Willards Honored by ARA for Service

Cindy Zimmerman

At the 2018 Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) Convention this week, Billy and Bob Willard were honored with the ARA Distinguished Service Award for their support for ARA and the agricultural retail industry.

“Willard Agri-Service is the gold standard for ag retailers,” said ARA President and CEO Daren Coppock, who presented the award which honors individual members of the association who have provided support above and beyond that of the traditional member and volunteer responsibilities.

Billy, who serves as CEO for Willard Agri-Service, was unable to attend the ARA Convention this week so his father and company founder De Willard accepted the award for him with Bob, past chairman of ARA and chairman of the Willard Agri-Service Board of Directors. Pictured are Bob, De, and Coppock.

Audio – Bob Willard, 2018 ARA Distinguished Service award winner

2018 ARA Conference & Expo Photo Album

Agribusiness, ARA, Audio

GROWMARK Recognized by HIRE Vets Medallion Program

Carrie Muehling


GROWMARK is a 2018 recipient of the HIRE Vets Medallion Program Demonstration Award from the Department of Labor. The award goes to employers that have done a successful job of recruiting and supporting the veterans on their workforce.

GROWMARK’s application included ways the company attracts and supports veterans, like having an internal military support group and military friendly leave policies. The award also takes hiring numbers into account, as veterans make up about five percent of the current workforce at GROWMARK – approximately 150 out of 3,000 employees. Last year about 7.5% of the company’s new hires were veterans with hopes to grow that number, according to Aubrey Bastien, senior talent acquisition and member employment manager.

“GROWMARK is a great home and the FS System is a great home for veterans. Our opportunities are endless and for us, so far, it has been a really good fit and home and we treat them well and we’ll do what we can to make sure that they can really find a home here long term,” said Bastien.

Bastien said tuition assistance is also available to help veterans to pursue continuing education, and GROWMARK offers career services to help build a resume or prepare for an interview. She said the company often connects with local groups like Student Veterans of America and participates in networking nights where recruiters will have dinner with ROTC members or student veterans to let them know about opportunities at GROWMARK.

Listen to Carrie’s interview with Aubrey here: Interview with Aubrey Bastien, GROWMARK

Audio, Cooperatives, GROWMARK

ARA Lifetime Award Goes to Yargus

Cindy Zimmerman

The Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) presented Larry Yargus with its highest individual honor this year, the Jack Eberspacher Lifetime Achievement Award.

In 1992, Yargus acquired Layco, the company his father Lloyd Allen Yargus founded, and led the company’s transition to Yargus Manufacturing, Inc. “Not only has Larry led his family business to major success, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, but he has played a pivotal role in helping to guide ARA to be the strong organization it is today,” said ARA President and CEO Daren Coppock.

Established in 2001, the ARA Lifetime Achievement Award was renamed in 2010 after the late Jack Eberspacher, who served as ARA President and CEO from 2001 until his death in 2009. The award is designed to recognize career-spanning achievements in and contributions to the agricultural retail industry.

Listen to Yargus’ remarks here –
Remarks from Larry Yargus, 2018 ARA Lifetime Achievement award

2018 ARA Conference & Expo Photo Album

Agribusiness, AgWired Precision, ARC, Audio

Simplot Grower Solutions is ARA Retailer of the Year

Cindy Zimmerman

The Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) has named Simplot Grower Solutions its 2018 Retailer of the Year.

The award is sponsored by Bayer and AgPro Magazine and is recognized as a symbol of quality and prestige within the industry. This coveted award honors an ag retailer, large or small, that represents the best of the best. Simplot Grower Solutions, the retail arm of the J.R. Simplot company, was started in 1945 as Simplot Soil Builders and has grown over the last 70-plus years into one of North America’s premier ag retailers.

Simplot Grower Solutions provides customers with expert advice and products for hundreds of crops, multiple cropping systems, and a wide variety of soil types. “We are thrilled to receive this award,” said Dave Dufault, vice president of the JR Simplot Company. “The commitment and dedication of our employees shines through in everything we do, and to be recognized for that is a true honor.”

ARA18 Interview with Dave Dufault, J.R. Simplot

Mark Helt, Bayer U.S. strategic accounts lead presented the award. “The honorees have been leaders in not only their business, but also in their communities and in our industry. I have witnessed firsthand how the Simplot Grower Solutions team build remarkable trusting relationships and truly care about their customers, employees, suppliers and their community.”

In this interview, Helt talks about how Bayer is carrying on this Monsanto legacy sponsorship with ARA. ARA18 Interview with Mark Helt, Bayer U.S. strategic accounts

2018 ARA Conference & Expo Photo Album

Agribusiness, ARA, Audio, Bayer, Precision Agriculture

Expanding the Seed Treatment Approach

Carrie Muehling

Bayer’s Acceleron Seed Applied Solutions Group wants to take farmers beyond the traditional approach to using seed treatments, which usually includes only fungicide and insecticide products.

“Within Acceleron, we think we can really elevate from that two-part approach to a more holistic, more complete four-part approach,” said AJ Hohmann, U.S. Marketing Manager for the Acceleron group. “Obviously, we’ve got fungicides and we’ve got insecticides, but we also have a really large offering of biologicals underneath our Acceleron BioAg umbrella, as well as elevating nematicides.”

Bayer will launch Nemastrike Technology in 2019, offering 75-day control. That means killing two or possibly three life cycles of nematodes. It also controls a wide variety of nematodes that goes far beyond Soybean Cyst Nematode (SCN). The technology will be available not only for soybeans, but also for corn and cotton. It is approved commercially for growers to use in 2019. Hohmann was at the 2018 National Association of Farm Broadcasting Convention in Kansas City.

We’ll learn more about Bayer Seed Applied Solutions at the upcoming ASTA 2018 CSS and Seed Expo.

Listen to Cindy’s interview with AJ here: NAFB18 Interview with AJ Hohmann, Bayer

2018 National Association of Farm Broadcasting Convention Photo Album

AgWired Precision, Audio, Bayer, NAFB

Precision Ag Bytes 11/28

Carrie Muehling

  • Airbus and the leading tractor manufacturer John Deere, have received a Silver Medal during the 2019 SIMA Innovation Award ceremony for Live NBalance, a service merging satellite and tractor data in order to monitor intra-field nitrogen balance even more precisely during the growing season. The companies have joined forces to develop and test this new service in 2019.
  • Joe Tevis, President of VIS Consulting, received AgGateway‘s Ron Storms Leadership Award, the organization’s top honor. The award recognizes repeated, outstanding efforts by an AgGateway volunteer member in promoting collaboration among AgGateway teams and advancing initiatives in digital agriculture.
  • The report, “The Evolution of the Crop Protection Industry Since 1960”, written by market analysts Phillips McDougall, charts how technological advancements have helped the crop protection industry meet increasingly rigorous regulatory requirements, meet societal expectations for ever-safer products, while also helping farmers meet the growing global demand for food. Howard Minigh, President of CropLife International, which represents the plant science industry and commissioned the report, said the data in the report showed progress based on a laser-focus on improvements.
  • The Coalition for Responsible Gene Editing in Agriculture has created communication resources to help those researching, developing and using the technology support an informed dialogue on gene editing in food and agriculture.
  • Save the date for the Conservation Technology Information Center‘s Conservation in Action Tour in Central Iowa on August 20-21, 2019.
AgWired Precision, Precision Ag Bytes

Trade is Hot Topic at #ARA2018

Cindy Zimmerman

The Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) 2018 Conference and Expo started off with the timely topic of trade Tuesday.

Ambassador Darci Vetter, General Manager of Public Affairs & Vice Chair of Agriculture Food and Trade of Edelman Public Affairs, presented a pre-conference workshop on “Trade, Tariffs, and Their Impact on American Agriculture.” Vetter, who is former chief agricultural negotiator at the U.S. Trade Representative and USDA under secretary during the Obama Administration, provided insight into the current state of trade for agriculture.

“Agriculture, and ag retailers specifically, are being squeezed by the Administration’s trade policy,” said Ambassador Vetter. “U.S. tariffs on imported steel and aluminum are raising prices on the products they sell, and retaliatory tariffs on U.S. agricultural products are reducing the income that U.S. farmers have to purchase them. The entire U.S. agricultural supply chain will feel the pinch of these tariffs, and ag retailers have an opportunity to use their experience to demonstrate the importance of trade to the rural economy.”

Vetter answered retailers trade questions at the workshop and then gave an interview to members of the press attending the conference:

Remarks from Darci Vetter, Edelman Public Affairs, former USTR ag negotiator

Interview with Darci Vetter

2018 ARA Conference & Expo Photo Album

Agribusiness, ARA, Audio, Trade

Welcome to #ARA2018

Cindy Zimmerman

The Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) opened its 2018 Conference and Expo in Boca Raton, Florida yesterday, bringing together nearly 600 agricultural retail leaders, suppliers, and industry partners.

“The ARA Conference and Expo is the premier event for ag retailers,” said ARA President and CEO Daren Coppock. “Each year we come together to honor the industry’s best. We hear from engaging speakers who highlight industry trends, and we explore the issues that ag retailers and their farmer customers will face in the coming year.”

The conference kicked off with the Annual ARA Invitational Golf Tournament, affording participants the opportunity to network and create relationships, which are the foundation of successful partnerships for ag retailers. Ambassador Darci Vetter, General Manager of Public Affairs & Vice Chair of Agriculture Food and Trade of Edelman Public Affairs presented a workshop entitled, “Trade, Tariffs, and Their Impact on American Agriculture.”

Highlights today include a keynote address from Chuck Magro, chief executive officer of ARA member Nutrien, and John Spence, author of Awesomely Simple. ARA will also name its 2018 Retailer of the Year and recognize dedicated leaders with the Distinguished Service Award and the Jack Eberspacher Lifetime Achievement Award.

Coppock previews what is in store for the conference, which runs through Thursday, in this interview. Interview with Daren Coppock, ARA President/CEO

2018 ARA Conference & Expo Photo Album

Preview Interview:

Agribusiness, ARA, Audio

BASF Introduces New Insecticide

Carrie Muehling

Growers fighting soybean aphids will welcome the newest insecticide from BASF, recently registered and available for use in 2019. It’s the first time in many years a new mode of action is available to fight soybean aphids and similar pests.

“The unique thing about Inscalis – or the brand name in soybeans will be Sefina – is that it’s a brand new mode of action,” said Duane Rathmann, BASF Technical Service Representative. “That means that mode of action will be able to control the resistant aphids that the old chemistries are missing.”

Rathmann said the new formulation quickly controls aphids by stopping them from feeding on the plant within hours of application. Monitoring and scouting is still important as aphids can be very active one year and almost absent the next. Heavy aphid pressure can reduce soybean yields by 10-20 percent if left unchecked.

Rathmann pointed out that Inscalis is also narrow in its spectrum, which means it will not harm natural predators or pollinators that might also be in the field. It is not a restricted use insecticide because of its very specific profile just for piercing and sucking insects. Rathmann was at the 2018 National Association of Farm Broadcasting Convention in Kansas City.

Listen to Chuck’s interview with Duane here: NAFB18 Interview with Duane Rathmann, BASF

2018 National Association of Farm Broadcasting Convention Photo Album

AgWired Precision, Audio, BASF, NAFB

Deere Helps Farmers Manage Data

Carrie Muehling

The newest equipment from John Deere comes to farmers with some technology components that are now standard, making it easier for growers to collect, analyze and use available data.

“Out of the box, so to speak, they can really engage with precision ag with guidance and with documentation,” said John Mishler, product specialist with John Deere. “It really comes back to data driven decisions. Every pass through the field we use auto track to make the best pass that we can, reducing cost by minimizing overlap, reducing skips, making sure that we’re doing the kind of work that we need to do, but also along the line collecting that data.”

Mishler said farmers can then share that data with a crop consultant or ag retailer or anyone who helps them make decisions for their farm. He encouraged farmers considering expanding technology within their operations to go to a local dealership and ask questions or request a demonstration. Mishler participated in Trade Talk at the 2018 National Association of Farm Broadcasting Convention in Kansas City.

Listen to Cindy’s interview with John here: NAFB18 Interview with John Mishler, John Deere

2018 National Association of Farm Broadcasting Convention Photo Album

AgWired Precision, Audio, John Deere, NAFB