During the CTIC Conservation in Action Tour I got this photo of EPA’s Denise Keehner, Director, Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds and Acting Chief Jason Weller, USDA-NRCS. They were attending the CTIC Conservation in Action Tour and met after luncheon remarks by Denise. I spoke with Denise after her remarks and on the subject of inter-agency cooperation she says … Read More
New John Deere Mower Runs on E85
John Deere has introduced a brand new riding mower that can run on up to 85% percent ethanol blended fuel. The mower is a new Flex Fuel model of John Deere’s popular line of ZTrak mowers. The new, industry exclusive, Z925M Flex Fuel gives landscape contractors and customers with large acreage to mow a new alternative fuel option for their … Read More
The Importance of Conservation
This week I’m attending the Conservation in Action Tour put on by the Conservation Technology Information Center. We’re in Illinois and will be touring farms in the Indian Creek Watershed where CTIC has been partnered with multiple entities in a project since 2010. To kick things off I met our Acting Chief of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Jason … Read More
Landmark Services Cooperative Scouting Drones
Taking your iPad out in the field to fly a drone sounds like a lot of fun. This “fun” activity is becoming a business task more and more. The agronomists at Landmark Services Cooperative are getting in on the fun by using tablet-controlled drones for field scouting. One of the advantages this provides is quicker scouting times (up to 60% … Read More
Precision Grain Drying
Doing more with less is the theme when it comes to agriculture in general and commercial grain drying is no different. Almost a year ago, GROWMARK’s Total Grain Marketing (TGM) location at Neoga, Illinois completed installation of a groundbreaking mixed airflow grain dryer. with the help of Chief Industries, United Kingdom. Now, GROWMARK Commercial Grain Systems Project Manager Paul Brooks … Read More
iCropTrak Farm Management App
The new sponsor of the AgWired App is iCropTrak. We really appreciate their support and hope you’ll check out what they’re doing. To learn all about “Precisely Informed Farm Management” I spoke with Aaron Hutchinson, President and one of the founders of Cogent3D, Inc. The company has also pioneered other services like PrecisionEarth and GISRoam. Aaron says that iCropTrak is … Read More
IDEAg Interconnectivity Conference A Success
The second annual IDEAg Interconnectivity Conference took place in Altoona, Iowa this week where the precision agriculture industry along with producers came together to discuss how to “connect” all the data that is being developed through precision agriculture. During the show, I had a chance to learn more about the conference from Samantha Kaplan who is the marketing manager, events … Read More
GE Wheat in Oregon Could be Sabotage
Monsanto officials held a press call on Friday regarding “suspicious” evidence in the investigation of genetically engineered wheat plants found in an Oregon field last month that suggests it was possibly intentionally planted. “The evidence now collected, the fact patterns established and the original Roundup Ready CP-4 event appearing suddenly after 12 years, out of nowhere in a single field … Read More
House Rejects Five Year Farm Bill
Despite an impassioned plea by House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas to “move this bill forward” the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013 (FARRM) failed on a vote of 194 to 234, with 60 Republicans joining the majority of Democrats to defeat the House version of the farm bill. “If it fails today, I can’t guarantee you’ll … Read More
Insect Pressure is On
It’s been an interesting year for farmers this year with weather extremes and planting challenges, and bugs are getting in on the act as well. “We’re running into some interesting things likes true armyworms in wheat and in corn, and seed corn maggots, and all sorts of things,” said GROWMARK Insect/Plant Disease Technical Manager Kevin Black. Kevin’s number one recommendation … Read More