Dupont Pioneer Collaborates with DTN

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast 426If you’ve thought we need more weather monitoring stations out there you’re not alone. Dupont Pioneer and DTN/The Progressive Farmer announced a collaboration today that will address this very subject. The project will not only bring instant weather to customers but also market information and new electronic grain trading capabilities. I just spoke with Dan Uppena, DuPont Pioneer business manager, about the announcement. Dan says there will be more details about the new platform coming out via new announcements in the very near future.

Pioneer customers will be able to opt into an exclusive network of weather stations, including those positioned on growers’ farms, which provide accurate, real-time local information as well as environmental conditions in other regions. Data will seamlessly inform growers about forecasts and Pioneer crop models to help them make more informed management decisions for their farming operation.  In addition, customers will have access to DTN/The Progressive Farmer’s syndicated premium weather and market content to further aid decision-making.   

“At DTN/The Progressive Farmer, our mission has always been to provide the most accurate, timely and actionable information possible to our customers,” said DTN/The Progressive Farmer Vice President of Agriculture Matt Bradford. “We are excited by the opportunity to work with Pioneer to further that mission by rapidly developing a dense network of on-farm DTN/The Progressive Farmer Weather Stations, along with sophisticated decision tools, to increase operational efficiencies and maximize grower profits.”

Pioneer and DTN/The Progressive Farmer also will work together throughout 2014 and beyond to further advance electronic grain trading capabilities that link buyers with sellers for instantaneous commercial exchanges.   The tool works in real time to keep users up-to-the-minute with the highs and lows of today’s rapidly changing grain market.  The benefits include targeted price matches, 24/7 price monitoring, electronic hedging and mobile information on offers and market news with the convenience of trading anytime anywhere.  This effort will combine the cutting-edge technologies developed by DTN/The Progressive Farmer and Farms Technology, a subsidiary of DuPont Pioneer.

You can listen to this week’s program to learn more about the collaboration here. Dupont Pioneer - DTN Collaboration

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

Agribusiness, Markets, Media, Weather, ZimmCast

USDA Offers California Drought Help

Cindy Zimmerman

USDA-LogoAgriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced USDA is making $20 million available for agricultural water conservation efforts throughout California to combat the effects of drought.

calif-drought“This $20 million will be directed to drought mitigation, focused on improving irrigation efficiency, providing producers resources to stabilize fallow ground and to assist with watering facilities and grazing distribution,” said Vilsack during a press conference today with Congressman Jim Costa (D-CA) and California Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross. “We expect this is the first of a number of announcements that will be made this week and in the future to provide assistance.”

“We in California are facing a disaster that has the potential to devastate our economy,” said Costa. “We have not had this dry a time period in all of California’s recorded history, that’s how bad it is.”

“Thank you on behalf of the state of California and our farmers and ranchers,” said Ross. “These dollars coming at this time are very critical … Governor Brown is working with the state legislature to make additional agricultural conservation resources available.”

Interested landowners and managers have until March 3, 2014 to apply for available funds.USDA media call on California drought

Audio, USDA, Weather

Cattle Industry Convention

Chuck Zimmerman

New Holland at Cattle Industry ConventionIt looks like all systems are go for this year’s Cattle Industry Convention in Nashville, TN. It’s the first time I’ll be missing it in a long time. But that’s the way things work sometime. I enjoyed the opportunity to be the Beef Board Blogger for eight years and it’s in the hands of the very capable staff of the CBB.

It looks like attendees dodged a weather bullet this week. That’s a good thing.

I see that New Holland is very visible outside the Gaylord. We’ll see them next week at the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville.

If you can’t attend the convention then check out the Twitter hashtag – #CIC14 to keep up on the latest. You might want to follow the Beef Ambassadors too – @BeefAmbassador.

Ag Groups, Beef, Cattle Industry Conference, NCBA

Getting Some MapShots

Chuck Zimmerman

MapShotsI’ll be getting some MapShots this week at the 2014 MapShots Customer Conference. It will take place February 6-8 in Atlanta. This year’s conference will feature presentations from industry partners.

In addition to MapShots staff providing attendees with information and hands-on experience with the use of AgStudio for precision crop management and record keeping, seven industry partners will present how their products integrate with MapShots AgStudio®. Industry presenters include Agri ImaGIS/Satshot, AgIntegrated, AgSense, GeoVantage, John Deere, Raven and Veris Technologies.

Ted Macy, Vice President of Operations at MapShots says, “This is the first MapShots customer conference where we have had the opportunity to have our industry partners present to our customers. We are looking forward to our attendees learning about the breadth of our product offerings.”

Content will be featured for both farm users and service provider users of AgStudio. Farm users will be particularly interested in how AgStudio can record multiple boundary sets, using the Lease Manager module, and track grain inventory after harvest using the Commodity Inventory functionality.

I’ll be sharing coverage from the conference on Friday so check back for more on this then!

Agribusiness, Precision Agriculture

4-H Club Wins World Ag Expo’s Video Contest

Jamie Johansen

Ashly Anderson submitted a video on behalf of the Desert Sandblasters 4-H Club and won the World Ag Expo’s “Feeding Tomorrow’s World” video contest. Members of the club from Indio, CA showed different careers they might pursue as adults and how they related back to the agriculture industry.

Entries were evaluated by a panel of judges and the top videos were posted on World Ag Expo’s website, where the public voted for their favorites.

“We’re really pleased with the entries we received this year,” said Jerry Sinift, CEO of the International Agri-Center. “It was great to see video submissions from around the world that show the importance of agriculture.”

The Desert Sandblasters 4-H Club will be recognized at World Ag Expo’s Media Day on February 10th where they will be presented with a $3,000 check.

Ag Groups, Video

Predicting Social Media Trends

Chuck Zimmerman

Social Media Predictions for 2014Q: Hey Chuck, what’s the next big thing? A: I dunno.

But what I do know is that there’s no stopping social media and its impact on agricultural marketing. For that reason I strive to learn about and try everything I can. Hence the ZimmGlass Project.

I don’t really make predictions because things can change so suddenly. However, there are lots of early predictions like these below from Chris Apaliski, Magic Logix. Click on that link to see more about each prediction.

  • Expect to see a spike in native social media ads
  • More employees will be active on social media for their company
  • Video oriented media will continue to grow and be relevant
  • Micro video apps like Vine are poised to break out
  • Companies will face more pressure to pay to sponsor ads
  • Expect a rise in using brand advocates to appeal to a user base
  • More articles and discussion will take place regarding Google Glass as the future of technology, but we’re still years off from it being viable and relevant

    • See more at: http://www.magiclogix.com/blog/infographic-7-social-media-predictions-for-2014/#sthash.270DE5Gd.dpuf

What really caught my eye was the last prediction since it was about Google Glass. It is already coming true in part. I would probably add a note to it though. Glass is a technology that has direct benefits in business applications that don’t need a universal customer base to be successful. In the agricultural world think crop scouting, equipment repair in field and many more applications. However, this is considered by every individual I’ve spoken with to be “cool” technology. When it goes on sale to the general public I’ve got a gut feeling you’re going to see some pretty fast adoption. What do you think?

Social Media, Social Networking

Agri-Pulse Open Mic with Sen. Roberts

Cindy Zimmerman

New on Agri-Pulse this week:

open-micAs the U.S. Senate prepares to approve a new farm bill this week, supporters and critics are still weighing in on key provisions in the 949-page package. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, understands the difficult dynamics involved with gaining approval of complex food and farm legislation, having served as chairman of the House Agriculture Committee in 1996 when “Freedom to Farm” was adopted and as ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee when deliberations first started on the present bill in 2011. Even though he is pleased with changes made to enhance crop insurance, Roberts explains why he continues to have long-standing concerns about the commodity title and is likely to vote against the Agricultural Act of 2014 this week.

Listen to the Agri-Pulse Open Mic interview with Sen. Pat Roberts here.

Agri-Pulse

Texas Cattle in Super Bowl Ad

Cindy Zimmerman

There was a lot of social media buzz surrounding the 2014 Super Bowl commercial for Chevy Silverado featuring a Hereford bull on the make for some sexy ladies. Texas A&M University reports the cattle in the ad belonged to one of their board regents.

Regent Jim Schwertner’s ranch was the set for Chevrolet’s “Romance” commercial, which is slated to be aired tonight during the Super Bowl. The commercial can be seen ahead of game time on YouTube.

The plot centers around a cowboy who hauls a Hereford bull in a trailer using his Chevy Silverado. The background music — Hot Chocolate’s “You Sexy Thing” — plays while the cowboy makes his way back to the ranch where several cows are waiting for the new stud.

Watch the commercial here:

Advertising, Livestock, Video

Novus Sponsors Poultry Science Student Lunch

Cindy Zimmerman

ippe-14-novus-bereshKeeping with the Novus International dedication to supporting scientific careers, the company this year sponsored the Poultry Scientific Forum student luncheon this year as part of the activities at the International Production and Processing Expo in Atlanta.

Bob Buresh, North American Technical Services Manager, says the founding societies sponsoring the student events at the forum set up the luncheon a few years ago and this year Novus came in as a sponsor. “We had 60-65 undergraduate and graduate students participating this year,” Bob said. “We have a strong commitment to developing the next generation of nutritionists, physiologists, geneticists, and sales people.”

Novus also provided a couple of door prizes for a couple of lucky students – nice little Vivitar digital video recorders – in addition to Novus flash drives for everyone, something that is always useful to a college student.

Listen to my interview with Bob here: Interview with Bob Buresh, Novus International


International Production and Processing Expo Photos

Sponsored by Novus International Inc

Animal Health, Audio, Education, IPPE, Novus International, Poultry, Poultry Expo

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Talia Goes

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  • The Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) announced the launch of GreenDecoys.com, a website devoted to exposing radical environmentalists camouflaged under outdoor-sounding names whose real objective is to serve the interests of their wealthy backers.
  • The Aurora Cooperative, a leading grain marketer and agricultural supplier based in Nebraska and serving America’s farmers in multiple states, announced finalization of its Aurora Agronomy expansion in Colorado with the acquisition of Tri County Ag, located in Wray and Paoli, CO.
  • Registration is now open for the 2014 New England Meat Conference happening March 7-8 at the Grappone Conference Center in Concord, New Hampshire.
  • Three long-time members of the agriculture community and one media organization were honored for their contributions to the sheep industry during the American Sheep Industry Association/National Lamb Feeders Association Convention, held Jan. 22-25 in Charleston, S.C.
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