Cotton Incorporated recently joined forces with USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) Partnerships for Data Innovations (PDI) on an effort to standardize and centralize cotton research data. At last week’s Beltwide Cotton Conferences, Cotton Incorporated Senior Director of Agricultural & Environmental Research Ed Barnes said the project actually grew out of discussions at last year’s Beltwide and it is really just …
EPA Announces Sustainable Pest Control Initiative
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler was in Mississippi on Monday where he announced a $2 million dollar initiative that encourages smart and sustainable pest control in agriculture. The initiative, which is an extension of EPA’s Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program (PESP), expects to award grantees up to $200,000 to implement sustainable pest management practices that align with the …
Animal Ag News 1/11
Brand new for 2021, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) is hosting a two-day virtual event for cattlemen and women across the country to come together for industry news, updates, education and networking. The 2021 Cattle Industry Convention Winter Reboot, scheduled for Feb. 23-24, is an opportunity to connect with NCBA and serves as a kickoff event for the Cattle …
Former NAFB President Art Sechrest Passes
The National Association of Farm Broadcasting sadly notes the passing of 1984 NAFB President Art Sechrest. Sechrest joined NAFB at WVLN Radio in 1961 then continued his broadcast career at Illinois Farm Bureau and WJBC Radio. Art was noted for his professionalism, kindness, and solid presence reporting on the air. He served as NAFB President in 1984, was named 1991 …
ARC Foundation Receives Major Endowment Gift
The Agricultural Relations Council/C.O.nxt Scholarship Program has received a very generous donation. Lyle Orwig, founder of Charleston|Orwig, now rebranded as C.O.nxt, has generously fully funded the Agricultural Relations Council/C.O.nxt Scholarship Program with a recent contribution of $75,000. It is part of an endowment established within the ARC Foundation a couple years ago. A long-time champion of agricultural public relations/public affairs, …
Industry Ag News 1/8
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 …
Cotton Council CEO Wraps up Beltwide
National Cotton Council President and CEO Dr. Gary Adams is pleased with the first ever virtual Beltwide Cotton Conferences this week. “Attendance was really quite strong,” said Adams in a wrap up interview. “Hopefully, we actually provided an opportunity for some people to participate where they might not have otherwise.” Adams gave an update on the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol …
2020 – A Pivotal Year for ZimmComm
You could say that 2020 was a pivotal year for ZimmComm. Sorry about using the “P” word. But as crazy as the year was and all the challenges that have been presented, we’ve come through it by virtually using all the tools we have been using for years and some new ones. Sorry about using the “V” word. Let’s summarize …
COVID and Cotton Supply Chains
The Beltwide Cotton Economic Economics and Marketing Conference included a presentation by Cotton Incorporated Senior Economist Jon Devine on how the COVID pandemic impacted cotton supply chains in 2020. Devine says the retail segment was hit the hardest, building on already declining sales in stores. “I think the transition was already underway in terms of pushing clothing purchases away from …
Hurricanes May Have Increased Cotton Seed Coat Fragments
The National Cotton Council is pleased that USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service will be collaborating with the Georgia Department of Agriculture to study the significant increase in seed coat fragments being found in 2020 season Southeast cotton classing samples. The AMS Macon, GA Classing Office has reportedly classed 2.2 million samples, of which approximately 895,000 contained seed coat fragments. In addition …