View from the Cab: Almost showtime
I am looking forward to the nation’s biggest outdoor farm show next week right in our own backyard.
The Farm Progress Show returns to Decatur this year – showcasing the latest and greatest in agriculture. My e-mail inbox is full of invitations for special media events and scheduled interview sessions with company executives.
BASF will hold a panel discussion on the future of weed control during the show’s second day. Scott Kay, who serves as BASF vice president, moderates the event. Key insights will be provided into a variety of weed management strategies, including what growers can expect from BASF down the road.
The same company is even giving me and other ag reporters the chance to write our own fake ag news headlines for a prize. Members of the media are encouraged to write a far-fetched headline and lead with a limit of 75 words for a chance at winning an Amazon Echo Plus, folding Bluetooth keypad or a mini clip voice recorder. Wish me luck!
Bayer has planned a big media event for the show’s opening day with a discussion on the DEKALB Asgrow product line along with information from Channel, Stone and The Climate Corporation. Company experts will also be available to chat about the Roundup Read Xtend crop system/XtendiMax herbicide along with XtendFlex soybeans. A representative from the Acceleron brand will cover how growers can help protect crops from disease, insects and moisture or nutrient stress.
I have also received word that a new feature film SILO will be released during Farm Progress Show. This is the first film to address the very real threat of grain entrapment faced by members of the agricultural community every day. Blood Orange Pictures, a New York-based film and television production company, is releasing the narrative feature film. SILO tells the story of a teenager who falls victim to a grain entrapment incident in a small American farm town.
As the grain flows like quicksand inside of the grain bin, SILO offers viewers a window into the lives and relationships of the town locals as they come together in a race against time to save a life. The film’s producers will be at all three days of the show for media and panel discussions with the cast with a special guest country music star Easton Corbin who performs a song he wrote for the film.
It looks like my work is cut out for me next week. I hope to bring back several story ideas in the coming weeks.
(The View from the Cab is powered by Petersen Motors of Fairbury)
