Farming Negatively Impacted By Proposed Child Labor Regs

Chuck ZimmermanZimmPoll

Our latest ZimmPoll asked a very timely question since it’s on a topic that is the subject of a cover story on USA Today. We asked, “How will proposed changes to child labor in agriculture regulations affect farms?” Seventy percent said Negatively, seventeen percent said No Effect and only thirteen percent said Positively.

You may know that last fall the Department of Labor proposed changes that many believe could have major impacts on family farms and farm life (proposed rule – pdf). This is just another example of unnecessary government intrusion in private business and lives in my opinion. We don’t need it but . . . as if the government knows better. Riiight. You can find out more from this DOL early news release.

Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, “Do you agree with President Obama’s call for more clean (renewable) energy?” Let us know what you think. He definitely issued a call during his State of the Union speech last night. Here’s an excerpt:

We have subsidized oil companies for a century. That’s long enough. It’s time to end the taxpayer giveaways to an industry that’s rarely been more profitable, and double-down on a clean energy industry that’s never been more promising. Pass clean energy tax credits and create these jobs.

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

Fine-Tuning Precision Agriculture

Melissa SandfortAg Leader, Insights Weekly

Insights WeeklyLast week, we heard from Todd Reed, farmer from Waverly, Neb., who works as a precision ag consultant for his family’s dryland corn and soybean farm. He spends his days writing variable rate planting prescriptions and fertilizer prescriptions using Ag Leader’s SMS Software.

Today’s high-tech seed isn’t cheap. If you’re not controlling where and how much of each type of seed you plant, you’re probably sacrificing yield potential and bottom line performance. Ag Leader’s Integra display features Advanced Seed Monitoring to help growers lower seed cost during planting season and improve yield potential at harvest time. Todd says they run 16-row planters and with seed shut-off, saw a big increase in seed savings. [wpaudio url=”http://precision.agwired.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2012/01/ToddReed1a.mp3″ text=”Listen to Reed explain”]

Todd says they’re trying to be more efficient in everything they do on the farm and nitrogen application is key. Part of his passion is analyzing the data in order to fine-tune each hybrid they plant based on yields and nitrogen application rates from the previous fall. [wpaudio url=”http://precision.agwired.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2012/01/ToddReed1b.mp3″ text=”Listen to Reed explain”]

Continue to check back to the blog prior to planting season for more great tips and information on Advanced Seed Monitoring through the Integra display.

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.

USDA, EPA and Minnesota Make Conservation Pact

Cindy ZimmermanConservation, USDA

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack this week signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between USDA, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state of Minnesota to develop a new state conservation program for agriculture. The program is designed to increase the voluntary adoption of conservation practices by farmers and ranchers that protect local rivers, streams and other waters by reducing fertilizer run-off and soil erosion.

Through this partnership producers, who undertake a substantial level of conservation activities to reduce nutrient run-off and erosion, will receive assurance from the state that their farms will meet Minnesota’s water quality standards and goals during the life of the agreement. Vilsack, Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson signed the MOU during a ceremony in the Minnesota Capitol.

“Establishment of this program will protect our water resources by providing assurances and incentives to participating farmers that their good deeds – their strong commitment to conservation – will be recognized,” Vilsack said. “Farmers will know the rules of the game while the state, EPA and the public will know that this program will lead to cleaner water.”

The MOU signing is the first step toward developing the Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program (AWQCP), designed to increase the adoption of recommended conservation practices to improve water quality on agricultural land. The partners will next establish a Technical Advisory Committee to develop the certification program that will support the state’s water quality standards and goals. The committee will solicit input from stakeholders in designing criteria to provide certainty for producers who have voluntarily attained or maintained a certain level of water quality improvements on their agricultural land. Minnesota will test the program in several pilot watersheds.

AgriVisor Offers Risk Management Check-Ups

Cindy ZimmermanGrowmark, Risk Management

Farmers around Illinois who are interested in receiving a “check-up” on their risk management plans are invited to attend one of three upcoming meetings, sponsored by AgriVisor and COUNTRY Financial.

The meetings will be held on January 31 at the Holiday Inn in Mt. Vernon, Ill.; February 1 at the Northfield Suites in Springfield, Ill.; and February 2 at University Plaza in DeKalb, Ill. All meetings begin at 5:00 pm and include a ribeye dinner. Cost is $19 per person. A drawing for an iPad will also be held at each location.

“The meetings will be a ‘one-stop shop’ where farmers can learn about many key factors that may affect their risk management plans in 2012,” said Clayton Pope, manager, AgriVisor, LLC. “Today’s markets are so volatile; our goal with these meetings is to provide farmers with specific tools to help them reduce their risk to enhance the prospects for a successful growing season.”

Each will include a weather outlook from Mike Tannura, owner of T-storm Weather; an economic outlook by Kurt Bock, COUNTRY Financial chief executive officer; and grain market insights from Dale Durchholz, AgriVisor senior commodities market analyst. The Mt. Vernon meeting will have political insights from U.S. Representative John Shimkus’s office; Springfield’s political insight will come from U.S. Representative Tim Johnson’s office; and U.S. Representative Randy Hultgren’s office will speak at the DeKalb meeting.

Pope also stressed farmers have a key component to manage risk on their operation: crop insurance. “The federal crop insurance deadline this year is March 15 ,” he said. “Now is the time to make critical decisions. There are tremendous risk management opportunities available from the use of crop insurance products. AgriVisor wants to teach farmers how to effectively take advantage of those opportunities.”

Registration closes January 23. Call your local COUNTRY financial representative, county Farm Bureau office, or visit www.agrivisor.com for more information and to register.

When Will Ag Bubble Pop?

Chuck ZimmermanZimmPoll

In our latest ZimmPoll we asked the question “Do you think there is currently an “Ag Bubble?” It looks like most think so since 66% said Yes and 34% said No. That’s kind of a pessimistic outlook don’t you think? If you think we’re in a bubble please feel free to comment on why. We’d love to hear your thoughts.

Our new ZimmPoll is now live. We’re asking the question, “How will proposed changes to child labor in agriculture regulations affect farms?” Last fall the Department of Labor proposed changes that many believe could have major impacts on family farms and farm life (proposed rule – pdf). At best it seems like there are some good intentions without careful consideration of the consequences and then there’s always that “how does the Dept. of Labor interpret the rules thing.” A public comment period ended on December 1, 2011.

Here’s some language about the proposed changes from an early news release:

The proposal would strengthen current child labor regulations prohibiting agricultural work with animals and in pesticide handling, timber operations, manure pits and storage bins. It would prohibit farmworkers under age 16 from participating in the cultivation, harvesting and curing of tobacco. And it would prohibit youth in both agricultural and nonagricultural employment from using electronic, including communication, devices while operating power-driven equipment.

The department also is proposing to create a new nonagricultural hazardous occupations order that would prevent children under 18 from being employed in the storing, marketing and transporting of farm product raw materials. Prohibited places of employment would include country grain elevators, grain bins, silos, feed lots, stockyards, livestock exchanges and livestock auctions.

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

Precision Mobile Learning Applications

Chuck ZimmermanApps, Education

On our sister site, AgWired, my weekly ZimmCast podcast features a conversation you may be interested in hearing. In this week’s program we use the M word, as in Mobile, as in Float Mobile Learning. I just had a conversation with Chad Udell, Managing Director, about mobile learning technology and what that means for today’s agribusiness customers, including in the precision sector.

Float Mobile’s parent company is the Iona Group. Chad says the company has a deep history working with agribusiness companies like GROWMARK, Pioneer and Bayer. He says, “There’s a great amount of demand in the marketplace to put the right information in the right people’s hands at the right time.” He says that when growers need information they’re often away from the computer and out in the field. Examples include working with clients to put mobile and updated information in the hands of sales staff at a farm show. Tablets like an iPad or Android device are very cost effective for this purpose. In fact, Chad says mobile application development is surprisingly affordable. He says these applications are simple and do one or two things very well. Float Mobile uses a S3D Process with their clients which means Strategy, Design, Develop, Deliver. He says they work quickly since the whole mobile device world is changing rapidly today.

To learn more about Float Mobile Learning listen in to this week’s program: [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/zimmcast/zimmcast335-1-17-12.mp3″ text=”Float Mobile Learning”]

Check out their 2012 predictions for the Mobile Landscape on their blog.

Trimble Partners With Great American Insurance Group to Automate Crop Reporting

Melissa SandfortTrimble

Trimble announced a strategic alliance with Great American Insurance Group to help farmers automate their crop insurance reporting under the USDA Federal Crop Insurance Program. The new recordkeeping system makes it possible for Farm Works™ users to submit their crop insurance records electronically to Great American Insurance Group. The time-saving solution makes it simple for farmers to transfer planting and harvest data directly to the Great American Insurance Group systems from their Farm Works Mapping software.

In 2011 the USDA Federal Crop Insurance Program, administered by the Risk Management Agency, began accepting precision agricultural data which meets the specific requirements listed in RMA’s Crop Insurance Handbook and/or Loss adjustment Manual. The new reporting system will help farmers more quickly, easily and accurately meet USDA requirements related to acreage, planting and harvest. Geo-referenced data may be collected from the tractor or combine cab with a compatible precision farming display such as the Trimble® FmX® integrated display or CFX-750™ touch screen.

Dr. Terry Griffin Joins CrescoAg as Vice President

Melissa SandfortCompany Announcement

Terry Griffin, PhD, has joined CrescoAg LLC as Vice President – Applied Economics. Griffin will join the company focused on developing new products that will help farmers utilize existing data from yield monitors and other precision ag equipment to make better decisions for their operations.

Griffin joins CrescoAg from the University of Arkansas where he was a professor of row crops economics, extension specialist and team coordinator of the Working Group on Precision Agriculture. Terry specialized in utilizing spatial technologies to improve agricultural production systems and quality of farm life. He also served as farm management and spatial technologies specialist for the University of Illinois Extension.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in agronomy and master’s degree in agricultural economics from the University of Arkansas, and his Ph.D. in agricultural economics with emphases in farm management, production economics, and spatial economics from Purdue University. While at Purdue, he coordinated the Top Farmer Crop Workshop and organized the whole-farm linear programming service and introduced the service of yield monitor data analysis to participants.

Griffin is a certified crop advisor (CCA), member of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers, and a charter member of the International Society of Precision Agriculture. He received the 2010 PrecisionAg Awards of Excellence for Researcher/Educator from Meister Media, and was the 2002 National Winner of the NASA GIS and Remote Sensing Decision Support Seminar and the 2003 National Winner of the NASA Excellence Award in Remote Sensing and Precision Agriculture.

20/20 SeedSense/AirForce System Voted 2011 Product Of The Year

Melissa SandfortCompany Announcement

A Precision Planting product has won the No-Till Product of the Year award for the third straight year. No-Till Farmer readers selected the 20/20 SeedSense/AirForce system as the best product of 2011, following on the heels of No-Till Product of the Year wins by Precision Planting’s Keeton Seed Firmer in 2009 and 2010.

The 20/20 SeedSense/AirForce system was also voted the top no-till product in the Precision Tools category, and was among 11 finalists entered in the overall Product of the Year voting.

Manufacturers whose products were voted the best in 11 individual categories were recognized before about 750 no-tillers at a special luncheon awards ceremony during the 20th annual National No-Tillage Conference in St. Louis, Mo. They were also recognized in the Winter 2012 issue of No-Till Farmer’s Conservation Tillage Guide.

A call for nominations for the 2012 program, as well as voting, will be announced later this year.

LightSquared Proposal Seems Doomed

Chuck ZimmermanGovernment, GPS, Internet

Things are looking bleak for the proposed LightSquared LTE network according to a story in PC World.

A key federal agency involved in testing the proposed LightSquared LTE network has concluded that there is no practical way to solve interference between that network and GPS, possibly dealing a crippling blow to the startup carrier’s hopes for a terrestrial mobile network.

That agency is the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing Executive Committee (PNT ExComm). Now that’s a mouthful. The agencies that make up this one have unanimously concluded that none of the LightSquared proposals would overcome interference with GPS.

Here’s an excerpt from the letter to the FCC:

Earlier this week we published results of our ZimmPoll that showed a majority think the LightSquared proposal would be good for ag/rural America. However, most of those positive responses all came at nearly the same time.