Thanksgiving Dinner Favorites

Chuck ZimmermanZimmPoll

Our latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “What’s your favorite Thanksgiving food?”

Our poll results: Thirty-three percent said turkey; twenty-five percent said other; twenty-one percent said pumpkin pie; fifteen percent said sweet potatoes/yams; and six percent said Cranberry sauce/relish.

Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, “What gadget is on your Christmas wish list?” Are you hoping for a new smartphone? A new tablet? An upgraded item or nothing at all? Let us know! These are fast becoming useful precision ag tools!

ZimmPoll is sponsored by Rhea+Kaiser, a full-service advertising/public relations agency.

Mix Tank App Receives Award

Melissa SandfortAerial Application, Agribusiness, Apps, Spraying

Precision Laboratories is pleased to announce that their award-winning and patent-pending Mix Tank app was “highly commended” for “Best Stewardship Program” at the recent AGROW AWARDS gala in London, England.

Precision Laboratories’ smartphone app was recognized for its utility to applicators and was highly commended by the judging panel.

Mix Tank is designed to assist agricultural applicators and farmers with the proper tank mixing sequence to prevent tank mix problems. The available weather integration helps applicators maintain accurate spray logs and assist with documentation and compliance.

Mix Tank is available as a free download on the App Store and Google Play by searching for Mix Tank or Precision Laboratories. Click here for more information on Mix Tank or Precision Laboratories. Precision Laboratories can also be found on Facebook .

FMC Talks New Product Lines

Jamie JohansenAgribusiness, Audio, Corn, Cotton, FMC, Harvesting, NAFB, Soybeans

FMC Corporation shared new product lines during the recent National Association of Farm Broadcasting’s Trade Talks. Chuck talked with Bentley Curry, FMC Representative, about herbicides and harvest aids farmers can take advantage of in the fields.

“This year we had the Authority line of products in combination with Authority XL, Authority MTZ. Probably the product that was best fitted for the Mid South was Authority MTZ. It has a great point when you get resistant management where we got pigweed, water hemp and lambs quarter that has become glyphosate resistant. It is a super fit for that because it gives residual that you can go down at pre planting and at planting with the product and take care of those small seeded resistant type weeds.”

“On the cotton side we are really excited about a new product for the defoliation department called Display. I had the opportunity to look at sizable acreage of it this year. It had just received its label for 2012. We had the opportunity to see it after some rain events had come in. The cotton was getting pretty close to harvest and the cotton had greened back up, had all this second growth and typically that stuff is really hard to get off the cotton plant. But Display is a new PPO type compound that disrupts the cellular action in the leaf and gives you really fast dry down of that juvenal growth. It take that stuff off the plant, shuts the plant down from growing and gets it ready for harvest.”

Listen to my complete interview with Bentley here: [wpaudio url=”http://agwired.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/nafb-12-fmc-curry.mp3″ text=”Bentley Curry – FMC Corporation”]

2012 NAFB Convention Photo Album

Kinze Advises Planter Prep During Winter Months

Melissa SandfortEquipment

The people at Kinze Manufacturing, Inc. understand the urgency to get seed in the ground shortly after the planting window opens. Because many Kinze employees also farm, they know how critical proper planter maintenance is to ensuring maximum productivity and efficiency during this short time.

While it’s very important for farmers to make sure their planter is mechanically sound, it’s also important to check the electronics and technology on today’s planters.

After farmers check their planter’s mechanics, there is a separate checklist of items they should check regarding their monitors and technology. For farmers to ensure their planter monitor is running properly, Kinze recommends three basic areas to check: display operation, display data/software and the planter components.

If these tasks are performed before planting, it ensures that farmers will be ready to plant when weather permits.

New GROWMARK Dry Terminal

Cindy ZimmermanFertilizer, Growmark, Video

If you have never seen a brand new, empty dry terminal – here is your opportunity.

GROWMARK is opening a new dry terminal in Stuart, Iowa very soon – the first loads of product will arrive next week to test the system – and some of the agricultural media had a chance to get a tour last week to learn about it. The 15,500 ton facility will handle granular urea, monoammonium phosphate and white potash. It has capacity for 18 railcars with six 10 ton hoppers, five micro hoppers and a blending capacity of 300 tons per hour.

In this video, GROWMARK Plant Food Operations Manager Brian Hundman provides a behind-the-scenes look at the new facility in its nearly complete stage. You can also check out photos from the media tour last week in this photo album.

GROWMARK Iowa Media Tour Photos

Time to Give #FoodThanks

Cindy ZimmermanAgChat, General, social media

This week marks the third annual AgChat #Foodthanks celebration, a time to reflect on the blessing of all the food choices we have in this nation. Farmers, ranchers, processors, butchers, bakers, chefs, grocers, truckers and more all make it possible for us to have healthy food on plates.

Today and tomorrow in particular, AgChat encourages you to show your #Foodthanks via social media.

Twitter – Join our monthly #FoodChat twitter conversation Tuesday, November 20 from 8:00pm – 10:00pm ET. We will be talking #Foodthanks and of course the upcoming Thanksgiving celebration. Direct message @Foodchat any questions you would like to have included in the conversation.

On Wednesday, November 21st, continue the #Foodthanks conversation. Tweet your favorite recipe, farm blog or tell us why you are giving #Foodthanks. Show the Twitter world your #Foodthanks story.

Facebook – On Tuesday, November 20th, we will be hosting our first ever Facebook Party from 8:00 p.m. -10:00 p.m. ET! Similar to our traditional Twitter conversations, we will be engaging in a conversation that focuses on #Foodthanks. Make sure to join the community and show your #Foodthanks.

On Wednesday, November 21st, we will be asking you to share with us your #Foodthanks story. Share your pictures, blog posts and thoughts on your own personal #Foodthanks.

Pinterest – Join us now as we are pinning our #Foodthanks. Follow our #Foodthanks board and we will ask you to join our community and pin your #Foodthanks. Do you have a favorite food blog? How about grandma’s secret pumpkin pie recipe? Pin a picture showing how your family farm makes #Foodthanks possible. Join us on Pinterest now.

What makes you give #Foodthanks?

USDA to Conduct Census of Agriculture

John DavisAudio, FMC, Government, NAFB, USDA

The USDA wants to get a better idea of what’s happening on America’s farms. That’s why the 2012 Census of Agriculture forms will be hitting producers’ mailboxes very soon.

“The Census of Agriculture will be dropped in the mail December 14th, so farmers should expect it in their mailboxes by the end of the year,” says Renee Picanso, Director of the USDA’s Census and Survey Division, asking that those surveyed return their census by Feb. 4, 2013. During an interview at Trade Talk at the National Association of Farm Broadcasting convention, she added that they’ll be asking some new questions this year, including some on agriforestry and renewable energy. Also new this year will be the opportunity to fill out the survey over the internet, something they believe will help response rates. “I hope so, because it leads you through the questions, and if you go on the internet, it will skip through the questions [not relevant to your operation].”

Picanso stresses that it’s very important for producers to respond because the survey helps USDA determine policy, as well as how it helps rural communities and agribusinesses. Results should be released in February 2014.

Listen to Cindy’s interview with Renee here: [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/nafb/nafb12-nass-renee.mp3″ text=”Renee Picanso, USDA Census and Survey Division”]

2012 NAFB Convention Photo Album

USDA Asks for Survey Responses to be More Precise

John DavisAudio, FMC, NAFB, USDA

Ag producers know the importance of being precise in their information, and the USDA is no different, especially this year when growing conditions varied so much nationwide. To get that good, precise information, the USDA will be sending out its end-of-year surveys soon. Cindy caught up with Bob Bass, the Director of National Operations for the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) during Trade Talk at the National Association of Farm Broadcasting convention, and he said the country’s farms and ranches have seen a wide range of conditions this year.

“It’s very important that we get a handle on the final production, and that includes the actual harvested acres and final yield,” as well at what stocks are in storage out there, Bass said. About 73,000 scientifically selected farms and ranches will be surveyed, representing the 2.2 million operations nationwide. “That’s why it is so important that we get an accurate and timely response from everyone of those selected samples.”

Bass added that NASS will be changing when they release some of their reports, with the monthly crop reports moving from 8:30 a.m. EST to Noon EST after the first of the year. “That’s at the request of data users across the country and the world… it’s a global economy now.” Livestock reports will remain at 3 p.m. EST.

Listen to Cindy’s interview with Bob here: [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/nafb/nafb12-nass-bass.mp3″ text=”Interview with Bob Bass, NASS”]

2012 NAFB Convention Photo Album

m

GROWMARK Excited About N-Watch

Cindy Zimmermanagronomy, Audio, Fertilizer, Growmark, Nutrient Management, Video

If farmers could determine the concentration, form and location of plant-available nitrogen, deciding when and where and how much to apply would be that much easier.

That’s the goal of N-Watch, which started this year as a small scale, pilot program by GROWMARK in partnership with FS Member Cooperatives. The objectives of the program are to quantify the form of available, soil-applied nitrogen (N), where it is located, and what happens to the concentration of available N over time in the upper 0-12 and 12-24 inch profiles of the soil.

“We go out after harvest and take an inventory of plant available nitrogen,” explained GROWMARK Agronomy Services Manager Dr. Howard Brown. “Once we have that determination, we take composite samples after that every 2-4 weeks, track the nitrogen until it freezes, then after it thaws in the spring we’ll continue to pull the samples to see if the residual nitrogen is still there.”

Brown says it’s not an exact science, “but it’s a move in the right direction, this is what we need to be doing.” GROWMARK has over 45 sites in Illinois now and they are now moving in to new sites in Iowa, where we heard about the program last week during a GROWMARK media tour.

GROWMARK is so excited about the N-Watch concept that they want it to spread quickly. “We came up with the phrase (N-Watch) but we gave the license to the Illinois Council for Best Management Practices so that it can be utilized in the Midwest,” said Howard. “It would be great if everybody used N-Watch.”

Listen to Howard’s overview of N-Watch here and watch him in the video below: [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/growmark/gmk-ia-howard.mp3″ text=”Dr. Howard Brown, GROWMARK”]

GROWMARK Iowa Media Tour Photos

Meet Randy Spronk – Precision.AgWired.com Profile

Jamie JohansenAudio, FMC, NAFB, Profiles, RTK

It is time for another spotlight in our series of post about farmers utilizing precision agriculture on their farm. Today’s Precision.AgWired.com Profile is on Randy Spronk, a Minnesota pork producer and crop farmer. I met up with him while attending the National Association of Farm Broadcasting’s Trade Talk in Kansas City last week. Randy shared his passion for agriculture and how he has embraced new technologies over the years.

“I am in a unique situation, I have two separate fiscal entities. Spronk Brothers is the livestock side. We have a swine farrow-to-finish operation where we have our own feed mill. Ranger Farms is the cropping side. It is a separate limited liability partnership where we farm about 3,000 acres,. planting every spring.”

“I guess I’d call myself an early adopter. I actually was an early integrator of using technology for driving. We have multiple units of RTK for tractors, combines and sprayers. In the last couple of days I have gone back to my yield maps and elevation maps for drainage.”

“On the swine side, our fertilizer comes from livestock manure. We actually use the precision farming on all of our rigs. The RTK satellite and the auto track steering with flow meters.”

Randy is also President-Elect for the National Pork Producers Council, where he will help defend producers rights and freedom to operate.

Listen to my interview with Randy here: [wpaudio url=”http://precision.agwired.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2012/11/precision-farmer-randy-spronk.mp3″ text=”Randy Spronk – Minnesota Farmer”]

2012 NAFB Convention Photo Album

m