AFBF Awards

Cindy Zimmerman

afbf-lugarThe opening general session at the American Farm Bureau annual meeting is always awards time and there were plenty presented on Sunday, starting with the Distinguished Service Awards which were presented this year to to Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) and Dr. Abner Womack.

Sen. Lugar served in the U.S. Senate for 36 years and was a member of the Agriculture Committee throughout his tenure. “Throughout his Senate career, Sen. Lugar championed agricultural progress. He was a leader in support of the biofuels movement and a solid promoter of free and open trade,” said AFBF President Bob Stallman.

afbf-womackDr. Abner Womack, professor emeritus and research professor of agriculture economics at the University of Missouri-Columbia, has made agriculture his life’s work. “Dr. Womack embodies a unique and giving spirit,” said Stallman. “He has experienced agriculture from many sides, including as a farmer, USDA employee, consultant to agribusiness and farming organizations and an advisor to college students.”

Most state Farm Bureaus received at least one award recognizing their excellence in membership achievement and implementation of outstanding programs. Several state Farm Bureaus were also recognized for outstanding financial support of the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture, which also presented its seventh annual “Book of the Year” award to Laurie Krebs for “The Beeman.”

2014 AFBF Convention Photos

AFBF, Ag Groups

Drones to Increase Profitability

Jamie Johansen

afbf-14-4Kansas State University’s Dr. Kevin Price was one of the presenters at the 2014 American Farm Bureau Federation Convention. His presentation was titled Drones: Turning Technological Controversy into Profit.

The use of using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV’s) to fly over crops and livestock to maximize profits is one of the hottest topics entering the agriculture sector. He shared how this is all possible using examples of his work at the university.

“About 80% of the money that will be spent on the unmanned aircraft systems will be spent in the area of agriculture. There are ten times more applications in agriculture then there is in any of the other application areas.” He continued by saying, “They are predicting this will be a $100 billion industry by the year 2025.”

He said agriculture applications for drones in development include data collection on crop health, vigor and yields, tracking the spread of invasive plant species and monitoring cattle feedlots. Data collection of field images by cameras mounted on drones within an inch of accuracy.

When asked where he saw drone use in agriculture going in the next five years he said it was hard to say because interest was growing so rapidly, but “it will blow your socks off.” The economic potential of drones is tremendous in terms of precision agriculture but will not be realized without approval from the Federal Aviation Administration.

Wondering what it could cost you? Dr. Price said a fixed-winged aircraft could run a couple thousand dollars to $12,000. Other models might be under a thousand up to $7,000-$8,000. Will you start saving to increase profits in the long run?

Listen to the complete audio from ag media’s interview with Dr. Price here: Kevin Price Press Conference

2014 AFBF Convention Photos

AFBF, Ag Groups, Audio, Farming, Technology

What’s New Sessions at Commodity Classic

Jamie Johansen

Commodity Classic LogoAgriculture’s newest, most innovative products and services will be showcased at the What’s New sessions at the 2014 Commodity Classic. The 19th Annual Commodity Classic is Feb. 27-March 1, along the banks of the famous River Walk in San Antonio, TX.

“If you’re coming to Commodity Classic hoping to learn and gain some new ideas to take back to your farm, you’ll want to mark your calendar for the What’s New sessions,” said Commodity Classic Co-Chairman Wyatt Whitford. “These sessions offer a sneak peek at the new technology and products out on the trade show floor and an opportunity to ask the experts questions.”

Topics of the sessions include: tractor and combine header technologies, soil fertility trends, new developments in seeds to help manage pests, technology tools for the farm and tools to optimize seed selection for each field.

These sessions are scheduled for Friday, Feb. 28 and Saturday, March 1. Each session is 40 minutes long and allows attendees to learn about the topic in an in-depth manner.

Companies selected to present include Case IH, DuPont Pioneer, John Deere, Monsanto, The Mosaic Company, Syngenta, The Climate Corporation, Trimble and United Soybean Board. The products and services are chosen by the grower community to ensure they are truly something new to the industry.

More information on the What’s New sessions and other events at Commodity Classic can be found here.

Ag Groups, Commodity Classic, Corn, Cotton, Grains, sorghum, Soybean

Farm Bureau Priorities

Chuck Zimmerman

Jeff Nalley and Bob YoungWelcome to another day at the American Farm Bureau Federation Convention live from San Antonio. I want to give a shout out thank you to Case IH for being the sponsor of the media work room this year and to Monsanto for sponsoring our wonderful media reception last night. I’m in our general session room getting caught up on some things that include interviews I conducted yesterday. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack will address the convention later this morning and I’ll have his speech and press conference for you afterward.

In the photo Jeff Nalley, Cromwell Ag Network, interviews Bob Young, AFBF Chief Economist. After Jeff completed his interview I took my turn and used ZimmGlass to conduct the interview. This is my first interview using Google Glass and I learned a few things. Bob speaks very softly and we had more background noise than I thought but it works.

I asked Bob about AFBF priorities in 2014 and of course the farm bill is right there at the top. Bob says that Farm Bureau members and staff continue to work with legislators to foster better understanding of farming today and to help them reach an agreement that is good for all. Listen in to learn more about what’s going on with AFBF right now.

2014 AFBF Convention Photos

AFBF, Ag Groups, Video

Bob Stallman Addresses AFBF Convention

Chuck Zimmerman

AFBF Bob StallmanThis morning American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman gave his annual address to members during the 2014 Convention. Stallman is a rice and cattle producer from Texas. As you might guess, the farm bill was a key topic of his remarks. He called on Congress to get a farm bill passed. He used Farm Bureau members themselves as an example of how differing opinions can come to agreement.

“This very gathering is about people from different regions and backgrounds coming together to develop policy that benefits all of American agriculture,” he noted.

Another issue he addressed was immigration saying that farmers and ranchers can’t wait any longer for effective, long-term solutions to the agricultural labor crisis, which has forced growers to leave millions of dollars worth of crops unharvested and threatens the country’s food security.

Next was government regulation with EPA in the cross hairs.

With the Environmental Protection Agency late last year putting the wheels in motion to propose extending federal regulatory authority to nearly every body of water in the country—and ultimately regulating so-called “waters” that aren’t even wet most of the time—farmers and ranchers are bracing for a fight. Farm Bureau has also been working through the courts to stop EPA’s attempts to broaden its regulatory reach.

“Once again, we are saddled-up for the long ride in our fight for rational regulations that allow farmers to continue feeding America,” Stallman said.

You can listen to Bob Stallmans’s speech here: Bob Stallman Speech

Following the opening general session Bob spoke with the media and you can listen to it here: Bob Stallman Press Conference

2014 AFBF Convention Photos

AFBF, Ag Groups, Audio

2014 AFBF Convention Underway

Chuck Zimmerman

AFBF ConventionThe 2014 American Farm Bureau Federation Convention is underway in San Antonio. It’s my first stop on the agriblogging highway of the new year. Over the next several days we’ll find out what the largest general farm organization is working on and I’m sure a farm bill is at the top of the list.

There are a lot of activities that have already been going on here with the Young Farmer & Ranchers Committee and more. FB members have had time to relax a little before getting down to business. I shot a little ZimmGlass video of them enjoying the Riverwalk last night and heading out to the convention center this morning from my hotel.

You can find photos from the convention here: 2014 AFBF Convention Photos

AFBF, Ag Groups, Video

iCropTrak MyJohnDeere.com Integration

Chuck Zimmerman

1982B982-64B5-4C27-88CC405995D3C050The MyJohnDeere.com platform has now become integrated with iCropTrak. This even includes the use of Dropbox.

Mobile Field and Farm App iCropTrak just announced their integration of the new John Deere wireless connection technology MyJohnDeere.com and DropBox in iCropTrak Version 4.0 for 2014. These technologies will allow for seamless movement of data between your Deere tractor, your iCropTrak enabled iPad and DropBox enabled clients, labs and consultants like never before.

iCropTrak is a mobile farm data management system that combines a customizable collaborative iOS mobile app, a private cloud database and 3rd party connections like MyJohnDeere.com and DropBox. It is designed to effortlessly collect soil samples, scout and document farm efforts including tracking people and equipment.

iCropTrak was the first to have a soil sampling iOS app, first to have a farm management app on iPad, and now we’re innovating to make farming easier, smarter, and more informative by interfacing MyJohnDeere.com, Dropbox, and a number of 3rd party web systems in 2014.

I spoke with Aaron Hutchinson, Cogent3D, Inc., to learn more about what this will mean to farmers: Interview with iCropTrak's Aaron Hutchinson

Agribusiness, Apps, Audio, John Deere, Precision Agriculture

AFBF Convention Social Communicating

Cindy Zimmerman

2014 AFBF ConventionAn estimated 7,000 farm and ranch leaders from around the country are heading to San Antonio this weekend for the American Farm Bureau Federation’s 95th Annual Convention (Twitter hashtag #AFBF14). The meeting begins January 12 and runs through January 15 in San Antonio. Numerous speakers will be on hand to address topics, ranging from crop and livestock outlooks to farm policy, trade and technology.

ZimmCast 422If you are not one of those 7,000 – never fear! – you can feel like you are part of the action thanks to all the social media and new communications tools the great team at AFBF is using to get information out from the annual meeting. It’s a far cry from when we covered the 1985 convention in Hawaii without even the benefit of computers!

I talked with AFBF Executive Director of Communications Mace Thornton about all the tweeting, Facebooking, blogging, Flickring, and live streaming that will be going on from the convention. Social Communication from AFBF Convention

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

AFBF, Ag Groups, Audio, Social Media, ZimmCast

A Very Glassy Look

Chuck Zimmerman

Chuck's ZimmGlassIt’s time to hit the agriblogging highway and ZimmGlass will be going with me. I’ll be trying to figure out the best ways to incorporate it into my coverage of ag events starting with the American Farm Bureau Federation convention in San Antonio.

This morning I did my first live video chat via Hangouts and will probably do some impromptu Hangouts during the convention. Maybe I’ll see you there. One of the things I learned this morning was how important it is to talk to your Glass the way Glass wants you to talk to it. It was more responsive to a slower speech pace for example.

I’m going to wear it on the way to San Antonio to see what kind of reactions I get from TSA and the U.S. airport population. If it gets interesting I’ll share here and on social media. You can count on that.

Uncategorized

Where to Find Ag Leader This Winter

Melissa Sandfort

Insights WeeklyAre you interested in getting the latest information about precision ag equipment? If so, here are a few stops you might want to schedule this winter in order to talk with Ag Leader experts:

• Western Canadian Crop Production Show in Saskatoon, SK, Jan. 13-16
• Fort Wayne Farm Show in Fort Wayne, IN, Jan. 14-16
• National No-Till Conference in Springfield, IL, Jan. 15-18
• Eastern Idaho Ag Expo in Pocatello, ID, Jan. 21-23
• Sioux Falls Farm Show in Sioux Falls, SD, Jan. 22-24
• Iowa Power Farming Show in Des Moines, IA, Jan. 28-30
• Southern Farm Show in Raleigh, NC, Feb. 5-7
• World Ag Expo in Tulare, CA, Feb. 11-13
• National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, KY, Feb. 12-15
• Western Farm Show in Kansas City, MO, Feb. 21-23
• Commodity Classic in San Antonio, TX, Feb. 27- March 1
• Mid-South Farm & Gin Show in Memphis, TN, Feb. 28-March 1
• London Farm Show in London, ONT, March 5-7
• Triumph of Ag Expo in Omaha, NE, March 12-13

Russ Morman, Ag Leader Inside Sales Representative, gives us a preview of what’s new and exciting from Ag Leader this year.

Listen to Russ explain

Morman says precision ag is certainly on the upward trend. It used to be only early adopters who dove right in when it came to new technology, but as farming continues to evolve and change at a fast pace, growers of every size and scale are learning how precision ag fits their operation.

Listen to Russ explain

Beyond just the equipment purchasing decision, Mormon says Ag Leader’s support team adds value for growers.

Listen to Russ explain

If you’re on the road this winter and have time to visit one of these locations, be sure to find Ag Leader’s staff of experts who will be on hand to talk about the latest in precision technology equipment, enhancements, future products, and much more. See you this winter!

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