Audio, Biodiesel, Biofuels, National Biodiesel Conference

Social Media Platform Decisions Causing Fear & Indecision

Chuck Zimmerman

AgWired TwitterWe are still reeling from the events that occurred in Washington, DC recently and wonder where it will all end. We have been social media pioneers in this industry and started our company the same year Facebook started, but now we are concerned about what the future holds. We’ve already had some issues with the major platforms just from the standpoint of how some of their policy decision are affecting publishers and most recently how the latest Apple iOS update is affecting apps with their new privacy restrictions.

We have (or had) personal and multiple company accounts on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and others. Now we’re wondering what the impact will be with the fragmenting of audience as these platforms lose users and other platforms start growing.

Cindy and I are appalled by the violence in the nation’s Capitol, but also appalled at the attack on free speech and the way this is continuing to snowball. We are in a very scary time right now and we are praying a lot for the future of our nation.

For this reason, we’re looking into alternatives. I’ve already opened a Gab account (running slow with huge amount of traffic) and I had a Parler account for a day. I haven’t had time to evaluate them, but I will. And I’ll keep looking at new ones. Maybe it’s time for new media to be new media again.

We would love to discuss this with anyone, any time. Feel free to contact us. And just in case that becomes more difficult on “traditional” social media, please subscribe to our weekly e-newsletters to keep in touch with what’s new with ZimmComm. Also, please feel free to email either of us and put us on your contact lists if you decide to drop social media accounts. chuck@zimmcomm.biz and cindy@zimmcomm.biz.

Social Media, Social Networking

Animal Ag News 1/18

Carrie Muehling

  • The Federation of State Beef Councils, on behalf of the Beef Checkoff, has partnered with the Daytona International Speedway to sponsor the 40th season-opening race for the NASCAR Xfinity Series – the Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner.® 300. The event is set for a 5 p.m. ET start on Saturday, Feb. 13, the day before the 63rd Annual DAYTONA 500.
  • The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association‘s (NCBA) Senior Director of International Trade and Market Access, Kent Bacus issued a statement in response to reports of another reported occurrence of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in Namibia.
  • The Masters of Beef Advocacy (MBA) program managed by National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, a contractor to the Beef Checkoff, has launched updated advocacy training modules – MBA NextGen. MBA NextGen updates the popular MBA training modules making it easier than ever for a new generation of farmers and ranchers to share their story and advocate knowledgeably for the beef industry.
  • For more than two years, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has dragged its feet on the development of gene-edited livestock, an emerging technology with tremendous promise for livestock agriculture, causing American agriculture to fall behind in the global race to advance its development. Under a recently proposed rule, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will have primary regulatory jurisdiction, which “will foster innovation, allow for producer access to this technology, and preserve the preeminence of American agriculture globally,” the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) wrote in comments submitted to the agency.
  • The National Pork Producers Council introduced a multimedia campaign, “Farming Today for Tomorrow,” to showcase U.S. pork producers’ long-standing commitment to environmental stewardship and further reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health announced the appointment of Randolph Legg as its U.S. President. He succeeds Everett Hoekstra, who retired in December.
  • The U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Poultry & Eggs and International Poultry Welfare Alliance announced Candace Bergesch as the new director of communications for both organizations, beginning Jan. 11. The move aims to strengthen the collaboration between the organizations as well as promote individual success in addressing issues related to poultry welfare and sustainability.
  • The American Gelbvieh Association is pleased to announce the addition of Katie Harbert to the AGA staff as Gelbvieh Media Productions Coordinator. Harbert will be responsible for design, production, and ad sales of official AGA publications and will also provide design services for AGA members and the Association.
  • Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative has hired Mykel Wedig, who has worked on federal ag policy issues in Washington, D.C., to join its government affairs team.
AgWired Animal, Animal Agriculture, Animal Bites

USDA Announces Final Rule on Hemp Production

Cindy Zimmerman

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced the final rule regulating the production of hemp in the United States.

“With the publication of this final rule, USDA brings to a close a full and transparent rule-making process that started with a hemp listening session in March 2019,” said USDA Marketing and Regulatory Programs Under Secretary Greg Ibach. “USDA staff have taken the information you have provided through three comment periods and from your experiences over a growing season to develop regulations that meet Congressional intent while providing a fair, consistent, science-based process for states, tribes and individual producers. USDA staff will continue to conduct education and outreach to help industry achieve compliance with the requirements.”

Key provisions of the final rule include licensing requirements; record keeping requirements for maintaining information about the land where hemp is produced; procedures for testing the THC concentration levels for hemp; procedures for disposing of non-compliant plants; compliance provisions; and procedures for handling violations.

Cannabis, hemp, USDA

Mixed Bag of Last Minute EPA Proposals for Biofuels

Cindy Zimmerman

With just days before a new administration takes office, the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday issued a mixed bag of last minute proposals for biofuels producers.

First, in Friday’s Federal Register, EPA proposed to extend compliance deadlines for 2019 and 2020 renewable volume obligations, stating that the agency would “take no position on the availability of SREs for the 2019 compliance year.”

Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Geoff Cooper saw that as good news. “We do agree with EPA that the outgoing administration should refrain from any further action on the pending small refinery petitions. To that end, we see EPA’s statement in this proposal that it is not taking a position on 2019 SREs as a good sign.”

Also on Friday, EPA announced a final determination that no additional measures are necessary to mitigate “potential adverse air quality impacts” associated with the Renewable Fuel Standard, and Cooper says RFA agrees. “We agree with EPA that no additional ‘fuel control measures’ are necessary to mitigate ‘adverse air quality impacts’ from the RFS, because there are no ‘adverse’ impacts!”

However, Cooper says they do not agree with a proposal to be published in Tuesday’s Federal Register to seek public comments on requests from refiners and oil state governors to provide a general waiver from 2019 and 2020 RFS renewable volume obligations due to COVID-19. “This is nothing more than one last desperate attempt by the refiners to undermine the RFS and protect their chokehold on the nation’s fuel markets. But it cannot succeed because EPA has no authority to waive RFS volumes unless the petitioners show that the RFS itself is the cause of the ‘severe economic harm’ to a state, region, or the nation.”

The final proposal out of EPA to be published on Tuesday would remove certain barriers to expand sales of E15, which Cooper says is strongly supported by the industry. RFA will be providing comments on all of these matters and testifying at the public hearings scheduled on several of these proposed actions.

Cooper summarizes RFA’s reaction to all of these proposals, in addition to the Supreme Court taking up the Tenth Circuit Court decision on small refinery exemptions, and rumors EPA would grant waivers on the way out the door.

RFA president and CEO Geoff Cooper summarizes week of ethanol news (9:36)

Audio, Biodiesel, Biofuels, EPA, Ethanol, RFA