Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue has been traveling Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy this week to engage with his counterparts on important issues facing agriculture at home and abroad. The Secretary, along with Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Ted McKinney has been participating in events with government officials and agricultural leaders. As President Trump was preparing to …
Legal Diligence Important for Hemp Farmers
Farmers looking to experiment with industrial hemp production have a lot of legal factors to consider, according to Joel Cape of Cape Law Firm. “The thing that has caught my attention is aside from the fact that this is a brand new industry – the production practices are brand new – there are a lot of unknowns,” said Cape, who …
New Biodiesel Board Chair Optimistic for 2020
Renewable Energy Group (REG) CFO Chad Stone was recently elected as the new chairman for the National Biodiesel Board and last week he addressed the membership at the National Biodiesel Conference in Tampa. While 2019 was a disastrous year for the industry, which saw REG having to shut down a plant, Stone is very optimistic about biodiesel going forward. “For …
FMC Grows Presence in Fruit, Vegetable Market
Since the 2017 acquisition of DuPont assets brought the diamide chemistry over to FMC, the company has continued to increase its presence in the fruit and vegetable market. “We’ve been in this market, but not to the substantial efforts we have today,” said Bubba Stripling with FMC. “And with the pipeline that’s coming we’re looking for tree, fruit and vegetable …
Closing the Crop Protection Gap in Hemp
Certis USA was an event sponsor at the 2020 Heart of America Agricultural Hemp Classic in Independence, Mo. “We find that this group of people – leaders in agriculture and in the hemp industry – are really at the forefront, and Certis is excited to be leaders in the industry for farmers, for people coming in as well as for …
Students Learning More About Hemp Industry
The co-founder of Missouri Students for Hemp Education and Research is helping other students to network within the industry and learn more about hemp production and policy. “Hemp is one of those things where you can’t just see it as a drug. There are a lot of other industrial benefits to it, too, and that’s always fascinated me on how …
Alltech Global Feed Survey Reveals Production Decline
Dr. Mark Lyons, President/CEO, Alltech held a public livestream this morning to share results of the company’s latest global feed survey. You can find more information and watch the recorded presentation here. You can also listen to the presentation below. Panelists with him included: Jack Bobo, CEO, Futurity, USA Bianca Martins, General Manager, Alltech, Mexico Matthew Smith, Vice President, Alltech, …
New BASF Insecticide Performs on Vegetables
BASF offers a wide portfolio of fungicides for use in fruits and vegetables, but it was a new insecticide getting the attention of growers at the 2020 Southeast Regional Fruit and Vegetable Conference in Savannah, Ga. Sefina is the new product offering white fly and aphid control, according to Joe Mitchell, BASF technical service representative for Florida and South Texas. …
Hemp Farmer Now Processing, Bottling Local Oil
What began as an opportunity to diversify a traditional row crop operation by growing hemp has been a learning experience and much more for Luke Poindexter and Poindexter Family Farms. “We are traditional row croppers. We have lots of machines that do most of the work. This was quite different. A lot more manual labor. A lot more walking your …
Conference Provides Valuable Education, Interaction
The annual Southeast Regional Fruit and Vegetable Conference is an opportunity for companies like Crosby Equipment to gain some knowledge and interact with customers. “The biggest value for our company to exhibit here is just it’s a little more local,” said Jay Crosby, who was showcasing Oxbo blueberry harvesters at the 2020 event. “We see a lot of our customer …