ZimmCast on Agri-Pulse and Alltech

Chuck Zimmerman

Next week will be a busy week in Washington, DC with National Ag Day Activities, the Agri-Pulse Ag & Food Policy Summit and American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) annual Fly-in. So this week’s program starts out with Sara Wyant, Agri-Pulse, providing a preview of this year’s Summit program which features several panels and lots of well known individuals who will be speaking to the topics. If you are interested in attending the summit, Sara says there is still limited seating available.

Jamie Johansen has been in Ireland this week for the Alltech KEENAN Great Green Getaway, which has included tours of the KEENAN production facility and the new Pearse Lyons Distillery, and visits to a number of high-performance Irish dairy farms. It will conclude with St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in Dublin City Centre.

The ZimmCast includes Jamie’s interview with Alltech’s Maeve Desmond about the getaway event, as well as Alltech’s founder, Dr. Pearse Lyons, who passed away just days before the event started, and how he founded this amazing company.

Listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast 577 - Agri-Pulse and Alltech

Subscribe to the ZimmCast podcast here. Use this url in iTunes or your favorite news reader program/app.

The ZimmCast

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Golden ARC Awards “Call for Entries” Announced

Cindy Zimmerman

The Agricultural Relations Council (ARC) is calling all entries for the annual Golden ARC Awards, which allows agricultural public relations professionals to submit their best work for comparison to that of colleagues working in companies, agencies, associations and other organizations around the globe.

New this year is a reduced price for entries.

As an added benefit, entrants receive written critique and evaluation by competent public relations professionals from outside the perimeters of agriculture communications experts. This year’s contest will be judged by members of the Maine Public Relations Council, in an arrangement with the Public Relations Society of America. This procedure differentiates the competition from other agricultural communications contests – allowing a fresh view by peers who are not directly or indirectly linked to the entries.

Judges will assess the entries based on a number of objectives, including audience analysis, creativity, execution and campaign results, especially measurability.

The highest ranking entry will receive the coveted Golden ARC de Excellence. Each category may have winners and merits. Winners will be recognized in the Golden ARC Awards Banquet at the ARC annual meeting, in Louisville, Kentucky on June 21.

There are 37 categories and entries may be submitted until May 4, 2018 at 11:59 p.m. EST. Entry fee per CAMPAIGN category is $125 and per TACTIC category is $75.

Click here to find out more.

ARC, Public Relations

Outsmarting the PRRS Virus

Carrie Muehling

The 2018 Aptimmune Scientific Symposium focused on the success of the Barricade vaccine for porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS), which was introduced in 2017.

“PRRS is a daunting challenge and a difficult vaccine to not only develop but also manage in the production world,” said Dr. Bob Nordgren, chairman of the board for Aptimmune. “For 20 years, we’ve come up with relatively few breakthroughs in the area of PRRS vaccination. And designing a vaccine rationally and how you want the vaccine to work in the piglet has been the target of Aptimmune and is the result of the process we’ve established today.”

Nordgren said part of the challenge has been that the PRRS virus can sustain itself in the individual animal as well as in the environment when presented as a modified live virus. However, an inactive vaccine inserted as an oil emulsion into the muscle is also not right for this situation. Aptimmune’s Barricade virus presents as a “live-like” virus to the tissue that is responsible for letting the PRRS virus in. The company shared results of field trials over the past year during this year’s event.

Listen to Chuck’s interview with Dr. Nordgren here: Interview with Dr. Bob Nordgren, Aptimmune

2018 Aptimmune Scientific Symposium Photo Album

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Fighting Corn Rootworm with Steward EC

Carrie Muehling

Steward EC insecticide from FMC is a new tool for farmers fighting corn rootworm, especially in areas with highly irrigated acres where continuous corn is prevalent.

Brent Neuberger, senior technical service manager for FMC, said offering a different mode of action is vital to growers with high corn rootworm pressure.

“Again, it goes back to being varied in how we manage this pest,” said Neuberger. “We can’t just do it with Bt traits, we can’t just do it with applied insecticides. We have to vary, and by controlling the adults, we reduce the eggs that are laid and the subsequent pressure the next year.”

Neuberger said Steward EC is user friendly with minimal impact on beneficial insects. He said it also offers some control of western bean cutworm, corn earworm and European corn borer, as well as other late season pests. Steward EC is available for the 2018 growing season and is included in the FMC Freedom Pass program.

Listen to Chuck’s interview with Brent here: Interview with Brent Neuberger, Steward EC, FMC

FMC at 2018 Commodity Classic Photo Album

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Command 3ME Outperforms Generic Competitors

Carrie Muehling

FMC wants rice growers to know that Command 3ME is a tried and true product that will be available even with increasing rice acres this year. FMC Technical Service Representative Don Johnson said Command 3ME continues to outperform its generic counterparts.

“We ran tests of the generic products out there in the marketplace, and those microencapsulated formulations reduced the amount of volatility from the old 4EC about 10 percent across the board,” said Johnson, who serves a territory including Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana. “Command 3ME still reduces the volatility from the baseline Command 4EC about 80 percent out there in the marketplace.”

Johnson explained that Command 3ME was the answer to reducing volatility that came along with the original Command 4EC and it has been very successful in doing that.

Listen to Jamie’s interview with Don here: Interview with Don Johnson, FMC Corporation

View and download photos from the event here: 2018 Farm & Gin Show Photo Album

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Coverage of the Mid-South Farm & Gin Show is sponsored by FMC
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Biological Products Coming Up Big for Agriculture

Carrie Muehling

The biological segment of agriculture is really beginning to take off, and that was evident at the 2018 Commodity Classic in Anaheim.

“When I look at ag in general and I look at the nutrient requirements as we kind of expand our knowledge on how we feed these crops, it’s going to be vitally important for us to look at these new technologies in the biological industry to advance yields and quality while kind of keeping that eye on the environmental aspects of nutrients, and so how efficient we can be with nutrients is going to play big in how these things interact in our cropping situations,” said Jordan Martin, Pennsylvania regional sales manager with Timac Agro.

Timac Agro offers a broad range of products including granular fertilizer with marine sea calcium, homogenized fertilizer granular, liquid water-soluble fertilizer, foliar water-soluble fertilizer, and two main classes of biostimulants (ground and foliar). The company’s newest product, Fertiactyl ST, is a seed treatment using an active ingredient that is a root and plant biostimulant to reduce stress in adverse growing conditions. Available for the 2018 growing season, the product targets corn, soybean and small grains growers.

2018 Commodity Classic Photo Album

Listen to Chuck’s interview here: Interview with Timac Agro

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Precision Ag Bytes 3/14

Carrie Muehling

  • Albaugh, LLC, Colorado Wheat Research Foundation, Inc. and Limagrain Cereal Seeds, LLC have announced the EPA registration of Aggressor herbicide, the exclusive-use herbicide for CoAXium Wheat Production System. Aggressor herbicide will provide growers with a new mode of action to address tough-to- control winter annual grassy weeds, including feral rye, Group 2 or ALS resistant biotypes of downy brome grass and jointed goatgrass.
  • The updated Iowa Monarch Conservation Strategy seeks to establish approximately 480,000 to 830,000 acres of monarch habitat by 2038. The strategy — developed by the Iowa Monarch Conservation Consortium — guides the implementation and documentation of a voluntary, statewide conservation effort based on the best available science. The consortium is a group of 40 organizations, including agricultural and conservation associations, agribusiness and utility companies, universities and county, state and federal agencies.
  • The Soil Health Partnership preparing for another round of soil sampling, a critical part of identifying, testing and measuring farm management practices that improve sustainability through soil health. An initiative of the National Corn Growers Association, the program’s goal is to quantify the benefits of these practices–like growing cover crops in the off-season and reducing tillage—from an economic standpoint, showing farmers how healthy soil benefits their bottom line.
  • The American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture has announced participants selected for On the Farm STEM professional development events in Fort Worth, Texas; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Portland, Oregon. The training is designed to bring science to life for participants with the help of American beef cattle ranchers, researchers, nutritionists and veterinarians.
  • The Agricultural Drainage Management Coalition Member Companies and Dr. Dan Jaynes with the National Laboratory for Agricultural & The Environment collaborated to quantify the effectiveness of installing saturated buffers on buffers enrolled in the conservation reserve program to reduce nutrient loading from tile drainage waters. To view the full research report and find additional information and videos pertaining to saturated buffer systems, visit www.saturatedbufferstrips.com.
  • IoF2020 project stakeholders have demonstrated a proof of concept focusing on interoperability and compatibility between farm machines, sensors and software. The IoF2020 group uses the ADAPT Framework focusing on interoperability and compatibility between farm machines, sensors and software. ADAPT is an open source software toolkit from AgGateway, based on a universal data compatibility model that uses plug-ins to enable translation between different proprietary data formats.
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Aptimmune Vaccines Gaining Popularity

Carrie Muehling

Aptimmune is looking to grow its presence in the swine vaccine market with the success of Barricade for porcine reproductive & respiratory syndrome (PRRS).

“It’s kind of an exciting time because we launched the product over a year ago and we’ve got customers that are using the product, evaluating it in a number of trials,” said Steve Berger, director of development for Aptimmune. “We’re excited about this next phase. As the vaccine is taken up in the market, the demand is increasing and putting more pressure on the manufacturing operations, which are good problems to have. We’re looking forward to the next growth phase of Aptimmune.”

Berger said the company has just added an influenza vaccine to the portfolio and is working on a combination PRRS/flu product. Aptimmune is also working toward federal licensing, which would allow the sale of product formulations across the country instead of state by state.

2018 Aptimmune Scientific Symposium Photo Album

Listen to Chuck’s interview with Steve here: Interview with Steve Berger, Aptimmune

AgWired Animal, Animal Agriculture, Audio, Swine

John Deere ExactApply™ Retrofit Kits Now Available

Carrie Muehling

John Deere is giving farmers the opportunity to bring existing sprayers up to speed with ExactApply technology through retrofit kits now available from local dealers. Application quality is vital to a grower’s success, according to Doug Felter, product marketing manager for application equipment with John Deere.

“Being able to change nozzles on the go is something that is exclusive to John Deere,” said Felter. “Being able to use the front nozzle, eventually switch to maybe a larger nozzle as we go faster, or even use both of those nozzles in tandem, opening up a lot wider range of application.”

Felter said John Deere also offers nozzles that pulse up to three times faster than the industry standard. ExactApply retrofit kits are available for all R4030, R4038 and R4045 Sprayers manufactured since these models were introduced and that are equipped with stainless-steel plumbing and steel booms, no matter the boom size. Kits include new ExactApply nozzle bodies, new electrical boom harnessing to power and control the nozzles, and a higher capacity alternator for the machine to provide for the added electrical power demands.

Listen to Jamie’s interview with Doug here: Interview with Doug Felter, John Deere

John Deere at 2018 Commodity Classic Photo Album

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Aptimmune Shares Barricade Vaccine Field Data

Carrie Muehling

In the year since Aptimmune launched the Barricade vaccine to fight porcine reproductive & respiratory syndrome (PRRS), the company has been gathering field data from 30 different veterinarians in 12 different states.

“We’ve been able to see a 50 percent reduction in mortality across the board, so it’s been very rewarding,” said Dr. Jessica Seate, professional service veterinarian for Aptimmune. “In addition, we’ve also seen we can improve the number of pigs that are culled or rejected. We’ve also got improvements in antibiotic treatment programs.”

Seate said the data also looked at average daily gain and there are improvements there, as well. The company shared those results at the 2018 Aptimmune Scientific Symposium in San Diego.

2018 Aptimmune Scientific Symposium Photo Album

Listen to Chuck’s interview with Dr. Jessica Seate here: Interview with Dr. Jessica Seate, Aptimmune

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