Allowing Growers to Irrigate Additional Acres

Melissa SandfortAgribusiness, Irrigation

Valley Irrigation continues to give growers more choices by introducing the new Valley DropSpan for center pivots. The DropSpan allows growers to irrigate additional acres with a center pivot by “dropping” spans upon arriving at a large obstruction in a field, allowing the center pivot to continue irrigating.

Valley Irrigation is focused on engineering new products that allow growers to expand their operations. The Valley DropSpan allows growers to get the most out of the land they already have and can easily be dropped or re-attached by one person without the use of tools.

The Valley DropSpan allows growers to put every possible acre under mechanized irrigation – acres that were never irrigated before, or were irrigated with a less efficient method, can now be picked up with a center pivot.

Valley Irrigation continues to outperform the competition by providing the most extensive product line available to help growers meet their annual goals. In addition to the DropSpan, the Bender160, Bender30, and corner machines from Valley irrigate additional acres for a low investment.

Harvest for Kids World Record!

Melissa SandfortAgribusiness, Harvesting

The most combines harvesting simultaneously, ever. That just happened in Saskatchewan for a Harvest for Kids project. Can you imagine seeing 249 combines in action all at once. Combines of all colors!

And they did it: farmers from many different communities in Saskatchewan came together to bring in a Guinness World Record harvest. 249 combines rolled down the field in front of thousands of spectators all with the goal of bringing hope to kids around the world through Children’s Camps International.

Discussing the Future of Hi-Tech Farming

Melissa SandfortAgribusiness, Events

The U.S. agriculture industry is facing a serious problem with being able to feed a rapidly expanding global population, as well as responding to climatic changes much like the recent drought that hit the United States. Technology is now playing an ever increasing role on the farm, allowing farmers to make the most out of every acre and to prepare against future climatic changes.

Over 200 of the most advanced farms, agribusinesses, dealers and technology businesses will be meeting in San Francisco on October 24-25 at the Future Farm Americas conference. The very latest case studies will feature key speakers include Village Farms International, Trimble, PepsiCo, Blair Farms, SLC Agricola Farms, Netafim, Olam Americas, Lindsay Irrigation, Pittman Farms and the USDA.

This event is designed to help farmers and agribusinesses learn about the latest technologies and on-farm strategies that help drive yields and keep costs down. Hearing from all parts of the Ag-value chain, including top investors, the event focuses on SMART Farming, irrigation, sustainability and hi-tech agriculture.

This year’s conference will take place alongside the 3rd annual Agriculture Investment Summit Americas, providing additional access to investors, funds and VCs.

Monsanto Commits to Invest An Acre Program

Melissa SandfortAgribusiness, Company Announcement, Monsanto

In keeping with the company’s commitment to sustainable agriculture and improving lives, Monsanto Company is partnering in Invest an Acre, which is focused on addressing rural hunger in America.

In partnership with the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, Feeding America and Archer Daniels Midland Company, Monsanto is proud to be the first seed company to join the program and match the contributions of U.S. farmers who are working to fight hunger in their own communities.

The Invest an Acre program is the first effort of its kind to mobilize farmers, agri-business and a nonprofit on a national scale to support rural hunger relief. Through the program, participating farmers can go to an ADM elevator to invest a portion of the proceeds from their harvest to support their local food bank connected with Feeding America.

Monsanto will support Invest an Acre through a $3 million contribution, in which the company will match the contributions of U.S. farmers, dollar for dollar.

AEM Defends Biofuels Mandate

Melissa SandfortAgribusiness, Biodiesel, Equipment, Ethanol

The Association of Equipment Manufacturers has spoken out in defense of an important driver of agricultural equipment demand, urging the EPA to deny requests to waive the required use of biofuels under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). Several governors have filed waiver requests with the EPA to waive the RFS claiming economic hardships from higher corn prices due to the production of ethanol as the primary reason EPA should grant the waivers.

AEM filed comments with the EPA urging the agency to deny the waiver requests as they would cripple the continued growth of the biofuels industry while doing little to lower the prices of corn and animal feeds. AEM cited concerns that a waiver would have negative impacts on not only the biofuels industry, but on rural America, the environment and gasoline prices as well.

In addition, AEM notes that a robust biofuels sector is an important driver of agricultural equipment demand. “The market instability created by granting the waiver request would also spill over into the agricultural equipment area,” AEM comments read. “A weakened RFS would serve as a drag on future growth in the agricultural equipment manufacturing industry and the rural communities that depend upon it.” The expansion in production of next-generation fuels, which use non-foodstuff such as corn cobs, also has the potential to create markets for whole new classes of equipment.

The comment period for the waiver request officially ended last week.

US Precision Farmer Visits Australia

Cindy ZimmermanEvents, Farmers, Precision Ag in the News

An Idaho farmer recently went Down Under to share his experience in precision agriculture with Aussie producers.

Robert Blair of Kendrick, Idaho was the keynote speaker at the 15th Symposium on Precision Agriculture held at Mildura, Victoria last month.

Blair grows winter and spring wheat, malt barley, lentils, peas, garbanzo beans, lucerne hay and cattle on his operation and he is a well-known promoter of precision farming. In 2009, he received the Precision Farmer of the Year award from the PrecisionAg Institute. Blair is a leading advocate of unmanned air systems for precision agriculture, and holds a precision field day each year to demonstrate how Precision.AgWired.com on his operation.

Read about Blair’s visit to the symposium in the Australian agriculture publication Stock Journal.

Unlock the Secrets in the Soil

Melissa SandfortAgribusiness, Conservation, USDA, Video

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has announced the start of a USDA effort meant to highlight the benefits of improving and maintaining America’s soil. “Unlock the Secrets in the Soil” is an awareness and education effort that features farmers from communities in numerous states — Ohio, Indiana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Indiana, Utah, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Montana and Kansas — where growers are increasingly interested in how improved soil health can benefit their operations. The agency is studying successes and identifying lessons learned in these states to share with farmers in other states.

“As world population and food production demands rise, keeping our soil healthy and productive is of paramount importance. So much so that we believe improving the health of our Nation’s soil is one of the most important endeavors of our time.

By focusing more attention on soil health and by educating our customers and the public about the positive impact healthy soils can have on productivity and conservation, we can help our Nation’s farmers and ranchers feed the world more profitably and sustainably – now and for generations to come.”

Watch the “Voices of Soil Health” video here:

Ag Leader Expands Tech Support

Chuck ZimmermanAg Leader, Audio, Insights Weekly

Insights Weekly

You’ve heard the old saying, “Jack of all trades, master of none”, right? Over the years, employees have had to know enough about every product just to be dangerous. But with all the advancements in precision agriculture and the ways in which modern farming practices have changed, employees have in fact become experts on one product. They’ve become “specialized teams”.

And that’s why Ag Leader’s technical support department has grown exponentially since 2004 when Kelly Kopsa, Ag Leader Technical Support department manager, came on board.

“We have the ability to speak to the product testers and the folks in product development,” says Kopsa. “This helps us communicate up and down the product supply chain, and helps us find answers to any problems we might encounter.”

Listen to Chuck’s interview with Kelly here: [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/agleader/ag-leader-7-12-kopsa.mp3″ text=”Interview with Kelly Kopsa”]

He also says that even during the busy season, customers can talk to a real, live person if they call tech support for assistance. Both dealers AND farmers can call direct, which makes Ag Leader unique. It’s a commitment and a tradition and as product lines grow, tech support is growing right along with it.

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.

Harvest Makes Rapid Progress

Cindy ZimmermanCorn, Harvesting, NCGA

Farmers are more than double-timing it on the corn harvest this season.

As of this past weekend, USDA reports that 69 percent of the crop was harvested, compared to 28 average for this time of year. Several corn belt states are running way, way ahead of normal, like Minnesota and Iowa, which normally have around 11-17% of the corn harvest complete by now. This year – over three-quarters of the crop in both states is harvested!

National Corn Growers Association President Pam Johnson of Floyd, Iowa says farmers are working diligently to get the crop into the U.S. corn supply.

“While this summer’s drought certainly took its toll, corn farmers are working tirelessly to get the crop out of field and into bins. Their commitment to maximizing the crop drives them forward, often late into the night, harvesting now to make sure they provide the most abundant, highest quality corn possible,” said Johnson.

SCR Dairy Precision

Chuck ZimmermanAgribusiness, Audio, Dairy

Let me introduce you to SCR Dairy, Inc., Precise Dairy Farming. We’re in a precision world in agriculture and that includes the dairy industry. In the case of SCR Dairy it’s all about cow monitoring systems.

Just prior to the recent World Dairy Expo, ag media got a close up look at SCR Dairy via management presentations and a tour of Fertile Ridge Dairy which is using SCR Dairy products. Our leader for the tour was Tom Breunig, SCR U.S. General Manager, pictured on the left in the photo.

The parent company is based in Israel and only recently opened this office and division in Madison, WI. Many people would be familiar with SCR’s milk flow meters. However, in the case of SCR Dairy it’s about monitoring rumination and ID tags. These tags are utilized in a collar on the cow and measure a number of things including movement much like a Wii. My attention was drawn to the fact that the system includes a microphone which allows a dairy to listen to the cow chew and rumen action. Fascinating stuff. In my interview with Tom he describes how the dairy now has a real “picture” of each cow and what is going on with them. This has greatly reduced the amount of time a dairy has to spend on cow monitoring. There are a number of other benefits too.

You can listen to my interview with Tom here: [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/wdexpo/wde-12-scr.mp3″ text=”Interview with Tom Breunig”]