| Where did my cheeseburger come from? |
School students in urban classrooms can sometimes have a disconnect from agriculture and where their food comes from. That's according to Lloyd Lesmeister, one of the FFA leaders from an Agriculture in the Classroom event held on Friday, May 18, at Anderson United Community School in Minneapolis, Minn.
"This event is about bringing the farm to the city and teaching urban students about how food actually gets to their plate," said Natasha Mortenson, agriculture teacher and FFA adviser at Morris Area High School in Morris, Minn.
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| Video surveillance for the farm |
New long-range WiFi monitoring system allows for remote viewing
A new long-range WiFi monitoring system from Ayrstone Productivity lets you remotely view your farm and home from a computer or smartphone. Designed for the outdoor rigors of farming, the Ayrstone AyrMesh WiFi system consists of an AyrMesh router, a stationary weatherproof AyrScout camera, and an AyrMeshWiFi hub.
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| Purdue economist: Summer gas prices to be stable – if … |
Purdue University
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| Understanding direct payments on the farm |
Kent Olson, University of Minnesota Extension
Direct payments to farmers under the current farm bill have been a small, but stable and important part of farmers’ income. These direct payments are cut in the draft farm bill from the Agriculture Committee of the U.S. Senate.
In the last few years, those direct payments have been essentially the only government payments made to farmers on the basis of their crop acreage. Crop prices have been higher than the levels that would create payments under the counter-cyclical and Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE) programs.
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| Ag in the classroom day hosted by FFA draws interest in food origin |
School students in urban classrooms can sometimes have a disconnect from agriculture and where their food comes from. That's according to Loyd Westminster, one of the FFA leaders from an Agriculture in the Classroom event held on Friday, May 18, at Anderson United Community School in Minneapolis, Minn. Westminster and other FFA leaders spent time educating urban school students about the origins of the food they eat—from corn and soybean production to livestock. This is the third year the Morris Area FFA chapter (Morris, Minn.) has hosted the event in urban schools.
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| Smartphone sprayer app from TeeJet simplifies spray tip selection |
A new smartphone sprayer app from TeeJet Technologies will help growers select correct spray tips for different applications. The SpraySelect mobile app is available free for Apple and android devices.
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| Pioneer soybeans to be sold by seed counts, not weight |
Soybean seed from Pioneer Hi-Bred will be sold by seed count and not by weight for the 2013 planting season. This is a major change for the company that has sold soybean seed by weight. In the future, a unit will be 140,000 soybean seeds instead of 50 lbs. of seed in a unit.
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| Illinois corn suffers injury from herbicide application, carryover from last season |
Source: University of Illinois
Widespread areas of new corn in Illinois show herbicide injury, reported University of Illinois weed scientist Aaron Hager. He said direct application of postemergence herbicides and persistence of herbicides applied last season likely caused the injury.
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| Ride in Kubota's most powerful new tractor in Grand-X series |
Kubota Tractor Corporation, headquartered in Torrance, Calif., recently announced the release of a new line of M-Series tractors, including the M100GX, M110GX, M126GX and the M135GX. Farm Industry News editor Kathy Huting took a ride in the largest and most powerful of the models, the M135GX, with Paul Williams, product manager for Kubota, on May 15. The highlight of the ride was looking out of what Kubota says is the largest cab in the tractor's mid-size class. For more information, visit www.kubota.com.
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| Hypro’s spray nozzle end cap offers quick response to GPS signals |
A new spray nozzle body end cap from Hypro will decrease response times to GPS signals. Hypro’s Express cap enables standard nozzle bodies to more quickly respond to GPS boom shut-off control signals. The quick reaction time is important to prevent spray overlaps on end rows and in boundary areas.
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| American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers disputes ethanol study findings |
“If ethanol and other biofuels are such superior products, producers should join petroleum refiners in calling for an end to the Renewable Fuel Standard," said Charles Drevna, AFPM president.
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| How ethanol has reduced gas prices |
Ethanol reduced the average American household’s spending on gasoline by more than $1,200 in 2011, the RFA estimates.
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| LightSquared files for bankruptcy |
LightSquared Inc., whose proposed high-speed wireless network threatened to disrupt GPS navigation systems, including those used in agriculture, has filed for bankruptcy.
The Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition was filed May 14 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. It followed a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) decision in February that it would withdraw preliminary approval for the LightSquared network after government tests confirmed that it would interfere with global positioning systems.
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| FMC's new insecticide Triple Crown offers three modes of action |
Karen McMahon
A new insecticide with protection against aphids, stinkbugs and other pests is available from FMC Corporation. The new Triple Crown insecticide offers three modes-of-action against insects in soybeans, corn and cotton.
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| Beck's Hybrids opens Ohio location |
Beck’s Hybrids announced it is opening the company’s first permanent location in Ohio. The new facility will be located east of the Farm Science Review show site, at London, Ohio.
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| Iowa’s 2012 average cash rent jumps to $252 an acre |
The average cash rent for corn and soybean cropland in Iowa is $252/acre for 2012, according to the latest Iowa State University (ISU) survey of cash rents in the state. This rate is up considerably from $214/acre average cash rent noted in 2011.
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| New tool cuts time removing wheel hubs |
Jerry Titera was tired of spending more than an hour taking the hubs off his Bobcat skid steer every time he needed to replace the bearings or seals on the wheel axle. So Titera, a farmer from Bagley, Minn., headed to his shop to design a device that could simplify the process.
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| Large corn harvest, abundant stocks mean lower prices |
Darrel Good, University of Illinois
Conditions are in place for a very large U.S. corn harvest, a return to a more abundant stocks situation, and a return to lower prices. The magnitude of these changes is still to be determined and will unfold over an extended period.
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| An unconventional Honey-Do list |
This year we found a new place to put our new crop of honeybees. The honeybees were fine with the location. Apparently, one tree in the area did not approve.
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| The innovator: BASF addresses challenges of productivity, sustainability and weed resistance |
Farm Industry News sat down with Jordi Tormo, BASF vice president, at the agricultural division’s headquarters in Limburgerhof, Germany, to learn how the company is positioning itself to meet the needs of U.S. producers.
For BASF, how important is the U.S. market?
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| Should you replant? Try out Pioneer's online calculator |
By Karen McMahon
Deciding when to replant a crop that’s been adversely affected by weather, pests or other problems is tough. Now an online calculator will help growers make that decision. A replant calculator is available from Pioneer Hi-Bred on Mobile Pioneer.com.
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| Landoll unveils new 9600 Series field cultivators |
Landoll ntroduces its new 9600 Series field cultivator line that is available in eight working widths from 20 to 50 ft. The new series is designed to help producers meet the short timeline that occurs each spring and fall prior to planting seasons.
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| Still plenty of time to plant soybeans |
This has been an odd year for planting soybeans with some being planted as early as March. But optimal planting time is still during May, and growers have plenty of time to get their crop in the ground.
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| USDA bearish on corn market, mixed on soybeans, wheat |
Darrel Good, Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, University of Illinois
USDA released its May crop report and forecast for the 2012-13 marketing year. It contains some very bearish projections for corn, but the soybean and wheat forecasts have mixed implications.
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| Herbicide-resistant waterhemp populations expected to increase |
Source: University of Illinois
Herbicide-resistant waterhemp will challenge Midwestern soybean growers this year. The challenge will be compounded by the weed’s increased resistance to herbicides with multiple modes of action, including glyphosate, PPO inhibitors and ALS inhibitors. This will limit the efficacy of herbicides on waterhemp and greatly complicate weed management programs.
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| Biofuels having multibillion-dollar impact on global economy |
“A growing biofuels industry in developing nations who import the bulk of their energy needs will bring wealth, jobs and prosperity while reducing their reliance on crude oil."
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| Biorational products industry expands to help growers increase yield |
Editor’s Note: This is Part 2 of a two-part article about new biorational products for crop protection. Find part 1 of the article here.
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| BASF continues to explore new ways to control crop pests and diseases |
It’s easy to feel dwarfed by the sheer size of BASF. Driving past BASF’s enormous chemical facility in Ludwigshafen, Germany, one can truly appreciate the immense size of the company. Here, BASF employs more than 33,000 of its overall workforce of more than 110,000.
BASF is the largest diversified chemical company in the world. The company develops and markets products that reach into just about every aspect of consumer life. On the company’s website, it lists 25 industries in which it provides products.
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| How to control resistant weeds in your field |
Herbicide-resistant weeds have cropped up across the Midwest. Gordon Vail, Sygenta’s corn herbicide technical asset lead, talks every day to growers about problems with weed resistance. He offers his recommendations for handling resistant weeds in cornfields.
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| Tire manufacturers working to provide answers to BT corn stubble damage |
Genetically engineered corn has provided a number of benefits to producers, including stronger stalks that stand up to higher winds. Those stalks have also led to increased complaints about more flats and damage to tires. Titan Tire manufacturing personnel discussed what their company is doing to address the issue during a company media briefing in Des Moines, Iowa. Titan’s Scott Sloan has been one of the leaders of that effort.
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