ZimmCast 624 – #FPS19

Cindy Zimmerman

It was a busy Farm Progress Show this year with great weather and lots to talk about. Happy to have a long weekend to recover from our labor!

In this edition of the ZimmCast, you will hear from some of the many voices at #FPS19, including Show Manager Matt Jungmann, BASF External Communications Manager Casey Allen, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, President Donald J. Trump, National Corn Growers Association 1st VP Kevin Ross, and National Hemp Association executive director Erica Stark.

Links to lots more content can be found on the 2019 Farm Progress Show virtual newsroom. Special thanks to Syngenta, GROWMARK, and Bayer for their support in helping us bring you the sights and sounds of #FPS19.

Listen to the ZimmCast here:
ZimmCast 624 - #FPS19

2019 Farm Progress Show photo album

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Deere Board Elects John May as CEO

Cindy Zimmerman

The Deere & Company Board of Directors has elected John C. May as Chief Executive Officer, effective November 4, 2019. May has served as Deere’s President and Chief Operating Officer since April 2019.

Current CEO Samuel R. Allen will continue as chairman of the board of directors after he steps down from the CEO position. May becomes the 10th chief executive in the company’s 182-year history.

The 50-year-old May joined Deere in 1997 and became part of the senior management team in 2012 as President, Agricultural Solutions and Chief Information Officer. Last year, he was named President, Worldwide Agriculture & Turf Division, with responsibility for the Americas and Australia, the global harvesting, turf and utility, and crop care platforms, and intelligent-solutions group.

John Deere

Zimfo Bytes 8/30

Carrie Muehling

  • Three Iowa FFA chapters were awarded bragging rights and cash prizes in the Pioneer® brand A-Series Soybeans Big A Challenge. The winning chapters were recognized and their statues displayed prominently at the 2019 Farm Progress Show in Decatur, Illinois. Judges selected Mount Ayr FFA of Mount Ayr, Iowa, as the overall winner of the $2,500 top prize. North Tama FFA of Traer, Iowa, won $1,500 for second place and Wayne FFA of Corydon, Iowa, earned $1,000 for third place. The top three chapters were chosen from 15 finalist chapters in Iowa and Illinois.
  • Three weeks ago, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) stunned the corn industry with news it approved 31 additional small refinery exemptions for big oil companies. This week, National Corn Growers Association President Lynn Chrisp sent a letter to President Trump encouraging him to step in and help out corn farmers that have been affected by this mistake.
  • Robert Coleman has been selected to be the new chief operating officer of the Farm Credit Administration.
  • Artemis announces the Artemis Global Ag Report, which will gather industry insights from growers around challenges and opportunities for the farming industry as in past years; however, this survey is open to all specialty crop cultivators—across international, enterprise, indoor/outdoor, hemp and cannabis operations. The survey is now open for submissions and will close Tuesday, October 15.
    • Zimfo Bytes

    GROWMARK Supply Chain Focused on Efficiency

    Carrie Muehling

    GROWMARK’s Rod Wells (far right) with several State Directors of Agriculture at the 2019 Farm Progress Show.

    The weather challenges many farmers faced over the past year tested the supply chain for companies like GROWMARK, but the regional cooperative was well equipped to help their customers react to changing conditions like river shutdowns, the need for shorter season hybrids in some cases, and crop protection adjustments.

    That’s a benefit of working across all of the company’s various divisions from energy to agronomy to grain with a continued focus on operational efficiency.

    “Given the farm economy and what we’re faced with this year – farm incomes being down – everybody is open at this point, I think, to looking at a better way to do something, again, being responsive to that customer but also being as efficient as you can possibly be doing it because you just can’t afford to have the waste in the system anymore,” said Rod Wells, Executive Director, Enterprise Supply Chain, GROWMARK.

    Wells said he is excited about implementing Lean Six Sigma principles within the cooperative over the coming year, looking at all processes and identifying and removing waste where possible, while still balancing that with responsiveness to the customer. Wells was at the 2019 Farm Progress Show in Decatur, Ill.

    Listen to Chuck’s interview with Rod here: Interview with Rod Wells, GROWMARK

    2019 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

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    USDA Secretary Addresses Ag Issues at #FPS19

    Carrie Muehling

    Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue spent a full day at Farm Progress Show in just a few hours. After listening to farmers’ concerns during an Ag Policy Forum across the street, the secretary drove a tractor in the ride and drive, took a call from President Trump during a live show on stage with Max Armstrong, and then answered questions from a few dozen reporters gathered in the BASF Media Tent.

    Listen to the press conference with USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue here: FPS19 USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue Press Conference

    2019 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

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    BASF Talks Future of Weed Control

    Carrie Muehling

    BASF hosted a panel discussion on the future of weed control at the 2019 Farm Progress Show. Moderating the conversation was Scott Kay, BASF Vice President of Operations for North America.

    Panelists included Rick Van Genderen, BASF Global Lead for Soybean & Corn Seed & Trait Strategy; Bryan Young, Weed Science Professor at Purdue University; and Brad Wade, Illinois Corn and Soybean Grower.

    Listen to the full panel discussion here:
    BASF Panel Discussion on Weed Control

    Interview with Scott Kay, BASF

    Interview with Rick Van Genderen, BASF

    2019 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

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    Secretary Perdue at Illinois Ag Policy Forum

    Carrie Muehling

    U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue told those gathered at an ag policy forum during the 2019 Farm Progress Show that he expects President Trump to announce small refinery waiver mitigation efforts soon. Perdue declined to provide further details about the coming announcement.

    Members of the Illinois Congressional Delegation including Rep. Rodney Davis, Rep. John Shimkus, Rep. Mike Bost and Rep. Darin LaHood hosted the forum, where they and Secretary Perdue answered questions from farmers and agribusiness leaders on trade and tariffs, biosecurity, renewable fuels and hemp production among other topics.

    Listen to the entire Ag Policy Forum here: FPS19 Ag Policy Forum

    2019 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

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    Golden Harvest Connects with John Deere Operations

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Syngenta E-LuminateGolden Harvest announced a collaboration with John Deere on its E-Luminate digital platform at the 2019 Farm Progress Show.

    “If I’m a grower and my data is already stored to the John Deere cloud, we have a way for that grower then to share information with us within E-Luminate, in order for us to work together to make better decisions for that grower,” said Justin Welch, Syngenta Digital Commercial Lead for U.S. Seed Business. “We believe by having that grower have his information available to more trusted advisors, they’re going to have a better opportunity to have a higher return on their investment.”

    Welch said the E-Luminate service is already very customer focused, delivered through one of 1,200 Golden Harvest seed advisors who use an eight-step process to connect with growers throughout the year.

    Listen to the interview here or watch it below: Interview with Justin Welch, Syngenta


    2019 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

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    #FPS19 Day Two Underway

    Carrie Muehling

    Day two of the 2019 Farm Progress Show is underway with plenty of sunshine and a full line up of events, including a visit from Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue.

    Show Manager Matt Jungmann said late planting for many farmers this year means they are not yet in the field and as a result the crowds are turning out for the event.

    “It appears that the optimism of the American farmer means that we’re going to have a great year in 2020 and we’re going to make plans, so we’re going to go to the Farm Progress Show, start the planning process, take step one to put 2019 behind us, and go to work,” said Jungmann, who is National Events Director for Farm Progress.

    Jungmann said visitors to the show are enjoying perfect weather after rains came through during set up for the event. New exhibits this year include an area focused on hemp production and the demonstration of a mock pipeline strike with a tiling machine.

    Listen to Chuck’s interview with Matt here: Interview with Matt Jungmann, Farm Progress

    2019 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

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    Precision Ag Bytes 8/28

    Carrie Muehling

    • Ag Leader announces GPS 7500 receivers will now support TerraStar-X, providing centimeter-level accuracy to customers across the Midwestern United States, with additional coverage areas coming soon. TerraStar-X delivers RTK From the Sky™ performance, and convergence in under one minute with two centimeter accuracy.
    • The annual SoyStats report has long been the definitive guide to soybeans by the numbers. But now, those seekers of soy knowledge can find these figures not only in the yearly hard copy booklet and online at soystats.com and the ASA website soygrowers.com, but also in a handy new app, sponsored by the Illinois Soybean Association.
    • New to the John Deere round baler lineup for 2020 are the C451R and C461R Combination Round Balers designed to help producers more efficiently cut, bale and wrap all types of forage for higher quality feed.
    • Farm Foundation will bring together a panel of experts Sept. 24, 2019, in Washington, DC, to examine the potential value and benefits of an ecosystem marketplace.
    • To help ag service providers and large-acre producers apply high-volume liquid fertilizers, crop protection products and other solutions more quickly and accurately to a wide variety of fields, John Deere introduces the LS475 Liquid System option for its F4365 High-Capacity Nutrient Applicator.
    • Topcon Agriculture announces availability of its new cloud-based farm management platform integrating state-of-the-art connectivity, cloud services and data analytics. Topcon Agriculture Platform (TAP) subscriptions and cloud connectivity devices — Cloudlynk — will be available worldwide September 2019 and are designed to suit virtually any agricultural machine, implement, or technology.
    AgWired Precision, Precision Ag Bytes