SLIP Plate Facebook Sweepstakes

Cindy ZimmermanAudio, Equipment

Let me re-introduce you to SLIP Plate, a Superior Graphite product. Many farmers already know about SLIP Plate and use the products but over coming months we’re going to introduce you to this company and this product. We’re going to get started now with an interview I just conducted with Barry Lee, Product Manager Coatings & Lubricants, Superior Graphite. He says the company started in 1917 and their strength is graphite, supplying it in various forms to many different industries.

One of those industries is agriculture. It’s here that farmers are familiar with the SLIP Plate product that has been around for about 35 years. Barry shares an interesting anecdote about how they started SLIP Plate for the railroad business. A product they’ve created just for the ag market is Seed SLIK which has been engineered to reduce seed binding and bridging in planter hoppers and lubricate the mechanical parts of the planter without hurting the seeds.

So, Barry says they’ve decided to re-introduce the agricultural market to SLIP Plate. One of the ways they’re doing this is with the launch of the SLIP Plate® Facebook Sweepstakes.

SLIP Plate® Facebook Sweepstakes Want a chance to win a $100 Visa® Gift Card? Just follow these simple steps: 1) “Like” SLIP Plate on Facebook. 2) Enter the contest posted on SLIP Plate’s Facebook wall. Winners will be chosen randomly by the sweepstake’s host application, Easypromos, and will be notified via email. 2nd place and 3rd place entries selected will win SLIP Plate product (retail value up to $50.00). Contest ends: June 13, 2012. We thank you for your business and wish you good luck!

I love the slogan, Slippery when dry. So “If it needs to slide, roll, turn, twist or spin – it’s a job for SLIP Plate®!”

Listen to an interview with Barry here: [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/superior-graphite/superior-graphite-1-52912.mp3″ text=”Interview with Barry Lee”]

New Poll Asks if Atrazine Settlement is Good for Farmers

Cindy ZimmermanZimmPoll

Our latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “Which group should restaurants consider experts on animal care?” Recently many folks in agriculture participated in an online thank you campaign for Domino’s Pizza. Why? Because the restaurant chain made a decision based on good humane animal practices and did not give in to the demands of the animal activist group HSUS. According to our poll 48% said Farmers, 35% said Veterinarians, 16% said Ag Industry, 1% said Activists and no one selected Government. Sounds like good common sense response to me. So take notice all you restaurant chains. If you need advice and want to do the right thing for your customers and the folks who produce safe, humanely produced food, ask the experts and not people with an agenda.

Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, “Is Atrazine lawsuit settlement good for farmers?” A lawsuit against Syngenta related to the herbicide was has been settled with an offer of over $100 million by the company, even thought there has been no evidence of harm in drinking water caused by the product and the plaintiffs in the lawsuit acknowledged they had not commissioned any research on the subject or seen any new research to the contrary either. What do you think?

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

BOSH Precision Agriculture Names New GM

Melissa SandfortCompany Announcement

BOSH Precision Agriculture (BOSH) has named Mr. Young Kim as its General Manager. Kim brings to BOSH a 20-year background in business development, aviation technology, and unmanned systems. He assumed his new position on April 16.

Kim’s experience identifying opportunities for unmanned systems within civil markets was a driving force behind his appointment. Chief Executive Officer Robert Fitzgerald selected Kim to spearhead BOSH’s entry into the precision agriculture sector of the commercial Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) market.

BOSH Precision Agriculture is dedicated to leveraging the benefits of Unmanned Aircraft Systems to deliver economical solutions that enable growers to realize increased crop yield and lower production costs.

For additional information: info@boshpa.com

Precision.AgWired.com Podcast: The next step in crop scouting

Meghan GrebnerAerial Imagery, Precision Pays Podcast, Scouting

Crop scouting is a lost art.  I hear so many farmers (my father included) that will say how good or how poor a field looks as they are driving by it.  I’ll admit – I’m guilty of it, too.  I slow down to see how things are looking and maybe even stop long enough to snap a few photos.  There are now tools available to scout our fields without picking up anything more than our iPhone or iPad.  In this Precision.AgWired.com Podcast we’ll take a closer look at aerial crop health imaging and how Beck’s Hybrids is marrying technology with the lost art of scouting our crops.

 

[wpaudio url=”http://precision.agwired.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2012/05/PPP-05-26.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.

 

Results in for CRP General Sign-Up

Melissa SandfortUSDA

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the USDA will accept 3.9 million acres offered under the 43rd Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) general sign-up. During the extended five-week signup, the Department received nearly 48,000 offers on more than 4.5 million acres of land, demonstrating the CRP’s continuing leadership as one of our nation’s most successful voluntary efforts to conserve land and improve our soil, water, air and wildlife habitat resources. Under Vilsack’s leadership, USDA has now enrolled nearly 12 million acres in the CRP since 2009. Currently, there are more than 29.6 million acres enrolled on more than 736,000 contracts.

For the first continuous sign-up program, USDA encourages landowners with land that has an Erosion Index (EI) of 20 or greater to consider participating in the Highly Erodible Land initiative. Lands eligible for this program are typically the least productive land on the farm. In many cases the most cost-effective option to reduce erosion is to put the land into a wildlife friendly cover, which will improve habitat and reduce sediment and nutrient runoff and reduce wind erosion. For the second continuous sign-up program, landowners with sensitive grasslands, wetlands and wildlife habitat are encouraged to participate. The grasslands and wetlands initiative increases acres set aside for specific enrollments that benefit duck nesting habitat, upland birds, wetlands, and wildlife, and provides benefits for specific conservation practices, including new benefits for pollinator practices.

Click here to find out more.

Meet Corn Farmers Farming Advocate Billy Thiel

Melissa SandfortCorn, GPS

The National Corn Growers Association continues the second season of Field Notes, a series that takes readers behind the farm gate to follow the year in the life of American farm families.

Today, meet Billy Thiel, a farmer from Marshall, Mo., who was featured in last year’s Corn Farmers Coalition campaign. Through his work with this program, the National Corn Growers Association and the Missouri Corn Growers Association, Thiel gives back to the industry he loves through his efforts to educate legislators.

During the interview, Thiel’s tractor hummed along through the fields planting soybeans. The technology incorporated into his operation, including GPS auto-track and precision planting, allow him to minimize farm inputs.

Listen to the audio interview from NCGA here.

Farm Families Return to DC This Summer

Melissa SandfortCorn, Events

The nation’s top crop and the farm families who grow it will return to the U.S. capital this summer for the fourth year in a row as part of the Corn Farmers Coalition educational program that debuts June 1, at Union Station, an important venue for reaching policymakers inside “The Beltway.”

Corn farmers from 14 states and the National Corn Growers Association are supporting the Corn Farmers Coalition program to introduce a foundation of facts seen as essential to decision making, rather than directly influencing legislation and regulation.

The Corn Farmers Coalition is launching its major advertising campaign by taking over every available ad space at Union Station. The effort will also put prominent facts about family farmers in Capitol Hill publications, radio, frequently used websites, and other Metro locations in June and July.

The coalition will meet with media, members of Congress, environmental groups and others to talk about farming’s bright future: how U.S. farmers, using the latest technologies, will continue to meet the demands of a growing population and how this productivity can be a bright spot in an otherwise struggling economy.

Manage Nitrogen Application and Maximize Yield Potential with OptRx Crop Sensors

Melissa SandfortAg Leader, Insights Weekly

Insights Weekly Are you willing to take whatever steps needed to ensure maximum yield potential? Variable rate nitrogen application utilizing OptRx crop sensors is one way to reduce the risk of over fertilizing in early growth stages and ensure optimum plant health across the entire field.

How OptRx Works
OptRx crop sensors are installed across the application boom and integrate seamlessly with DirectCommand™ on your INTEGRA™ display.

Emitting its own light source, the sensors measure crop health based on plant mass and light reflectivity readings. By identifying the plant health of the crops, OptRx determines the amount of nitrogen plants with lower crop health need.

Chad Fick, Ag Leader crop sensor product specialist, gives us a bigger picture overview of OptRx and how it works. [wpaudio url=”http://precision.agwired.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2012/05/ChadOptRx1.mp3″ text=”Listen to Fick explain”]

By using OptRx, you can maintain a uniform, consistent nitrogen-rich soil base across the field through the key parts of the growing season. Fick explains why precise nitrogen application is so critical to plant health and increased yields. [wpaudio url=”http://precision.agwired.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2012/05/ChadOptRx2.mp3″ text=”Listen to Fick explain”]

Crop Sensor Rate Table
Nitrogen is not the only agrochemical that can be applied on-the-go with OptRx crop sensors. Thanks to the new Crop Sensor Rate Table, many agrochemicals, such as fertilizers, pesticides, defoliants, growth regulators and others, can now be more effectively applied at varying rates according to crop health.

The new Crop Sensor Rate Table allows you to choose a Vegetative Index range and assign the recommended rates based on those ranges. To take advantage of the new rate table, simply update your INTEGRA firmware to version 3.3.

OptRx Data: Independent Test
Tim Norris of Ag Info Tech LLC in Bucyrus, Ohio, conducted an independent OptRx crop sensor test. In this power point presentation, Tim outlines the results.

Fick explains the ROI and benefits to growers and what past data shows. [wpaudio url=”http://precision.agwired.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2012/05/ChadOptRx3.mp3″ text=”Listen to Fick explain”]

Learn more about the bottom-line benefits of OptRx crop sensors at DiscoverOptRx.com, or visit your nearest Ag Leader dealer.

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.

Monsanto Company Purchases Precision Planting, Inc.

Melissa SandfortCompany Announcement, Monsanto

In line with its vision of delivering yield to farmers sustainably, Monsanto Company announced it reached an agreement to purchase planting technology developer Precision Planting, Inc., a proven leader in improving yields through on-farm planting performance.

The Precision Planting team will become part of Monsanto’s Integrated Farming Systems unit, which utilizes advanced agronomic practices, seed genetics and innovative on-farm technology to deliver optimal yield to farmers while using fewer resources. Precision Planting has a long history of innovations that optimize planter performance and increase yield potential, including the new FieldView™ technology, which offers an application designed to monitor all critical aspects of planter performance and crop data analysis. That will complement Monsanto’s planned Integrated Farming Systems offering of science-based agronomic seed prescriptions combined with next-generation precision equipment to help farmers boost yields and reduce risk.

The Precision Planting operations will remain in Tremont and all Precision employees will be offered their continued jobs in Tremont. Monsanto agreed to pay $210 million for the business, plus a performance-based payment of up to $40 million.

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close this summer.

Parents and Child Nutrition

Chuck ZimmermanZimmPoll

Our latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “Who should be responsible for child nutrition?” I am all for good food nutrition for our children. But who is responsible? It seems like the government thinks it should have some control. I’ve heard and read lots of people saying we need more nutrition education. But don’t we have more than enough of that? How long has USDA made good nutrition information available? But we still see the problem of overeating. So, here’s what our poll found. 72% said Parents! I say, amen to that. Of course then you might ask why aren’t parents doing a better job of controlling what their kids eat. 24% said All of the above and 4% said Schools and no one chose specifically Government or Nutritionists. Interesting results.

Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, “Which group should restaurants consider experts on animal care?” This past weekend many folks in agriculture participated in an online thank you campaign for Domino’s Pizza. Why? Because the restaurant chain made a decision based on good humane animal practices and did not give in to the demands of the animal activist group HSUS. So, let us know your thoughts on this question. We appreciate it.

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