- The House Republican Steering Committee elected Congressman Glenn “GT” Thompson (PA-15) as Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture for the 118th Congress. Mr. Thompson will be the first Chairman from Pennsylvania in nearly 170 years.
- The introduction of Aerobotics Crop Insurance Services, a new crop insurance agency, was announced by the company. The company will employ artificial intelligence to create extremely precise crop insurance plans for producers of perennial crops, a significant first for the crop insurance industry.
- During its annual meeting in St. Louis, the American Soybean Association elected the leaders who will guide the organization through the coming year’s top advocacy priorities, including the much-anticipated 2023 Farm Bill, among other policy issues. Daryl Cates of Illinois, who previously served as ASA vice president, will serve as 2023 ASA president.
- Labor demands continue to tax the bottom lines of farmers and ranchers, with rising wage rates and record usage of the H-2A visa program. Meaningful reforms to the federal government’s guest worker program must be a priority for Congress by the end of the year. The American Farm Bureau Federation, along with more than 350 other food and farm organizations that are part of the Ag Workforce Coalition, sent a letter urging the Senate to pass legislation to address the nation’s agricultural workforce challenges before the end of the 117th Congress. The House of Representatives has passed a farm labor reform bill, but the legislation needs improvements to adequately address pressing needs facing agriculture.
- The International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) and Corteva Agriscience have launched applications for the 2023 IFAJ/Corteva Master Class to be held in Alberta, Canada from June 24-26, 2023. Application deadline is December 14, 2022.
- MorganMyers announces the addition of two accomplished communicators who will deepen the company’s agricultural and digital capabilities to serve its growing client base. Greg Ehm joins the company as senior counselor while Alex Blake will serve as senior digital strategist.
- The Georgia Peanut Commission hosted a photo contest throughout 2022 to fill the pages of the 2023 Georgia Peanut Calendar, “The Farm – Best Home of the Family.” Peanut farmers from across Georgia were encouraged to submit their best, high-resolution photo of families on the farm for a chance to feature the photo in the 2023 calendar. More than 30 entries were submitted from across the peanut belt and only 12 were selected as a monthly feature.
- The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture announced the hiring of Stephanie McBath as Associate Director of Public Policy and Josie Montoney-Crawford as Manager of Public Policy.
- The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) announced Julie Busse has accepted the role of Director of Renewable Fuels. In her new position, Busse will serve as lead staff for the Ethanol Action Team (ETHAT) driving the organization’s ethanol related development, promotion, research, and education efforts.
- USDA MiCa, USDA Dint and USDA Klondike, the first winter pea cultivars specifically developed to be used whole or as an ingredient in human food, have been released by the Agricultural Research Service.
- AgCareers.com awarded their first-ever U.S. Feed Your Future Scholarship to Lindsay Mikell, a student at the University of Florida. Mikell is co-enrolled in the University of Florida’s Doctor of Plant Medicine program and Master’s in Environmental Horticulture.
- The 2023 Golden ARC Awards Contest is open. Deadline to enter is April 14, 2023. Entries for the 2023 contest must include public relations activities conducted in full or in part during 2022. Members of the Agricultural Relations Council and non-members may enter the Golden ARC Awards. Each first entry for a non-ARC member will include the registration fee for an individual to become an ARC member. Entrants may be individuals and/or teams.
- Farmer-leaders of the United Soybean Board (USB) elected Meagan Kaiser from Missouri as 2023 Chair and nine additional farmer-leaders to serve on the Executive Committee during the USB December Meeting in St. Charles, Missouri.
