Farmers Mutual Hail Turning Data Into Usable Information

Carrie Muehling

Since the acquisition of John Deere Insurance Company in 2014, Farmers Mutual Hail has built upon advancements in technology and resources to ease the processes for acreage reporting, adjusting reporting and claims adjusting for crop insurance.

“One example would be saving hours compiling scale tickets and all the various pieces of information that you have to aggregate to actually do your reporting, either production reporting or acreage reporting,” said David DeCapp with Farmers Mutual Hail. “What this does is make that digitized information as you’re planting or as you’re harvesting, to be able to just hit a button, literally, and send that information through the Operations Center and into our systems so the grower doesn’t have that much work that they have to do.”

DeCapp said the company talked with lots of dealers at the 2018 Develop with Deere conference about how to ensure equipment is calibrated accurately to make the data work effectively for the customer.

You can hear Chuck’s interview with David here: Interview with David DeCapp, Farmers Mutual Hail

Farmers Mutual Hail is celebrating 125 years of service to farmers this year and DeCapp talks about that here: David DeCapp, Farmers Mutual Hail 125th anniversary

You can find conference photos here: 2018 Develop with Deere Conference Photo Album

AgWired Precision, Audio, Crop Insurance, John Deere, Precision Agriculture

Reaction to President Trump’s SOTU

Cindy Zimmerman

President Donald Trump made no direct mention of agriculture in his first State of the Union address, but he did address important issues for agriculture and rural America including infrastructure and immigration, trade and taxes.

Trump called on Congress to “produce a bill that generates at least $1.5 trillion for the new infrastructure investment that our country so desperately needs,” which American Farm Bureau Federation president Zippy Duvall says would help rural communities. “Infrastructure upgrades tied to our rural communities will help pave the way for economic renewal that is so badly needed,” said Duvall.

National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson was also pleased with that message. “There is clearly a growing need for significant federal investment in our nation’s roads, rails, broadband, locks and dams. We urge the administration and Congress to move swiftly in developing the promised comprehensive infrastructure package.”

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue was pleased with the president’s address and his commitment to agriculture. “President Trump’s unifying address to the nation recounted this administration’s impressive achievements in its first year, which have strengthened the economy for all Americans, including those who do the important work in the agriculture sector. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is already helping workers and will allow agricultural producers to invest more in their operations and their own families,” said Perdue. “This is a president who has rural America and agriculture close to his heart, as his words and deeds clearly demonstrate.”

AFBF, AgWired Animal, AgWired Precision, USDA

Precision Ag Bytes 1/31

Carrie Muehling

  • The annual Nebraska Agricultural Technologies Association (NeATA) conference will be Feb. 7-8 in Kearney at the Younes Conference Center. Learn more about the conference here.
  • The National Association of Conservation Districts announced the 2017 poster and photo contests winners at the organization’s 72nd Annual Meeting. Each year, the NACD and NACD Auxiliary photo and poster contests give students and adults the opportunity to display their artistic talents on a national stage.
AgWired Precision, Precision Ag Bytes

More Dealers Attend Develop with Deere Conference

Carrie Muehling

In an effort to help local dealers build better relationships with the software companies that often provide third party support to growers, John Deere again invited both groups to its 2018 Develop with Deere conference.

“We’re going to continue to add more and more solutions that can be built off the John Deere Operations Center platform and then that will cause us to continue to grow the conference as well to be able to get more of those solutions in front of the dealers,” said Kevin Krieg, a software segment manager with John Deere.

Krieg said John Deere machines generate lots of data, and software companies often supplement that and bring in things like aerial and satellite imagery, scouting apps and other tools to fill in the gaps of what is happening within the fields. The conference offered classroom sessions for dealers as well as the Solutions Expo trade show, where dealers could interact with and learn more about software companies and the products they offer.

You can here Chuck’s interview with Kevin here: Interview with Kevin Krieg, John Deere

You can find conference photos here: 2018 Develop with Deere Conference Photo Album

AgWired Precision, Audio, John Deere, Precision Agriculture

Farmer-led Irrigation is Focus of Forum

Cindy Zimmerman

Peter McCornick (R) with one of many international forum attendees

Over 200 attendees from around the world are gathered in Washington D.C. this week to focus on opportunities for farmer-led irrigated agriculture for small holder farmers in developing countries. The international forum is being produced jointly by the World Bank and the Water for Food Global Institute at the University of Nebraska.

“This forum is really is a culmination of a number of years of effort around trying to bring more attention to small scale producers and how we invest in that section in irrigated agriculture,” said Peter McCornick, Executive Director for the institute, who adds that the idea for the forum came out of last year’s global conference.

In this interview, McCornick talks about the forum and what they hope to accomplish –
Interview with Peter McCornick, Water for Food Institute

2018 Water for Food Forum Photos

Audio, International, Irrigation, Water, Water for Food

Ethanol Report on RFA Educational Efforts

Cindy Zimmerman

The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) is targeting boaters and future drivers in educational efforts for 2018 with the renewal of its co-title sponsorship of the Crappie Masters Tournament Trail, and the launch of an on-line Ethanol in the Classroom program.

In this edition of The Ethanol Report podcast, RFA Vice President of Industry Relations Robert White talks about the importance of these target audiences for the ethanol industry.

Listen to it here: Ethanol Report on RFA Educational Efforts

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Audio, Education, Ethanol, Podcasts, RFA

Former Sen. Johanns at #Water4Food

Cindy Zimmerman

After 30 years of public service as a governor, ag secretary and senator, Mike Johanns is now enjoying the private life while still advocating for agriculture. One of his passions is serving on the board of the Water for Food Daugherty Global Institute at the University of Nebraska and he helped to open the forum in Washington D.C. this week focused on farmer-led irrigated agriculture.

“Small holder farmers are critical and absolutely essential to feeding the world,” said Johanns. “The efficient use of resources, including irrigation, is absolutely necessary to increase our productivity. If we build on these two themes I believe we have a good chance of feeding the world in the future.”

Mike Johanns, former Senator and WFF board member

I had the opportunity to ask Sen. Johanns a few questions, including what he thinks about the new administration and his thoughts on a 2018 farm bill. Interview with Mike Johanns

2018 Water for Food Forum Photos

Audio, International, Irrigation, Water, Water for Food

John Deere Dealers See Value for Customers

Carrie Muehling

John Deere dealers like Tom Rosztoczy with Stotz Equipment came to the 2018 Develop with Deere conference to learn about the newest technology in the industry, identify additional vendors to bring to customers, and network with other dealers.

“We think the combination of John Deere’s operation center and other software platforms is going to enable us to actually take precision agriculture and turn it into actual value for farmers,” said Rosztoczy, who serves the Mountain West area with 25 stores in eight states. “It takes us from data to knowledge and action.”

Rosztoczy said it is difficult for farmers to keep up with the quickly evolving technology. He believes it is his job stay in touch with the technology and help bring solutions to farmer customers.

You can listen to Chuck’s interview with Tom here: Interview with Tom Rosztoczy, Stotz Equipment

You can find conference photos here: 2018 Develop with Deere Conference Photo Album

AgWired Precision, Audio, John Deere, Precision Agriculture

U.S. Poultry & Egg Elects New Leadership

Jamie Johansen

Tom Hensley, president, Fieldale Farms, Baldwin, Ga., was elected chairman of the board of directors of U.S. Poultry & Egg Association (USPOULTRY) during the International Poultry Expo, part of the 2018 International Production & Processing Expo.

A native of West Virginia, Hensley graduated with a degree in business from Marshall University. Before joining Fieldale Farms, Hensley was a tax manager at Price Waterhouse & Co. He is currently president of Fieldale Farms where he has worked for 40 years, as well as a member of Fieldale Farms Corporation board of directors. In addition, he is past chairman of the National Chicken Council and a life member of the Georgia Poultry Federation. He actively serves on various charitable organization boards, where he has been both active and recognized for his service.

John Prestage, Prestage Farms, Clinton, N.C., was named vice chairman. Greg Hinton, Rose Acre Farms, Seymour, Ind., was named treasurer. Mike Levengood, Perdue Foods, Salisbury, Md., was named secretary. Jerry Moye, Hendrix Genetics, Ontario, Canada, is immediate past chairman.

AgWired Animal, IPPE, Poultry

New Boundary Technologies Offers Integrated Application

Carrie Muehling

Imagine an app that allows a farmer to check multiple areas of an operation by logging into just one place – even if that farm includes both crops and livestock. That’s the idea with new integration from New Boundary Technologies, introduced at the 2018 Develop with Deere Conference.

“Farmers don’t want to have to log into 10 different applications to see everything,” said Kim Pearson with New Boundary Technologies, based in Minneapolis. “Just like on the consumer side, that’s a pain for us. So we are one of the early supporters of John Deere’s new APIs to be able to take information that we get from sensors for things on the farm like tanks and implements that are attached to the tractors, barn environmentals, and be able to give the farmer a view in the John Deere operations center so that they don’t have to log into a lot of different systems to see everything on their farm.”

Pearson said the technology has been available for quite some time, but the price point for both the hardware and the communication software has dropped by about 60 percent over the past year. That’s been key to bringing the product to market.

Listen to Chuck’s interview with Kim here: Interview with Kim Pearson, New Boundary Technologies

You can find conference photos here: 2018 Develop with Deere Conference Photo Album

AgWired Precision, Apps, Audio, John Deere, Precision Agriculture