Social Media Farmer of the Year Nominations Needed

Chuck Zimmerman March 17, 2014

Do you have a favorite farmer using social media? Are you really engaged in the online conversation yourself? Then get your nomination in for the first Social Media Farmer of the Year Award.

This award program, which AgWired is a sponsor of, is being conducted by Phil Lempert, Food Nutrition & Science. You might know Phil as the Supermarket Guru. We talked about the award program and it’s that conversation I’m sharing in this week’s program. The award winner will be receiving a number of prizes which are still being finalized but include an expense paid trip to Chicago for the FMI Connect to receive the award. Sponsorships of the award are also still available.

The new award recognizes farmers who have incorporated social media, digital media and internet strategies to achieve their business objectives including growing revenue, sharing information for more effective farming practices, and promoting positive awareness of the industry.

Nominations for the award are now being accepted. Farmers can nominate themselves or a colleague http://www.foodnutritionscience.com/2014award/. The deadline for nominations is March 31, 2014. The winner will be presented with a trophy and other prizes at the FMI Connect show in Chicago on June 11, 2014.

“Social media has provided farmers with a unique opportunity to communicate directly with other farmers, customers and consumers,” says Phil Lempert, editor of Food Nutrition & Science. “This award will honor their innovation and outstanding efforts that not only results in a greater person-to-person dialogue, but elevation of the industry as a whole.”

In our conversation I asked Phil to tell us what he sees as some current trends in the supermarket business. Not surprisingly, one of them is the rapid change in technology.

You can listen to this week’s program here. Social Media Farmer of Year Award

Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsor, GROWMARK, locally owned, globally strong, for their support.

Farming, Food, Social Media

Kip Cullers in Africa

Cindy Zimmerman March 17, 2014

About a week or so before Commodity Classic, I got a call from our good friend and rock star soybean grower Kip Cullers who was all excited about the trip he had just taken to South Africa. So, I did an interview with him while I had the chance, which was a good thing because I barely saw him at Classic, where he had promised to give me a USB drive with photos from the trip but never did. I did catch a shot of him on the stage at Case IH where he was telling the audience about his trip.

Anyway, it was a pretty interesting trip for Kip, who was there with another grower for a tour to meet with local farmers, primarily sponsored by DuPont Pioneer, with participation by BASF and John Deere. “We traveled around the country and had meetings where they were expecting 200 and 400 would show up,” Kip said. “We did five meetings and they said that we covered 80% of the total production acres in South Africa, whether it be corn, wheat or beans.”

Kip says one of his biggest surprises was that they have Asian Soybean Rust there and was interested to find that they use the same BASF product to fight it, although instead of Headline it is known by a different name. He said the farmers were very interested in seed treatments, which are currently not used much in South Africa.

The trip was great, but Kip says he wasn’t thrilled with the food – lamb that was fatty and “kinda got a twang” and some kind of white corn grits-like food that was so dry “I had the spoon turned upside down and it wouldn’t fall off.”

Listen to my interview with Kip talking about his trip to South Africa, as only Kip can – Interview with Missouri farmer Kip Cullers
2014 Commodity Classic Photos

Agribusiness, Audio, BASF, Case IH, Commodity Classic, International, Pioneer

Dr. Borlaug to be Enshrined at U.S. Capitol

Leah Guffey March 17, 2014

National Agriculture Day celebrations in Washington DC this year just happen to fall on March 25, the centennial anniversary date of the Father of the Green Revolution. As a fitting tribute, the State of Iowa will install a bronze statue of Dr. Norman E. Borlaug in the U.S. Capitol on that very day.

“The unveiling with be a historic event and celebration of Dr. Borlaug’s legacy,” Iowa Governor Terry Branstad said. “His agricultural innovations saved an estimated billion people around the world from hunger and starvation.”

Each state is represented by two statues of notable citizens in the National Statuary Hall Collection at the U.S. Capitol Building. The statue of Borlaug will replace the statue of U.S. Senator James Harlan installed in 1910, which will be relocated to Mount Pleasant, Iowa. The second statue representing Iowa is of Governor Samuel Kirkwood, which was installed in 1913.

More information about the statue project is available at www.iowaborlaugstatue.org, including information about related events and activities. People are also encouraged to watch a webcast of the statue unveiling ceremony, which will take place on March 25 at 11 a.m. Eastern Time, at www.speaker.gov/live and since Chuck and Cindy will be there at the Capitol for National Ag Day, we should have coverage of the event featured here on AgWired as well.

The statue was unveiled at the World Food Prize in October, where we had the chance to see it up close and personal, and Cindy interviewed World Food Prize president Ambassador Kenneth Quinn about it. Listen to or download his comments about the statue here: WFP President Kenneth Quinn talks about Borlaug statue

Ag Day, Audio, World Food Prize

Florida Dairy Farmers Release New iPad App

Jamie Johansen March 15, 2014

Kids, adults and educators alike can now learn about dairy farming in an exciting way through the Florida Dairy Farmers new iPad app, SunnyBell’s Florida Dairy Farm Adventure. The free app that can be downloaded from iTunes, is a fun, interactive romp through a Florida dairy farm.

SunnyBell – a little calf who longs to be an important part of the dairy farm, teaches kids about nutritious milk and where it comes from. The story is interactive and immersive, while kids learn about how a dairy farm works. The app also includes sing-along “moo”sicals, word-search puzzles, coloring pages and quizzes.

SunnyBell’s Florida Dairy Farm Adventure app is not only great for kids of all ages, but is also an exceptional educational tool for parents and educators, and uses games and songs to improve cognitive abilities in kids.

“The SunnyBell app shares the experience of life on a Florida dairy farm while reinforcing the message of where our milk comes from. Children are easily engaged, via educational songs and games that boast interactive animation, while learning about the importance of dairy foods in the diet,” says Alyssa Greenstein, registered dietitian with Florida Dairy Farmers. “As a registered dietitian and mother of three, I especially enjoy the fact that the SunnyBell app helps kids and adults separate nutrition from fads and misinformation.”

To download the free app, visit www.floridamilk.com and check out our new Kids Corner where you can learn, play and grow with SunnyBell.

Ag Groups, Apps, Dairy

Hortau Tweet Gets our Attention

Cindy Zimmerman March 14, 2014

As I said before, we were so busy at Commodity Classic even with four people we were unable to cover everything we wanted to cover, but one company did something that caught our attention and made us go out of our way to meet them.

@Hortau Simplified Irrigation sent a tweet to @Agriblogger asking him to come by and do an interview.

It was that simple. Now, if you don’t know already, @Agriblogger is one of Chuck Zimmerman’s “personalities” (I live with him, I can tell you he has several!). Since he had to bug out of the Classic early to go to the Farm & Gin Show, he left instructions for someone who remained to go by and see those @Hortau folks, so I did and met CEO Jocelyn Boudreau and Regional Sales Manager Doug Larson. (Neither of them sent the tweet, by the way, it was their marketing director – who deserves a raise!)

Jocelyn told me that Hortau Simplified Irrigation was started in 2002, “with the idea of optimizing water usage on farm, taking a plant-centric approach to use water to grow a healthier crop, boost yields and give water the same level of attention and precision as we do with fertilizers and plant genetics.”

Doug says it was the first time for Hortau at Classic and they were very pleased. “This is really our audience,” he said. “We work the high plains region of the country, so most of our growers are corn or soybean growers.”

Find out more about Hortau here: Interview with Jocelyn Boudreau and Doug Larson, Hortau Irrigation
2014 Commodity Classic Photos

Audio, Commodity Classic, Corn, Farming, Irrigation, Precision Agriculture

iCropTrak Soil with 1 Tap Entry for Serious AgNerds

Chuck Zimmerman March 14, 2014

AgNerd Alert!

One tap data entry is important. Because as Aaron Hutchinson, President, Cogent3D, says, “Every click is money.” That’s part of the improvements in the latest release of iCropTrak. Aaron says the company has also created a new version of the product called iCropTrak Soil. This version provides a lower cost alternative for those who don’t need an advanced system and currently has special pricing.

In addition to Rapid Scouting enhancements like Rapid Observation and Action Items, the new iCropTrak includes a series of augmented map functions to make field understanding fast and easy.

Map Annotations to provide additional map reference data

Work Order Status Annotations to provide where and what quickly

Follow Me Upgrade to keep you on the map at any speed

Map Sketch to allow you to draw on the map and save results for reports

Recent Forms puts field history in chronological order

Version 4.1 includes the first mobile parts of the upcoming MyJohnDeere.com integration: On-demand data downloading. On-Demand let’s you download only the data you need for the time you need it, then remove it from your iPad when done to have space for other efforts. At multiple gigabytes per field for planting, as-applied, and harvest data, On-Demand provides users control over their data and provides the first peek at the new user definable statistical legends that colorize the data on the fly based on its attributes.

Aaron Hutchinson, Cogent3D President shared the company’s excitement regarding this release stating: “The One Tap Observation capability to mark weeds, pests, and diseases is a labor break-thru in a market where every click is money. ”

You can listen to my interview with Aaron here: Interview with Aaron Hutchinson

Here’s a demo of iCropTrak Soil:

Introducing – iCropTrak Soil from Cogent3D on Vimeo.

Big thanks to iCropTrak for continuing their sponsorship of our AgWired App. If you don’t have our free app please consider downloading for free!

Agribusiness, Apps, Audio, Precision Agriculture, Video

Zimfo Bytes

Talia Goes March 14, 2014

DuPont Pioneer is pleased to announce a $5,000 donation to Farm Rescue, a North Dakota-based non-profit organization that plants and harvests crops free of charge for family farmers who have suffered a major injury, illness or disaster.
The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) named DuPont Chair & CEO Ellen Kullman as the recipient of its 2014 George Washington Carver Award for innovation in industrial biotechnology. Kullman is the first woman to receive the honor, which has been awarded annually since 2008.
The Georgia peanut industry plans to celebrate by hosting the 2014 Georgia PB&J Day at the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta, Ga.
Members of the ASA Action Partnership met yesterday in Washington to discuss labeling of products containing genetically modified ingredients and the possibilities and implications of “big data,” or the data generated through advances in precision agriculture technology.

Zimfo Bytes

Nutrient Management with OptRx

Melissa Sandfort March 14, 2014

At the 2014 Commodity Classic, Ag Leader Technology sponsored a learning session focused on using crop sensors to find out what your crops need.

Ag Leader did a study in 2009 that showed the advantages of using their OptRx crop sensor technology. OptRx Crop Sensor Product Specialist Chad Fick says this product has been around for six years now and growers are showing more interest as nutrient management becomes a bigger concern.

Chad says OptRx can be a helpful tool for farmers. Listen to Cindy Zimmerman’s interview with Chad from Commodity Classic.

Listen to Fick explain

Become a fan of Ag Leader on Facebook today, and get the latest precision ag videos on the YouTube channel. For more information about Ag Leader products and services, or to visit the blog site, go to www.agleader.com.

Ag Leader, Agribusiness

Impressive StollerUSA Grower Panel at Classic

Cindy Zimmerman March 14, 2014

We really, really tried, but even with four people at Commodity Classic we were just unable to see and do everything, and one of the companies we regret missing was StollerUSA. However, the good news is that hundreds of growers from around the country were able to find out more of what StollerUSA has to offer from farmers like themselves.

StollerUSA sponsored one of the first Learning Center Sessions at the Classic on “Ideas to Break Through Yield Barriers.” It was standing room only for the session where at least 600 farmers gathered to hear top growers from Illinois, Iowa, Kansas and Texas talk about their successes and failures to become local, state and national yield winners each year. Our longtime friend and colleague Ken Root was moderator for that event, as well as continued conversations with the growers at the StollerUSA booth in the trade show.

We were able to get an interview with one of those growers – Adam Watson who farms 4,000 acres of white corn, yellow corn, seed corn and soybeans in Villa Grove, Illinois. That would be thanks to the tenacious and talented Sally Behringer who tracked us down in the media room on the last day of the show!
Adam passed on some of the yield-busting tips he had been sharing with other farmers all week, such as staying up to date on new technology. “This year we’re implementing a UAV,” he said. “We’re going to have sensors on it to give back data to us. I want to know today what I need to do tomorrow.”

Adam says he does lots of trials on his farm to learn what works and what doesn’t, and how StollerUSA products such as Bio-Forge have helped him managing plant stress and increase yields. Last year he says his yields for corn were the best ever. “We had a farm average of 213 (bushels per acre),” he said. “That put a big smile on my face.”

Find out more in this interview with Adam: Interview with Illinois farmer Adam Watson
2014 Commodity Classic Photos

Audio, Commodity Classic, Corn, Farming

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