Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Monday that $328 million in conservation funding is being invested to help landowners protect and restore key farmlands, grasslands and wetlands across the nation. The funding is provided through the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP), which was created in the 2014 Farm Bill to protect critical wetlands and encourage producers to keep lands in farming …
USDA Predicts Record Corn and Soybean Crops
A little bit more corn and a lot more soybeans compared to last year is what USDA is forecasting in the latest report out today. U.S. soybean producers are expected to produce a record 3.82 billion bushels in 2014, up 16 percent from last year according to the Crop Production report issued today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National …
Foundation for Food and Ag Research Formed
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced the creation of the Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research (FFAR), authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill, and the appointment of a 15-member board of directors. The 15 voting members of the board include a former agriculture secretary, a number of university professors, a representative from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, an executive …
USDA Acreage Report Released
More soybeans and less corn planted this year, according to the USDA planted acreage report released today. USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) is estimating a record high 84.8 million acres of soybeans planted in the United States for 2014, up 11 percent from last year, while corn acreage planted is estimated at 91.6 million acres, down 4 percent from …
USDA Biopreferred Program Grows Biobased Market
The purpose of the USDA BioPreferred® program is to promote the increased purchase and use of biobased products, so program manager Ron Buckhalt was a popular guy at last week’s United Soybean Board Biobased Products Stakeholders Dialogue. “The biopreferred program was created by Congress to help grow the market for biobased products,” said Buckhalt. “The idea being we can use …
USDA’s Big Biobased Picture
The U.S. Department of Agriculture takes a wide angle view of the biobased product picture which encompasses several different segments within the agency. At the USB Biobased Stakeholders Dialogue last week in Washington D.C. we heard from a number of USDA officials about what they are doing to expand biobased opportunities. One panel featured Rural Business Cooperative Service administrator Lilian …
Millennial Views of Biobased and Sustainability
The hostess for the the USB Biobased Products Stakeholders’ Dialogue at George Washington (GW) University this week was the moderator for an important discussion about what the “millennial generation” thinks about biobased and sustainability. University sustainability director Kathleen Merrigan, who is also former deputy ag secretary, invited some current students and recent graduates to be on the panel. “What I …
Elevance Exemplifies Biobased Product Diversity
One of the many biobased product companies represented at the USB Biobased Products Stakeholders’ Dialogue this week was Elevance Renewable Sciences, which produces a wide array of materials from renewable oils like soybeans. “We make products targeted at three broad market industries,” says Andy Shafer, EVP for sales and marketing. “The consumer and industrial space where we make ingredients for …
Past and Present USDA Deputies at USB Event
The current and former Deputy Secretaries of Agriculture were together on Tuesday in Washington DC at the United Soybean Board Biobased Products Stakeholders Dialogue. It is being held at George Washington University where Kathleen Merrigan now serves as Director of Sustainability and she was pleased to host her successor Krysta Harden as keynote speaker at the event. Both Harden and …
ASTA Distinguished Service Awards
Two individuals were honored for their distinguished service to the seed industry at the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) annual meeting last week. June Blalock retired from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service in April of this year, after having served as the technology licensing program coordinator in the ARS Office of Technology Transfer for more than years. …