AgGateway teams working on standards for grain tracking ran a successful field trial last month on a corn farm in Olney, Ill., a major step forward in enabling the efficient tracking of harvested grain from harvester to grain cart, grain cart to truck, truck to elevator, and elevator to processor. Details of the proof-of-concept were unveiled at last week’s AgGateway Annual Conference in San Diego.- There’s still time to register for the world’s largest event on agricultural biostimulants, November 27-30 at the Hyatt Regency, Miami, Florida. The 3rd Biostimulants World Congress is an international scientific and technical congress to review the latest knowledge on these products, which are increasingly used in crop production around the world.
- Topcon Agriculture allows control of multiple products with variable rate along with section control across multiple booms with the addition of its ISOBUS universal terminal to the Opus A6 and A8 consoles. ISOBUS adds another dimension to the existing hardware and software development platform, with multiple programming options.
- Topcon Agriculture also adds cellular and WiFi capability to its X-Family consoles with Cloudlynk-10, which is designed to allow producers to access TAP, XTEND and remote support from the console. The data sharing application allows seamless transfer of as-applied data from the X-Family console into TAP with the touch of a button.
- Topcon Agriculture also introduces an IoT Farm Management Information System (FMIS) application for data analytics and visualization, designed to leverage existing Topcon hardware to help make farm data analytics easier to use. The cloud-based platform offers a centralized hub for both machine and agronomic data to enable data sharing.
FarmLead Adds Price Discovery to Online Grain Marketplace
Online grain marketplace FarmLead has announced the launch of its newest feature, Price Discovery, which provides a comprehensive view of historical and future grain price trends specific to the user’s geography, helping farmers make better decisions when selling their grain.
“This isn’t just a simple price transparency tool. It is a price education tool,” says FarmLead CEO and President Brennan Turner. “FarmLead Price Discovery is the first of its kind to give farmers historical AND future grain price data points without any cost. We want farmers to be able to make smarter decisions when it comes to selling their grain.”
FarmLead’s Price Discovery feature saves farmers time and money by providing the data in an appealing and easy-to-use format — with no upfront or subscription costs. When coupled with access to thousands of verified buyers on the FarmLead Marketplace, Price Discovery allows grain farmers to close deals faster. On average, the total process adds six percent more value to the final selling price of a farmer’s grain.
For more information, or to register for your free account, please go to: www.FarmLead.com.
Get Ready for the Census of Agriculture
It’s that time farmers. The 2017 Census of Agriculture is coming in December. The survey is conducted by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. It has been conducted since 1840 and is a complete count of U.S. farms and ranches and the people who operate them. It takes place every five years.
During the NAFB Trade Talk session I visited with Barbara Rater, USDA-NASS, about the new survey. She says there will be new questions that include veteran status, farm decision-making and food marketing practices. There is also a much improved online questionnaire designed to make it easier to fill out. There will also be versions for mobile phone, tablet and desk/laptop computer.
Barbara also talks about the importance of filling out the survey which includes being able to show the country the importance and value of U.S. agriculture. The information will also be useful for influencing decision makers on topics like transportation/marketing locations, farm services, production practices and new technologies and farm policy. I can vouch for the importance of the survey even to those of us in agricultural marketing and ag media. You can watch a message about the Census from our U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, here.
And congratulations to Barbara for becoming a member of the #GoldenMic Club!
Learn more about the new census here: [wpaudio url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/zimmcomm/nafb-17-usda-nass-prater.mp3″ text=”Interview with Barbara Rater, USDA-NASS”]
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Propane Can Do That
The Propane Education and Research Council (PERC) has launched a new website dedicated to agricultural applications of propane.
“It’s a really good site. I think if you’re excited about saving money and having reliable, powerful, clean equipment, it will be a great site for you,” said Cinch Munson with PERC.
The site also offers details about the Farm Incentive Program to help people make the initial investment into propane equipment, offering up to $5,000 towards that type of purchase. Munson said about 10 percent of propane sales go into agriculture applications, from drying grain to heating livestock facilities.
Learn more about propane in agriculture here: Interview with Cinch Munson, PERC
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MiField by FS Brings Applied Research to Your Field
Today’s farmers can gather all kinds of information about the crops they plant and harvest, but it can be difficult to know how to use that information to enhance yield and increase efficiency. GROWMARK is providing farmers with a tool to help in MiField Applied Research by FS.
“We can follow certain procedures and not only have that information relative to that grower, but not we can roll it up and incorporate that with maybe 50, 100 or 200 trials that were similar and have a database that we can help provide insight back to that grower,” said Brendan Bachman, GROWMARK Applied Research Marketing Manager.
The program is in its second year, with more than 1,000 trials already compiled for growers to use. The company plans to publish a yield book in December and January that will aggregate much of the information. Growers can also visit www.fssystem.com and select the state, county and trial type to research local trials.
Listen to Cindy’s interview with Brendan Bachman here: Interview with Brendan Bachman, GROWMARK
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New ImpactZ™ Corn Herbicide from AMVAC®
AMVAC Chemical Corporation recently announced new corn herbicide ImpactZ has received EPA registration, giving growers a new safe and flexible solution for control of tough broadleaf and grass weeds, including glyphosate resistant species. We had a chance to learn more about this exciting new product during the National Association of Farm Broadcasting annual Trade Talk this week.
“We like to talk about the knock down activity of this product, but also the flexibility and crop safety,” said Jim Lappin, AMVAC crop marketing manager for corn and soybeans. “ImpactZ gives a grower the flexibility to go to either a pre-emergence followed by a post-emergence, a total post program, or perhaps a sequential.”
ImpactZ herbicide is registered for use in field corn, seed corn, popcorn and sweetcorn, with no restrictions on soil type, tank mix partners or insecticides. ImpactZ herbicide contains both Impact® and Atrazine for highly effective control of grass and broadleaf weeds in corn.
Learn more about ImpactZ in this interview – Interview with Jim Lappin, AMVAC
FMC Completes Deal with DowDupont
During the NAFB convention Trade Talk session Jamie and I visited with our sponsor, FMC. Mike Krull, North America Business Development, sat down with Jamie to talk about the FMC DuPont Integration.
FMC has announced that it has successfully completed the closing of its two pending transactions with DuPont. The companies signed a definitive agreement on March 31,2017, and have now satisfied all necessary conditions and approvals. FMC has acquired the portion of DuPont’s Crop Protection business it had to divest to comply with the European Commission ruling related to its merger with The Dow Chemical Company, which was completed on August 31, 2017 to form DowDuPont™. Additionally, FMC has completed the sale of FMC Health and Nutrition to DuPont.
Listent to Jamie’s interview with Mike for more details: Interview with Mike Krull, FMC
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Corn Crop Increase Surprises
USDA surprised many with the crop production forecast out this month estimating a two percent increase from last month for corn.
Based on conditions as of November 1, yields are expected to average 175.4 bushels per acre, up 3.6 bushels from the October forecast and up 0.8 bushel from 2016. If realized, this will be the highest yield on record for the United States.
“It’s a major surprise for the trade to see a production increase this large for corn,” said Brian Hoops, Midwest Market Solutions, during the MGEX crop commentary call. “It really is hard to make sense that this yield number would be justified by crop ratings, which all summer were near 10 year low ratings.”
Listen to Hoops’ corn commentary here: Brian Hoops, Midwest Market Solutions
The soybean forecast was lowered by one percent this month compared to October, but still a record at 4.43 billion bushels. Cotton production was increase by one percent to 21.4 million 480-pound bales, 25 percent more than last year. Yield is expected to average a record 900 pounds per harvested acre.
Orange production took less of a hit than expected from last month’s hurricane, but still down four percent overall and seven percent from last month. Compared to last year, orange production is down 19 percent overall and 27 percent for Florida.
Early, midseason, and Navel varieties in Florida are forecast at 21.0 million boxes (945,000 tons), down 9 percent from last month and down 36 percent from last season’s final utilization. The Florida Valencia orange forecast, at 29.0 million boxes (1.31 million tons), is down 6 percent from last month and down 19 percent from last season’s final utilization.
Secretary Sonny’s First Visit to NAFB
Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue made his first visit to the National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) annual convention, where he made a stop in at Trade Talk and then spent nearly an hour talking with broadcasters.
The secretary’s first topic was the launch of USDA’s new resources to support veterans who might wish to pursue opportunities in agriculture, agribusiness, and rural America. “We’re very serious about supporting our veterans,” said Perdue. “They bring skill sets that we think work very well in agriculture.”
Asked when he might get a full court of under secretaries approved for USDA, Perdue pointed to his dress shirt and said, “I have a Free Bill Northey tee shirt under here.”
Perdue also commented on the bigger corn crop expected, trade issues and more. Secretary Sonny Perdue at NAFB
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2017 Missouri Leopold Conservation Award Winner
Sand County Foundation and Missouri Farmers Care announced the recipients of Missouri’s inaugural Leopold Conservation Award® during the 2017 National Association of Farm Broadcasting’s (NAFB) Annual Convention. The Leopold Conservation Award honors farmer, rancher and forester achievement in voluntary stewardship and management of natural resources. This marks the first year this prestigious award has been presented to a Missouri farmer or rancher.
Matt and Kate Lambert own and operate Uptown Farms along with their family in Brookfield, MO. On the family farm they grow corn, soybeans and raise cattle, sheep and kids. Conservation practices aren’t a new thing on the Northern Missouri farm. The use of cover crops dates back to the early 90’s and they continue to progressively stay-up-to-date on new and improved practices that ensure the family farm will be there for future generations.
Learn more about the Lambert’s and their family farm here: Interview with Matt & Kate Lambert, Uptown Farms
The Leopold Conservation Award Program in Missouri is made possible thanks to the generous support of Missouri Farmers Care, Missouri Soybean Association, Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council, Missouri Cattlemen’s Association, Missouri Corn Merchandising Council, Missouri Department of Conservation, MFA, Inc., Missouri’s Electric Cooperatives, Missouri Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts, Missouri Soil and Water Conservation Program, and USDA NRCS.
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