The Senate has confirmed the appointment of Dr. Basil Gooden as USDA Under Secretary for Rural Development. Dr. Gooden has served as Director of State Operations for Rural Development since July 2021 and will fill the under secretary position left vacant by Xochitl Torres Small, who was confirmed in July 2023 as Deputy Secretary of Agriculture.
The Agribusiness Association of Iowa (AAI) Foundation announced that its building will be named after Bill Northey and simply called “The Northey Building”.
Craig Curry, 70, a Protect The Harvest advisor since 2013, succumbed to a lengthy battle with health issues on Feb. 3. A Greenwood, Ind., resident, Curry provided Protect The Harvest with the management of regulatory, legislative and litigation issues on national, regional, state and local animal welfare, property rights, food security, environmental and non-government organization (NGO) matters.
Elite Octane — a leader in the biofuel industry, producing 150 million gallons of bioethanol annually — joined the nation’s leading biofuel trade associations, the Renewable Fuels Association and Growth Energy.
Alltech is proud to continue to partner with the Women in Food & Agriculture (WFA) Mentorship Program. Applications are now open for new mentors of any gender and for female mentees from across the global food and agriculture sector. Now in its fourth year, the free-to-join program is dedicated to supporting women across the global food and agriculture sector by providing invaluable mentorship opportunities and has proven to be a beacon of support for women seeking guidance, advice and networking opportunities in their careers.
Meister Media Worldwide announces the launch of CEAg World, the new and innovative multi-media global business “Advancing Food Under Cover.” This global brand will represent and unify all the emerging industry segments of crops grown in controlled environments, including greenhouses, hoop houses and high tunnels, operations using shading or netting, vertical farms, container farms, and more.
A federal District Court in Arizona vacated the registration for over-the-top (OTT) applications of dicamba on dicamba-tolerant soybeans and cotton. OTT dicamba products Xtendimax (Bayer), Engenia (BASF) and Tavium (Syngenta) were all included in the decision which is national in scope. The Agricultural Retailers Association disagrees with this decision. It removes a determination that should be made by a science- based regulatory agency to a federal court, and the timing of the decision will be extremely disruptive to ag retailers, distributors, manufacturers and farmers who made plans to use these products in 2024.
The National Cotton Council is extremely disappointed in a ruling by the Arizona Federal court that vacates the label for over-the-top use of dicamba products for the 2024 crop. The impacts of this ruling will be felt across the Cotton Belt as dicamba-tolerant varieties account for more than 75 percent of U.S. cotton acres.
Saying U.S. farmers depend on the strong demand that comes with expanded market access, the National Corn Growers Association’s (NCGA) Corn Congress passed a consensus statement encouraging federal officials to pursue trade opportunities and invest in foreign market development to ensure that the U.S. remains a global leader in corn production and trade.
National Farmers Union (NFU) President Rob Larew was appointed by President Biden to the White House Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations (ACTPN).
