Viewpoint on New Free Trade Agreements

Chuck ZimmermanZimmPoll

Our latest ZimmPoll didn’t excite too many people judging by the response. Thanks to all of you who did take the poll though. We asked the question, “How do you view the new free trade agreements for U.S. ag?” The majority view the agreements as Positive at 54%, while 28% view them as Negative and 18% as Neutral. I guess we’ll see what happens. You know that time will tell!

Our new ZimmPoll is now live. We’re asking the question, “What is the cause of obesity?” It seems like we read about this “crisis” all the time. Is this something we should look to the government to fix? Or is this something that people need to take personal responsibility for? Do we blame someone else or look in the mirror? Are efforts like the USDA’s Choose My Plate having any affect on obesity? What do you think? Let us know and thank you.

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

Precision.AgWired.com: Technology in cranberry harvest

Meghan GrebnerAudio, Harvesting, Precision Pays Podcast

Holiday season is rapidly approaching with just a few short weeks from Thanksgiving and only 55 days until Christmas.  We oftentimes forget about what it takes to get the food to our table.  In this Precision.AgWired.com Podcast, sponsored by Ag Leader Technology we sit down with Trenton Beemis, a Wisconsin cranberry farmer and recently the National FFA Organizations Proficiency Award winner in Fruit Production to examine just how that beautiful red fruit makes it from the bogs in Wisconsin (or any of the other bogs in the United States) to your holiday dinner table.

 

[wpaudio url=”http://precision.agwired.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2011/10/PPP-10-11.mp3″ text=”Precision.AgWired.com Podcast”]

 

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

Ag Leader Releases SMS Version 11.5

Melissa SandfortAg Leader, Audio, Insights Weekly

Insights WeeklyAg Leader Technology recently released Version 11.5 of the SMS Desktop Software, which offers many new features and benefits to help improve the operation and interface of the software. Whether it is data from planting, fertilizing, spraying, harvest or guidance, SMS houses and organizes the data for easy access. Ag Leader has also released Mobile SMS Version 5.5.

Luke James, Ag Leader Software Sales Specialist, highlights the benefits and features of the new software.
[wpaudio url=”http://precision.agwired.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2011/10/LukeJames1.mp3″ text=”Listen to James explain”]

Highlights of SMS Basic and Advanced Version 11.5 include:
• The ability to download soil type information directly into SMS
• The capability to add project functionality into SMS Basic
• Functionality to allow for multiple data locations

James gives growers a bird’s eye view of some of the benefits to the Mobile software.
[wpaudio url=”http://precision.agwired.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2011/10/LukeJames2.mp3″ text=”Listen to more from James”]

Mobile Version 5.5 new features include:
• The ability to view a split screen for certain operations
• The ability to transfer settings between SMS mobile projects

Bottom line to growers – what do these upgrades mean? James explains. [wpaudio url=”http://precision.agwired.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2011/10/LukeJames3.mp3″ text=”Listen to James here”]

James lets growers know how to go about receiving this updated software. [wpaudio url=”http://precision.agwired.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2011/10/LukeJames4.mp3″ text=”Listen to James explain”]

Click here for an instructional video about SMS Version 11.5 and Mobile Version 5.5.

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.

Most Have Not Tried Farm Show Smartphone Apps Yet

Chuck ZimmermanZimmPoll

Our latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “Are Farm Show Smartphone Apps Helpful?” Although 55% said they had Never used one, 27% said Yes and only 18% said no. I think these results reflect the fact that these apps are new. I used several during the course of the year and some are more helpful than others. One of the features I like most is being able to open a show map to find where I am currently located and where I want to go to find a particular exhibitor. Have you used any of these apps? What did you like or wish was different about the ones you used?

Our new ZimmPoll is now live. We’re asking the question, “How do you view the new free trade agreements for U.S. ag?” President Obama signed legislation last Friday implementing free trade agreements with Korea, Colombia and Panama. These agreements were supported by most agricultural member organizations. What do you think? Take our poll and feel free to comment. Thank you.

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

FS PARTNERS Uses QR Codes in the Field

Cindy ZimmermanAudio, FS Green Plan Solution, Growmark, technology

Let’s say you’re driving down the road and you see an obvious test plot with some pretty darn good looking corn and you want to know why it looks so much better than yours. Chances are you never really have gotten the answer to what varieties or practices the grower might be testing that you could try yourself.

What if you could just whip out your smartphone and scan a code that can provide you that information? Well, that is just what FS PARTNERS has developed for customers to access up-to-date information about Pursuit of Maximum Yield corn and soybean plots through the use of QR codes.

“A QR code is a ‘quick response’ code,” said Juli Paladino, FS PARTNERS retail energy administrator in Ontario, who helped develop the use of this communications technology for the program. “So, you’re at a Pursuit of Maximum Yield site, you’re going to scan it and it’s going to take you right to information on our field trials.” That includes seed information, treatments, planting dates and even audio updates tailored specifically to that particular site.

As smartphones become more prevalent, people are becoming more familiar with using QR codes to get information, but Juli says they have actually been around for a while. “Originally they were developed in 1994 by Toyota in Japan to track parts,” she said. “It’s been a very commonplace technology in Japan and Asia.”

While consumers in the United States has been slower to adopt the use of QR codes, Juli says farmers are quicker to pick up on new technology. “Farmers are at a higher rate than the general public to be adopting mobile phone technology. They’ve got the smart phone and they’re ready to use it.”

FS PARTNERS used the QR codes at plots in Ontario this year and Juli expects to see more widespread use of the technology at the Pursuit of Maximum Yield plots in the Corn Belt next year. The Pursuit of Maximum Yield is an FS Green Plan Solutions on-farm discovery program geared toward increasing yield per acre to meet the demands of a growing world population.

Listen to or download my interview with Juli here: [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/growmark/gmk-agw-paladino.mp3″ text=”Juli Paladino Interview”]

LightSquared Wireless Broadband – A Detriment to Rural America?

Melissa SandfortAg Leader, Audio, Insights Weekly

Insights WeeklyRick Greene, Precision Agronomy Manager for MFA Incorporated in Columbia, Mo., an Ag Leader Blue Delta Dealer, recently spoke at a Congressional Hearing in Washington, D.C. about preserving the integrity of GPS systems.

In his testimony, Greene said, “I began my precision agriculture journey in 1995 when my father purchased one of the first yield monitoring systems with GPS. While at Iowa State University, as accuracy improved, I came to love what precision agriculture can do for farming by preserving the environment, minimizing inputs, and maximizing yield to give our farmers a greater return on their investment.”

Over the years, GPS and technology have evolved exponentially. Efficiency and increased productivity is the key to farmers’ survival in this global market.

Jess Lowenberg-DeBoer with Purdue University did a study in 2004 on a 1,800-acre model farm and found that a farmer will decrease his hours of operation by 17% if they use high accuracy GPS. This decrease includes fuel, maintenance, labor hours, and inputs like seed, pesticides and fertilizer.

The precision agriculture industry has over 400,000 high accuracy receivers valued ~ $13,000 with a replacement cycle of 10 to 15 years and adds approximately $19.9 billion per year of value to the grower.

For MFA alone, more than 700,000 grower acres are in GPS nutrient management, 9.5 million acres covered with high-accuracy RTK correction, and the company has sold almost $20 million dollars of GPS equipment to farmers that will be directly affected by the implementation of LightSquared Ancillary Terrestrial Component (ATC).

GPS technology enables growers to produce more food for a growing population both domestically and internationally. If LightSquared takes away the ability to use GPS systems, growers will be forced back to the days of when analog TV was as good as it gets and you took your corn to town in a horse-drawn wagon. And, the cost of food will go up dramatically. Are consumers willing to pay that price just for high-speed broadband that isn’t much better than what they currently have?

Greene tells us more about the numbers should farmers lose the ability to run high-accuracy GPS systems. And this is only with MFA’s customer base.

[wpaudio url=”http://precision.agwired.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2011/10/Greene1.mp3″ text=”Listen to Greene explain.”]

According to Greene, LightSquared must not be allowed to broadcast their signal in the upper or lower bands of GPS until a feasible and economical resolution is found.

Greene says, “It is the accuracy of GPS that makes the technology important to agriculture, and farmers should not be expected to accept or live with a disruption in their service as a result of LightSquared’s actions. Ideally, a solution will be found that allows GPS and wireless broadband to co-exist, but LightSquared and GPS providers will have to work together. We believe that farmers, ranchers and GPS companies should not have to bear any additional financial burden in resolving this issue.”

What can growers do to stop LightSquared from proceeding? Greene says it here, short and simple.

[wpaudio url=”http://precision.agwired.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2011/10/Greene2.mp3″ text=”Listen to Greene explain.”]

Watch Greene’s full Congressional testimony here. And for more information, visit the Coalition to Save Our GPS website.

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.

What Would You Do With A New Boomer Tractor

Chuck ZimmermanNew Holland, Sunbelt Ag Expo, Video

I had limited time to attend this year’s Sunbelt Ag Expo in Moultrie, GA this week and had hoped to get some interviews to share with you, including some field demonstration video. But the weather did not cooperate. Opening day was a rain out and yesterday morning was windy and misty. Maybe next year.

However, I was also there to work with New Holland since we’re assisting them with their Boomer 555 Contest. To enter, all you have to do is tell New Holland what you’d do with a new Boomer tractor. You can write an essay, upload a photo or share a link to a video entry like the one below with one of the Sunbelt attendees this year.

Meet Joe Capps from Opelika, Alabama. He told me what he would do with a new Boomer tractor. The contest runs through the end of November so it’s not too late to get your entry in.

2011 Sunbelt Ag Expo Photo Album

RFS2 Gets Good Grade

Chuck ZimmermanZimmPoll

Our latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “Should the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2) be changed?” A majority at 53% said, No, it’s working as intended; 32% said Get rid of it entirely and 15% said Yes, change to adapt to corn stocks.

Our new ZimmPoll is now live. We’re asking the question, “Are Farm Show Smartphone Apps Useful?” What do you think? Take our poll and feel free to comment. Thank you.

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

The Walnut Cracker

Melissa SandfortAgricultural Anthropology

Remember me telling you about how Grandpa picks up black walnuts by the 5-gallon bucket full each year? They’re so potent you have to wear rubber gloves when you work with them, otherwise your hands smell like black walnuts for weeks. I’d hate to think what they do to your insides!

Between the hours spent collecting them and the hours spent shelling them, he also has to crack each one. This walnut sheller helps speed up the process. You stick the walnut between the piston, push the lever and crack the nut. I counted – there are nine different cracking settings, meaning you can fit all sizes of walnuts from the smallest to the meatiest walnut.

For the amount of time he puts into this every year, I don’t think the pay-back is worth it, but it gives him something to do and the bakers around town appreciate his effort.

Like I said, just watch what you’re eating and see if it passes the smell test if you’re not a fan of black walnuts.

Until our next history lesson …

Topcon Precision Ag Provides Autosteering Option for Pantera

Melissa SandfortEquipment, Industry News

Topcon Precision Agriculture will begin providing an automatic steering option for the Pantera self-propelled sprayer, manufactured by German Amazonen-Werke H. Dreyer GmbH & Co. KG. The system consists of a hydraulic kit, specifically developed by AMAZONE for the Pantera to function with the Topcon System 150 automatic steering application.

The Topcon system is fully integrated into the Pantera sprayer. The System 150 automatic steering and section control are compatible and have been tested with the Pantera to meet exacting AMAZONE standards.

The core of the Topcon System 150 is the AGI-3 GPS receiver. The dual-constellation GNSS receiver utilizes signals from both GPS and GLONASS satellite systems. Topcon GNSS receivers will also be able to receive other satellite constellations (including the European Galileo system) when they become operational.

The AGI-3 is not only a GNSS receiver, it contains inertial sensors and steering controller, plus includes integrated terrain and slope compensation for easy incorporation with existing steering components on the vehicle. With optional RTK-GPS, an accuracy of +/- 2 cm can be achieved.