The Association of Equipment Managers (AEM) gave a press conference on several issues facing the industry during their inaugural year as an official affiliate of the 2016 Commodity Classic A major concern highlighted in the press conference was infrastructure deterioration occurring across the nation, which impacts the transportation of commodities and food to market. Senior Vice President Charlie O’Brien called …
Former USDA Deputy Joins DuPont
The mystery about why Krysta Harden resigned as USDA Deputy Secretary was revealed last week as Commodity Classic was getting underway in New Orleans. Harden has joined DuPont as vice president of Public Policy & Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO), succeeding Linda Fisher who elected to retire last month. Harden will have responsibility for leading the company’s public policy and government …
Farmers Honored at Bayer #AgVocacy Forum
Last week Bayer recognized their 2016 winners at the AgVocacy Forum in New Orleans. Tyler Wegmeyer of Wegmeyer Farms in Virginia was honored with the Young Famer Sustainability Award. The Produce Innovation Award was given to Amy Machamer and Hurd Orchards from New York. “We are proud to recognize two farmers who are committed to modern, sustainable agriculture and focused on …
#Classic16 Shatters Records
The 2016 Commodity Classic in the Big Easy was a big record setter. Total attendance was 9,770, compared to 7,936 in 2015. Another record set was in the number of growers attending, at 4,596. Additionally, the trade show featured an all-time high of 433 participating companies, including 128 first-time exhibitors. These exhibitors filled a record 253,300 net square feet of …
#LibertyLink #RealYield Grand Prize Winner
The grand prize winner in the Bayer LibertyLink Real Yield Game was revealed last week at the Commodity Classic to be Rick Juchems of Iowa, who received a year’s lease on a John Deere 8320R tractor. Juchems is a corn and soybean farmer who also custom feeds hogs. He learned about the game from the Iowa FFA Alumni Association and …
AFBF Urges Congress Not to Reduce Farm Programs
During the last farm bill the House and Senate Agriculture committees did their part to reduce government spending by drastically cutting funding for agriculture. Now the American Farm Bureau Federation and 254 other ag groups are calling for Congress to reject further cuts to farm programs. A recent letter to the Budget and Appropriations leaders opposes further reducing spending for conservation, …
First Ever Trade Association for Plant-Based Food
The first ever trade group to represent plant-based foods has been launched. The Plant Based Foods Association represents 23 food companies who support consumer health and the environment with a plant-based diet. The purposed of the newly formed group is to educate, promote and advance policies regarding the fast growing sector of plant-based foods. “Every other sector of the food …
#Classic16 Celebrates Decade of Scholarships
BASF Crop Protection, the American Soybean Association (ASA), National Corn Growers Association (NCGA), and the National Wheat Foundation (NWF) celebrated ten years of rewarding future agriculture industry leaders with scholarships during the 2016 Commodity Classic last week. A past scholarship winner who now works for BASF as a tech service rep had the honor of presenting the awards this year. …
ClearAg Mobile App Launched by Iteris
Iteris ClearAg Mobile is a newly launched grower analytics application that uses information about weather, water, soil and crop growth to offer field-specific advisories to the grower. Jeff Keiser, the Vice President for strategic sales and marketing, spoke with AgWired at the recent 2016 Commodity Conference about this new technology. ClearAg offers users information about the weather, water and soil and …
More About Maglis from @BASFAgProducts
The big announcement at Commodity Classic last week from BASF Crop Protection was Maglis, an online agricultural platform designed to help farmers manage crops more effectively and efficiently. BASF Vice President, US Crop Protection, Scott Kay says Maglis was developed through their work with farmers through Grow Smart. “It is all about the grower needs and their plans,” he said. …