Airing on the Side of Agriculture with Larry Quinn

Jamie JohansenAgribusiness, Audio, NAFB

Airing on the Side of AgricultureLarry Quinn wasn’t quite ready to walk away from the agriculture communications industry when he retired as Director of Communications at USDA. With his strong connection to the National Association of Farm Broadcasting, Larry saw a need to share the story and legacy of farm broadcasters across the country.

“I looked around and among the membership of NAFB I found so many interesting stories about the people and the profession. So, I proposed to NAFB of writing a column called “Airing on the Side of Agriculture” to try and get people to think about their colleagues and what they do on the side of agriculture.”

nafb13-quinnLarry admitted the perk of retirement was the opportunity to pick and choose what you wanted to do. He found out that he truly enjoyed writing way more than he had originally thought.

“Email and the telephone are the greatest tools for me. What I don’t find out from broadcasters that way, I look them up on the internet. Look at their website and find out all kinds of information about them that they failed to tell me. When I write about someone I try and make it a full compliment of what they do and tell that story that sometimes might be linked to a current event.”

As if he wasn’t busy enough with this new venture, Larry is also active with the Broadcast Committee and the History and Heritage Committee of the National Press Club.

Listen to the complete interview with Larry here: [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/nafb/nafb-13-larry-quinn.mp3″ text=”Interview with Larry Quinn”]

Checkout photos from NAFB Convention: 2013 NAFB Convention Photo Album

NAFB Scholarship Recipients Awarded

Jamie JohansenAgribusiness, Audio, Education, NAFB

nafb-scholarshipOn the opening day of the 70th National Association of Farm Broadcasting Convention the NAFB Foundation awarded this year’s scholarship recipients during a luncheon sponsored by the CME Group.

Gina Olsen is the first recipient of the George Logan Scholarship. She is attending the University of Missouri and seeking a degree in agriculture. [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/nafb/nafb-13-gina-olsen.mp3″ text=”Interview with Gina Olsen”]

Amie Burke is the recipient of the Glenn Kummerow Scholarship. She is attending Illinois is State University and will graduate in December and will soon join the communications team at GROWMARK. [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/nafb/nafb-13-amie-burke.mp3″ text=”Interview with Amie Burke”]

Stacie Seger received the NAFB Foundation Scholarship and is a junior at The Ohio State University. There she is pursuing a BS in Agriculture Communications. [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/nafb/nafb-13-stacie-seger.mp3″ text=”Interview with Stacie Seger”]

Checkout photos from NAFB Convention: 2013 NAFB Convention Photo Album

Connected Farm Solution Adds RainWave Precipitation Monitoring

Talia GoesAgribusiness, Trimble, weather

RainWave WidgetTrimble announced a new feature for its RainWave precipitation monitoring solution for agriculture. As part of the Connected Farm solution, the new feature adds actual rainfall activity in 10-minute increments plus accumulated rainfall over a 24-hour period. With this comprehensive rainfall information, farmers can have a better understanding of the rainfall intensity, which can be used to make more informed decisions for irrigation and other farming operations.

For example, if RainWave information shows that a large amount of rain fell in a short period of time, much of that rainfall may have run off the field and be unavailable to the crop. In contrast, if the information shows a slow steady rain, farmers may assume that the rainfall has a better chance of being absorbed in the soil and can be available to the crop.

The RainWave solution enables farmers across the U.S. to set up virtual rain gauges by entering GPS coordinates for identified locations in order to receive a rainfall report for those locations. Since on-site rain gauges are not needed, farmers no longer need to monitor dispersed gauges or manually track precipitation. Farmers are able to obtain the RainWave information through their Connected Farm dashboard, a Web portal that provides one centralized location for farmers to view key information impacting their operations.

Climate Basic and Climate Pro for 2014

Talia GoesAgribusiness, weather

tcc_logo_marcomThe Climate Corporation announced the availability of CLIMATE Basic and CLIMATE Pro for the 2014 Crop Year.

CLIMATE Basic is a mobile service that optimizes a farmer’s daily decision making by providing up-to-the-minute, field-level current and future weather, soil, and crop growth stage information. Climate Basic is more powerful than services costing hundreds of dollars per year and is available at climate.com to farmers nationwide at no cost.

CLIMATE Pro is a revolutionary web and mobile service that increases a farmer’s profitability through customized field recommendations that maximize yield and minimize costs. CLIMATE Pro provides recommendations before and during the growing season that dynamically adjust to changing weather-related and other field conditions. Key recommendations offered by CLIMATE Pro include what relative maturity and planting date will optimize yield, where, when, and how much to sidedress nitrogen, what integrated pest management mitigates yield loss, where variable rate application will be beneficial, and what harvest date optimizes dry down costs, grain moisture and yield. Farmers will also have access to up-to-the-minute, field-specific weather, forecasts, and crop conditions as well as farm-level yield projections. CLIMATE Pro for 2014 provides corn farmers with an average increase in profits of over $100 per acre for only $15 per acre and soybean farmers with an average increase in profits of over $50 acre for only $7.50 per acre.

Pioneer and John Deere Offer Next Level of Decision Services

Talia GoesAgribusiness, Dupont Pioneer, John Deere

Dupont PioneerAgriculture technology leaders DuPont Pioneer and John Deere are collaborating to deliver near real-time field level data to growers, taking Decision Services to the next level. The companies are linking Pioneer Field360 services, a suite of precision agronomy software, with John Deere Wireless Data Transfer architecture, JDLink and MyJohnDeere.

Pioneer will be among the first to leverage Wireless Data Transfer architecture, making the data exchange process faster and more convenient for growers and enabling them to make important seed, fertilizer and other input purchasing and management decisions with the latest field data. Growers can opt-in to upload their field data directly into Pioneer Field360 Select software from their John Deere GreenStar 3 2630 display through MyJohnDeere. Pioneer Field360 Select software also can be used to generate seeding and fertilizer prescription files and send them directly to the grower’s GreenStar 3 2630 displays in the field.

Pioneer and John Deere plan to make the service widely available in 2014 to anyone who has been equipped by a John Deere dealer for Wireless Data Transfer and has subscribed to the Pioneer Field360 Select software. Each company will market their software and solutions through their existing localized distribution channels.

SMS Training and Resources

Melissa SandfortAg Leader, Insights Weekly

Insights Weekly One goal of the Ag Leader SMS Software team is to provide training opportunities and resources that are effective regardless of the users SMS knowledge and fit into their busy schedules. This is why they have put all of their resources in a simple, single location for growers to get to: sms.agleader.com (or go to agleader.com and click Support).

At the beginning of every month, Ag Leader offers free online webinars that growers can sign-up to attend. If you don’t have time to attend during our scheduled times, there are pre-recorded versions that have been posted for you to watch at your convenience. These serve as great precursors before attending one of the online or classroom trainings that will be held throughout the winter, which you can now sign-up for.

Under the SMS Resources page, here are links to other resources such as:

– Documentation: i.e. getting started guides and manuals
– YouTube tutorials: videos that describe individual tasks like reading in files and exporting field and product names, prescriptions and crop plans, guidance, and variety tracking information
– Discussion Forum: a dedicated discussion board for SMS products where you can ask questions and get answers from Ag Leader and other SMS users
– Spatial Data Links: links to assist you in finding other data to import into SMS or used for other purposes in your operation

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.

Landmark launches YieldEDGE Viewer

Talia GoesAgribusiness, yields

YieldEDGE Yield Analysis Data MapLandmark Services Cooperative introduces the YieldEDGE Viewer, a new management tool for crop growers to monitor trends by field. YieldEDGE Viewer is a web-based program that allows crop growers who are Landmark members access to the cooperative’s data on the owner’s fields in real-time, at any time. The program is free to all Landmark members.

After logging into the system with a username and password, YieldEDGE Viewer shows the grower all of the data that Landmark has compiled about their operation, based on each field’s set boundary. This information can include: yield maps, fertilizer rates applied each year, soil test data, multi-year yield analysis, seed varieties planted, historical prescriptions by field and historical weather trends on the farm’s acreage.

Producers can then log-in to the YieldEDGE Viewer and access their information whenever needed. Weather patterns, forecasts and trends are also shown through the YieldEDGE Viewer. Myers says that recognizing weather according to acreage can help with adjustments in irrigation levels, monitoring time according to growing degree days and fertilizer rates.

Farmers Take to the Sky to Improve Water Quality

Talia GoesAgribusiness, Conservation

logo-colorProducers in 16 Ohio counties watched the skies, not for weather, but for seeds that will help improve soil and water quality and boost their bottom lines. Working with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), local soil and water conservation districts (SWCDs) and the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD), 235 farmers are planting cover crops on 21,709 Ohio acres. Approximately half of the acres have been planted through aerial seeding, which allowed for the seed to be planted without affecting crops still on the field. The remainder of the cover crops are being planted using conventional methods.

Cover crops are nationally recognized as a soil and water quality best management practice because they control erosion and maintain nutrients in the soil. ODNR program administrators estimate the cover crop planting could result in up to 30,000 tons of soil saved as well as 30,000 pounds of phosphorus and 60,000 pounds of nitrogen kept out of Ohio waters. Aerial seeding began in late September.

ODNR provided oversight for the program, including rule development and payment administration. Local SWCDs in 16 counties worked directly with farmers to sign up, evaluate and eventually verify fields had been planted. MWCD provided $320,871 in funding to assist farmers in planting cover crops on soils within the conservancy district, with priority given to fields that offered the highest potential for erosion into district waters.

What’s Your Choice for Hunting Ride?

Talia GoesZimmPoll

zp-nhOur latest ZimmPoll asked the question, ”What’s the biggest threat to getting the Farm Bill done?”

Our poll results:
· Lack of bipartisanship – 39%
· Nutrition reform – 36%
· Other – 18%
· Animal ag issues – 7%

The farm bill conference committee has still only met once, but there is some hope they will have a compromise bill by Thanksgiving. In the meantime, fall means it’s hunting season in many areas of the country for various types of game and more hunters these days are using off-road vehicles. Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, “Which vehicle do you prefer for hunting?” Are you good with the basic four wheel ATV or does a bigger utility terrain vehicle better suit your hunting needs? Let us know.

Cyclone Innovation Mixes Up Spraying

Talia GoesAgribusiness

thumb_Vortik_diagram-rgbProduct development firm Cambridge Consultants is harnessing the power of a cyclone to better mix and spray liquids.

The new Vortik technology allows different liquids to be mixed at the point of spray without altering the spray characteristics – opening up the possibility of new applications in agriculture, consumer and industrial products, and healthcare.

Conventional atomizers use either a high pressure or high air flow to create a spray. This new fluid handling technology combines low-pressure air and liquid in a specially shaped cyclone chamber. Shear between swirling air and the liquids creates the desired droplet size for spraying.

In the pharmaceutical world, allowing active ingredients to be mixed at the point of delivery overcomes shelf-life and stability issues whilst minimizing waste.