Tire technology can make farmers more efficient

Meghan GrebnerAg Leader, Precision Pays Podcast, technology

When you think of technology, tires aren’t exactly the first thing that come to mind.   In this Precision.AgWired.com Podcast, sponsored by Ag Leader Technology we examine how the world of implement tires is changing and how Titan Tires is helping producers become more efficient in their operations.  Brent Murray is a sales rep for Titan Tires and he says stubble damage is a problem that farmers deal with on a regular basis.  Today, we find out what the tire industry is doing to help producers overcome this challenge in the field.

[wpaudio url=”http://precision.agwired.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2012/02/PPP-02-12.mp3″ text=”Precision.AgWired.com Podcast”]

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

Organizations Express Support for Conservation Title in the Farm

Melissa SandfortFarm Bill

Today, 643 organizations, representing tens of millions Americans, expressed strong support for the Conservation Title of the U.S. Farm Bill in a letter sent to Chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee Frank Lucas (R-OK), as well as the ranking members of those committees.

The letter urges the committees to provide the greatest possible priority for conservation programs in the funding and structuring of Farm Bill reauthorization.

The letter states that, “In our vast collective experience as landowners, farmers, ranchers, forest managers, agricultural and forest businesses, hunters and anglers, local and state government officials, and non-profit organizations representing a wide range of interests, we can say, without any doubt, that the programs within the Conservation Title work cost-effectively to serve the short and long term interests of the American people.”

New Highly Erodible Cropland Initiative for CRP

Melissa SandfortUSDA

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced a new conservation initiative to protect up to 750,000 acres of the nation’s most highly erodible croplands. The new initiative will assist producers with targeting their most highly erodible cropland (land with an erodibility index of 20 or greater) by enabling them to plant wildlife-friendly, long-term cover through the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).

Producers can enroll land on a continuous basis beginning this summer at their local Farm Service Agency (FSA) county office. With the use of soil survey and geographic information system data, local FSA staff can quickly determine a producer’s eligibility for the 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.

Land currently not enrolled in CRP may be offered in this sign-up provided all eligibility requirements are met. Current CRP participants with eligible land expiring on Sept. 30, 2012, may make new contract offers.

USDA will conduct a four-week CRP general signup, beginning on March 12 and ending on April 6. Currently, about 30 million acres are enrolled in CRP.

Precision Technology Aids in Farm Safety

Melissa SandfortAg Leader, Insights Weekly

Insights Weekly

We’ve all heard the scary statistic that the work farmers do every day to provide our nation with the safest, most abundant food supply in the world is also the most dangerous. That’s right: The National Safety Council’s 2009 edition of Injury Facts ranked agriculture as our nation’s most dangerous industry.

Farmers are continually aware of the personal risk they take to put food on America’s dinner tables. However, there are steps that each and every farmer takes to make sure their farm is safe, the environment is safe, and their equipment is safe. And that includes the use of precision technology.

For example, did you know the VERSA and INTEGRA displays from Ag Leader have four camera inputs to aid in visibility? This provides farmers a better view of equipment operation and safety by allowing them to view live video on the display.

And, guidance features in displays, as well as automated and automatic steering systems, help reduce operator fatigue. That means when the busy spring planting time rolls around and farmers are working long hours, precision ag technology allows them to maintain accuracy with less neck strain. Randy Szczpiorski, farmer from New Carlisle, Ind., said, “It’s just unbelievable that I can turn around and see a corn planter operating. Before I always concentrated on straight rows, but now I can turn around and see that the planter is working properly. At the end of the day, I don’t feel I’ve planted half of what I did. The reduced stress on your neck is quite remarkable.”

As U.S. farmers are being asked to do more with less in order to feed a world that will grow to 8 billion people in the next 14 years, they will have to rely on technology. And with this great burden comes risk. What lengths are you taking to make sure your farm equipment is safe? Ask about precision technology from Ag Leader today.

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.

The Versatile Ag Leader VERSA

Cindy ZimmermanAg Leader, Audio, Displays, Equipment, National Farm Machinery Show

Just call it the “biggest bang for the buck in the precision ag industry.”

It’s the Ag Leader Technology VERSA display, which has all of the most popular year-round precision tools – including guidance, auto-steering control, SeedCommand planting control, DirectCommand application control, yield monitoring and mapping – in one small package.

“For growers who are just getting started in precision ag or for growers who need a second monitor, this is definitely a great option,” said Ag Leader’s Russ Morman at last week’s National Farm Machinery Show. It was the first time most farmers at the show had been able to see the monitor, because it is basically brand new. “We introduced it late last year and we actually just started shipping them in the last week or so.”

Russ says response to the new monitor has been very good. “I’ve had numerous guys come by and say “hey, I ordered one of these I just wanted to see what they looked like in person.”

Response to all things Ag Leader has actually been very good from farmers everywhere. “We’ve expanded our presence everywhere,” said Russ, noting that Ag Leader is celebrating its 20th anniversary in precision ag this year. “Canada, the south, east and west – and all over the world, for that matter. We’re actually opening offices overseas right now.”

Find out more about VERSA and Ag Leader in this interview with Russ: [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/nfms/nfms12-versa.mp3″ text=”Russ Morman Interview”]

Thanks to Ag Leader Technology for helping us provide coverage of the 2012 NFMS and for their support of the agriculture industry!

2012 National Farm Machinery Show Photo Album

Coverage of the National Farm Machinery Show is sponsored by Ag Leader Technology

Wheat Growers Purchases MZB Technologies

Melissa SandfortCompany Announcement

Wheat Growers has purchased MZB Technologies, a precision agronomy company based in Watertown, S.D. Wheat Growers has been using MZB Technologies as their exclusive precision ag software since 2002.

The MZB Precision Farming System delivers a patented, zone-based, precision farming system that delivers multi-layer field management for site-specific application of agricultural inputs. MZB offers two service options:
• The MZB Precision Farming System creates up to 12 individually sampled management zones per field. Farmers can variably manage mobile and immobile nutrients and seed populations.
• MZB Lite offers up to four individually sampled management zones per field with the same capabilities.

MZB provides a field data collection service as well as a software package to manage the collected data, based on a combination of Veris EC information, RTK elevation readings and satellite imagery. From the data, a farmer’s field is then sub-divided into “zones,” which is why the service is called Management Zone Based (MZB). The zones range from 10 to 15 acres in size and are individually soil sampled and managed according to the specific deficiencies or needs in that zone. MZB employees collect the data and an MZB Precision Farming Retailer manages the data with MZB Tools software. No other system offers the same valuable, easy-to-use combination of field detail, data management and real-time communication between growers, agronomists, applicators, dispatchers, field scouts and soil testers.

NFMS 44th Annual Championship Tractor Pull

Cindy ZimmermanNational Farm Machinery Show, Video

No coverage of the National Farm Machinery Show is complete without a video from the Championship Tractor Pull.

Officially introduced in 1969 during the 4th National Farm Machinery Show (NFMS), the Championship Tractor Pull has now been making champions for 44 years. More than 75,000 fans of the nation’s oldest indoor tractor pull pack Freedom Hall each year to experience five performances in four days.

To find out this year’s champions, check out all the results posted on the farmmachineryshow.org website.

2012 National Farm Machinery Show Photo Album

Coverage of the National Farm Machinery Show is sponsored by Ag Leader Technology

GROWMARK Pleased with Pursuit of Maximum Yields

Cindy ZimmermanAudio, FS Green Plan Solution, Growmark, yields

Executives of the GROWMARK system are very pleased with response to the FS Green Plan Solutions program to help growers discover new methods that will help them attain maximum yields.

GROWMARK CEO Jeff Solberg (left) and Vice President of Agronomy Jim Spradlin both attended the Pursuit of Maximum Yields (POMY) grower event last week in Collinsville, Illinois. Solberg says the program is designed to help growers meet the challenges of feeding a growing world population. “We believe that the production that we have to have to feed the world is so important,” says Solberg. “The way that you go about it is through good, sustainable, environmentally-sound practices which allow us to farm with freedom, to do it in the right way, and to make sure that we get the yields to feed all the people we’ve got coming at us in the next 30 years.”

Listen to my interview with Jeff Solberg here, where he also talks about the International Year of the Cooperative and GROWMARK’s big anniversary this year: [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/growmark/pomy-il-jeff.mp3″ text=”GROWMARK CEO Jeff Solberg”]

Instead of taking a bird’s eye view, one-size-fits-all approach, the POMY program works with individual farmers to find out what works best in their own operations. “That’s been a very exciting concept,” said Spradlin. “Our crop specialists, which number between 400-500 throughout our system, have really embraced the idea of seeing what we can do on farmer fields, answering farmer questions.”

Spradlin says the growth in the system has been tremendous since it began just three years ago, starting with just about 200 trials to over 600 in 2011.

Listen to my interview with Jim Spradlin here: [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/growmark/pomy-il-jim.mp3″ text=”Jim Spradlin Interview”]


Photos from Illinois Pursuit of Maximum Yields Event


Photos from Iowa Pursuit of Maximum Yields Event

Precision Tank & Equipment Company to Join No. 31 BRANDT Chevrolet

Melissa SandfortCompany Announcement

BRANDT announced Precision Tank & Equipment Company will join the No. 31 BRANDT Chevrolet, driven by championship contender Justin Allgaier. Precision Tank and Equipment (PT&E) is the first to join BRANDT as part of effort to represent the various aspects of agriculture through its marketing initiative in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. PT&E is a leader in agriculture, fire, municipal and vacuum related tank equipment using fiberglass, stainless steel and mild steel materials.

In 2012, BRANDT will work with other agricultural organizations to put an “all agriculture” car on the track, helping to spotlight the hard work and dedication that makes agriculture a leading global industry.

BRANDT President and CEO, Rick C. Brandt, is thrilled to have Precision Tank & Equipment as part of the #31 Ag Car for the 2012 season.

NFMS Shows the Importance of ROPS

Cindy ZimmermanAudio, National Farm Machinery Show, Safety

The Kentucky Department of Agriculture’s Division of Ag Education, Farm Safety and Farmland Preservation has teamed up with several organizations to promote farm safety to National Farm Machinery Show attendees this week. As you can see in the photo, they have a tractor rollover educational display to show the difference in a rollover with the ROPS bar up and down. In the photo this farmer “dummy” is the victim of the unsafe practice of not using the ROPS bar.

Dale Dobson, Safety Administrator for the Department, and Scott Cedarquist, Director of Standards & Technical Activities, American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE), were working the exhibit at NFMS to provide a very visual farm safety message.

Dale says the message is pretty simple – “Roll bars and seat belts work only if you put the roll bar up and you click the seat belt. It’s your choice. It’s life and death.” Scott says that ASABE has a major focus on safety as the standards setting organization and they have committees for specific safety components like lighting and marking.

Listen to an interview with both Dale and Scott here: [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/nfms/nfms-12-safety.mp3″ text=”Promoting Farm Safety Interview”]

2012 National Farm Machinery Show Photo Album

Coverage of the National Farm Machinery Show is sponsored by Ag Leader Technology