Precision | Page 271 | News and reviews from the precision agriculture industry

Bayer Still Buzzing Over Feed A Bee Success

Lizzy SchultzSeptember 2, 2015Audio, Bayer CropScience, Bees, Farm Progress Show, pollinators

Representatives from Bayer CropScience were excited to announce at Farm Progress Show that they have exceeded the wildflower planting goals laid out at the launch of their Fee A Bee initiative earlier this year.

“After just 11 weeks we have exceeded our goals, and have planted 55 million flowers through the initiative,” said Dr. Becky Langer, manager of the North American Bee Care Program, in an interview following a press conference at the 2015 Farm Progress Show.

The Feed a Bee initiative focuses on reestablishing lost bee habitat and forage sources that have contributed to the recent collapse of bee colonies throughout the United States by providing pollinator-friendly wildflower seed packets for anyone to plant on their land, as well as magnifying the education component of improving bee health nationwide.

Participation in the initiative highlighted the nationwide, universal interest and concern over the health of American bees: “The initiative stakeholders are diverse, we have everything from growers to dairy farmers to lawn care companies, and even bee keepers themselves are making seed bulbs out of their wildflowers for their clubs to plant. They come from so many different sides of the businesses and geographic locations,” explained Langer, “That’s what the great part is, because promoting bee health is going to require all stakeholders to work together.”

Initiatives like Feed a Bee allow everyone to be a part of the solution by promoting a more wise usage of the land we share with the bees, something Langer thinks contributes to its success: “From planting fence rows [of wildflowers] along growing crop fields to planting flowers in your own backyard to help feed these bees that are out working, everyone can make a difference together.”

Stop by the Bayer CropScience booth at Farm Progress Show to learn more about the Bayer Bee Care program, and how Bayer is committed to Bee Health and vitality.

Listen to my interview with Becky here: [wpaudio url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/zimmcomm/fps-bayer-langer.mp3″ text=”Interview with Becky Langer, Bayer CropScience”]

2015 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

Coverage of the 2015 Farm Progress Show is sponsored by

Coverage of the 2015 Farm Progress Show is sponsored by Bayer CropScience

Bayer CropScience Wants You to #AgVocate

Cindy ZimmermanSeptember 2, 2015Audio, Bayer CropScience, Farm Progress Show

At the 2015 Farm Progress Show this week, Bayer CropScience launched #AgVocate, an initiative designed to inform, encourage and enable voices within American agriculture to engage in the public dialogue about agriculture, food production and the importance of innovation to tackle the massive challenges facing our world today.

“We’re asking people to pledge their time and their will into this campaign, and really try to understand the issues and the science behind the technologies we create,” says Bayer CropScience VP of Marketing David Hollinrake. “With their pledge, we’re also offering up materials to help them engage in dialogue with people who may not have as much information about how food is grown.”

Visitors to the Bayer tent at FPS can pledge join their hands to #AgVocate and learn new facts and techniques to help them #AgVocate throughout the year. “Our goal is to engage as many people as possible, and there’s 150,000 people who will be through these facilities over the next three days,” said Hollinrake. “If we can do our little part by asking them to be an #AgVocate and pledge their time then I think we can have a meaningful impact on shaping consumer sentiment in a positive way.”

So, if you’re at the FPS this week, stop by the Bayer tent – if not, you can learn more here.

Listen to my interview with David here: [wpaudio url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/zimmcomm/fps-bayer-hollinrake.mp3″ text=”Interview with David Hollinrake, Bayer CropScience”]

2015 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

Coverage of the 2015 Farm Progress Show is sponsored by

Not Your Everyday Manure Spreader

Jamie JohansenSeptember 2, 2015Agribusiness, Audio, Farm Progress Show, Fertilizer, John Deere

Doug Felter, product manager for John Deere’s sprayer and tillage equipment line gave ag media a sneak preview of a very unique piece of equipment during their ag media event last week. The High Capacity Nutrient Applicator is “in development” and shows John Deere’s commitment to nutrient application. Although this nutrient applicator isn’t on display at this year’s Farm Progress Show, I bet you can stop in and they will be glad to talk about it.

When John Deere spoke to customers about this unit, Doug said three things stood out. “The first was durability. We are doing a lot to make sure it will hold up to the rigor of the terrain that it works in. Productivity was another big one. Acres equal money. It has got to be able to cover the acres. We have spent a lot of time focusing on capacity and making sure the operator can stay comfortable while covering acres. The final one was around support. Ultimately the most important one in making sure we can keep those machines up. We know the John Deere dealer network is going to be up to the task.”

Listen to Chuck’s complete interview with Doug to learn more about John Deere’s High Capacity Nutrient Applicator which is in the development stages. [wpaudio url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/zimmcomm/jd-reveal-15-hcna.mp3″ text=”Doug Felter, John Deere”]

John Deere 2016 Product Reveal Photo Album

2015 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

Coverage of the 2015 Farm Progress Show is sponsored by

FS System Supports #FarmProgressShow

Cindy ZimmermanSeptember 2, 2015cooperatives, Farm Progress Show, FS System, Growmark

The GROWMARK FS System is out in full force this week at the 2015 Farm Progress Show in Decatur, helping to support the field demonstrations.

Just last week, several FS member cooperatives were honored at the 2015 GROWMARK annual meeting in Chicago.

RPA Farmers Co-op of Pleasant Plains, Illinois, won the 2014 CERES Award, named for the Roman goddess of grain and awarded to cooperatives achieving excellence in four areas – operating expense efficiency ratio, return on invested capital, bushel volume percent growth, and GROWMARK’s capital guideline ratio.

RPA Farmers Co-op placed in the top 30 percent in all four out of four criteria and seven other cooperatives recognized for their achievements in three out of four:

Burtonview Cooperative, Lincoln, Illinois
East Lincoln Farmers’ Grain Company, Lincoln, Illinois
Farmers Grain Company of Central Illinois, Chestnut, Illinois
Farmers Elevator Company of Manteno, Manteno, Illinois
GRAINLAND Cooperative, Eureka, Illinois
Minier Cooperative Grain Company, Minier, Illinois
Randolph Cooperative Grain Company, Heyworth, Illinois

In addition, five co-ops were recognized by GROWMARK for business performance improvement based on return on invested capital. For the second year in a row, the cooperative with the highest degree of improvement was Ag-Land FS, Inc., Pekin, Illinois. Ranking second was Stephenson Service Company, Freeport, Illinois. In third place was Conserv FS, Inc., Woodstock, Illinois. In fourth place was Vineland Growers Co-operative, Jordan Station, Ontario, Canada. And ranking fifth was AGRILAND FS, Inc., Winterset, Iowa.

2015 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

Coverage of the 2015 Farm Progress Show is sponsored by

Farm Market iD Releases Harvest 2014 Data

Kelly MarshallSeptember 2, 2015Agribusiness, Data, Harvesting

Farm Market iD has announced an update of it’s farm and land database to include the Harvest year 2014.

At it’s most recent, FMiD’s proprietary fact-based database includes information for more than 402 million planted production acres. The land represents over 1.9 million individuals farming more than 1.4 million farms that generate $197 billion in gross farm income in the Harvest Year 2014.

Key highlights of this year’s update:

Expanded geospatial capabilities providing aggregated data for watershed boundaries at the HUC8 (Hydrologic Unit Code) level
FMiD unique land attributed with the most recent NOAA Severe Weather Data Inventory
The ability to identify unique land and crop combinations with the NRCS Soil Survey Geographic (SURRGO) database
A new and improved California file reporting on all 58 counties in the state covering over 120 crop/crop groups
Digital advertising capabilities through Oracle BlueKai

You can learn more about Farm Market iD on their website.

Bayer CropScience Wants to #LeaveABetterWorld

Cindy ZimmermanSeptember 2, 2015Audio, Bayer CropScience, Farm Progress Show

Innovation, education and #AgVocate are themes at the 2015 Bayer CropScience Farm Progress Show tent.

“Today, more than ever, farmers depend on – and consumers demand – innovative solutions to produce our food in a safe and sustainable way. We are proud to say that Bayer is an innovation leader in agriculture,” said Jim Blome, president and CEO of Bayer CropScience LP, offered details during a meeting with the media at the show on Tuesday.

Bayer kicked the show off at the main entrance with presentation of a $10,000 check to the Illinois Central College to support the agronomy program. “It’s really a part of giving back and making sure we have the trained professionals to help us use our new innovations in the future and to guide our yield increases that we’ll need to feed nine billion people,” said Blome.

Bayer CropScience launched five new products in the past year alone to help farmers with their top challenge, three of which are featured at this year’s show: ILeVO®, Credenz® and DiFlexx™.

Learn more in this interview: [wpaudio url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/zimmcomm/fps-bayer-blome.mp3″ text=”Interview with Jim Blome, Bayer CropScience”]

2015 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

Coverage of the 2015 Farm Progress Show is sponsored by

TruSet Control on John Deere Combination Ripper

Cindy ZimmermanSeptember 2, 2015agronomy, Audio, Equipment, John Deere

The John Deere 2730 Combination Ripper is now adjustable with the touch of a button on the new TruSet control.

This industry-exclusive technology enables users to independently adjust depth or pressure settings for each operation on their 2730 Combination Ripper from the cab, on-the-go, for maximum agronomic results.

“As conditions change throughout the field, operators running the 2730 with TruSet can quickly and efficiently respond to varying soils, compacted areas, heavier residue, and moisture,” says Nathan Kramer, product marketing manager for John Deere. “Making customized adjustments that respond to these agronomic factors help customers maximize their yield potential.”

With TruSet, operators can adjust depth settings for their disks, rippers, and closing disks on the 2730 Ripper along with pressure settings for the active hydraulic rolling baskets. These adjustments are made in cab from the GreenStar™ 3 2630 Display that also provides users with real-time data for their actual tillage settings.

“In just six seconds, TruSet operators can adjust depth and pressure settings from the cab while continuing to cover acres,” says Kramer. “That’s up to 200 times faster than conventional, manual adjustments with single-point depth control and cylinder stops”

Chuck spoke with John Deere’s Doug Felter at last week’s product reveal about this new product – and this week you can learn more at this week at the Farm Progress Show in Illinois: [wpaudio url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/zimmcomm/jd-reveal-15-felter-ripper.mp3″ text=”Doug Felter, John Deere”]

2015 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

Coverage of the 2015 Farm Progress Show is sponsored by

Welcome Back to the #FarmProgress Show

Cindy ZimmermanSeptember 1, 2015Farm Progress Show, Video

The crowds have gathered and no rain in the forecast. The nation’s largest outdoor farm show is underway with more than 600 exhibitors and more than 300 acres of field demonstrations. Today, here at Farm Progress Show, we have cloudy skies, but temperatures are expected to be in the 90s. But don’t worry attendees will be cooled off with 43 air-conditioned structures on site. I climbed that Sukup grain bin this morning to give you a birds eye view of the grand opening.

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View and download photos from the event here: 2015 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

Coverage of the 2015 Farm Progress Show is sponsored by

#FarmProgressShow is Underway

Cindy ZimmermanSeptember 1, 2015Audio, Farm Progress Show

Hello and welcome to Day One of the 2015 Farm Progress Show. It’s a beautiful morning in Farm Progress City, Illinois.

To get a preview, we spoke with Show Manager Matt Jungemann. One of the things that’s very exciting this year are the field demos. That’s because the last two years have been cool and wet making the crops unavailable for harvest. Not so this year. We’re expecting a big crowd over the next couple days and the ZimmComm Team is on site and working out of the air conditioned Media Tent, sponsored by our friends with BASF.

You can listen to my interview with Matt here: [wpaudio url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/zimmcomm/fps-15-jungemann-preview.mp3″ text=”Matt Jungemann, Farm Progress Show”]

2015 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

Coverage of the 2015 Farm Progress Show is sponsored by

USDA Expands Farm Safety Net

Kelly MarshallSeptember 1, 2015Crop Insurance, USDA

Agriculture Deputy Secretary Krysta Harden has announced that Whole-Farm Revenue Protection insurance will be available in every county in the nation in 2016. The USDA is also making changes to help a variety of farmers and ranchers, such as beginning, organic, and fruit and vegetable growers, get more use of Whole-Farm Revenue Protection.

“Whole-Farm Revenue Protection insurance allows producers who have previously had limited access to a risk management safety net, to insure all of the commodities on their farm at once instead of one commodity at a time,” said Deputy Secretary Krysta Harden. “That gives them the option of embracing more crop diversity on their farm and helps support the production of a wider variety of foods.”

USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) introduced the Whole-Farm Revenue Protection pilot program for a majority of counties in the 2015 insurance year. Starting with the 2016 insurance year, the new program will be available in all counties in the United States, a first for the federal crop insurance program.

USDA also provided additional flexibility to producers by making the following changes, including: beginning farmers and ranchers, livestock producers, and expanding operations.

Whole-Farm Revenue Protection includes a wide range of available coverage levels, provides coverage for replanting annual commodities, includes provisions that increase coverage for expanding operations, and allows the inclusion of market readiness costs in the coverage. The policy is tailored for most farms, including farms with specialty or organic commodities (both crops and livestock), or those marketing to local, regional, farm-identity preserved, specialty, or direct markets. The policy covers farms or ranches with up to $8.5 million in insured revenue.

For more information, including product availability, visit the RMA Whole-Farm Web page. Learn more about crop insurance and the modern farm safety net at www.rma.usda.gov.

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