New AgGateway Global Network Seeks Expansion

Jamie JohansenAgribusiness, Company Announcement, International

aggatewayMembers and leaders of the AgGateway organization have launched an affiliate non-profit organization, AgGateway Global Network (AGN), that seeks to promote and establish global collaboration and coordinated use of global agricultural eBusiness standards, guidelines and implementation processes. The new organization will be led by Rod Conner, who is leaving his post as President and CEO of AgGateway at the end of this year to head the newly formed organization.

AGN will be made up of various regional organizations from around the globe that can work through AGN to share and contribute to the AgGateway Open Standards and Implementation Guidelines, and to promote, enable and expand eBusiness in agriculture globally.

“We will share the successes that AgGateway has achieved with regional eBusiness-focused organizations, to help address the reality that the world has become ever smaller in terms of the global supply chain,” Conner said. “The significance of AGN is that best practices and standards that have been proven to be successful in certain regions of the world can be shared with other regions to enhance productivity, profitability and sustainability for everyone.”

Conner said several factors make the timing right for AGN: Customers and suppliers everywhere expect immediate, accurate information; there is a continued streamlining of the global supply chain; markets today are more volatile and more global in nature; food safety and traceability have become business imperatives throughout the world; and agriculture as a whole needs to produce more food with fewer resources through precision agriculture, sustainability and better technology.

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2014 Borlaug Field Award Honors Scientist Under 40

Jamie JohansenAg Group, Award, World Food

Screen Shot 2014-09-19 at 3.49.42 PMThe World Food Prize announced that the winner of its award for agricultural leaders under 40 goes to Dr. Bram Govaerts, a native of Belgium now working from Mexico, for his work developing leading-edge, sustainable programs that are transforming subsistence agriculture and unsustainable farming systems in Mexico and other regions of the world into productive and sustainable production operations. Dr. Govaerts’ collaborative work with farmers has made it possible for smallholders in Mexico and other developing countries to escape hunger and poverty and improve their livelihoods.

Dr. Govaerts will be formally presented with the $10,000 “Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application, Endowed by the Rockefeller Foundation” on October 15, 2014, in Des Moines, Iowa, as part of this year’s World Food Prize Borlaug Dialogue international symposium.

Dr. Govaerts, 35, currently serves as Associate Director of the Global Conservation Agricultural Program at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). The announcement of his selection was made by World Food Prize President Ambassador Kenneth Quinn at the USAID Frontiers in Development Forum on September 18 in Washington, D.C.

In developing his vision to help poor farmers increase food production from their existing farmland, Dr. Govaerts was inspired by the great agricultural scientist and World Food Prize Founder Norman Borlaug’s credo: “Take It to the Farmer.” To that end, Dr. Govaerts was instrumental in framing the Mexican government’s major initiative known as the Sustainable Modernization of Traditional Agriculture (MasAgro), and, in June 2014, he assumed leadership of the entire program, with responsibility for coordinating the evolution of related projects in Latin America.

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The Good Growth Plan on Track One Year After Launch

Jamie JohansenAgribusiness, Syngenta

Screen Shot 2014-09-19 at 3.42.32 PMSyngenta provided an update on the progress of The Good Growth Plan one year after its launch in September 2013. The Plan comprises six measurable commitments for the year 2020 to help address the global food security challenge. These include increasing farm productivity while boosting resource efficiency, rejuvenating ecosystems and strengthening rural communities.

Syngenta has established a global network of 893 reference farms and 2,673 benchmark farms. The reference farms are adopting tailored crop protocols with the aim of increasing productivity without using more land, water or inputs. Progress is measured against the benchmark farms by Market Probe, an independent market research firm, and will be externally audited. Data are collected on land productivity as well as the efficiency of fertilizers, pesticides, water and energy on crop production. First results will be available in Syngenta’s 2014 Annual Report to be published in March 2015.

Projects and crop solutions designed to address the commitments are underway in all regions and are supported by broad employee engagement. The scale and scope of these initiatives is being increased through collaborations, including a Soil Leadership Academy partnership with UNCCD and the expansion of relationships with USAID and the Fair Labor Association.

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PrecisionHawk Raises $10 Million

Jamie JohansenAerial Application, Aerial Imagery, Agribusiness, Company Announcement, UAV

Screen Shot 2014-09-19 at 10.47.14 AMThis weeks, PrecisionHawk, closed a Series B financing round of approximately $10 million led by New York City-based investor Millennium Technology Value Partners. Existing investors, Bob Young, founder of RedHat, and the Innovate Indiana Fund, an Indiana University affiliated venture company, also participated in the round.

Millennium analyzed more than two dozen companies to find the one they believed will be highly successful as the UAV ecosystem matures.

“PrecisionHawk envisions a world, as we do, where businesses across a wide variety of industries can access aerial information and gain actionable insights in an affordable manner,” said Samuel Schwerin, Founder & Managing Partner, Millennium Technology Value Partners.

Next PrecisionHawk will be doubling their employee base. This aggressive hiring plan will allow them to increase hardware production on their UAV platform and integrated plug and play sensor suite, which includes over 15 data collecting sensors.

They also will open a new office in College Station, TX. In partnership with Texas A&M University, this office will focus on the needs of the insurance industry as well as emergency response applications.

Strategic partnerships have been key to our success. This is a philosophy they will continue to expand upon moving forward. The PrecisionHawk team would like to say thank you to their investors and are excited about the amazing potential in the UAV and aerial data industry.

FS HiSOY® Celebrates 50 Years of Legacy

Jamie JohansenAgribusiness, Crop Protection, Growmark, Soybeans

Screen Shot 2014-09-19 at 10.22.26 AMFor 50 years now, FS HiSOY has stood for cutting edge innovation, superior quality and consistent performance. These key components are the foundation in which the HiSOY Legacy was built.

“We’ve been innovators since the early days,” said John Earley, a retired FS Crop Specialist. HiSOY began its journey in 1965 by being the first proprietary soybean made available. Since then, science and technology has changed the agriculture industry by leaps and bounds, but HiSOY has used these advancements to become leaders in the field for the past 50 years.

In 1996, the Roundup Ready trait was adopted, helping FS growers to yield more bushels per acre. In 2010, HiSOY began offering the Genuity Roundup Ready® 2 Yield trait technology that was developed to deliver more yield and profit potential to farmers, while maintaining the same Roundup Ready® weed control benefits. These cutting edge advancements allow FS to offer full agronomic packages to growers.

FS HiSOY’s excellence continues to be driven by the infrastructure of local FS Crop Specialists and local research which gives the ability to develop and market soybeans that perform on local growers farms. Additionally, HiSOY sources genetics from multiple leading companies that allows for the selection of the very best soybean genetics that the industry has to offer. FS works with leading trait providers to bring growers the latest and best trait options to help make their businesses more profitable. Today, HiSOY is keeping up with the ever-changing times and will soon be offering new advanced herbicide traits such as Enlist, Extends and Glyphosate, helping growers to maximize every acre.

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Chem-Blade Saves Time, Money, Farmers & The Environment

Jamie JohansenAgribusiness, Crop Protection

Screen Shot 2014-09-18 at 1.35.26 PMIt is a product that combines the best of all worlds when it comes to chemical management for farmers. Inventor Ethan Eck with the help of farm product innovators Ralph Lagergren & Mark Underwood are bringing to market the patented Chem-Blade and Chem-Blade ES (enclosed system). These are impressive systems designed to open and empty a chemical jug in a half second, and then rinse that jug and prepare it for recycling by shredding, all in less than a minute.

As all farmers know, jugs of farm chemicals are supposed to be properly rinsed with water and then destroyed after use. After conducting surveys with farmers, Lagergren and Eck found that up to 95% of farmers simply don’t have time to rinse or recycle. Chem-Blade was developed to address that industry wide problem in an efficient and effective manner.

The newest Chem-Blade ES provides sharp blades in a sealed enclosure that cut open and empty a chemical jug in about a half-second, followed by an effective complete rinse of the jug inside and out with the uniquely designed built-in spray nozzles. The whole Chem-Blade cycle takes less than a minute compared to several minutes it takes to do the exact process manually. The time saved eliminates the current bottleneck in chemical loading and will allow an operator to spray approximately 25 to 45 additional acres per day depending on the amount of jugs used. The Chem-Blade ES system can be used as an inductor on sprayers, as an inductor at supply stations, or integrated into an existing loading system.

From a safety perspective, because the Chem-Blade ES system is fully sealed and enclosed, the operator is protected from chemical fumes and splash. The product has been developed and is currently in the process of being licensed to large manufacturers at an opportune time as the EPA looks at strengthening 20-year-old standards for chemical handling aimed at protecting farm workers.

Will Low Crop Prices Impact Next Season?

Jamie JohansenZimmPoll

New Holland ZimmPollOur latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “Would you buy an Apple Watch?”

Apple never ceases to amaze us with the new products they come up with. It doesn’t look like many of you will be rushing out to buy their newest techie gadget. I think I fall into the ‘not yet’ category. I don’t see how it can benefit me at the moment, but I certainly won’t rule it out.

Here are the poll results:

  • Absolutely! – 21%
  • Never – 42%
  • Not yet – 27%
  • A what? – 10%

Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, How will low crop prices impact next year?

Corn and soybean prices have dropped dramatically this year with record crops but the question is how much will that impact plans for next season. Will farmers plant less, buy less, or just plan that prices will go back up next year?

Hick Chick Chat talks Budweiser Clydesdales

Leah GuffeyAudio, Hick Chick Chat, livestock

11326519286_c9a07ae0bf_oI’ve always been infatuated with draft horses and honestly, do they get any better than the Budweiser Clydesdales? Several years ago when I worked for a local radio station they were at our state fair and I was lucky enough to be able to hold the reins of one during morning exercise. I was in awe. They are beautiful creatures that just make me smile with their gentle natures.

_DSC0450I was surprised to see the beautiful trademark red and white temporary stables set up at the Buffalo Chip Campground when I was there last month for the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. I knew Sturgis was all about horse power, but didn’t expect to see the Clydesdales there!

Kat Metzger is a handler with the Budweiser Clydesdales and she talked to me about their life on the road and some of the requirements to be a Budweiser Clydesdale. She really enjoys her job and all the work that goes into caring for the gentle giants.

Check out the Budweiser Clydesdale Hitch Schedule here to find out when they will be in your area.

You can listen to my chat with Kat here: [wpaudio url=”http://www.zimmcomm.biz/podcast/hickchickchat-14-kat-clydesdales.mp3″ text=”Hick Chick Chat with Kat Metzger, Budeweiser Clydesdales”]

Join in the conversation on Twitter and on Facebook

FAPRI: Corn, Soybean and Cotton Prices to Drop Even More

John DavisCorn, Cotton, Farm Bill, Soybeans, USDA, wheat

FAPRI logoA crop that’s expected to be even bigger than just previously estimated is expected to push prices down even more than previously expected. Earlier this month, we told you how the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) at the University of Missouri expected corn, soybean and cotton prices to drop from what had been some pretty impressive highs of the past couple of years. Now, FAPRI says those drops will be even larger, as USDA estimates of those crops are now larger.

– Larger corn and soybean crops translate into lower projected 2014/15 prices for many grains and oilseeds. Corn prices drop to $3.50 per bushel, soybeans to $9.92 per bushel and wheat to $5.91. In all three cases, these projected prices are close to the midpoint of the price ranges reported in the September USDA World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates.

– Larger crops in 2014/15 also result in larger beginning stocks and total crop supplies in 2015/16. As a result, corn and soybean prices for next year’s crop are lower than projected in August. Corn prices average $3.80 per bushel in 2015/16, and soybean prices drop to $9.04 per bushel.

– Prices recover as markets adjust. Corn prices average $4.10 per bushel, soybeans average $10.21 per bushel, and wheat averages $5.78 per bushel over the 2016‐18 period.

– Upland cotton price projections for 2014/15 are largely unchanged from last month, as USDA estimates suggest offsetting reductions in domestic supplies and global demand. The weaker global demand is assumed to continue, slightly reducing price projections for 2015/16 and beyond relative to previous estimates.

FAPRI says this information is of particular importance as now under the 2014 farm bill, producers must make a one‐time election to participate in the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) or the Price Loss Coverage (PLC) program for the life of the five-year bill, and how much they might get in payments is very reliant to expected crop prices.

Dow ENLIST Deregulated by USDA

Cindy Zimmermanbiotechnology, Corn, Dow AgroSciences, Soybeans, Weed control

enlistUSDA has issued a decision to deregulate Dow AgroSciences’ Enlist™ 2,4-D and glyphosate-resistant corn and soybean traits in the United States. The company is now awaiting EPA registration of Enlist Duo™ herbicide, the companion herbicide to the Enlist traits.

“Enlist will help farmers increase their productivity to meet the growing demand for a safe and affordable food supply,” said Tim Hassinger, president, Dow AgroSciences. “We’ve used the latest science and technology to address problem weeds. Enlist will be a very effective solution and we’re pleased to have this technology one step closer to the farmgate.”

The Enlist traits are part of the Enlist™ Weed Control System, a new trait and herbicide technology developed to control herbicide-resistant and tough weeds. USDA’s decision applies to the Enlist corn, Enlist soybean and Enlist E3™ soybean traits. Enlist E3 soybeans are being developed through a collaboration between MS Technologies and Dow AgroSciences.

Launch intentions for Enlist in 2015 will be provided after the EPA has issued its decision on Enlist Duo herbicide.