New AAEA President Kurt Lawton

Chuck Zimmerman August 5, 2014

The gavel has been passed for the American Agricultural Editors Association. Holly Spangler passed it to Kurt Lawton, Corn & Soybean Digest. Kurt also made a nice memento presentation to Holly. BTW. Kurt was one of the first editors of what is now our Precision.AgWired.com website!

After business was taken care of during last week’s Ag Media Summit I talked with Kurt to see what he’s looking forward to working on with AAEA in the coming year. Kurt will be a great leader I’m sure. For one thing he has been a member under all the main categories of membership and can draw on that experience. Looking ahead, he sees AAEA taking a look at the strategic plan and figuring out how the leaders can make it an even better organization.

Kurt has also attended an International Federation of Agricultural Journalists Congress and urges AAEA members to take advantage of the opportunity.

You can listen to my interview with Kurt here: Interview with Kurt Lawton

Ag Media Summit Photo Album

Coverage of the Ag Media Summit is sponsored by

ACN, Ag Media Summit, Audio, IFAJ, Media

Old and New LPC Presidents

Chuck Zimmerman August 5, 2014

Christy Lee, Cee Lee Photography, is now the past President of the Livestock Publications Council and Don Norton, Boelte-Hall, in the new Prez. After the LPC business meeting I visited with them to learn how the organization is doing and what the priorities are for the new year.

Christy says it has been a great year for LPC with a highlight being the start of an internship program. Membership continues to grow and there are four new members on the board.

Don talks about a new event that LPC is planning this fall called Visions 2014 on November 11 in Kansas City, the night before the NAFB convention starts. It will start with a newsmaker event and panel discussion on animal welfare. Then there will be a dinner and some social time.

You can listen to my interview with Christy and Don here: Interview with LPC Presidents

Ag Media Summit Photo Album

Coverage of the Ag Media Summit is sponsored by

Ag Media Summit, Audio, LPC

New Holland CR10.90 via ZimmGlass

Chuck Zimmerman August 5, 2014

Introducing the first and only New Holland CR10.90 combine in North America. For the moment anyway. This bad boy will be on display at shows like Farm Progress. It is a monster of a machine. This one was on display for ag media with a draper head.

Telling us all about it is Nigel Mackenzie and he gets very whomped up when it comes to these machines. I put ZimmGlass through a workout during last week’s New Holland Media Day. This was my first video of the day and I’ve got more to come, including riding around a track in a new combine. I recently spoke to Nigel about the combine launch by phone. The media day gave me an opportunity to see it up close and personal. Here’s a little information about the new products.

New Holland has just upped the stakes for harvesting ease and capacity with the all-new CR Series combines—the most powerful Twin Rotor™ combines ever. Six models range from 401 to 652 maximum engine horsepower. All feature fuel-efficient ECOBlue™ HI-eSCR engines which are Tier 4B compliant. The flagship CR10.90 boasts the Diesel Engine of the Year 2014 which delivers epic power and in-field response. The new Dynamic Feed Roll™ system—the on-the-go, no-interruption stone trap—increases capacity by accelerating crop into the rotors.

To learn more about the new CR combines, especially the CR10.90 listen in or watch Nigel tell us all about it.

Listen to Nigel’s presentation here: New Holland CR10.90

2014 New Holland Media Day Photo Album

Agribusiness, Audio, New Holland, Video

NCBA CEO Expresses Upbeat Spirits Towards Next Fiscal Year

Jamie Johansen August 5, 2014

Cattlemen’s grassroots organization, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), held their annual Cattle Industry Summer Conference in Denver, CO. last week. Producers and state organizations gathered to tackle and plan the coming year. Forrest Roberts, NCBA CEO, commented on the event and shared what we can see throughout the next fiscal year in terms of policy and markets.

“This conference is all about business planning for our next fiscal year. As we round out our fiscal year ending at the end of September, we are in the final throws of making decisions about strategies and how we implement policies positions in order to really be able to look to moving the industry to the next stage of the future.”

“The big part of making those decisions here this week is all about input. It’s that grassroots, bottom up approach we have within our structure here to be able to gain a lot of input that we have been building on the entire year.”

Forrest says not doubt it has been a great conference. He feels it has been very upbeat considering many some reprieve in most areas from Mother Nature. The overall market has kept producers in a positive state of mind.

He also shares brief insights into WOTUS, trade and Country of Origin Labeling. All hot topics across the agriculture community and discussed during the recent event.

Listen to my interview with Forrest here: Interview with NCBA CEO, Forrest Roberts

View and download photos from the event here: Cattle Industry Summer Conference Photo Album

Coverage of the Cattle Industry Summer Conference is sponsored by

Ag Groups, Audio, Beef, Beef Checkoff, Cattle Industry Conference, NCBA

Zimfo Bytes

Talia Goes August 4, 2014

Dr. Guy Fipps, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service irrigation engineer, was recently named Professional Engineer of the Year at the meeting of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers in Montreal, Canada.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) Administrator Anne Alonzo announced over the weekend that USDA’s National Farmers Market Directory now lists 8,268 markets, an increase of 76 percent since 2008.
Syngenta announced that Ponsi Trivisvavet has been appointed a region director for North America and president of Syngenta Seeds, Inc. She is based in Minnetonka, Minn.
NAFB launched of a new NAFB.com site for the future with fast access to membership information, enhanced backend systems to streamline office operations and so much more.

Zimfo Bytes

Missouri Right to Farm Vote Tomorrow

Cindy Zimmerman August 4, 2014

It’s down to the wire in the final push for the Missouri Right to Farm amendment and the opposition, led by the Humane Society of the United States is pulling out all the stops.

“Humane Society of the US has put in nearly a half a million dollars in (opposition to) the issue,” says Missouri Farm Bureau president Blake Hurst. “They’re sponsoring all the ads that are pretty prevalent on Missouri TV as we go into the last few days of the campaign.”

Hurst says opponents to the Amendment 1 have 40 contributors, while the pro-amendment side literally has thousands. “It’s a false charge to say this is being backed by large corporate farms. It isn’t, it’s farmers,” he said. “Our average contribution is $75 – there you go, that’s our large corporate backers.”

The amendment simply reads “Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to ensure that the right of Missouri citizens to engage in agricultural production and ranching practices shall not be infringed?” Hurst says opponents have charged that it will give agriculture a “blank check” and even invalidate federal laws like the Clean Water Act. “We’ll continue to be regulated,” he said. “We can’t possibly change (federal regulations) and the state regulations that are in place will stay in place.”

One other state, North Dakota, passed a similar amendment two years ago and Hurst remains confident that they will be successful in the vote tomorrow. Interview with Missouri Farm Bureau president Blake Hurst

Ag Groups, Audio, Farming

Would You Cluck’n Moo

Chuck Zimmerman August 4, 2014

Cindy brought this to my attention. Cluck’n Moo Beef and Chicken Burgers.

They say that their burgers are grass fed beef and chicken, humanely raised, antibiotic and hormone free and gluten free. Hmmm. That description is enough to make me not want to try them. But if you put enough ketchup, mayo, mustard, lettuce, tomato and onion on them it might be okay.

What do you think?

Beef, Food, Poultry

Wireless Portable Charging with QiPack

Chuck Zimmerman August 4, 2014

What’s a QiPack? Funny you should ask. I just happen to have one and used it on the road last week. It’s pronounced Chee-Pack btw. Here’s how the company describes it.

What is QiPack
Introducing the best solution to charging on-the-go – QiPack, the wireless charging pad and battery backup all in one

Universal Power
Power your iPhone, Motorola Droid, Nokia Lumia, Samsung Galaxy, Google Nexus, LG Lucid, HTC Droid DNA and more anytime, anywhere

Wireless Power
Forget tangled cables and bulky adapters, QiPack powers up your Qi-enabled device with innovative wireless charging

Mobile Power
Charge up your Qi-enabled phone quickly and wirelessly right in your pocket or purse without having to plug anything in

Portable Power
QiPack is an all-in-one inductive charging pad and 3000mAh backup battery for easy on-the-go charging

I think by now y’all are quite familiar with power banks, those small mobile chargers that are the latest craze at trade show booths. So far most of them require you to plug your gadget into them with your sync cable. Not the QiPack. Although you can plug into it if you want. One of its best features is the wireless charging capability.

QiPack got its start as a successful Kickstarter campaign and is now in production. I sent them some money early on and got mine before my last trip. So I charged the QiPack and stuck it in my MOJO (mobile journalism bag) and took off.

This photo shows you what I received and after the traditional “unboxing ceremony.” The device is on the left and you can see its charging cable along with an iPhone case.

Why an iPhone case? Good question. This is probably the only negative I have found. iPhones require a little inductive charging coil to work with the QiPack. That is hidden in the case. So, in order for me to use the QiPack wirelessly my iPhone has to be in this case. The case has a little plug that goes into the iPhone cable jack. It’s a very minimalist design of clear plastic. I actually like the case but then, what do I do with my other case? It’s very easy to put on and take off though. If you don’t want the case with the coil though, you can order just the coil and it can be used with your existing case. Maybe I should have selected that option.

With the case on I charged my iPhone 5S two different times while traveling. It works quite well and still has a little charge left. The QiPack comes in different colors and is available for pre-order now.

You’ve probably seen power mats that wirelessly charge devices but most of them have to be plugged into a power source to work so they’re most useful in an office or room in your house. I think we’ll see more of these (I already have) coming out and hopefully Apple will keep this in mind for future iPhone launches.

Gadgets, Technology

More Info on SatShot-Iteris Partnership at InfoAg

John Davis August 4, 2014

While we were at the InfoAg Conference last week, Iteris and SatShot announced a new partnership to help farmers manage their crops even better. Cindy got more details on the news from SatShot president Lanny Faleide.

“Iteris has whole suite of weather products, and we are bringing the weather information along with the digital vegetation signature from the [satellite] imagery, that we can look at growth models, we can look at how different maps are dealing with the weather, and bring in a much more intelligent data set from the imagery-based products we offer,” he said.

Iteris’ ClearPath Ag™ weather content system will be incorporated into Satshot’s mapping and remote sensing imagery system. Satshot customers – from individual growers to crop consultants and agribusiness corporations – will have the ability to utilize the high resolution, field level ClearPath Ag platform to identify field areas with persistent crop issues through detailed geo-referenced imagery. Iteris will also integrate Satshot crop imagery into their own ClearPath Ag technology to benefit compliance reporting, irrigation forecasting and crop yield optimization.

“Real-time and future weather modeling is very important. We want to be able to provide the answer to the customer even before they know what to ask, and you have to have that weather modeling, because the weather is a dynamic piece. By bringing weather into our models, we’re able to do a better job of predicting what the plant will do in the future. We can come up with answers to help the farmer grow a better crop.”

Learn more in this interview: Interview with Lanny Faleide, SatShot

InfoAg 2014 Photo Album

Coverage of the InfoAg Conference is sponsored by

Agribusiness, Audio, Precision Agriculture, Weather

Deere Driving Technology for the Bottom Line

Cindy Zimmerman August 3, 2014

John Deere was a major sponsor of the InfoAg 2014 Conference last week in St. Louis, as they have been since the beginning, according to Jerry Roell, Director of Business Development for Deere’s Intelligent Solutions Group.

“It’s a great way for the industry to learn about precision ag, it’s grown now and it shows the passion and the interest,” said Roell at the conference. “The understanding of what precision ag can do for producers today is becoming well enough known that our precision ag sales continue to grow.”

InfoAg sessions this year focused on some of the challenges facing the precision ag industry, one of which is the interface between technology and equipment. “We build equipment that many times lasts 20 years, most of this technology will not go through that kind of a life cycle,” said Roell. So, it’s important to look at ways that to ensure that as the next generations of technology are developed, they can apply to older equipment.

Roell says farmers will continue to see John Deere leading in the development of technology “that will drive the most money to our customers’ bottom lines.”

Listen to my interview with Jerry here: Interview with Jerry Roell, John Deere

InfoAg 2014 Photo Album

Coverage of the InfoAg Conference is sponsored by

Audio, John Deere, Precision Agriculture

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