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Talia Goes

Zimfo Bytes

  • The Context Network, a premier global agribusiness consulting firm helping clients achieve exceptional results to advance agriculture, has named Osborn Barr (O+B) as brandingand communications partner.
  • Farmland Partners Inc. announced that it has entered into purchase agreements to acquire two farms in Colorado totaling approximately 1,400 acres for aggregate consideration of approximately $6 million in cash.
  • eGrain, Inc. announces that Drew Earles has resigned as Vice President and the company has named John Hill as the company’s new VP, effective September 24, 2014.
  • Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey today announced that the landowners and partners in the Lake Darling Watershed project in Washington County have received the Secretary’s Water Quality Initiative Leader Award.
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IFAJ Elects Presidium

Chuck Zimmerman

IFAJ PresidiumDuring the 2014 International Federation of Agricultural Journalists Congress in Aberdeen, Scotland the members elected the the members of the Presidium.

President Markus Rediger, of Switzerland will again lead the organization. Markus is managing editor of Landwirtschaftlicher Informationsdienst at the Agricultural Information Center LID, Bern, Switzerland. He has been a member of the Swiss guild of agricultural journalists since 1986.

Serving a second term as vice president is Owen Roberts of Canada. Owen is a freelance journalist and an agricultural communications professor at the University of Guelph. Owen has been involved in the Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation since 1988, and is the IFAJ’s former secretary general.
Current secretary general Riitta Mustonen of Finland will continue her role for two more years. Riitta is a journalist in Maaseudun Tulevaisuus for Farmers’ Union Newspaper, the second largest daily paper in Finland. She is the former president of the board of Agricultural Journalists’ Guild of Finland.

And as treasurer, James Campbell of Northern Ireland will continue keeping track of the organization’s finances. James served as Northern editor of the Irish Farmers Journal (IFJ) from 1984 until he stepped in June 2013. James has been a member of the Guild of Agricultural Journalists of Ireland since 1984.

Presidium members are permitted to serve two two-year terms. The next election will take place at the congress in Germany in 2016.

IFAJ, International

The New iPhone 6 Unboxed

Chuck Zimmerman

My iPhone 6This Apple AgNerd is equipped with the latest gadget to document what’s new in the world of agribusiness! Here’s my first iPhone 6 Selfie in my local AT&T store.

I was only in line a little while before getting my first look and touch with the new iPhone 6 models. The Plus is just too big for me but not as bad as I thought it would be. The store sold out of them before I even got inside!

Using ZimmGlass I shot a video clip of the in-store unboxing and set up. It doesn’t take long to be ready to walk out the door with a working iPhone. However, I now have it backing up from my iTunes library.

First impressions are that the device feels light and thin just as advertised. I’m only putting a screen protector on it for now. This size still fits my hand very well which I like. I just upgraded to iOS 8 last night so I have not had much time yet to try out all the new features including on the new iPhone. The screen is beautiful and I’m going to love the camera! Speaking of the camera, it does protrude slightly from the back of the device. That’s different and I guess time will tell if that causes any issues. So, I’m loving it and will let you know more when I’ve had time to work with it.


Apps, Technology, Video

FS HiSOY® Celebrates 50 Years of Legacy

Jamie Johansen

Screen Shot 2014-09-19 at 10.22.26 AMFor 50 years now, FS HiSOY has stood for cutting edge innovation, superior quality and consistent performance. These key components are the foundation in which the HiSOY Legacy was built.

“We’ve been innovators since the early days,” said John Earley, a retired FS Crop Specialist. HiSOY began its journey in 1965 by being the first proprietary soybean made available. Since then, science and technology has changed the agriculture industry by leaps and bounds, but HiSOY has used these advancements to become leaders in the field for the past 50 years.

In 1996, the Roundup Ready trait was adopted, helping FS growers to yield more bushels per acre. In 2010, HiSOY began offering the Genuity Roundup Ready® 2 Yield trait technology that was developed to deliver more yield and profit potential to farmers, while maintaining the same Roundup Ready® weed control benefits. These cutting edge advancements allow FS to offer full agronomic packages to growers.

FS HiSOY’s excellence continues to be driven by the infrastructure of local FS Crop Specialists and local research which gives the ability to develop and market soybeans that perform on local growers farms. Additionally, HiSOY sources genetics from multiple leading companies that allows for the selection of the very best soybean genetics that the industry has to offer. FS works with leading trait providers to bring growers the latest and best trait options to help make their businesses more profitable. Today, HiSOY is keeping up with the ever-changing times and will soon be offering new advanced herbicide traits such as Enlist, Extends and Glyphosate, helping growers to maximize every acre.

Read More

Agribusiness, Crop Protection, FS System, GROWMARK, Soybean

ADM Helps Unilever Bring Out the Best

Leah Guffey

The ADM/Unilever Soybean Sustainability Program, highlighted at the 2014 Farm Progress Show, is helping farmers bring out the best in Hellmann’s mayonnaise.

_DSC0116The program was introduced earlier this year as a cooperative effort of Unilever, Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) and the Iowa Soybean Association. ADM procures sustainably-raised soybeans from Iowa growers, processes soybeans at its Des Moines plant and then sells the oil to Unilever, which uses it to make Hellmann’s mayonnaise.

Unilever CEO Paul Pohlman decided in 2010 that he wanted to see his company become more sustainable. “Unilever as a company has committed to sustainably sourcing all of our commodities by the year 2020 and in the U.S. soy is our number one commodity,” said Stefanie Grant with Unilever, who adds that one of the highlights for her is telling the farmer’s story. Being an Iowa native brings this even closer to her as she helps tell the story of agriculture. Interview with Stefanie Grant, Unilever

“100% of the soybean oil used for Hellmann’s mayonnaise comes out of our Des Moines facility,” said Maree Deventer, who is the soy sustainability program coordinator for ADM in Des Moines. “We partnered with a supply chain documentation tool called ‘Field to Market Fieldprint Calculator‘ to map acreage and collect farming practices data.” That includes everything from soil erosion to greenhouse gases and water quality.

Maree says Iowa farmers have been very excited about the program. “It’s a great opportunity for producers to get their story out,” she said. Interview with Maree Deventer, ADM

2014 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

Coverage of the 2014 Farm Progress Show is sponsored by
Coverage of the 2014 Farm Progress Show is sponsored by New HollandCoverage of the 2014 Farm Progress Show is sponsored by FMCCoverage of the 2014 Farm Progress Show is sponsored by GrowmarkCoverage of the 2014 Farm Progress Show is sponsored by AgLeader
Audio, Farm Progress Show, Soybean

Updated AgWired App

Chuck Zimmerman

AgWired AppIf you have the AgWired App or don’t have it, now’s a good time to update it or download it. We’ve just finished an AgWired App update for iOS and Android to keep up with changes in those platforms. New functionality is being researched for our next update. You can get it free in the iTunes Store or Google Play.

Besides getting the app in one of the two main online stores the new version of AgWired has a built-in app option. If you open your mobile browser on your device and got to AgWired.com you should see a popup that directs you to install AgWired onto your device homepage. It’s simple and works great. AgWired has always been mobile browser optimized and this app takes you right there without having to navigate to the page.

We’re doing all we can to make it easy to get your daily dose of AgWired! Thank you iCropTrak for continuing to be our Agwired App Sponsor.

Apps

How Will Low Crop Prices Impact Next Year?

Jamie Johansen

New Holland ZimmPollOur latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “Would you buy an Apple Watch?”

Apple never ceases to amaze us with the new products they come up with. It doesn’t look like many of you will be rushing out to buy their newest techie gadget. I think I fall into the ‘not yet’ category. I don’t see how it can benefit me at the moment, but I certainly won’t rule it out.

Here are the poll results:

  • Absolutely! – 21%
  • Never – 42%
  • Not yet – 27%
  • A what? – 10%

Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, How will low crop prices impact next year?

Corn and soybean prices have dropped dramatically this year with record crops but the question is how much will that impact plans for next season. Will farmers plant less, buy less, or just plan that prices will go back up next year?

ZimmPoll

NAMA Fall Conference

Chuck Zimmerman

NAMA Fall ConferenceSometimes what happens at NAMA stays at NAMA. Unless it’s on Flickr!

The 2014 National Agri-Marketing Association Fall Conference has come and gone. I was unable to attend this year. It would have been my last Executive Committee Mtg. but family came first. I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience and camaraderie of working with some great agrimarketers the last three years and of course I’ll keep supporting NAMA.

In the video below I’m sharing one of the Fall Conference videos hosted by Max Armstrong. In this one you’ll hear about unmanned aerial vehicles and hear from outgoing NAMA President, Kenna Rathai. We should all congratulate Kenna for the work she has done as our president this year!


Ag Groups, NAMA, Video

Great American Wheat Harvest Update

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast 451Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast and thank you GROWMARK for continuing to be the sponsor for this podcast which is now on weekly episode 451!

Great American Wheat HarvestThis week we’re going to get an update on the Great American Wheat Harvest documentary film from producer/director Conrad Weaver. Conrad’s film is helping educate the non-farm community all over the country about where the bread on their table comes from. We need a lot of this and distribution sponsorships are still available.

Besides local movie theater screenings Conrad says the film will come out for purchase on DVD/Blue Ray in October and he’s working on an online distribution opportunity as well. The DVD will contain outtakes and extra footage of the harvesters featured in the film itself.

Listen in to this week’s program here: Great American Wheat Harvest Update

Subscribe to the ZimmCast podcast here.

The ZimmCast

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Audio, Education, Harvest, Wheat, ZimmCast