Farewell to USDA Secretary Vilsack
First photo of Sec. Vilsack at 2009 NAFB Washington Watch
“Only one other person in the history of the country has had this job longer than I have and only five other people in the history of this country have had a cabinet position longer than I have,” said Vilsack during his final press conference this week. “I will tell you that I am very proud of the work that’s been done by the folks at USDA.”
Last photo of Sec. Vilsack at ACE Conference in August 2024
Vilsack, who turned 74 last month, said he is “excited for the next chapter” of his life. Besides his tenure as agriculture secretary, Vilsack served as governor of Iowa, a member of the Iowa Senate, and mayor of Mount Pleasant, Iowa. During the four years between the Obama and Biden administrations, he was president and CEO of the US Dairy Export Council.
Watch this week’s episode of Agri-Pulse Newsmakers for an in-depth exit interview with him.
Pivot Bio Expands Retail Network with Logan Agri-Service
Agtech company Pivot Bio has announced a retail distribution partnership with Illinois-based Logan Agri-Service.
Through this partnership, Pivot Bio’s microbial nitrogen solution PROVEN® 40 will be available across all of Logan Ag’s locations, including Griggsville, Winchester, and Perry, O’Fallon and Bowen, IL; Paris and Knox City, Monticello and Wayland, MO; and Pittsburg, OH.
“For more than seven decades, Logan Agri-Service has built a reputation for delivering exceptional service and full-system solutions tailored to their customers’ needs,” said Jason Hoag, head of North American commercial distribution at Pivot Bio. “By combining their deep agronomic expertise and extensive reach with our proprietary technology, we’re creating more opportunities for farmers to optimize nutrient management and strengthen their operations for long-term resilience.”
With a robust infrastructure and a skilled team of agronomists, Logan Ag is well-positioned bring PROVEN® 40 to a wide range of farming operations. This collaboration reflects a shared commitment to providing farmers with agronomically sound solutions that drive productivity, boost profitability, and support their continued success.
Cotton Industry Facing Big Challenges
At the start of 2025, the U.S. cotton industry is facing some tough times right now, according to National Cotton Council president and CEO Gary Adams.
“It’s tough from an economic standpoint for producers,” said Adams this week at the Beltwide Cotton Conferences in New Orleans. “We have seen costs that have increased substantially over the last several years. In fact, as we look at the comparing, say this year relative to 2018, we’re probably up on average about $200 per acre on cotton cost of production.”
Adams says getting a farm bill done is a big priority with the new Congress and new administration this year. “Our message to Congress in general is one, let them know the challenging economic circumstances that are out there,” said Adams. “We feel good, certainly with I some good friends to the cotton industry that now chair both the Senate and House Agriculture Committees. Senator John Bozeman takes over the helm of the Senate Agriculture Committee and Congressman GT Thompson, although not from a cotton belt state, has certainly been supportive of the cotton industry.”
Listen to an interview with Adams and his remarks on the state of the U.S. cotton industry and outlook for the farm bill from the Beltwide Cotton Conferences.
Beltwide interview Gary Adams, National Cotton Council 5:49Beltwide farm bill update Gary Adams, NCC 19:09
Beltwide industry update Gary Adams, National Cotton Council 12:34
Find more photos and audio from Beltwide:
Beltwide Cotton Conferences Virtual Newsroom
Precision Ag News 1/16
Sec. Vilsack Bids Farewell with Climate-Smart Agriculture Rule
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack held his last official press conference of his tenure at USDA on Wednesday, announcing the publication of an interim rule on Technical Guidelines for Climate-Smart Agriculture Crops Used as Biofuel Feedstocks.
The interim rule establishes guidelines for quantifying, reporting, and verifying the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with the production of biofuel feedstock commodity crops grown in the United States. These guidelines will facilitate the recognition of climate-smart agriculture within clean transportation fuel programs, creating new market opportunities for biofuel feedstock producers while enhancing climate benefits.
The action today is essentially what was missing from the 45Z guidance offered by U.S. Treasury last week and makes changes from the rules for 40B, according to Sec. Vilsack. “First of all, there’s an additional crop in addition to corn and soybeans. We now include sorghum. There are additional climate smart agricultural practices, including reduced tillage and fertilizer application timing. As importantly, practices may be used individually or in combination. They are not required to be bundled. And the CI reductions that result from using each practice would be better and more precisely estimated than they were for the pilot program in 40B.”
Click here to get the details from USDA and listen to Vilsack’s press conference below:
Sec. Vilsack final presser (23:20)Cotton Consultants Focused on Regulatory Issues
Adapting to regulations is a constant theme in the life of cotton consultants, but this year more than ever the Beltwide Cotton Consultants Conference wanted to stress how new regulations will be impacting the industry.
“We set up a central theme this year of regulatory issues, primarily focused around the marriage of EPA with Fish and Wildlife with some of the new pesticide regulations that are going to be coming forward,” said Louisiana-based cotton consultant Hank Jones at this year’s conference in New Orleans. “We don’t have too many pesticides yet that have any of the new regulations applied to them, so we still have an opportunity as an industry, as applicators, as consultants like me that give recommendations, to really get ahead of this issue.”
One of the speakers at the consultants conference was Clayton Myers, USDA Office of Pest Management Policy, who said it has just come to the point that EPA has to move forward on the Endangered Species Act. “The proposals are now coming out…This is no longer a tomorrow. This is going to soon become a today problem and. So we’re, we’re obviously trying to increase the depth of grower awareness on that as much as we can because this is a big issue that is going to affect growers, pest management toolbox going forward.”
Listen to interviews with Jones and Myers below and check the Beltwide Cotton Conferences virtual media page for more content.
Beltwide interview Hank Jones, cotton consultant 5:45 Beltwide interview Clayton Myers, USDA-OPMP 4:08USDA Completes Reform of Packers & Stockyards Rule
In one of his last official acts in the waning days of the Biden administration, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced the third installment in a series of regulatory reforms under the Packers and Stockyards Act.
Along with other finalized updates, this completes a major regulatory reform intended to “level the playing field for farmers who raise chicken, turkeys, hogs, cattle, and sheep under contract or for sale to meat and poultry processing companies.”
Specifically, the rule announced today will give chicken farmers better insight into companies’ payment rates for their birds, will institute stability and fairness in what is commonly known as the ‘tournament system,’ will provide farmers with key information on capital improvements the companies require farmers to make in order to keep or renew contracts, and give farmers stronger leverage when companies do not adhere to the rules.
“During my time as Secretary of Agriculture, time and again USDA has been confronted with the stories of farmers who lost their life’s savings or went bankrupt because of an unfair system they entered into when they agreed to raise animals for a major meat conglomerate. It is USDA’s job to advocate for farmers, and these regulatory improvements give us the strongest tools we’ve ever had to meet our obligations under the Packers & Stockyards Act,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
Find all the details here and listen to a press conference with Sec. Vilsack and Andy Green, USDA Competition Senior Advisor, below.
USDA Packers and Stockyards final (23:20)
Agri-Pulse Announces 2025 Ag & Food Policy Summit
Agri-Pulse Founder Sara Wyant at 2024 Summit
“President-elect Trump has made it clear that he plans to quickly make major changes after his inauguration and wants to see his signature Tax Cuts and Jobs Act expanded and extended,” said Agri-Pulse Founder and Publisher Sara Wyant. “However, much depends on whether the GOP-controlled House and Senate can stay unified to pass a major tax bill, along with addressing illegal immigration, reforming trade agreements, and more.”
The Summit will be held at the National Press Club, offering in-person and virtual attendance options. Registration is now open and you can take advantage of early bird registration rates. The tentative agenda is also available.
Summit sponsors include Gold: American Farm Bureau Federation, Bayer, Earth Optics, Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative, Farm Credit, Farmer Mac, John Deere, PepsiCo, Syngenta. Bronze: Ag Council of America, American Sugar Alliance, CCI Marketing, FGS Global, National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA), National Crop Insurance Services, National Milk Producers Federation, National Pork Producers Council, Pivot Bio, The Russell Group, Inc., U.S. Dairy Export Council and more. The reception is sponsored by the Corn Refiners Association.
For sponsorship opportunities, contact Jason@Agri-Pulse.com<./a>
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