Iowa Farm News Ag Show This Week

Cindy ZimmermanEvents

Farm News is hosting its ninth annual agriculture show this week in Fort Dodge, Iowa. Nearly 60 exhibitors from Iowa and surrounding states will showcase their latest state-of-the-art technology in grain and livestock products, ag services, seed varieties and farm toys.

Featured speakers at the event include David Kruse, president of CommStock Investments and Brazil Iowa Farms of Royal, and author of The CommStock Report; Jerry Nelson, freelance writer and humorist, Farm News columnist and author; and Bob Streit, a Farm News columnist and author of “Crop Watch.”

The show runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dec. 1 and from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dec. 2 at the Career Education Building on the Iowa Central Community College campus, Fort Dodge.

Top 10 Ag Technologies from 2010 by Farm Progress

Kurt LawtonCorn, Guidance, Harvesting, Industry News, Planting, Raven, seed, Software, Soybeans, Tillage, Variable rate

Take a look at a story in Indiana Prairie Farmer that selected ten different agricultural technologies of interest this year.

They listed:
– Raven Sling Shot system
– Connected Farm concept
– GSI Binspector
– Grain entrapment rescue tubes
– Votivo nematicide seed treatment
– SmartStax corn
– Agrisure Viptera trait
– Surveillance sunglasses
– Vertical till revolution
– Kixor herbicide technology

Read on to learn why.

Make Soil Conductivity One of Your Mapping Layers

Kurt LawtonEquipment, Fertilizer, sustainability

As I talk with many astute growers on the cutting edge of precision farming technology, almost all of them build management zones in fields using soil electrical conductivity (EC) to accurately characterize and map soil variability.

Veris Technologies, a pioneer in this EC technology, offers a look into why researchers and growers are using this technology in more than 40 states and 25 foreign countries.

Also, take a look at several new products they have introduced. The compact Quad EC1000 that can be pulled by an ATV. And the new ATV-mounted PH Detector that can map several hundred acres per day.

Burning The Midnight Oil

Melissa SandfortAgricultural Anthropology

When I tell people where we live, I’ve actually had a couple folks ask if we had indoor plumbing. They picture rural Nebraska with outhouses and well water that we have to carry in with buckets. (We are on well water, but it has a pump and we have an operating sink!) We’ve come a long way since then, but it was about 1936 when southeast Nebraska got electricity and 1938 when my grandparents got rural electricity through REA.

Until that time, Grandpa and his family used to burn kerosene (or coal oil) lanterns to do chores in the early morning hours or into the evening.

To think, just last week my brother was harvesting corn across the road at 10 p.m. Equipped with lights and GPS, he could work through the night. I guess the combine was burning the midnight oil, so to speak, but back in the 30s, they literally had to burn oil to get any work done.

Until our next history lesson…

Excellent Ohio Technology and Conservation Conference

Kurt LawtonConservation, Education, Events, Farmers, sustainability, Tillage, University

Corn and soybean growers in Ohio and surrounding states should definitely attend an excellent late-February conference to pick up great information that can improve their farm operation.

The Conservation Tillage and Technology Conference is the largest, most comprehensive program of conservation tillage techniques in the Midwest. About 60 presenters (farmers, industry professionals, and university specialists) from around the country focus on cost-saving, production management topics. The conference is broken down into tracks covering soil and water; nutrient and manure management; advanced scouting techniques; cover crops; crop management; and planters and precision agriculture.

This will be the third year for Corn University and the second year for the Soybean School, both of which cover the latest in corn and soybean management from the top researchers and industry specialists across the Midwest.

“Both programs are a main draw,” said Randall Reeder, an Ohio State University Extension agricultural engineer and an organizer of the conference. “Last year, we had about 300 to 400 in attendance at each program interested in learning the latest in crop production techniques to get the most economic yields with conservation tillage.”

Corn University will take place on Feb. 24 from 11 a.m. until 5:50 p.m. and will feature Peter Thomison, an OSU Extension corn agronomist; Bob Nielsen, a Purdue Extension corn specialist; Fred Below and Laura Overstreet, University of Illinois; and Chad Lee, University of Kentucky.

The theme will focus on achieving 300 bushels per acre using a variety of production management techniques from strip-till to nutrient management to fungicide use. Corn University is supported by Dekalb/Asgrow.

Soybean School will be held on Feb. 25 from 8:30 a.m. until 4:50 p.m. and will feature OSU Extension Specialists; Missouri farmer Kip Cullers, who set the world soybean production record this year of 160.6 bushels per acre; Shaun Casteel of Purdue University; Vince Davis of University of Illinois; and Shawn Conley, University of Wisconsin. Pioneer and Seed Consultants support Soybean School.

Other sessions taking place at the Conservation Tillage and Technology Conference include a daylong session on cover crops on Feb. 24, a daylong session on nutrient management on Feb. 25, and a half-day session on Feb. 25 on soil and water, which will include discussions of phosphorus and nitrogen management related water quality, including algal blooms.

Crop Certified Advisor credits be will offered during the Conservation Tillage and Technology Conference, including coveted nutrient management and soil and water credits.

“CCAs can get all the credits they need in both of these areas in just two days,” said Reeder.

Elwynn Taylor, Iowa State University agricultural climatologist, will be the speaker for the opening general session at 9:30 a.m. on Feb. 24.

The Conservation Tillage and Technology Conference broke an attendance record in 2010 with 966 farmers, crop consultants and industry representatives attending the event. Farmers valued the education they received at $13 per acre, roughly a $7 million value. Crop consultants placed a value on their educational experiences at $16 per acre for the land they influence.

The event will be held Feb. 24-25 at the McIntosh Center of Ohio Northern University in Ada. Sponsors include Ohio State University Extension, the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, Northwest Ohio Soil and Water Conservation Districts, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, USDA Farm Service Agency, and the Ohio No-Till Council.

Early registration is $50 for one day or $75 for both days. At the door, registration is $60 for one day and $85 for both days. Complete registration and program information will be available after Jan. 1, 2011 at http://ctc.osu.edu.

Support Future Farm Broadcasters with Toy Tractor

Cindy ZimmermanGeneral

As you start your Christmas shopping, consider this for someone on your list – a signed John Deere toy tractor that will support future farm broadcasters.

Joe Ertl has personally autographed each of the numbered John Deere B 1/16 scale toy tractors for the National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) Foundation. This unique tractor was specifically designed for NAFB and includes a mounted replica of a tractor radio. Only 200 of these tractors have been produced to benefit the NAFB Foundation. Numbers 6-200 have been made available to the public for sale while the first five were auctioned live during the NAFB Convention earlier this month. Only a few are left for sale.

The price per tractor is $85 plus shipping and handling and orders can be made online.

The NAFB Foundation is the nonprofit charitable and educational arm of NAFB that works to keep the quality and viability of the farm broadcasting profession and industry at the highest level through the support of NAFB education, marketing and research activities, annual student scholarships and internship grants to stations and networks.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Cindy ZimmermanGeneral

If you have food on your table today – thank God and thank our nation’s fabulous farmers and ranchers for the affordable, safe and abundant food supply they produce for the world.

I found this poem online that gives good reasons to give thanks today for those who produce the food, fuel and fiber that we all enjoy:

I’m Just a Farmer, Plain and Simple
By Bobby Collier

Happy Thanksgiving From ZimmComm New MediaI’m just a farmer,
Plain and simple.
Not of a royal birth
But rather, a worker of the earth.
I know not of riches
But rather, of patches on my britches
I know of drought and rain,
Of pleasure and pain.
I know of the good and the bad,
The happy and the sad.
I am a man of emotions.
A man who loves this land,
And the beauty of its sand.
I know of a spring’s fresh flow
And autumn’s golden glow,
Of a newborn calf’s hesitation,
And the eagle’s destination.
I know of tall pines,
And long, waiting lines.
Of the warmth of campfires,
And the agony of flat tires.
But I am a man who loves his job
And the life I live.
I am a man who works with God,
I cannot succeed without his help,
For you see,
I’m just a farmer
Plain and simple.

Precision Farming Does More Than Save Money

Kurt LawtonEducation, Farmers, sustainability

The more you talk to growers who have been using precision farming technology for awhile, the more you learn about the values they treasure beyond input savings and greater efficiency. Less operator fatigue, more time to think and monitor what’s going on around them, and learning new things about their fields and farms every day are just a few things mentioned.

This story on the Alabama Precision Agriculture team highlights several of these benefits, as well as the estimated $10 million that they save Alabama producers every year. Read on…

Real-time Crop Condition Monitoring from ClimateMinder

Kurt LawtonConservation, Equipment, Irrigation, sustainability, weather

California organic produce grower Phil McGrath is monitoring his fields from his smartphone to save water, time and money thanks to ClimateMinder technology.

McGrath, owner of McGrath Family Farms commented, “On our ranch there are several different soil types. One cropping program does not fit all. With ClimateMinder you get very accurate information about the soil moisture content on any block. I’m irrigating less overall. It’s saving me water, time, and money.”

ClimateMinder’s CEO Bulut Ersavas explained, “By monitoring and controlling to measured conditions, ClimateMinder can alert growers in real-time to conditions that threaten their crops, such as extremes in temperature or moisture, and the need to take corrective action.”

ClimateMinder’s monitoring, management and control platform is provided as an internet-based software-as-a-service (SaaS). The system gathers data using an intelligent, fail-safe mesh network of wireless sensors and controllers that can be installed quickly and cost-effectively throughout an entire field, with a recommended density of one station per 20-40 acres.

Ersavas also added, “Our system ensures that growers have the information to optimize the management of their water, nutrient and chemical supplies, lowering costs and increasing yield and profits. And by maintaining this information in ClimateMinder’s professional database, growers are able to better plan, budget, and organize their crops from season to season.

“We work with our growers from installation to training and on-site support to make sure they utilize the system to the fullest extent. We are also constantly innovating and improving the features of the system with the feedback from our clients.”

Pope Says Technology Benefits Agriculture

Cindy ZimmermanGeneral

This week, as we “give our thanks to God for the fruits of the earth and the work of man,” Pope Benedict XVI recently offered some reflections on agricultural work and feeding the world.

In a November 14 address, the pope said that “the process of industrialization has often overshadowed the agricultural sector, which, while also drawing benefit from modern technologies, has nevertheless lost importance, with notable consequences, even at the cultural level. I believe that this is the moment for the reevaluation of agriculture, not in a nostalgic sense, but as an indispensable resource for the future.”

Calling for a “new balance between agriculture, industry and services,” Pope Benedict noted the importance of the agricultural sector for employment. “More than a few young people have already chosen this path; also many professionals are returning to dedicate themselves to the agricultural enterprise, feeling that they are responding not only to a personal and family need, but also to a “sign of the times,” to a concrete sensibility for the common good.”

Amen!