The National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center (NCERC) is relatively new to Commodity Classic with this being their third year. You could tell when you talked with John Caupert, the director of NCERC, how excited he was to be there so I asked him why.
“There’s energy, there’s enthusiasm back around around ethanol and biofuels. Some people believe that corn ethanol is an old technology. We believe just the opposite. We feel the corn ethanol industry is still in its infancy and through technological advancements, there’s much more to learn and prove in corn ethanol production.”
Caupert explained that the NCERC is unique in that they bring together the ethanol industry, corn growers and livestock producers and one of their goals is to ensure that there is a long-term market for corn growers through the corn ethanol.
Recently, they have spent a lot of time reviewing data regarding how the value of how co-products improve the greenhouse gas footprint of fuel ethanol production. “I think more often than not, we forget about the fact a corn ethanol plant in addition to producing fuel ethanol, also produces this high value livestock feed called distillers grains,” said Caupert.
Caupert noted that although they don’t often work directly with farmers, they work closely with both the National Corn Growers Association as well as state corn groups.
I only touched on the work that NCERC is doing. You can hear more about their research by listening to my interview with John below.
A recent focus of Bill Hendrix, the Biology Team Leader, Insect Management Traits & Seeds Treatments for Dow AgroSciences, is developing the new SmartStax technology for corn with Monsanto. I spoke with Hendrix about the new SmartStax traits in more detail during Commodity Classic.
The SmartStax technology brings eight traits in a package of corn. It received registration in 2009 and is now available for the 2010 growing season. I asked Hendrix how this new technology benefited farmers.
“It’s a benefit to growers because it offers the broadest spectrum. It will bring the best of both the Herculex trait as well as the Yield Guard traits. So it’s got double modes of action, above ground and below ground. Plus, it has Liberty, Link and Roundup Ready herbicide traits,” answered Hendrix.
According to Hendrix, another major benefit for the farmer is that because of the resistance management protection and the extra modes of action, the EPA has granted a reduced refuge from 20 percent traditionally, to 5 percent.
Hendrix added that no matter where the farmer is in the country, the traits will bring them protection.”
You can get more information here as well as by listening to my interview with Bill below.
Commodity Classic was full of new products and technologies and two new product lines have come from the Channel Brand. The Channel Brand is under the Channel Bio company (launched in September 2009) which is a Monsanto company.
I spoke with Stacy Markovich, Channel Brand Manager about Channel Bio and the new Channel Brand products. “Our mission is to serve as the American farmers most trusted source for seed, and Channel is one of the largest seed companies in the United States,” said Markovich.
The company’s primary products are corn and soybean but they also have alfalfa and sorghum. This year, they have a new corn lineup with 18 new products including six Channel Brand Genuity SmartStax products. On the soybean side, they have 24 new products including 20 Channel Brand Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield products.
Also in the Monsanto pipeline are products that will address drought, drought tolerance and water utilization needs. Click here to learn more about the Channel Brand products.
I had a chance to spend some time with Gail Stratman, the Midwest Technical Sales Lead for FMC, during Commodity Classic and I learned two things. First that Cadet and Authority Assist are big sellers, selling out the past two years, and second, why both products work so well.
Cadet is a post emergence herbicide that was introduced about two years ago for corn and soybeans. “It’s a very good product for growers using Roundup Ready or glyphosate tolerant crops, that are looking for an additional herbicide to put with their glyphosate to help control those weeds they may be experiencing some trouble controlling with straight glyphosate,” explained Stratman.
Some of the weeds that are controlled using Cadet (and Authority Assist) are velvet leaf, water hemp, morning glory, and lambs quarters. Stratman noted that it’s a unique product in that it has a very broad spectrum of weed control and it’s labeled for use at the same rates for corn and soybeans so if a grower has both crops, you don’t have to worry about spray drift.
Authority Assist is a pre-emergence herbicide for soybeans used to control early season weeds. The product limits weed competition, which researchers have found to be as important in soybeans as in corn, and helps to improve yields.
As Project Liberty gets closer every day to completion (The POET project is set to be online no later than 2012), farm equipment manufactures, such as Vermeer, are developing corn cob harvesting technology. During Commodity Classic, I caught up with Jay Van Roekel, the product manager for Vermeer’s Ag Division to learn more about their biomass technologies.
Van Roekel explained that they have a current hay tool line that is a big help in collecting round bales of switchgrass or corn stover. In addition, their latest and most focused is their corn cob collector, the CCX770. Vermeer has been working on this technology full steam ahead for two years but bought the patent from a farmer in Nebraska who had been working on the technology for 10 years.
Here’s how it works. You hook the CCX770 behind a Class 7 or greater combine. Then the machine catches all the materials coming out of the back of the combine and then it sorts out the cobs from the other residue and then the leaves and husks are blown back onto the soil and just the corn cobs are left.
This is a one-pass system but Van Roekel said the farmer will still need to add to his system a way to transport the cobs to storage. The CCX770 is currently available for purchase or lease and you can get more info by clicking here.
You can listen to my full interview with Jay below.
This year, the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) will launch an image and activism campaign to reinforce the importance of agriculture, according to NCGA President, Darrin Ihnen during a press conference at Commodity Classic. While many people are still confused about food versus fuel, an issue perpetuated by media around the world, and the debate continues around international indirect land use change, it’s time to set the record straight. Ihnen noted that a few simple facts can take care of both of these issues. This year, corn farmers harvested 13.2 billion bushels of corn, or 165.2 bushels per acre, on 7 million less acres than in 2007 when the harvest was nearly identical.
In an effort to curb misinformation and ensure effective policy is put into place, corn growers around the country have been getting involved. One great example is the outpouring of comments around indirect land use, E15 and the RFS2.
“We’re proud of the tens of thousands of farmers who commented to the EPA on that subject (E15). In fact, this is a perfect example of how we’ve seen a resurgence of activism on the part of American agriculture and we’ve held numerous discussions with our allies around the world on this,” said Ihnen.
He continued, “That’s why this year we’re launching an unprecedented image and activism campaign to do two things. First, we will aggressively reinforce the importance and positive image most Americans have with farmers and the products they grow. Second, we will create a more united and vocal army of farmers and their friends who can speak out against the myths and misinformation that we see so often.”
The Corn Farmers Coalition will focus its efforts in the beltway and the activism/grassroots campaign will focus on Americans around the country. Ihnen stressed that the campaign will be more successful the more people are involved and said in closing, “We’re excited about this challenge and invite all interested parties to join us.”
You can listen to Darrin’s full comments about the campaign below.
The U.S. Grains Council (USGC ) made a significant announcement during a press conference at Commodity Classic last week with the announcement of key speakers for the upcoming Global Food Security Symposium, which is sponsored by the organization. USGC Chairman Rick Fruth confirmed that U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack is expected to deliver the keynote address at the symposium, scheduled for April 7, 2010, in Tokyo, Japan. This announcement came shortly after the Global Food Security Symposium was formally introduced in Tokyo by USGC President and CEO Thomas C. Dorr and U.S. Ambassador to Japan John V. Roos.
The Symposium will gather U.S. and Japanese government, agribusiness and biotechnology leaders for a first-ever, day-long examination of how international cooperation, policy and technology can be used to feed a burgeoning world population. More specifically, Fruth said, “The key points of discussion will be, how to leverage biotechnology and other emerging technologies to improve the quality of life and global economy, how the world’s economic powers can harness these technologies for the benefits of developing countries around the world and how can we build upon this these past successes to increase food security around the world.”
Fruth also noted that sustainability and biotechnology are an inherent part of this symposium as you can’t have global food security without using biotechnology or develop new technologies that are not sustainable.
The Symposium is part of the “Partners in Agriculture” series of events being held throughout Japan from March through May of 2010. The “Partners in Agriculture” events celebrate the successful, enduring agricultural trade partnership between the United States and Japan. This event goes hand-in-hand with the mission of USGC which is to develop overseas markets for U.S. corn, barley and sorghum and enbable trade around the world for these commodities.
Can you define sustainability? Neither can I. But that was the first task of the panel discussion of commodity group leaders this morning at Commodity Classic. Moderated by Mark Mayfield, the panel discussed what sustainability means to them. Panelists included: Darrin Ihnen, President, NCGA, Rob Joslin, President, ASA, Karl Scronce, President, NAWG and Gerald Simonsen, Chairman, NSP.
You’ll hear the panel says what sustainability isn’t and provide some good reasons why farmers are very much involved with this issue.
You can listen to the commodity group leaders with Mark below.
South Dakota Corn Grower, Darrin Ihnen, President of the National Corn Growers Association, took the general session stage this morning with session moderator Mark Mayfield.
Mark had a list of questions for each of the commodity group leaders. With Darrin he started out talking about ethanol. Darrin talked about what the corn growers are doing in this area including pushing for higher blends in the fuel supply. All indications are that this is progressing in a positive way with the science looking good. He says they’re hoping for action by the end of this summer.
Joining the ranks of the Farm Podcasters is Cathryn Wojcicki Dixson, NCGA Communications Manager. I met Cathryn here at Commodity Classic and talked with her about her job and the new audio program she’s producing for NCGA.
The program is called “Off The Cob.”
Welcome to “Off the Cob”, an original podcast series produced by the National Corn Growers Association. This series features interviews with grower-leaders on hot topics in agriculture and will expand media options for those wishing to further their knowledge of the industry.
Cathryn works on NCGA editorial content like their publications and now the podcast series. It’s her first time for creating an audio podcast series which will be produced once a week. She says it’s one element of their social media emphasis to communicate which really ties in to their organizational grass roots culture.
You can listen to my interview with Cathryn below.
AgWired coverage of the 2010 Commodity Classic
is sponsored by: and
We are getting ready to head out to Anaheim next week for the 2010 Commodity Classic and I got in the mood this week by attending the Missouri Corn Growers Association annual meeting in Jefferson City where I interviewed two of the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) leaders. On the left is Mike Geske, former president of the Missouri Corn Growers now serving on the 15-member National Corn Board, and on the right is NCGA president Darrin Ihnen of South Dakota. Darrin was guest speaker at the Missouri Corn Growers luncheon and he helped to get the farmers fired up to go and talk to their lawmakers at the state capitol about important issues that could ultimately threaten their livelihood.
One of those issues is a threat posed by the Humane Society of the United States. Our buddies at HSUS are working up a petition drive in Missouri directed at dog breeders – lumping them all in the unsavory category of “puppy mills” – kind of like they lump all of agriculture under “factory farming.” Mike says that is why all agriculture groups in the state are working to keep legislators informed about how food is produced and the importance of the industry to Missouri. “We feel that once they get past the dog breeders they are going to be headed for commercial agriculture,” he told me.
Darrin says the threat posed to animal agriculture in individual states by groups like HSUS ultimately impacts all of agriculture across the country. “It’s very important that we help defend them,” Darrin says. “We can’t be separated when it comes to agriculture. We need to work together.”
This is just one of many important policy issues that corn growers will discuss at Classic next week, the annual meeting that also includes soybean, wheat and sorghum producers. Others include the indirect land use issue, climate legislation, increasing the ethanol blend rate and extending the blender’s tax credit for ethanol. Watch for our coverage from Commodity Classic next week sponsored by BASF and New Holland.
Listen to or download back to back interviews with Darrin and Mike here:
According to BASF, contest winner David Hula, of Renwood Farms in Charles City, Virginia said Headline really helps him with plant health. “In the Eastern United States, we’re very concerned with storm season, so we like our plants to have better stalk strength and standability. Headline has helped us achieve better plant health through each phase of the plant’s life, and, of course, that translates into higher yield.”
The new watchdog project on the tail of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is really showing a bite that matches its bark.
The Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) just launched HumaneWatch.org earlier this week to expose the agenda and activities of HSUS. It includes a sharp-toothed blog written by CCF’s Director of Research David Martosko, as well as a document library and database tracking the organizations related to the HSUS financial empire. They also have a Facebook page with nearly 2,000 fans so far this week. You can tell it’s already ruffling some feathers.
Speaking of ruffled feathers, it appears the backlash against [yellow tail] wine for its donation to HSUS finally hit the mark. John Casella, managing director of Yellow Tail’s parent company Casella Wines, gave a statement to ABC News this week that said the company will only make contributions to animal groups “without lobbying interests” in the future.
Mr. Casella says he never anticipated any negative criticism of the donation and the intention of the partnership with the HSUS was to celebrate and save animals.
“Being farmers ourselves, we acknowledge those who care for their land and their environment, just as we do,” he said. “We are proud of our rural heritage and value a solid relationship with agricultural communities around the world.”
The company also sent a letter today to the American Agriculture Alliance seeking to mend fences with farmers and ranchers. Meanwhile, Yellow Tail has also apparently taken down all the negative comments about the donation on their Facebook page, but there are still some great videos out there expressing discontent. Check out this one that really hits the mark, produced by Nebraska corn growers.
The new U.S. Grains Council senior vice president of operations and industry relations is Keith Heffernan, pictured in the middle here. He was chief of staff for the Farm Credit Administration. Keith was also the first executive director for the Iowa Corn Growers Association; director of public affairs for the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation; assistant director for the Center of Agricultural and Rural Development at Iowa State University; and chief of staff for USDA’s Rural Development. In other words, he’s got a lot of qualifications to work in this new position.
I spoke with Keith here at the International Marketing Conference. He says participation is good and there’s a lot of excitement about exports. Looking forward he says there will be more attention and need for attention on exports.
We’re going to be broadcasting the final general session from the U.S. Grains Council Marketing Conference.
Post Update We were live. Now we’re recorded.
The Chairman for the U.S. Grains Council is Rick Fruth. Rich took the stage today to speak to attendees of the International Marketing Conference and Membership Meeting. I have recorded his comments for you in video and audio. I also spoke with him during a break to see what he considers the challenges and opportunities for the U.S. Grains Council.
You can watch or listen to Rick’s comments here:
You can also download (mp3) and listen to Ricks’s remarks here:
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You can also download (mp3) and listen to an interview I conducted with Rick here:
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One of the founding members of the U.S. Grains Council is the National Corn Growers Association. Attending the USGC International Marketing Conference is NCGA CEO Rick Tolman, seen here addressing one of the meetings.
Rick, who worked for USGC for many years, says that NCGA considers the Grains Council their international trade partner. The two organizations have a very strong working relationship. He says one of the things he’s really happy to hear discussed here at this meeting is how well exports of DDGS have been due to the efforts of the Grains Council. That’s good news for corn growers for whom the production of ethanol is so important right now. He says that the Grains Council is looking at other value added products they can promote for export too.
We’re celebrating 50 years at the U.S. Grains Council. I’m in Puerto Vallarta for the 7th USGC International Marketing Conference and 50th Annual Membership Meeting. Tomorrow morning I’ll be going AgWired Live TV with the opening general session starting at 8am, central. So tune if you’d like. I’ll also be recording the session too. If you’re an ag journalist please feel free to utilize any of the pics or audio I’ll be posting over the next several days here and on The Grain Board.
So we’ve got AgWired On The Beach which sounds like a very good adult beverage. Actually it really is AgWired on the Beach. I was sweating and swatting mosquitos while it’s supposed to be snowing at home. It’s a tough job but . . .
To give us a preview of what this conference is all about and what the issues are I spoke with USGC CEO and President, Tom Dorr. He had been in meetings all day today but still looked fresh and ready to go. He says that this is a combined membership meeting and meeting to create their Unified Export Strategy. They bring all their country directors in along with their advisory teams and delegate members. They analyze market opportunities and challenges and put it all together into a report for the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service which helps facilitate their ability to do international market development work. In my interview with Tom you’ll hear him point out some of the challenges in the current international marketplace.
The training program examines the three pillars of Plant Health—disease control, stress tolerance and growth efficiency—and how Headline fungicide can best affect the most important aspects of growing a healthy plant.
The audio-visual presentation also examines the science behind Headline fungicide and includes trivia questions, statistical information, visual evidence and user testimonials.
I’m sure we will find out more about this new program for growers at the upcoming Commodity Classic in Anaheim, March 4-6. Coverage of Classic on Agwired will be once again sponsored in part by BASF.
Dr. Ron Heiniger with North Carolina State University is an expert in corn. For many years, he has been researching how to increase corn yields and some of the research he has done in his test plots are showing promising results – 300+ bushels per acre results. To put this number in perspective, the average bushel per acre yield for his area is between 120-125. “Our goal is to try to explore yield levels. The idea is yield equals profit,” said Dr. Heiniger. These results were unveiled during his presentation as part of StollerUSA’s Ag Associates Conference.
In order to achieve higher yields, Dr. Heiniger said that first he and his team knew that they needed to address stress as well as find ways to get their plants more productive. As a result, he said, “We learned what some of the key factors are such as plant population, intercept more light, and doing something for stress.” He continued that early growth roots become very critical as well as finding ways to combat heat and other stresses.
I asked him why root growth was so important and he told me that a stronger, larger root mass helps the plant combat stress as well as absorb nutrients more effectively. However, there are limited ways to do this including early fertilization and some products like Bio-Forge to help hormone stimulation and to get more root tips growing as well as get longer roots. He stressed that better root growth and getting a better way to intercept water is crucial. Especially since his area can be hot and dry for most of the growing season.
His research has looked at many ways to improve root health including when applications are most successful. He said they’ve looked at applying the treatments to seed, in-furrow, as a two-by-two band and even at different stages of the plant life. Although he is not ready to endorse which way is best, he stressed that what they have unequivocally discovered is that the treatments need to be applied as early as possible, meaning within the first few weeks of planting. “That really changes the game right off the bat.”
I asked him what he would recommend to growers to help them improve yield and he said first, in-furrow applications and second, if that is not an option, a seed application. He concluded by saying that, “Growers have a great opportunity to use some new innovative products.”
To learn more about his research, listen to my full interview with Dr. Heiniger or click here.
After a detailed analysis, the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) has come out in opposition to the House version of the American Clean Energy and Security Act HR 2454, better known “cap and trade” legislation.
“Since the passage of this bill by the U.S. House of Representatives in June 2009, the National Corn Growers Association has maintained a neutral position on the legislation pending further review,” said NCGA President Darrin Ihnen. “Although our neutrality has often put us at odds with the majority of other mainstream agricultural groups, we believe it was critical to remain engaged with lawmakers while the economic impacts were analyzed.”
NCGA retained Informa Economics to analyze those impacts and as a result of this study, “NCGA has no choice but to oppose H.R. 2454. The results of the Informa study indicates that every corn grower in the country will experience increased costs of production resulting from H.R. 2454. In the early years of this legislation, these higher production costs will be relatively minor. However, over time these prices will significantly increase, placing an unnecessary burden on growers.”
NCGA, along with other agricultural organizations, is sending a letter to Congress supporting a “disapproval resolution” in the Senate, sponsored by U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), that would stop EPA from promulgating rules to regulate greenhouse gases.
Listen to a press conference about the NCGA announcement this morning.
Commodity Classic took place in Anaheim, CA. You'll find all of Chuck, Cindy and Joanna's photos here.
Exposing HSUS
If you're involved in agriculture then you should become familiar with HumaneWatch.org.
HumaneWatch.org is the work of David Martosko and in this week's program you get to meet him via my phone conversation with him. He's compiling a great online library of information on this group.
The National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center (NCERC) is relatively new to Commodity Classic with this being their third year. You could tell when you talked with John Caupert, the director of NCERC, how excited he was to be there so I asked him why. 
and 
Can you define sustainability? Neither can I. But that was the first task of the panel discussion of commodity group leaders this morning at Commodity Classic. Moderated by Mark Mayfield, the panel discussed what sustainability means to them. Panelists included: Darrin Ihnen, President, NCGA, Rob Joslin, President, ASA, Karl Scronce, President, NAWG and Gerald Simonsen, Chairman, NSP.
South Dakota Corn Grower, Darrin Ihnen, President of the 
Joining the ranks of the Farm Podcasters is Cathryn Wojcicki Dixson, 
We are getting ready to head out to Anaheim next week for the 2010 
The Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) just launched 
The new U.S. Grains Council senior vice president of operations and industry relations is Keith Heffernan, pictured in the middle here. He was chief of staff for the Farm Credit Administration. Keith was also the first executive director for the Iowa Corn Growers Association; director of public affairs for the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation; assistant director for the Center of Agricultural and Rural Development at Iowa State University; and chief of staff for USDA’s Rural Development. In other words, he’s got a lot of qualifications to work in this new position.
One of the founding members of the U.S. Grains Council is the National Corn Growers Association. Attending the USGC International Marketing Conference is NCGA CEO Rick Tolman, seen here addressing one of the meetings.
We’re celebrating 50 years at the U.S. Grains Council. I’m in Puerto Vallarta for the 7th USGC International Marketing Conference and 50th Annual Membership Meeting. Tomorrow morning I’ll be going 
“Since the passage of this bill by the U.S. House of Representatives in June 2009, the National Corn Growers Association has maintained a neutral position on the legislation pending further review,” said NCGA President Darrin Ihnen. “Although our neutrality has often put us at odds with the majority of other mainstream agricultural groups, we believe it was critical to remain engaged with lawmakers while the economic impacts were analyzed.”
If you're involved in agriculture then you should become familiar with HumaneWatch.org.
