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.
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National Association of Wheat Growers President, Karl Scronce had his turn with Mark Mayfield on stage here at Commodity Classic.
Exports and trade was the first subject to come up in the interview. Karl says exports are vitally important and the U.S. is the biggest exporter in the world. He says trade has been very sporadic depending on the time and country you’re talking about. There are a number of trade agreements in the works that could be very important in the future.
You can listen to Karl and Mark below.
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Fifteen years ago, StollerUSA opened up an office in Australia, and today Stoller Australia has demonstrated that they have many products that are beneficial for Australian growers. I caught up with Richard Emery, who runs this division during the Ag Associates Conference. He began by telling me that the country has a diverse range of crops including wheat and cotton, mangoes and table grapes, citrus, vegetables, and more.
One of the country’s biggest challenges is water scarcity – the country has been in a drought for nearly 10 years. Emery told me that the drought has flown down through many of the crops and water has become a very scarce commodity and has become one of the company’s biggest challenges.
However, Stoller has some products that help growers address some of these challenges including Root Feed. “For example, Root Feed has become very popular because it builds the root system of the tree or plant. So it actually makes it a more durable plant and able to overcome some of these stress periods,” explained Emery. “And also the development of the product Bio-Forge has been very timely because we’re now using it after a drought stress or heat wave. Afterwards, we apply Bio-Forge and we get a much quicker recovery of the plant.”
Bio-Forge can be used universally, whereas Root Feed, Emery notes, is limited to where there is a good fertigation system.
The importance of root systems is very new to growers in Australia and Emery says that his team spends a good amount of time educating the grower about the importance of strong, healthy roots. Emery concluded, “The roots are the brains of the the plant. So they need to be doing everything they can to have a robust, continually growing root system under their crop.”
Listen to my interview with Richard below.
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U.S. Wheat Associates wishes us all a little bit of peace and prosperity. I could use some couldn’t you?
Registration is officially open for the 2010 Commodity Classic in Anaheim, California and you better register soon because it will fill up fast.
This will be the 15th annual Commodity Classic for soybean, corn, wheat and sorghum growers and their families, to be held March 4-6 right next to Disneyland. The theme for 2010 is “Cruising to Success.”
Growers who attend the 2010 Commodity Classic are sure to benefit from the value of attending a trade show with nearly 800 booths representing the equipment, technology, products and services of today’s leading agricultural businesses and organizations.
“As a grower, attending Commodity Classic is a smart business decision,” said Commodity Classic Co-Chair Dennis Bogaards. “Producers will find many opportunities to learn about new products and technologies, as well as methods for improving productivity on their farms.”
Emcee of Commodity Classic’s General Session, Mark Mayfield, better known as “The Corporate Comedian,” will intrigue and entertain attendees with his hilarious presentation style. They will also hear what is on the minds of commodity group presidents and learn more about the facts and fiction facing today’s farmers from economist and futurist Dr. Jay Lehr. Because Lehr’s forecasts are based on in-depth knowledge of U.S. farm, energy and environmental legislation, as well as international farm support programs, he brings informed insight to identifying future risks and opportunities facing American agriculture.
The Wheat Foods Council has launched an interactive website called How Wheat Works. It’s purpose is to deliver a farm-to-fork education on wheat while enabling a better understanding of its nutritional value.
At www.howwheatworks.com, participants of all ages can virtually grow, harvest and mill their own kernels to create their desired wheat food. For each participant, the Council will donate two pounds of flour, up to 90,000 pounds, to Operation Homefront, a non-profit that provides assistance to needy U.S. troops and their families.
“How Wheat Works is an exciting educational opportunity to take wheat kernels from farm to fork in a virtual world, while providing wheat flour, which holds endless meal possibilities, for needy U.S. troops and their families,” said Carol Pratt, M.S., R.D., Wheat Foods Council nutrition expert. “This unique mixture of subjects like agriculture, milling, baking and nutrition allows people to better understand wheat’s role in a healthy diet.”
How Wheat Works combines 3-D animation, still photography, video and factual information to chronicle wheat’s path from field to table. Each of the program’s four phases – growth, harvest, milling/baking and the grocer’s aisle – takes just a few minutes to complete, while the program spans the course of four days. Interactive opportunities include the selection of the type of wheat to be grown and wheat flour to be milled, based on the participant’s preferred wheat food creation.
Steve Mercer, U.S. Wheat Associates, Inc., says, “We’re posting photos from the Wheat Leaders Team now traveling in Colombia, Peru, and Mexico on our Flickr site.” He’s right.
Here’s one of them captioned:
Wheat Leaders at Pastas Doria, Bogata, Colombia, with Supply Chain Manager Guillermo Botero.
Great use of Flickr to “photo-blog” a trip. Find all the photos in their event set.
The Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) has named Daren Coppock as the organization’s new President and CEO, replacing Jack Eberspacher who passed away in July after a brief battle with cancer.
Coppock is an experienced association leader with deep ties to the agricultural community having been raised on a farm in Oregon and serving as an advocate for production agriculture for the past decade. He joins ARA from the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) where he served as the organization’s CEO since July of 2001.
“I look forward to joining the team at ARA as we tackle some important agricultural challenges on behalf of agricultural retailers,” said Coppock. “I’m impressed by the leadership of the organization and eager to get out and meet some of the members in the coming months.”
Beginning on November 1, Daren Coppock will begin transitioning from his current position with NAWG to ARA and will be working full time for ARA by January 1, 2010.
Plant disease experts at the American Phytopathological Society annual meeting are preparing to potentially do battle with a new strain of wheat stem rust.
Washington State University plant pathologist Tim Murray says wheat stem rust has been in the United States since the early 1900s but this new strain could pose new problems. “The Ug99 strain is a new strain of this fungus that emerged in Africa in 1999,” he said. “That fungus has since spread in West Africa and there is concern in the United States that if it eventually gets here it could cause problems.” Over 80 percent of the wheat varieties currently grown globally are susceptible to the disease.
Scientists in the U.S. are working together coordinating a surveillance program to watch for the fungus, similar to the Asian soybean rust program. “It’s very similar to Asian soybean rust with the rusty red color on the plants and both spread by aerial spores,” Tim said.
No time frame for when, or if, the fungus could arrive in the U.S., but Tim says they are working on a recovery plan and they are investigating which fungicide will be most effective on it. “There are materials registered now that can be used,” he said.
Listen or download to an interview with Tim Murray here:
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U.S. Wheat Associates welcomed Shawn Campbell as the new Assistant Director, West Coast Office, Portland, OR, July 6, 2009.
USW’s West Coast Office staff maintains a liaison with the grain export trade and constituent state wheat commissions, hosts visiting foreign trade delegations, leads the USW crop quality improvement efforts, and serves the needs of USW offices around the world.
While at the University of Idaho, Campbell received undergraduate degrees in agribusiness and agricultural systems management and a master’s degree in agricultural economics. He also participated in the University of Idaho’s College of Agriculture Tour of Taiwan in 2007 and interned for Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company in Puunene, HI. His professional experience working as an agricultural economist for a cattle feedlot in Alberta, Canada, and growing up on a ranch in Condon, OR, also speak to Campbell’s knowledge of the many stages of agriculture that he will apply in his new position.
For Norman Borlaug’s 95th birthday today, Monsanto has created a $10 million grant to establish the Beachell-Borlaug International Scholars Program, which will “help identify and support young scientists interested in improving research and production in rice and wheat, two of the world’s most important staple crops, through plant breeding techniques.”
Monsanto is funding the program, which will be administered by Texas AgriLife Research, an agency of the Texas A&M University System, for the next five years. The program honors the accomplishments of Dr. Henry Beachell and Dr. Norman Borlaug, who pioneered plant breeding and research in rice and wheat, respectively.
Applications will be reviewed by an independent panel of global judges chaired by Program Director Dr. Ed Runge, who is also a professor and Billie B. Turner Chair in Production Agronomy (Emeritus) within the Soil and Crop Sciences Department, Texas A&M University at College Station.
Students interested in applying to the program can find more details at www.monsanto.com/mbbischolars. Applications will be accepted until May 31.
Announcement of the first year’s winners is planned to correspond with the World Food Prize held in Des Moines, Iowa, on October 15, 2009.
Everyone at Commodity Classic this year seemed to be impressed that attendance was as good or better than ever, despite the economy.
“As I understand it, we are either right at the record or over it, so that is phenomenal,” said National Corn Growers Association CEO Rick Tolman. Unofficial numbers I heard were about 4500 total registration with 1500 of those actual corn, soybean, wheat and sorghum farmers.
Rick says he was pleased to see the producer organizations for four different commodities coming together for the first time under one banner. “We’re too small in agriculture to be fighting among our selves,” Rick said. “Things like Commodity Classic bring us together and help us realize how much we have in common.”
Concerns about potential changes to the 2008 Farm Bill surfaced at Commodity Classic this week, as the Obama administration unveiled its budget proposal which calls for cuts in farm program spending. “The farm bill is a five year program and we just went through a whole two years of discussions to get that done and finally we get it signed and it hasn’t even been implemented yet and they’re talking about changing it,” Tolman said. “That’s a principal I think is wrong.”
Listen to an interview with Rick here:
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With global demand for wheat up to more than 25 billion bushels, proper disease management in wheat and cereals is more important than ever and that was a hot topic at the 2009 Commodity Classic in Texas this week.
BASF hosted a panel at the conference to examine how today’s technology can help manage disease in wheat and cereals to meet the growing global demand for grain. The panel featured analyst Arlan Suderman of Farm Futures Daily, who set the stage by summarizing the global view for wheat production and demand, noting that production did exceed demand last year for the first time in several years, but demand also increased, so stocks remain tight.
“Rebuilding stocks is difficult due to wide yield variability caused by weather and disease,” Suderman said. “Greater yield stability and productivity will be essential for meeting the world’s food and feed needs over the next five years.”
Listen to Suderman’s comments here:
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Download Suderman’s comments with this link – Arlen Suderman
After Suderman’s comments, BASF technical experts on plant disease, Drs. Gary Fellows and Gary Schmitz, talked about how BASF products can help increase global production of wheat and other cereal grains by controlling the most aggressive diseases that affect those crops.
“Preventing disease right from the beginning is important to get seedlings off to a healthy start,” Dr. Schmitz said. “As the plant matures, disease pressure increases, so it’s critical to continue protecting the plant throughout its lifecycle.”
BASF’s product portfolio for wheat includes Charter® and Stamina™ fungicide seed treatments, Headline®, TwinLine™ and Caramba™ fungicides.
2009 Commodity Classic photo album
BASF at Commodity Classic photo album.
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The farm economy is apparently not hurting as much as other sectors, since attendance at the 2009 Commodity Classic is expected to be as good or better than last year. According to the conference organizers, pre-registrations by the end of last week were virtually the same as last year, although the number of farmers registered was already higher.
Now, that could be because we have a new commodity added to the mix this year – for the first time the producer organizations representing corn, soybeans, wheat and sorghum are all meeting together under one roof.
I would also note that media attendance is very strong. Over 100 media were pre-registered for the conference and I have seen pretty much everyone I know in the industry already.
Lots of meetings and sessions are already happening, the trade show opens this afternoon and the general session is tomorrow morning.
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After a long history of futures and options open outcry trading, the Minneapolis Grain Exchange is closing its trading pits effective December 19, 2008. The decision to make the transition to exclusively electronic trading was unanimously approved by the MGEX Board of Directors and is pending MGEX ownership approval.
According to a MGEX release, the decision comes after an exhaustive study done by MGEX Management at the request of the Board of Directors. “Over the past 12 months there has been a dramatic trend away from open outcry and towards electronic trading witnessed by all U.S. exchanges, including MGEX,” said MGEX CEO Mark Bagan. He agreed that the transition was “inevitable” during a press conference with reporters today.
“Our customers who use the exchange for risk management purposes will still have the ability to still execute those trades,” Bagan said. “This was not a financial decision, as much as it was how do we grow our marketplace here in Minneapolis.”
MGEX Management will work closely with all members of the trading floor community to ensure an effective transition for all affected parties. The Exchange will implement a fee waiver program for floor traders who trade for their own account. In addition, a liquidity provider program and market maker program are being introduced. These initiatives are designed to help facilitate the change in venues and build market participation.
Listen to a press conference this afternoon with Mark Bagan, President & CEO, MGEX.
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Three commodity organization representatives attempted to answer the question on everyone’s mind right now regarding commodity trends – where are we headed?
Steve Censky of the American Soybean Association, Fred Stemme with the National Corn Growers Association and Alan Tracy of US Wheat Associates all made presentations and took questions from the audience at the Association of Equipment Manufacturers AgExecutive Forum last week in St. Louis.
Steve noted the importance of biotechnology in the soybean industry and the increase in global demand for soybeans. “Global demand since 1990 for soybeans has been rising at 2x that of corn and almost 4x that of wheat or rice,” Steve said. “That is because people around the world have been improving their diets, which means more oil in the diet and more meat, which is good for the soybean industry.”
Fred started off his presentation with a flawless report on closing futures prices – sounded as good or better than any farm broadcaster I know – making bad news sound good! His presentation focused on the increase in corn yields since 1944, which can allow them to meet the feed, food and fuel needs of the world. “Who would have imagined 60 years ago that today we could produce on the same number of acres, 85 million acres, nearly four fold the size of crop,” Fred noted. “We went from about 3 billion bushels to 13 billion bushels last year.”
There was a bit of good-natured competition between the three. Alan pointed out that wheat may be losing acres to corn and beans, but he likes to remind his two colleagues that “mine is the only product that is mentioned in the Lord’s Prayer.” He noted the increase in wheat production in the Black Sea area, such as Ukraine, and he showed a graph comparing the similarities in weather between that region and the Midwest, suggesting that we “teach the Russians to grow corn and soybeans.”
Lots of good stuff in their presentations, which you can listen to here:
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I also interviewed Fred and Alan – listen to them here:
Fred Stemme
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Alan Tracy
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View and download photos from the AEM AgExecutive Forum here.
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The U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) Board of Directors honored wheat producer Ron Suppes, Dighton, Kan., as he turned over the Chairman’s gavel to Michael Edgar, Yuma, Ariz., at its annual meeting July 28, 2008, in Kansas City, Mo. Also at the meeting, Janice Mattson, Chester, Mont., assumed the duties of Vice Chairman, while Don Schieber, Ponca City, Okla., assumed the Secretary-Treasurer position. The organization elects officers for the next marketing year (June-May) at its Winter Board Meeting.
“I have always been taught to do the best you can no matter what situation you face and to leave things in better shape than you found them,” Suppes said. “I only hope that during my chairmanship those things have taken place and benefitted our customers and U.S. wheat producers.” Four generations of Suppes’ family were at the meeting to help the organization celebrate his year as Chairman.
USW committees and joint committees with the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) also met and reported to the Board during the meeting. Several guests including Kansas Secretary of Agriculture Adrian Polansky, Dr. Barry Flinchbaugh, Kansas State University (Retired) and advisor to the Kansas Agriculture and Rural Leadership program, and Mark Gold, Managing Partner of Top Third Marketing, Chicago, Ill., made presentations. The Board also heard updates from David Cleavinger, President of NAWG, Wildorado, Texas, and Marcia Scheideman, President of Wheat Foods Council, Denver, Colo.
USW’s next board meeting is a joint session with NAWG Oct. 31 to Nov. 2, 2008 in Dallas, Texas.
The Wheat Food Council is celebrating its 35th anniversary and wants to use the milestone to help promote nutrition for children. That’s why the council is releasing a cookbook that’s meant to benefit a non-profit organization dedicated to influencing children’s eating habits through education.
In celebration of its 35th anniversary, the Wheat Foods Council today unveiled Food for Thought from Parents to Children, an educational cookbook featuring recipes from celebrity chef and mother of three, Chef Gale Gand, and parents across America. The cookbook showcases wheat-based recipes and addresses the importance of nutrition education for children, emphasizing a parent’s role in a child’s healthy diet.
A portion of cookbook proceeds benefits Spoons Across America, a not-for-profit organization that works to positively influence the eating habits of children through hands-on education. The cookbook is available for $3.50 and can be purchased online.
Food for Thought from Parents to Children features 30 recipes developed by parents throughout America and five exclusive creations from Chef Gand, award-winning pastry chef, cookbook author and Food Network personality. Nutritious, wheat-based recipes, in the categories of breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and desserts, are accompanied by educational facts about the featured foods including nutritional content, portion sizes and food origin. Also included is a guide that parents can use to ensure time spent in the kitchen with their kids is a fun, educational experience.
Each year at the Commodity Classic general session we get to hear from the Presidents of the participating associations. Here they are on stage involved in an interactive discussion with moderator John Phipps. Pictured left to right are John Hoffman, ASA, Ron Litterer, NCGA and John Thaemert, NAWG.
John starts out wondering how in the world these three guys got so lucky as to be President this year when we’ve got such fantastic market prices. It’s a lively discussion which I hope you’ll enjoy.
Listen to the 3 Amigos here:
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A record crowd converged on the 2008 Commodity Classic trade show this afternoon, welcomed by the bean guy.
There are over 4,450 registered attendees at the Classic this year and more than 140 media – both new records. The Classic photo album is up to date now with about 60 photos so far – but lots more to come!
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