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  • DuPont and the Story County Sheriff’s Office are working together to establish the first-ever Farm Watch program in Iowa to enhance security and safety of rural residents and farmers.
  • MGEX announced that preliminary trading volume reached 26,404 futures and options contracts, breaking the previous daily Exchange volume record by nearly 12 percent. The previous volume record had been set on April 25, 2005.
  • Farm Journal Media announced the scheduled launch of “Market Rally” with Chip Flory, the first-ever long-format national radio program focused exclusively on agricultural commodity markets.
  • This week the Weed Science Society of America (WSSA) honored nearly three dozen individuals for their outstanding contributions to the field of weed science.
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More Corn for Export

Cindy Zimmerman

corn-bargeTo the surprise of traders, USDA increased the projection for U.S. corn exports this marketing year, lowering ending stocks in the latest World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimate (WASDE) report.

U.S. feed grain ending stocks for 2013/14 are expected lower with a 150-million-bushel increase projected for corn exports.

Jack Scoville of the Price Futures Group discussed the estimates during the Minneapolis Grain Exchange conference call on the report today. “USDA did throw us some curve balls,” he said. “Even though most of the trade was expecting a pretty neutral report, we did get some surprises,” particularly the magnitude of the increase for corn exports. MGEX crop call with Jack Scoville, Price Futures Group

Jack also talked about wheat exports being increased by 10 million bushels as “railroad backlogs and other logistical problems slow Canadian wheat shipments to Pacific Coast terminals and encourage additional shipments of Hard Red Spring (HRS) wheat into the U.S. market.”

That was discussed on a MGEX call when the Stats Canada field crop report was released on February 4 by Wayne Palmer and Brian Voth of Agri-Trend. “Canada is experiencing a transportation debacle,” said Palmer. “We cannot get grain from the country to the port in a timely fashion. We are so far behind we will likely not catch up until the end of this year.” MGEX Canada crop call with Agri-Trend

Audio, Corn, Exports

MapShots and AgStudio Growing Fast

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast 427You often get the best perspective on what a company does and what its culture is like by talking with the founder. I had that pleasure last week at the MapShots Customer Conference to visit with founder Ted Macy. MapShots, Inc., is a software development company that provides crop management applications for the agriculture industry and is now a subsidiary of Dupont Pioneer. Their AgStudio software provides clients with powerful, yet easy to use tools for managing large amounts of agronomic crop production data.

Ted MacyTed says he and his wife Nancy started the company “a long time ago.” He says a milestone moment was the introduction of the Ag Leader Technology yield monitor back in 1993. That provided them with a vision of what the software would look like to be able to work with “iron of any color.”

AgStudio was the main topic of many of the presentations at the conference. Ted says they built the product from the ground up to be a total crop record keeping solution. It is now a very comprehensive product that is being integrated into all aspects of managing a farming operation. MapShots brought in representatives from many partner companies to talk about their services and how they are working to integrate them into AgStudio.

You can listen to this week’s program to learn more about MapShots here. MapShots and AgStudio

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

Agribusiness, Audio, Precision Agriculture, ZimmCast

New Beef Board Chairman

Chuck Zimmerman

Kim BrackettThe Beef Board has a new Chairman. She’s Kim Brackett, Idaho cow/calf and stocker producer.

Here’s what it means to her. You can also listen to her describe her goals in the audio clip below:

“That has been such a phenomenal evolution for me to go in what seems like a handful of years, not a long timeframe at all, to not having a very thorough understanding of the checkoff to now feeling like I understand the ins and outs of it. It’s amazing – I never fully appreciated how hard the checkoff works for me and my family and our ranch. I never understood, until I got on the Idaho beef council, I didn’t understand the scope of the checkoff working in foreign markets, I didn’t understand how they reached so many consumers on the eastern seaboard with just my dollars that I paid here in Idaho, I didn’t have a good understanding of the partnerships like I do now. And now to be stepping up and leading that, people tell me I’m the face of the checkoff and I kind of laugh that off but I take a lot of pride in that too because I’m so proud of the checkoff programs and how hard they work for us.”

Comments from Kim Brackett

Other Beef Board officers include:

Vice Chairman: Jimmy Maxey, California
Secretary/Treasurer: Anne Anderson, Texas

Ag Groups, Audio, Cattle Industry Conference

DuPont Launching Farm Watch in Iowa

John Davis

dupontfarmwatchDuPont is partnering with a county sheriff’s office in Iowa to establish the state’s first Farm Watch program to enhance security and safety of rural residents and farmers. DuPont and the Story County Sheriff’s Office will work together in this off-shoot of the National Sheriffs’ Association’s Neighborhood Watch and Farm Watch.

“Farm Watch helps reduce opportunities for crime to occur in farming and rural communities,” said Paul Fitzgerald, Story County Sheriff. “Essential to this is encouraging people to report suspicious incidents to law enforcement officials as they occur and also share the information with other Farm Watch members. As well as helping to deter crime, this strengthens community spirit with everyone working together to protect their property.”

“Farmers often have a great deal of capital spread over a large expanse of land,” explained John Pieper, director of the DuPont Cellulosic Ethanol Development Program Office. “Some stock and equipment is portable and can be relatively easy to steal. While property can never be made totally secure, becoming a Farm Watch member undoubtedly reduces the risk of becoming a victim of farming or rural crime. DuPont has a vested interest in central Iowa and wants to help enhance the safety and security for all community members.”

DuPont says the goals of the program include: reducing opportunities for crime to occur in farming and rural communities; strengthening community spirit; improving communication between the farming community and the police; and encouraging people to report suspicious incidents as they occur.

Farm Watch will also offer practical crime prevention advice to farmers and landowners, to help ensure their property and goods are as secure as possible, as well as providing a marking system and signs to indicate participation in the program.

There will be an informational meeting on March 6, 2014, at the Gates Memorial Hall in Nevada, Iowa from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m.

Agribusiness

State Cattle Groups Earn New Holland Equipment

Cindy Zimmerman

New Holland Agriculture is rewarding two state cattle industry organizations for their superior membership recruitment efforts in 2013.

ncba-newhollandThe Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association and the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association each earned use of a piece of equipment from New Holland for their efforts to recruit new members to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. Each NCBA affiliate will get their choice of a one-year lease on a New Holland Roll-Belt™ 560 Specialty Crop round baler or a one-year lease on a New Holland T6 175 tractor. The organizations received their awards during the Best of Beef Breakfast at the 2014 Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show in Nashville Feb. 8.

“New Holland is proud to support state and national membership efforts in cattle industry organizations,” said Mark Hooper, New Holland Director of Marketing. “We know that it takes all of us working together to keep the cattle industry strong and viable for future generations of farmers and ranchers, and are honored to work with NCBA and its state partners on this important campaign to build a strong voice for beef producers in the United States.”

Thanks to MCA executive VP Mike Deering for the photo of his president Jim McCann getting the award from the New Holland representative.

Ag Groups, Cattle Industry Conference, New Holland

New NCBA Officer Team

Cindy Zimmerman

ncba-officersThe new president of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) is Bob McCan of Texas, who succeeded Scott George as president during the board of directors meeting last week.

“It is a great honor to be elected to lead NCBA for the next year. A strong future lies ahead of us with endless opportunities for U.S. cattlemen and women,” said McCan. “There are many issues that need our attention, and my goal is to bring unity to our efforts to address them. In addition, I look forward to meeting cattlemen throughout the country to hear their concerns and work to make our industry as successful as it can be.”

The new NCBA President Elect is Philip Ellis of Wyoming. Tracy Brunner of Kansas is NCBA’s new vice president. Cevin Jones of Idaho was elected chairman of the NCBA Federation Division, and Jennifer Houston of Tennessee is the Federation Division’s vice chair. The new NCBA Policy Division chairman is Craig Uden of Nebraska and Kevin Kester of California is the new policy vice chairman.

Pictured here from left to right are Kester, Brunner, NCBA CEO Forrest Roberts, Uden, Houston, Treasurer Richard Gebhart, McCan, Jones, George, and Ellis.

Ag Groups, Beef, Cattle Industry Conference, NCBA

Glass Atlanta

Chuck Zimmerman

Glass StampGlass Atlanta. That’s where I was this weekend following the MapShots Customer Conference. This event was really for the public to get their first look at Glass, wear it and learn about it.

In the venue there were demo stations set up to cover different applications and uses for Glass. I brought ZimmGlass with me because I had questions.

Glass DemoThis is the first station where you get to try on Glass and learn about the basic functions and operations. We had two technicians there to work with us. This photo was taken with ZimmGlass.

From there we could demo a translation application which would be very helpful traveling abroad. Other stations set up included one for music using Google Play, one to get your photo taken wearing Glass and more.

I shot a video with ZimmGlass and wandered around the various stations so you can see what the event was like. These are great opportunities and I’m glad to see Google providing the opportunity. I’m more confident in using my Glass and will continue using it on the agriblogging highway.

Technology

Learning About MapShots Integration

Chuck Zimmerman

MapShots ConferenceI’ve been collecting a lot of interviews here in Atlanta at the MapShots Customer Conference. Most of them will be shared over on PrecisionPays.com. However, I thought you might enjoy this one with official AgNerd, Keith Baker.

Keith saw me wearing my ZimmGlass and that started an enjoyable conversation about the new technology I’ve been trying out as a member of the Google Explorers program. Keith operates a Dupont Pioneer seed agency, Baker Ag Services, in NW Indiana with his son. They try to stay no the cutting edge of new technology. He says he came to this conference to learn about the newest products like MapShots AgStudio. Like at a lot of conferences he’s enjoying the networking with fellow agnerds to share ideas and information.

You can listen to my interview with Keith here: Interview with Keith Baker

2014 MapShots Customer Conference Photo Album

Agribusiness, Audio, Pioneer, Precision Agriculture

President Signs Farm Bill in Michigan

Cindy Zimmerman

fb-sign-farmer-1A young Michigan cherry farmer had the honor of introducing the president of the United States prior to signing of the new farm bill at Michigan State University Friday.

“On behalf of farmers across Michigan, I want to say thank you Congress for passing a great farm bill,” said Ben LaCross, former American Farm Bureau Young Farmer and Rancher chairman. “Under the previous farm bill, my cherries were not eligible for crop insurance. This farm bill strengthens crop insurance and gives farmers like me the tools we need to survive a weather disaster.”

fb-signing“Despite its name, the farm bill is not just about helping farmers,” President Obama told the small crowd invited for the signing. “Secretary Vilsack calls it a jobs bill, an innovation bill, an infrastructure bill, a research bill, a conservation bill. It’s like a Swiss Army knife.”

Vilsack was among those who joined the president as he signed the bill, along with Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH) and others.

Listen to the president’s speech here: President Obama farm bill signing

What do you think of the new farm bill? Which part is most important to you? Tell us in this week’s ZimmPoll.

AFBF, Audio, Farm Bill, ZimmPoll