Conservis Grows Business

Kelly MarshallAgribusiness, Cloud, Data, Software

conservisConservis Corp., the industry leader in farm management software (FMS),has earned the business of six new farm customers in the past two weeks.  These six companies represent more than 70,000 acres in five states as well as Russia.

Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota and South Dakota customers may now be served by Conservis and in Russia the company added a portion of the ProAgroTech farming operation located in Stavropol.

“As harvest approaches in the Upper Midwest, more and more forward-thinking farmers are engaging Conservis,” said Pat Christie, CEO of Conservis. “We have the most powerful farm management software available, and we are actively helping farmers improve their results.”

Many of the new customers, including Meier Farms in Wessington Springs, South Dakota, were attracted to Conservis because of the company’s recently released Planning & Budgeting module. This module ties together the yearly farm operation from planning, to managing inputs, to managing tasks during the season to harvest and finally comparing plans versus actual reporting.

Conservis’ farm management software provides today’s top producers with the insight needed to be more successful business managers. The result is a more tightly integrated and managed operation. The system is highly adaptable to individual farm needs from data gathering at the field level to full-scale farm workflow and automation. The software is in the cloud and comes with live support providing implementation, training, and continual assistance. The Conservis system currently helps manage more than $8 billion of agricultural land, equipment, inputs and crop assets at all stages of production and is used by some of North America’s most progressive agricultural producers.

Conservis offers a cloud-based platform with business-oriented, farm service-centric software to track activity, manage resources and make better decisions.

Michelin Receives CNH Supplier Award

Cindy ZimmermanAgribusiness, Award, New Holland

New Holland - Michelin TiresAccording to Michelin Agriculture has earned the 2015 “Best Supplier Award,” a prestigious recognition from CNH Industrial, a global leader in the areas of agricultural machinery, construction equipment, commercial vehicles and powertrain technology. Michelin is the first tire manufacturer to receive the award.

CNH Industrial evaluates its major suppliers through key performance criteria such as relationship, quality, supply chain and reliability. The program promotes continuous and mutual improvement to reinforce sustainable partnership.

“Michelin Agriculture teams are proud to receive this recognition. It is the result of a strong collaboration with our partner CNH Industrial,” said Emmanuel Ladent, group director of Michelin’s agriculture division, who accepted the award in a recent ceremony. “We take care to focus our energy and know-how on our customer. The trust reflected by CNH Industrial through this award is an honor for all of us.”
New Holland Agriculture, a CNH Industrial brand, chose MICHELIN® tires with Ultraflex technologies, to fit its agricultural machines exhibited at EXPO Milano 2015 as well as at the Energy Independent farm “La Bellota” in Italy.

Climate Corp Tech Increases Sustainable Production

Lizzy SchultzAg Media Summit, climate, Data, Monsanto, sustainability, technology

Spirits were high for representatives from The Climate Corporation, a division of Monsanto, at this year’s Ag Media Summit following an exciting announcement earlier this year: Their digital agriculture platform has officially been used to map over 75 million acres of United States farmland.

ams15-monsanto
“We’re seeing widespread adoption of these digital tools,” representative Chelsea Shepherd said during an interview at the 2015 Ag Media Summit, “Farmers are finding value in the digitization of the farm, and that’s where the industry is going.”

The Climate Corporation’s digital ag platform is composed of several options for producers to choose from: Climate Basic™ is a free online and mobile product that offers field level weather information and scouting functionality for farmers. It provides farmers a variety of precision services available directly on their tablet or computer, including daily precipitation reports and the ability to capture geo-located images for help identifying pests and diseases.

“They can go in, they can map their fields, they can determine which fields are workable on any given day based on the precipitation levels in that field,” says Shepherd.

Climate Pro™, the premium offering, also offers customizable nitrogen management opportunities for farmers, where they can individually and accurately analyze and manage how much nitrogen is needed on a field-by-field basis. The ability to offer such precise management of nitrogen fertilizer applications offers huge benefits to producers, from both economic and environmental standpoints. It has exploded in growth this year, and has increased its usage from the initial launch size of one million acres to five million acres of farmland. Climate Pro™ is available across the corn belt for a price of three dollars per acre.

The third product, FieldView®, provides field health imagery for farmers. It offers a more precise look into their fields, allowing producers to better focus their scouting efforts across their operation and helping farmers to maximize their returns.

The increased adoption of these digital tools only reinforces the positive impact that precision agriculture and technology have on the sustainability and efficiency of farming operations across the entire industry.

“It’s really about data management,” says Shepherd of the digital platform’s increased demand, “Historically farmers have had records and files stacked to the ceiling, they’ve kept the data about their operation in notebooks. We’re able to bring all of this data together, so they can have it all at once at their finger tips, and they can make better decisions on their farm.”

Listen to my Interview with Chelsea Shepherd here:
[wpaudio url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/zimmcomm/ams15-climate-corp.mp3″ text=”Interview with Chelsea Shepherd, The Climate Corporation”]

2015 Ag Media Summit Photo Album

Coverage of the Ag Media Summit is sponsored by
Coverage of the Ag Media Summit is sponsored by FMC   Coverage of the Ag Media Summit is sponsored by New Holland   Coverage of the Ag Media Summit is sponsored by the National Biodiesel Board

Soyl Introduces App at InfoAg

Kelly MarshallAgribusiness, Data, InfoAg, technology

infoag15-11-soylNew to InfoAg this year were Tom Parker and Grahm Barr with Soyl, a market leading service provider in the UK.

Even though Soyl is more than busy providing soil sampling to 2.5 million acres in Britain, they’ve flown across the pond to share a new app they’ve developed called iSoyl.  The app allows variable rate data to be uploaded to Dropbox and thus become more usable.

“We see ourselves now as part of a link in a chain.  There’s a lot companies here, fantastic companies producing a lot of information from a UAV, satellite imaging, that sort of thing, offering huge advise which can be layers, which can be kept, but the final link is getting the information into the tractor to do the variable rate.  Okay, there are companies that do that with the big equipment, the bigger toys, but what we’ve seen is there is a market for getting some of the initial device, and maps made, straight into a device simply to then do variable rate.”

Listen to the full interview to learn more.

[wpaudio url=”http://precision.agwired.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2015/08/infoag-15-soyl.mp3″ text=”Soyl Precision Farming”]

2015 InfoAg Conference Photo Album

Coverage of the InfoAg Conference is sponsored by
Coverage of the InfoAg Conference is sponsored by John Deere   Coverage of the InfoAg Conference is sponsored by Growmark

Low Propane Prices, Fuel Agreements Mean Savings

Kelly MarshallAgribusiness, Energy, Harvesting

propane-logoNow is the time for producers to talk to their marketers about propane pricing, advises the Propane Education & Research Council.  Currently prices are low and fall harvest will be here soon.

“With propane prices reaching near record lows and harvest and grain drying season right around the corner, now is a good time for producers to talk with their propane marketer about their fall and winter propane needs and options for pricing,” said Cinch Munson, PERC’s director of agriculture business development.

Like other energy sources such as natural gas and electricity, the price of propane is market-driven and fluctuates as demand changes. “Cooler weather means higher demand for propane and often higher prices,” explains Munson. “Producers using propane for grain drying in addition to other uses on the farm or in their homes should discuss pricing options with their propane supplier.”

PERC also recommends producers start preparing for winter now by planning for their supply needs. One important step is filling propane tanks early, and it is a good idea to look into additional on-farm storage, especially for producers who dry grain at their farm. If producers haven’t already filled their tank, Munson suggests making arrangements for an early fill.

“Ask about automatic refills and payment programs if you aren’t currently on a delivery contract,” Munson said. “By planning ahead, producers can ensure there is always enough propane on the farm and mitigate the risk for delayed delivery during the winter months.”

Learn more about propane use on the farm here.

Farm Internet Use Continues to Grow

Cindy Zimmermancomputers, Internet, USDA

usda-farmer-computerA new USDA-NASS report shows that internet access on the farm continues to grow.

According to the Computer Usage and Ownership report, 70 percent of U.S. farms and ranches now have access to internet, up three percent from 2013.

DSL remains the most popular method for accessing internet, accounting for 30 percent of all farms and ranches with internet access. Despite remaining in the lead, however, the DSL access is down 5 percent, from the 35 percent of farms that used this method in 2013.

In contrast, wireless connection, which accounts for 29 percent, and satellite connection, which accounts for 21 percent of the U.S. total, showed significant growth in the past two years. Share of farms using these two methods went up 5 and 4 percent respectively.

According to the report, 43 percent of U.S. farms use computers for their business operations. Crop growers, at 47 percent, are more likely than livestock producers to use computers for business. In the livestock sector, 39 percent of producers use computers for business.

Some of the most popular internet uses on the farm include conducting business with a non-agricultural website and accessing federal government websites, 44% of respondents use it for both of those reasons. Farmers also report using the internet for purchasing agricultural inputs (19%) and marketing activities (16%).

InfoAg Presents Emerging Legal Issues in Precision Ag

Kelly MarshallUncategorized

infoag15-95-budkeThe 2015 InfoAg Conference hosted a rather unique panel and Jamie had the opportunity to visit with Chris Budke on a rather surprising legal issue for those in precision farming.

Budke’s unexpected background consists of 10 months as a special investigator for Husch Blackwell, and prior to that, special investigator for the FBI, specifically working on human trafficking out of Kansas City.  He explains the federal government’s new policy for stopping human labor and sex trafficking is to require the contractors who provide goods and services to the federal government to understand the labor supply chain for their own company and prohibit this practice themselves

“So the difficulty for prime contracts under the new regulations is they are no longer only responsible for their own labor and supply chain, they are also responsible for their subcontractors and the companies supplying the goods and services necessary of them to provide the service to the federal government.  So it it going to be important for contractors to understand  where the materials are coming from and understand where the labor services that are used in the production of the goods or services they are selling to the federal government,” Budke tells Jamie.  “If they are using a foreign labor contracting service that foreign labor contracting service, they must certify that the service understand the new federal regulations and is in compliance with the federal regulations.”

Listen to the full interview to better understand how human trafficking laws may affect precision business.

[wpaudio url=”http://precision.agwired.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2015/08/infoag-15-blackwell-budke.mp3″ text=”Chris Budke- Human Trafficking and Precision Ag”]

2015 InfoAg Conference Photo Album

Coverage of the InfoAg Conference is sponsored by
Coverage of the InfoAg Conference is sponsored by John Deere   Coverage of the InfoAg Conference is sponsored by Growmark

Syngenta Introduces Seedcare Resource Center

Kelly MarshallAgribusiness, seed, Syngenta, Website

syngentaA new Seedcare Application and Resource Center has been created by Syngenta, exclusively for their Seedcare customers to access information and services.

“The Seedcare Application and Resource Center offers an efficient and collaborative way for treaters to prepare their own unique seed treatment calculations, as well as retain records,” said Pat Foley, Seedcare specialist manager, Syngenta. “This new website will significantly expand our capability to serve our treater customers.”

Information available through this site includes recipe calculators (initially for corn, soybeans, and wheat), along with the capability to save and email seed treatment recipes. Online calculators ensure recipes are based on the most up-to-date information and replace manual spreadsheet calculators. In the future, this site will contain links to technical bulletins and product information. Subsequent releases of the site will also expand on the technical information available to customers.

The website provides video tutorials.  Choose “Getting Started” to see how to create an account and log in.  Contact your Syngenta rep for more information.

SARE Cover Crop Topic Brief Available

Kelly MarshallCover Crops, Education, Soil

cover cropsResponses to a recent SARE-funded survey shows famers find cover crops increase corn and soybeans yields, reduce erosion and control weeds, but the number one reason farmers say they plant cover crops is improved soil health.

If you are looking for practical advice for planting cover crops the SARE Cover Crops for Sustainable Crop Rotations is a good resource.  The guide gives practical advise and research-based tips on cover crop selection.  Growers can see overviews of cover crop economics, establishment, soil fertility, rotations, and pest and water management online.

Available as either a free download or in print, Cover Crops for Sustainable Crop Rotations can be ordered for use as a handout at conferences, workshops or field days.

Cover Crops for Sustainable Crop Rotations is a companion to SARE’s Cover Crop Topic Room, where farmers and agricultural professionals will find a wide range of free cover crop resources, including SARE research, producer profiles, webinars and more.

Science Moms Take On Celeb “Fear Mongermoms”

Cindy Zimmermanbiotechnology, GMO

julie-borlaugThe granddaughter of the father of the Green Revolution has a bone to pick with the mother of Apple.

Julie Borlaug, granddaughter of Nobel Laureate Norman Borlaug, joined eleven other “science and advocate” moms across the country in co-signing a letter to celebrity moms, including Gwyneth Paltrow and Sarah Michelle Gellar, regarding their opposition to agricultural biotechnology.

gwen-gmoPaltrow and her celebrity mom Blythe Danner went to Capitol Hill earlier this month to lobby for mandatory, federal GMO labeling. She said she wasn’t there “as an expert” but as a mother.

But Borlaug and others like her are both moms and experts who have looked at the science and want the public to know GMOs are completely safe.

“Certain celebrities have misled thousands of parents into thinking that vaccines are harmful, and we see the same pattern of misinformation repeating itself here,” said Borlaug and her co-signers, including leading biotech researcher Dr. Alison Van Eenennaam and science activist Kavin Senapathy. “When GMOs are stigmatized, farmers and consumers aren’t able to benefit from much-needed advancements like plants with increased nutrients, or plants that can adapt to changing environmental stresses.”

The science-advocate moms ended their letter with an invitation to the celebrity moms to learn more about biotech farming. They wrote:

You have the opportunity to influence millions of people, so please use that influence responsibly, and ensure that your advocacy is supported by facts, not fear. Contact any or all of the undersigned, chat with farmers who grow biotech plants, or visit a college campus and talk with experts. We’re happy to discuss how this breeding method of genetic engineering could be used in harmony with many other approaches to help feed the world’s growing population, protect our environment, and preserve the Earth’s natural resources for all of our children.

Read the entire letter here.