Majority in Ag are Boycotting Chipotle

Jamie Johansen

New Holland ZimmPollOur latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “What do you think about Chipotle’s Farmed & Dangerous?”

An overwhelming majority said they have boycotted Chipotle and I am proud to say I fit into that majority. I also believe Chipotle should be ashamed and have decided I don’t need to watch their recent stunt to know they are bad news. Thank you to those in the agricultural community who have made a stand against this restaurant giant and joined the fight to tell agriculture’s story.

Our poll results:

  • Chipotle should be ashamed – 25%
  • Hilarious – Lighten up! – 6%
  • Thought provoking – 4%
  • Refuse to see it – 6%
  • Will never eat at Chipotle – 47%
  • Never heard of it – 12%

Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, “What’s your favorite fish?”

Today is Ash Wednesday and the first day of Lent. Many across the country are giving up something beloved to them in the 40 days leading up to Easter and reframing from meat on Friday’s. In honor of that we want to know what’s your favorite way to prepare fish.

ZimmPoll

GROWMARK, John Deere Data Collaboration

Cindy Zimmerman

growmarklogoGROWMARK and John Deere are collaborating to make life easier and improve decision-making for producers and agronomists.

The two are collaborating to deliver near real-time field level data to producers and FS Crop Specialists by linking FS Advanced Information Services (FS AIS), a suite of precision agronomy software, with John Deere Wireless Data Transfer, JDLink™ and MyJohnDeere.

John DeereGROWMARK Agronomy Marketing executive director Ron Milby says they are among the first agricultural retailers to leverage the Wireless Data Transfer Application Programming Interface (API) for its precision agronomy decision support software, making data exchange faster and more useful for growers and its FS company staff. “The open platform John Deere provides enables farmers and FS company staff to use the FS AIS software to make decisions in near real time – that’s a win-win,” Milby said.

Ron says they chose to work with Deere because they believe they are a leader in this field. “I think they’re going to be a viable leader in the future,” he said. “We were headed to this base, they were headed to this base, and we were able to work with them.

Producers will utilize an efficient and secure interface between FS AIS and MyJohnDeere, taking advantage of both companies’ commitment to supporting better decisions through improved data integration at the field level. This includes the ability to easily transfer work instructions, prescriptions, and product lists to the GreenStar™ 3 2630 display. Yield data, as-applied maps and work records can be transferred back to the FS AIS software.

Find out more in this interview with Ron: Interview with Ron Milby, GROWMARK

Agribusiness, Audio, Farming, GROWMARK, John Deere, Precision Agriculture

Training to Win With New Holland

Chuck Zimmerman

Train to Win with New HollandNew Holland’s Operation Blue Force is underway in California. This is a series of training events for dealers. They get out on the farm to ride and learn about what’s new from New Holland.

Here’s Mark Hooper, Director of Marketing in North America for New Holland, explaining what we’ll be doing today. I’m part of a group of ag media folks who are getting our turn today. I’ll be out in the field and have lots to share with you when I get time. This is going to be fun.

Agribusiness, New Holland

NCGA Honors Corn Industry Legend

Cindy Zimmerman

classic14-jere-groupThe National Corn Growers Association celebrated the long and productive career of a corn farmer, friend and industry legend last Saturday during the concluding Corn Congress at the Commodity Classic.

Jere White is retiring from the Kansas Corn Growers after leading that organization for a quarter of a century. During the Congress, he was presented with the Meritorious Service Award from NCGA and received a standing ovation from those present. Our friend had a serious motorcycle accident in September 2012, and while he has made a remarkable recovery from critical injuries, he recently decided it was time to pass the reins of the association on to someone else.

classic14-greg-jereThe new Kansas Corn CEO, pictured here with Jere, is Greg Krissek – who is both highly qualified for the job and a long-time friend. In his career, Greg has served as Assistant Secretary at the Kansas Department of Agriculture; Director of Operations at Kansas Corn and Kansas Grain Sorghum; Director of Government Affairs for ICM Inc. and, most recently was a manager at Kennedy and Coe, LLC. He has also served on many ethanol and agricultural association boards and on seven ethanol plant boards of directors.

2014 Commodity Classic Photos

Ag Groups, Commodity Classic, Corn, NCGA

BASF Helps Farmers Increase Production

Leah Guffey

At the BASF Crop Protection Science Behind the Advanced Acre media event last week farmers from different states talked about how BASF Innovation Specialists help them get the most out of their operations.

12807855514_866aa16cfe_qMatt Miles is a 4th generation row crop farmer from southeastern Arkansas who grows corn, soybeans and cotton on a 6300 acre family operation with his wife and son-in-law.

Irrigation is key to Matt’s operation. “Without irrigation our soybean yields would be 20% of what we make now,” he said. Also important to increased yields for Matt is precision agriculture and his BASF Innovation Specialist Brad Koen, a friend since high school who provides him with important agronomic information.

Listen to my interview with Matt here: Interview with Matt Miles, Arkansas Farmer

12807529195_21054ae829_qAlex Rock and his family have Illinois roots and have moved their operation to Colorado where they also have a heifer replacement program from his mother’s side of the family. “Mom said we aren’t milking cows again,” said Alex. “But this gives us an opportunity to remain involved in the dairy industry.”

The Rock family wheat crop is currently in the field, but as a dry land farmer they are reliant on the snow melt from mountains. They have to deal with real life tumbleweeds as some of the weeds that have become resistant are continuing to reek havoc. He relies on his BASF representative Bob Leisy to help him make informed and smart decisions with local growers about Advanced Weed Control and Plant Health.

Listen to my conversation with Alex here: Interview with Alex Rock, Colorado Farmer


BASF at the 2014 Commodity Classic Photos

Audio, BASF, Commodity Classic

Soybean Growers Glad for Farm Bill, Upset Over EPA

John Davis

Soybean growers have had a mixed bag of emotions the last couple of months: happy over the passage of the much-anticipated Farm Bill … but not so happy over the government’s proposed cut to the amount of biodiesel, which is mostly made from soybeans, to be blended into the Nation’s fuel supply.

classic14-asa-gaesserAt a news conference at the recent Commodity Classic in San Antonio, American Soybean Association (ASA) president Ray Gaesser, a farmer from Iowa, said after three long years of debate, it was great to see the Farm Bill become law.

“It was a compromise bill, and the final product strengthens risk management, streamlines conservation programs, reinforces the safety net, and invests in key programs in the areas of trade promotion, research and renewables,” he said, adding a big win for ASA in the new law is that planting decisions remain separated and decoupled from income safety net programs. “This helps to ensure that farmers plant for the market and not for government programs.” ASA News Conference at Commodity Classic

classic14-asa-murphyMeanwhile, ASA Chairman Danny Murphy, a grower from Mississippi, said their first priority is to get the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reverse its biodiesel proposal.

“These proposed regulations would reduce the production over the next year or two and really stifle the growth in a really valuable market for soybean farmers,” he said.

The hundreds of comments his members sent into the EPA might be having an effect as he told Cindy in a separate interview that EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy might be having second thoughts about her agency’s proposal. “So we hope that means they’ll make some changes and allow this biodiesel industry to grow.”

During that interview, Danny also talked about trade agreements, biotechnology, and how good demand and good prices are really helping soybean farmers do well.

“It’s an exciting time to be a soybean farmer,” Danny said.

Listen to all of Cindy’s interview with Danny here: ASA Chairman Danny Murphy


2014 Commodity Classic Photos

ASA, Audio, Commodity Classic, Farm Bill, Soybean

FMC Tackles Weeds in the South

Jamie Johansen

farm-gin-14-rusty-mitchellFMC representatives were eager to visit with attendees of the recent Mid-South Farm & Gin Show in Memphis, TN. Chuck spoke with Rusty Mitchell during the event about some of their products corn and soybean growers across the South can and should take advantage of.

“We’ve got a couple of new products that we have available for both corn and soybean. Of course we have our Authority brand, our pre-herbicide. We have a couple new Authority products that we introduced last summer. One was Authority Elite. It has done really well this past year. We also are introducing this year, Authority Maxx, which has mulitple modes of action all pointed towards control on Palmer Amaranth.”

Rusty also talks about their product Anthem that was originally slated for corn, but recently has been approved for use on soybeans. They both have a very flexible application window and it controls a broad spectrum of broadleaves.

On the topic of Anthem, FMC is investing in farming’s future by hosting their 3rd Annual Stand & Be Heard Anthem Singing Contest. It is officially underway and youth can submit their entires here.

“Always remember regardless of what crop you are producing from the standpoint of weed control is to start clean, utilize a good burn down program, utilize a residual pre and then come back in with a follow up application of some kind of overlapping residual.”

You can listen to my interview with Rusty here: Interview with Rusty Mitchell

2014 Mid-South Farm & Gin Show Photo Album

Coverage is sponsored by FMC

Agribusiness, Audio, Corn, FMC, Soybean

BIVI Launches Two PED Initiatives

Joanna Schroeder

In an effort to help swine veterinarians and producers find effective measures for managing porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED), Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc. (BIVI) launched two PED-focused initiatives during their Swine Health Seminar in Dallas, Texas on February 28, 2014 which coincided with the American Association of Swine Veterinarians Annual Meeting.

BIVI Greg ClineThe first initiative, according to Greg Cline, DVM, technical manager of swine enteric disease at BIVI, is a PED applied research commitment of up to $50,000 in research funds supporting the development of knowledge and tools targeting the practical management of PED.

“We will be focused on helping the industry to find answers to some of the most critical questions regarding PED,” noted Cline in an interview. “From our long research history with PRRS, Lawsonia intracellularis, PCV2 and other diseases, we continue our commitment to finding solutions through applicable research targeted toward the tough problems that plague the swine industry.”

The second initiative is the “PED News” service that BIVI is sponsoring in partnership with the University of Californi, Davis’ Center of Animal Disease Modeling and Surveillance (CADMS) department. Cline said the program is similar to CADMS’ “FMD News” service where subscribers can receive news clips daily or weekly from around the world that highlights all the news and research related to PED.

“We saw a need for this type of information-sharing service to help the North American swine industry stay as current as possible with the all the PED-related information,” said Cline who noted that the disease was first identified in the U.S. in April of 2013 and to date, there is no vaccine or antibiotic available to fight the disease. He said that these two initiatives were designed to help discover, coordinate and share information related to PED that may be useful in helping vets and producers better prevent, manage and control this disease.

“Because this highly contagious disease is relatively new to the U.S. and its impact on producers can be so devastating, it’s critical that everyone work together to find effective solutions and share information,” Cline said. “These two initiatives should help us to better understand this highly contagious disease and how to more effectively manage PED.”

Click here to sign up for the PED News.

Listen my my interview with Greg Cline here: BIVI Launches Two PED Initiatives

Check out the BIVI guest adventures in the BIVI Big D Swine Health Seminar photo album.

Audio, Boehringer Ingelheim, Swine

Bayer Panel Addresses Water Security

Cindy Zimmerman

What the world needs most is water – but beer is pretty important too! So water security was one of the issues addressed during a panel at the Bayer CropScience Ag Issues forum last week in San Antonio, and beer was a big part of the discussion.

bayer-aif14-waterThe panelists included (left to right) Dr. Marco Ugarte with MillerCoors, Gary Beck of Hillside Ranch and Mitchell Baalman of FDK Partnership. They explained that 90 percent of the water needed to make beer is used in crop irrigation and how MillerCoors, The Nature Conservancy and barley farm Hillside Ranch have collaborated to reduce the amount of water used for barley production, resulting in cost savings to the farm and an increase in yield.

bayer-issues-buttonDr. Ugarte and his fellow panelists talked about the need to work with farmers to implement new technology, yield data, planting data and spraying maps to reduce water use. Baalman shared his story of collaborative and voluntary efforts among farmers in his hometown of Hoxie, Kansas. Situated above the High Plains aquifer, which is being depleted six times faster than it is being replenished, the Hoxie-area farmers committed to taking 20 percent less water out of the ground over a five-year period that began last year.

Listen to the panel here: Bayer Ag Issues Water Security Panel

Chuck also interviewed Dr. Ugarte: Interview with Dr. Marco Ugarte, MillerCoors

2014 Bayer CropScience Ag Issues Forum Photos

Agribusiness, Audio, Bayer, Commodity Classic, Farming, Irrigation

Zimfo Bytes

Talia Goes

    Zimfo Bytes

  • United Soybean Board (USB) CEO John Becherer is joining the ranks of Purdue University’s most prestigious College of Agriculture alumni.
  • Swanson Russell was named Construction Marketer of the year for the Western Region at this year’s Construction Marketing Association STAR awards.
  • Agspring announced it has signed a definitive purchase agreement to acquire the General Mills grain operations in Idaho.
  • Farm Journal Foundation announces sponsorship of 2014 National Ag Day.
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