#FarmProgressShow Features BASF Butterfly Garden

Cindy Zimmerman August 30, 2016

Attendees at this year’s Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa are being greeting at the front gate by the BASF Living Acres Butterfly Garden, a new plot just planted this year with some milkweed to provide habitat for Monarch butterflies.

“What they are seeing is a fairly young planting of a diverse set of plants to help demonstrate how a farmer might approach waste or non-crop areas to encourage greater biodiversity on farm,” said Luke Bozeman, BASF Director for R&D North America, who was pleased to already see Monarch larvae in the garden. “That’s very encouraging.”

In this interview, Luke talks about BASF’s commitment to helping farmers learn how to develop and maintain habitat for the butterflies. Interview with Luke Bozeman, BASF

BASF has established two Midwest research sites for Monarch butterfly studies just this year, one in Illinois and one in Iowa. “This is our first year with the Living Acres project at the Illinois research farm,” says Katie Demers, tech service PDP at the farm. “We have two different trials going on – one looking at establishing milkweed transplants and root samples into an already established grass area, as well as a clean field area that was in production but was kind of an odd-shaped area of the field.”

Katie and other BASF representatives have been talking with visitors to the Farm Progress Show about the Living Acres project and giving away butterfly wings to the kids. “I like to think of the Monarch as an iconic insect species because it is native to North America,” she says. “Definitely trying to attract people just like butterflies have always attracted people’s eye.” Interview with Katie Demers, BASF

2016 Farm Progress Show Photos

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Audio, BASF

Don Tourte Kicks Off 2016 #FarmProgressShow

Joanna Schroeder August 30, 2016

Don Tourte, VP of Sales for the Farm Progress Show kicked off the 63rd annual event in the BASF Media Tent this morning. He gave media a bit of a show preview and noted that the exhibitors look as good as ever and highlighted how they have gone all out this year.

“There are some really great things to see with technology being the leading word,” said Tourte in an interview with Cindy Zimmerman.

And the weather? Better than two years ago and Tourte said the crops for the field demonstrations look great and encouraged everyone to be sure to get down and see new technologies in action.

Listen to Cindy’s interview with Don Torte here: Interview with Don Tourte, Farm Progress Show

2016 Farm Progress Show Photos

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Iowa Ag Water Alliance Announces Conservation Strategy

Joanna Schroeder August 30, 2016

Two years ago several Iowa-based agricultural groups launched the Iowa Agriculture Water Alliance (IAWA). Today during the 2016 Farm Progress Show, Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey announced the organization’s new Conservation Infrastructure Strategy to assist in the identification of economic development opportunities associated with achieving the goals of the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy. The IAWA also announced the formation of a new IAWA Business Council that will be co-chaired by Northey and Ray Gaesser, a farmer from Corning, Iowa and past-president of the American Soybean Association.

“Many of the ag businesses located in Iowa and doing business here are already leading the way in integrating water quality efforts into their business and bringing new tools to farmers to help them keep nutrients on their farm,” said Northey during a press conference launching the new initiative. “This new effort is focused on seeing if there are opportunities to support additional business development as we continue to scale-up efforts to improve water quality and maintain the tremendous productivity of Iowa agriculture.”

As part of the effort, the Business Council will identify current gaps in conservation/business infrastructure as well as develop an action plan focused on accelerated implementation of conservation practices focused on water quality. The action plan will focus on identifying economic drivers and market-based solutions to improving water quality and quantifying both the public and private benefits associated with successful implementation of water quality practices.

“Preserving and enhancing Iowa’s resources benefits everyone,” Gaesser noted in his remarks. “This is really figuring out the additional expertise and finance needed to help farmers continue improving water quality while meeting the global needs of feeding people. Adapting requires continual research, inspiration, education and action. There’s opportunity in that for farmers and the business community.”

IAWA Executive Director Sean McMahon said that the IAWA Business Council, will play a key role in helping to shape the conservation infrastructure strategy along with the existing IAWA Advisory Council. “We look forward to partnering with the Iowa Department of Agriculture and our many other highly valued partners to help align public and private efforts and identify business opportunities to improve Iowa’s water quality and strengthen rural communities.”

Listen to the press conference here: IAWA Launches Conservation Strategy Presser

2016 Farm Progress Show Photos

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Agribusiness, Audio, Farm Progress Show, Water

Disruptive Innovation Goes Beyond Silicon Valley

Joanna Schroeder August 30, 2016

Disruptive Innovation: Not Just for Silicon Valley was the second panel discussion during the Rural Infrastructure Summit in Ames, Iowa. From left to right: Bert Farrish, Kevin Kimble, Darryl Matthews, John Engelen, Andrew Jacob and Sara Wyant.

When many people hear the term disruptive innovation, they think of Silicon Valley start-ups in the 90s that changed the way we deliver information and communicate. But like many things born in California, disruptive innovation is just not limited to Silicon Valley and technology parks. Coined in 1995 by Clayton M. Christensen, disruptive innovation describes a process by which a product or service takes root initially in simple applications at the bottom of a market and then relentlessly moves up market, eventually displacing established competitors. An example: precision ag.

But how will disruptive innovation change the rural infrastructure landscape? This was the topic of the second panel discussion during the inaugural Rural Infrastructure Summit – an event that really kicked off a long-term discussion about how agricultural products will be moved in the future. “Disruptive Innovation: Not Just for Silicon Valley,” was moderated by Agri-Pulse Communications Editor Sara Wyant. Each panelist gave a brief presentation on what disruptive innovations he thought were on the horizon and how they may change rural infrastructure and rural communities as we know them today.

Panelists included:

Andrew Jacob, Chief Vice President, Regulatory, Legislative and Compliance Officer, CoBank
John Engelen, Vice President, Government Affairs, CHS Inc.
Darryl Matthews, Senior Vice President and Sector Head, Agriculture, Forestry, Positioning Services and HarvestMark Divisions, Trimble Navigation, LTD
Kevin Kimle, Director, Agricultural Entrepreneurship Initiative, Iowa State University
Bert Farrish, CEO, Big River Rice & Grain, Pioneer, LA

Listen to the panelist’s thoughts on Disruptive Innovation: Disruptive Innovation Panelist Remarks

2016 Rural Infrastructure Summit Photo Album

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Bayer is into #Peanuts

Cindy Zimmerman August 30, 2016

The recent Bayer Showcase plot tour near Dawson, Georgia showed the commitment that the company has to peanut growers.

“We’re really excited that we’re just launching a new nematicide for peanuts called Velum Total,” said Keith Rucker, Bayer tech service rep for the Southeast. “We had a limited launch last year, this year is really the first full blown year that we’ve had it in the field.”

Rucker says Velum Total, which is also for cotton, protects the young plant from being attacked by nematodes early in the season. “There’s just not a whole lot of options right now (to combat nematodes,” he said.

During the field day, Rucker also talked to growers about Proline, which provides early season disease protection from white mold and leaf spot. Learn more in this interview: Interview with Keith Rucker, Bayer

Bayer Showcase Days Photo Album

Audio, Bayer, Peanuts

ZimmComm Ready for #FarmProgressShow

Cindy Zimmerman August 30, 2016

The ZimmComm team – with mascot Mini Z – are on the ground at the Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa ready to begin a full day of learning about the latest in agricultural equipment and technology.

Left to right here we have Energy.AgWired and AgNewsWire editor Joanna Schroeder, me and Chuck (and Mini Z), ZimmComm general manager Clint Underwood, and Precision AgWired editor Kelly Marshall. And here is what we have to look forward to this week:

A staple of the Farm Progress Show has always been the field demonstrations. This year is no exception with a full line up of demonstrations scheduled. The combines fire up at 11 a.m each show day. Additionally, you will see auger carts collecting grain on the go, and more. Tillage tools and other special machines will operate each day from 2 to 3 p.m. This gives visitors an opportunity to view all of the competitors in each segment running side by side.

There will also be a tillage class for tools that want to run faster to show their performance features. Most of the new tillage tools, with nearly a dozen on the market, are recommended to run at 7 to 9 miles per hour. When they are run at slower speeds, you don’t always get a true picture of how these machines work. The advent of vertical tillage has made it necessary to change the rules, and boost the longstanding speed limit on the demo field. Vertical-tillage tools can operate at their optimum speed once more traditional tillage tools have made their passes.

Another favorite attraction for Farm Progress Show visitors are the Ride ‘n Drives. This year, visitors can test drive a new truck, ATV and tractor tires. Yamaha, Ram Trucks, Michelin, Chevrolet, and Titan Tire are all participating in the Ride ‘n Drives. All Ride ‘n Drive participants will be located east of exhibit field by Tram Loading.

If you are at the show, hope to see you – if not, stay tuned here and on Precision.AgWired for all the latest!

2016 Farm Progress Show Photos

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Farm Progress Show

StarFire 6000 Receiver Shines at #JDReveal

Cindy Zimmerman August 30, 2016

Nearly 16 years ago, John Deere set the farming world aflame with the StarFire guidance system. This year, the company has taken satellite-based guidance to new heights with the introduction of the StarFire 6000 receiver and SF3 signal.

“One of the biggest new features is a new differential correction signal called our SF3,” said Deere Product Marketing Manager Jerred Karnei, which delivers 40 percent greater pass-to-pass accuracy, new in-season repeatability and 66 percent faster pull-in time than the previous SF2 correction level.

In addition, the StarFire 6000 also delivers improved up time that keeps precision ag systems running in challenging conditions. By using the latest navigation algorithms, the StarFire 6000 can track up to three StarFire satellite signals at once, intelligently choose the one that will deliver the best performance, and automatically switch to an alternate signal to help maintain accuracy and performance if the primary signal is blocked. “So if you run up against dense tree lines and you lose signal because GPS is blocked, once you get out of those tree lines we have a quicker time to get back to full accuracy,” said Karnei.

Learn more in this interview: Interview with Jarred Karnei

John Deere 2016 Product Reveal Photo Album

Audio, John Deere, Precision Agriculture

#RuralSummit – The Good, Bad & Ugly

Joanna Schroeder August 30, 2016

Rural Infrastructure & Ag Economy Panel during #RuralSummit. From left to right: Amanda De Jong, Stuart Anderson, Mike Steenhoek, Doug Boone, Bob Fox, and Sara Wyant.

The Rural Infrastructure Summit provided a great arena to begin the discussion on how the U.S. is going to connect ag commodities to future markets. The needed infrastructure includes a wide-array of areas including broadband, waterways, the electric grid, transportation infrastructure, and more. In the words of Leif Magnusson, Association of Equipment Manufacturers Chair, during his opening remarks, one reason everyone was at the Summit was to “discuss ways to innovate through and around challenges as an ag community.”

This discussion was borne out during the first panel discussion, “Rural Infrastructure and the Ag Economy: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” moderated by Sara Wyant, editor of Agri-Pulse. Panelists included:

Bob Fox, Vice Chair, Ag and Rural Affairs Steering Committee, National Association of Counties, and Commissioner, Renville County, Minnesota
Doug Boone, President, The Rural Broadband Association, and CEO, Premier Communications, Sioux Center, Iowa
Mike Steenhoek, Executive Director, Soy Transportation Coalition
Stuart Anderson, Iowa DOT, Director of Planning, Programming and Modal Division
Amanda De Jong, Senior Policy Advisor, Iowa Corn Growers Association

Listen to the each of the panelist’s thoughts on the Good, the Bad and the Ugly here: Rural Infrastructure & Ag Economy Panelist Remarks

2016 Rural Infrastructure Summit Photo Album

AEM, Agri-Pulse, Audio

Iowa Ag Secretary Keynotes #RuralSummit

Cindy Zimmerman August 29, 2016

Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey kicked off the Rural Infrastructure Summit in Ames on Monday, sponsored by the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) and Agri-Pulse Communications.

“This is an important conversation,” said Northey. “We don’t want to miss our turn to invest competitively in our infrastructure.”

Northey talked about why rural infrastructure is so important to agriculture in his state which produces more corn than most countries and where there are seven pigs for each person. “We’ve got more corn and soybeans than we have markets for right now, so we’ve got to keep moving it,” he said. “We talk about infrastructure, we certainly start with transportation infrastructure.”

Iowa has two new pork processing plants, 42 ethanol plants and a dozen biodiesel plants, “these are all infrastructure pieces that allow agriculture to be successful,” said Northey.

Listen to all of Northey’s comments here: Bill Northey Remarks at Rural Summit

2016 Rural Infrastructure Summit Photo Album

AEM, Agri-Pulse, Audio, Equipment

AEM Launches Ag Infrastructure Challenge at #RuralSummit

Joanna Schroeder August 29, 2016

Leif Magnusson, President, CLASS Global Sales Americas and Chair, Association of Equipment Manufacturers announces AEM’s IV2050 ag initiative during the inaugural Rural Infrastructure Summit.

The first annual Rural Infrastructure Summit kicked off this afternoon in Ames, Iowa with big news – the launch of the agriculture Infrastructure Vision 2050 (IV2050) Challenge. The news was delivered by Lief Magnusson, President, CLASS Global Sales Americas and Chair of the Association Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) who sponsored the summit with support from Agri-Pulse.

IV2050 is a thought leadership initiative focused on crafting a vision for a long-term, national plan for U.S. infrastructure and how the industry will move people, freight and energy in the future.

“AEM is playing an active role in discussions about what is next for the U.S. infrastructure,” said Magnusson who stressed that today the industry is here to explore the link between agriculture and infrastructure and to asses where things stand. “We’re also here to discuss the challenges the ag industry and rural communities face with the current state of U.S. infrastructure. But just as importantly, we’re here to discuss ways to innovate through and around challenges as an ag community.”

In addition to the Rural Infrastructure Summit, the discussion will continue through a new initaitve Magnusson announced: the IV2050 Challenge. The initiative is a call for proposals on the best and most innovative ways to transport goods in the future. “The idea is highlight the most groundbreaking ideas on how to move ag commodities will be moved from farm to market thirty-five years from now,” explained Magnusson.

Magnusson said the competition is open to all AEM members and employees as well as thought leaders from around the country. To learn more about the IV2050 Challenge and how to submit your proposal, click here.

Learn more about IV2050 by listening to Leif Magnusson’s remarks here: Leif Magnusson Remarks at #RuralSummit

2016 Rural Infrastructure Summit Photo Album

AEM, Agribusiness, Audio, Equipment

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