Protecting Your Seed Investment

Melissa SandfortAg Leader, Insights Weekly

Insights WeeklyThink about all the insurance options you have: home, auto, life. You’re protecting your investment, your family and your way of life. How many people have insurance? Millions. Now, how many people use precision ag equipment and are you one of them? The choice should be clear when it comes to purchasing precision ag to protect your seed investment just as you do with insurance for other things in life. Think of precision ag as an insurance policy for the future of your farm operation.

Here are three reasons why Ag Leader Technology feels it’s important to invest in precision ag equipment:

1. The first reason that precision ag is important is to protect your annual investment, whether you farm 500 acres or 5,000. We all know we can’t control Mother Nature and in years of extreme drought or flood or any other “natural” disaster, crop insurance companies are going to need data…data collected by precision ag equipment, such as the Ag Leader INTEGRA or VERSA display, to verify acres planted. Combined with the SMS™ software, providing the necessary information to satisfy government reporting needs is easy. Find out more here.

Without precision ag, you have to rely on your paper trail of seed receipts to show what you’d invested in that field. In this case, precision ag can save you time, headache and money.

2. The second reason is it protects your farm from over-spending on crop inputs. Application of fertilizer and pesticides shouldn’t be a guessing game. There are many precision ag products on the market – DirectCommand™ and OptRX™ crop sensors are two examples — that help you apply exactly the right amount in exactly the right place, saving you on input costs and helping you be a better steward of the land. After all, farmers are the world’s best environmentalists, right?

3. When considering precision ag equipment, it comes down to dollars and cents. And as farmers are faced with feeding the world, and an ever-increasing population, they must do more with less. That doesn’t mean you need to be bigger, that just means you need to be more efficient.

So contact your Ag Leader dealer for more information and start protecting your investment 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.

Steady To Higher Income

Chuck ZimmermanZimmPoll

The slices on this ZimmPoll pie are almost the same size! In our latest ZimmPoll we asked the question, “With net farm income up this year, how is your income?” The idea for the question came from the recent USDA Economic Research Service Net Farm Income Forecast that showed a 28% increase over 2010. The responses to our question were Higher – 34.4%; Lower – 31.2% and Same – 34.4%.

Our new ZimmPoll is now live. We’re asking the question, “What’s tops on your Christmas gift list?” If your income is the same or higher than last year perhaps you have a little more in the disposable category for holiday shopping. What categories are tops for you this year?

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

Raven Simplifies New Website

Chuck ZimmermanAudio, Raven

It is hard to believe that the AgWired App has been out for over a year! And the company staking an immediate sponsorship claim was and still is Raven, Precision Simplified. To learn how Raven has just “Simplified” their website and sees social media as a great opportunity to engage with their customers I spoke with Paul Welbig, Director of Marketing and Slingshot Operations. He says that as it relates to information, reaching customers and new technology, the sponsorship of our smartphone application fit right in with Raven’s strategy moving forward, “We thought it was a great avenue to communicate with customers through that venue because a lot of those customers using those types of tools are also going to be customers using Raven and the Slingshot solution in the future.” When it comes to social media Paul says Raven has ample evidence that it is helping them engage with their customers, “That’s what it’s all about is making those connections and really helping support those folks as well.” He says Raven actively watches their social media channels and responds quickly to their customers. You can find Raven on Twitter here and here and on Facebook here.

When it comes to the new Raven website Paul says they’ve included a brand new section that provides technical help which you can find at RavenHelp.com. The company is also running a promotion right now where farmers can enter to win a complete RTK system that includes: Cruizer II™ guidance with sub-inch RTK accuracy — delivered by Slingshot® via wireless networks. The company will be exhibiting at a majority of the winter farm shows if you need to see them in person. You can find their schedule here.

Listen to my conversation with Paul and learn more about what’s going on with Raven: [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/raven/raven-simplified.mp3″ text=”Raven Simplified”]

Novariant Secures $10 Million in Financing

Melissa SandfortCompany Announcement

Novariant, a leading provider of precision steering products for the agricultural market, today announced the closing of a $10 million debt facility from BlueCrest Capital Finance, L.P. The funds will be used to expand Novariant’s current initiatives in new product development and to support the company’s growth.

The growth strategy includes expansion of Novariant’s precision steering product line for the
growing agricultural market as well as increasing distribution into emerging markets, such as
Eastern Europe and Asia. Novariant already features industry leading precision steering
products, ParaDyme and OnTrac2 branded under AutoFarm® as well as partner brands.

Click here for more information.

Central Illinois Pursuit of Maximum Yields Update

Cindy ZimmermanAudio, Fertilizer, FS Green Plan Solution, Growmark, yields

We already got an update on the Pursuit of Maximum Yields (POMY) project in Ontario – now we hear from Central Illinois.

Jerry Harbour, an agronomist and certified crop specialist with Lincoln Land FS in Illiopolis, says the objective of POMY is to get consistent 300 bushel yields on corn and 100 bushel beans. “We do a lot of corn on corn so that’s another challenge here in central Illinois to get consistently high yields as we grow into continuous corn acres,” he said.

Jerry says when it comes to gathering information, they are using lots more precision farming techniques. “Trying to be more accurate and knowing what we’re doing, instead of flags and pens and paper, we’re trying to document with GPS as well,” he said.

Nitrogen application is a big focus of the POMY trials and this year trials came out very well. “I had about six different trials and they all turned out very positive,” he said. “We did a lot of work this year with impregnated urea for a side dress application for corn – and all of those showed a profit. It seemed like everything we did with nitrogen this year was a win for the grower. Worst case was that they broke even in a couple of cases.”

Jerry says he is blessed with some very progressive farmers in his area who are willing to take some risks to improve their yields and share their knowledge with other growers. Results of this year’s POMY trials will be presented to growers at meetings in February.

Listen to or download my interview with Jerry here: [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/growmark/gmk-pomy-harbour.mp3″ text=”Jerry Harbour Interview”]

Differential Correction Sources – Which One is Right For Me?

Melissa SandfortAg Leader, Audio, Insights Weekly

Insights WeeklyMany times when growers who are new to precision agriculture start to think of how to apply the technologies available on their farms, they struggle with choosing the correct level of precision for their intended use of technology. There are many service options available and depending on what you plan to do with it, this choice will make or break the success you will have with your new purchase.

The three dominant GPS differential correction sources available are WAAS, OmniSTAR and RTK. The differences between the three can be substantial.

Matt Pifkin, Ag Leader machine guidance support supervisor, briefly explains all three correction sources.

[wpaudio url=”http://precision.agwired.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2011/11/MattCorrection1.mp3″ text=”Listen to Pifkin explain”]

We also asked Matt how a grower knows what’s right for their operation.

[wpaudio url=”http://precision.agwired.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2011/11/MattCorrection2.mp3″ text=”Listen to Pifkin explain”]

Click here to learn more about Ag Leader GPS receiver products to satisfy your GPS needs at all levels of precision utilization.

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.

Ontario Pursuit of Maximum Yields Update

Cindy ZimmermanAudio, FS Green Plan Solution, Growmark

Harvest is just about complete in Ontario and so is the second year in the FS Green Plan Solutions Pursuit of Maximum Yields (POMY) project for that region.

I spoke with Don McLean, agronomist for FS PARTNERS and North Wellington Cooperative, about how the trials went this year. “Last year and this year both we had yield increases,” Don said. “This year, we’ll be right around a 30 bushel yield increase on corn, last year we were around 28 bushels, so we are increasing growers’ yields very well.” Average yield for the six POMY sites in the Ontario region was “just shy” of 200 bushels an acre.

Pursuit of Maximum Yields takes a systems approach to farming, considering all possible elements that can affect yield, such as hybrids, nitrogen, tillage and plant populations. Don says they held grower events on site over the summer to explain the goals of the program and the factors they consider. “We talked about nitrogen as a system and how we can best utilize nitrogen,” he said. “We also looked at what we call ‘setting the table’ – cultural practices from planting and tillage.” They also talked about new corn traits, new innovations in energy, fungicides and early weed control.

For those growers who might not have been able to make it to one of the events, Don says they had a new technological tool for anyone who wanted more information about a site to utilize – QR codes on signage at the site. “We had really good feedback on that,” he said. “We had five sites with the QR codes on and we had 414 hits – so we think for the first year that was very successful.”

Don adds that the growers who are hosting the sites are very pleased with being involved because they see the great need to increase yields for the future.

Listen to or download my interview with Don here: [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/growmark/gmk-pomy-mclean.mp3″ text=”Don McLean Interview”]

Facebook Ahead of Google+

Chuck ZimmermanZimmPoll

It looks like Facebook is still the big dog with this community. In our latest ZimmPoll we asked the question, “Do you use Facebook or Google+?” 50% of you said Facebook while only 7% said Google+. However, 20% said Both while 23% said Neither. Interesting. Looks like Google+ has a ways to go.

Our new ZimmPoll is now live. We’re asking the question, “With net farm income up this year, how is your income?” USDA’s Economic Research Service released it’s Net Farm Income Forecast update yesterday showing a 28% increase over 2010. The report also states, “Net cash income, at $109.8 billion, is forecast up $17.5 billion (18.9 percent) from 2010, and $34.2 billion above its 10-year average (2001-2010) of $75.6 billion.” Wow. How about you? How’s your income doing this year compared to last?

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

Precision.AgWired.com: Making life a little simpler

Meghan GrebnerEducation, Government, USDA

Each month we look at different technologies that make our lives just a little easier.  Sometimes it is great technological advancements is precision technologies… sometimes it’s the latest and greatest app for our smart phone and sometimes it is just making a tedious process a little less cumbersome.  That’s the case this month.  In this Precision.AgWired.com Podcast, sponsored by Ag Leader Technology we look at how USDA is streamlining the application process for programs producers utilize more than anyone.  Rebecca Blue is the Deputy Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs with USDA – she said they rolled this update to programs out under direction from Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.

[wpaudio url=”http://precision.agwired.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2011/11/PPP-11-11.mp3″ text=”Precision.AgWired.com Podcast”]

 

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

Hot water bath anyone?

Melissa SandfortAgricultural Anthropology

At first glance, this looks like a funky cookie cutter. Or a toy soldier’s hat. Or a broken top off of a flour sifter. But the technical term for it is a jar lifter. (I know, I’m using big words.)

Another one of the joys of canning was the hot water bath. Unless you had hands of steel for removing glass jars from scalding hot water, you had to use one of these to grab hold and pull it out. I’ve always been the one who uses luke-warm water for washing dishes, so I’d opt for the jar lifter.

My grandmother spent the better part of a day last week cutting pumpkins, spooning out the insides, slicing it into pieces, pureeing it and then making crustless pumpkin pie, which my husband swears is better than pumpkin out of a can. I’ll take his word for it. All I know is that canning and preparing food when my grandmother was young was a chore, to say the least. I’m so thankful for our plentiful food supply and the convenience it provides working moms today.

Until our next history lesson …