ZimmCast 618 – Do Business Better with Damian Mason

Chuck Zimmerman

This week we’re going to learn all about a new book from Damian Mason titled “Do Business Better – Traits, Habits and Actions to Help You Succeed.” Here’s an excerpt from the book description to get us started.

After speaking to companies such as Merck, Land O’Lakes, and Cargill, and 2,000 audiences across the world, Damian Mason, successful businessman, agriculturalist, podcaster, and writer, wants to help you achieve your entrepreneurial goals and live a better life. While other business books claim to tell you how to reach success, they fall short because they don’t address the fact that success is different for each of us. Do Business Better helps you define success on your terms, then shows you how to achieve it.

Damian Mason - Do Business BetterAgWired regulars might remember that we’ve featured Damian at several events in the past like the Agri-Marketing Conference, O.H. Kruse customer event, Southern Peanut Growers Conference and Potato Expo. The two subjects he knows best are business and agriculture. He does a great job of mixing those in his stage presentations.

Damian and I not only talk about his new book but some other subjects like how farmers are doing on social media and his thoughts on the current farm economy. He’s also a podcaster with two programs, The Business of Agriculture and just launched in conjunction with his new book, Do Business Better, a Podcast to Help You Succeed. I think you’ll find a lot of common sense in what Damian has to say. We need more of that in today’s world!

You can find Damian’s new book on Amazon or through his website.

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

Listen to the ZimmCast here: Do Business Better

Audio, ZimmCast

Corteva Completes Separation from DowDuPont

Chuck Zimmerman

Corteva AgriscienceOn Monday the separation of Corteva, Inc. from DowDuPont became official. The photo below is courtesy of the National Corn Growers Association. NCGA President Lynn Chrisp and other commodity group leaders joined Corteva at the New York Stock Exchange to ring the opening bell Monday.

Corteva, Inc. (NYSE: CTVA) successfully completed its separation from DowDuPont, becoming a leading, global pure-play agriculture company that offers the complete solutions farmers need to maximize yield and profitability. Corteva Agriscience launches today with global scale and a balanced offering across seed and crop protection, underpinned by expanding digital capabilities and powered by the broadest and most productive innovation pipeline in the industry.

Corteva Agriscience and NCGA PresidentThe distribution of Corteva common stock was completed on June 1, with each DowDuPont stockholder of record receiving 1 share of Corteva common stock for every 3 shares of DowDuPont common stock held as of the close of business on May 24, 2019. DowDuPont stockholders will also receive cash in lieu of any fractional Corteva shares. Corteva common stock begins trading today on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under its new ticker symbol “CTVA”.

“Today marks the launch of a new kind of agriculture company, well positioned to compete and win by providing farmers the complete solution they need for sustainable, long-term growth and improved profitability,” said Jim Collins, Chief Executive Officer of Corteva Agriscience. “As a global leader in the combined $100 billion seed and crop protection market, Corteva Agriscience has the most robust pipeline in the industry, a world-class innovation engine, and advantaged routes to market that provide us with unparalleled customer relationships – all of which will fuel our growth as an independent company and drive value for stockholders. Our more than 21,000 dedicated employees are committed to fulfilling our purpose to enrich the lives of those who produce and those who consume, ensuring progress for generations to come.”

You can find the full announcement about the separation here.

AgWired Precision

BASF Opens New Research Facility

Carrie Muehling

BASF opened its new global Agrochemical Application Research Center (AARC) in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. The facility will help to further optimize stewardship guidelines regarding on-target application of BASF crop protection products used worldwide. Research conducted at the facility will also address application buffer zones for the company’s products as well as specific tank mix combinations.

“The new Research Center will help us bring new technologies to growers that reduce drift, use rates and fulfill required regulatory testing,” said Paul Rea, Senior Vice President North America, BASF’s Agricultural Solutions division. “Additionally, research from the facility will provide our Technical Service teams with guidelines to help educate our customers on proper application and stewardship best practices.”

Read the full news release here.

AgWired Precision, BASF, Crop Protection, Research

Alltech Accelerator 7 – Colabriq

Carrie Muehling

A tech company based in the United Kingdom is moving into the food and agriculture sector to help improve profit and efficiency in supply chains.

“What Colabriq is doing is helping businesses in food and agriculture make better decisions by having the right information at the right time,” said Jason Cresswell, CEO. “So the key problem every business faces is all that data is spread across lots of different computer systems and a ton of spreadsheets. What we do is we connect all of that data together and connect that data across the end to end supply chain, allowing businesses in the supply chain to coordinate the supply chain from end to end.”

Colabriq has partnered with retailers and processors to form the Poultry Data Alliance, and soon hopes to build out the same sort of collaboration in other areas like dairy and beef. Cresswell said this type of information can help retailers to have a clearer view of what product will be available, and it can also help to eliminate waste that currently exists within the supply chain.

Colabriq is a current participant in the Alltech Pearse Lyons Accelerator.

Listen to Chuck’s interview with Jason here: Interview with Jason Cresswell, Colabriq

Alltech Ideas Conference – ONE19 Photo Album

AgWired Animal, Alltech, Animal Agriculture, Audio

Precision Ag Bytes 6/5

Carrie Muehling

  • To better interpret site specific soil data, yield and remote imagery data, A&L Laboratories has launched TerraSiteRx™ analytics platform. This platform provides ag retailers and crop consultants analytical tools and algorithms to gain deeper insights from farm data resulting in more profitable decision making.
  • Cargill and the Soil Health Institute have announced a new partnership to assess, demonstrate and communicate the economics of soil health management systems across North America.
  • At the annual ISF World Seed Congress, on June 3-5, Phenome Networks, a premier plant breeding software company, and Delair, a leading supplier of commercial drone solutions, will present their strategic collaboration to offer a combined system to accelerate plant breeding and variety testing.
  • The Partnership for Ag Resource Management (PARM), a project of the IPM Institute of North America, has been surveying ag retail locations since 2012 on adoption rates of products and services that benefit both the environment as well as ag retail and customer pocket books. Ninety ag retail locations representing over 5.3 million acres in the Great Lakes and Upper Mississippi River Basins participated in PARM’s 2018 season products and services survey. Participants reduced an estimated 6.4 million pounds of total phosphorus, 1.2 million pounds of dissolved reactive phosphorus and 60 million pounds of total nitrogen. Find the report here.
  • Farmwave‘s mission is to transform the world’s agricultural information into AI data models that power decision-making and preserve the future of farming. While Farmwave will continue to work with large organizations, cooperatives, and other agriculture technology companies to bring their patent-pending C.O.R.E (cloud optimized recognition engine), to their own tech and customers, Farmwave is now open to the rest of the world. Visit https://farmwave.app to sign up and give Farmwave a try.
  • Vermeer Corporation has been named as a 2019 Dealer’s Choice Award recipient by Equipment Dealers Association within the Shortline Manufacturer category. This is the fifth time in the last seven years that Vermeer has received this recognition.
AgWired Precision, Precision Ag Bytes

John Deere Updates MY20 S700 Series Combines

Carrie Muehling

Updates to John Deere just announced updates to its Model Year 2020 S700 Series combines including improved automation and data management.

Combine Advisor™ and HarvestSmart™ have been updated to further automate these machines. Combine Advisor uses ActiveVision™ cameras and sensors to identify changes in crop conditions and automatically adjust the combine to maintain the operator’s settings for optimal performance in varying conditions. “In addition, the user interface has been improved, simplifying control for the operator,” Matt Badding, harvesting product manager for John Deere, said.

HarvestSmart feedrate control automatically regulates ground speed during harvest and adjusts settings on-the-go while it maintains a consistent crop load and responds to crop variations. It has been updated to enable the combine to run closer to its power limit by analyzing engine power, load and rotor pressure for optimal efficiency.

To improve data quality and management for customers, John Deere replaced the S700 Series Combines’ moisture sensor with a new sensor that enables improved accuracy for higher-quality data owners can use in their management decisions.

For more information about the latest John Deere S700 Series Combine updates, visit JohnDeere.com or see your local dealer.

AgWired Precision, Equipment, John Deere

Alltech Accelerator 6 – SwineTech

Carrie Muehling

An Iowa-based company participating in the Alltech Pearse Lyons Accelerator is working to improve the swine industry, beginning with the farrowing process.

“SwineTech is trying to transform the way we look at farrowing management and how we assist sows in the farrowing house, giving the information that’s needed to provide the very best welfare and support and then the technology and autonomy for us to prevent deaths in real time and not having to rely on a person being there every second of every day,” said Matthew Rooda, CEO of SwineTech.

Rooda explained the company’s ability to monitor wavelengths and frequencies of the sounds made in the farrowing house, mapping those and identifying whether or not a sow might be laying on a piglet. When that happens, a wearable attached to the mother pig can alert her to stand up using a vibration and a safe chiropractic impulse. Rooda said SwineTech products are already protecting more than a million piglets in the industry.

Listen to Chuck’s interview with Matthew here: Interview with Matthew Rooda, SwineTech

Alltech Ideas Conference – ONE19 Photo Album

AgWired Animal, Alltech, Animal Agriculture, Audio, Swine

E15 Final Rule: Next Steps

Carrie Muehling

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has removed regulatory barriers allowing access to E15 fuel year-round. Representatives of the Renewable Fuels Association and other industry stakeholders shared information about the future of E15 and what this ruling means for retailers and consumers.

Panelists included: Geoff Cooper, President and CEO, Renewable Fuels Association; Neil Koehler, RFA Board Chairman and CEO of Pacific Ethanol; Steve Walk, Chief Operations Officer, Protec Fuel; and Bryan Stockton, Counsel, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP.

Listen to the comments here: E15 Media Call hosted by Renewable Fuels Association

Audio, Ethanol

Alltech Accelerator 5 – SomaDetect

Carrie Muehling

The Alltech Pearse Lyons Accelerator is helping Canadian company SomaDetect to grow and expose its mission to more members of the agriculture industry. SomaDetect CEO Bethany Deshpande said the company is developing a sensor solution for dairy farmers that will measure several components in raw milk.

“Our goal is to help dairy producers have the information they need to make the best possible milk,” said Deshpande. “So it’s all about really empowering them with data and information about what is in the milk produced by their cows so that they can make early decisions on all kinds of factors – things like herd health, reproduction, as well as quality of milk.”

SomaDetect currently has sensors on about 5,000 cows in the pilot stage and hopes to expand that to 25,000 cows by the end of the year.

Listen to Chuck’s interview with Bethany here: Interview with Bethany Deshpande, SomaDetect

Alltech Ideas Conference – ONE 19 Photo Album

AgWired Animal, Alltech, Animal Agriculture, Audio, Dairy

Legendary Seedsman Don Funk Relaunches NC+

Cindy Zimmerman

Legendary seedsman Don Funk, founder of Channel Bio Corp, is leading a team to relaunch the NC+ brand to serve western corn, soybean and sorghum growers.

NC+ was started in 1958 as a production and marketing organization for farmers to work together as a group rather than individuals to merchandise and grow seed. The original 56 growers merchandised their seed under the NC+ brand. The NC stood for “Nebraska Certified”.

“We’re re-launching NC+ with a similar spirit to its original founding by always putting focus on the farmer. Over the last several years, we have witnessed the need in the seed industry for putting the customer first. Our aim is to deliver what our customers ask for – high performance seed combined with an unparalleled personal experience,” says Funk.

Veteran seedsman Al Koerperich spearheads a team of entrepreneurs to reintroduce the brand to western geographies. It’s a homecoming for Koerperich, who worked for NC+ over a 20-year span.

“The values we shared then with our customers are the same values we share today,” says Koerperich. “The pursuit of providing great value in everything we do – our product, our service, our customer’s experience – is why we wake up every morning.”

Funk relaunched the Midwest Seed Genetics brand in 2017.

AgWired Precision, Corn, Seed, sorghum, Soybean