Don Funk Relaunches Midwest Seed Genetics

Cindy Zimmerman

The founder of Channel Bio Corp is leading a team of entrepreneurs to relaunch Midwest Seed Genetics across the Corn Belt for the 2017/2018 growing season.

Don Funk acquired Midwest in 2001 and it was one of the regional brands under Channel Bio when it was purchased by Monsanto in 2004. He is re-acquiring the brand to provide “farmers meaningful choice in the dynamic future that awaits agriculture.”

“Over the last several years, we’ve been closely watching the seed industry, spending a great deal of time listening to both farmers and seed industry professionals,” says Funk. “While there is great excitement for what the future holds, there is also frustration and dissatisfaction. The people of agriculture are being left behind. We will put them first again.”

In preparation for the launch, Funk is assembling a core team to drive Midwest into the future. “We’re focused on people who share a great entrepreneurial spirit as well as a belief the seed industry is weighted down with inefficient practices. I’m excited to work with extremely capable people who are focused on bringing real value to farmers for decades to come.”

Learn more from Midwest Seed.

AgWired Precision, Seed

Ethanol Report on EPA Hearing and Court Decision

Cindy Zimmerman

Last week’s court decision on what EPA can consider when setting volume obligations for biofuels under the Renewable Fuel Standard was still fresh in mind as the industry provided feedback on the agency’s most recent proposals for next year during a public hearing in Washington D.C. this week.

In this edition of The Ethanol Report podcast, Renewable Fuels Association president and CEO Bob Dinneen talks about his testimony to EPA on the proposed RVOs under the RFS, and how the court ruling was a win for the industry. Ethanol Report on EPA Hearing and Court Decision

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Audio, Ethanol, Podcasts, RFA

New from Case IH

Cindy Zimmerman

Case IH made a number of new product announcements for 2018 this week.

For starters, they launched the next generation of Maxxum series tractors that “combine efficient power, versatility, comfort and convenience to handle the day-to-day demands of beef, dairy and row crop operations.”

The 2018 line up includes Maxxum ActiveDrive 4, Maxxum ActiveDrive 8, and Maxxum CVXDrive tractor configurations that can be equipped to meet the needs of any operation.

The new Case IH Steiger CVXDrive series tractors with the strongest CVT on the market are available in 370 to 540 horsepower and in 17 different configurations in Quadtrac™, Rowtrac™, wheeled and scraper options.

The Steiger is the first continuously variable transmission to be offered in a 4WD articulated tractor and delivers the highest horsepower available on the market.

To top it off, Case IH launched the “industry’s fastest converting combination applicator” which converts from “liquid to dry in as little as 42 minutes.”

The Trident 5550 Liquid System offers the latest Case IH application technology, including AIM Command FLEX™ advanced spray technology and it’s engineered from the ground up to be changed from liquid to dry and back again throughout three seasons of use.

AgWired Animal, AgWired Precision, Case IH, Equipment, Tractor

AgGateway’s ADAPT Nears Completion

Kelly Marshall

Members of AgGateway have been working hard over the last 2-3 years, developing a common model to share precision agriculture data. Now the Agricultural Data Application Programming Toolkit, or ADAPT, is nearly ready for launch. Brent Kemp, Executive VP of AgGateway, and Mark Stelford from Premier Crop Systems and ADAPT committee chair attended last week’s Info Ag Conference in St. Louis to spread the word.

“It’s a more seamless process, so the industry isn’t worried about ‘Can I get this piece of information over to that system using this business system,'” Stelford explains. “Our goal is to make that engineering work a lot easier to drive a lot more options in the industry.”

One of the keys to success in this endeavor has been the strength of their numbers. From just a dozen or so members 12 years ago to more than 200 today, being able to have conversations throughout the industry is critical.

“One of the strengths that we have is that we draw from across agriculture, from multi-national chemical and seed manufacturers through the distribution channel, to retail, and reaching to those relationships with service providers and equipment manufacturers, figuring out where we overload with other organizations like with AEF, with ISO and making those relationships work for our members,” Kemp shares.

Interest in the organization has grown to such an extent that regional branches are now being formed in Europe, Asia, and the southeast. This global network will be able to further the work of programs like ADAPT, giving them more value and avoiding duplicate work.

To learn more about AgGateway and ADAPT, listen to Cindy’s full interview here: Interview with Brent Kemp and Mark Telford, AgGateway

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
AgWired Precision, Audio, Info Ag

Precision Ag is John Deere Connected

Cindy Zimmerman

A significant percentage of the more than 100 companies exhibiting at the InfoAg Conference last week were proud to promote that they were John Deere Operations Center Connected.

Stu Pocknee with Precision Terrain Solutions of Australia specializes in landforming and agricultural water management, basically “anything to do with putting an implement behind a tractor and changing the shape of a field,” featuring T3RRA Cutta™, a turnkey in-cab solution for all iGrade™ equipped John Deere™ tractors.

In this interview, Pocknee talks about the benefits of being John Deere Connected: Interview with Stu Pocknee, Precision Terrain Solutions

LtoR – Kyle Owen, Phil Draude, and Shane Rollins of EFC Systems

For EFC Systems, being connected is important for their customer base.

“We have ag retailers with a lot of John Deere equipment so they are able to connect their equipment directly to our system and get more visibility of their operation,” said Phil Draude, EFC National Sales.

During the show last week, EFC also announced a new integration between its FieldAlytics product and Geosys Bridge® API for direct delivery of in-season and historical imagery.

Learn more in this interview: Interview with Phil Draude, EFC Systems

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
AgWired Precision, Audio, Info Ag, John Deere, Precision Agriculture

New Product Lineup from Krone

Jamie Johansen

Krone North America will soon be rolling out several new products and product improvements for producers to take home and put to use for the next hay and forage season.

“We are a German company, but we really focus on providing innovative products for the North American producer. At any given time throughout the year, we typically have a German engineer over here talking to producers, finding out what features they need for their machines and understanding crop conditions. That’s why we say Krone equipment is German engineered for the North American market,” said Kristine Walker, Krone NA, Manager of Marketing Communications and Public Relations.

We spoke with Kristine at the recent Ag Media Summit where she gave us the details on their new EasyCut TS 320 Pull-Type Disc Mower. The mower features a new frame design, fewer moving parts and a cutting width of 10ft. 4in.

Krone has also introduced two new large tedder models featuring working widths of 43 and 50 ft. They have also come out with a new Comprima Round Balers. These are equipped with new a pick-up design delivering better feeding and wrapping.

Listen or watch my complete chat with Kristine to get all the details on these products and for a sneak peek on what we will see announced later this year. Interview with Kristine Walker, Krone NA

View and download photos here: 2017 Ag Media Summit Photo Album


Coverage of the Ag Media Summit is sponsored by
Coverage of the Ag Media Summit is sponsored by FMC
Ag Media Summit, Agribusiness, AgWired Animal, Audio, Equipment, Forage, Hay

EPA Hearing Draws Biofuels Supporters

Cindy Zimmerman

Over 140 witnesses provided feedback to the Environmental Protection Agency Tuesday on the agency’s recent proposed volume obligations under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), with the majority supporting renewable fuels.

Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Bob Dinneen thanked EPA for proposing to maintain the 15 billion gallon requirement for conventional renewable fuels in its 2018 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) rule but urged the agency to increase its proposed cellulosic ethanol requirement to reflect growing bolt-on technologies at existing ethanol plants.

Audio file: RFA CEO Bob Dinneen remarks at EPA hearing

The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) had at least 20 witnesses testify before the EPA to advocate for higher volumes of advanced biofuels and biomass-based diesel, including CEO Donnell Rehagen. The EPA proposal would maintain the minimum required biomass-based diesel volumes at 2.1 billion gallons for 2019 but decrease the 2018 RFS for advanced biofuels to 4.24 billion gallons, a decrease from 4.28 billion.

Audio file: Interview with NBB CEO Donnell Rehagen at EPA hearing

Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts and Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds took part in a press conference during the hearing with other supporters, including Jan Koninckx, DuPont Industrial Biosciences; Brent Erickson, BIO Industrial & Environmental Section; Keith Alverson, National Corn Growers Association farmer from S.D.; Brooke Coleman, Advanced Biofuels Business Council; and Chris Bliley, Growth Energy.

Audio file: Fuels America Press Conference

Audio, Biodiesel, Corn, EPA, Ethanol, NCGA, RFA

Talking with FMC at Ag Media Summit

Chuck Zimmerman

In my first chance to visit with the sponsor of our coverage of this year’s Ag Media Summit, FMC, I visited with Tom Becker (left) and Brent Neuberger. The focus of their remarks are on FMC’s pending Dupont transaction. For starters, when that transaction is complete Tom says it will provide more products to offer growers. He says these products will complement the existing FMC portfolio.

Brent says that he’s excited about the transaction for the research opportunities it will open up which include products that might still be several years in development before being available in the market. You can watch my interview with both these guys or just listen in if you would like.

FMC is acquiring certain products from Dupont which Tom says will put the company into the top five crop protection companies in the world. The products will really help round out FMC’s portfolio of solutions for farmers.


You can also listen to the interview with the following link:

Interview with Tom Becker & Brent Neuberger, FMC

View and download photos here: 2017 Ag Media Summit Photo Album

Coverage of the Ag Media Summit is sponsored by
Coverage of the Ag Media Summit is sponsored by FMC
Ag Media Summit, Agribusiness, Audio, FMC, Video

Premier Crop Systems Receives Capital Investment

Kelly Marshall

Premier Crop Systems has focused on providing agronomic decision support to growers with prescription rates for 19 years. Now a new partnership with Syngenta Venture is offering the company the opportunity and accelerate Enhanced Learning Blocks, a breakthrough system to validate the prescriptions used in a grower’s field.

The data is randomized and replicable, opening up the possibility of scientific experimentation on a field level. At the recent Info Ag event in St. Louis, Missouri, Premier Crop Systems shared results with their customers. Data from the 2016 trials showed that the ideal nitrogen application in a field can vary as much as 80 pounds and ideal planting rates can change by 13,000 seeds in a single field as well. That’s big money for growers, Frieberg points out.

“I think the biggest take away is crop production is expensive.” Frieberg shares. “There’s a lot of inputs and managing those inputs more precisely and having a trial system to build local, complex knowledge is really what we think is important and what we think is the future.”

Learn more about Premier Crop Systems and their new minority partnership in Cindy’s full interview with Frieberg here: Interview with Dan Frieberg, Premier Crop Systems

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
AgWired Precision, Audio, Info Ag, Nutrient Management

Another Successful InfoAg

Cindy Zimmerman

The 2017 InfoAg Conference was another success with 1363 attendees from 22 countries, 104 exhibitors, and 98 speakers.

Conference secretary Quentin Rund says this was the 22nd InfoAg, which has grown quite a bit since it moved to St. Louis in 2013. “The exhibit hall has increased, and our attendance has also been terrific,” he said.

With 22 countries represented, the annual conference has become as international as the International Conference on Precision Agriculture, which is held every other year, often in conjunction with InfoAg. “What we’re hearing from our exhibitors is that this is the show to be at,” said Rund. “I think we’ll have more presentations from international folks in the years to come.”

Learn more in this interview: Interview with Quentin Rund, InfoAg Conference

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
AgWired Precision, Audio, Info Ag, Precision Agriculture