Cover Crop Workshops at Iowa Power Farming Show

Jamie JohansenAgribusiness, Cover Crops, Events

235.Iowa_PowerFarming_TALL_2014The discussion of cover crops will take center stage at the 2014 Iowa Power Farming Show during a series of free workshops designed to educate farmers, Certified Crop Advisors, farm managers and landowners. The event takes place at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines on Jan. 28-30.

“We continue to see great interest from farmers in adding cover crops to their farming operation,” said Iowa Secretary of State Bill Northey, “Cover crops can help farmers manage nutrients, reduce soil erosion and enhance water quality.”

Bill will be speaking at the workshops on Jan. 29. and seeded cover crops on his farm last fall.

Cover crops have been implemented into the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy statewide. Farmers are seeing the benefits and seeking advice about how to choose, seed and terminate cover crops. The workshops will cover five “core” overview sessions and four “in-depth” sessions during the farm show.

The overview sessions will include: How cover crops reduce erosion, manage nutrients and improve profitability; choosing the best cover crops for corn, soybeans and livestock; five popular seeding methods; how and when to terminate cover crops; and making cover crops work with livestock.

The in-depth sessions include: Aerial application; high-clearance seeding into standing corn and soybeans; troubleshooting; and the pros and cons of three popular cover crops.

A total of 45 one-hour sessions will be offered over the three days of workshops. Sessions run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday. Seating is on a “first come, first-served” basis. For a complete list of workshops and additional show information, please visit www.iowapowershow.com.

Innvictis Crop Care Introduces New Insecticide System

Jamie JohansenAgribusiness, Insecticide, Planting

Screen Shot 2014-01-14 at 3.52.26 PMInnvictis Crop Care, LLC announces the launch of NIRVANA in time for the 2014 growing season. NIRVANA is a patented formulation catalyst that allows the use of standard EC formulated insecticides to be mixed with liquid fertilizers for use at planting to protect against soil insects.

“This has been an incredibly difficult nut to crack,” says Greg McManic, Director of Research and Development for Innvictis. “Getting pesticides to effectively mix with starter fertilizers is very challenging simply due to the chemical composition of the fertilizers and the EC-based insecticides. After many, many iterations, we found a unique combination of chemistries that will serve as a bridge to connect the fertilizer and pesticide in a consistent and uniform mixture. NIRVANA is chemically formulated to provide that bridge and be the catalyst that brings it all together.”

Casey McDaniel, Commercial Director for Innvictis, said they almost gave up on it, but the formula opens many doors for dealers and farmers.

Liquid fertilizers and EC-formulated insecticides are chemically incompatible and will quickly separate and stratify in conventional mixtures. NIRVANA connects the two molecules and holds them together in a chemical bond for a period of time allowing farmers to conveniently mix and apply starter fertilizer and insecticides in one application.

The product is expected to become available for the 2014 planting season, but in limited quantities. Full availability is expected in 2015. You can find more information on NIRVANA by calling 1-888-INNVICTIS or emailing info@innvictis.com.

MANA Introduces Custodia Premix Fungicide

Jamie JohansenAgribusiness, agronomy, Corn, Fungicides, Soybeans, wheat

Custodia logo_high resMANA is introducing Custodia premix fungicide for use on corn, soybeans and wheat. Custodia combines the two most complementary systemic fungicide active ingredients available today in an optimized ratio to deliver both preventive and curative disease control. The simultaneous movement of the active ingredients within the plant quickly knocks down diseases and provides a residual barrier that inhibits diseases from developing.

The multiple active ingredients in Custodia allow growers to minimize the number of products they need to control various diseases. Plus, it is labeled on several common rotational crops, which provides flexibility in planning disease control strategies.

“Custodia controls the most devastating diseases that row crop growers are facing today,” said Matt Bradley, Custodia brand leader. “It prevents or controls gray leaf spot and anthracnose on field corn, Cercospora and Septoria on soybeans, and rusts and powdery mildew in wheat. By keeping these diseases at bay, Custodia can help growers remain profitable throughout the season.”

In field corn, Custodia optimizes grain fill by preventing stress during periods where non-optimal photosynthesis periods occur, therefore helping growers increase yield. It can also help soybean growers get to harvest sooner by preventing extended stalk greening.

“Custodia is the broadest spectrum combination fungicide that performs on the most important diseases that are present in corn, soybeans and wheat,” said Bradley. “It adds peace of mind to growers who are looking for solid disease control without having to manage numerous products.”

You can find more information on MANA’s new product at www.manainc.com or call 866-406-6262.

Can Drones Increase Profitability?

Jamie JohansenAFBF, Ag Group, Audio, technology

afbf-14-4Kansas State University’s Dr. Kevin Price was one of the presenters at the 2014 American Farm Bureau Federation Convention. His presentation was titled Drones: Turning Technological Controversy into Profit.

The use of using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV’s) to fly over crops and livestock to maximize profits is one of the hottest topics entering the agriculture sector. He shared how this is all possible using examples of his work at the university.

“About 80% of the money that will be spent on the unmanned aircraft systems will be spent in the area of agriculture. There are ten times more applications in agriculture then there is in any of the other application areas.” He continued by saying, “They are predicting this will be a $100 billion industry by the year 2025.”

He said agriculture applications for drones in development include data collection on crop health, vigor and yields, tracking the spread of invasive plant species and monitoring cattle feedlots. Data collection of field images by cameras mounted on drones within an inch of accuracy.

When asked where he saw drone use in agriculture going in the next five years he said it was hard to say because interest was growing so rapidly, but “it will blow your socks off.” The economic potential of drones is tremendous in terms of precision agriculture but will not be realized without approval from the Federal Aviation Administration.

Wondering what it could cost you? Dr. Price said a fixed-winged aircraft could run a couple thousand dollars to $12,000. Other models might be under a thousand up to $7,000-$8,000. Will you start saving to increase profits in the long run?

Listen to the complete audio from ag media’s interview with Dr. Price here: [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/afbf/afbf-14-price.mp3″ text=”Kevin Price Press Conference”]

2014 AFBF Convention Photos

SDSU Creates World’s First Multi-Hybrid Planter

Jamie JohansenAgribusiness, Dupont Pioneer, Education, Equipment, Raven, seed

SDSUA collaborative effort at South Dakota State University’s (SDSU) College of Agriculture and Biological Sciences has produced the world’s first multi-hybrid planter to create advancement in precision agriculture.

When SDSU plant scientist, Peter Sexton, needed a new row-crop planter at the Agricultural
Experiment Station’s Southeast Research Farm near Beresford, he looked to the future – in terms of equipment and networking.

With support from the Southeast Experiment Farm board, the nonprofit growers’ corporation that owns the farm, Sexton and SDSU forged a partnership with Sioux Falls-based Raven Industries and DuPont Pioneer. Their collaboration resulted in a twin-row planter with the ability to automatically switch hybrids while seeding on-the-go based on GPS mapping of the field.

Through an agreement signed in the summer of 2012, Raven Industries donated the engineering time to customize the planter. Sexton described what he wanted the planter to do and then Raven engineers developed those capabilities.

“This is a great model of industry partnering with public entities,” says Raven Industries Product Manager Douglas Prairie, citing his company’s emphasis on innovation. Sexton gave Raven engineers feedback as they developed the hydraulic drives, control system and software to modify the Monosem planter.

In addition to the fields planted at the Southeast Research Farm near Beresford, test plots were sown on private farms near Parkston, Tripp, Lennox and Baltic. To select the appropriate corn and soybean hybrids for the fields that SDSU mapped, Sexton turned to DuPont Pioneer.

Pioneer agreed to supply the seed and made recommendations, according to DuPont Pioneer agronomy research manager Barry Anderson. The data from this research will “give us a chance to understand how our products perform,” he explains. “It’s nice when we as a seed industry can team up not only with the university but also with manufacturers. That doesn’t always happen.”

The information gleaned from field trials planted using this first-of-its-kind multi-hybrid planter will allow SDSU researchers to produce agronomic data that will help farmers decide what to plant, where to plant it, and how much to plant, as well as when and how much pesticide and fertilizer to apply, according to Sexton.

SDSU will also be able to provide agronomic and financial reasons why farmers should consider using a multi-hybrid approach to planting, according to Prairie. Eventually, Raven Industries seeks to play a role in “designing a true multi-hybrid planter.”

To view this and other articles found in the SDSU Agricultural Experiment Station 2013 Annual Report, visit iGrow.org.

Deadline Extended for Conservation Stewardship

Jamie JohansenAg Group, Conservation, environment, farm land, Government, USDA

header_nrcsThe U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has extended the deadline for new enrollments in the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) for fiscal year 2014. Producers interested in participating in the program can now submit applications to NRCS through Feb. 7, 2014.

“Extending the enrollment deadline will make it possible for more farmers, ranchers and forest landowners to apply for this important Farm Bill conservation program,” NRCS Chief Jason Weller said. “Through their conservation actions, these good stewards are ensuring that their operations are more productive and sustainable over the long run and CSP can help them take their operations to the next level of natural resource management.”

Weller said today’s announcement is another example of USDA’s comprehensive focus on promoting environmental conservation and strengthening the rural economy, and it is a reminder that a new Food, Farm and Jobs Bill is pivotal to continue these efforts. CSP is now in its fifth year and so far, NRCS has partnered with producers to enroll more than 59 million acres across the nation.

Producers earn higher payments for higher performance. In CSP, producers install conservation enhancements to make positive changes in soil quality, soil erosion, water quality, water quantity, air quality, plant resources, animal resources and energy use.

Eligible landowners and operators in all states and territories can enroll in CSP through Feb. 7 to be eligible during fiscal 2014. While local NRCS offices accept CSP applications year round, NRCS evaluates applications during announced ranking periods. To be eligible for this year’s enrollment, producers must have their applications submitted to NRCS by the closing date.

A CSP self-screening checklist is available to help producers determine if the program is suitable for their operation. The checklist highlights basic information about CSP eligibility requirements, stewardship threshold requirements and payment types.

Learn more about CSP by visiting the NRCS website or any local USDA service center.

What’s New Sessions at Commodity Classic

Jamie JohansenAg Group, Commodity Classic, Events

Commodity Classic LogoAgriculture’s newest, most innovative products and services will be showcased at the What’s New sessions at the 2014 Commodity Classic. The 19th Annual Commodity Classic is Feb. 27-March 1, along the banks of the famous River Walk in San Antonio, TX.

“If you’re coming to Commodity Classic hoping to learn and gain some new ideas to take back to your farm, you’ll want to mark your calendar for the What’s New sessions,” said Commodity Classic Co-Chairman Wyatt Whitford. “These sessions offer a sneak peek at the new technology and products out on the trade show floor and an opportunity to ask the experts questions.”

Topics of the sessions include: tractor and combine header technologies, soil fertility trends, new developments in seeds to help manage pests, technology tools for the farm and tools to optimize seed selection for each field.

These sessions are scheduled for Friday, Feb. 28 and Saturday, March 1. Each session is 40 minutes long and allows attendees to learn about the topic in an in-depth manner.

Companies selected to present include Case IH, DuPont Pioneer, John Deere, Monsanto, The Mosaic Company, Syngenta, The Climate Corporation, Trimble and United Soybean Board. The products and services are chosen by the grower community to ensure they are truly something new to the industry.

More information on the What’s New sessions and other events at Commodity Classic can be found here.

iCropTrak Integrates John Deere and Dropbox APIs

Jamie JohansenAgribusiness, John Deere, Planting, technology

1982B982-64B5-4C27-88CC405995D3C050Mobile Field and Farm App iCropTrak just announced their integration of the new John Deere wireless connection technology MyJohnDeere.com and DropBox in iCropTrak Version 4.0 for 2014. These technologies will allow for seamless movement of data between your Deere tractor, your iCropTrak enabled iPad and DropBox enabled clients, labs and consultants like never before.

iCropTrak is a mobile farm data management system that combines a customizable collaborative iOS mobile app, a private cloud database and 3rd party connections like MyJohnDeere.com and DropBox. It is designed to effortlessly collect soil samples, scout and document farm efforts including tracking people and equipment.

Interfacing MyJohnDeere.com and iCropTrak lets you:

Pull: Get quick and seamless access to your tractor data. Load plant, spray, and harvest data automatically to your iCropTrak cloud. Sync allows everyone on your team who needs access to get the data. In minutes see your data on your iOS device in the field.

Track: Metadata from the tractor is used to automatically populate iCropTrak tractor forms by documenting time in the field, date and time of operations, crop planted, product applied, equipment used, and much more. Manually entering data will be a thing of the past, ensuring less human error. Once entered, use iCropTrak to see all your events for a given field and with innovative InfoPages, colorize the map using the data values to show what, where, and when an event happened.

Push: Create and track work orders to schedule people and equipment with dates, location, and tasks – with the configurations seamlessly sent to the tractor. The result will be job completed faster, while allowing others to get the latest status using their iOS mobile device.

Report: Generate reports by taking all the tractor data you have collected and combining it with data entered on the mobile device. Trackcost, hours, and events for your fields which can be displayed on your HTML dashboard and/or printed as PDF reports.

iCropTrak was the first to have a soil sampling iOS app, first to have a farm management app on iPad, and now we’re innovating to make farming easier, smarter, and more informative by interfacing MyJohnDeere.com, Dropbox, and a number of 3rd party web systems in 2014.

You can listen to Chuck’s interview Aaron Hutchinson here: [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/icroptrak/icroptrak-1-10-14.mp3″ text=”Interview with iCropTrak’s Aaron Hutchinson”]

Where to Find Ag Leader This Winter

Melissa SandfortAg Leader, Insights Weekly

Insights WeeklyAre you interested in getting the latest information about precision ag equipment? If so, here are a few stops you might want to schedule this winter in order to talk with Ag Leader experts:

• Western Canadian Crop Production Show in Saskatoon, SK, Jan. 13-16
• Fort Wayne Farm Show in Fort Wayne, IN, Jan. 14-16
• National No-Till Conference in Springfield, IL, Jan. 15-18
• Eastern Idaho Ag Expo in Pocatello, ID, Jan. 21-23
• Sioux Falls Farm Show in Sioux Falls, SD, Jan. 22-24
• Iowa Power Farming Show in Des Moines, IA, Jan. 28-30
• Southern Farm Show in Raleigh, NC, Feb. 5-7
• World Ag Expo in Tulare, CA, Feb. 11-13
• National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, KY, Feb. 12-15
• Western Farm Show in Kansas City, MO, Feb. 21-23
• Commodity Classic in San Antonio, TX, Feb. 27- March 1
• Mid-South Farm & Gin Show in Memphis, TN, Feb. 28-March 1
• London Farm Show in London, ONT, March 5-7
• Triumph of Ag Expo in Omaha, NE, March 12-13

Russ Morman, Ag Leader Inside Sales Representative, gives us a preview of what’s new and exciting from Ag Leader this year.

[wpaudio url=”http://precision.agwired.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2014/01/Russ1.mp3″ text=”Listen to Russ explain”]

Morman says precision ag is certainly on the upward trend. It used to be only early adopters who dove right in when it came to new technology, but as farming continues to evolve and change at a fast pace, growers of every size and scale are learning how precision ag fits their operation.

[wpaudio url=”http://precision.agwired.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2014/01/Russ2.mp3″ text=”Listen to Russ explain”]

Beyond just the equipment purchasing decision, Mormon says Ag Leader’s support team adds value for growers.

[wpaudio url=”http://precision.agwired.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2014/01/Russ3.mp3″ text=”Listen to Russ explain”]

If you’re on the road this winter and have time to visit one of these locations, be sure to find Ag Leader’s staff of experts who will be on hand to talk about the latest in precision technology equipment, enhancements, future products, and much more. See you this winter!

Become a fan of Ag Leader on Facebook today, and get the latest precision ag videos on the YouTube channel. For more information about Ag Leader products and services, or to visit the blog site, go to www.agleader.com.

Thune Watching Farm Bill Conservation

Cindy ZimmermanAudio, Conservation, Farm Bill, Government

thune-thumbSenator John Thune (R-SD) believes a farm bill is “getting closer to the finish line” but he still has concerns about aspects of it.

“Particularly the lack of reform in the commodity title of the bill, I think that’s a real missed opportunity,” said Thune during a press call with reporters this week.

The South Dakota senator is also concerned about the conservation title in the farm bill “that they get the ‘sodsaver’ provisions made nationwide, that they don’t carve out regional exemptions from that.”

Thune believes there are some good provisions in the conservation title that provide for both wildlife production and land conservation and he supports linking conservation compliance to crop insurance. “Our farmers and ranchers are the best stewards of the land but we do need to have common sense policies that ensure sound conservation practices are going to continue to be implemented,” he said, adding that he hopes to see a farm bill on the floor of the senate next week.

Thanks to Agri-Pulse for providing us with this audio.
[wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/government/thune-fb.mp3″ text=”Sen. Thune comments”]