Inari Introduces the World’s First Seed Foundry

Cindy Zimmerman

Inari, a Flagship Pioneering company, recently announced the world’s first Seed Foundry as part of the company’s mission to reintroduce genetic diversity and challenge the seed industry with a shorter, lower-cost and more precise product development cycle

Inari aims to revolutionize plant breeding by merging the latest technologies with leading-edge data analysis tools to bring top-performing plants to market faster with the aim of cutting breeding time by two-thirds and cutting development costs by up to 90 percent. Inari also plans to combine biology, agronomy, data science and software engineering to make innovative breakthroughs by working with seed company partners.

Purdue Research Park business complex, in West Lafayette, Indiana, will be the location for the Cambridge-based Inari to fuel its product development with its proximity to the seed industry and the Purdue University College of Agriculture. Inari’s total 26,000 square feet at Purdue Research Park will include office space, lab and a 6,000-square-foot greenhouse complex. Growing the Inari team, currently at 65 people, the team based out of Research Park will add another 50 people by 2023 and consist primarily of scientists and product development teams.

We caught up with Inari VP of Digital and Strategy Matthew Perkins at the recent ASTA 2018 CSS and Seed Expo to learn more about this new development with the company. ASTACSS18 Interview with Matthew Perkins, Inari

Earlier this year, we interviewed Inari CEO Ponsi Trivisvavet and VP of Communications Julie Borlaug about the company’s goals to transform agriculture.

AgWired Precision, ASTA, Audio, Food, Seed

Ethanol Report for 2018

Cindy Zimmerman

2018 has been a busy and interesting year for the ethanol industry and the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA).

In this edition of The Ethanol Report podcast, RFA president and CEO Geoff Cooper reviews the top stories of the year in ethanol, including the new leadership at RFA, President Trump’s interest in the industry and E15, small refinery waivers, record exports and more.

Listen here – Ethanol Report on 2018

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Audio, Ethanol, RFA

Deere to Launch Startup Collaborator Program

Cindy Zimmerman

Deere & Company has announced the launch of a new Startup Collaborator program in the Intelligent Solutions Group.

John Stone, senior vice president of Deere’s Intelligent Solutions Group, says the purpose of the program is to enhance interaction with startup companies whose technology could add value for John Deere customers. “Innovation has been at the heart of John Deere for more than 180 years,” Stone added. “The Startup Collaborator welcomes innovative companies into a program that could help us drive improved results for our customers.”

Three leading startups working to transform agriculture are already part of the program:

• Bear Flag Robotics – A California company developing autonomous technology for farm tractors and implements to reduce operational expense and increase worker safety.

• Hello Tractor – A Nigerian company with a strong understanding of agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa that has developed an application to manage tractor fleets for small holder farmers.

• Taranis – An Israeli company that developed an automated field scouting service based on sub-millimeter aerial imagery utilizing deep learning for problem detection and analysis in agriculture.

AgWired Precision, John Deere, Precision Agriculture, Technology

BASF Seed Solutions Focused on Seed Treatments

Cindy Zimmerman

The recent ASTA 2018 CSS and Seed Expo was a great venue for BASF to showcase its Seed Solutions business, including the launch of Vault® IP Plus seed treatment and Obvius® Plus fungicide seed treatment.

“We decided we were going to create a whole new business unit in North America … a seed solutions business really focused on seed treatments,” said Martin Horrocks, Director of North America Seed Solutions, BASF.

Horrocks discusses the new BASF Seed Solutions business in this interview.
Interview with Martin Horrocks, BASF Seed Solutions

Kerry Grossweiler was named marketing lead for BASF U.S. Seed Solutions just before the ASTA event.

“BASF Seed Solutions offers a broad portfolio of seed treatment innovations that protect, unlock and enhance the full genetic potential of the seed,” says Grossweiler. “We offer fungicides, insecticides, nematicides, innoculants, colorants and functional coatings and we’re really excited that we’re going to launch five new products in the next two years.”

Grossweiler talks about some of BASF’s seed treatment products in this interview.
Interview with Kerry Grossweiler, BASF US Seed Solutions

BASF at ASTACSS18 photo album

AgWired Precision, ASTA, Audio, BASF, Seed

Precision Ag Bytes 12/19

Carrie Muehling

  • Ceres Imaging, which provides science-backed aerial images to growers, has announced the release of its new Cumulative Stress Index. The index combines Ceres Imaging’s various imagery indices into a single metric to assess overall plant stress over a growing season and strongly correlates to actual yield results.
  • Topcon Agriculture announces the release of the NORAC Tillage Depth Control system, leveraging the same core technology used on the industry leading NORAC Boom Height Control system. The system utilizes ultrasonic sensors to automatically compensate for differing soil types and terrains, while maintaining the correct implement depth.
  • John D. Lagemann, senior vice president of sales and marketing, Ag & Turf Division – Regions 3 and 4 for John Deere, has been elected 2019 Chair of the Association of Equipment Manufacturers.
  • The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers has named AgGateway‘s ADAPT and ISOXML Plugin the winner of a 2019 AE50 award. AE50 awards honor the year’s most innovative designs in engineering products or systems for the food and agriculture industries.
  • Pioneer has added more than 100 new, top-performing corn and soybean products to its industry-leading product lineup for growers in the United States and Canada.
  • The Conservation Technology Information Center, a clearinghouse of information on conservation farming practices, has launched its brand-new website at www.ctic.org.
  • Seeing both forests and trees is about to get easier, thanks to a new open-access tool developed by US National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, with support from the Google Earth Engine Team and the US Government’s SilvaCarbon Program – allowing anyone to track land-use and landscape changes anywhere. Collect Earth Online can be accessed by simply clicking on a link http://collect.earth/ and registering on the platform.
  • Colin Hurd, founder and CEO of Iowa-based Smart Ag, has been recognized by Forbes magazine as a leading young innovator and entrepreneur for 2019. Hurd has been honored by Forbes as a member of the eighth annual 30 Under 30 list in the category of manufacturing and industry.
  • With improved seed varieties, advanced production techniques and innovative growing practices, corn growers achieved impressive yields despite weather-related adversity in the National Corn Growers Association 2018 National Corn Yield Contest.
  • Pioneer congratulates farmers who placed in the National Corn Growers Association 2018 yield contest. In total, the NCGA awarded seven national and 189 state awards to growers using Pioneer brand products who entered the annual yield contest.
  • Farmers planting Pioneer brand sorghum hybrids won seven of nine first-place finishes and placed in 21 of the 24 national categories in the 2018 National Sorghum Producers Yield and Management Contest, representing 88 percent of all national winners.
  • Results are in for World Ag Expo’s® Top-10 New Products Competition, sponsored by Bank of America. The winners will be showcased February 12-14, 2019, during the World Ag Expo® in Tulare, California.
AgWired Precision, Precision Ag Bytes

ZimmCast 605 – ASTA CSS and Seed Expo

Cindy Zimmerman

ZimmCast #605 is the last one for 2018, featuring interviews from the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) 2018 CSS and Seed Expo, our last event for the year.

This ZimmCast includes comments from ASTA president and CEO Andy LaVigne, Bayer seed treatment tech service rep Chip Graham, BASF Seed Solutions U.S. marketing lead Kerry Grossweiler, and Wheat Pete, a podcaster and contributor to Canada’s Real Agriculture network.

A big thank you to our sponsor GROWMARK for making this podcast possible for eight years! Now we are looking for a new sponsor for 2019. The ZimmCast has been produced on a weekly basis since 2005 and averages between 1500 and 3000 downloads average per episode. Contact Chuck@zimmcomm.biz if you are interested.

Listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast 606 - ASTA CSS and Seed Expo

The ZimmCast

sponsored by
The ZimmCast podcast is sponsored by GROWMARK
Locally owned, globally strong.
ASTA, Audio, BASF, Bayer, Corn, Seed, sorghum, Soybean, Wheat, ZimmCast

GROWMARK Visibility Project Honors Past, Looks to Future

Carrie Muehling

GROWMARK is honoring the past and looking towards the future as a building visibility project brings changes to what employees and visitors see within the Bloomington-based company’s headquarters.

Several employee focus groups helped the project’s organizers to make decisions about how to best reflect GROWMARK’s noble purpose and how each interaction within the company supports feeding and fueling the world.

“We have a long, rich history in the Midwest, and part of that is that we want to honor our past but we also want to look towards our future and where we’re headed and the exciting things that we’re doing,” said Becky Ropp, GROWMARK communications director.

Visible changes within the building include montage shadowboxes highlighting company history, as well as individual employee stories that will be rotated a few times each year. The project began in public spaces of the building, but will eventually update conference rooms and other areas, as well.

Listen to Carrie’s interview with Becky here: Interview with Becky Ropp, GROWMARK

Audio, Cooperatives, GROWMARK

FMC Working on Soybean Gall Midge Control

Cindy Zimmerman

A new pest is popping up in soybean fields across the country – the orange gall midge.

“It’s a very tiny fly that lays its eggs in the stem of a soybean plant,” said FMC Agricultural Solutions subject matter expert Bob Hooten during an interview at the annual NAFB Trade Talk last month in Kansas City. Bright orange maggots develop from the eggs and eventually kill the plant.

The pest was reported in Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota and South Dakota this year and FMC is working with university researchers in those states. “The universities have done DNA mapping and are trying to figure out the species now and then we’re trying to figure out control measures and how to manage this pest to keep it from expanding further,” said Hooten.

Learn more in this interview.
NAFB18 Interview with Bob Hooten, FMC - Gall Midge

2018 NAFB Convention Photo Album

AgWired Precision, Audio, Crop Protection, FMC, Insecticides, NAFB

USGC Releases Latest Corn Harvest Quality Report

Cindy Zimmerman

A warm and moist growing season resulted in near-record yields and good quality for the 2018 corn crop, according to the U.S. Grain Council’s (USGC) 2018/2019 Corn Harvest Quality Report.

The report revealed the majority of 2018 corn crop conditions were rated as good or excellent during the growing season, leading to strong plant health, good kernel size and a projected crop of 371.52 million metric tons (14.626 billion bushels), the third-largest crop on record. Nearly 94 percent of tested U.S. corn samples rated at U.S. Grade No. 2 or better, thanks to a warm, wet vegetative period and a moderate pollination and grain-filling period. The drier, moderate temperatures during the second half of the growing season promoted healthy plants, good test weights and low kernel damage.

Average test weight of 58.4 pounds per bushel (75.1 kilograms per hectoliter) was higher than the five-year average and indicates good kernel filling and maturation. Average 100-kernel weight of 35.07 grams was lower than 2017, but above the five-year average.

All but one sample, or 99.5 percent of samples, tested below the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) action level for aflatoxin (20 parts per billion). One-hundred percent of the samples tested below the FDA advisory level for deoxynivalenol (DON), or vomitoxin, for chicken, cattle, hogs and other animals.

The 2018/2019 Corn Harvest Quality Report provides timely information about the quality of the current U.S. corn crop at harvest as it enters international merchandising channels. This information will be supplemented by a second report, the 2018/2019 Corn Export Cargo Quality Report, scheduled for early 2019, that measures corn quality at export terminals at the point of loading for international shipment.

AgWired Precision, Corn, Grains, USGC

Latest AEM Ag Tractor and Combine Report

Cindy Zimmerman

The latest Association of Equipment Manufacturers’ (AEM) Ag Tractor and Combine Report from November shows overall sales remained positive.

U.S. Sales of self-propelled combines gained 9.2 percent in November compared to last year, and U.S. sales of 4-wheel-drive tractors increased 60.7 percent month-over-month. November year-to-date U.S. sales showed a 16.6 percent growth for combines and 15.9 percent growth for 4-wheel-drive tractors.

Total November sales of 2-wheel-drive tractors declined .9 percent compared to last year: a 2 percent gain for under-40 HP tractors, a 7.8 percent drop for 40-100 HP tractors, and a 4.4 percent gain for 100-plus HP tractors.

November year-to-date growth for overall U.S. sales of 2-wheel-drive tractors grew 6.9 percent; under-40 HP tractors gained 9.3 percent; 40-100 HP tractors increased 1.4 percent; and 100-plus HP tractors grew 5.5 percent.

“Equipment sales overall have been resilient this year, but we are starting to see some softening s the year winds down. Trade issues remain a major concern, especially the uncertainty caused by tensions with China. On a brighter note, we are encouraged by the administration’s efforts regarding year-round availability of E-15 fuel. And we’re urging swift action on the farm bill to provide some stability for farmers dealing with uncertain markets and lower farm income,” said Curt Blades, AEM senior vice president, Ag services.

Click here to see the full report

AEM, AgWired Precision, Equipment, Tractor