New AAEA President – Mike Wilson

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast 519The new President of the American Agricultural Editors Association (AAEA) is Penton Farm Progress executive editor Mike Wilson, also one of the newly named Fellows of the AAEA.

Mike WilsonHere in this photo, Mike is mentoring students during the Ag Media Summit along with JoAnn Alumbaugh.

I spoke with Mike at the conclusion of this year’s AMS to find out what his plans are as the new leader of the organization.

Learn more in this week’s program: ZimmCast with Mike Wilson

2016 AMS Photo Album

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Focus on Integration for @CropTrak at #InfoAg16

Cindy Zimmerman

croptrak1Farm management information software company CropTrak had a lot to talk about at the InfoAg Conference this week in St. Louis.

CropTrak’s Aaron Hutchinson says they’ve had a lot of focus on integration with other companies this year. “One of them is CDMS,” he said. “This year they allowed us access to their chemical, crop protection and nutrient libraries and we’ve actually integrated that into our mobile and desktop tools.” Another collaboration is with The Weather Company as it is working agricultural weather information into its services.

Learn more about what’s new with CropTrak in this interview: Interview with Aaron Hutchinson, CropTrak

2016 ICPA/InfoAg Photo Album

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LFR Technology Added to Ethos XB

Lizzy Schultz

ams-16-fmc-hooten FMC has added their Capture LFRtechnology to their Ethos XB insecticides, and the result is a first-of-it’s kind in-furrow solution, offering broad spectrum defense for corn seedlings against soil pests and diseases throughout the critical growth stage when most yield potential is set.

Bob Hooten, Midwest Technical Support Manager for FMC, was on hand during the 2016 Ag Media Summit to discuss FMC’s LFR technology and what adding Ethos XB to the new platform of LFR products means for growers moving forward.

“A lot of growers are putting starter fertilizer right in furrow, and they need protection from seedling insects. Capture LFR stays suspended in fertilizer, it’s designed that way, and while it’s currently one of the top products out there that growers have been using, it’s really just the base that gives you the insect control,” said Hooten in an interview during the 2016 Ag Media Summit. “We’re expanding and adding to that platform now, and Ethos XB is one of the first products that we’re going to be bringing to that platform.”

Another part of FMC’s expansion of the Capture LFR platform is the inclusion of VGR Soil Amendment, which is designed to help plants better utilize moisture and phosphorus uptake by growing the larger root systems that are necessary for bigger yields.

“A better root system allows the plant to withstand stresses a lot easier because the plant is just healthier, and it allows the plant to grow to its full potential in yield,” said Hooten. “Capture LFR itself is bringing about 11 bushels more to the acre, and we’re only going to release products in the new LFR platform that will bring growers more money on the bottom end.”

Listen to Chuck’s full interview with Bob here:
Interview with Bob Hooten, FMC

View and download photos from the event here: 2016 AMS Photo Album

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#Farming is Teamwork for @JohnDeere Precision

Cindy Zimmerman

The InfoAg Conference in St. Louis this week is all about farmers and industry working together as a team to increase productivity and profitability and John Deere Intelligent Solutions Group (ISG) is all about teamwork.

infoag-16-deere-arthur“John Deere recognizes what our part is in precision ag and that we’re not the total solution,” said Deere Information Solutions business director Lane Arthur, who presented at the InfoAg Conference. “We recognize that a grower needs those other partners – ag input providers, ag retailers, software developers – and we’re trying to provide a platform for them to collaborate.”

Arthur talked to growers and those partners during his presentation at InfoAg about how John Deere precision ag solution can support the grower’s team. Listen to that presentation and Chuck’s interview with him below.

Interview with Lane Arthur, John Deere ISG InfoAg presentation, John Deere ISG

2016 ICPA/InfoAg Photo Album

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Fall is For Weed Control

Lizzy Schultz

ams16-fmc-smith The growing season is in full swing, and the team at FMC Corporation is encouraging growers to be extra weed-conscious as summer comes to an end and harvest season begins. Ken Smith, Technical Service Manager for FMC Corporation, was on hand during the 2016 Ag Media Summit to discuss the reality of herbicide resistance, and how it has made fall weed management more critical than ever.

“We are in late season, and it’s a time where its easy to let your guard down, but it’s also a time when we really need to be conscious of what weeds are out there going to seed, particularly the amaranth species like palmer amaranth and water hemp are such prolific seed producers and it’s a numbers game, so managing these in the fall is very critical for next year,” said Smith in an interview during the Ag Media Summit.

Smith emphasized that while a multitude of weed management practices exist, many are time consuming and expensive, and the use of a long residual herbicide such as FMC’s Anthem line of herbicides is highly praised as the most affordable, effective, and efficient solution for growers.

“When we talk to farmers, we always say that if you start with a clean field, your field stays clean, and one of the ways to start clean is to start thinking about it right now,” said Smith.

Listen to Chuck’s full interview with Ken here:
Interview with Ken Smith, FMC

View and download photos from the event here: 2016 AMS Photo Album

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John Deere Takes On Another Year at #AgMedia

Jamie Johansen

ams16-146-editedFor 17 years John Deere has been a sponsor of the Ag Media Summit and Barry Nelson aka, The JD Magician, believes he has only missed one. That is true commitment to agriculture marketing and communications. I sat down with Barry, who serves as John Deere’s director of marketing, to learn why a partnership like this has such longevity and what events John Deere has coming up in the next month.

“This is a great time to meet all the ag editors and broadcasters out there. It’s important to meet face-to-face. If they have any questions about John Deere products and services, they know who to contact.”

Leading up to the 2016 Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa, John Deere will be hosting ag media for an opportunity to checkout their Des Moines Works factory. There they build cotton pickers, sprayers, tillage tools, etc. Barry said media will take part in a factory tour and have an up close and personal view of John Deere’s new products that will be on display for the pubic at the Farm Progress Show.

“At the Farm Progress Show we will have a lot of products we have introduced during the last two quarters on display for our farmer customers for the first time. We will have presentations along with each product and are looking forward to the big show.”

Listen to my complete interview with Barry here: Interview with Barry Nelson, John Deere

View and download photos from the event here: 2016 AMS Photo Album

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Chromatin Advancing Sorghum Seed Technology

Lizzy Schultz

ams-16-cromatin Chromatin Inc., a sorghum breeding and improvement company based out of Chicago, made an appearance at the 2016 Ag Media Summit to highlight the company’s breeding programs, as well as its dedication to creating new hybrids and developing new planting seeds for use in both livestock and human food consumption all over the world.

“We’re committed to sorghum, we don’t focus on any other crop, so whenever we get up every day all we think about is how we can make sorghum better,” said Dr. Scott Staggenborg, Ph.D., Director, Product Portfolio and Technology Advancement at Chromatin in an interview during the event.

Chromatin’s breeding programs started up seven years ago, and the company just recently released sixteen new hybrids of both grain and forage sorghum. The new seed varieties come as sorghum’s environmental durability has been increasingly popular with growers, and as the non-gmo, naturally gluten-free ancient grain has increased in popularity among consumers as well.

“Sorghum’s been around a long time, and it is extremely drought tolerant and tolerant of high temperatures, so if we start to think about soils or environments where yields of the other major row crops aren’t what they would expect, we often see people have an interest in sorghum and are quite successful with it,” said Staggenborg. “A lot of people think that sorghum is really only for western Kansas, western Nebraska, and Texas, but we actually have growers in Missouri, Iowa, and Illinois. It seems like every year we have more and more Illinois growers showing interest in sorghum, and they usually end up pretty happy with the yields.”

Listen to Chuck’s full interview with Scott here:
Interview with Dr. Scott Staggenborg, Chromatin

View and download photos from the event here: 2016 AMS Photo Album

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Ag Groups, Ag Media Summit, Audio, Farming, Research, sorghum, Technology

JCB Talks Benefits of Telescopic Handlers

Lizzy Schultz

ams-16-jcb JCB made an appearance at the 2016 Ag Media Summit to discuss the company’s commitment to quality material-handling equipment, and Ray Bingley, Agriculture Product & Sales Manager for JCB, sat down with Chuck to talk about the company’s line of telescopic handlers that are increasingly replacing tractors with loaders to stack, lift, load, power attachments and move things around the farm.

“In North America, telescopics are still relatively new, although they’ve been in the market for a long time, and right now, the main machine for materials handling on a dairy farm is a tractor with a front end loader, so the message we’re now trying to get out to the customers is really that telescopics are a more productive way of doing things,” said Bingley. “They not only allow you to lift more, but you can do it faster, and the one thing that’s always in short supply on a farm is time, so not only does it save them time but it makes farms more productive and will hopefully improve their bottom line.”

JCB’s line of articulated telescopic handlers includes the new, low profile JCB 525-60 Agri Plus, which features a 5000 pound loading capacity and offers 20 feet of lift with an incredibly compact size. The machine is designed to get into the smallest of buildings, making it appealing to poultry and hog producers who need to move materials in and out of barns.

The company’s full product line also features backhoe loaders, tracked excavators, wheel loaders, rough terrain forklifts, compact excavators, skid steer loaders, compact track loaders and the unique Fastrac tractor.

“We have a network of 63 dealers in North America, and we’ve almost doubled that in the past three years, there’s about 180 locations, and the plan for JCB is to double that again in the next five years to get to about 120 to 130 dealers and hopefully about 300 locations,” said Bingley. “We’re still relatively new to the North American market, but I think we can offer American farmers a great way to improve their operations when it comes to materials handling.”

Listen to Chuck’s full interview with Ray here:
Interview with Ray Bingley, JCB

View and download photos from the event here: 2016 AMS Photo Album

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Syngenta Talks Product Launches at #AgMedia

Lizzy Schultz

ams-16-syngenta Syngenta will launch 16 new crop protection products in 2016, with multiple launches expected over the next five years, and Scott Culley, Research and Development Scientist for Syngenta, was on hand during the 2016 Ag Media Summit to discuss several of the company’s major new innovations.

Culley explained that the new products are due in large part to the three new active ingredients the company has registered in the past 18 months.

The new product lineup includes Acuron herbicide, which includes the 2015 introduced active ingredient bicyclopyrone. Another new product, Solatenol fungicide, offers residual disease control in corn, soybean, wheat, peanuts, potatoes, and various fruit and vegetable crops, and the new Orondis fungicide contains the active ingredient oxathiapiprolin. Orondis offers growers a new mode of action for controlling economically devastating soil and foliar diseases on a variety of crops.

“We’re still focused on a good pipeline and we will continue to introduce new products as time goes on, and I think each new AI that we do develop will stem several new products because we’ll be mixing and stewarding those products in a way to maximize their use and efficiency.”

More information can be found here.

Listen to Chuck’s full interview with Scott here:
Interview with Scott Culley, Syngenta

2016 AMS Photo Album

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Coverage of the Ag Media Summit is sponsored by FMC   Coverage of the Ag Media Summit is sponsored by New Holland
Ag Groups, Ag Media Summit, Agribusiness, Audio, Crop Protection, Syngenta

ISPA Update at #13ICPA

Cindy Zimmerman

Dr. Ken SudduthAt the 13th International Conference on Precision Agriculture (ICPA) in St. Louis this week, Dr. Ken Sudduth, USDA-ARS Research Agricultural Engineer and president of the International Society of Precision Agriculture (ISPA) welcomed the opening plenary session.

During Dr. Sudduth’s remarks he gives a report on the ISPA and encouraged attendees from 28 countries to help start affiliated groups in their countries and introduced the incoming officers for ISPA. There are over 380 people attending the ICPA this year which is being held in conjunction with the 2016 InfoAg Conference.

You can listen to Dr. Sudduth here: Dr. Ken Sudduth, ISPA Report

2016 ICPA/InfoAg Photo Album</a>

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