More information certainly helps any operation, especially operations dependent on precision technology (and who these days doesn’t need more precise information?). Provider of energy information for commodity and financial markets Genscape has bought LandViewer to expand its technology footprint in the agriculture and biofuels industries. Genscape says, using NASA satellite data to get daily updates of corn vegetation progress, the … Read More
Online Insect Forecast Tool
As farmers across the Corn Belt continue to battle above- and below-ground insect pests year after year, a comprehensive integrated pest management approach is key to maximizing yield potential, especially in corn-on-corn environments. The Insect Forecast Tool can help farmers understand their current pest pressure and make more accurate predictions for the following year. Farmers can log on to www.insectforecast.com … Read More
G-8 Open Data for Ag Take Aways
Data, data, data. I wonder how many times that word was used at this week’s G-8 International Conference on Open Data for Agriculture? A lot I’m sure. Well, I was not there but Paul Welbig, Raven Industries was. Here’s a photo of Paul on the left with Dr. Aboubacar Diaby, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa. They are holding … Read More
G-8 Open Data for Agriculture Conf Concluding Presser
The G-8 International Conference on Open Data for Agriculture is coming to an end. Interestingly, USDA held a concluding press conference to discuss results prior to the end of the conference. USDA Chief Scientist Dr. Catherine Woteki outlined the federal government’s new Food, Agriculture and Rural data community, which offers a catalog of over 300 data sets as well as … Read More
Opening up Global Ag Data Sharing
At the kickoff of the G8 Open Data for Agriculture conference this week, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced a new virtual community to give increased public access to food, agriculture, and rural data. “This new online community is a big step toward opening information for agriculture, making it public in useable formats,” said Vilsack. “This will increase the value of … Read More
Preview of Open Data for Agriculture Conference
USDA just held a preview press conference for next week’s G-8 International Conference on Open Data for Agriculture. On the phone with the press were USDA Chief Scientist Dr. Catherine Woteki and Dr. Simon Liu, Director of the National Agricultural Library. There are plans to do live streaming during the conference and people are encouraged to tweet about the conference … Read More
Data Management Challenge
Paul Mask, an Alabama Cooperative Extension System assistant director for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources and an Auburn University professor of agronomy and soils, says the promise of precision farming is using technology to gain a clear and comprehensive picture of one’s farming operations to secure the highest measure of farm efficiency and profitability by reducing input usage, insulating against … Read More
Open Data for Ag Key to Food Security
Innovators and private sector partners are being urged to participate in the G-8 Open Data for Agriculture meeting coming up later this month in Washington DC to help “facilitate the transfer of scientific research and information in a broad range of areas from best agricultural practices, to research, biotechnology, irrigation, extension services and applied technology.” The goal of the conference … Read More
DriftWatch Adopted by FieldWatch, Inc
DriftWatch, a voluntary online registry program created by Purdue University Agriculture and Biological Engineering has been given a new home with a new company called FieldWatch, Inc which will lead to a nationwide online crop registry for high-value pesticide sensitive crops. The university’s successful web based program, launched in Indiana in 2008, has been effective in allowing both farmers and … Read More
See Your Machine in the Field
“Machine & Agronomic Data Management: Maximizing Your Productivity” is the title of a Commodity Classic WIN session sponsored by John Deere. One of the presenters was Kathy Michael, Senior Product Manager, John Deere Intelligent Solutions Group. The way that John Deere is helping farmers maximize their machine and agronomic data is with JD Link, their telematic platform, which is based … Read More