ACN Selects Corner Window Communications
Kristin Harner will be Corner Window’s team lead on ACN.
The Ag Communicators Network has selected Corner Window Communications of New Prague, Minnesota, as its management group. The Board made the decision in August, following a round of interviews at the Ag Media Summit.
“As we looked at our organization’s mission to provide superior professional development and member services, plus cultivate new members and grow our sponsorship network, it was clear that Corner Window Communications checked all those boxes,” says Pam Caraway, ACN past president.
Corner Window is led by owner Kristy Mach, a veteran in the association management profession. For her, ACN is a familiar entity; she worked at Gardner and Gardner Communications, the ACN management team nearly two decades ago. Mach has also worked in television news, marketing and public relations.
“It’s a bit like coming home,” Mach says.
Corner Window has eight clients, including the Agricultural Relations Council, with a team of nine staff members to support those clients.
“We have an amazing team, and we are really excited to come back to ACN,” Mach adds.
Syngenta Farm and Trade Policy Watch
Syngenta’s Head of Public Affairs said the company continues to invest billions of dollars each year into new tools for farmers to make them more competitive in the global marketplace.
“These are challenging times for American farmers now,” said Val Dolcini. “Prices are not great. Yields are going to be pretty big this fall, so I think that combination is going to make for some significant economic challenges for farmers. There are also trade issues, too, to be considered. There is a lot going on and what Syngenta is all about is helping farmers grow safe and plentiful food. That’s really our mission, and the work that we do on innovation issues really helps American farmers become more competitive.”
Dolcini said a Farm Bill is not likely this year, but shared that the reconciliation package that recently passed contained about $66 billion worth of farm spending over the next decade, a lot of which would have been in the Farm Bill. He said that will help to give farmers some of the certainty they typically gain from a Farm Bill. However, he recognized plenty of challenges remain for farmers.
“We need to expand the toolbox for American farmers these days, and whether it’s biofuels or other uses of commodity crops, that’s a way to go to make operations pencil out and at the end of the day be as economically sustainable in many ways as they are environmentally sustainable,” he said.
Dolcini said there are lots of examples of innovations Syngenta is working to bring to American farmers, some of which were on display at the 2025 Farm Progress Show.
Syngenta Head of Public Affairs Val Dolcini – farm and trade policy
FPS25 Interview with Val Dolcini, Syngenta US (6:42)
2025 NAFB Convention Registration in Progress
The NAFB Convention is the place to be in November! Have you registered yet? Early Bird registration closes on Sept. 30.
Convention planners are adding some great professional development and education sessions to the program that you won’t want to miss.
Here is a preview:
- Artificial Intelligence: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
- Women in Agribusiness
- Professional Coaching
- “Hey! Whatcha Got There!”
- Young Professionals Training: “Rooted & Resonate”
You can find the tentative agenda here. And here is where you go to make hotel reservations.
Don’t miss this annual event that brings together hundreds of farm broadcasters, ag media management & sales, allied industry, ag students and other industry influencers for three days of educational events, networking and collaborating on common issues and trends facing our industry.
From Trade Talk, professional development and Newsmaker sessions to the NAFB Hall of Fame, Foundation auction and networking with hundreds of ag professionals – it’s all in Kansas City on November 19 – 21!
Yield Lab Institute Launches H.A.R.V.E.S.T. AgTech
The Yield Lab Institute (YLI) in St. Louis today announced the launch of H.A.R.V.E.S.T. AgTech, the next generation of a proven incubator that will further accelerate technical resources and funding for the global agtech startup community.
H.A.R.V.E.S.T. (Harnessing Agricultural Research and Venture Ecosystems for Sustainable Technology) builds on the strong foundation of the Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator’s (IN2) agtech track. IN2 is funded by Wells Fargo & Company and co-administered by NREL, a U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory. Since 2014, IN2 has supported 77 startups working across the built environment, agtech, and infrastructure sectors. To date, the 26 agtech companies have raised nearly $290 million in follow-on funding, and five have exited via acquisition or merger. These companies worked with the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center to validate and de-risk their technologies.
With today’s announcement at a joint event in Denver, Colorado, YLI is joining IN2 to carry the agtech programming into its next chapter. By continuing the shared mission of empowering the global agriculture startup community through research collaborations, field testing, and direct funding opportunities, promising innovations can reach the market faster. H.A.R.V.E.S.T. AgTech will be administered by YLI in St. Louis, Missouri.
YLI also welcomed two new technical partners for H.A.R.V.E.S.T. AgTech: North Carolina Plant Sciences Initiative (NC PSI) and University of California Agriculture & Natural Resources (UC ANR), which spans all campuses associated with the UC system.
In addition, YLI announced the launch of its inaugural Ecosystem Partner Network, which will collaborate with AgTech Nation to engage 12 regional ecosystems across the United States and expanding for the first time into leading international innovation hubs in Argentina, Brazil, Israel, and the United Kingdom.
Breakthrough Energy Discovery and NREL Foundation have joined as founding partners, providing critical support for H.A.R.V.E.S.T. AgTech. In addition, the Missouri Technology Corporation provided early funding to ensure Missouri-based IN2 alumni can remain actively engaged in this next chapter.
More information about the H.A.R.V.E.S.T. AgTech program will be shared in the coming weeks online at: www.harvestagtech.org.
Animal Ag News 9/10
Denali Makes Waste into 12 Billion Pounds of Feed and Fertilizer
Denali continued to lead the nation as a recycler of organics in 2024, transforming organic materials into 12 billion pounds of high-quality feed and fertilizer.
According to Denali’s newly released 2024 Sustainability Report, the recycled agriculture-grade products fed nearly 50,000 cattle and enriched more than 100,000 acres of farmland, which helped build resilience for American agriculture, supporting healthy soils, nourishing livestock, and reducing dependency on synthetic fertilizers.
Denali’s work delivered significant impact for farmers across the U.S., including:
● Nourishing more than 50,000 head of cattle by creating 360 million pounds of animal feed;
● Creating 9.6 billion pounds of natural fertilizer that supported more than 100,000 acres of farmland across the U.S. – equivalent to 75,757 football fields;
● Avoiding an estimated 750,000 MTCO₂ metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent through the total impact of creating 2.4 billion pounds of nutrient-rich compost, mulch, and soil amendments; and
● Significantly lowering fertilizer costs for farmers, which comprises 40% of a farmer’s total operating costs for growing corn, according to the National Corn Growers Association.
Denali works with grocers, food manufacturers, municipalities, and foodservice operators to collect organics that would otherwise be sent to the landfill and uses one of the largest mechanical depackaging technology networks in the country, to recover the most clean, recyclable organic material and convert it into agriculture-grade products.
To learn more and review Denali’s 2024 Sustainability Report, click HERE.
MAHA Report Focuses on Science and Research
The Make America Healthy Again Commission released its Make Our Children Healthy Again Strategy on Tuesday with more than 120 initiatives to “advance gold-standard science, realign incentives, increase public awareness, and strengthen private-sector collaboration.”
“This strategy represents the most sweeping reform agenda in modern history—realigning our food and health systems, driving education, and unleashing science to protect America’s children and families,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “We are focusing narrowly on nutrition and metabolic health, food quality, cumulative exposures, gut microbiome, precision agriculture, and mental health.”
“America’s farmers and ranchers are at the heart of the solution..to fight chronic disease and protect future generations,” said Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins. “USDA’s upcoming regenerative pilot program will address on-farm resource concerns, while also providing farmers with usable, outcomes-based conservation plans. We will also leverage existing funding from research agencies to produce applied science informing farmer decision-making on regenerative agriculture.”
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Zeldin said they will be working with USDA to advance precision agriculture and ensure the safe use of legal crop protection chemicals. “We are accelerating innovative and vetted crop protection products to enhance an American system of agriculture that is already the best in the world,” said Zeldin.
Listen to opening comments from Secretaries Kennedy and Rollins and Administrator Zeldin below:
MAHA Report on Children's Health (16:44)
Industry Ag News 9/8
Golden Harvest Offers New Corn and Soybean Varieties
Golden Harvest has 19 new soybean hybrids and nine new corn hybrids in store for 2026.
“We continue to offer trait choice so nine of those new products are going to be on the Enlist side and 10 of those products are going to be on the XtendFlex side,” said Soybean Product Manager Ryan Dunsbergen. “We’re bringing in these traits, we’re putting on our own proprietary genetics and we’re continuing to bring that to the market for the American farmer.”
Dunsbergen said new products will bring a great deal of versatility and can handle lots of stress. He said Golden Harvest is also proud of portfolio options that offer Peking soybean cyst nematode resistance.
FPS25 Interview with Ryan Dunsbergen, Golden Harvest (3:26)
In addition to the nine new corn hybrids in 2026, Corn Product Manager Rex Gray says looking further ahead, new Durastak corn trait technology that will be available in 2027 has shown a 50 percent increase in root node product and double the increase in root matter, leading to a 9.7 bushel advantage in areas with moderate to severe rootworm infestations.
“With that increased root protection, we’re really going to help growers protect that yield potential that each of those corn hybrids have,” said Gray.
Learn more in this interview from Farm Progress Show.
FPS25 Interview with Rex Gray, Golden Harvest (3:33)