Secretary Sonny Shows Ethanol Support

Cindy Zimmerman

A rally organized by corn and ethanol producers at the Farm Progress Show got the attention of USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue and Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation Bill Northey who stopped by to show their support. It was a last minute decision by the secretary, who brought greetings and another promise from President Trump, who called Perdue as he was driving on to the show grounds.

“He said…we need to get this RFS straightened out and get E15 twelve months,” said Perdue. “He wants something done quickly. He said, ‘you get with that EPA Administrator and bring me something next week that I can announce.'”

Organized by the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association and state corn growers, the rally included a number of other speakers, including:

IRFA Executive Director Monte Shaw; Iowa corn grower Jim Greif; Iowa farmer Jerry Calease; NCGA president Kevin Skunes from North Dakota; RFA past president Randy Doyal of Al-Corn Clean Fuel; Iowa Biodiesel Board member Ron Heck; and Rep. Steve King (R-IA)

Listen to it here: #FPS18 RFS Rally

Watch it here:


2018 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

Content Creation at the Farm Progress Show brought to you by Farm Progress Show content creation courtesy of John DeereCoverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by GrowmarkCoverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Bayer CropScience
Audio, Corn, Ethanol, Farm Progress Show, USDA

Bayer Discusses Integration With Monsanto

Cindy Zimmerman

There were lots of people at the Farm Progress Show this week wearing different hats – or shirts – as a result of Bayer’s acquisition of Monsanto, which just became final-final this month. There were former Monsanto people now working for Bayer and former Bayer people working for BASF now, and let’s just say it will take some time before everyone gets used to it.

Brett Begemann was president and COO for Monsanto up until this month when he became CEO of Crop Science Commercial Operations for Bayer – or maybe Chief Operating Officer for Bayer Crop Science – his title is not entirely clear. He says their goal is to “take a terrific crop protection portfolio, a great seeds and traits portfolio, the world’s best digital platform for agriculture and bring those together into one company … to drive innovation in agriculture faster than we’ve seen agriculture drive innovation before.”

Begemann was joined by two other Monsanto legacy execs now with Bayer – Bob Reiter, head of Research and Development at Bayer Crop Science, and Jesus Madrazo, head of Agricultural Affairs & Sustainability, to talk about how they are growing stronger together and to take questions from the media.

Listen here: #FPS18 Bayer Monsanto Integration press conference

Watch it here:


2018 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

Content Creation at the Farm Progress Show brought to you by Farm Progress Show content creation courtesy of John DeereCoverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by GrowmarkCoverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Bayer CropScience
Agribusiness, AgWired Precision, Audio, Bayer, Farm Progress Show, Video

BASF Provides Dicamba Update at #FPS18

Cindy Zimmerman

An update on dicamba from BASF and a couple of growers drew a lot of media interest this week at Farm Progress Show.

Scott Kay, BASF Vice President of U.S. Agricultural Solutions, talked with farmers Steve Anderson of Iowa and Scott Dauk from Minnesota about their experiences using BASF’s advanced dicamba formulation Engenia® Herbicide this year on their operations.

Listen to their comments here: #FPS18 BASF Dicamba press conference

2018 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

Content Creation at the Farm Progress Show brought to you by Farm Progress Show content creation courtesy of John DeereCoverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by GrowmarkCoverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Bayer CropScience
AgWired Precision, Audio, BASF, Farm Progress Show

Weather Causes Early End to FPS18 Day One

Cindy Zimmerman

There’s always something new at Farm Progress Show and this year a big storm caused something that has never happened before – an evacuation and shut down of the show before noon.

Rain had been in the forecast for the day, but everyone was hoping it would either miss us or not be too bad. However, when the storm was within minutes of hitting, reports of hail, strong winds, and lightning in the area forced organizers to shut everything down and and try the get people out as quickly and safely as possible. Unfortunately, the downpour created muddy conditions in the parking areas almost immediately and dozens of vehicles become stuck in the mud, which made leaving a lot more difficult.

Day two is like day one all over again, since everyone is now a half day behind and struggling to reschedule activities scheduled for yesterday afternoon, plus we have Secretary Sonny on the grounds starting at noon.

Watch this video from the Bayer tent as Pam Fretwell was moderating the farmer panel and got the word to tell everyone to evacuate.


2018 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

Content Creation at the Farm Progress Show brought to you by Farm Progress Show content creation courtesy of John DeereCoverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by GrowmarkCoverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Bayer CropScience
AgWired Animal, AgWired Precision, Bayer, Farm Progress Show, Video, Weather

Precision Ag Bytes 8/29

Carrie Muehling

  • Syngenta announced the expansion of the NK® soybean portfolio with 13 new varieties for the 2019 season, furthering the company’s commitment to helping growers maximize whole-farm profit potential through innovation.
  • Syngenta also announced that Force® 6.5G, a high-load granular corn insecticide for control of corn rootworm, is registered by the Environmental Protection Agency and will be available for the 2019 growing season.
  • The American Soybean Association and the United Soybean Board present the final installation in a series of webinars designed to help soybean farmers understand how new technology and effective data management can help improve the sustainability of their operations. On Aug. 30 at 1 p.m. Central Time, learn more about pairing a solid plan for managing data with the use of existing and emerging technology tools from planting, fertility and crop protection all the way to harvest from The Ohio State University’s Dr. John Fulton. Click here to register.
  • CommoditAg.com, an e-commerce platform for growers, announced expanding into Minnesota with the addition of Farmward® Cooperative based in Morgan, Minnesota.
  • Benson Hill Biosystems and Agribody Technologies, Inc. are partnering to deliver non-GMO yield and sustainability traits for seed companies working in corn, soy, alfalfa, cotton, sugarbeets, canola, potatoes, peanut, beans, rice, sorghum, wheat, and flowers.
AgWired Precision, ASA, Precision Ag Bytes, Syngenta, USB

Bayer Grower Panel on Smart Agronomics at #FPS18

Chuck Zimmerman

This morning in the Bayer tent growers got to listen to one of three panel discussions planned throughout this year’s show. Each panel will feature growers and experts who will share their advice and strategies that are paying off on their operations.

The first of the Bayer grower panels was titled, “Smart Agronomic Decisions to Help Manage Farm Margins.” The Moderator was Pam Fretwell, Fretwell Communications and the panelists were Todd Golly, MN Farmer and Co-Founder of Aker, Kyle Meece, IL Farmer and Innovation Agronomy Lead at United Prairie and Mike Weber, Principal Scientist at Bayer.

You can listen to the panel here: Bayer Grower Panel 1 - Smart Agronomics

Panel interviews:
Bayer panel farmer Todd Golly, Minnesota
Bayer panel farmer Kyle Meese, Illinois


Photos of Bayer activities can be found here: Bayer at 2018 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

Content Creation at the Farm Progress Show brought to you by Farm Progress Show content creation courtesy of John DeereCoverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by GrowmarkCoverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Bayer CropScience
Agribusiness, AgWired Precision, Audio, Bayer, Farm Progress Show, Video

Farm Progress Show 2018 is Underway

Cindy Zimmerman

The 2018 Farm Progress Show is officially underway now with the opening press conference in the media tent.

Don Tourte, Farm Progress Sr. Vice President, Sales & Events Advertising, kicked off the show saying it may be the best show he has seen in his over 20 years with the event.

Once again, the media is being kept cool thanks to BASF, which sponsors the media tent that provides food and fun in air conditioned comfort.

Listen to welcoming remarks from Tourte and BASF – #FPS18 Opening Press Conference

Photo album is started and will be constantly updated:
2018 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

Content Creation at the Farm Progress Show brought to you by Farm Progress Show content creation courtesy of John DeereCoverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by GrowmarkCoverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Bayer CropScience
AgWired Precision, Audio, BASF, Farm Progress Show

Hello From Day 1 of #FPS18

Chuck Zimmerman

I like to start out with a “special” photo which is usually a sunset or sunrise. However, when Cindy and I were leaving the show site yesterday I saw this little area of clouds out over the highway exit to the show. It said to me that God is looking down on us and we should all take a deep breath and get to it, confident that everything will go well.

So, the ZimmComm Team – Cindy, Heather and myself – are ready for a very busy schedule as we cover what’s new in the world of agribusiness. We’re set up in the media tent and the Golden ZimmComm Microphone mixer station is ready for action.

We have started a photo album and will have individual ones for companies we’re working with on the creation, publication and distribution of content this week. Here’s our general photo album for your viewing/sharing pleasure. 2018 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

AgWired Precision, Farm Progress Show

Animal Ag Bites 8/27

Carrie Muehling

  • Allflex, part of the Antelliq Group, has announced that it has acquired Agrident, the German-based agricultural technology company specializing in RFID data capture systems used in process control and animal management systems worldwide.
  • The U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Poultry & Eggs and the International Poultry Welfare Alliance have selected Ryan Bennett to lead both organizations as their new executive director beginning Sept. 4.
  • TechAccel, a venture development company in the agriculture and animal health sector, is partnering with Reliance Animal Health Partners, an animal health technology consulting firm, to form a new animal health product development organization.
  • Kent Nutrition Group is offering a new line of products developed for sheep, goats, pigs and rabbits under the Home Fresh® product family name.
  • The North American Meat Institute has named Julie Anna Potts its next president and CEO effective September 24, 2018. Potts succeeds retiring President and CEO Barry Carpenter.
  • Zoetis has introduced Core EQ Innovator™, the first and only equine vaccine to contain all five core equine disease antigens – West Nile, Eastern and Western Equine encephalomyelitis, tetanus and rabies – in one vaccine.
  • Rebekka Paskewitz, a 20-year-old college student from Browerville, Minnesota, representing Todd County, was crowned the 65th Princess Kay of the Milky Way in an evening ceremony at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds Aug. 22.
AgWired Animal, Animal Bites, Dairy, Poultry

John Deere to Showcase New Equipment at #FPS18

Cindy Zimmerman

The John Deere exhibit at the 2018 Farm Progress Show next week in Iowa will include a wide variety of new equipment and technology solutions from the product experts. These products include new forage harvesters, additions to the tillage equipment and utility tractor line ups, and 8R Tractor enhancements, as well as new guidance, displays, software updates and other equipment, precision and data management solutions.

“Farm Progress is a big showing for John Deere,” said Cyndee Smiley, media relations manager, at the recent Ag Media Summit. “We want to ensure that whoever comes to visit the booth has a really great experience.”

Smiley explains more in this interview – Interview with Cyndee Smiley, John Deere

John Deere just announced the new DN495 G5 Dry Spinner Spreader for the F4365 High-Capacity Nutrient Applicator to allow large-scale grain producers and commercial ag service providers to more precisely apply dry fertilizer and other nutrients across a wide variety of crop and field applications.

The new DN495 G5 can be ordered starting in September with delivery expected in mid-2019.

2018 Ag Media Summit photo album

Content creation at Ag Media Summit is sponsored by
Coverage of the Ag Media Summit is sponsored by FMC
Ag Media Summit, Audio, Farm Progress Show, John Deere