Industry Ag News 7/8

Carrie Muehling

  • The American Seed Trade Association elected its 2024-25 officers at the 2024 ASTA Leadership Summit, which took place in Nashville, Tennessee June 15-19. The 2024-2025 officers, which begin official duties on July 1, are: Chair – Dan Foor, DLF North America; First Vice Chair –
    Dave Treinen, Syngenta; Second Vice Chair – Bryan Gerard, JoMar Seeds.
  • The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is expanding crop insurance options for specialty and organic growers beginning with the 2025 crop year. USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) is expanding coverage options by allowing enterprise units by organic farming practice, adding enterprise unit eligibility for several crops, and making additional policy updates.
  • Get an inside look at Kansas Agriculture with the Kansas Ag Tour during the upcoming Agricultural Media Summit. Grab your breakfast to go on this tour as attendees depart from the hotel and head two hours out of the city to Blythe Family Farms. Tour attendees will enjoy lunch at Liquid Art Winery, perched at the top of an area known as “The Flint Hills” and known for their craft premium wines. Following lunch, attendees will stop at the Kansas Wheat Innovation Center. En route back to Kansas City, the tour will continue at J. Rieger & Co. Brewery for a tour and learn about how they source wheat to produce a beverage customers enjoy. Tour goers will end the day at a local favorite, Tay’s Tay’s Cheesesteaks. Register here.
  • The World Food Prize Foundation announced that it will honor Iowa native Jim Blessman with the 2024 Robert D. Ray Iowa SHARES Award. The award will be presented to Dr. Blessman for his decades-long commitment to nourishing South Africa.
  • National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) hosted the fourth annual Women and Mentors Retreat in St. Louis, Missouri, on June 27 and 28. The program offers a network for women and their male allies, providing mentorships and creating a pipeline of female leaders for NCGA and other agricultural organizations.
  • Curious Plot, a Minneapolis-based marketing, communications and consulting agency serving the food, agriculture and companion animal care markets, won the Agricultural Relations Council’s (ARC) 2024 Golden ARC de Excellence Award.
  • The Illinois Agri-Women (IAW) organization has awarded 5 scholarships for females studying agriculture. The Illinois Agri-Women (IAW) organization supports the agriculture industry, works for legislation to support and preserve family farms, communicates with other agriculture organizations, and strives to educate the public and promote agricultural awareness.
  • If you want to honor a cotton consultant, nominate him or her for the prestigious 2024 Cotton Consultant of the Year (CCOY) Award. Click here to access the 2024 nomination form. The deadline for nominations is August 15.
  • To support the next generation of agricultural professionals, the National Farmers Union Foundation (NFUF) proudly announces the 2024 recipients of its annual scholarship awards. Applications for the 2025 scholarship awards will open in December 2024. For more information about the scholarships, visit the NFU website at NFU.org/education/scholarships.
  • The thirty-sixth annual Georgia Peanut Tour will be held Sept. 17-19, 2024, in Americus, Georgia, and the surrounding area. The tour brings the latest information on peanuts while giving a first-hand view of industry infrastructure from production and handling to processing and utilization. Tour stops will be made in several peanut producing counties in South Georgia.
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