Michael Torrey Associates welcomed Barbara Patterson and Marissa Dake to its growing team in February 2018. The Washington, D.C.-based firm offers effective government relations, strategic communications and issue advocacy and full-service association management to a growing number of clients in the food, agriculture, and forestry sector.- Culver’s is celebrating National FFA Week in a big way. Through its Thank You Farmers Project, the restaurant will launch its fourth annual FFA Essay Contest on Feb. 19. The three winning essay writers will win $7,500, $5,000 and $2,500, respectively, for their FFA chapters. This year’s essay contest prompt is: The 2017 National FFA Convention & Expo theme was “I can. We will.” What does this mean to you, and how will you apply it in your future ag career? The contest ends April 6, 2018, at 5 p.m. CST.
- American Vanguard Corporation announced that its wholly owned subsidiary AMVAC Netherlands B.V. has recently hired Thomas Britze as general manager of AMVAC do Brasil Representações LTDA. Britze will be based in Sao Paulo. In addition to his responsibilities as General Manager for Brazil, Britze will coordinate the introduction of AMVAC’s new application technology SIMPAS (Smart Integrated Multi-Product Application System) in key international markets.
- Congress cleared a budget agreement and disaster-aid package that has a significant impact on farmers for the 2018 crop year. The budget agreement passed the House by a vote of 240 to 186 and passed the Senate by a vote of 71 to 28. The President has also signed the legislation. The legislation includes $90 billion in disaster assistance for communities impacted by storms, tornadoes, hurricanes, wildfires and flooding. The legislation also includes provisions for cotton farmers by making seed cotton eligible for Title 1 Agriculture Risk Coverage and the Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs.
- Bringing children accurate knowledge about how their food is grown is the goal of Feeding Minds Press, a new children’s book publishing venture from the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture. The new publisher’s first book will be “Right This Very Minute,” written by award-winning author Lisl Detlefsen. It is scheduled for release in January 2019.
FMC Introduces Steward EC Insecticide
FMC has introduced another tool for farmers to use in the fight against the Western corn rootworm beetle.
David Wheeler, Technical Services Associate Director, said Steward EC is not a new chemistry, but it represents a new use in corn to control adult rootworm beetles. Farmers can use the product in an integrated pest management program along with a larval control mechanism either through traits or a soil insecticide.
“He does that for two reasons. Primarily, it’s for population control and managing that population for the following year. And secondarily for any silk clipping that the beetles might do,” said Wheeler.
Wheeler said Steward EC is offering up to 85 percent control of adult rootworm beetles compared to maybe 50 percent effectiveness found in traditional products.
Listen to Chuck’s interview with David Wheeler here: David Wheeler, FMC Steward EC
2018 National Farm Machinery Show Photo Album
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Camso Announces Remanufactured Tracks Program
Camso just announced a new certified remanufactured tracks and wheels program that will be available as of March 16, 2018. While I was at the National Farm Machinery Show I spoke with Martin Lunkenbein, Service and Aftermarket Sales Executive Director – Agriculture at Camso. We talked about the program and another announcement that I’ll feature later.
“We’re giving multiple lives to a product farmers have always trusted, showing once again our commitment to provide the lowest operating cost solution,” said Lunkenbein. The launch follows a pilot program announced last August in which the product development team gauged and monitored product performance through validation in the field. Remanufactured track and wheel products for general AG applications, as well as service, will be available through the Camso distribution network in North America.
Learn more in the video below:
2018 National Farm Machinery Show Photo Album
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Blueprint Solutions for Beef Cattle Nutrition
Earlier this year, Alltech launched the premium Blueprint® beef nutrition program for the CRYSTALYX® and Hubbard Feeds brands. The 2018 Cattle Industry Convention was a perfect spot for us to get the scoop. We caught up with Mark Robbins, Ridley Block Operations who said Blueprint Solutions is more than a simple supplement program.
“It’s the total replacement of inorganic trace minerals with organic trace minerals which are bioplex, selplex and organic selenium. The inorganic trace minerals are sulfates, oxides and chlorides. Even though we have used them for years, we have always known they do have some baggage. They aren’t nearly as available, they do degrade vitamins in mineral mixes and they aren’t as palatable. Inorganic trace minerals also have a tendency to serve as an antagonist in the absorption of other trace minerals,” Robbins said.
The Blueprint Solution program is available in a number of free-choice supplements to meet the needs of any type of operation.
“The one thing customers will notice about the CRYSTALYX Blueprint compared to one of our older products is how much lower the trace mineral levels are. That is because the organic trace minerals have a much higher bio-availability. We need to get our customers and dealers to understand these organic minerals perform much higher,” Robbins said.
Listen to the complete interview here: Interview with Mark Robbins Ridley Block Operations
Pinnacle 2020: The Next Generation in Grain Drying
The Mathews Company has been manufacturing grain drying systems for close to 65 years. The company built its first continuous flow grain dryer in 1957 and now offers four different drying styles to serve farmers growing a variety of grains.
Company President Joe Shulfer said the Pinnacle control system has become a standard for grain drying systems, and this year’s display showcased the second generation Pinnacle 2020 system with two separate touch screens working side by side.
“It functions kind of like two monitors on your desktop for one computer. So you’re able to have operational content on one side, maybe service diagnostic content on the other. And it’s really an innovative way to get a lot more information in front of the customer,” said Shulfer.
He said the system also works on a smartphone app that will allow the farmer to monitor lots of different things from that mobile device.
Joe Shulfer, The Mathews Company2018 National Farm Machinery Show Photo Album
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National Cotton Council Names Planting Intentions, Leaders
The National Cotton Council (NCC) announced planting intentions for 2017 and recognized award winners and new leadership at the organization’s recent annual meeting in Fort Worth, Texas.
U.S. cotton producers intend to plant more cotton acres this spring compared to 2017, according to the National Cotton Council’s 37th Annual Early Season Planting Intentions Survey. This year’s cotton acres should total about 13.1 million acres, which is 3.7 percent higher than last year.
The group elected Ron Craft, a cotton producer and fifth-generation ginner from Plains, Texas, as chairman for 2018. The NCC’s vice chairman for the coming year is Mike Tate from Huntsville, Alabama.
The membership recognized the late William T. “Bill” Lovelady, a long-time West Texas cotton producer and former National Cotton Council president, as the recipient of the 2017 Oscar Johnston Lifetime Achievement Award.
Former National Cotton Council senior vice president for Washington Operations John Maguire was named the winner of the 2017 Harry S. Baker Distinguished Service Award.
Eco Agro Introduces Nitrogen Conservation Input System
Eco Agro and Eco Agro International LLC are proud to introduce the Nitrogen Conservation Input System (NCIS) for use in the Urea Production Process.
“Our latest innovation, “Nitrogen Conservation Input Systems” (NCIS), enables Enhanced Efficiency Fertilizers (EEFs) to be affordable and effective at a lower cost for today’s grower. We see NCIS as being a tool that overcomes a significant hurdle toward increased utilization of EEF’s worldwide in efforts to improve crop production and yields.” said David McKnight, whose team headed the development of NCIS.
NCIS Technology allows for introduction of proven Nitrogen Efficiency additives to optimize the conditions for Enhanced Urea Production and performance. “The options in these innovative discoveries are significant and the delivery system and molecular synergies created can be modified and taken down stream and applied onto Urea also,” said Ray Perkins President of Eco Agro.
Andrew Semple of EAI stated, “These proven Enhanced Efficiency Technologies coupled with an unparalleled low costs of treatment are a major leap toward mass adoption but there are more innovations on the horizon that are game changing and equally as exciting.”
To learn more about the Eco Agro Nitrogen Conservation Input System contact Greg Stake at gstake@ecoagro.com for domestic inquiries and Asemple@ecoagroint.com for International Inquiries.
John Deere Expands Low-Profile Specialty Tractor Options
John Deere took the opportunity to show off some new low-profile specialty tractors at the 2018 National Farm Machinery Show. One model introduced at the show was the 5090EL, which is built on the John Deere 5E 4-cylinder tractor platform. That tractor is made for poultry producers, but can also be a great machine for tree fruit or tree nut growers.
The company also showcased its 5125ML with added horsepower. They’ve added options to the 5100ML and 5115ML tractors, and the 5ML tractors now come with JDLink as a field installed kit.
“JDLink gives you the ability to connect to your tractor remotely, either from an iPad, a smartphone, your computer,” said Deere’s John Doyle. “What it’s going to give you the ability to do is monitor your tractor. It helps you monitor maintenance intervals, it gives you the hours, fuel usage, it also gives you the location of the tractor. It will tell you if the tractor is running. It’s just a great tool for our customers who have multiple tractors.”
John Deere dealers are currently taking orders for the 5090EL and 5125ML tractors. Doyle expects production of the 5090EL to begin in April and production of the 5125ML to begin around October. For detailed information visit JohnDeere.com/Specialty or see your local dealer.
Listen to Chuck’s interview with John here: Interview with John Doyle, John Deere
2018 National Farm Machinery Show Photo Album
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Precision Ag Bytes 2/21
Valent U.S.A. has announced the launch of MycoApply® EndoPrime™ for corn. MycoApply EndoPrime is applied in-furrow and uses four unique species of mycorrhizal fungi to help improve nutrient efficiency, drought tolerance and yield potential.- Agnition announces that multiple recent university research trials demonstrate that Commence® for Soybeans, a seed treatment, increases yield for greater profits. The trials were conducted by the University of Nebraska – Lincoln and Iowa State University. Results were highlighted by the Iowa State Reseach where replicated trials in Ames and Boone Iowa resulted in an average gain of 4.0 bushels an acre over an untreated check.
- A new video released by National Crop Insurance Services explains that some farm policy opponents are lobbying to exclude people from crop insurance which would harm farmers and taxpayers alike. The video is the second video in its “Risk Management Minute” series.
- Syngenta has acquired FarmShots, Inc., a North Carolina-based innovator of high-resolution satellite imagery that detects plant health by analyzing absorbed light from field images. This service was developed to help farmers, agronomists and retailers quickly and accurately spot field issues caused by planter skips, emergence, insect feeding, poor plant nutrition, crop diseases, weeds, other pests and environmental damage. With this capability, FarmShots enables growers and their trusted advisers to reduce field scouting by as much as 90 percent and helps them focus on areas of need.
- DTN announced a partnership with Agronomic Technology Corp., a leader in nitrogen modeling. Through the partnership, DTN, an independent source of insight and analysis, and decision-support solutions to customers worldwide in agriculture, energy, commodities and financial analytics, is providing access to ATC’s N-Insight nitrogen diagnostic tool and Adapt-N nitrogen recommendation tool. ATC is incorporating DTN’s localized weather station network into its industry-leading modeling platform.
- A group of agricultural and conservation stakeholders has announced the launch of 4R Plus, a nutrient management and conservation program that equips Iowa farmers with the tools and resources to protect and enhance Iowa soils. Support of this program has expanded to 30 organizations, including state commodity groups, agribusinesses, conservation organizations, government agencies, universities and others.
HomePod with an Echo
Just for fun I set my new HomePod next to my Echo and asked them a couple of the same questions. Well, I asked Siri and Alexa to be precise. Nothing fancy here but I have a couple of observations.
One: I’ve had the Echo longer and this particular model sounds great in my office. Alexa has been getting much better at supplying answers. Although I haven’t really needed a new device like this the attraction was about integration with the Apple device ecosystem. It was simple to set up and Cindy and I have already had a conference call on it via my iPhone.
Two: HomePod requires you to subscribe to Apple Music. I didn’t. I pay extra for Amazon Unlimited music. I don’t want two music for pay services. Now I have to decide which it’s going to be. I might just cancel the extra charge to my Amazon Prime since I still get quite a bit of music there anyway.
Three: I don’t have a lot of “smart” devices for either of these devices to control. I’m more interested in asking questions and getting answers and listening to music. Although this Echo sounds fine I can definitely hear a difference for the better with the HomePod.
Now it’s time to crank it up!