Bright Outlook for #FPS17

Cindy Zimmerman

The forecast for the 2017 Farm Progress Show is so bright Don Tourte has to wear shades inside the media tent!

Tourte, who is Penton Agriculture vice president and Farm Progress Show manager, says the weather is great and the crowds are here, despite the downturn in the farm economy. “I say, maybe farmers need the Farm Progress Show more in a farm economy like this than they do when things are great,” said Tourte. “You need to look at what’s the edge, that little thing or big thing that’s going to make you more money.”

Audio file: Interview with Don Tourte, Farm Progress Show

2017 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

Coverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Coverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by John DeereCoverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by GrowmarkCoverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Bayer CropScience
AgWired Precision, Audio, Farm Progress Show

Harvey Hits Texas Agriculture

Cindy Zimmerman

Rescuing people trapped in flood waters continues to be the number one priority in Texas but it’s clear that Hurricane Harvey has hit agriculture hard.

Texas Commissioner of Agriculture Sid Miller says cotton farmers who were looking at a bumper crop this year were especially hard hit. “Best estimate so far is about a 150 million dollar loss for the cotton industry on the coastal plains,” said Miller.

Livestock producers are also being impacted and in need of feed and fresh water. “If you really want to help farmers and ranchers…we have a STAR fund – State of Texas Agriculture Relief fund – and that gets right in the hands of producers.” To donate, click on this link.

In this interview from Tony St. James with All Ag News, Miller talks about the impact of the storm. All Ag News interview with TX Ag Comm Sid Miller

AgWired Animal, AgWired Precision, Audio, Weather

Welcome to Day 1 of the Farm Progress Show

Chuck Zimmerman

This morning Jamie and Joanna went up top to get a bird’s eye view of the start of the 2017 Farm Progress Show. We hope to be live when the network allows it, so keep your eye on the AgWired page. And, like it if can. We can use all the likes we can get! LOL.

BTW. The official hashtag for this year’s show is #FPS17. Follow along the journey.


Coverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Coverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by 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, Farm Progress Show, Video

Taiwanese Rice Importers Visit Missouri

Kelly Marshall

No one traveled father for the Missouri Rice Council annual Rice Field Day in Campbell, Missouri than Taiwanese Rice Importer, Chris Lee.  Forty years ago his father began a rice business in Taiwan and today Lee and his brothers have taken that business global by importing rice from around the world.  Last week they were in the U.S. to learn more about varieties that will meet demands back home.

“We were here at the field day today and we saw the effort that was put in by the researchers- rice breeders and researchers- and we saw a lot of varieties. We’re glad to see how advanced and how much effort you guys put into creating new varieties and hopefully we find some type of variety that will fit into our market,” Lee said.

Currently that demand includes long grain rice, as Taiwan mostly grows medium grain.  Lee has been talking to guest speakers at the events they’ve attended to learn more about the varieties of long grain rice and how they differ from state to state.

Listen to Jamie’s full interview with Lee to learn more: Interview with Chris Lee, Shan Shui Me Food Enterprise

Photos of the event can be found here: Missouri Rice Field Day Photo Album

AgWired Precision, Audio, Rice

U.S. Rice Production Finding New Markets

Kelly Marshall

Greg Yielding of the U.S. Rice Producers Association says rice is looking good this year. He brought an outlook message to attendees of the recent Missouri Rice Council Field Day and says growers with good crops need to be deciding now if they’ll sell or wait at harvest time. Indicators point to a pretty tight market, he says.

Whatever farmers choose, the U.S. Rice Producers Association is there to help market that rice. They’re always on the lookout for new markets- like the current deal with China.

“We took U.S. rice into the stores. We saw that there was a market. We showed the Chinese importers and the supermarkets that there was a market for U.S. rice and now, with this administration, we’ve finally got a protocol signed so we can begin trade and actually sell rice to China. It’s going to be huge for the U.S.,” Yielding said. And he believes the deal will happen quickly, with rice heading across the globe within 30 days of China’s final visit to the U.S.

The organization is also working hard on a program in Guatemala. They’re bringing education to schools, especially small schools, about how to cook and serve rice. In places where the mothers come in to cook the lunch meal, this is especially important because the knowledge of how to cook rice goes home as well. Currently, 100% of the rice purchased in Guatemala comes from the U.S., making this program’s impact even more significant.

Learn more about U.S. rice production in Jamie’s full interview here:Interview with Greg Yielding, U.S. Rice Producers Association

View and download photos from the event here: Missouri Rice Field Day Photo Album

AgWired Precision, Audio, Rice, Trade

New Joint Venture Capitalizes on Precision Platform

Kelly Marshall

Four leading agribusinesses, Wheat Growers, Landus Cooperative, Central Valley Ag and WinField United, are coming together in a joint venture called FieldReveal. Together they will provide ag retailers with a platform, allowing them to provide better service to growers and keep pace with new technologies. FieldReveal will offer ease in writing prescriptions for seed, fertility, and other inputs thanks to the geo-referenced, multi-layered sampling taken from grids, soil management zones, or both.

The FieldReveal precision platform helps agronomists work closely with growers to help optimize input costs and yields to deliver improved returns on each field. The genesis of the FieldReveal platform was the MZB precision farming system from Wheat Growers, which has proven its worth to growers since 1997.

“This tool was built by agronomists and is used by agronomists. That’s what makes it so relevant and effective,” says Brent Wiesenburger, executive advisor for FieldReveal and precision ag manager at Wheat Growers. “It was designed to enhance the partnership between ag retailers, agronomists and their customers.”

AgWired Precision, Cooperatives, Precision Agriculture

AgriBlogging From Farm Progress Show

Chuck Zimmerman

Welcome to Farm Progress Show week. The ZimmComm Team, Cindy, Jamie, Joanna and myself will be on location by late afternoon to set ourselves up for a busy week.

I want to thank our sponsors this year which include John Deere, Bayer CropScience and GROWMARK. We’ll be working with these companies and more to find out what’s new in the world of agribusiness so expect lots of photos, interviews and video as the opportunity present itself.

Coverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Coverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by John DeereCoverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by GrowmarkCoverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Bayer CropScience
AgWired Precision, Farm Progress Show

NAMA Names Professional Development Award Winners

Kelly Marshall

The National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) has announced the winners of the 2017 Professional Development Awards, recognizing the top performers in marketing communication, product/species management, public relations, and sales.

Linda Frerichs earned the 2017 Marketing Communications Award. Frerichs serves as Head of Global and North American Communications at Arysta LifeScience, and says her farm roots and career path influence her daily as she plans strategies and tactics with the farmer’s perspective in mind.

The Professional Development Award for Product and Species Management goes to Jill DeLucero, Senior Director, Association Marketing at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. Jill manages one of the beef industry’s premiere projects, the Environmental Stewardship Award Program (ESAP).

Kelly Schwalbe takes home this year’s Professional Development Award for Public Relations. While he currently works as Partner and Public Relations Director for Sage, Kelly has 35+ years experience in corporate, freelance, and agency public relations and is a member and participates in many industry clubs and associations.

The Sales award recipient is Dave Korbelik, Vice President of Go-to-Marketing Solutions at Beck Ag. Dave has worked closely with Multimin USA to design and implement customized go-to-market solutions, creating a customized and measurable marketing strategy to build Multimin USA’s presence in the marketplace. He has been a strong supporter of NAMA as well.

Awards will be presented at the 2017 NAMA Fall Conference in Milwaukee.

NAMA

Animal Ag Bites 8/28

Kelly Marshall

  • The American Gelbvieh Association (AGA) is welcoming Taylor Evans of Denver, Colorado, to their staff as member and youth programs coordinator. Evans began his role on August 14, 2017, and will work directly from the AGA headquarters office in Broomfield, Colorado.
  • Jennifer Kopanke has been selected for the 2017 Sheep Heritage Foundation Scholarship of $3,000.  Kopanke is a veterinary student at Colorado State University and earned the honor for her research into bluetongue virus.
  • Agricultural wast company, Regenis, has installed the first phosphorous recovery system west of the Cascades at Edaleen Dairy.  The system can remove 80-90 percent of phosphorous and 30 percent of nitrogen in wastewater.
  • The Public Lands Council and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association feel the final report from the Department of the Interior regarding National Monuments contained good news.  It clearly states that Presidents have abused their authority under the Antiquities Act, locking up over 250 million acres of land and water.
  • Register now for a webinar by Alltech’s Dr. Rebecca Delles on meat science and quality.  The webinar takes place Friday, September 1, 2017 at 2:00 Eastern.
AgWired Animal, Animal Bites

SMART Farmer Anne Meis

Cindy Zimmerman

Anne Meis is a family farmer from Elgin, Nebraska who raises corn, soybeans, and beef with her husband Jim, and serves on the boards of the Nebraska Soybean Board and the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance (USFRA). In this SMART farmer podcast episode, she talks about the importance of technology such as genetically modified crops for smart farmers.

She also talks about the upcoming “Food Dialogues: Pivoting the GMO Conversation” at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln on September 6, presented by USFRA and Nebraska Soybean Board and invites everyone to join live and in person or live and on Facebook for the event next week – details are here.

Listen to our SMART farmer conversation with Anne – SMART Farmer Podcast with Nebraska farmer Anne Meis

Subscribe to the SMART Farmer podcast

Learn more about USFRA and SMART Farm

AgWired Animal, AgWired Precision, Audio, Soybean, Sustainability, USFRA