- The Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City honored two of the region’s leading agricultural figures on May 16 at a luncheon in the Chamber Board Room in Kansas City’s historic Union Station. The honorees – Lee Borck, chairman of Innovative Livestock Services and Beef Marketing Group Cooperative and farm broadcasting legend Gene Millard of Millard Family Farms – received the Jay B. Dillingham Award for Agricultural Leadership and Excellence, the Council’s highest recognition. Both men have each left their marks on the ag industry over careers extending nearly 50 years.
- The Biotechnology Innovation Organization announced that former U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary and former two-term Governor of Iowa Tom Vilsack will receive the 12th annual George Washington Carver Award for Innovation in Industrial Biotechnology.
- IDEAg Group LLC announces its second annual National Anthem Contest for this year’s Minnesota Farmfest. Farmfest will take place Aug. 6-8 in Redwood County, Minnesota; the deadline to apply for the contest is July 5. Interested singers can visit the Farmfest website to apply.
- IDEAg Group LLC announces that the Dakotafest farm show will return to Mitchell, South Dakota, Aug. 20-22. The event will feature approximately 500 companies showcasing the latest innovations available to farmers in the Midwest.
- The Association of Equipment Manufacturers has elected Brett Davis, Brand Leader, New Holland North America of CNH Industrial LLC, to the AEM Ag Sector Board.
- Farm Credit has partnered with AgriSafe Network to support its Total Farmer Health campaign. The program will educate rural health professionals on the mental health risks faced by farmers and ranchers and trains them to integrate basic mental health screenings into their primary care practices.
- Members of American Agri-Women from across the nation will gather in Washington, D.C., June 9-12 for the organization’s annual Fly-In. Members will present white papers on land use & policy — a special theme for this year — as well as legislative positions statements to elected officials and policymakers.
- The National Cotton Council has scheduled tour dates and locations for the 2019 Producer Information Exchange (P.I.E.) Program. This season, two of the three P.I.E. tours will occur simultaneously. During the week of July 28-August 2, producers from the Southeast will see Mid-South farming operations in the Missouri Bootheel, West Tennessee and northeast Arkansas while Southwest producers will tour California’s San Joaquin Valley. The third tour, set for August 11-16, will enable Mid-South and Far West producers to travel to the Southeast and observe farming operations in North Carolina and Virginia.
- Members of the California Women for Agriculture walked the halls of California’s state capitol earlier this month to discuss current agriculture policies with legislative representatives. As part of the organization’s annual statewide meeting in Sacramento, the CWA also honored Assembly Member Susan Talamantes Eggman with its Cornucopia Award, celebrating her commitment to support California agriculture.
- S&W Seed Company and Corteva Agriscience™, Agriculture Division of DowDuPont, announced they have entered into a new mutually beneficial alfalfa agreement that terminates and replaces the December 2014 agreements between S&W and Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. As part of the new agreement, S&W will receive $45 million in cash at closing plus $25 million in payments over regularly scheduled dates concluding in February 2021.
- The International Agri-Center® and World Ag Expo® and the Central Valley Toyota Dealers presented a check in the amount of $87,000 to Valley Children’s Healthcare during the All Guild Picnic on the hospital grounds on May 22, in Madera, California.
- Out of more than 50,000 total entries submitted in the 40th edition of The Telly Awards, with many coming from the world’s biggest and best-known brands, nine resulted in wins for Lessing-Flynn and six of its client-partners, including four silver awards and five bronze awards for marketing and branding videos produced in 2018.
