Not rendering correctly? View this email as a web page here.

FarmSMART                   
May 2019
Rhubarb 19
   Three great reasons to visit Aledo, Illinois, on June 7.

Dear Friend,

Here are three compelling reasons to visit Aledo, Illinois on Friday, June 7.

1. Participate in the world-famous Aledo Rhubarb Festival.  We're proud that one of our state's rare unindicted governors declared Aledo as the "Rhubarb Capital of Illinois."  

2. Take a selfie in front of the world's largest rhubarb plant pictured above.

3. Visit an open house at FBS System's new office at 601 SE 19th Avenue (two blocks east and one block south of the aforementioned ginormous Rheum rhabarbarum located at the junction of Illinois 94 and 17).  We'll be serving rhubarb coffee cake from 8 to 5 on Friday. 

If you can't make it on June 7th drop by any time.  We're open Monday-Friday.

In this month's FarmSmart:

  • FBS Open House at Rhubarb Festival.
  • Ag Software Success Summit Keynote Speakers.
  • Farm Financial Standards Council Conference Comes to North Carolina.
  • FBS Users in the News.
  • How Often Should I Check for Updates?                                                                                                                     SDG
Convergence
2019 Ag Software Success Summit Keynote Announced
Robert-Lubben Pat-Christie Cropped 2
Robert Lubben, Rabobank Pat Christie, Conservis

Mark your calendars for Tuesday, August 20 through Wednesday, August 21 for the premiere software knowledge and networking event for agriculture's information managers.  This year's Ag Software Success Summit will begin with a joint keynote presentation, "The Convergence of FinTech and AgTech from a Global Perspective," by Pat Christie, founder of Conservis and Robert Lubben, Chief Operating Officer and digital lead at Rabo Agrifinance.

Robert Lubben 

Executive Vice President, Senior Program Manager 
Rabo AgriFinance

Robert most recently served from 2006 to 2018 as the Chief Operating Officer of Rabobank’s North American Farm Producer Financing entity, Rabo AgriFinance. In 2018 Robert transitioned to a role focusing on the digital transformation of Rabobank’s rural lending activities, building a new global team, and investment program to support the transition. He currently leads Rabobank’s first ever ag tech partnership with Conservis, a farm management software provider.

Patrick Christie
Founder, Board of Directors
Executive Vice President, Sales & Marketing

Pat has over 25 years of experience taking ideas and building them into something of value. A true entrepreneur, he bypassed the route of traditional higher education, founding his first business at age 20. That company eventually sold to the global data services firm WAM!NET, which won a contract in 2000 to build a connected communications platform for the U.S. Navy. As their EVP, he oversaw an expansion of the company to execute what became a $20 billion project, the largest IT federal program to date. After founding another company to address growing needs in compliance, Pat launched Conservis in 2008 to focus on enterprise sustainability and solve meaningful problems for farmers. His outside-the-box thinking and keen ability to analyze agriculture’s present and its future make him a visionary committed to the success of farmers and the farming industry.

The conference will be held at the Stoney Creek Inn and Conference Center on the banks of the Mississippi River in Moline, Illinois. Click here for more information or to register.

FFSC_ShortFarm Financial Standards Council Conference Comes to North Carolina 

The Farm Financial Standards Council will take a close up and intimate look at some of the influencers affecting the ag industry and ag financial reporting, when it gathers in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina on July 24-26th for its annual conference.  

Click here to go to the FFSC Conference website for more information or to register

FBS Users in the News:

Cancelling the World Pork Expo "Not an Easy Decision"

The last time the World Pork Expo was cancelled was in 2001.  Then Europe was suffering an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease and FBS user Barb Determan served as president of the National Pork Producers Council.  The NPPC Board made the hard call to protect the U.S. pork industry by cancelling the Expo. In an interview in the May 2019 Farm Journal Pork Magazine Barb backs the current Board's decision to cancel the 2019 Expo.  "Personally, I'm sad that World Pork Expo is canceled, it's a time to see many long-time industry friends," says Determan.  "But, boy, it's the right decision."

Q&A: How Often Should I Check for Updates?

Sarah 2019
Sarah Dixon, FBS Support Coordinator

Q.  I just updated my FBS software last Friday but the program is asking me again if I want to check for updates.  Did my software not update last week?

A.  Your software most likely did update successfully last week.  Because of the way Microsoft now  dates files on some computers we've revised our update process:

  1. Some computers are now changing the program file dates when installing from a CD, using the date of the installation instead of the date of the program file on the CD.  This makes it appear that the files on the computer are newer than on the website.
  2. Therefore you can no longer update just the files that appear to be newer on the website than on your computer. 
  3. In response, our programmers are periodically uploading all program files patched since the release and are stamping them with the date they were uploaded; regardless of the date they were created.
  4. While this reduces the risk of "crossing versions," it requires you to download every patch program file each time you update, which may consume a lot of time through slow internet connections.
  5. This issue will be resolved in the Version 11.4 patch process.
  6. You can reduced the "nagging" update reminder by adjusting the Check for Updates period.  My suggestion is 30 days.

Here's an Update Program Files screen.  (Accessible by going to Utilities>Check for Updates.)  Note that even though all the Current files on the computer appear to be newer than the New files on the website the software is properly updated.

Check for updates
Schedule  Demo