AgGateway Launches Redesigned AGIIS Directory

Talia GoesAgribusiness

AgGateway_LogoAgGateway, a non-profit consortium of businesses that works to promote, enable and expand eBusiness in agriculture, announced the launch of a redesigned website for the Agriculture Industry Identification System (AGIIS) at www.agiis.org. The new AGIIS website has improved design, navigation and functionality across a full suite of web browsers.

About 150 agricultural companies currently subscribe to the AGIIS directory, which serves as the fundamental building block for efficient electronic interactions between ag companies. AGIIS provides a repository for industry common data elements; today, AGIIS contains 4.8 million uniquely identified entities (Businesses, Consumers, and Locations) and over 60,000 agricultural product codes, including crop protection chemicals, seed and fertilizer products.

Companies use the standardized information in AGIIS to conduct business more efficiently with their trading partners. Entity information in AGIIS is maintained by the subscriber community, including agricultural retailers, distributors, product manufacturers and associated business providers serving the ag community.

2018 Precision Farming Market Worth

Talia GoesAgribusiness

MandMAccording to a new market research report “Precision Farming Market by Technology (GPS/GNSS, GIS, Remote Sensing & VRT), Components (Automation & Control, Sensors, FMS), Applications (Yield Monitoring, VRA, Mapping, Soil Monitoring, Scouting) – Global Forecast & Analysis (2013 – 2018)” , published by MarketsandMarkets, the overall Global precision farming market will be worth$3,721.27 billion by 2018, at an estimated CAGR of 13.36%.

Browse 94 market data tables and 64 figures spread through 327 pages and in-depth TOC on “Precision Farming Market – Global Forecast & Analysis (2013 – 2018) “.

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/precision-farming-market-1243.html

Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report.

Trimble Acquires Assets of C3

Talia GoesAgribusiness, Trimble

trimblelogo_hpTrimble announced that it has acquired the assets of privately-held C3 of Madison, Wis. The acquisition will enable Trimble to provide unique soil information as well as decision recommendations to farmers’ trusted advisors—such as agronomists, Trimble resellers or Ag retail suppliers. Farmers will be able to view the C3 data and recommendations from their trusted advisor on the Connected Farm™ dashboard, a Web portal that provides one centralized location for farmers to view key information impacting their operations. To align with Trimble’s brand agnostic strategy, the data can be applied to all manufacturer equipment types. Financial terms were not disclosed.

C3 combines crop information with detailed soil data to enable a more complete assessment of the site-related factors that impact crop yield, quality and health. The C3 Soil Information System™ (SIS) solution is a collection of innovative tools and techniques for digital, 3-D mapping of soil characteristics—analyzing 120 unique soil and topographic properties. With SIS, it’s now possible to precisely map the top four feet of the earth’s surface using above and below ground sensors combined with GPS. The data is processed with a series of algorithms resulting in more than 60 precise 3-D soil models for physical and chemical soil characteristics including root zone depth, soil texture, plant available water, compaction depth and severity, macro and micro nutrient levels, soil nutrient holding capacity, and salt and toxicity concentrations.

By providing a greater understanding of the physical and chemical characterization of the soil, including how inputs move through the soil, agronomists and other Ag service providers will be able to help farmers implement a more effective solution to resolve the unique challenges of each area of their field. For example, if a field has areas of high soil compaction, the farmer may be over watering or over fertilizing to accommodate for areas of low productivity without realizing that the main issue is lack of root expansion. SIS helps service providers pinpoint problem areas, develop a more effective strategy for improving output, and provide a recommendation such as the exact depth and area to break up hard soil.

Year End Equipment Purchase Intentions

Talia GoesZimmPoll

zp-nhOur latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “Do you plan to make any year-end equipment purchases?”

Our poll results:

· No. Not this year: 35%
· Yes – Planting equipment: 18%
· Yes – Sprayers: 12%
· Yes – GPS/guidance: 12%
· Yes – Hay equipment: 6%
· Yes – Harvest equipment: 6%
· Yes – Tillage: 6%
· Yes – Other: 6%

Looks like most of the farmers out there are either up-to-date on equipment or satisfied with what they have. Are things like Farm Bill uncertainty holding you back?

Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, “Which winter farm shows/events are you planning to attend?” Are you planning to get out of the house to browse new products and services this fall and winter or wait and see what spring brings? Let us know!

BASF on Cutting Edge of Seed Enhancement

Jamie JohansenASTA, Audio, BASF, seed

asta-css-basf-neilThe just released CropLife Foundation report shows just how important seed treatment is becoming for agricultural production and today at the ASTA CSS 2013 and Seed Expo we heard how BASF Crop Protection has moved to the forefront of seed enhancement to help farmers get the most out of every acre.

“Seed enhancement is one of the fastest growing segments of the industry,” said Neil Bentley, director of marketing for the BASF U.S. Crop Protection business. “Seed is one of the most expensive investments that a farmer makes each year. We want to make sure that’s maximized.”

Thanks to the integration of Becker Underwood into the BASF family over the past year, BASF’s Advanced Seed Enhancement platform includes a number of important products that can accomplish increased emergence and help farmers get more from every acre. “Those products include Vault HP + Integral in soybeans and Stamina F3 for cereals,” said Neil. “We also have Flo Rite Plantability Polymers, a very interesting technology that can help a grower maximize the amount of active ingredient that stays on a seed and also helps seeds flow better through planters.”

Neil pointed out that just a 5% stand loss on 3,000 acres of soybeans could cost a farmer nearly $85,000 in a growing season so anything they can do to help growers minimize that loss means more from every acre.

Listen to my interview with Neil here: [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/basf/asta-css-13-basf-neil.mp3″ text=”Interview with Neil Bentley, BASF”]

2013 ASTA CSS & Seed Expo Photo Album

Monsanto Novozymes Bioag Alliance

Jamie JohansenAgribusiness, Audio, Monsanto

The Bioag AllianceMonsanto and Novozymes jointly announced a “long-term strategic alliance to transform research and commercialization of sustainable microbial products that will provide a new platform of solutions for growers around the world.”

The BioAg Alliance will allow the companies to leverage employees, technologies and commercial assets in the companies’ agricultural biologicals portfolios. The BioAg Alliance is unique in the industry, bringing together Novozymes’ commercial BioAg operations and capabilities within microbial discovery, development and production with Monsanto’s microbial discovery, advanced biology, field testing and commercial capabilities. The result will be a comprehensive research, development and commercial collaboration to help farmers globally meet the challenge of producing more with less in a sustainable way – for the benefit of agriculture, consumers, the environment and society at large.

“As the world population grows at tremendous pace over the next decades, we need to significantly increase the output from our land without increasing the pressure on the environment,” says Peder Holk Nielsen, CEO of Novozymes. “Today, we forge a game-changing alliance with the potential to transform global agriculture. The combined capabilities of Novozymes and Monsanto create an innovation powerhouse with a unique opportunity and approach to unleash the transformational opportunity in naturally derived microbial solutions in agriculture.”

“Monsanto, Novozymes and the farmer customers we serve share a need to meet growing demand in a sustainable way, and investing in the research and development of agricultural biological technologies like microbials is another step in that direction and a natural extension of our core business,” says Robb Fraley, Ph.D., Chief Technology Officer of Monsanto. “Just as Monsanto has done with leadership investments in our precision agriculture platform, we see this collaboration as being the same type of catalyst for taking our biologicals work from a technology to a full-fledged platform that represents the next layer of opportunity for growers to drive yield and productivity while helping the preservation of finite natural resources in our precious planet.”

The companies held a press call in which you can listen to here: [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/monsanto/monsanto-novozymes-call.mp3″ text=”Monsanto/Novozymes Bioag Alliance Call”]

Hick Chick Chat with Kinze Manufacturing

Leah GuffeyAudio, Equipment, Hick Chick Chat, Kinze

IMG_3503
This week’s edition of the Hick Chick Chat again comes to us from NAFB Trade talk.

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I had a chance to catch up with Phil Jennings, service manager, from Kinze Manufacturing. We talked about all the exciting changes that are happening at the plant as well as some new things they have been working on for the field. Including a driverless tractor and new seed and planter technology coming around for 2014. For a tractor without a driver, they made some adjustments this year; the range of wireless communication between vehicles has been increased, additional diagnostic feedback is available to the operator, a “go to here” feature has been added which allows the operator to position the tractor in the field in the best possible area and wait for further instruction and the speed of vehicle path planning has been improved. Plus, they are building a new facility to grow their autonomy project.

You can listen to the Hick Chick Chat here: [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/podcast/hickchickchat-13-kinze-jennings.mp3″ text=”Hick Chick Chat Kinze Manufacturing”]

2013 NAFB Convention Photo Album

Don’t forget to follow me on twitter @the_hickchick and like my Facebook page.

Conference on Improved Testing of Liming Materials

Jamie JohansenAgribusiness, Calcium Products, Fertilizer

166On 12 November 2013, members of the U.S. agricultural lime industry met near Iowa State University to discuss improving the measurement of limestone reactivity to better predict pH changes in soils. The goal of this conference was to compare current practices with other developed methodologies to determine if there are opportunities to improve measuring limestone reactivity in soils among a variety of liming materials. Research has shown that optimizing soil pH levels can help producers improve their yields while lowering environmental impacts in support of the Nutrient Management Strategy. In attendance were key leaders from the lime industry, academia and USDA.

According to conference presenters, current U.S. methods for testing liming material reactivity involve strong acids that may not reflect how they behave in soil environments. The methods are quick and repeatable, but the accuracy of these methods to describe a given material’s behavior in soil is unknown. It may be possible that the neutralizing capacity determined by these methods overestimates the actual reactivity of liming materials in the soil, which indicates the need for further investigation of improved methods. Further, current methods that don’t predict soil-based reactivity with accuracy are not compatible with advancements in precision ag technology.

“Research has shown that the most important factors when liming are your pH goal, material source, its particle size, and placement in the field,” said Dr. Andrew Hoiberg, Director of Research and Development at Calcium Products. “There’s a wide range of purity between various types of limestone and their ability to dissolve in the soil solution. We know that smaller particles react faster in the soil, but the overall reactivity is still very dependent on the source of the material.”

Dr. Dan Olk, Research Soil Scientist with the USDA-ARS National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment reported that the current U.S. lime methods only measure the potential reactivity. These methods appear unlikely to tell the grower the rate of reactivity of agricultural lime materials based on the chemical composition of the limestone, soil type and soil pH. By contrast, reactivity-based test methods could inform producers how quickly a specific lime source will actually react to increase soil pH. Successful implementation of such methods would allow growers to make better use of fertilizer inputs and reduce excess nutrients lost to the environment.

Link to full press release.

Give the Gift of Technology

Talia GoesAgribusiness, technology

image003All things wireless top the list of technology-related gifts that farmers want for Christmas this year. More than 40 percent of those surveyed are putting wireless remote cameras and wireless remote weather station / soil sensors on their lists. And nearly 50 percent would like a wireless farm network that extends up to 7.5 miles from their homes.

Those are the findings of an informal survey by Ayrstone Productivity that was conducted with row crop growers across the Corn Belt and surrounding states. More than 100 people responded.

Farmers are also frustrated by the lack of connectivity on their farms. In fact, nearly 80 percent of those surveyed said they are frustrated that their wireless network does not extend to sheds, grain bins or nearby fields. Ayrstone works with farmers and ranchers in North America to help them be more efficient and productive by providing Internet connectivity across their properties. Learn more at www.ayrstone.com.

Other technology-related gifts that farmers say they want according to the survey include wireless remote grain monitoring, iPad or other tablet, new router and remote thermal imaging.

Cotton Growers Battle against Herbicide Resistance

Talia GoesAgribusiness, Weed control

WSSAlogoFor nearly a decade, cotton growers have been battling to save crops from the ravages of glyphosate-resistant Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri). Though in many ways they are finally gaining the upper hand, an expert with the Weed Science Society of America (WSSA) says the progress has come at a great cost.

Palmer amaranth is no ordinary foe. This prolific weed can grow an inch or more a day and achieve heights of nearly 10 feet. It crowds out crops, draws moisture and nutrients from the soil and has a stem tough enough to damage rugged farm equipment. To add to the challenge, a single plant can produce hundreds of thousands of seeds – turning a limited incursion into an all-out infestation.

Today integrated weed management programs that complement glyphosate with a variety of other weed control tools and techniques have become commonplace in cotton. Growers have added herbicides to their weed control programs that use a different mode of action than glyphosate. They also are using two approaches that may seem decidedly “old school.” More than 90 percent of cotton growers in Georgia are now hand-weeding a significant portion of their cotton crop, Culpepper says. They also are tilling more to keep Palmer amaranth at bay.

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