The 2018 Farm Progress Show was held Aug. 28-30 in Boone, IA, just outside of Ames. FPS is the largest outdoor farm event held in the U.S., according to its organizers. The show rotates on a bi-annual basis between the Boone, IA, site and Decatur, IL.

The Farm Progress grounds in Boone, IA, as seen from just over 60' from the top of an AGI grain storage facility demo setup housed on the site.

Farm Progress Show always features pro-farmer messaging as part of the industries' greater effort to thank farmers for all of their hard work during the spring and summer season, as the calendar turns to fall harvest. This sign featured prominently at the Beck's Hybrids booth.

I'm not sure I've ever seen a trade show exhibit as impressive as what Corteva Agriscience (formerly Dow) rolled out for Farm Progress this year. "You know, Corteva people (if you're reading this), it would be a shame to just let all that nice patio furniture and fancy accouterments from the 2018 booth collect dust in storage until the next show in Boone in 2020. I might have an address where you can send some of that stuff..." 

So we were supposed to attend a field demo of Ames, IA-based Smart Ag's aftermarket tractor automation kit first thing Tuesday afternoon until Mother Nature threw us a pretty nasty curveball with the rain and cancelled the show. Here's hoping we get to see AutoCart technology on display at some point in 2019. (Photo Courtesy - Al Setka, SmartAg PR rep)

Longtime former-Monsanto President Brett Begemann updated the media on what to expect as 2018 winds down from the new Bayer-Monsanto combined company. The verdict? Business as usual, at least for now. Begemann also told an inspiring story about his late-father during his final days. A farmer himself, the elder Begemann turned and asked his son, "Do you know what is so hard about moving on? Farming is getting really interesting right now!" It was a good reminder of a couple things: #1: Former Monsanto employees are still people, just like the rest of us, no matter how much vitriol the internet spews at them for doing their jobs. #2: The late Mr. Begemann was indeed correct, it is a SUPER interesting time to be in agriculture right now. Sometimes we could all use a reminder of that, and that includes myself. Thank you for your story, Brett.

Over at the AGCO/FENDT booth the looks-like-it-came-straight-off-a-Christopher-Nolan-movie-set IDEAL Combine drew plenty of eyes. Winner of a 2017 Agritechnica Silver Medal Innovation Award, I could perhaps see Bruce Wayne (Val Kilmer Bruce Wayne, of course.) taking this thing for a spin around all those corn fields just outside Gotham.

Always well-attended from the International set, this year's FPS seemed to have even more of an international bent, what with the U.S. debut of BASF's xarvio Digital Farming Solutions, and the growing presence of German multinational Bayer as it takes over the Monsanto business here in the U.S. Here a group of South American farmers kick the tires on some John Deere technology in the Deere booth.

I mean, anytime we include something Green we've got to balance it out with something Red too, right? EQUAL TIME FOLKS, EQUAL TIME...

Already having amassed around 55,000 downloads worldwide in the App Store, xarvio Digital Farming Solutions made its U.S. market debut at the 2018 Farm Progress Show. At the center piece of its portfolio is the xarvio Scouting app, which allows smartphone users to snap photos in the field of disease and pest pressures and receive a diagnosis (rated by probability) almost instantaneously. Once enough users in the U.S. start feeding data into the app BASF hopes to aggregate the data by location to then send preemptive alerts and notifications to users to watch for specific pests/diseases in their fields in the coming days and weeks. Something I like to call "Crowd-Sourced Crop Scouting." Pictured above is David E. Gray, Commercial Manager, U.S., xarvio Digital Farming Solutions.

Nutrien Ag Solutions (the retail company formerly known as Crop Production Services) announced the launch of its yet-unnamed new integrated digital ag platform, which will reportedly replace the former CPS platform Echelon once it is fully unveiled. In October the group plans to add crop planning tools, and in December an e-commerce portal for Nutrien customers will also be launched as part of the new platform. Pictured above is Zach Corcoran, Product Owner-Digital, Nutrien Ag Solutions.