2011 Commodity Classic Shatters Records

Cindy ZimmermanCommodity Classic, Corn, Farmers, John Deere, Soybeans, wheat

Commodity ClassicThe 2011 Commodity Classic is one for the record books.

Attendance at the annual meeting of corn, soybean, wheat and sorghum growers shattered previous records. Total attendance was more than 4826, breaking the previous record at Nashville three years ago by almost 300. Total number of growers was over 1600, compared to the previous record of 1513 in 2009 in Grapevine. The number of media was down a bit, but still a pretty substantial 126. Next year, Classic is back in Nashville, maybe to set yet another record!

Commodity ClassicIn a show of unity, the leadership of the National Corn Growers Association, the National Association of Wheat Growers, the American Soybean Association and the National Sorghum Producers issued a joint statement on the federal deficit and debt reduction following the conclusion of the Classic business sessions.

“We note that agriculture made a down payment in cutting spending when the Department of Agriculture directed $4 billion in savings under the Standard Reinsurance Agreement for federal crop insurance toward deficit reduction. We believe any further reduction in discretionary spending should recognize and reflect this contribution. We would also note that agriculture-related programs represent less than one-half of one percent of the federal budget.

“Looking forward, we believe any meaningful approach to deficit and debt reduction in the FY2012 budget must encompass all entitlement programs and all discretionary spending. We look forward to working with Congress and the Administration to develop a budget that successfully addresses the need for federal deficit and debt reduction balanced with the need of ensuring a successful agricultural economy.”

Special thanks to John Deere for helping to sponsor our coverage of the 2011 Commodity Classic!

2011 Commodity Classic Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the 2011 Commodity Classic

Deere Offers Nutrient Management Advice at Classic

Cindy ZimmermanAudio, Commodity Classic, Fertilizer, John Deere, Nutrient Management

2011 commodity classic john deere“Balancing Fertilizer Price Risk and In-Field Management to Optimize Yield and Profitability” was the topic of a Learning Session at the 2011 Commodity Classic in Tampa last week, sponsored by John Deere.

Deere’s Pauley Bradley, manager of nutrient applications, had a full house for the session which discussed nitrogen practices today, concerns that fall anhydrous application may not be around in the future, and the “Four R” approach to nutrient stewardship. “Right now, our corn stocks to use ratio is very tight, so yield is important, but we have to balance that with the environmental concerns,” Pauley said. “So we’re trying to maximize yield while having the least amount of environmental impact.”

Pauley says John Deere introduced the 2510 line of nutrient applicators a few years ago, one of which provides a way to apply anhydrous ammonia allowing for more side-dressing or in-season capabilities. “We’ve really tried to focus on the in-crop application, doing a better job of reading the crop’s needs as it’s growing and responding accordingly,” he said.

Find out more here.

Listen to or download an interview with Pauley here: [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/commodity-classic/cc11-jd-nutrient.mp3″ text=”John Deere’s Pauley Bradley on Nutrient Management”]

Thanks to John Deere for helping to sponsor our coverage of the 2011 Commodity Classic!
2011 Commodity Classic Photo Album

The Hay Rake

Melissa SandfortAgricultural Anthropology

I’ve mentioned that I’m a corn and soybeans kind of gal. But I’m broadening my horizons and learning more about hay.

This rake sits outside my Grandpa and Grandma’s house. Back in the late ‘teens, the rake was pulled by two horses while the operator would sit on the seat. He had two pedals –- one to engage the dogs in the hubs of the wheels to raise the teeth to drop the hay when you had a load, and the other pedal to drop the teeth back down to the ground to rake the hay. The loads were dumped in windrows and when they were dry, they’d rake the windrow into bunches and pick them up with a pitchfork and load them onto the hay rack.

Sometimes in the spring when corn stalks were heavy, they’d use this rake to break the corn stalks and then windrow them and burn them. It cleaned up the field – back then, they didn’t utilize no-till farming practices.

The rake was soon replaced with a ground-driven side-delivery rake that moved hay laterally to a windrow. Today, a windrower cuts it and windrows it all in one operation.

Did you see that? I said “dogs in the hubs” like I knew what I was talking about. I had to ask Grandpa for further clarification. Dogs are notches.

I knew that.

Until our next history lesson …

SMS Software Customer Training is Valuable

Melissa SandfortAg Leader, Audio, Insights Weekly

Insights Weekly

Casey Schlichting, corn and soybean grower from Clear Lake, Iowa, farms about 1,300 acres with his father and uncle. For about seven years, he and his family have utilized SMS Software from Ag Leader – a data storage solution that captures data from planting, fertilizing, spraying, harvest or guidance, and houses it all and organizes it for easy access. Casey recently completed a customer training session with Ag Leader experts and was able to share some of his insights and experiences with us.

Listen to an interview with Casey as he explains why SMS is valuable to his own operation, and why he encourages other growers to complete a training session with Ag Leader.

[wpaudio url=”http://precision.agwired.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2011/03/CaseySMSInterview.mp3″ text=”Casey Schlichting Interview”]

Classroom and web-based training sessions are available, and Ag Leader’s software-dedicated support team is available to help answer questions. Casey noted that most of his questions can be answered with one quick phone call.

Contact your local Ag Leader dealer or visit www.agleader.com for more information on SMS Software.

John Deere Introduces FarmSight

Cindy ZimmermanCommodity Classic, John Deere, technology

2011 commodity classic john deereJohn Deere introduced a new “integrated suite of solutions” at the 2011 Commodity Classic today, called John Deere FarmSight.

The comprehensive program is designed to meet farm and business needs for today and the future, according to FarmSight director Jerry Roell. “The John Deere FarmSight global suite of solutions uses integrated, wireless technology that links the equipment, owners, dealers, and agricultural consultants to provide even more productivity to your farm or business,” he said during a press conference Friday in Tampa.

The program provides technology solutions in three areas – Machine Optimization, Logistics Optimization, and Ag Decision Support.

Hear more about John Deere FarmSight from Jerry here: [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/commodity-classic/cc11-jd-farmsight.mp3″ text=”John Deere FarmSight”]

Here is a video of the introduction at Classic:

2011 Commodity Classic Photo Album

Agrimarketers Affirm Their Profession

Chuck ZimmermanZimmPoll

I thought we’d have a little fun with our latest ZimmPoll just to see what people really think about the professional nature of what many of our readers do – agrimarketing. I got a lot of comments like “I’ve never considered that it isn’t.” However, I was curious if we’d have any no votes and we did!

So the question was, “Is agricultural marketing and communications a profession?” 89% say yes and 11% say no. If you voted no I’d love to know why. Feel free to post a comment here.

Our next ZimmPoll is now live and we’d love your thoughts on a current topic of interest. “How much do you think the public understands about GMO crops?” I would prefer to call it biotech or GM crops but most media seem to like the GMO designation. For example, look at a poll going on over at MSNBC Health that’s asking the question: “Do you believe genetically modified foods should be labeled?” What’s interesting is not the question and answers but the over 1,000 comments so far. Some are extremely vicious. Let’s know what you think and thanks for participating.

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

Ag Leader Mesa A Fully Functional Handheld

Chuck ZimmermanAg Leader, Audio, Displays, National Farm Machinery Show

Ag Leader Technology MesaAt the National Farm Machinery Show Pete Youngblut, who works in the Ag Leader Technology software support group, brought me up to date on the new Mesa handeld rugged notebook that is SMS™ Mobile compatible.

It allows a customer to go to the field to do crop scouting, set boundaries and more, then bring it back to sync with desktop software. He says that rather than having to take a tractor to the field you can hop on your four wheeler or get in your pickup and go. The Mesa runs on new Windows Mobile OS so it also has the capability with wifi to browse the internet and check email. It also will have a built in camera!

You can listen to my interview with Pete here: [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/nfms/nfms-11-youngblood.mp3″ text=”Pete Youngblut Interview”]

2011 National Farm Machinery Show Photo Album

Precision.AgWired.com coverage of the National Farm Machinery Show is sponsored by: Ag Leader Technology

Precision.AgWired.com: Panel Discusses Precision Ag Maximizing Yields

John DavisAg Leader, Audio, Precision Pays Podcast

Precision.AgWired.com Podcast

In this edition of the Precision.AgWired.com Podcast, sponsored by Ag Leader Technology, we hear from a panel that discussed how to maximize yields using precision ag techniques. David Waits, President and CEO, SST Software, was joined by Terry Griffin, Professor of Production Economics and Row-Crop Farm Management at the University of Arkansas and Bruce Erickson, Director of Cropping Systems Management at Purdue University at the recent GROWMARK FS GreenPlan Maximizing Yields seminar.

Waits says the biggest issue is the standardization of data.

“Until we do that, we’re all on a different basis, and we’re going to have trouble bringing very much of it together.”

Erickson, says precision agriculture is much different than when it started in the mid-1990s, with the biggest jump in technology in the guidance field. In fact, he says precision is really now the conventional way of farming.

“I can’t think of a full-time, commercial farmer who I work with right now who doesn’t use some type of precision farming.”

He adds that most of the benefit from precision ag has been in the form of lowering input costs and maximizing yields. But Griffin says we’re also seeing a benefit to farmers’ and their families’ overall qualities of life.

“Even if we ignore the economics, people are happier.” He says less stress and less fatigue that precision agriculture helps bring to the table are making real differences in people’s lives.

You can hear more of what the three had to say in this edition of the Precision.AgWired.com Podcast in the player below below. [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/precision/precision-podcast-18.mp3″ text=”Precision.AgWired.com Podcast”]

You can subscribe to the Precision.AgWired.com Podcast here.

Save the Best for Next Year

Melissa SandfortAgricultural Anthropology

Today, most farmers have other occupations to supplement their income. They farm, they run a trucking operation, they sell anhydrous, they sell seed corn, they run a grain elevator. I think I just described my brother to a “T” as one of his other duties as assigned is a seed corn dealer. Every year, people come to him to buy enough seed for the next planting season.

But it wasn’t always this way.

This is a hand-crank corn sheller used by my great-grandfather back in the late ‘teens and early ‘20s. It was mounted on a wooden box so the corn would drop down into it. If you insert the cob in the basket at the top, turn the crank, then separate and keep the more uniform kernels, you’d have enough to plant a crop the following year.

An efficient sheller would get about 10-15 bushels of shelled corn per hour, or approximately 10 seconds per ear.

That sure is different than calling up my brother and having him deliver enough seed to plant 2,000 acres of corn.

Until our next history lesson …

USDA to Hold Series of Forums on Conservation Policies

John DavisConservation, USDA

The USDA, with some help from our friends at Farm Foundation, is holding a series of forums across the across the country to discuss natural resource conservation policy issues.

The first forum by the Ag Department’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is this coming Thursday, March 3rd at Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois:

The regional forums are opportunities for the public to discuss major policy themes and points of consensus and divergence. At each regional forum, discussion will focus on three board topic areas: water security, climate variability and landscape integrity. For each topic, a panel of invited speakers will present comments, followed by open discussion with forum participants. These meetings are targeted to anyone with an interest in natural resource conservation policy issues.

Input is sought on specific natural resource conservation issues and economic and public policy issues related to agriculture and rural America, including: 1) natural resource status and trends; 2) emerging challenges; 3) emerging opportunities; and 4) long-term impacts on natural resource conditions and food, fuel and fiber production.

After Illinois, there are forums in Cobleskill, N.Y. and Ft. Collins, Colo. on March 10th; Mesa, Ariz. on March 15th; Portland, Ore. on March 18th; and Columbiana, Ala. on March 22nd. These six regional forums will provide discussion for a national conference planned for April 7-8, 2011, in Washington, D.C.

Information from the six regional forums will feed into a national conference planned April 7-8, 2011, at the Marriott Metro Center, Washington, D.C.

Farm Foundation’s website has more information, including the mandatory registration info.