Trade, taxes, biotechnology, farm policy and government regulations are the main issues of concern to the commodity organizations who make up the Commodity Classic. Leadership of the American Soybean Association (ASA), National Corn Growers Association (NCGA), National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG), and National Sorghum Producers (NSP) all held press conferences Thursday to talk about their top priorities. Under the …
Phoenix Welcomes 2015 Commodity Classic
A record number of farmers and exhibitors from all over the country have descended on Phoenix for the 20th Commodity Classic – the annual event for corn, soybean, wheat and sorghum producers. The massive trade show at the event is the largest ever with 355 booths – a record by a large margin according to the Commodity Classic officials. Attendance …
Policy in Focus at #Classic15
Corn, soybean, wheat and sorghum growers from all over the country are heading to Phoenix this week for the 20th annual Commodity Classic convention and trade show. “Commodity Classic gives us the opportunity not just to celebrate great work, meet with friends and learn about new products and services, it allows growers to get together in one place to shape …
Research to Quantify Cover Crop Benefits
A common theme at last week’s 2015 Soil Health Summit in St. Louis was the need to quantify the benefits for farmers of using cover crops. Purdue University economics professor Dr. Wally Tyner is trying to do just that. “I’ve worked in a lot of different areas in economics and this is the hardest nut to crack,” he said. “Because …
WOTUS Interpretive Rule Withdrawn
The Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have at least ditched part of the WOTUS rule. The Interpretive Rule Regarding the Applicability of Clean Water Act Section related to the proposed Waters of the United States (WOTUS) was officially withdrawn by EPA and the Corps in a memo last Thursday, January 29. Congress requested asked for …
Soil Health Partnership Scientific Advisers
The Soil Health Partnership includes an impressive and distinguished panel of scientific advisers who are happy to be involved in an effort they consider to be critical to the future of the world. Most of those advisers attended the first Soil Health Summit held this week in St. Louis. Dr. Wayne Honeycutt, deputy chief for science and technology with USDA’s …
Soil Health Partnership Holds Summit
The Soil Health Partnership (SHP) was officially launched at last year’s Commodity Classic so it will just be one year old in another month. But Nick Goeser with the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) says the concept had a relatively long gestation period. “The idea for the Soil Health Partnership started in 2011, so within three years we came to …
Ag Reacts to SOTU
A freshman Senator from Red Oak, Iowa brought the Republican response to the president’s State of the Union address last night home to the farm. “As a young girl, I plowed the fields of our family farm,” said Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) during her moment to represent the new Republican majority in the Senate. “We were raised to live simply, …
Corn Growers Welcome New Congress
The National Corn Growers Association spent Tuesday on Capitol Hill this week, welcoming the 114th Congress to Washington and talking up the importance of agriculture to the American economy. “We are here to welcome the new Congress, and to encourage them to work together with one another and the Obama Administration to advance policies that help agriculture and family farmers,” …
Corn Growers Pleased with Chinese Approval for Imports
Syngenta officially announced this week that Chinese regulatory officials have approved for the Agrisure Viptera® trait (event MIR162) formally granting import approval. The approval covers corn grain and processing byproducts, such as dried distillers grains (DDGs). The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) is pleased with the action. “We see this as an encouraging step in what needs to be an …