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

Coverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by

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

2016 John Deere Product Reveal #JDReveal

Chuck Zimmerman August 29, 2016

John Deere is hosting agricultural media at their Des Moines Works facility in Ankeny, IA for a look at new products. Follow the #JDReveal hashtag to see their tweets. I’m going to be collecting interviews this afternoon after a plant tour and some class room time with product presenters.

Welcoming us to the event today was Rosalind Fox, Factory Manager. She gave us a brief introduction with some background on this facility before we went on the tour.

You can listen to her remarks here: Rosalind Fox, John Deere, Welcome

I’ve also got photos online and will add more later when time allows. So keep your eye on AgWired as well as Precision.AgWired.com for more this week.

John Deere 2016 Product Reveal Photo Album

Agribusiness, Audio, John Deere

Zimfo Bytes

Lizzy Schultz August 29, 2016

Nominations for the St. Louis AgriBusiness Club’s Agribusiness Leader of the Year are due on Sept 13. Nominations including the name, title, and employer of the nominee, the name, signature, and contact information of the person submitting the nomination, and a 2 page maximum summary in paragraph form including reasons and qualifications relating to the selection criteria should be submitted to Nick Weber, Past President, at nicholas.r.weber@monsanto.com.
Charleston|Orwig has announced that Laura Staton has re-joined the team as an account director within account services, where she will lead the agency’s growing food system segment, and Eric Nielson has joined C|O as a digital community manager.
Rural Radio Channel 147 partnered with SiriusXM for a free listening period that will activate all inactive SiriusXM radios from Wednesday, August 24th through September 6th. Listeners can tune in from anywhere at any time, whether in their cars, pickups, tractors or combines throughout North America and Canada.

Uncategorized, Zimfo Bytes

GMO Infographic Shows Impact on Water Conservation

Jamie Johansen August 29, 2016

GMO Answers released a new infographic to educate consumers about how GMOs help conserve water usage in agriculture in honor of World Water Week.

Water is one of the most important factors in producing food, fuel and fiber, and preserving water is critical to agriculture’s sustainability. With changing weather patterns and an increased number of widespread droughts – water conservation continues to be a challenge and priority for communities around the world. Advancements in biotechnology such as drought-tolerant, genetically modified (GM) crops are one solution to helping farmers use less water and reduce irrigation needs.

“Water is precious, which is why choosing sustainable practices to help resolve ongoing environmental challenges is so important,” said Kate Hall, managing director of the Council for Biotechnology Information and GMO Answers spokesperson. “We’re pleased to share our new infographic in celebration of World Water Week and to continue our education efforts to show the public how GMOs help protect and preserve our limited, natural resources.”

According to the United Nations, by 2025 1.8 billion people will be living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity, and two-thirds of the world population could be under stress conditions.2 GMO Answers’ “Water Preservation” infographic illustrates how GMOs allow farmers to do more with less to conserve water and grow more drought tolerant plants:

– GM crops have helped reduce the irrigation needs of U.S. grown cotton by 50 percent over the last 20 years.
– GM crops can decrease the rate at which water is lost through transpiration, while improving yield in drought conditions with crops like rice.
– Nearly 6,400 bodies of water can benefit from reduced soil erosion through the usage of GM crops. That’s an average of 128 lakes, streams and rivers per state in the U.S.

Ag Groups, Food, GMO, Precision Agriculture, Water

Report Projects Increased Challenges For Ag Retailers

Lizzy Schultz August 29, 2016

A new report from CoBank has revealed that accounts receivable at farm supply co-ops and other ag retailers are growing, and so are the challenges they face.

The report shows that retailers are adjusting to a tougher economic environment accompanying the down-phase of the current ag commodity cycle, as current headwinds are directly related to the sharp decline in commodity prices that have reduced farm income and tightened farm cash flows. The downturn in fertilizer prices, along with a spate of mergers and acquisitions in the seed and fertilizer industry, have also aligned to further create adversity for ag retailers going forward.

“The drop in farm income over the past three years is the steepest decrease since the Depression,” says Tanner Ehmke, CoBank senior economist covering the grains, oilseeds and ethanol, and farm supply sectors. “Producer incomes have fallen more than 50 percent from 2013 to today and their debt-to-income ratio is on the rise. Not surprisingly, total accounts receivable for ag retailers posted an 11 percent gain for 2015, and that’s expected to grow in the year ahead due to ongoing farmer cash flow challenges.”

Retailers have become unsure about demand opportunties as farmers are continuing to stretch existing credit lines, cut costs and reduce pre-pay practices, creating a more price sensitive market that has formed additional competitive pressures on ag retailers.

Falling fertilizer prices have also made it difficult for retailers to maintain positive margins, and forecasts are calling for this slide to continue through 2017 as commodity values remain under significant pressure from abundant supplies in the United States and throughout the world.

“The biggest challenge for ag retailers going forward will be to manage inventory to sync with demand,” notes Ehmke.

The new wave of consolidation occurring throughout many major seed and crop protection companies is also creating increased ambiguity and insecurity about product offerings, prices, and competition in the industry, making retailers concerned about the potential consequences that reduced competition could bring to the surface. The consolidation wave could also leave ag retailers with less bargaining power, potentially reducing their ability to negotiate prices or rebates on volume sales.

Ehmke did mention that, on a positive note, USDA’s projections for 2016 call for only a 2 percent reduction in net farm income year-over-year, compared to 2015 when net farm income dropped 38 percent year-over-year and 2014 when it dropped 27 percent.

Ag Groups, Agribusiness, Farm Credit

Culver’s Grows 19 “Thank You Farmers” Mazes

Jamie Johansen August 29, 2016

From food to fuel, there are more than 4,000 uses for corn across the world. This year Culver’s restaurants added one more use to the list: thanking farmers.

The restaurant chain wouldn’t be what it is today without the hardworking farmers who grow the food that’s proudly served in its restaurants. That’s why Culver’s worked with farmers across the country to grow 19 larger-than-life “Thank You Farmers” mazes—including a sunflower maze in Florida—planting more than 5,360,000 seeds of gratitude for American farm families.

“Culver’s is passionate about creating ways to say thank you to farmers, letting them know that their hard work is appreciated,” said Jessie Corning, senior marketing manager. “We’re excited that our guests across the nation can join us in showing gratitude by visiting these mazes.”

These mazes are part of Culver’s Thank You Farmers program, which recognizes the hard work and commitment of the farmers who produce wholesome food to feed our nation. To date, the Thank You Farmers initiative has raised nearly one million dollars in support of the National FFA Organization and Foundation, local FFA chapters and a variety of local agricultural organizations.

Agribusiness, Corn, Farming, Food

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