Vilsack to Address Commodity Classic

John Davis

vilsackccThe growers of the Nation’s biggest crops will once again host the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture for their biggest meeting of the year. For the fifth time in a row, Tom Vilsack will deliver the keynote address to Commodity Classic, the annual convention and trade show for corn, soybean, wheat and sorghum growers. This news releases says Vilsack speaks to an expected crowd of more than 6,000 during the event’s General Session on Friday, Feb. 28, in San Antonio, Texas.

“We are honored to welcome Secretary Vilsack-someone who has been a strong advocate and voice for agriculture-to a conference that is both focused on and led by farmers,” said American Soybean Association President Ray Gaesser. “As we face many challenges in this industry throughout this next year- trade agreements and access, conservation and water quality, moving the RFS forward and access to innovative technology-we are excited to hear the secretary speak on these issues and other important topics that impact farmers who grow the nation’s food.”

“Secretary Vilsack has done a lot to support our growers, and to encourage all farmers to speak out and represent their industry at a time when the general public is more removed than ever from the farms that feed them,” said National Corn Growers Association President Martin Barbre. “We’re looking forward to his visit to Commodity Classic so he can speak with our growers and learn more about our great efforts to rebuild consumer trust in what we do.”

The 19th annual Commodity Classic is Feb. 27-March 1, 2014, along the banks of the famous River Walk at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Tex. Your ZimmComm New Media team will be there, including myself, bringing you the latest from this annual meeting of the National Corn Growers Association, American Soybean Association, National Association of Wheat Growers and National Sorghum Producers, America’s largest farmer-led, farmer-focused convention and trade show.

Check out the 2014 Commodity Classic website www.commodityclassic.com for additional information.

Agribusiness, ASA, Commodity Classic, Corn, Events, NCGA, sorghum, Soybean, USDA

John Deere ExactEmerge Planter Reveal at NFMS

Cindy Zimmerman

nfms14-john-deere-aaronIn the ICYMI category from the National Farm Machinery Show last week was the big reveal of the new John Deere ExactEmerge™ planter.

“We’ve been able to design from the ground up a whole new technology,” said Aaron Wetzel, John Deere VP Global Crop Care. “Being able to provide to our customers unparalleled accuracy in the trench with great opportunity to enhance yield.”

Watch the video of the unveiling below and listen to an interview with Aaron here: Interview with Aaron Wetzel, John Deere



John Deere Planter at NFMS photos

Audio, Equipment, Farming, John Deere, National Farm Machinery Show, Video

Meet Anna Leigh from Alabama

Cindy Zimmerman

nfms14-annaWe brought Anna Leigh Peek to the National Farm Machinery Show last week as our “unofficial” intern for the day, just because we are very impressed with the motivation and self-confidence of this Alabama farm girl who is about to graduate from Auburn University with a degree in agricultural communications.

“I had grown up for 13 years of my life on the farm so I have a deep appreciation and love for agriculture which motivated me to start farming last year a little bit on my own,” Anna Leigh told us.

Chuck met Anna Leigh at an AgChat conference and she made a point to look me up at the International Production and Processing Expo in Atlanta last month because she is determined to land a good job in the field of ag communications when she graduates in May. “There’s a lot of things I haven’t gotten to try yet, but right now I can see myself doing some sort of agricultural public relations,” she said.

Anna Leigh was excited to spend a day with us and learn more about what we do at an event, as well as get to meet some more folks in the industry. She is active on Twitter @AnnaLeighPeek and has her own blog “AL from AL” – Anna Leigh from Alabama! Please feel free to contact us to find out more about her, but we give her the ZimmComm seal of approval if you are looking for a new hire who is highly motivated and a fast learner with plenty of great communications and social media skills.

Listen to my interview with Anna Leigh here: Interview with Anna Leigh Peek, Auburn graduating senior

National Farm Machinery Show Photo Album


Coverage of the National Farm Machinery Show is sponsored by FMC and New Holland Agriculture
Audio, Education, Events, National Farm Machinery Show

Fellowship of Christian Farmers at NFMS

Anna Leigh Peek

nfms14-christianIf you have been in attendance this week at the National Farm Machinery Show you may have seen many people, especially high school students, walking around with sticks.

When you approach the Fellowship of Christian Farmers International (FCFI) booth you will be offered a free walking stick. These walking sticks are smooth and sturdy, but the five beads attached to a leather loop is what they want to tell you about. The five beads each stand for something and FCFI uses these walking sticks as a way to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

“We have people from many different states here helping us in the booth today,” said FCFI volunteer Jeff Mings. “We attend farm shows and conduct mission work all over the world.”

Listen to my interview with Jeff here: Interview with Jeff Mings, FCFI volunteer

National Farm Machinery Show Photo Album


Coverage of the National Farm Machinery Show is sponsored by FMC and New Holland Agriculture
Ag Groups, Audio, National Farm Machinery Show, NFMS

Get a SatShot in MapShots

Chuck Zimmerman

mapshots-14-lanny-faleideHere’s another example of how MapShots has been working with partner companies to integrate their services into AgStudio.

One of the presenters at last week’s customer conference was Lanny Faleide, President/CEO of SatShot, a satellite and aerial imagery company. He told me that their specialized imagery integrates well with MapShots.

“We take an ag perspective, understand the agronomy, reasons why an image will work in the precision ag market and for crop insurance diagnostics as well, and we’re able to put that agricultural flair to it,” he said. Lanny added MapShots is an integrator of their product. “A few years ago, we took the tact of wanting to do one thing really well: distributing the data. We integrate with these farm softwares, and they do the more intense precision ag techniques, and we provide that data automatically [that has that agricultural flair].”

Lanny also talked about how SatShot provides the information in the image, such the biomass or quality of the vegetation. Then, using the MapShots AgStudio software, a producer is able to come up with a prescription and plug that into their hardware out in the field to make sure the right amount of seed, fertilizer, and/or pesticides and herbicides are applied at the right place at the right time. In the future, he said SatShot will scale up its automatic notification system when new imagery is available, as well as working with new satellite companies that will take the imagery technology to the next level

You can listen to my interview with Lanny here: Interview with Lanny Faleide, President/CEO of SatShot

2014 MapShots Customer Conference Photo Album

Agribusiness, Audio, Precision Agriculture

FMC Anthem Provides Greater Flexibility

Chuck Zimmerman

FMC AnthemAs we prepare for the 2014 planting season corn and soybean growers have some new flexibility with the announcement of FMC Anthem herbicide registration in soybeans. FMC’s Nick Hustedde told me, “The Anthem registration in soybeans is really going to help allow growers to be flexible because it can be applied in corn or soybeans so we have that flexibility in one tank with no clean out concerns at all.”

FMC Agricultural Solutions announces a new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) crop registration of its Anthem® SE herbicide now for use on soybeans. Anthem herbicide offers both corn and soybean growers control of broadleaf weeds and grasses with flexible application timing up to 45 days preplant, preemergence and early postemergence.

You can listen to my interview with Nick here: Interview with Nick Hustedde

National Farm Machinery Show Photo Album


Coverage of the National Farm Machinery Show is sponsored by FMC and New Holland Agriculture
Agribusiness, Audio, FMC, Herbicide, National Farm Machinery Show

Even Snowmen Love New Holland

Chuck Zimmerman

I Love NH SnowmanThis was too good to pass up. As Cindy and I were leaving our hotel this morning we saw an “I Love New Holland” snowman in the field across the street. Somebody was getting creative.

We’re on day three at the National Farm Machinery Show and the beautiful weather is coming to an end this afternoon with a prediction of several inches of new snow by tonight. We have had good crowds here at the expo center including this morning.

Keep watching AgWired and Precision Pays for our stories. And thank you!

National Farm Machinery Show Photo Album


Coverage of the National Farm Machinery Show is sponsored by FMC and New Holland Agriculture
Agribusiness, National Farm Machinery Show, New Holland

Zimfo Bytes

Talia Goes

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Novozymes and Monsanto Company announce they have completed the closing of the The BioAg Alliance, as announced on December 10, 2013.
  • Brownfield Ag News is excited to announce the addition of heritage agriculture radio stations WOWO-AM and WOWO-FM in Fort Wayne and powerhouse station WIKY-FM in Evansville, Indiana to the growing list of affiliate partners carrying Brownfield Ag News programming.
  • Purdue Extension agricultural economists who follow farmland values agree that farmers need to carefully assess land prices and farm financial health before investing.
  • Farm income increased in the fourth quarter of 2013 (relative to a year earlier), according to the latest Agricultural Finance Monitor, published by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Zimfo Bytes

Managing Varying Soil Types

Melissa Sandfort

Insights WeeklyGrowers in many states have spent the winter months in drought conditions, and there’s non way to tell what Mother Nature has in store for the spring planting season. If we get rains like 2013, what if there was a way to improve your changes for a better harvest despite too much soil moisture? Well, there is a way to do just that: Ag Leader’s new Hydraulic Down Force System.

Ag Leader’s Brett Buehler explains that one of the big issues growers face during planting is that the seed is planted at the proper depth. When the seed is not optimally planted, it can negatively impact yield. While there are technologies on the market to help address this, Buehler said that many of them have limitations that the Hydraulic Down Force System overcomes.

Listen to Buehler explain

The technology, says Buehler, is excellent for the grower who has varying soil types his field.

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

Most Like Crop Insurance in New Farm Bill

Talia Goes

New Holland ZimmPollOur latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “What’s best in the new farm bill?” More than a third of our respondents agree that crop insurance tops the charts, along with nothing. We see a bit of an oxymoron there!

Our poll results:

  • Crop insurance – 31.25%
  • None – 31.25%
  • Conservation – 9.38%
  • Rural Development – 9.38%
  • Energy – 6.25%
  • Specialty Crops – 6.25%
  • Forestry – 3.13%

Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, “ How does farm economy compare to general U.S.?”

USDA is predicting lower net farm income this year after big gains in 2013 and overall the U.S. economy still appears to be sluggish. But as the farm show season is in full swing and farmers are looking ahead to spring planting, optimism is in the air. How do you think the farm economy looks compared to the general U.S. economy overall? Let us know.

ZimmPoll