Ag Organizations Applaud Six Countries

Talia GoesAgribusiness, General, USDA

fas_logoKey members of the U.S. agricultural value chain have joined together to applaud the work of the United States and like-minded governments to promote the importance of science-based regulations to facilitate trade of agricultural commodities derived from agricultural biotechnology.

In a joint statement, the United States was joined by the governments of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada and Paraguay to announce their intention to work collaboratively to remove global barriers to the trade of agricultural biotechnology and promote science-based, transparent and predictable regulatory approaches.

The U.S. agriculture sector agrees that a particular area of concern is the timeliness and efficiency of global regulatory systems. In the joint statement, the like-minded governments have highlighted their intention to promote synchronization of authorizations by regulatory authorities – in particular for food, feed and processing purposes.

Hybrids Perform Well With Delayed Planting

Talia GoesAgribusiness, Corn, Dupont Pioneer, Research

pioneerGrowers across the Corn Belt are either anxiously waiting to get into their fields or are in the early stages of planting their 2013 corn crop. If cool, wet weather continues, planting will be delayed for many growers and prompt questions about switching to earlier season hybrids.

Long-term research studies from DuPont Pioneer and several universities show that adapted, full-season corn hybrids usually offer the best yield and profit advantage when planting delays are not extreme.

Full-season hybrids typically make full use of a growing season. Even when planted late, these hybrids often outperform early maturing hybrids, adjusting their growth and development to reach maturity in a shortened growing season.

Long-term studies by both Pioneer and universities which included a range of hybrid maturities across planting dates extending from April through June have shown a clear yield and profit advantage for full-season hybrids.

Soybean Executive Named NAWG CEO

Talia GoesAgribusiness, General, wheat

palmerLongtime soybean industry executive Jim Palmer has been named chief executive officer of the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG). Palmer was selected by the NAWG Board of Directors after a search process led by the NAWG officers and grower-leaders of the National Wheat Foundation, NAWG’s affiliated charitable organization.

He will officially begin work with the Association and Foundation as of June 1, though he plans to meet with NAWG’s grower-leaders and staff throughout the month of May.

Palmer has worked in administrative roles for national and state agriculture organizations for the past 30 years, most of that time in the soybean industry. From 1997 until early 2012, he worked as the executive director for the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association and the Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council. Earlier in his career, he was engaged in commercial agriculture credit and was the staff lead during the development of the United Soybean Board, the national soybean checkoff. Since leaving Minnesota Soybean, he has worked as an independent management and development consultant with agriculture companies around the United States.

Brennan New Farm Foundation Dir. of Development

John DavisAg Group

brennan1Our friends at Farm Foundation, a group that has work in agriculture, food systems and rural communities, has tapped Tim Brennan as their new Director of Development.

“We are excited to welcome Tim to the Foundation staff,” says Jay Armstrong of Armstrong Farms, Muscotah, KS, Chairman of the Foundation’s Board of Directors.

“This is a dynamic time for the Foundation as demand for our high-quality, objective program work continues to grow. Tim’s expertise in fundraising will be crucial to the Foundation’s ability to expand the depth and reach of that programming.”

“The Foundation is uniquely positioned to help public and private decision makers understand evolving issues and demands that are shaping the future of the industry,” says Neil Conklin, President of Farm Foundation, NFP. “Tim will formalize a fundraising strategy and bring valuable experience to strengthen and broaden relationships in the Foundation’s networks.”

Brennan has 20 years in fundraising, most of that in higher education. He was the Associate Director of Alumni Relations for the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business, now the Booth School of Business and the Director of Alumni Relations and Marketing for Northwestern University’s School of Law, as well as the University of Chicago’s Executive Director of the Chicago Society and Director of Development at the Law School and the Senior Director of Alumni and Constituent Relations at the University.

Generations of Family Farming

Talia GoesZimmPoll

Our latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “Does celebrity media attention sway your purchasing/listening/watching decisions? (e.g. Carrie Underwood supporting HSUS)”

Our poll results: Sixty-four percent said No, sixteen percent said Yes, eleven percent said Carrie Underwood Who, seven percent said Depends on the Celebrity, and two percent said Other. It looks like our audience doesn’t make decisions based on what media coverage of so called “celebrities.” How about you? Do you think differently? Let us know.

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Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, “How many generations are you removed from the farm?” With fewer and larger farms in the United States, not as many people are involved in production agriculture as 40 years ago. What is your family connection to farming? Let us know.

ZimmPoll is sponsored by New Holland Agriculture.

Conservation Stewardship Program 2013

Talia GoesAgribusiness, Conservation, USDA

usda-logoAgriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) will provide nearly $175 million in funding for up to 12.6 million additional acres of enrollment this year.

Vilsack explained that although applications are accepted all year, farmers, ranchers and forestland owners interested in CSP should submit applications by May 31 to their local NRCS office to ensure they are considered for this year’s funding.

Playing a significant part in conserving and improving our nation’s resources, producers enrolled an additional 12.1 million acres in CSP last year, bringing the total number of acres to more than 50 million.

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.

G-8 Open Data for Ag Take Aways

Chuck ZimmermanAudio, Data Collection, Government, Raven

Data, data, data. I wonder how many times that word was used at this week’s G-8 International Conference on Open Data for Agriculture? A lot I’m sure. Well, I was not there but Paul Welbig, Raven Industries was.

Paul WelbigHere’s a photo of Paul on the left with Dr. Aboubacar Diaby, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa. They are holding an African corn planter.

The conference concluded after participating countries created some action plans for what to do next. You can find those on the website and even more information. A focus of the efforts being made to make more agricultural data sets available to the world wide community is to create resources that will help people in developing countries and where there is a real need for advanced food production. So you might like an example of how this has already been done in other areas. Paul shares a couple of examples that were given at the conference like GPS which exists because of data shared and now used in so many beneficial ways which includes precision agriculture.

Learn more about what was discussed in this week’s conference in my weekly ZimmCast podcast with Paul: [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/zimmcast/zimmcast393-5-1-13.mp3″ text=”Open Data for Agriculture”]

Precision.AgWired.com Podcast: Adaptive nitrogen management

Meghan GrebnerApps, Fertilizer, Nutrient Management, Precision Pays Podcast, Software, technology

pp-podcastWhat if there was a way to know if too much nitrogen is applied one year or not enough the next year – before the application is ever made?

Cornell University professor of soil science Harold van Es says by utilizing adaptive nitrogen management they’re trying to account for the many factors that influence how much nitrogen a corn crop will actually need.

In this Precision.AgWired.com Podcast, sponsored by Ag Leader Technology, we’ll talk to Harold van Es of Cornell University about Adapt-N.

[wpaudio url=http://precision.agwired.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2013/04/PPP-0413.mp3 text=”Precision.AgWired.com Podcast”]

You can subscribe to the Precision.AgWired.com Podcast here.

The Precision.AgWired.com Podcast is sponsored by Ag Leader Technology.

G-8 Open Data for Agriculture Conf Concluding Presser

Chuck ZimmermanAudio, Data Collection, USDA

open-dataThe G-8 International Conference on Open Data for Agriculture is coming to an end. Interestingly, USDA held a concluding press conference to discuss results prior to the end of the conference. USDA Chief Scientist Dr. Catherine Woteki outlined the federal government’s new Food, Agriculture and Rural data community, which offers a catalog of over 300 data sets as well as numerous apps, tools and statistical products. The community can be found on www.data.gov. Its creation was announced at the start of the conference by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

We are hoping to interview a participant in the conference to learn more about what they took away and will post that here as soon as we are able to do so.

In the meantime, you can listen to the concluding press conference here: [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/usda/usda-g8-ending-presser-4-30-13.mp3″ text=”USDA Open Data Conference Wrap Up Presser”]

Getting Precise with Seed Treatments

John DavisAgribusiness, Audio, BASF, Corn, Planting, seed, Soybeans

becker-haleYou’ve spent some good money to treat those seeds before you plant them in the ground. But the dust that forms when the treated seeds rub together and rub off those expensive treatments is more than a loss of protection and an irritant for workers – it’s like money blowing away in the wind. Charlie Hale, marketing strategy and support lead for Becker Underwood says that’s why having the right polymer is so important.

“You might think of the polymers as glues that glue those solids on to the seed surface, but they are also designed these days to help fill in the spaces between the particles to make the seed smoother,” cutting down on that friction that creates that dust. Charlie adds that Becker Underwood’s new Flo Rite® 1706 plantability polymer does all that and gives you more uniform plant distribution out in the field. He also points out that losing protection for that seed also means a loss in yield potential. “With today’s prices for grain, we lose significant amounts of money, just because we haven’t kept that protection on the seed.”

Charlie says Becker Underwood has two formulations for legumes, two for corn and another one on the way for cotton. He says this is the third generation of the Flo Rite products for soybeans and corn, so his company has some experience to bring to the table. They’ve got it down to producing almost no dust, no matter how aggressively it gets rubbed.

He cautions that growers who think they can cut down on dust really aren’t gaining anything. “Yeah, [a half rate] does [cut down on dust]. But you still are losing protection.” You want to put on and keep on everything that you’ve invested. And he thinks the latest Flo Rite polymer will be near zero dust. “You get pretty close to that.”

Listen to Cindy’s interview with Charlie here: [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/basf/becker-hale.mp3″ text=”Charlie Hale, Becker Underwood marketing and support lead”]

Becker Underwood media tour photo album