Mar 15, 2023

Precision Ag News 3/15 The Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) and the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) presented the sixth-annual Davidson Prize to the top three innovative products, selected from the AE50 honorees on March 9 during Commodity Classic in Orlando, Fla. Winning entries included: Precision Planting for the Radicle Agronomics system, which focuses on saving time and eliminating error-prone processes in soil sampling and testing. The Radicle Agronomics system is designed for professional crop consultants and aims to make daily processes more efficient; RedSea for the Iyris Heat Blocking Greenhouse Roof, a controlled environment agriculture (CEA) solution; and TerraClear for the TC80 Rock Picker, one of the most versatile and efficient precision rock pickers available today. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the Department received $3 billion in applications from more than 350 independent businesses from 47 states and 2 territories for the first two rounds of a new grant program to add innovative domestic fertilizer production capacity. The Biden-Harris Administration’s Fertilizer Production Expansion Program is part of a government-wide effort to promote competition in agricultural markets. Syngenta Group announced the launch of “Shoots by Syngenta,” a global platform designed to help tackle agriculture’s most complex challenges, increase innovation, and advance more sustainable agriculture. Starting with science-based innovation challenges, the platform will connect scientific discovery and creativity, bringing together academics, research institutes, startups, and cross-industry sectors to collaborate with Syngenta’s global network of 5,000+ scientists. CNH Industrial has purchased Augmenta to accelerate the growth of their innovative Sense & Act technology. Augmenta was a previous CNH Industrial Ventures investment and a strategic partner for CNH Industrial. U.S. Senators Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and John Thune (R-SD) introduced the Promoting Precision Agriculture Act. The bill would create a federal working group to establish interconnectivity standards to better communicate and share data. Precision agriculture includes the use of devices like robotics, sensors, monitors, drones, etc. to help growers increase efficiency, potentially increasing crop yields while reducing costs. Establishing interconnectivity standards will help promote the growth of the precision agriculture industry and make such tools easier for farmers to use and access. The National Corn Growers Association , along with a broad coalition of national and state agriculture and bioscience organizations, sent a letter to President Biden to thank the administration for beginning technical consultations with Mexico concerning its action to ban imports of biotech corn. The letter calls for those consultations to start without delay. Following a 2021 strategic partnership announcement with Microsoft, Bayer launched new cloud-based solutions for the agri-food industry: AgPowered Services from Bayer in combination with the new Microsoft Azure Data Manager for Agriculture provide ready-to-use capabilities available for businesses and organizations from start-ups to global enterprises to license and use for their own internal or customer-facing digital solutions. Pegasus Robotic, Inc. , a company focused on solutions for agriculture, and an exclusive XAG distributor, announced the launch of the XAG P100 Pro agriculture drone to the American market. Progressive growers, retailers, and service providers can now “go Pro” with the fastest high-capacity spraying and spreading drone to date, enabling them to cover more acres and achieve top-end yields for their crops this season. Indigo Ag , the premier sustainability partner of the agriculture industry, announced FieldFlex, a comprehensive suite of sustainable agriculture programs, designed to give farmers the freedom and flexibility to choose how they make money from their sustainability practices for every field, every year of their rotation. Long known for dependability and durability across a variety of operations, the Case IH Puma series lineup now includes the AFS Connect Puma tractor, as well as an addition to the short wheelbase Puma series tractor lineup: the Puma 175. Existing Puma 185, 200, 220, 240 tractors — as well as the all-new high-horsepower Puma 260 — now come equipped with more power options, a revamped operator environment and AFS Connect technology for unparalleled data management, tracking and sharing across a range of machines. Meanwhile, the Puma 175 offers greater horsepower to efficiently complete a variety of tasks across tough applications. John Deere has introduced a new See & Spray Premium performance upgrade kit for John Deere self-propelled sprayers, the next addition in the See & Spray lineup. The kit uses a vision system powered by artificial intelligence that can help farmers gain cost efficiency and combat herbicide resistance with precise application by only spraying the weeds and not the entire field. Tech Hub LIVE , the premier event advancing tech-enabled agriculture, is proud to announce Ever.Ag Agribusiness, Proagrica, and Greater Des Moines Partnership as Partners for the upcoming event taking place July 24-26, 2023 at the Iowa Events Center.