Perdue Remarks on Bilateral Talks in Mexico

Jamie Johansen

While meeting with Mexican Secretary of Agriculture José Calzada Rovirosa, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today held a teleconference for U.S. media.

The two leaders engaged in bilateral talks, including a panel discussion with U.S. and Mexican producers, several agricultural site visits, and a joint press conference – seeking to build on the U.S. and Mexico’s well-developed track record of collaboration on agricultural trade issues, and on the personal relationship forged when Perdue hosted Calzada in Savannah, Ga., last month.

You can find his complete remarks and questions from media here: Secretary Perdue Remarks from Mexico

Ag Groups, AgWired Animal, AgWired Precision, Audio, International, Trade, USDA

John Deere and Granular Collaborate

Cindy Zimmerman

John Deere and Granular are working together on a product development and co-marketing agreement that gives John Deere customers more tools to measure and improve their financial performance.

Under the terms of the agreement, the two companies will work to further integrate Granular’s leading Farm Management Software (FMS) product and the John Deere Operations Center. Certain Granular FMS functionality will be offered free-of-charge to Operations Center users in the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand, so that producers who choose to share their machine data with Granular can measure their profitability at the field and sub-field levels. In addition, the companies will launch a program that rewards John Deere Dealers who work with Granular to serve common customers.

AgWired Precision, John Deere, Precision Agriculture

Drone Nerds Show Off at InfoAg

Kelly Marshall

As self-proclaimed “ag nerds” here at AgWired, we were excited to meet the Drone Nerds at the recent Info Ag Conference in St. Louis, Missouri.  Brian Grant, Director of enterprise sales, talked about the company’s dealer network and the service provided to help growers get the right drone setup for their operation.

He also showed off some pretty cool toys.  Of course, there are the drones we’ve typically seen at such shows; small units that take pictures and videos, use a software platform to interpret data, and provide insights farmers can act upon.  At InfoAg, however, Drone Nerds showed off their spraying applicaion drone, one that picks up where a smaller drone leaves off.  This drone takes the information provided and heads back out to the field to apply, say, insecticide to an area of infestation, taking off and coming right back to you when it needs a new battery or a refill of crop protection products.

Once you understand what the problem is, Grant says, this drone lets you do something about it.  That’s how you make sure your yields at the end of the year are what they were forecast to be.

Learn more about Drone Nerds and the spraying application drone in my full interview with Grant here: Interview with Brian Grant, Drone Nerds

2017 InfoAg Conference Photo Album

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Coverage of the InfoAg Conference is sponsored by John Deere Coverage of the InfoAg Conference is sponsored by CropTrak
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Zimfo Bytes 7/28

Kelly Marshall

  • The International Federation of Agriculture Journalists and Swiss Agriculture Journalists are hosting a press tour in Lucerne on September 22-25, 2017. The topic will be “Food Security, Free Trade and Sustainability.”
  • The American Feed Industry Association welcomes Victoria Broehm as the new director of communications. She will lead the association’s media relations and strategic communications efforts and serve as editor of the AFIA Journal and other member and media communications.
  • Pope Francis has shown support for those facing hunger in East Africa by symbolically donating €25,000 to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
  • The National FFA Organization has announced finalists for the 2017 top achievement awards: American Star Farmer, American Star in Agribusiness, American Star in Agricultural Placement and American Star in Agriscience.  The finalists will be interviewed and one winner for each award will be recognized at the 90th National FFA Convention & Expo, Oct. 25-28 in Indianapolis.
  • Twenty nine students have been selected by the World Food Prize Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to receive the prestigious Wallace-Carver Fellowship.  These paid summer fellowships will allow the students to collaborate with world-renowned scientists and policymaker at leading USDA research centers and offices.
  • American Farmland Trust and Growing Food Connections have announced a national guide called GROWING LOCAL: A Community Guide to Planning for Agriculture and Food Systems, showcasing ways to strengthen the food system through planning, policy and public investment.
  • Charleston|Orwig is celebrating their 25th anniversary, starting with an employee day at the Waukesha Country Fair.  It was the first of “25 Feed Good Deeds” the company will host over the next year to commemorate.

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ZimmCast with New Presidents of AAEA & LPC

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast 554During the 2017 Ag Media Summit we had the regular changing of the gavel for both the American Agricultural Editors Association as well as the Livestock Publications Council. I spoke with both of the new presidents for these organizations after their respective board meetings.

In this week’s program I start out with Julie Deering, new president of the AAEA. Julie talks about the recent unveiling of a new logo and website for AAEA which is an outcome of organizational strategic planning. She is pictured receiving the AAEA gavel from now past president Mike Wilson.

The new AAEA- The Ag Communicators Network website is now live!

Here you will find a new and improved, easy to use, platform responsive website that includes all you need to know about AAEA. We invite you to visit the site and familiarize yourself with our new menu items, social media links, partners, and more.

We will continue to update and review this new website. Historic information on ageditors.com can still be accessed for a limited time and will be downloaded and archived thereafter.

We hope you enjoy the new website and welcome all feedback and concerns.

Listen to the program to hear more from Julie about the coming year for AAEA.

After talking with Julie I share my conversation with Cindy Cunningham, new president of the LPC. Cindy says the “basis of the LPC is working to build professionalism and build networking and build relationships among ag communicators.”

Cindy says that a challenge moving forward is the changing way people are getting information and making sure members are able to communicate in ways their audience wants.

Listen for more about the outlook for the new year for LPC.

I hope you enjoy the program and thank you for listening!

Listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast with Julie Deering and Cindy Cunningham

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

The ZimmCast

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ACN, Ag Media Summit, Audio, LPC, Media, ZimmCast

Facebook Live from Deere at #InfoAg17

Jamie Johansen

Today is the last day of the 2017 InfoAg Conference in St. Louis and we had the chance yesterday to stream a tour of what’s new from John Deere for ag retailers.

John Deere representatives guided us through AgLogic, Field Connect, ExactApply sprayer and the John Deere Operations Center in the video below. Watch and learn more about Deere’s solutions for retailers.

2017 InfoAg Conference Photo Album


Coverage of the InfoAg Conference is sponsored by
Coverage of the InfoAg Conference is sponsored by John Deere Coverage of the InfoAg Conference is sponsored by CropTrak
Info Ag, John Deere, Video

IntelinAir Debutes at #InfoAg17

Kelly Marshall

IntelinAir made its debut appearance at the InfoAg Conference in St. Louis, Missouri this week, letting the precision industry know they’re ready for businesses. Although they’ve been around for the past three years, they spent the first two in the lab, CEO and co-founder Al Eisaian tells us. For the first time this year they’re covering grower’s crops in Iowa and Illinois and next year they plan to take the company even further.

IntelinAir stands for Intelligence in Air, Eisaian says, because the company does more than just take arial images. Instead they consider themselves to be in the analytics business, taking those images and using proprietary algorithms to spot issues. The main areas of focus are early season emergence problems, weed detection, and anomalies that could arise from issues like compaction, equipment problems, tiling issues or weather damage.

“We bring all that imagery, push it to the cloud, and then that’s when everything starts,” Eisian explains.  “The stitching work starts and all the analysis that shows what anomalies are present in the field- and after all the analysis is done in a matter of 24 to 48 hours then we push it to farmer’s iPads.”

For growers who haven’t looked into ariel imagery for actionable solutions recently, Eisian suggests they revisit the issue. The technology has improved a lot in the last few years, he says, and it’s much more accessible now than it has been.

To learn more about IntelinAir, listen to my interview here: Interview with Al Eisaian, IntelinAir

2017 InfoAg Conference Photo Album

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Coverage of the InfoAg Conference is sponsored by John Deere Coverage of the InfoAg Conference is sponsored by CropTrak
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CropTrak Plays Well With Others

Kelly Marshall

CropTrak as it exists today has been an evolution stemming from customer needs. The company began doing work for the military, a start that served them well in agriculture, says Jonathan Sherrill, Vice President of Sales.

“You have hard, remote conditions where there is no Internet connectivity, there is no cellular, so [you] build tools on a mobile device that’s not dependent on cellular and Internet connectivity that enabled customers to collect data efficiently while they’re in the field,” Sherrill explains. One size didn’t fit all in the military and it doesn’t work in agriculture either.

In fact, that’s why the company changed their name and their game this time a year ago, moving from iCropTrak and a mobile-only platform, to CropTrak with a web-based presence that can be accessed from a desktop when it makes more sense for the grower.

The most recent customer request to be granted is an API that plays nicely with others, specifically the John Deere Operations Center on MyJohnDeere.com. The new platform offers an even closer look at what goes on in the field, going so far as to allow a grower to put a circle on a specific zone and get data like yield by soil type, moisture by soil type, yield by slope, and yield by variety.

Of course, somethings don’t change, like the ease in which Croptrak’s data can be used to complete paperwork. Although, that’s better than ever too. “I think what we’re most excited about is being able to take that data and automatically fill out paper,” Sherrill says.

For more information about our Gold Mic sponsor listen to Cindy’s full interview with CropTrak here: Interview with Jonathan Sherrill, CropTrak

2017 InfoAg Conference Photo Album

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Precision Ag Bytes 7/26

Kelly Marshall

  • The final five for Syngenta’s #RootedinAg contest have been announced.  They are: Thomas Luke Andrews from Boyle, Mississippi; Lauren Grimes from Tifton, Georgia; Steve Groves from Bakersfield, California; Tori Streitmatter from Sparland, Illinois; and Nicole Swinson from Kenansville, North Carolina.
  • The National Association of Conservation Districts is concerned with budget cuts to the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, but is encouraged that the Senate Appropriations Committee has strongly funded technical assistance at the Department of Agriculture for 2018.  The Senate’s bill also includes much needed regulatory relief for those participating in NRCS programs.
  • Soil Health Partnership encourages growers who have never tried cover crops to start small, but start now.  Growers looking for ideas or more information can attend one of these upcoming field days to learn more.
  • Prospera, a digital farming company, has announced a $15M Series B funding round.  Lead by Qualcomm Venters and joined by Cisco Investments, ICV, and Bessemer Venture Partners, this funding brings the total investment in Prospera to $22M.
  • EFC Systems is joining their FieldAlytics product with Geosys Bridge API to offer in-season and historical imagery, providing users with field-level satellite imagery layers that allows for in-season scouting, analysis for field variability management zone creation or export for crop treatment recommendations.

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Four Honored with PrecisionAg Awards

Kelly Marshall

The opening session of the Info Ag Conference in St. Louis, Missouri kicked-off by honoring four winners of this year’s PrecisionAg Institute‘s Awards of Excellence. These awards recognize commitment and exceptional service in the precision agriculture industry.

Dr. Harold van Es from Cornel University was the recipient of one of two 2017 Educator/Researcher Awards. van Es played a large role in the development of Adapt-N, a cloud-based, real-time nitrogen management tool.
Interview with Dr. Harold van Es, Award Winner

Wade Barnes earned the 2017 Crop Adviser/Entrepreneur Award as a co-founder of Farmers Edge. His company began in his basement but now offers big data, digital agriculture, and agronomy services to growers in 5 countries.
Interview with Wade Barnes, Award Winner

Dr. Joe Luck, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, also received the 2017 Educator/Researcher Award. Luck is both an Associate Professor and Precision Agriculture Engineer in the Department of Biological Systems Engineering and founder of Precision Agriculture Data Management Workshops for the Extension services. Interview with Dr. Joe Luck, Award Winner

Dr. Paul Fixen, recently retired from the International Plant Nutrition Institute, was honored with the 2017 Legacy Award. His distinguished career includes leading a team at South Dakota State University that made substantial progress in understanding the role and requirement of chloride in crop production, authoring 300+ articles related to nutrient management, and developing and teaching popular courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels.Interview with Dr. Paul Fixen, Award Winner

2017 InfoAg Conference Photo Album


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