Smooth Transition to Bayer for Channel Seed Brand

AgWired Precision, Audio, Bayer, NAFB

The move to Bayer has been seamless for the Channel Seed Brand and its seedsmen, according to Brock Helgerson, Channel Brand marketing lead.

“We launched a new tool this summer that our Channel seedsmen utilized as they conducted their field checkup series throughout the summer. It really allowed them to utilize the technology in Climate FieldView to make sure that they were really doing their field checkup series in the areas of the fields that could have a real impact for the farmer,” said Helgerson, who noted that Channel seedsmen saw fantastic performance out of Channel brand corn and soybeans this summer, despite weather challenges in some areas.

Helgerson said the 2019 portfolio includes Channel Protexus corn, which provides tolerance to five key diseases. We’ll hear more about Bayer and the Channel Seed Brand at the upcoming ASTA 2018 CSS and Seed Expo.

Listen to Cindy’s interview with Brock here: NAFB18 Interview with Brock Helgerson, Bayer

2018 National Association of Farm Broadcasting Convention Photo Album

Leaf Spot is FMC Disease of the Year

AgWired Precision, Audio, FMC, Fungicide, NAFB

If there were an award for crop disease of the year, it would be a tie between two types of leaf spot this year, according to FMC Technical Service Rep Nick Hustedde.

“In corn, we’ve had a tremendous amount of grey leaf spot…in soybeans, it seems like frogeye leaf spot’s the clear winner,” said Hustedde, adding that both are caused by the fungus Cercospora.

Hustedde says FMC’s new Lucento fungicide, which is expected to be approved for sale in the 2019 season, controls both grey leaf spot in corn and frogeye leaf spot in soybeans, as well as many other diseases. “It’s a premix of a new SDHI molecule that we’ve been developing for a number of years and it’s partnered with our in-house chemistry flutriafol, one of the most systemic triazoles on the market,” he said.

Listen to an audio interview with Nick here and watch the video below:
NAFB18 Interview with Nick Hustedde, FMC

2018 NAFB Convention Photo Album

Enogen Means Energy for Feed and Fuel

AgWired Animal, AgWired Precision, Audio, Corn, Ethanol, Feed, NAFB, Syngenta

The same trait that makes Enogen corn hybrids great for ethanol production is also good for livestock feed.

The higher levels of the alpha-amylase enzyme in these hybrids help break down sugar into energy more efficiently which benefits both ethanol producers and cattle. “The Enogen technology and how it gains efficiencies and makes the ethanol plant money is similar in the rumen of a cow,” said Chris Tingle, head of commercial operations for Enogen at Syngenta, at the 2018 NAFB Convention Trade Talk. He says recent data from Kansas State and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln shows about a five percent increase in feed efficiency. “Which is critical when we see the tensions of those markets now and every penny counts.”

Meanwhile, Enogen’s ethanol plant footprint continues to grow. Learn more in this interview –
NAFB18 Interview with Chris Tingle, Syngenta

2018 NAFB Convention Photo Album

Farmers Mutual Hail Partners with Climate Corporation

AgWired Precision, Bayer, Crop Insurance, Precision Agriculture

The Climate Corporation, a subsidiary of Bayer, is partnering with Farmers Mutual Hail Insurance Company of Iowa (FMH) on a platform expanding Climate FieldView™ for crop insurance reporting.

“We are excited about working with The Climate Corporation to add an easy-to-use reporting option for our policyholders who use FieldView and agents utilizing FMH Precision Crop Insurance Solutions™,” said Ron Rutledge, FMH President and CEO. “Not only will connecting our two systems enhance reporting processes, the data collected through FieldView can be used for adjusting crop losses, resulting in an enhanced claim experience for our policyholders.”

With Climate FieldView, farmers across millions of acres are experiencing fast, easy field data collection and the ability to gain analytics-based insights from their data for increased productivity. With the addition of FMH as a partner, planting and harvest data captured in a farmer’s FieldView account will seamlessly flow into FMH systems at the farmer’s request for faster completion and delivery of planting and production reports. Ultimately, this will provide farmers and their agents a more simplified reporting experience, eliminating the need for manual data entry. In addition to enabling easy, digitized insurance reporting for farmers, Climate and FMH will be identifying further collaboration opportunities to partner in the area of digital risk management for farmers in the future.

FMC Wins Big at Agrow Awards

AgWired Precision, Crop Protection, FMC

FMC Corporation took top honors in several categories at the 2018 Agrow Awards, an international competition honoring the top advancements in agriculture.

FMC won Best R&D Pipeline and Best Application Technology for its at-plant 3RIVE 3D® application system. In addition, Dr. William E. Barnette, retired director of Discovery Chemistry for FMC, was recognized with the prestigious Agrow Lifetime Achievement Award.

Over his 30-year career with FMC and DuPont Crop Protection, Dr. Barnette has been an industry leader in identifying new crop protection active ingredient development candidates.

Dr. Kathleen Shelton, FMC chief technology officer and vice president, said the company is honored to be recognized for its crop protection discovery research which is critically important to helping farmers produce an abundant and safe food supply for a growing world population. “Our R&D pipeline is focused on new active ingredients and new modes of action to address growers’ insect, disease and weed challenges around the world, including resistant pests, which are a serious threat to crop production.”

Rick Ekins, FMC Precision Platforms lead, accepted the award for FMC’s patent-pending 3RIVE 3D® application system, designed to deliver low volumes of crop protection solutions to the furrow during planting. Currently used in corn and soybeans, 3RIVE 3D technology is being tested in sugar beets, cotton, dry beans, sunflowers and more. New 3RIVE 3D formulated products are in development, like Ethos® 3D insecticide/fungicide just introduced to the market this month.

Precision Ag Bytes 11/20

AgWired Precision, Precision Ag Bytes

  • Over 60 scholars representing 30 leading U.S. universities have shown their solidarity for the proposed Agriculture Data Act of the next Farm Bill in a letter sent to Senate and House Agriculture Committee leaders. The Ag Data Act would establish the framework for a conservation and farm productivity national data warehouse; the first of its kind in the United States, that would unlock solutions to conserve natural resources and improve farmer success while protecting data privacy.
  • The U.S. Agency for International Development, Land O’Lakes International Development, and the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research announced the six winners of the Feed the Future Fall Armyworm Tech Prize at the AfricaCom conference in South Africa.
  • The CHS Foundation, funded by charitable gifts from CHS Inc., announced a $1.5 million grant to support the South Dakota State University precision agriculture program and construction of the new Raven Precision Agriculture Center on campus.
  • A locally-led, multi-stakeholder program designed to improve the sustainability of winter wheat production in the Southern Plains took top honors as the 2018 Collaboration of the Year at the Field to Market Sustainability Leadership Awards Ceremony in Denver, Colo. The winning collaborators on the innovative and successful Southern Plains Wheat Fieldprint® Project included Illinois-based Agrible, Inc., Archer Daniels Midland and General Mills.
  • Land O’Lakes SUSTAIN and global ingredient supplier Tate & Lyle announced a new collaboration to advance conservation practices on Midwest farms – specifically in sourcing sustainable corn.
  • Organic Materials Review Institute recently approved an organic formulation of Rhizolizer™, a line of non-GMO microbial soil amendments that has proven to be highly successful in increasing yields and reducing time to harvest. The unique treatments, which were developed by Locus Agricultural Solutions™, LLC, have drastically improved the vitality of more than 40,000 acres of crops, leading to demand for organic offerings.

Poncho/VOTiVO 2.0 Boosts Yields Again

AgWired Precision, Audio, BASF, NAFB

BASF looks to bring even more yield to growers with Poncho® /VOTiVO® 2.0, adding a third mode of action to a trusted family of products.

Since Poncho came on the scene in 2004, followed by Poncho/VOTiVO in 2011, the products have been providing secondary insect protection and yield boosts to growers. The newest product brings even more advantages, said Kerry Grossweiler, BASF Seed Solutions Product Manager.

“[It has] an additional biologic bacterial that increases the microbial activity in the soil around the corn roots. It results in additional nutrient availability and uptake by the corn plant,” said Grossweiler.

Trials show that translates to an average yield increase of 3.8 bushels per acre over previous versions as it pushes the plant to work harder. Grossweiler encouraged growers to talk to local seed dealers about the opportunity do a trial with Poncho/VOTiVO 2.0 in 2019. Grossweiler was at the 2018 National Association of Farm Broadcasting Convention in Kansas City.

Listen to Chuck’s interview with Kerry here: NAFB18 Interview with Kerry Grossweiler, BASF

2018 National Association of Farm Broadcasting Convention Photo Album

FMC Introduces Ethos 3D

AgWired Precision, Audio, FMC, NAFB

Participants at the 2018 National Association of Farm Broadcasting Trade Talk event learned more about Ethos® 3D insecticide/fungicide from FMC.

The product is formulated specifically for the 3RIVE 3D® in-furrow application system that converts traditional high-volume applications to low-volume applications through patented technologies. FMC’s Bob Hooten said farmers are beginning to view crop protection products as a program and not just an application, and that’s important. Fighting waterhemp is just one example.

“Waterhemp is an incredible plant in the fact that it has wiped out a lot of our chemistries and we just don’t have options anymore. So we ave to really make sure that we manage. And don’t slack up on the rates at planting time. If you do that, you’re going to develop resistance again, so keep your full rates out there,” said Hooten.

Hooten said Ethos 3D offers rootworm, wireworm and grub control, and includes a biological component that grows along the root system to protect against pythium, rhizoctonia, fusarium and phytopthora. He said the equipment is free right now when growers commit to buying FMC products over a one-year or three-year period.

Ethos 3D insecticide/fungicide and the 3RIVE 3D application system are part of FMC Freedom Pass, which includes application innovations, agronomic rewards, product financing and product assurances.

Listen to Chuck’s interview with Bob here: NAFB18 Interview with Bob Hooten, FMC – Ethos® 3D

2018 National Association of Farm Broadcasting Convention Photo Album

Corn Growers Partner With Environmental Defense Fund

AgWired Precision, Audio, Conservation, Corn, environment, NAFB, NCGA

The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) is joining forces with the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) to address one of the most pressing challenges for farmers, rural communities and natural resources – how to improve environmental outcomes while optimizing productivity and profitability.

The partnership will work on gathering data for tracking of water quality, soil health and greenhouse gas emissions, and developing user-friendly technology solutions for data reporting and analysis. It will also include on-farm engagement to increase knowledge about innovative conservation tools and practices, policy advocacy to support voluntary conservation programs with measurable outcomes, and finding ways for farmers to benefit economically from conservation practices such as cover crops and conservation tillage.

The Soil Health Partnership, an NCGA initiative, has been working on making agriculture more productive and sustainable through improved soil health since it was started in 2015. Iowa farmer and NCGA First Vice President Kevin Ross was among the first to enroll in the program, which has been gathering data from more than 100 working farms enrolled in 12 states on progressive farm management practices such as cover crop usage to determine both economic and environmental sustainability.

In this interview from NAFB Trade Talk last week, Ross talks about the Soil Health Partnership 4th annual summit, January 15 – 16 in St. Louis, which is open to all growers and agronomists for the first time. He also talks about the new agreement between NCGA, United Soybean Board, and National Pork Board for sustainability research. NAFB18 Interview with Iowa farmer Kevin Ross, NCGA 1st VP

2018 NAFB Convention Photo Album