- Nineteen innovation pioneers were announced as the 2019 Class of the National Inventors Hall of Fame®. 2019 Inductee David Walt invented Microwell Arrays, which help to improve crop disease resistance.
- The Corn Refiners Association announced that it has joined Farmers for Free Trade.
- U.S. Representatives Mike Bost (R-IL) and Al Lawson (D-FL) introduced bipartisan legislation to make more United States Department of Agriculture apprenticeships available to veterans. The Veterans’ Agricultural Apprenticeship Act instructs the USDA to work with state departments of agriculture to identify farmers and ranchers eligible for a direct loan to train apprentice veterans. The loan would, in turn, be paid back to the USDA after the harvest season.
- Implementing the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 will be the topic for the Farm Foundation® Forum on Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2019.
- HELM Agro US, Inc. announces the hiring of Craig Taylor as the company’s new Northern Corn Belt Regional Sales Manager.
- Brownfield Ag News is pleased to announce Rhiannon Branch has joined the Brownfield team as Anchor/Reporter. She will be based in south central Illinois.
- Breakfast Beyond the Bell, a new food initiative aimed at supplementing its current federally funded free and reduced breakfast program, is being piloted in the Cahokia School District. Breakfast Beyond the Bell is funded through a $30,000 grant from the Monsanto Fund, a philanthropic arm of Bayer.
- American Farmland Trust (AFT) published its Women for the Land program report, “Testing the Women Landowner Conservation Learning Circle Model.” To help women landowners, AFT launched Women for the Land.
- Rhea + Kaiser welcomes Gino Tomaro as Business Development Director.
- More than 1,200 attendees participated in the 43rd annual Georgia Peanut Farm Show and Conference on Jan. 17, 2019, at the University of Georgia Tifton Campus Conference Center in Tifton, Georgia. The show is sponsored by the Georgia Peanut Commission.
- Sakata Seed America recently announced a two-year donation of $15,000 each year ($30,000 total) to support Produce Marketing Association’s ‘Center for Growing Talent’ initiative through the company’s charitable giving program, Sakata Gives.
- A new partnership will bring together TRACKER, part of Bass Pro’s White River Marine Group with Textron, a global leader in innovation and technology.
- An updated version of the Financial Guidelines for Agriculture has been released by the Farm Financial Standards Council. With a January 2019 issue date, this 272-page edition replaces other versions of the document that have been in circulation since 1991. The most recent prior update was done in 2017.
- House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member K. Michael Conaway (TX-11) announced the Steering Committee has made its recommendation of the Republican members to serve on the House Agriculture Committee for the 116th Congress. The new House Agriculture Committee members are as follows: Rep. Dusty Johnson (SD-AL), Rep. Jim Baird (IN-4) and Rep. Jim Hagedorn (MN-1).
- The Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation board of directors has voted to maintain the insurance premium assessment rate on the adjusted insured debt of Farm Credit System banks at a rate of 9 basis points for 2019. FCSIC will continue to assess a 10-basis-point risk surcharge on nonaccrual loans and other-than-temporarily impaired investments.
