Precision Ag Bytes 3/13

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  • AgBiome Innovations™, the commercial arm of AgBiome™, introduced Lektivar™ 40SC, a novel fungicide (fluazinam) that provides superior control of foliar and soil-borne diseases to include white mold, southern blight, downy mildew, early blight, and many others.
  • TerrAvion announced a new partnership with FarmLogs, an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based farm management software provider. The partnership will allow FarmLogs customers to add high-resolution aerial imagery to their FarmLogs account.
  • Indigo Agriculture and Anheuser-Busch have announced a partnership focused on sustainable rice production. Indigo has committed to delivering 2.2 million bushels of Indigo Rice™ to Anheuser-Busch that is grown with specific environmental attributes.
  • The America Seed Trade Association‘s newest event experience began last June, reinventing the former Annual Convention into the Policy & Leadership Development Conference. This year’s PLDC is June 15-19 in Denver, Colo. For more information on the event, visit the conference webpage.
  • U.S. sales of ag tractors and combines remained in the plus column for February, according to the latest sales data from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers. Total U.S. February 2-wheel-drive tractor sales grew 17.3 percent compared to February 2018, led by under-40-HP machines with a 24.6-percent gain and a 7.1-percent gain for 40-100-HP 2-wheel-drive tractors, while 100-plus-HP 2-wheel-drive-tractors recorded a drop of 2.2 percent.
  • The March/April issue of New Ag International magazine on high-tech agriculture including precision ag coverage is now online.

BASF Excited About Revysol

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After 10 years of research and development, BASF shared its new Revysol technology with those attending the 2019 BASF Science Behind event, held just before the Commodity Classic in Orlando.

Revysol technology will be part of two new products available for the 2019 growing season, pending registration. More details are forthcoming about Veltyma for corn and Revytek for soybeans, but Scott Kay, BASF Vice President, U.S. Crop, said trials showed promising results.

“If you and I went and walked into a field at a field day and there were no signs, I think we would walk to each and every application where Revysol technology was used, because you would just see the difference,” said Kay. “So I would welcome farmers across the U.S. to take a look and see the difference that technology is going to bring to them on their farms.”

Kay said customers have been getting great new experiences with BASF because of changes over the past year that include more complete conversations and more choices for farmers.

Listen to Chuck’s interview with Scott here: Interview with Scott Kay, BASF

2019 BASF Science Behind Event Photo Album

FMC Authority® Supreme Tackles Resistant Weeds

AgWired Precision, Audio, Commodity Classic, Farm & Gin Show, FMC, Herbicide, Video, weed management

Resistant weeds is a wide spread concern around the country and new FMC Authority® Supreme is helping farmers from the Midwest to the Mid-South take on the challenge.

“Authority Supreme was a new product for 2018, we had a limited launch, limited quantities,” said FMC technical service manager Matthew Wiggins at the Mid-South Farm and Gin Show last week in Memphis. “Primarily we’re talking about herbicide-resistant Palmer amaranth.”

Learn more about Authority Supreme in this interview. Interview with Matthew Wiggins, FMC Authority Supreme

Also last week at the Commodity Classic, FMC’s Dr. Brandon Schrage was talking to farmers in the Midwest about staying in front of dicamba resistance with Authority Supreme. Watch below.

Precision Ag Bytes 3/6

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  • South Dakota State University and University of Kentucky plant pathologists have confirmed that Cercospora sojina, a soybean pathogen that causes frogeye leaf spot, has shown resistance to QoI fungicides (quinone outside inhibitor, strobilurin, e.g. active ingredients in Headline and Quadris) in South Dakota.
  • Dr. Todd Wehner has been added to the team of instructors for the upcoming class of the UC Davis European Plant Breeding Academy (PBA). Dr. Wehner has been with the UC Davis PBA since its inception in 2006 and lectured in U.S., Africa and Asia.
  • Concentric Ag Corporation announced that its President and CEO Donald R. Marvin will transition within the next few months to become the executive chairman of its board of directors. The search for a new President and CEO is being conducted by executive search firm Hobbs & Towne.
  • Blockchain, remote sensing and finding ways to build a 21st-century workforce for California agriculture are just a few of the timely topics that headline this year’s Salinas Valley Ag Tech Summit, themed “Tomorrow’s Technology You Can Use Today.” The sixth annual summit, to be held March 26-27 at Hartnell College in Salinas, Calif., also will feature a spectrum of women leaders and entrepreneurs as panelists or keynote speakers.
  • The Yield Lab is pleased to announce the new companies of the 2019 Yield Lab North America. These companies were selected out of a pool of 100+ applicants from around the world that are focused on solutions for more sustainable agriculture and food. The Yield Lab runs a business development program and invests $100,000 into each new portfolio company. The companies include: Aggio, Arch Innotek, Eiwa, Foodshed, Planetarians, and VakSea.
  • AGBRIDGE has developed the AGBRIDGE Drive, which acts like a regular USB drive, but transmits data via Wifi to their cloud automatically. AGBRIDGE is teaming up with Ayrstone Productivity to simplify data movement for farmers.
  • Register now for the Soil Health Institute’s annual meeting in Sacramento, Calif. This year’s theme is Soil Health – A Global Imperative, reflecting just how critically imminent it is that we safeguard and enhance the vitality and productivity of soils to address food, water, climate, wildlife, fiber, fuel, and other global issues.
  • The Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) and the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) presented the second annual Davidson Prize to the top three innovative products, selected from the AE50 honorees last week at Commodity Classic in Orlando, Florida.
  • Syngenta has teamed up with Ram Trucks to help U.S. farmers overcome the challenges of today and tomorrow. AgriEdge®, a whole-farm program that combines secure data management across digital platforms and innovative product choices for every crop, is now included in the Ram AgPack.
  • The American Soybean Association congratulates the following regional winners of the 2019 Conservation Legacy Awards. They are: Rob Stout, Washington, Iowa; Dan Gillespie, Battle Creek, Neb.; Rick Clark, Williamsport, Ind.; and Fred Sipes, Ekron, Ky.
  • Midwest farmers now have a resource nearby to provide soil biology assessments quickly and accurately. Midwest Bio-Tech recently opened Illinois’ first dedicated soil health lab.
  • Ceres Imaging, the aerial imagery provider that enables proactive farm management by combining scientific-grade imagery with data analytics and expert customer support, announced the release of its Center-Pivot Analytics Suite, a full-service imagery solution designed specifically for center-pivot irrigated row crops.
  • Deere & Company announced that its Board of Directors elected John C. May, 49, as President, Chief Operating Officer, effective April 1. May will be responsible for leading Deere’s efforts to maximize operational excellence throughout the company.
  • U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance (USFRA) has appointed Dr. Nick Goeser as Vice President, Sustainability Sciences and Strategy. Announced at the Commodity Classic event in Orlando, Goeser’s appointment is directly tied to USFRA’s focus on ensuring farmers and ranchers are recognized for their use of sustainable science and data solutions.

Stoneville Legacy Club Welcomes New Growers

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Cotton growers from the Southeast, Delta and South Texas regions were honored last week for their high yields at the annual Stoneville® Legacy Club™ celebration held in Destin, Florida. The club, now in its third year, recognizes cotton growers for their advanced knowledge and skill used to maximize their yield and profit potential, as well as produce high-quality fiber.

Twenty growers earned membership to the Stoneville Legacy Club and were recognized for harvesting yields in the top 10 percent of their state.

“Stoneville has been around for nearly 100 years and it’s a brand growers trust to consistently perform at high levels,” said Rachel Walters, Cottonseed Marketing Manager, BASF. “Stoneville Legacy Club growers pair our elite germplasm with their quality management to deliver high yields year-in and year- out. We’re honored to provide them with this recognition.”

Learn more about the brand and the club in this interview: Interview with Rachel Walters, BASF

To qualify for the Stoneville Legacy Club, growers must have planted 100 percent Stoneville cotton seed on at least 20 qualifying acres from January 1–December 31, 2018. To view a complete list of winners and learn more about how to qualify for the 2019 Stoneville Legacy Club, visit Stoneville.com/LC.

Listen to interviews with some of the Legacy Club members and award winners, which can be found in the BASF Stoneville Legacy Club virtual newsroom.

2019 BASF Legacy Club Events Photo Album

Luke Perry’s Ties to Farming and Biodiesel

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Luke Perry is being eulogized for many reasons upon his sudden passing this week at the age of 52, but not so much about his rural background and his support of biodiesel.

Back in 2006, Luke Perry showed up at the National Biodiesel Conference in San Diego sporting an FFA jacket with his name on it and talked about the agriculture influence in his early life and how he was converted to biodiesel by actress Daryl Hannah.

“My neighbors growing up farmed soybeans and I used to work in the bean fields, I’m from Ohio, you know,” said Perry, during an informal press conference with Hannah. He admitted that he was not an FFA member in high school and called it “one of the biggest regrets” of his life.

“I thought I could escape the farmer in me,” said Perry. “When I got to the point where I could live anywhere in the world that I wanted, what did I do, I bought land and cows and a tractor. Because you can’t escape who you are.”

Perry was very enthusiastic and informed about biodiesel in the press conference. Listen here: 2006 National Biodiesel Conference presser with Luke Perry and Daryl Hannah

2006 was the first biodiesel conference on the Biodiesel Conference Blog and it also featured Willie Nelson.

2019 Bayer AgVocacy at Commodity Classic

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Bayer had a lot going on at Commodity Classic this year.

Kicking off with the pre-Classic AgVocacy Forum, Bayer had more experts than ever on a greater variety of topics since the integration with Monsanto last year. The Forum offered insights on trade, technology, the future of food and grower perspectives, as well as a chance to hear from Bayer executives Bob Reiter and Lisa Safarian.

On the Commodity Classic trade show floor, Bayer was spread out to encompass brands such as Channel, DEKALB Asgrow, and The Climate Corporation.

In addition, Bayer held a learning session on how Integrated Weed Management pays off. Moderator Arlene Cotie with Bayer discussed the topic with panelists Chad Leman, Farmer from Eureka, Ill.; Jason Norsworthy, Professor in Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences Department, University of Arkansas; Bill Chism, Senior Biologist at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Listen to and/or watch it below.

You can find all of the content – 223 photos, 27 audio files, and one video – on the AgNewsWire Bayer AgVocacy virtual newsroom.

Audio file – Bayer Classic 19 Learning Session

2019 Bayer AgVocacy Forum Photo Album

Where’s the Content?

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ZimmComm had a crazy week of content creation – from Destin, Florida and the BASF Stoneville Legacy Club, to the Bayer AgVocacy Forum, the BASF Science Behind, and Commodity Classic in Orlando, and the Mid-South Farm and Gin Show in Memphis. If you are looking for it all, it’s being posted on the virtual newsroom for agriculture AgNewsWire.

Sometimes we gather content faster than we can get edited and posted, and that has definitely been the case this week. Add to that the fact that the Orlando Convention Center where Commodity Classic was held could not seem to provide the media room with decent internet access and we are running a little behind. All I can say is that I am glad it was Chuck at Classic this year and not me!

Here are direct links to the AgNewsWire newsrooms for each event where links to photo albums, audio and video are being posted:

2019 BASF Legacy Club Events

2019 Bayer AgVocacy Forum

2019 BASF Science Behind

2019 Commodity Classic

FMC at 2019 Commodity Classic

AMVAC at 2019 Commodity Classic

2019 Mid-South Farm and Gin Show

Secretary Sonny Shines at Commodity Classic

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Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue visited the 2019 Commodity Classic Friday and addressed most of the major issues being discussed at the big annual meeting of corn, soybean, wheat and sorghum farmers.

Perdue talked about the farm economy, farm bill implementation, ethanol, and a lot about trade. He also addressed many of the same issues during a press conference with the many members of the farm media in attendance. Here are both for listening and downloading.

Classic19 Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue remarks

Classic19 Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue press conference

2019 Commodity Classic Photo Album

BASF Unveils the Future of Fungicides

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BASF unveiled its latest fungicide called Revysol during its annual pre-Commodity Classic Science Behind event on Wednesday.

The new triazole is a DeMethylation Inhibitor (DMI) fungicide that BASF plans to label for more than a dozen crops, using the brand name Veltyma for corn and Revytek for soybeans. EPA registration for Revysol is expected to be finalized this summer.

Get the details in the presentations from the Science Behind event from BASF Product AI Manager Matt Bradley and Technical Marketing Manager Paula Halabicki.

The Fungicide Landscape –
Matt Bradley, BASF – Revysol Announcement

The Future of Fungicides –
Paula Halabicki, BASF, Presentation