Teachers Offered a Day on the Farm

Cindy Zimmerman

The Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council (MSR&PC) has partnered with U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance (USFRA) to start a program to help urban teachers learn more about agriculture so they can teach it to their students. To kick it off, educators in Minneapolis and Sacramento are invited to take a farm tour at the end of August to engage with farmers and others who work in the agriculture industry.

“We hope to teach the teachers,” said MSR&PC CEO Tom Slunecka. “We want to make sure that teachers in large cities hear the story of agriculture and have the tools to help them teach.”

The teachers who take part in the program will learn about innovation in today’s agricultural industry, sustainability, crop biotechnology, animal health and welfare. They will also learn more about USFRA’s Discovering Farmland curriculum and receive an iPod Touch and virtual reality headsets to help incorporate agricultural videos into their curriculum and classrooms.

The Minneapolis event will be held August 29 and the Sacramento event will be on August 31. Click on the links for registration information and details. There is no cost for participation and the curriculum tools are free.

Learn more in this interview and if you can help get the word out in Minneapolis and Sacramento, please do: Interview with Tom Slunecka, MSR&PC CEO

AgWired Precision, Audio, Soybean, USFRA

First ASA-Valent Ag Voices of the Future

Cindy Zimmerman

ASA voices – Front row: Mason Gordon, Kelsey Smith, Evan Jackson and Kelsey Cassebaum. Back row: Corbin Bell, Abby Steinkamp, Will Nalley and William Raftis.

Eight college students from five states make up the inaugural class of the Ag Voices of the Future program, sponsored by Valent U.S.A. and the American Soybean Association (ASA). The class provides an opportunity for young people to improve their understanding of agricultural policy issues, advocacy, and careers, and was held last week in conjunction with the ASA Board Meeting and Soy Issues Forum in Washington, D.C.

Congratulations to this enthusiastic group of young people:
Corbin Bell, Missouri
Kelsey Cassebaum, Alabama
Mason Gordon, Indiana
Evan Jackson, Kentucky
Will Nalley, Kentucky
William Raftis, Illinois
Kelsey Smith, Illinois
Abigail Steinkamp, Indiana

Also congrats to farm broadcaster Jeff Nalley, since young Will is his son. Being a voice for agriculture is already in his DNA!

AgWired Precision, ASA

Bayer Hosts Field Day in Dekalb

Cindy Zimmerman

Farmers and retailers gathered near Dekalb, Illinois on Tuesday for the Bayer Innovation Plus Tour.

Bayer Technical Development Rep Daren Bohannan says the event focused on corn and soybeans and included presentations on disease observations, selective corn herbicide trials, Balance GT soybeans, ILeVO Seed treatment & PPO Herbicides, Liberty weed control, new Credenz products and more.

“We got planted late up here, a lot got planted right around Memorial Day weekend,” said Bohannan. “A lot of our flushes of weeds are worked out so things look really good…In general we’ve had a really good growing season so far.”

Learn more in this interview – Daren Bohannan, Overview of Plot Tour

Go to AgNewsWire for more interviews from the Bayer field day in Dekalb.

Bayer Showcase Plot Tour 2017 – Illinois

AgWired Precision, Audio, Bayer, Crop Protection, Soybean

Precision Ag Bytes 7/19

Kelly Marshall

  • The National Science Foundation has awarded a Small Business Innovation Research grant to Advanced Biological Marketing (ABM). The money will allow ABM to develop a new class of biorational chemicals based on chemical communicants from plant symbiotic fungi to offer greater crop yields, enhanced root growth and resistance to stress.
  • Penn State University Extension reminds growers to be ever vigilant against spider mites and offers a solution to producers with a center-pivot irrigation system.  A chemical injection of Boundary Rider from Agri-Inject is specifically designed to control the migrating insects.
  • Verdesian Life Sciences has field tested Take Off, a product that speeds up the rate corn processes nitrogen.  South Dakota Wheat Growers have seen a respectable yield increase and improved ROI for farmers using the product.
AgWired Precision, Precision Ag Bytes

New Propane Irrigation Engines Available

Cindy Zimmerman

The Propane Education & Research Council (PERC) has partnered with Origin Engines to develop new 5.7- and 6.2- liter engines, EPA-certified and optimized for industrial applications like irrigation and power generation.

Pete Stout, Origin Engines

PERC invested in the research and development of Origin’s new engines, providing industry expertise and financial support through the research, development, and testing process for the new technology.

“We are excited to introduce these highly efficient, innovative engines to the market,” said Pete Stout, product manager for Origin Engines. “We built our product line based on feedback from the end users because their satisfaction is what is most important to us. We are confident they will be very pleased with these new products.”

The new engines complement Origin’s larger 8.0-, 9.1-, and 10.3-liter engines, which were introduced in 2015, and are now available from distributors Industrial Irrigation, KEM Equipment, and Flint Power and Western Power Products. In addition, a new Propane Farm Incentive Program is offering $300 per liter of fuel displacement for propane-powered irrigation engines (up to $5,000 total), according to Cinch Munson, director of agriculture business development at PERC.

Munson and Stout talked about propane engines for irrigation at the 2014 World LP Gas Forum in Miami when the larger propane engines were first announced. Here is a segment of their remarks about the development and benefits of propane irrigation engines in general. PERC's Cinch Munson and Origin's Pete Stout

AgWired Precision, Audio, Irrigation, Propane

Corn and Soybean Condition Down Slightly

Cindy Zimmerman

Most of the corn and soybeans around the country remain in good to excellent condition but dry weather is taking a toll in some areas.

According to the latest USDA-NASS report, corn condition as of Sunday was rated 64 percent good to excellent and only 11 percent poor to very poor, but South Dakota’s corn is ranked as 38% poor to very poor. Colorado, Indiana, and North Dakota also have low rankings.

Similar situation for soybeans, with 61% good to excellent and 11 percent poor to very poor. South Dakota soybeans are also suffering with 33% in poor to very poor condition.

Corn, Soybean, USDA

Syngenta Receives China Approval for Agrisure Duracade®

Cindy Zimmerman

Syngenta has received notification of import approval from the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture for its Agrisure Duracade® trait, which covers corn grain and processing co-products, including dried distillers grains (DDGs), for food and feed use.

“Obtaining this regulatory approval opens up new opportunities within our portfolio,” said David Hollinrake, president of Syngenta Seeds, LLC. “Moving forward, growers can expect expanded access to the full depth and breadth of our genetic portfolio with more choice and exciting new hybrids that offer elite genetics plus the latest in corn rootworm control technology.”

Hollinrake adds that Syngenta will continue to offer Agrisure Duracade for the 2017 and 2018 planting seasons under its grain-use marketing program.

AgWired Precision, Corn, Syngenta

Animal Ag Bytes 7/17

Kelly Marshall

  • National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) brought veterinarians from around the country to Washington D.C. last week to educate members of Congress on the importance of pork industry issues. The team of 17 visited 34 representatives in two days, focusing on the 2018 Farm Bill and the establishment of a vaccine bank in the event of an outbreak of Foot-and-Mouth Disease.
  • The National Pork Board is hosting the first Pig Welfare Symposium in Des Moines, Iowa on November 7-9, 2017 in order to raise awareness of issues in the industry and begin to identify potential solutions.
  • The U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (USRSB) General Assembly met in Denver last week. In addition to taking part in educational opportunities the group also elected new officers for the coming year.
AgWired Animal, Animal Bites

Blue Ridge Biofuels Proud to Supply Local

Cindy Zimmerman

Blue Ridge Biofuels (BRB) started as a way for one business to make its own sustainable diesel fuel – now they provide clean burning biodiesel for customers all over Western North Carolina.

The Asheville, N.C.-based company collects over 700,000 gallons of used cooking oil annually from nearly 1,500 restaurants in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia to produce renewable biodiesel according to General Manager Woody Eaton.

“We do bioheat, transportation fuel, we can make biodiesel blends in any ratio from B100,” said Eaton. “Right now our biodiesel blends are the cheapest diesel in our area, so we’re also saving consumers money at the pump,” said Eaton.

BRB is a proud member of the National Biodiesel Board, which Eaton says has helped his small company grow. Learn more in this interview.

Audio, Biodiesel, Biofuels, Soybean

SMART Farmer Carla Wardin

Cindy Zimmerman

Our SMART Farmer in this episode comes from Michigan where she and her husband have a dairy operation that has been in her family for over a century.

Carla Wardin is dedicated to telling the real story of dairy farming through her blog Truth or Dairy, and in 2014 was chosen to represent agriculture as one of the USFRA Faces of Farming and Ranching. Jamie Johansen had the pleasure of sitting down with Carla to find out why smart farming is so important to her.

Listen to this episode here and subscribe below – SMART Farmer Podcast with Carla Wardin, Michigan dairy farmer

Subscribe to the SMART Farmer podcast

Learn more about USFRA and SMART Farm

AgWired Animal, Animal Agriculture, Dairy, USFRA