Mixed Reviews for Committe Farm Bills

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With all the farm bill activity in Congress this past week, our latest ZimmPoll asked “What’s your opinion of committee farm bill?” From the results, most think it’s better than nothing.

Our poll results: 18% said Better Than Nothing and Other, 14% said Hits Nutrition Too Hard and Bad For Everyone, nine percent said Senate Better Than House, Bad For Farmers, Will Help Conservation and Great For Everyone, and nobody said House Better Than Senate. Poll results are all over the charts this week with mixed reviews and disagreement with particular sections of the farm bill.

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Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, “Is agriculture doing a bad job of marketing?” Marketing seems to be the key to a successful industry. The public often gets a bad taste for agriculture after “issues” hit the media. Do we cover our tracks and market the good along with the benefits to agriculture, not to mention the must haves of it? Let us know.

ZimmPoll is sponsored by New Holland Agriculture.

Evaluating Early Growth Provides Insight to Growers

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Legends SeedLegends Seed Genetic Researcher and Agronomist, Mike Knight, reports that growers can glean valuable information by evaluating their plants within days of emergence. Early stage development sets the tone for the rest of the plant’s development. Evaluating plants is key for growers to know if the plant is developing to it’s full potential. By evaluating plants throughout the growing season growers can gauge plant development and seed performance; verify planting depth and detect, as well as, remedy nutrient deficiency

When evaluating newly emerged plants growers should begin by looking at a portion of the field to determine the actual emergence population. Like many aspects of plant evaluation, this helps growers determine if the seed is performing as it should. Measuring the mesocotyl, which is the distance from the seed to the soil’s surface, allows growers to determine actual planting depth and if their planter was correctly calibrated.

While initial plant evaluation can provide growers with useful information to use when planning 2014 management practices and selecting seed; it’s important to evaluate plants throughout the entire growing season. In some cases growers can actually increase yields through plant evaluation. For example, when looking at leaf coloration to determine if the plant is taking up the proper nutrients; if they catch a nutrient deficiency early enough in the plant’s development, there is the opportunity to side dress before yields are negatively impacted.

Auxins Could Help Crops Beat Heat and High Salinity

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Auxin-300x200The plant hormones called auxins are well-known for stimulating development of roots and other structures, and now University of Florida scientists have shown that auxins help plants cope with environmental stresses.

“Our findings show there’s a possibility of manipulating plant stress tolerance with auxins,” Rathinasabapathi said. “It may be possible to administer auxins to crops at critical stages of growth or possibly engineer new varieties that respond to auxins more efficiently.”

The study compared wild-type Arabidopsis thaliana plants with mutant specimens that weren’t able to transport auxins through their tissues effectively. When subjected to oxidative stress, salt and high temperatures, the wild-type plants fared better than the mutants.

Next, the team will investigate whether auxins could improve stress tolerance in rice plants. Rice is one of the world’s most widely consumed staple crops and is subject to heat and drought damage.

A New Guide of Fungicides

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wise-fungicideguideLOA new publication designed to help farmers make fungicide-related decisions is now available through Purdue Extension.

The guide, Fungicides for Field Crops, was edited by specialists from five universities and printed by the American Phytopathological Society. The full-color publication includes photos and covers all aspects of fungicide use, including different modes of action, how to use them in various crops and ways for farmers to test efficacy through their own on-farm trials.

Fungicides for Field Crops is $19 and can be ordered through Purdue Extension’s The Education Store at http://www.the-education-store.com by searching for ID-455.

Syngenta Takes Crop Research to a New Level

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Syngenta has unveiled its new crop research facility at the company’s RTP Innovation Center, located in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. The $72 million, Green Globes Certified, Syngenta New Research LabAdvanced Crop Lab allows company researchers to simulate any agricultural climate and precisely measure plant inputs. This technology will help farmers grow more food with fewer resources. During a grand opening ceremony, During the grand opening, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory, North Carolina Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler, U.S. Senator Kay Hagan, growers and many others toured the new plant research facility.

“Our new Advanced Crop Lab allows us to bring together components of all research where we can create environments for multiple crops from multiple regions — simultaneously,” said Michiel van Lookeren Campagne, head of biotechnology for Syngenta. “Individual controls of temperature, light and carbon dioxide levels, as well as humidity control in many growth chambers, provide tailored environments that allow our talented researchers to work on specific grower challenges. In addition to innovative facilities, being in RTP, we have access to some of the greatest scientific minds to help farmers grow more from less.”

The research facility houses 30 climate-controlled growth environments in all-glass greenhouses. Syngenta can simulate conditions from Iowa in one room and from Africa Young Corn at Syngenta Research Labnext door. This flexibility will allow company researchers to focus on developing agricultural traits that optimize crop yields, use resources efficiently and resist various stresses that farmers face every day across the globe.

“Syngenta invests more than $1.25 billion annually to directly focus on solving challenges for farmers. As we consider global food security, the research conducted in our new crop lab will be essential to meet that demand,” said Vern Hawkins, Syngenta North America region director.

Design elements of the new facility include insulated glass walls that provide a virtually shadowless indoor environment, a liquid “fertigation” system to feed and water the plants and an automated roof-washing system.

AgFanatics Planting Progress Podcasts

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agfanatics-2Planting progress is on the minds of the AgFanatics.

In episode #31, the AgFanatics talk with MaxYield Cooperative’s, Karl Setzer, to get his take on the markets and what he’s been witnessing in the northwest part of Iowa. Karl also shares his thoughts on corn planting progress in his area.

Episode #32 features guest host Graham Utter discussing how his own planting progress is coming along, as well as corn and soybean price projection possibilities for the next few years.

The AgriVisor AgFanatics podcast is updated twice weekly and can be found on Itunes or right from the front page at www.agrivisor.com.

New Ag Chem Company Launched

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A new agriculture and chemical company has been formed to produce and market a next generation of urease inhibitor.

ecoagroEco Agro Resources was launched on May 1, with its patent-pending flagship product, N-Yield.

David McKnight, CEO states “Eco Agro Resources is made up of 30 team members with over 100 years of agriculture and chemical experience. We have multiple lab and manufacturing locations with a home base in High Point, NC. Our current chemical sales are projected to top $50 million USD annually, while our global presence and patent pending technologies continue to expand.”

Ray Perkins President of Sales says, “Our flagship product, N-YieldTM is an environmentally friendly nitrogen inhibitor solution that is used to treat urea and UAN based fertilizers to improve the retention of nitrogen content in soil. N-YieldTM can be used to coat either urea granules or can be mixed with ammonium nitrate (UAN) solutions and offers several advantages over the current brands available.”

Eco Agro ResourcesTM offers a strategic limited distribution business model as well as co-branding opportunities. We are a previous active ingredient supplier to leading urease inhibitor brands.

Energy-Efficient Agricultural Irrigation

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AgGateway_LogoAgGateway and the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA) are co-sponsoring the launch of a cross-industry collaboration project that will help growers better manage water and energy use by integrating weather, soil moisture, soil type, crop and other relevant data coming from a wide range of hardware and software programs. The Precision Agriculture Irrigation Leadership (PAIL) Project will improve agriculture irrigation by developing a common set of data standards and formats to convert data for use in irrigation data analysis and prescription programs.

The objective of this project is have a common set of data standards and protocols used across the agriculture industry. With those in place, industry can deliver much more efficient, easy-to-use solutions for producers, which in turn will help them use available water and energy more effectively.

Producers and manufacturers currently report that it is difficult and time-consuming to make decisions on how much water to apply when and where. That’s because weather, soil moisture and other relevant data are stored in a variety of Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) formats and data sources.

Seventeen companies have already committed to participate, including Ag Connections, Agrian, AgSense, Campbell Scientific, CropMetrics, Crop IMS, Decagon Devices, Irrometer, Irrinet, John Deere, J.R. Simplot, MapShots, Monsanto, OnFarm Systems, Ranch Systems, Wysocki Produce Farms, Inc., and ZedX.

The first working session of the group took place last month; the goal is to have a draft set of data standards by AgGateway’s Annual Meeting in November, and to be able to run tests during spring plantings in 2014.

Planting at a Furious Pace

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Thanks to the latest farming technology, farmers were able to make amazing planting progress last week, finally starting to catch up to where they should be at this time of year.

agleader-planterAccording to the latest crop progress report, over 70 percent of projected corn acres had been planted as of last Sunday, while only 28 percent were planted a week prior. While progress lagged behind the five-year average by 37 points last week, the rapid progress closed the gap to only nine points.

Illinois farmers jumped from just 17% planted the week ending May 12 to 74% on May 19, just 3% less than the five year average. “Everybody here is feverishly working,” National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) Chairman Garry Niemeyer of Auburn, Illinois told me on Friday as he was busy playing catch up on planting progress. While it has been the longest cold, wet spring that he can remember, Garry says it has really warmed up in the Midwest and he expects the corn to “come flying out of the ground” now.

Planting progress in Iowa increased by 56% from May 12 to 71% on May 19. “Farmers have the technology and the drive to accomplish more in a week than we could have in three only a few decades ago,” said NCGA President Pam Johnson, a grower in Iowa. “Last week, we knew that we needed a week of drier, warmer weather and, throughout much of the Corn Belt, we got just that.”

Minnesota corn planting progressed by 52 points last week, while Kansas, Michigan, Missouri Nebraska and North Dakota all increased planting progress by more than 40 points. Emergence however is still lagging well behind normal with just 19% emerged nationwide, compared to the 46% average.

Cotton in the Farm Bills

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nccThe National Cotton Council (NCC) is pleased with the farm bills out of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees this week that make some pretty significant changes in the cotton program to hopefully provide final resolution of the longstanding Brazil WTO case.

“The focus has been to try and come up with farm policy for cotton in the new farm bill that will resolve the case,” said NCC vice president for Economics & Farm Policy Gary Adams. “We believe that STAX, which would be a new area-wide revenue insurance option for cotton, is a way to resolve the case.”

Adams says the provisions for Stacked Income Protection Plan (STAX) are “very similar” in both bills, while the House also includes transition payments to assist growers and their lenders until STAX can be fully implemented, “so that’s a difference that has to be worked out.”

Bottom line, Adams says producers need a farm bill this year. “The one thing we hope is we can see Congress complete its action this summer so we can get a multi-year farm bill in place and give producers some certainty about what policy is going to be for the next few years,” he concluded.

Interview with NCC VP Gary Adams

Field Staff for Ag Leader Machine Guidance Support

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Insights WeeklyAg Leader’s Machine Guidance Support Supervisor, Jordan Dittmer, wants you to meet their field support techs.

The Machine Guidance Support Group is now up to three field support technicians. They are located in key areas of the US to best support Ag Leader’s growing needs in the field.

Seth Schrader is the seasoned veteran of the group located in Northeast Indiana. He has been with Ag Leader in this position just under two and a half years. Seth is a graduate of Purdue University with a bachelor’s in Ag Systems Management. He is also involved in their family farming operation where they grow corn and soybeans as well as raise hogs. Before his time with Ag leader he spent 4 years as a Precision Ag Technician. Seth covers the territory of East Central and Northeastern US.

Kerri Birdwell is the second field tech that we hired. She is located in Central California and covers the western seaboard of the US. Kerri graduated from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo with a degree in Ag Systems Management. After college she worked as an Irrigation Specialist for 2 years until she joined Ag leader in the fall of 2011. Kerri was raised on and continues to have a strong involvement in her family’s cattle ranch.

The newest addition to the team is Ryan Mauzey. Ryan has been with Ag Leader since January and is located in Central Missouri. Ryan is a graduate of the University of Missouri with both bachelors and masters degrees in Ag Systems Management with an emphasis in Precision Agriculture. Prior to working with Ag Leader Ryan worked with an Ag Leader dealer for almost 5 years. Ryan’s territory is South Central and Southeastern US.

Find out more about Machine Guidance Support on the Ag Leader Blog.

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.

House Farm Bill Passes Committee

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house-agFollowing on the heels of the Senate Agriculture Committee’s action on Tuesday, the House Agriculture Committee passed the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act (FARRM) of 2013 by a vote of 36 to 10 Wednesday after more than ten hours of farm bill markup considering 100 amendments.

“This provides a great reason for optimism we will have a new long-term farm bill this year,” said American Farm Bureau Federation president Bob Stallman in a statement late last night after the House Ag Committee finally finished its work. “That belief is further supported by the fact that the bills are more striking in their similarities than in their differences.”

One of the differences in the two bills is a provision linking conservation compliance to crop insurance premium subsidies, included in the Senate bill but not in the House. Conservation changes in the House bill include the consolidation of 23 conservation programs into 13 and streamlining program delivery to producers, saving more than $6 billion.

The Senate bill is expected to go to the floor next week while the House bill is slated for next month.

Ag Committee Chairs With Farm Broadcasters

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Senator Debbie StabenowAn optimistic Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman met with farm broadcasters on Wednesday morning, the day after her committee passed a new farm bill called the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2013. “This is the biggest jobs bill we will pass in any Congress,” said Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI). “It’s time to get it done.”

Stabenow says the majority of the bill they passed out of committee is virtually the same as last year and she believes they addressed the concerns of southern producers. “I think we have a strong coalition and have really produced what I think my friends down the hall should just take as the commodity title,” she said.

The senator talked about the amount of savings in the bill, concerns about the nutrition title, what they did with cotton in the bill, and conservation compliance. Overall, Senator Stabenow is optimistic about getting a farm bill soon, and that combined with new immigration policy, will be a “positive one-two punch for producers.”

Senate Ag Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow

Representative Frank LucasHouse Ag Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-OK) met with the farm broadcasters just shortly before his committee began markup of their bill and said he was “as wound up as an 8 day clock” and expected it to be a long day but maybe not quite as long as last year’s 15 hour session. “But I would note that we had approximately 100 amendments a year ago, as of this morning we have approximately 100 amendments this time,” he said.

Lucas says the bill will go to the House floor this year “a dramatic improvement over a year ago” but he does expect it to be “a struggle we’re prepared to engage in and we’re prepared to move forward on.”

Chairman Lucas said it’s important to look long term in the farm bill. “Farm bills are not necessarily about this year or next year or year three,” he said. “Farm bills are about making provisions for year four or year five, when the wheels come off.”

House Ag Committee Chairman Frank Lucas

2013 NAFB Washington Watch Photo Album

Vilsack on Conservation in Farm Bill

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Secretary of Agriculture Tom VilsackAgriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack supports provisions in the farm bill passed by the Senate Agriculture Committee that ties conservation compliance to crop insurance.

“It’s a deal that’s made between taxpayers, farmers and insurance companies,” said Vilsack. “In many cases, we’re paying as taxpayers 50-55-60-63% of the premium. In the past, we also provided a direct payment and as part of the direct payment deal we said in exchange for this check, we’re going to expect something in return and that is conservation compliance.”

Since it is obvious direct payments are going to be eliminated, Vilsack says it makes sense to tie crop insurance premium subsides to conservation compliance. “If you’re going to get the benefit of a premium subsidy that’s pretty significant, we’d ask you to put together a plan and be compliant with that plan.”

Vilsack spoke to members of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting Tuesday and hit on a variety of issues related to the farm bill.

Listen to Vilsack’s comments here: Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack Mtg. with NAFB

2013 NAFB Washington Watch Photo Album

Opinions on Committee Farm Bills

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Our latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “Are so-called “ag gag” bills fair?”

Our poll results: Fifty-two percent said No, forty-one percent said Yes and seven percent said I Don’t Know. So most of you feel that ag gag bills are not fair. Do you think answers would be different if we called them “See Something, Say Something” laws?

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Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, “What’s your opinion of committee farm bills?” The Senate Agriculture Committee voted 15-5 to approve their version of a 2013 farm bill. And according to House Ag Committee Chairman, Frank D. Lucas, “The work of the Agriculture Committee, including reauthorizing the Farm Bill, affects every American; ensuring that our farmers and ranchers have the tools they need to produce an abundant and affordable food and fiber supply is as important to our country as national defense.” Let us know what you think.

ZimmPoll is sponsored by New Holland Agriculture.