EPA’s Neonicotinoid Findings Disputed

John DavisAg Group, ASA, environment, Soybeans

asaThe American Soybean Association (ASA) is disputing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) findings critical on the efficacy of neonicotinoid seed treatments in soybean operations. ASA President and Brownfield, Texas, farmer Wade Cowan said “…soybean producers use neonicotinoid seed treatments where they are needed and effective, and don’t use them where not.” Cowan pointed to recent research from Mississippi showing approximately 90 percent adoption of neonicotinoid seed treatments signals that the technology does work for farmers in certain areas.

In the comments, Cowan noted that neonicotinoid seed treatment use is tailored to a very specific set of circumstances, and in those settings, that particular technology is critical, “Farmers balance the efficacy of different treatments based on their individual farms, and experience shows that farmers who purchase seed treatment for soybeans do so because it reduces or eliminates the need for application of additional inputs after the soybean seedling has emerged,” he said. “Seed treatments both protect the soybeans from insects in the soil after planting as well as protecting the seedlings as they emerge. A below-ground insect infestation has no rescue options except replanting, and in the northern growing regions, replanting is not often an option.”

“EPA must not allow political pressure to lead to restrictions on crop protection tools,” concluded Cowan. “We have appreciated EPA’s science-based decision-making in evaluating crop protection products, particularly as they are wrongly singled out as the cause of pollinator decline. We urge EPA to maintain its commitment to science in evaluating crop protection tools.”

You can read all of ASA’s comments here.

Railroad Updates Progress

John DavisAFBF, Ag Group, Agribusiness, Farm Bureau

afbf15-bnsf1Billions of dollars to improve service on one of the most important railroads for grain producers looks to resolve problems that hurt the grain industry last year. Attendees of the recent American Farm Bureau Federation’s 96th Annual Convention and IDEAg Trade Show heard from Greg Guthrie, director of ag products for BNSF, who updated them them on a $5 billion capital investment plan the company announced at the beginning of 2014, which grew to closer to $5.5 billion by the end of the year.

While the grain shipping industry isn’t one of BNSF’s largest customers, representing only 9 to 10 percent of total business, Guthrie called it one of BNSF’s oldest and most valued.

“From a railroad perspective, grain has been an inherent and significant part of our DNA,” said Guthrie. “Do you really think we don’t want to haul grain? We keep hearing ‘you want to haul oil, not grain.’ We want to haul everything and we’re going do whatever we can to handle that growth because in business if you’re not growing, you’re dying.”

In the last 14 years, BNSF added more than 150 origin locations nationwide. There were 77 BNSF origin destinations in 2000, and in 2014 that number rose to 233. Each station costs $25 million to $30 million to build.

“Our growth [last year] was double the GDP and we woke up one day and realized that we took on 50 percent of all the railroad growth in the United States in one year,” Guthrie said.

That growth ended up dramatically spiking the cost to reserve rail cars, so Guthrie said BNSF is adding more grain hopper cars to the pipeline, which will allow the market to decide a fair price for cars.

2015 AFBF Convention photo album

Conservis Announces Version 8.0

Jamie JohansenAgribusiness, Data, Software

CSVS_logoConservis Corporation announced significant expansion of their industry-leading farm management software, now with new management and analytical tools.

“In Chicago the talk is all about data and profitability,” said Pat Christie, Conservis Founder & CEO. “With lower prices, top producers need timely and accurate data to run a competitive business. Conservis 8.0 makes this data actionable. For the first time, farmers can compare performance to spending at the field level, understand break-even points and better plan an optimal crop mix based on the cost per unit of production.

Reporting tools enhance visibility of the complex details and numerous activities on the farm. Easy-to-view reports make it simple for a farmer to conduct daily analysis and make immediate, informed adjustments – at all levels of the farm, from seed and other inputs, to harvest, marketing and all critical points in between.“Having the data immediately, rather than three months later, helps us make real-time decisions” said Andy Jenks, Jenks Farms. “This is so important in today’s production agriculture.”

Planning and budgeting is crucial for business success. With Conservis 8.0, a farmer collaborates with agronomists and others to create sequenced activity-based crop plans. It is easy to evaluate scenarios for profitability, resource usage and timing bottlenecks. Final plans are used to create budgets down to the field level and are converted to purchase and work orders, which are easily tracked against the original plan. Storing all this information in a single cloud-based platform is a distinct advantage over planning spreadsheets and paper work orders with verbal updates to manage the pipeline of field-level work.

The Yield Lab Announces First Cohort

Jamie JohansenAgribusiness, technology

yield-labThe Yield Lab, the nation’s largest agriculture technology business accelerator, announced its first five participating companies, which will begin the program this week in St. Louis. The companies were selected from a pool of more than a hundred applicants from around the world and reflect the Yield Lab’s mission to promote solutions for a healthier, more sustainable future globally.

The Yield Lab runs a nine-month program that supports emerging AgTech companies with up to $100,000 in funding, an Agriculture (Ag) specific curriculum, one-on-one mentorship, free workspace, and networking opportunities. The Yield Lab is supported by a solid framework of agriculturally focused individuals, organizations, and businesses in the St. Louis area. Agriculture is a leading industry in the greater St. Louis area, providing over 20% of the area’s employment and generating $75 billion in global economic value.

“We believe that finding a solution to sustainably feed the world is one of the biggest problems facing the world today. We have to get creative to solve this problem—and we believe innovation and entrepreneurship are the ways to do it,” said Managing Director Thad Simons. “There is no better place than St. Louis to stimulate entrepreneurship in agricultural technology and development. The Yield Lab, our investors, mentors, advisers, and entrepreneurs are a start on this journey.”

The Yield Lab’s first cohort includes:
– Arvegenix – Arvegenix is developing Pennycress, an annual energy crop grown over winter when land is idle, giving farmers another revenue crop. Pennycress, an oilseed crop, produces oil for biofuels and press-cake that is used as livestock feed. Pennycress is a non-food crop.
– AGERpoint – AGERpoint provides comprehensive GIS-based asset inventory, data and precision agriculture solutions to growers of tree, vine, and bush-based crops. AGERpoint distills data from laser and other optical scanning equipment into actionable information for permanent crop farmers from planting to harvest.
– Holganix – Holganix is a 100% natural bio-nutritional product that promotes strong plant health and sustainable soils while reducing the need for traditional fertilizers and pesticides.
– TerViva – TerViva is commercializing a perennial tree grown on underproductive agricultural land called Pongamia. Pongamia produces an annual harvest of pods, which can be crushed to produce animal feed and oil used for biofuels.
– Solapa4 – Solapa4 is a data gathering and analytics company that can predict the agricultural performance of land. Their products show the productivity of a farm for risk management, agribusiness, and farming decisions.

New Products From United Suppliers

Jamie JohansenAgribusiness, Nitrogen, Planting

United SuppliersUnited Suppliers announces the launch of Optify™ and Symbol™ Advance powered by Take Off®; two new products for 2015 crop season.

Optify, a newly EPA registered plant growth regulator, promotes root growth and nutrient uptake when applied in-furrow.

Symbol Advance powered by Take Off increases nitrogen use efficiency inside the plant when applied via foliar application.

“We are looking forward to the 2015 crop season, especially with these two performance brands in our line-up. United Suppliers owners will utilize these advanced technologies to help growers produce stronger, healthier corn plants that mitigate yield limiting stresses.” stated Ryan Klapperich, Marketing Manager.

United Suppliers continues to invest in advanced technologies resulting in a rich pipeline of agronomic solutions that will help its owners and their customers meet their production potential.

Merger of Crop Protection Traceability Standards

Jamie JohansenAgribusiness, Crop Protection, Data

aggatewayAgGateway and the CRISTAL Product Traceability team of CropLife International are merging their bar code guidelines, also known as traceability standards, a move that will allow crop protection companies with global operations to enhance data exchange in managing product traceability, inventory control, regulatory compliance and quality control.

The important collaboration comes as traceability issues are increasingly important in global trade of crop protection products. However, to date there has not been a global harmonization of these standards, meaning that a company may need to set up its data exchange processes differently in different regions. A standard approach to bar coding and data exchange will not only greatly enhance product management, but also give increased confidence to agricultural retailers and growers.

“As we reviewed the AgGateway and CRISTAL bar code guidelines within AgGateway, it became obvious that the best way to address questions about differences between the standards was to merge the two into one,” said Marcia Rhodus, Retail Business Solutions Specialist with Monsanto, and the working group leader for AgGateway’s Automated Identification and Data Capture (AIDC) initiative. “The two groups have met and agreed on a high-level plan to complete the project.”

AgGateway’s AIDC group will begin by bringing the AgGateway bar code guidelines in line with the latest standards and guidelines of GS1, a global standards organization, as a means to integrate them with the CRISTAL standards and guidelines.

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Farm Foundation Forum on Funding Agricultural Research

John DavisAg Group, Agribusiness

farmfoundationlogo3Farm Foundation is sponsoring another one of its conversations on topics affecting agriculture. The next free forum, “Tools to Fund Agricultural Research,” will be held on Wednesday, Jan. 28, at the National Press Club in Washington D.C., with a live audiocast also available free of charge for those who can’t be there in person.

For more than a decade, constraints on state and federal budgets have resulted in reductions in public funding of agricultural research. Funding for basic research has declined, limiting the ability of scientists to explore new and interconnected areas of study. The decline in public funding has also changed the dynamic of private funding, as companies step in to fund work being done at public institutions. Cutbacks in research investments also slow the pipeline of new information and technologies needed to sustain and expand agricultural production and productivity.

Panel members for the Jan. 28 Forum are:

Keith Fuglie of USDA’s Economic Research Service, who will provide an overview of trends in public and private research funding, including the funding model used in Australia.

Dr. Harold Browning of the Citrus Research and Development Foundation, to discuss that industry-led research effort.

Steve Rhines of the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, who will discuss the potential role of agricultural research organizations in financing agricultural research.

Mark McKenna of the Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research, will discuss this non-profit corporation authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill to combine public funding and private donations in support of agriculture research

Registration information is available here.

Big Data Could be Next Cash Crop

John DavisAFBF, Ag Group, Agribusiness, Data, Farm Bureau, Mobile

afbf15-farmobileIt’s said that knowledge is power, and now information could be a powerful cash crop for farmers. Attendees of the American Farm Bureau Federation’s 96th Annual Convention and IDEAg Trade Show heard from Jason Tatge, current president, CEO and co-founder of FarMobile, who sees huge potential for farmers to dictate the sale of their data to large agricultural companies.

According to Tatge, farmers currently lack the necessary protection of their data. “Without a safeguard, data could manipulate margins,” he explained. “Our goal is to get the revenue stream back to the growers.”

He expects his company, FarMobile, to be the first of many to step in and mediate this process. FarMobile provides farmers with a device that can be plugged into a tractor to gather data on land and machinery including fuel economy, speed, direction and products being applied. The information is then directed to an electronic file that can be accessed at the farmer’s discretion.

Once this data is in the system, FarMobile facilitates opportunities between farmers and agricultural companies by allowing large companies to make offers to purchase the farmer’s data, should they desire to make a profit rather than utilize it for personal use. According to Tatge, this is the main way farmers can start to turn a profit on their data.

Tatge says the current state of “farmer data rights are the Wild West,” and he wants to put control back into the hands of farmers.

2015 AFBF Convention photo album

Precision Planting Announces vDrive® Insecticide

Jamie JohansenAgribusiness, Crop Protection, Insecticide

Screen Shot 2015-01-22 at 8.54.29 AMA new insecticide control system by Precision Planting® enables farmers to simplify their planter and achieve more precise control of insecticide on every portion of their fields.

Luke Stuber, vDrive® Insecticide engineer, explains. “Farmers applying insecticide today calibrate their meter for a single speed. As operators speed up, slow down or plant around curves, the intended application rate is impossible to maintain. And, as high speed planting is now a reality with SpeedTube, the insecticide system needs to keep pace.”

As growers have adopted vDrive® technology from Precision Planting® for row-by-row population control, it has allowed them to eliminate existing drive systems, chains, sprockets and hex-shafts. vDrive® Insecticide allows farmers to eliminate the mechanical drive systems for insecticide, and the maintenance that goes with it.

“vDrive® Insecticide provides flexibility for farmers to micromanage their inputs with row-by-row control, and with a newly designed metering system, allows growers to optimize an application technology that has not had significant improvements in years,” Stuber said. “As farmers work to closely manage their inputs and optimize yields, vDrive® Insecticide helps them more precisely manage insecticide applications in a continued effort to promote sustainable agriculture practices,” Stuber adds.

vDrive® Insecticide will be field tested on a limited number of make/model combinations as a beta product for the Spring of 2015.

NFU Supports NRCS Conservation Program

Jamie JohansenAg Group, Farmers, NRCS

national-farmers-union-logoNational Farmers Union (NFU) President Roger Johnson submitted comments to the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) on an interim rule regarding the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), commending NRCS for their promotion of conservation in agriculture and offering suggestions to focus the program more heavily on conservation outcomes.

“Family farmers and ranchers are the original conservationists,” said Johnson. “NFU members understand that stewardship of our natural resources is crucial to long-term farm viability and the integrity of the food supply.”

Johnson pointed out that NFU policy, enacted annually by delegates to the organization’s national convention, states, “Conservation programs should be fully funded to benefit the environment, reward stewardship of land and water resources and marine habitat, discourage speculative development of fragile land resources, strengthen family farming, and enhance rural communities.”

“CSP is a very innovative attempt at rewarding producers for enhanced conservation practices and NFU supports a robust and unrestricted program,” said Johnson. “CSP rewards farmers for adopting and managing conservation systems to address priority resource concerns, including soil, air and habitat quality, water quality and quantity, and energy conservation.”

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