Ethanol Report on the Road with E85

Cindy Zimmerman

With more than 4,000 E85 stations across the nation and more being added every day, drivers of flex fuel vehicles could possibly drive across the country on only 85 percent ethanol with a little planning and a lot of E85prices.com.

Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) Vice President of Industry Relations Robert White took his work on vacation this summer, taking the family on a 2400 mile tour of national parks and monuments on Colorado and Utah with the goal of making the trip on only E85 in their 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee.

The result – 2,400 miles on just 20 gallons of gasoline – and the rest powered by ethanol.

Robert talks about the growth of E85 fueling options for consumers and his ethanol-powered vacation in this edition of The Ethanol Report: Ethanol Report on the road with E85

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Audio, Ethanol, Podcasts, RFA

Grains Council Adds to Staff

Cindy Zimmerman

Left: Tim Tierney, USGC director of strategic marketing/ethanol, North Asia. Right: Caleb Wurth, USGC assistant director, Southeast Asia.

The U.S. Grains Council is adding a new strategic director in Asia and assistant director in Southeast Asia to help increase near-term demand for feed grain sales and build long-term demand for ethanol among global customers.

Tim Tierney has joined the Council as director of strategic marketing/ethanol in North Asia, filling a new role that seeks to capitalize on both longstanding relationships in the region and emerging opportunities for biofuels. Tierney, who will be based in Singapore, came to the organization from Syngenta and DuPont, where he worked on products developed for the ethanol industry.

Caleb Wurth will join the Council’s Southeast Asia regional office in Kuala Lumpur as assistant director in November. Most recently with ADM, Wurth has experience marketing corn and corn co-products to feedlots and working on containerized grain export logistics, both of which are particularly relevant to that region.

These additions complement other staff expansions over the last year that are meant to help find, develop and capture wholly new demand for corn, sorghum, barley, distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) and ethanol.

Exports, USGC

Precision Ag Bytes 11/1

Kelly Marshall

  • National Plant Genome Initiative, shepherded by the National Corn Growers Association, is celebrating 20 years of genetic research.  The historic research effort to map the corn genome has resulted in significant economic and environmental dividends for farmers and society at large.
  • Mycogen’s Turn the Bag Blue & Gold program is working with select retailers and local FFA chapters to offer students a learning, as well as fundraising, opportunity.  Chapter members will receive professional selling training to sell special blue and gold bags of select Mycogen brand corn hybrids to local farmers.
AgWired Precision, Precision Ag Bytes

New John Deere Utility Tractor Offers Ease of Use and Comfort

Carrie Muehling

New this year from John Deere in the company’s compact utility tractor line is the 2025R, which was on display at the 2017 Sunbelt Ag Expo. Product Specialist Demark Cole said the tractor is for residential customers and property owners who need a small tractor for loader work, rotary cutting and mowing.

“Anywhere from small loader work to doing rotary cutting. Equine is a good example, as well, where if you want to drag out feedlots or barns, things like that, this tractor fits perfectly. It has a narrow width and a narrow wheel base that you can fit into small places within barns,” said Cole.

Ease of use and comfort are both a focus with this tractor, which is built and assembled in Augusta, Georgia. It is available now from local John Deere dealers.

Listen to Chuck’s interview with Demark Cole: Interview with Demark Cole, John Deere

2017 Sunbelt Ag Expo Photo Album

Stories from Sunbelt Ag Expo sponsored by Stories from Sunbelt Ag Expo sponsored by John Deere
Agribusiness, Audio, John Deere, Sunbelt Ag Expo

U.S. Dairy Producers Win Alltech KEENAN Great Green Getaway

Jamie Johansen

For three U.S. dairy producers, the luck of the Irish was on their side when their names were selected in a live, random draw for The Great Green Getaway sweepstakes as the 2017 World Dairy Expo wrapped up in Madison, Wisconsin.

In March 2018, Ashley Irvin, Tennessee; Hans Greisen, Wisconsin; and Mary Van Rossum, Wisconsin, will embark on a journey to the Emerald Isle for a “how it’s made” tour of the KEENAN production facility in Borris, County Carlow, Ireland, a guided VIP experience at the new Pearse Lyons Distillery, visits to a number of high-performance Irish dairy farms and St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in Dublin City Centre.

“We are looking forward to hosting The Great Green Getaway sweepstakes winners in Ireland and sharing the Alltech and KEENAN Irish heritage,” said Dan Gard, sales manager for KEENAN USA. “Our customers trust our KEENAN mixers for their durability, flexibility and longevity, and these winners will get to see them in the factory as well as on-farm in Ireland.”

The sweepstakes opened June 28, 2017, during National Dairy Month, and the winners were announced on Oct. 7, 2017, at World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin. The contest was open to U.S. dairy farmers who have 50 cows or more and are over 18 years of age.

Agribusiness, AgWired Animal, Alltech, Dairy, Equipment, Livestock, Nutrition

Ibach Sworn in, Northey Still on Hold for USDA

Cindy Zimmerman

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue traveled to Omaha yesterday to swear-in new Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Greg Ibach in his home state.

“Greg Ibach will bring experience and integrity to his new role at USDA, and carries with him the knowledge he’s gained in the dozen years he has served as Nebraska’s Director of Agriculture,” said Secretary Perdue.

During the swearing-in ceremony, Perdue expressed his disappointment that Bill Northey was not also being sworn in at the same time, after his nomination was put on hold last week by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in an apparent attempt to retaliate against the administration for bowing to pressure from ethanol states like Iowa on changes to the RFS. “It’s a sad note when one senator put a hold on a nominee not based on anything that has to do with that nominee,” said Perdue.

Audio file – Secretary Perdue swear-in opening comments

AgWired Animal, AgWired Precision, Audio, USDA

John Deere Features Combine Technology at Sunbelt Ag Expo

Carrie Muehling

This year’s Sunbelt Ag Expo was an opportunity for John Deere to show off some new combines to growers in the Southeastern United States. Technical Marketing Manager for Combines and Cotton Equipment Matt Badding said the new S700 series combine offers three new features: the Gen4 Command Center, the Combine Advisor package, and Active Yield for sensor calibration.

“Right now, what we notice is for a lot of customers it’s difficult to get a good calibration of their yield sensor, of their mass flow sensor, as we call it. And what we’ve got is three sensors, three pads that are in the grain tank, and they’re continuously calibrating the sensors so the customer no longer has to worry about that,” said Badding.

Badding also featured the 635F HydraFlex Cutting Platform, which provides flexibility for farmers harvesting both rice and soybeans.

Listen to Chuck’s interview with Matt Badding: Interview with Matt Badding, John Deere

2017 Sunbelt Ag Expo Photo Album

Stories from Sunbelt Ag Expo sponsored by Stories from Sunbelt Ag Expo sponsored by John Deere
Agribusiness, AgWired Precision, Audio, John Deere, Sunbelt Ag Expo

Hunting With A Utility Vehicle Series

Chuck Zimmerman

With this post I’m starting a series of posts about deer hunting this season. I have been provided a couple of different utility vehicles to test out and write about the experience. I’ll be featuring photos and video during this year’s season in Georgia which started on October 21 and goes through mid January. Here’s one of the places I’m collecting photos that started with work days prior to this year’s season. This photo is a sunrise opening weekend from my stand!

The Crystal Pig Hunt Club members are myself, my brother Paul, Gary Cooper and newcomers Gatlin and Jordan. Several of Paul’s sons also get to hunt with us too. We lease almost 600 acres which have some pretty challenging terrain and trails. The property was clear cut before we started and planted in pines that are now about 12ft. tall. So trails are vital to our success. We’ve been working with the U.S. Forest Service on new fire trails around the border of the property this fall and that project should be completed today hopefully.

When it comes to vehicles we are testing a John Deere XUV8251 and a Can-Am Defender HD10. To say we’re thrilled to have this opportunity would be an understatement. I know that the AgWired audience has a lot of hunters in it and many, many of them are farmers. These vehicles have all kinds of uses on a farm and we’re putting them through the paces on everything from collecting firewood and filling feeders to hauling in deer.

BTW. It has been a successful season so far. I’ll write more about that in upcoming episodes of this series.

Can-Am, Hunting, John Deere

Animal Ag Bites 10/30

Kelly Marshall

  • The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association released their fifth video in its media campaign to promote comprehensive tax reform. This latest video spotlights sixth-generation Florida rancher Cary Lightsey, who was forced to sell one of his family’s ranches to pay a death-tax bill after his father’s passing.
  • The dairy checkoff has awarded the $3,500 James H. Loper Jr. Memorial Scholarship to Nora Faris, of the University of Missouri, and 12 $2,500 scholarships  to students enrolled in programs that emphasize dairy.
  • The American Gelbvieh Association‘s third annual commercial cattlemen’s educational symposium titled Cattlemen’s Profit Roundup will take place Friday, December 8, 2017 at 1:30 p.m. CST at the Hyatt Regency in Wichita, Kansas.  Members of the beef industry are invited to attend for free; lunch will be served at noon.
  • Christine McCracken has been selected as Executive Director, Animal Protein of the RaboResearch Food & Agribusiness team.  Her position will cover the North American poultry and hog sector.
AgWired Animal, Animal Bites

2017-18 National FFA Officer Team Elected

Cindy Zimmerman

2017-18 FFA National Officers: President Breanna Holbert, Wastern VP Gracie Furnish, Secretary Erica Baier, Western VP Bryce Cluff, Central VP Piper Merritt, and Southern VP Ian Bennett

Students from Arizona, California, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky and Oklahoma were elected to serve on the 2017-18 National FFA Officer team.

Breanna Holbert, an agricultural education major at California State University of Chico, made history as the first female African American elected as National FFA president. Her fellow officers include:

National Secretary – Erica Baier, agricultural education major at Iowa State University
Central Region VP – Piper Merritt, agricultural economics major at Oklahoma State University
Western Region VP – Bryce Cluff, agricultural technology and management major at the University of Arizona
Southern Region VP – Ian Bennett, majoring in plant breeding and genetics at the University of Georgia
Eastern Region VP – Gracie Furnish, career and technical education major at the University of Kentucky

Listen to an interview with Breanna from FFA: Interview with Breanna Holbert, FFA National President
Click for interviews, bios and hi-res photos of all the new officers.

Watch video of the officers being announced:


AgWired Animal, AgWired Precision, Audio, FFA, Video