AGI SureTrack CoffeeTalk

Led by Emerging Prairie, an organization whose mission is rooted in connecting and celebrating the entrepreneurial ecosystem and energizing communities, Grand Farm is a collective effort to bring together the agriculture and technology industries in a “farm of the future”

On this week’s CoffeeTalk, we’re sitting down with the Grand Farm team to learn what the “Farm of the Future” looks like and how the Grand Farm test site will help farmers solve challenges today, as well as in the future.

In this episode of CoffeeTalk, we’re sitting down the US Meat Export Federation’s Erin Borror to learn more about the relationship between our US grown corn and soybeans’ role in global red meat exports.

From shortages to the value exports add to corn and soybeans, this will be a conversation you won’t want to miss!

The Global Farmer Network amplifies the farmers’ voice in promoting trade, technology, sustainable farming, economic growth and food security. On this week’s CoffeeTalk, we’re visiting with the organization’s CEO, Mary Boote, to learn how.

We will learn how the Global Farmer Network (GFN®) identifies, engages, and supports strong farmer-leaders from around the world to help fill the world’s food and nutrition security gap in a sustainable manner.

There couldn’t be a timelier conversation on the importance of agricultural leadership and networking.

In January, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced that an $829.1 million investment would be targeted for lock and dam improvements along the Upper Mississippi River. Of the total investment, $732 million will be allocated to the improvement of Lock and Dam 25, a significant priority for the soybean industry.

In this week’s CoffeeTalk, Mike Steenhoek, Executive Director of the Soybean Transportation Coalition joins the program to discuss what the investment means for soybean farmers, as well as what the project will entail.

Weather an unknown wildcard for every agricultural operation. Matt Makens, Makens Weather has spent his career working to help farmers better plan for emerging weather patterns. Join us for this week’s CoffeeTalk where Matt will share more on the 2022 forecast, we can expect across the U.S.

Grab your coffee and join us for a conversation to help you plan for the 2022 growing season.

We’re sitting down with Farm Technology Manager, Leanne Marin to kick-off our #plant22 conversations!
We’ll be talking technology and taking the guesswork out of the seed treatment application process on this week’s CoffeeTalk.
Grab your coffee and join us!

On this week’s CoffeeTalk we’re joined by Discovery Farm’s Blake Weiseth, Applied Research Lead, to learn more about the Pan-Canadian Smart Farm Network.

With $1.1 M from the Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network (CAAIN), the Pan-Canadian Smart Farm Network is an $2.9M initiative, lead by the Olds College Smart Farm. We’ll be talking partnerships, technology and advancing agriculture in this episode that you won’t want to miss!

We’re joined by Grain Elevator and Processing Society (GEAPS) Executive Director, Steve Records on this week’s CoffeeTalk. Steve joins us to share how the nearly-century old organization works to disseminate knowledge, safety information and help industry members network. In addition, we’ll also be covering the upcoming GEAPS Exchange, March 26-29 in Kansas City, Missouri.

Join us on the 18th to learn more about GEAPS and March 26-29 to join the GEAPS family!

In the age of digitization, ever-rising input costs and increased financial scrutiny, has there ever been a better time to up your record-keeping and reporting game?

AGI SureTrack Compass Business Solutions Specialist, Allan Hancock, joins this week’s CoffeeTalk to share how the Farm Planning Software (FPS) streamlines record keeping, analysis, and reporting for a more complete look at crops; soil management; field scouting; grain and lease contracts; and on- and off-farm stocks and inventory.

If you’ve been on the fence or have questions about automating the next piece of your farm management, grab your coffee and join us to learn more!

From the classrooms of Kansas State University to the fields of Africa, two women share their stories of how the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Sorghum and Millet laid the foundation for each of them to take their knowledge and skills back to their home countries of Ethiopia and Niger.

On this week’s CoffeeTalk, we celebrate International Women’s Day. Don’t miss this conversation that intersects the impact of agricultural education for women and its lasting contribution for communities in Africa.

This week, host, Laura Handke and producer, Brian Folkers are on-site at the National Education Center for Agricultural Safety with executive director, Dan Neenan and Nationwide Insurance’s Paul Stevenson and Jade Rodemeyer. The crew will be talking about the importance of grain bin safety 24/7-365, and the training and extraction process that has saved entrapped farmers across the Midwest.

While on-site, Brian will also experience a controlled grain entrapment and extraction.

We say it every time we get the chance, take the time to join this webinar, or other grain bin safety educational events throughout the year. Stay safe.

Each year, FFA chapters around the country celebrate National FFA Week. It’s a time to share what FFA is and the impact it has on members every day! To do that, this week, we’re sitting down with National FFA Organization’s Director of Marketing and Communications, to learn more about the mission of FFA and how the organization is working to reach both urban and rural youth, alike.

On this week’s CoffeeTalk, we’re sitting down with Welker Family Farms’ Nick Welker, to discuss sharing the farming story on YouTube and becoming a BinManager customer – from install to operations integration. Sara Bailey, AGI SureTrack customer service representative, will also be joining the conversation with Nick, to talk about the onboarding process and troubleshooting from both CSR and customer perspectives.

We’ll wrap the episode by learning about Welker Farms’ involvement in Grain Bin Safety Week. It will be a fun one!

Backed by Yara, the Agoro Carbon Alliance is taking action on a global scale to reverse the effects of climate change. This week, we’re joined by Agoro Carbon Alliance Agronomist, Matt Rellaford, to learn how!

If you’ve had questions about how carbon markets are working, this will be a conversation you won’t want to miss. We’ll be talking contracts, data, measurement, permanence and additionality. Grab your coffee and your questions and join us!

In this week’s CoffeeTalk, we’re sitting down with Katie Pawlosky, Communications Director for The National Bio and Agro-defense facility (NBAF), a new 574,000 square foot biocontainment laboratory facility that will provide state-of-the-art infrastructure for developing vaccines, performing diagnostics, and developing countermeasures against large animal foreign animal diseases and zoonotic diseases. We're also joined by Stephanie Jacques.  

We’ll be having a one-of-a-kind conversation about a facility that is the first-of-its-kind. Don’t miss it! Grab your coffee and join us!  

For more information, visit http://www.agisuretrack.com

When a purpose is driven by helping farmers and dogs, it’s hard not to get behind! This week we’re visiting with Jackie Allenbrand, founder of P.H.A.R.M. Dog USA, about the work that she and her team does in rescuing dogs who, in turn, rescue the quality of life for disabled farmers.  

We’ll be exploring a dog’s role in helping farmers and farm family members with physical, cognitive and illness-related disabilities.  

For more information, visit http://www.agisuretrack.com

In this week’s AGI SureTrack CoffeeTalk, we sat down with regenerative agriculture educator and connector, Jessica Gnad to talk about the evolution of soil health, sustainability and building farmer and rancher engagement in regenerative farming practices. As the Executive Director for Great Plains Regeneration, content creator and connector for the regenerative agriculture Australia group, Regen Farming News and Top 10 Emerging Leaders in Food and Agriculture recipient, Jess has her finger on the pulse of the regenerative agriculture movement, the companies fueling it and the farmers implementing it.

CoffeeTalk is kicking off 2022 with a conversation about a new opportunity for many farmers across the U.S.! Melissa Nelson, crop scientist, owner of Performance Crop Research and co-owner of South Bend Industrial Hemp. In this episode we’re talking entrepreneurship, diversifying the farm for profitability and breaking down the stigma barriers for a new crop opportunity!

Rounding out 2021 and our Food Security series, Ivan Baxter of the Danforth Plant Science Center will join the conversation to discuss how the organization is standing up a new “center of excellence” in an effort to reduce the use of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer by 12%...the equivalent of removing 10 million cars from the road.

The announcement couldn’t come at a more pivotal time as the agriculture industry faces shortages of several macronutrient fertilizers. Join us for a discussion around the importance of fertilizer alternatives and the contribution they make in the reduction of the global food security crisis.

On this week’s CoffeeTalk, we’re sitting down with JJ Jones, executive director for the National Institute of Animal Agriculture.

J.J. will share his team’s research on the investments being made in livestock technology, what those investments will mean for affordable protein and what a decline in livestock production could mean for the U.S. corn and soybean commodity sectors.

Join us for an insightful conversation around the important role investment and research and the resulting technologies play in providing affordable protein around the world.

Last week, we heard from the Feed the Future Innovation initiative to learn more about how food security is being addressed through research and collaboration. This week, we’re talking with Dr. Kris Nichols, a very familiar name and thought leader in the regenerative agriculture space, about the foundation of food security: the soil.

Dr. Nichols will share her work in the regenerative agriculture movement, the connection between the soil microbiome and human gut microbiome, and what a new paradigm in production agriculture will mean for global food security.

Grab your coffee and join us for a conversation around a universal common denominator of food security: soil health!

This holiday season, we’re talking food security – where we are and how we need to get to where we need to be, globally. To kick off this series of discussions, we’re visiting with Feed the Future Innovation labs focused on collaborative research on sorghum and millet.

This network of innovation labs, across the U.S., are part of the U.S. government’s global hunger and food security initiative – addressing the root causes of poverty, hunger, and malnutrition to transform lives around the world.

We’ll dig into how research coming out of this U.S. initiative is helping partner countries develop their agriculture sectors and helping people feed themselves and creating important opportunities for a new generation of young people, while building a more stable world.

This will be a discussion that hits home, not just through the holiday season but every day.

On this week’s CoffeeTalk, we’re talking family tradition, and there’s no greater family tradition than farming. We will be joined by Cole…you may know him as the Pit Viper wearing farmer, Cole the Corn Star, for a conversation about lessons learned from the farm, sibling bonding and keeping the business in the family.

Check out Cole the Cornstar on YouTube!

See the video: https://youtu.be/Z6AzKzTqDgI

Join Continuum Ag founder, Mitchell Hora and SureTrack SVP, Jason Tatge, for a conversation around “growing” out-of-the-box on November 5!

Mitchell developed Continuum Ag initially as an ag consulting company, shifting to provide a more wholistic soil health assessment solution for farmers across the country…and today, around the world. We’ll be focusing our conversation on the soil…and the data needed to improve the soil.

Grab your coffee and your questions and join us to learn how one Midwestern farmer is changing the way we think about soil health metrics while amassing one of the largest private collections of soil biological data!

New in 2021, the SureTrack training team has quickly become the go-to resource for all things learning, development and training. This Friday, we’ll discuss how the team is bringing resources together, in one location, to offer support and education anywhere, anytime.

AGI SureTrack LEARN, the newest “member” of the team, is the online learning software just unveiled October 18. We’ll learn more about how LEARN will work to bridge the learning gaps between departments, facilitate efficient communication and serve as a new information hub.

Owned by Glacier Farm Media, Discovery Farm, is an innovative agricultural event and demonstration site designed to connect Canadian farmers with industry and research partners in the quest for practical solutions to the most pressing ag challenges of today and tomorrow.

We’re looking forward to the chance to visit with Farm Director of Research and Demonstration, Blake Weiseth and Business Development and Operations Specialist, Kaitlyn Kitzan to learn about current and upcoming projects, as well as the outreach and education Discovery Farm provides.

The Soil Health Institute (SHI) was established to serve as an umbrella for all individuals and organizations who desire to improve soil health by working together for the common good. With a core commitment to the current and future generations of agriculture, the education and collaboration facilitated by the SHI is working to promote and ensure clean water, climate stability and a plentiful supply of nutritious food.

Join SHI Chief Scientific Officer, Cristine Morgan, for a CoffeeTalk conversation on the strategies SHI is using to assess soil health for farmers and ranchers across the U.S. We’ll be talking baselines, targets, scalability and results.

With most Americans 3 to 4 generations removed from agriculture, telling the story of food production from America’s farms and ranches has never been more important.

On this week’s CoffeeTalk, we’re joined by American Farm Bureau Federation’s (AFBF) Vice President of Leadership, Education and Engagement to learn how the AFBF is facilitating storytelling and engagement to connect our farms and ranches with consumers.

Farmer, rancher or consumer, this is a conversation we all need to be part of!

With a mission to improve the health and nutrition of local communities in budding markets by building capacity and market potential of businesses in the food and agriculture supply chain, the Soy Excellence Centers is facilitating growth and use opportunities for soy in Egypt, Mexico, Nigeria and Thailand.

In this week’s CoffeeTalk, we’re sitting down with Carlos Campabadal, Outreach Specialist in Feed Manufacturing and Grain Storage at the International Grains Program (IGP), Kansas State University to learn how the Soy Excellence Centers in these regions are meeting their goals in the facilitation of soy promotion.

There are some savvy marketing minds behind the global AGI brand family. And on this week’s CoffeeTalk we’re sitting down with three of the women who work to tell the story of some of those brands.

We’ll be joined by Tina Wood, marketing manager for AGI’s farm division, Robin Walters, marketing director for the SureTrack brand, and new AGI family member, Farmobile’s director of public relations and marketing, Agi Schafer-Kreiser.

Join us for a conversation about pursuing your passion, contributing to agriculture, and staying connected with customers through a pandemic.

As the president of the Borlaug Foundation and granddaughter of the “father of modern agriculture”, Julie Borlaug’s roots run deep in the fight against global hunger and extreme poverty. Today, in her work with the Foundation, Julie works to combat both through education and boots-on-the-ground international agricultural development.

Join us for a CoffeeTalk that discusses the history, the present and the future of agriculture and what our roles as agriculturalists can be to share the story of agriculture.

Our third installment of our Women in Ag series!

American Farmland Trust (AFT) believes that women are ideal partners in farmland protection and conservation of our working lands, and that we need to do more to reach them. We couldn’t agree more!

Join CoffeeTalk this Friday for a conversation with Gabrielle Roesch-McNally, director of Women for the Land, the AFT initiative working to close the gaps for women facing gender, race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation barriers.

Groundbreaking. That’s the best word we could find for the work that this team is doing. Grab your coffee, bring your family. This is a conversation that we all need to be a part of.

Kicking off our month-long women in agriculture series, we’re visiting with Zoe Schultz, a Kansas State University student who was recently honored as a 2021 30 under 30 Young People Impacting Agriculture Farm Progress feature.

We’ll be talking internships, agriculture and finding your passion in this week’s CoffeeTalk. If you have a young person in your life, manage an internship experience or just want to know what is fueling the next generation of passionate agriculture leaders, join us!

We’ve all heard the term “carbon market”, but how do they work, who is offering them and what opportunities currently exist for a farmer to capitalize on their carbon farming practices?

Join us for a discussion on carbon markets with the National Agricultural Law Center’s Micah Brown and SureTrack Senior Vice President, Jason Tatge. Micah will boil down the facts, share the resources he is using to stay current on what’s happening in this ever-evolving space and provide an update on what is on the horizon in the space.

There’s never a shortage of hazards on the farm, and when the urgency of harvest arrives, those hazards can quickly become magnified. On this week’s CoffeeTalk, we’re joined by Carolyn Sheridan a registered nurse with specialized training in Ag health and safety, and executive director and founder of the Ag Health and Safety Alliance, a US and Canada registered nonprofit organization focused health and safety for the next generation of agriculture.

Growing up on a dairy farm and continuing to farm with her husband in the same area, today, Carolyn knows and understands the hazards associated with farming and ranching. She also understands the farming and ranching communities, which is why she and her team work to develop educational trainings and resources that are specific to the audience they are addressing.

View the Video Version: https://youtu.be/poX-kmbuENs

Join AGI SureTrack Senior Vice President and Farmobile CEO, Jason Tatge, Friday morning as he joins CoffeeTalk for a conversation on his new role in leading the SureTrack team, Farmobile integration and what the merger of these technologies means for the connected farm.

Harvest is right around the corner and finding help has never been more challenging. In this edition of CoffeeTalk, we’re visiting with AgButler founder, Kevin Johansen, to learn how the mobile service takes the work out of finding folks to work! This app solution helps to bridge on-farm and rural labor shortage issues with those looking for short-term employment opportunities.

Join Valley View Agri-Systems’ Midwest Division Manager, Jeff Fjelstul, to learn more about the communication, leadership and history that has helped to make Valley View one of the leading farm and commercial grain systems solutions.

We’ll take a dive into the company’s relationship with AGI and how the Dealer Success program equips everyone in the value-chain to better serve the customer.

We’re joined by EcoLogical Ag Solutions principal and regenerative agriculture specialist, Jake Bevan, to learn about soil health monitoring from the perspective of an entire ecosystem. We’ll be talking indicators above and below the soil’s surface and what they mean to your soil’s water holding capacity, nutrient cycling ability and overall resilience.

Last June we had the opportunity to sit down with members of the newly formed Federal Communications Commission Precision Ag Task Force on Rural Connectivity to learn about the leadership driving the group and hear projected 2021 plans. One year later, we are revisiting the conversation with Task Force member, Andy Bater. Tune in to learn about the progress that has been made in the past year and where the group’s efforts are focused for 2022.

Join Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy’s (WRAPS) Travis Sieve for a conversation around the creative approach Kansas Department of Health has taken to improve water quality through the integration of Hagie cover crop interseeders and unique partnerships throughout the state.

There’s no shortage of tax changes on the horizon in 2021 and beyond, and each change will carry with it significant changes to the way a farm will best structure a succession plan. Iowa State Extension Specialist and Attorney, Melissa O’Rourke, joins this week’s CoffeeTalk to discuss the implications the proposed tax changes will have on the future of the family farm.

We’re talking all things safety with SureTrack/CMC’s Director of Commerical Sales, Bob Reis. On this CoffeeTalk episode, Bob shares the Roadmap to Safety, a project he has been passionate about implementing across the organizations.

This safety-centric program conversation is a great update and reminder of the safety precautions all of our facilities should be mindful of.

We’re straying from our subject-pointed content this week to bring you the 5-minute ag news download you didn’t know you were missing in your life. As the host of CoffeeTalk, I subscribed to Magnetic Ag last fall, right after it kicked off, and for the past eight months have enjoyed the well summarized, multi-sector ag news content I get twice a week. It’s a fun “just what you need to know” read that keeps me up to date on what’s happening throughout the ag industry.

Whether you’ve heard of it, or not, you’ll gain something from this conversation—we’re talking content sourcing, distribution and start-up on this episode of CoffeeTalk.

As new members of the AGI family of brands, the team at Farmobile has been shaking up and redefining data collection. This week we are joined by Farmobile’s Steve Cubbage and Bradford Warner to discuss the role that data plays on the farm and the importance of collecting live agronomic data and machine data from your fleet and custom applications. Steve and Bradford will also talk sustainability and how data collection provides the long-term solution your farm needs to capitalize on emerging market initiatives around stewardship and carbon.

As the first ever feature film solely focused on bringing awareness to grain bin safety, SILO follows the events that transpire after the entrapment of a teenage boy in a 50-foot-tall grain bin. On May 14, we sit down with SILO movie producer, Sam Goldberg, to discuss the collaboration with farmers, firefighters, first-responders, and trusted agriculture institutions that made the film an authentic education tool.

Every year, grain bin entrapment deaths plague the pages of rural community newspapers throughout the grain belt. Join us for an opportunity to promote a mainstream awareness of the dangers of managing stored grain as Silo The Film is released in theaters nationwide. Like every week, we will take questions throughout to bring our participants into the conversation.

May is Beef Month and to kick off the celebration of a major contributor to corn and soybean utilization, we’re visiting with the Missouri Beef Industry Council’s Luella Gregory, Director of the Mo Beef Mo Kids Fit program that works to put more beef on the school lunch trays of Missouri students via beef producer donations.

Randy Koch joined AGI SureTrack’s Lenexa, Kansas team as Training Manager in 2021 and we’re excited to learn more about the training initiatives he has underway. He’ll be joined by SureTrack’s Director of Marketing, Robin Walters for a conversation on SureTrack training, marketing and communication initiatives in 2021.

In honor of Earth Day, we’re talking with The Fertilizer Institute Director of Sustainability Communications Jennifer Martin, as well as AGI Fertilizer’s own Meg Steward, about how the fertilizer industry has moved the sustainability needle over the past decade.

Troy Daniell, Minnesota State Conservationist and Tanner Bruse, Pheasants Forever’s Ag and Conservation Program’s Manager join us for this CoffeeTalk to share the importance of turning red acres green, for conservation, for ag production and for profitability.

This conversation on the power of partnerships, the importance of precision agriculture in any on-farm conservation program and the opportunities that exist to incorporate both, will be one you won’t want to miss—Don’t let “Minnesota” fool you, the opportunities we’ll be discussing can be implemented throughout the Midwest.