Precision Ag Bytes 10/24

Carrie Muehling

  • During the month of October, as part of its Sakata Gives Corporate Giving Program, Sakata Seed America participated in two walks to raise awareness and much-needed funds for the American Heart Association. Overall, roughly 110 Sakata employees participated in the two walks and raised over $4,900 for the cause.
  • Thousands of 4-H youth from across the country will experience valuable hands-on learning opportunities as a result of Tractor Supply’s Paper Clover Campaign. The biannual fundraiser, held in partnership with National 4-H Council, collectively raised $1,999,661 in 2018 through donations made with purchases in store and online.
  • HELM Agro US, Inc. announced that the California Department of Pesticide Regulations has approved Helmstar Plus SC fungicide for use on selected crops in that state.
  • Rice farmers in the South can better manage for increased profitability by taking advantage of 0% APR financing on Horizon Ag Clearfield and Provisia rice seed and BASF crop protection products under a new program utilizing the Multi-Use Account offered through John Deere Financial.
  • The Illinois Farm Bureau was honored for its ongoing sustainability and nutrient loss reduction efforts as a winner of the 2018 Sustainability Award. The award, which recognizes private and public Illinois organizations and businesses who have implemented outstanding and innovating sustainable techniques or technologies, is given by the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center.
AgWired Precision, Precision Ag Bytes, Precision Agriculture

Export Exchange Furthers USGC Mission

Cindy Zimmerman

The chairman of the U.S. Grains Council (USGC) is optimistic about the growth of export markets for grains and ethanol co-products such as distllers grains (DDGS).

“In the 2017-18 marketing year, the U.S. set a new record for exports of feed grains and co-products for the second year in a row,” said USGC chair Jim Stitzlein, manager of market development for Consolidated Grain and Barge Co, in his welcome address to Export Exchange 2018 in Minneapolis Tuesday.

Stitzlein says the biennial Export Exchange is an excellent opportunity for U.S. grain suppliers to meet with interested buyers and build relationships, which furthers the mission of USGC to develop new markets for agricultural products. The event is co-sponsored by the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), and Growth Energy.

Listen to Stitzlein’s welcome and an interview with him from Export Exchange:

Export Exchange 18 welcome from USGC chair Jim Stitzlein

ExEx18 interview with USGC chair Jim Stitzlein, Consolidated Grain and Barge

Export Exchange 2018 Photo Album

Audio, Ethanol, Exports, Grains, USGC

Meet Cargill’s Cowboy Robot

Cindy Zimmerman

Cargill has developed the first ever robotic cattle driver to improve both animal welfare and employee safety.

The robots are designed to move cattle from pens to the harvest area, reducing stress to the animals by minimizing their proximity to human activity. Employees operate the robots from a catwalk located above the pens, reducing safety risks by keeping those who work in the cattle yard portion of processing plants at a safer distance.

Using waving automated arms, blowers and audio recordings to move cattle in a desired direction, the robots can operate in rain, snow or mud, with no delay in daily operations. Testing was conducted at Cargill’s Wyalusing, Penn., and Schuyler, Neb., beef processing facilities to determine a design and operational attributes of the robot that would effectively improve animal welfare and employee safety before being implemented at the company’s U.S. and Canadian beef plants.

The robotic cattle drivers are currently being implemented at Cargill Protein beef plants in the U.S. and Canada and are manufactured by the New Jersey-based company Flock Free, which is primarily a company focused on bird control for various industries.

Learn more about the Cowboy Robot from Cargill and watch it at work in this video –


AgWired Animal, AgWired Precision, Animal Agriculture, Livestock, Video

Export Exchange 2018 is Underway

Cindy Zimmerman

More than 200 international buyers and end-users of coarse grains and co-products from some 35 countries are in Minneapolis this week for Export Exchange 2018.

The biennial educational and trade forum, co-sponsored by the U.S. Grains Council, Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), and Growth Energy, offers attendees an unparalleled opportunity to meet and build relationships with domestic suppliers of corn, distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS), sorghum, barley and other commodities.

In addition to networking opportunities, USGC CEO Tom Sleight says Exchange attendees will be briefed on the global supply and demand situation, food safety regulations, agribusiness, the current U.S. policy environment and more. “We’re in a really strong, competitive situation right now for feed grains and that’s really fueling us,” said Sleight.

This is the fifth Export Exchange conference since 2010 and RFA chief economist Scott Richman says it is a very important event for increasing exports of the ethanol co-product DDGS. “These are a lot of our customers in some of the key destinations for exports of distillers grains for the U.S. ethanol industry,” said Richman.

Listen to or download interviews with both Sleight and Richman below:

Export Exchange 18 interview with Tom Sleight, USGC

Export Exchange 18 interview with Scott Richman, RFA

Export Exchange 2018 Photo Album

Audio, Ethanol, Exports, Grains, RFA, USGC

Animal Ag Bites 10/22

Carrie Muehling

  • The dairy checkoff has awarded 13 academic scholarships to students enrolled in programs that emphasize dairy and who have shown potential to become future dairy leaders. The National Dairy Promotion and Research Board, through Dairy Management Inc., which manages the national dairy checkoff, annually awards $2,500 scholarships to each student. In addition, the NDB awards a $3,500 James H. Loper Jr. Memorial Scholarship to one outstanding scholarship recipient.
  • Jeff Wilkerson, a long-time industry expert in livestock sales and marketing, has announced a new independent venture under the company name Wilkerson Solutions.
  • Hiland Dairy Foods Company received 16 awards in dairy product categories during the 2018 World Dairy Expo Championship Dairy Product Contest.
  • News on the trade front is getting better for U.S. pork producers as the Trump administration announced it wants to negotiate trade agreements with the European Union, Japan and the United Kingdom. The National Pork Producers Council commended the administration for its ambitious trade agenda.
  • Swanson Russell has been selected as agency of record for the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board.
AgWired Animal, Animal Bites

BASF Donates to Hurricane Florence Relief

Cindy Zimmerman

BASF is helping support Hurricane Florence disaster relief efforts in North Carolina.

BASF has donated more than $150,000 in funds and supplies to the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina and the American Red Cross-Greater Carolinas, including equipment such as generators and extension cords. The donations were made on behalf of BASF employees at its Research Triangle Park and Charlotte locations.

The Food Bank donation of $50,000 will provide an additional 250,000 meals, water, and non-food essentials to partner agencies who are currently distributing needed resources to the thousands affected by the hurricane. “The Food Bank of Central & Eastern Carolina is one of our valued community partners in the Raleigh-Durham region and this donation helps families that are going through extreme food insecurity as a result of the hurricane,” said Paul Rea, Senior Vice President, BASF Agricultural Solutions located in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.

The American Red Cross is providing a range of relief services to those impacted by the hurricane in Charlotte and surrounding communities, including meals, snacks, overnight shelter, and mental health and health transportation. “Many BASF families live and work in the greater Charlotte area. We believe it is our responsibility to support the community, and areas surrounding our site, in their recovery from the impacts of Florence,” said Gerry Podesta, Senior Vice President, BASF Dispersions & Resins located in Charlotte, North Carolina.

AgWired Precision, BASF

Zimfo Bytes 10/19

Carrie Muehling

  • Amy Rohweder joins Charleston|Orwig as media buyer and planner.
  • The new Food and Farm Facts Junior edition, produced by the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture, is now available. Copies of Food and Farm Facts Junior may be purchased for $3.00 each. A price break is available for purchases of 25 or more ($2.00 each). Visit http://bit.ly/FFFJR18 for more information and to order copies.
  • The new addition to the IFYE Association of the USA, Inc. (formerly International Farm Youth Exchange) program adds the opportunity not only to live with a host family, but to job shadow professionally with a member of the family as well. A pilot program implemented by Syngenta recently ended a successful exchange with Lisa Schmid, an IFYE from Germany. She job shadowed and lived with three Syngenta professionals who work at the company’s Minnetonka, Minnesota, location.
  • Next week, the city of Indianapolis will transform into a sea of blue jackets when the National FFA Convention & Expo kicks off for the ninety-first time. This time-honored tradition, where innovators and leaders of tomorrow come together, will be held in the Circle City Oct. 24-27, 2018.
  • Swanson Russell has been selected as agency of record for the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board.
  • Scott Partridge, former vice president of global strategy for Monsanto, now part of Bayer, has been named the company’s U.S. General Counsel.
Zimfo Bytes

Export Exchange Pre-Tours Underway

Cindy Zimmerman

Export Exchange team from Mexico visits Kansas in 2016 (USGC photo)

The 2018 Export Exchange starts next week in Minneapolis, but many teams of international buyers are already here in the United States participating in pre-event tours around the Midwest.

The tours include three teams from Mexico who will visit Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Kentucky and Iowa to see U.S. corn, sorghum and distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) production and supply as well as assess current crop conditions during their stops. Two teams are visiting states before Export Exchange and one will be visiting after the event concludes.

In addition, a trade team interested in corn and DDGS from Vietnam will visit Illinois after participating in Export Exchange. While in Illinois, the Vietnamese party will engage in specialized crop tours of the 2018 corn harvest, as well as visit an ethanol plant and trans-loading facility.

Export Exchange is a biennial educational and trade forum for U.S. feed grains sponsored by the U.S. Grains Council (USGC), the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) and Growth Energy that will host approximately 200 international buyers and end-users organized into 21 USGC trade teams. It will be held Oct. 22-24 in Minneapolis.

Corn, Ethanol, Exports, USGC

Timac Agro USA Launches Accelerated Leadership Program

Cindy Zimmerman

Timac Agro USA, a leading provider of crop nutritional solutions, has launched an Accelerated Leadership Program to recruit candidates to join their team of visionaries in the agricultural industry.

Candidates under consideration for this new leadership program will be emerging college students with work experience in the range of 5 years. They will undergo an in-depth training process with a professional rotation of key business units over a 4-month period. Candidates will be recruited and interviewed in 2018 for an enrollment in the 2019 program. Submission deadline is November 23, 2018. Resumes are to be submitted via the Accelerated Leadership Program web page.

“Timac Agro USA is committed to continuous innovation in agriculture and customer satisfaction. Training new leaders will encourage fresh ideas, new growth and success for the company. We look forward to welcoming new team members,” said Alexandre Goullier, CEO Timac Agro USA.

Enrollees in the program will rotate through several divisions of the organization including finance, operations, sales and supply chain and then placed in the leadership role where they can further develop their skills and be mentored by other leaders within Timac Agro USA.

Learn more here.

Agribusiness, AgWired Precision, Education

Triazole Chemistry Sets Lucento Apart

Cindy Zimmerman

When FMC’s Lucento fungicide is approved for use later this year in corn, soybeans and peanuts, it will offer a new, effective tool for managing fungicide resistance.

“The first thing that sets Lucento apart is the triazole part of that chemistry, that flutriafol,” said FMC Technical Service Manager Matt Wiggins during a recent field day in Sparks, Georgia. “You’re getting the most systemic, longest-lasting residual triazole in the market.”

Wiggins says Lucento is flutriafol plus the SDHI bixafen, which adds additional leaf spot and rust control and helps control resistance. “Now we’re fighting those hard to control diseases with multiple modes of action and we’re seeing a pretty good yield boost with it,” Wiggins added.

Lucento is expected to receive approval by the end of this year to be available for growers in 2019. Learn more in this interview – Matt Wiggins, Technical Service Manager, FMC

Lucento fungicide is not registered for sale or use in the United States. No offer for sale, sale or use of this product is permitted prior to issuance of the required EPA and state registrations.

2018 FMC Georgia Field Day Photo Album

AgWired Precision, Audio, Corn, Crop Protection, FMC, Fungicide, Peanuts, Soybean