InfoAg Conference App

Chuck ZimmermanApps, InfoAg

Going to InfoAg next week? Then you might want to get this app for your smartphone. This is the newest app on my iPhone and will be on my Android phone later this morning. It’s the InfoAg 2011 Conference app.

The InfoAg 2011 Conference, hosted at Springfield Illinois’ Crowne Plaza, from July 12-14th, is pleased to add a digital Conference Companion available exclusively for the InfoAg 2011 exhibitors and attendees. Designed to supplement the online conference program, this app allows its user to view an at-a-glance program, search speakers, exhibitors, and presentation synopses, as well as create a personalized conference itinerary.

As you can see from this screenshot I’ll be on the program talking about social media. Our moderator for that session is Paul Schrimpf, Group Editor, Croflife Media Group. Also in our session will be Jeremy Wilson, Technology Specialist, Crop IMS. Our session will be offered twice next Thursday. Hope you can make it.

The app is the creation of Quentin Rund, PAQ Interactive. Get it and let him know what you think. I think this is going to become a standard offering of shows of all kinds, farm included. Kind of like the “old” conference brochure but much easier to use and carry around!

GIPSA Rule Proposal Prompts Lots of “Input”

Chuck ZimmermanZimmPoll

The ZimmPoll is not a scientific, statistically valid measurement of any demographic but rather a gauge of opinion and other information from interested readers. Never has that been more evident than this past week when our poll was highly influenced by a concerted campaign to do so by R-Calf in response to a post Cindy did, “GIPSA Dominates Senate Committee Hearing.” The R-Calf campaign helped generate most of the 112 comments posted there. Unfortunately, most of them are nothing more than personal attacks on Senator Pat Roberts. They do little to foster a constructive “debate.” I considered not approving many of them but figure common sense people will see them and realize the movement behind them and take them for what they’re worth. There are some good, reasoned comments mixed in from both sides of the issue at least. We’re just happy to provide a public forum for this very important issue.

So, the results of our last poll which asked the question, “What do you think of USDA’s proposed GIPSA Rule?” are as follows: 68% say Love it, 18% say Kill it, 10% say What’s GIPSA? and 4% say Good concept but needs changes. The R-Calf position is in favor of the proposal and I think that’s clearly reflected in the results. By the way, the poll generated the most responses we’ve had to a ZimmPoll to date. What do you think about this issue if you haven’t already weighed in? Feel free to make a comment.

Our new ZimmPoll is now live. We’re asking the question, “What’s the very first thing you check online each day?” Let us know what you think.

ZimmPoll is sponsored by Rhea+Kaiser, a full-service advertising/public relations agency.

FCC Group Finds GPS Interference With Plan

Cindy ZimmermanGPS, John Deere

The Coalition to Save Our GPS is growing as new evidence mounts that a proposed communications network would interfere with GPS systems.

A report was released last week by a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) technical working group on the potential for interference to GPS from the proposal by Virginia-based company LightSquared to set up 40,000 wireless broad-band stations across the nation on a frequency that is right next to the one used by GPS.

precision farming kip cullersThe FCC reports that the working group “identified significant technical issues” related to potential LightSquared interference in the upper portion of the L-Band, next to the band used by GPS. “The tests demonstrated potentially significant interference between LightSquared operations in the upper portion of the band and various GPS receivers,” the agency said in a public notice announcing a 30 day comment period on the issue.

“The report of the working group demonstrates there is no practical solution to mitigate the interference that would result if the proposal is allowed,” said Ken Golden of John Deere. “It is not acceptable to allow a new network to interfere with these vitally important industries and weaken the strong competitive position of the U.S. in the global economy. Research has shown that losing the use of GPS technology could have a negative impact of $14 billion to $30 billion annually for U.S. farmers.”

The coalition just announced an expansion of its membership last week, including new agriculture industry members such as AGCO, Agricultural Retailers Association, National Agricultural Aviation Association, National Cotton Council of America, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, North American Equipment Dealers Association, and USA Rice Federation. The coalition reportedly now represents more than 100,000 companies and millions of individuals, either independently or through trade associations – including public safety, aviation, transportation, construction, technology, recreation, shipping, agriculture and consumer manufacturers.

Information on how to comment on the issue to the FCC can be found here. Comments must be received by July 30, 2011.

9-1-1 It’s an emergency!

Melissa SandfortAgricultural Anthropology

Where do I live, you ask? Well, it’s two miles south of the big river bridge. It’s a mile east of Uncle Bob’s. It’s just north of Mrs. Tate’s place, you know, the lady who used to write children’s books? (As always, names have been changed to protect the innocent, or in this case, deceased.)

Don’t you love how us country folk give directions? At least I didn’t mention the big black dog. Because we all know the big black dog is always sitting in the same spot.

What we do have are 911 addresses. No rural route, no county road … just long numbers like 52684 523 Road. That’s what a real address looks like. No joke.

An E-911 address, as they’re officially known, is assigned using a mileage measurement, accurate to 1/100 of a mile, to a driveway on a named road. Measurements start at the south or west end of a through road. The county office even came out with GPS to get an accurate number for ours. Driveways on the left side of the road have odd numbers and driveways on the right side of the road have even numbers.

Why did they come about? Because when people dialed 911, the emergency guys had a hard time finding RR1 Box 36A. Rural Route 1….then look for a mailbox with the number 36A on it? That’s probably the house next to the big black dog, right?

And if the caller is unable to give their address, the home phone number, building (house), etc. is most often linked to the address. I don’t think the 911 address is linked to cell phones, but isn’t the government tapping into our cell phones anyway?

Until our next history lesson …

Leica Geosystems announces new features for the AS7500

Melissa SandfortLeica Geosystems

Leica Geosystems has released the new features for the AS7500 section controller. The most significant feature enables the user to record field inclusion boundaries and exclusion zones. These boundaries and zones can be utilised to control the auto section shutoff to include or exclude designated areas such as entire fields or waterways.

The AS7500 section control compatibility has been expanded with support added to allow interface to the Amazone Amatron+ controller. This feature will be included as standard with the AS7500 at no charge as with all other section control interfaces. A dedicated interface cable and installation manual will become available for sale as of the July 30, 2011 to allow simple plug and play installations.

All new AS7500 purchases from July 1, 2011 will be equipped with these new features. Leica Geosystems encourages individuals who would like to purchase the updated AS7500 to contact their Leica Geosystems dealer directly.

Ag Leader Offers SMS Software Training

Melissa SandfortAg Leader, Insights Weekly

Insights Weekly

Would you like to learn more about the crop data you’ve collected? Are you interested in creating variable rate prescriptions? Beginning July 7, Ag Leader will be offering a variety of SMS Software training sessions to help you answer these questions and more. (Registration cost varies per session and computer use.)

Click here to view the summer schedule and sign up for the training session of your choice. Dates fill up fast — get your spot reserved today!

Online SMS Trainings
Jessica Ahrens, Ag Leader software training and materials specialist, tells us more about what type of grower can potentially benefit from SMS Software training.

Listen to more from Ahrens about the benefits to attending the training.

Ahrens also says online training is available for growers with busy summer schedules.

Growers who are new to the desktop software or maybe wanting a quick refresher course are encouraged to join one of the free introductory trainings on the SMS Desktop Software on the first Tuesday of every month.

To find out more about the online trainings, other training opportunities or see our additional training resources, visit sms.agleader.com.

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.

Precision.AgWired.com: Save Our GPS

Meghan GrebnerAg Leader, Audio, GPS, Growmark, Precision Pays Podcast

Precision.AgWired.com PodcastI love my TomTom.  I really am not sure what I would do without it.  I come from a small town in Central Illinois and I recently made a career move that took me to Indianapolis.  Tom is the best co-pilot a girl from small town USA that moved to the big city could hope to find.  He takes me turn by turn to my destination, coaxes me through wrong turns and rarely is he incorrect.  At this point, I can’t imagine my life without “him“. 

In this edition of the Precision.AgWired.com Podcast, sponsored by Ag Leader Technology, we explore GPS technology.  If you’re like me – and rely on your GPS just to navigate the roadways – imagine how heavily some industries (like agriculture, airlines, railways and even the New York City Fire Department) rely on the accuracy and efficacy of GPS in their daily operations.  What would happen if we lost the ability to use it?  This month we sat down with Sid Parks, Manager of Precision Farming with GROWMARK, and learned about the Coalition to Save Our GPS, how we could potentially lose it and why this is something for us to monitor.

[wpaudio url=”http://precision.agwired.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2011/06/PPP-06-11.mp3″ text=”Precision.AgWired.com Podcast”]

You can subscribe to the Precision.AgWired.com Podcast here. The Precision.AgWired.com Podcast is sponsored by Ag Leader Technology.

High-Accuracy GNSS Correction Service for Ag Introduced

Melissa SandfortTrimble

Trimble introduced its new high-accuracy Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) compatible correction service. The Trimble® CenterPoint™ RTX™ correction service can offer 4 centimeter (1.5 inch) repeatable accuracy and will be available initially through Trimble’s Agriculture Division.

CenterPoint RTX is a GPS and GLONASS enabled correction service that covers approximately a 1.8 billion acre swath of central North America, extending fromCanada into northern Mexico.

The CenterPoint RTX correction service can deliver a fully-converged position in less than one minute at startup within the five central U.S. “corn belt” states from Nebraskato Illinois, so farmers can begin work immediately. For the area outside of the five U.S. states, the CenterPoint RTX correction service provides the same 4 centimeter (1.5 inch) repeatable accuracy, but farmers will experience additional convergence time to reach full accuracy. By using Trimble’s FastRestart technology, this convergence time can be reduced and full accuracy can be achieved in less than 3 minutes.

The corrections are satellite-delivered directly to the GNSS receiver, so there are no additional hardware costs such as radios, antennas or cellular data plans.

Technology Helps Beat the Weather

Cindy ZimmermanPlanting, USDA

Spring PlantingThe new planted acreage report from USDA shows just how fast farmers can plant with the latest technology.

According to USDA, corn planted area for this year is now estimated at 92.3 million acres, up 5 percent from last year, and the second highest planted acreage in the United States since 1944, behind only the 93.5 million acres planted in 2007. Growers expect to harvest 84.9 million acres for grain, up 4 percent from last year.

“These numbers show that a spring delay in the northern hemisphere, even when severe, if producers get an opening they have the horsepower and technology to make up for it in a big way and on a very large scale,” said James Bower from Bower Trading during a market commentary conference call this morning from the Minneapolis Grain Exchange. “Particularly in Ohio and Indiana, we were really getting close to prevent plant, one or two more rains and that was it. But we had about a four day window in late May and with the horsepower and technology those farmers worked day and night – it was almost scary.”

Farmers in Ohio and Indiana planted 20-30 percent of their corn acreage the first week of June, and Ohio whipped through another 40% between June 5-12 so that essentially all of the corn nationwide was planted by June 12. Ohio had only 11% planted by May 23 compared to 87% the same time last year.

Wheat acres are also up five percent in the USDA report, but soybean acreage is down three percent.

Food Price Stability Ideas

Chuck ZimmermanZimmPoll

Our latest ZimmPoll asked, “What can G20 ag ministers do to stabilize food prices?” The answer is Nothing, 31%; Increase productivity, 23%; End biofuels production, 18%; Regulate markets, 17%; Improve crop reporting, 8% and Stockpile food, 3%. Can they actually do any of these things? Well, I guess they can do nothing. They met recently and did come up with “a plan.” Interestingly, stockpiling food is part of their plan. Hmm . . .

Our new ZimmPoll is now live. We’re asking the question, “What do you think of USDA’s proposed GIPSA rule?” Let us know what you think. Don’t know much about GIPSA? Check out this link to find a series of posts on the subject.

ZimmPoll is sponsored by Rhea+Kaiser, a full-service advertising/public relations agency.