John Deere Announces $35,000 Green Fever Giveaway

Cindy ZimmermanEquipment, John Deere

deere-green-feverAs John Deere kicks off its annual Green Fever sales event to start its 2015 product marketing year, the company is launching a new $35,000 Green Fever Giveaway program, which includes a $25,000 landscape makeover.

John Deere is offering a grand prize package of a $25,000 landscape makeover and choice of either a John Deere Gator, ZTrak Mower, 1 Family Tractor or Signature Series Lawn Tractor. In addition, John Deere is giving away one $500 gift card each month from November to February, with the winners selected from those who enter the contest. Monthly winners can redeem their gift cards at participating John Deere dealers and are eligible for the grand prize as well.

Also during Green Fever sales event, customers can get major discounts and financing incentives on select models of equipment purchased from November 1, 2014, to February 2, 2015. Visit www.JohnDeere.com/GreenFever for a complete list of equipment, discounts and financing options.

PrecisionHawk Gains New Investor

Cindy Zimmermantechnology, UAV

precision-hawkPrecisionHawk, an unmanned aerial systems (UAV) and remote sensing company, has announced the addition of Intel Capital to its Series B funding round of $10 million.

The new investor announced its participation at this week’s Intel Capital Global Summit, which brings together more than 1,000 business executives and industry leaders from around the world. “Drones hold the promise of revolutionizing many industries, some new and some very old, like farming,” said Jerry Bautista, vice president and general manager of Intel’s New Business Initiatives.

PrecisionHawk CEO Christopher Dean says Intel Capital’s participation will enhance PrecisionHawk’s product development and engineering to meet the technology needs of a growing global clientele. “Intel Capital understands, as we do, that the UAV platform is not the product. Our product is information delivery,” said Christopher Dean, PrecisionHawk CEO.

PrecisionHawk is currently providing aerial data solutions to enterprise-level customers across a wide variety of industries, including agriculture, energy, and forestry. The company has launched a data management and analysis tool to automatically interpret data coming off the UAV and plans to release a new model of its fixed wing UAV, the Lancaster Mark IV, in the first quarter of 2015.

FarmLogs Introduces Yield Maps

Cindy ZimmermanData, yields

farmlogsFarmLogs has announced the launch of Yield Maps, a new feature that enables farmers to import yield data and analyze field performance at high precision. The feature uses heat maps to automatically display the exact location of high and low output as a color-coded overlay on top of each field.

The new functionality will be rolled out this week via web browser, Android and iOS mobile apps. Farmers can now inspect yield on their smartphones while standing in a field seeing their precise location on the map. Manual recording of field-specific yield amounts will continue to be available.

“The Yield Maps tool is a part of our continued effort to bring improved technology to the farm, to give farmers easy access to data whenever they need it, and to help farmers eliminate unnecessary data entry,” said Jesse Vollmar, CEO and co-founder of FarmLogs.

FarmLogs uses software and data science to bring critical farm data online in real time to help farmers manage and analyze the large amounts of underutilized data collected from their fields.

Environmental Impacts on Yield and Trading

Chuck ZimmermanAgribusiness, Audio, Bayer CropScience, climate, trade

Kyle TapleyWith a session topic titled, “Global corn/soybean cropping and trading – how do environmental constraints impact yield and trading,” you’d think this would take a long time. However, at the Bayer CropScience 2014 Corn and Soybean Future Forum Kyle Tapley, Senior Ag Meteorologist, MDA Information Systems, got the job done in a short time frame.

The focus was on weather and Kyle made a few statements that caught my attention after receiving several press releases from activists who want to blame single weather incidents on man made climate change. Kyle told us that “It is impossible to tie a single event to climate change.” I couldn’t agree more. He says we’ve always had extreme weather and we always will. For many of us more seasoned folks we remember living through very different weather extremes going back 50 years.

Listen to Kyle’s remarks here to get some more specific take-aways on his topic: [wpaudio url=”http://www.zimmcomm.biz/bayer/bayer-future-14-tapley.mp3″ text=”Kyle Tapley Presentation”]

2014 Bayer CropScience Corn & Soybean Future Forum Photos

Corn Farmers Look at the Future

Cindy ZimmermanAudio, Bayer CropScience, sustainability, technology

bayer-zylstraWhat does the future hold for corn farmers? That was a question addressed at the Bayer CropScience Corn and Soybean Future Forum in Frankfurt, Germany last week, and some farmers gave their views.

Iowa Corn Growers chairman Roger Zylstra, who farms in Jasper County, talked about the opportunities and challenges of sustainable corn production. “There are significant challenges right now in corn production because of the rapid drop in prices we’ve seen,” he said. “But I think there are tremendous opportunities in the world.”

The Bayer forum featured farmers from all over the world and Zylstra noted that farmers in different countries do their best when they “get along as neighbors and trading partners.” [wpaudio url=”http://www.zimmcomm.biz/bayer/bayer-future-14-zylstra.mp3″ text=”Interview with Iowa farmer Roger Zylstra”]

bayer-kip-tomIndiana farmer Kip Tom discussed successful farm management in a future digitalized farming world and the challenges of adopting new technology in agriculture. “A lot of it comes down to the connectivity of our rural areas,” Tom said. “But the other hurdle comes back to education. We’ve got to have a work force that understands how to use these tools if we’re going to get good information from it.”

Tom talked about “social license” when it comes to environmental resources. “We have a license to make sure that at the end of our lifetime, we return it to the next generation in as good as or better condition,” he said. “We’re all tenants. We make think we own the land, but in the end, we are tenants.” [wpaudio url=”http://www.zimmcomm.biz/bayer/bayer-future-14-tom.mp3″ text=”Interview with Indiana farmer Kip Tom”]

Talking Digitalization in Corn & Soybean Cropping

Chuck ZimmermanAgribusiness, Audio, Bayer CropScience, John Deere

Than HartsockDuring last week’s Bayer CropScience Corn and Soybean Future Forum, Than Hartsock, John Deere, did some digital storytelling. In fact, his presentation was titled, “Digitalization – next level of corn and soybean cropping.”

Than talked about how John Deere is developing new tools to deal with ways for farmers to make more money from their crop. This includes all the things we lump under the category of precision agriculture. He used a lot of agnerd language like open data transfer. He says most of the large equipment the company ships now, like combines, come with wifi included. They are leveraging consumer hardware like smartphones and tablets that are making technology adoption easier. Speaking of easier, during his question and answer period one of the questions dealt with how easy this technology is for older farmers to adopt.

By the way, I’m leaving tomorrow for Kansas City and the 2014 Develop with Deere conference and will be sharing more specifics about new John Deere solutions from there!

Listen to Than’s remarks here: [wpaudio url=”http://www.zimmcomm.biz/bayer/bayer-future-14-hartsock.mp3″ text=”Than Hartsock Presentation”]

2014 Bayer CropScience Corn & Soybean Future Forum Photos

Hick Chick Chat: Vilsack and FFA

Leah GuffeyAudio, FFA, Government, Hick Chick Chat, USDA

11326519286_c9a07ae0bf_o Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack again addressed the delegation at the 87th Annual FFA Convention in Louisville, KY last week. He talked FFA and how the members of the largest farm based organization is the future. He says the future is bright for the youth and why this is the more difficult venue for him to speak following some of the most articulate speakers he’s been around. Vilsack also talked about many other issues that are facing the those in the our rural countryside. Vilsack commends the FFA community for looking to the future. He adds that having, the young people involved in agriculture, to talk to the 99% of americans who don’t farm while educating the public to the benefits of rural life.

ffa-14-89-editedVilsack says there is a necessity of pointing out to people that they have the freedom to choose professions outside of agriculture because they don’t have to worry about feeding their family. They have left that to a very small population. He goes on to say that the generation of FFA kids has embraced diversity including women becoming more involved. He encourages the young women in the FFA organization to continue being involved on boards and in leadership positions. He says they will figure out the problems we’ve been facing and are not afraid of the opportunity.

You can listen to my chat here: [wpaudio url=”http://www.zimmcomm.biz/podcast/hickchickchat-14-ffa-vilsack.mp3″ text=”Hick Chick Chat Farmland: Vilsack and FFA”]

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Dakotas-Based Co-Op Selling Firefighting Skids

John DavisSafety, wheat

fireskid1A cooperative based in North and South Dakota is selling wheat growers some protection against a big risk at harvest time: combine fires. Wheat Growers has assembled a firefighting skid that can slide into the back of an 8-foot pickup box and includes a 500-gallon water tank, 70 feet of hose on an electric hose reel with an adjustable fire nozzle and a pump that is powered by a gasoline engine, capable of spraying water as far as 100 feet.

“Wheat Growers commitment to safety extends to our member owners as they work with us to bring in another record crop this harvest season,” Reed Storley, Wheat Growers Parts and Equipment Manager, said. “Unfortunately, fires are common at harvest and this unit, which is basically a portable fire truck, will help a farmer stop a fire in its initial stages.”

For more information, contact the Bath Agronomy location at 605-225-3280.

AgroLiquid to Help Military, Vets on the Homefront

John DavisAgribusiness, Fertilizer

ophomefrontA Michigan-based fertilizer company is pitching in to help military folks and veterans. Agro-Culture Liquid Fertilizers is donating a portion of the proceeds from sales and shipping of every gallon of its AgroLiquid fertilizer products to Operation Home Front, a benefit program that looks to help military men, women and their families transition from military to civilian life.

Agro-Culture Liquid Fertilizers Senior Customer Service Manager Colina Gillespie is the mother of a Marine Reservist and volunteer with Operation Homefront. “It wasn’t until I found Operation Homefront that I felt I found an organization I could be a part of,” said Gillespie.

Seeing the positive impact Operation Homefront has had on the lives of Gillespie and her family, AgroLiquid is pleased to announce a program designed to benefit Operation Homefront through the sales and shipping of AgroLiquid fertilizer products.

For every gallon of AgroLiquid product sold or shipped during the month of November, AgroLiquid will donate 1¢ to regional Operation Homefront branches across the country. Which means growers can not only support the troops at home, they can support their troops at home, right in their own communities.

You can read more about it here.

New MapShots Website Goes Live

John DavisInternet, MapShots

mapshotsAgricultural software development company MapShots has unveiled a new website. The company says the new www.mapshots.com features a new look, improved functionality and streamlined design, as well as more robust content and new navigation, all to make for a more user-friendly experience.

By simplifying the process of information gathering, the new MapShots website echoes the goals of the company. Content is organized in seven tabs across the top of the site, including Products, Solutions, Support, and Partners. All information is fully cross-referenced, including complete details on product usage and uploadable files.

“We’re excited the website is now live and look forward to providing even better support for our customers,” said Doug Mills, business manager for MapShots. “We are particularly happy with the new Partners section of the website, which provides links to our business affiliates offering third-party add-ons and allows them to post information valuable to their customers and ours.”

With more than 20 years experience in the precision agricultural software industry, MapShots is a leader in developing powerful, easy-to-use software for farmers, service providers and retailers. The MapShots suite of products provides solutions for the agricultural industry, making day-to-day tasks simpler.