- CLAAS is saddened to announce that Helmut Claas, long-time managing director, chairman of the Supervisory Board and chairman of the Shareholders’ Committee of the CLAAS group, passed away on January 5 at the age of 94.
- The National Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow elected five student officers to serve until July of 2021. President Layne Mustian is a senior at Texas A&M University, Vice President Rachel McGreal is a sophomore at the University of Illinois, Secretary/Treasurer Lauryn Luttrull is a junior at West Texas A&M University, Member Relations Coordinator Zach Andrews is a junior at the University of Arkansas, and Communications Coordinator Callie McClay is a junior at the University of Illinois.
- After an extensive nationwide search, the United Sorghum Checkoff Program has selected Norma Ritz Johnson as the organization’s third executive director.
- MGEX, a Designated Contract Market and Derivatives Clearing Organization, reports 2020 concluded as the second-best calendar year in history with a total of 2,766,442 contracts traded. Alongside this achievement, it was also the best calendar year for electronic volume with a total of 2,476,313 contracts. Additionally, MGEX recorded that 2020 had the most total futures contracts traded in a year for the Exchange.
- The American Farm Bureau Federation will be presenting its highest honors, the Distinguished Service Award and the Farm Bureau Founders Award, to former Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas) and former Louisiana Farm Bureau President Ronnie Anderson, respectively, during the 2021 American Farm Bureau Virtual Convention, Jan. 10-13.
- Record potato retail sales continued from October to December 2020, the second quarter of Potatoes USA’s marketing year 2021. All three months saw an increase in both dollar and volume sales, with the largest growth in December.
- ASTA is offering a series of sessions this month as a “bridge” between the CSS & Seed Expo Virtual event in December and the upcoming Vegetable & Flower Seed Conference in February. These sessions are included with a registration to either conference. Register now for ASTA’s upcoming bridge sessions, held between January 12-28.
- The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency announced details for the Quality Loss Adjustment (QLA) Program. Producer signup for the program will begin today, January 6 and run through March 5, 2021. QLA is intended to help growers who suffered crop quality losses due to weather-related disasters in 2018 and 2019. Corn growers in several states were impacted by these events. For more information, growers can visit farmers.gov/quality-loss, or contact your local USDA Service Center. Producers can also obtain one-on-one support with applications by calling 877-508-8364.
