Washington Update at AgGateway Annual Meeting
Well-known industry government relations specialist Mary Kay Thatcher provided a federal policy update for attendees at the 2025 AgGateway Annual Meeting.
Much of Thatcher’s presentation focused on the trade and tariff policies of the Trump administration and the rapid-fire announcements of deals with different countries. “Just because something has been announced, the devil is often in the details, and we need to have the piece of paper not just about China but about Japan about Vietnam, all the different agreements, and how they really will play out,” she said in an interview. “And we certainly need to continue to reiterate with the administration just how important exports are for agriculture in the U.S.”
Thatcher noted that the government shut down has to end before Congress can do anything to help farmers before the end of the year. “I suspect that happens sometime between now and Thanksgiving. But then there’s very little time left,” she said. “I think you’ll hear from lots of farmers that it just has to happen. We’re not gonna get help out of the one big beautiful bill and the improvements to the commodity payments and the crop insurance subsidies until October of 2026, and farmers just can’t cash flow with the prices these days. So we need to go ahead and have some kind of assistance soon.”
Learn more in this interview.
Interview with Mary Kay Thatcher (3:47)
CruiserMaxx Vibrance Elite Receives EPA Registration
Syngenta’s latest offering for cereals, CruiserMaxx® Vibrance® Elite seed treatment, has been registered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and will now be available for use in the upcoming growing season.
The fungicide and insecticide seed treatment premix is an upgraded formulation of CruiserMaxx Vibrance Cereals designed to deliver early-season disease and insect protection. Syngenta spotlighted the product at the Farm Progress Show in August.
“This premix has been rigorously tested to help ensure it fits the need for an all-in-one seed treatment that protects against key insect pests and diseases,” said Bryn Hightower, product lead for Syngenta Seedcare. “The mixture of trusted ingredients helps cereal crops emerge evenly with strong stand establishment and root mass, helping to maximize plant populations. Compared with other seed treatments available on the market, we’ve observed an average of 18% greater plant stand and a 3.3 bushels per acre yield increase in Pythium-inoculated winter wheat.1”
CruiserMaxx Vibrance Elite includes two modes of action on Rhizoctonia, Fusarium and Pythium, including mefeboxam- and ethaboxam-resistant isolates, and is labeled for management of a wide range of other early-season seedborne and soilborne diseases and insect pests.
Listen to an interview with Hightower from FPS about the new product.
FPS25 Interview with Bryn Hightower, Syngenta Seedcare (3:15)
Precision Ag News 11/6
AI and Future-Ready Agriculture
Tami Craig Shilling retired earlier this year after 35 years with Monsanto/Bayer, but she is not done working.
“I’m advising some ag tech organizations and spending some time volunteering to build some generative AI benchmarking efforts in the industry,” she said during an interview at this week’s AgGateway Annual Meeting. At the same time, Shilling is still living on a farm in southwest Illinois and raising “grandkids and corn, soybeans and cattle.”
Shilling gave a presentation at AgGateway on “Future-Ready Agriculture: Decisions, Data, and the Power of Ag,” how AI can transform data into decisions, and decisions into deeper relationships that strengthen the entire ag ecosystem.
“And my theme and really my closing challenge to the group was experiment,” she said. “Download one of the apps, ChatGPT, Gemini, you know, there’s multiple ones, but try it. Because I believe what will happen with the smart people that are members of Ag Gateway is they will begin to think about it and think about how can I use this to improve the work of employees, the work, the distribution, ag retailers, equipment companies, ag lenders, all the way to farmers.”
Listen to her interview and remarks.
Tami Craig Shilling interview (14:09)
AgGateway Keynote: AI Playbook for Ag
Preston Fay with the global management consulting firm Kearney gave the keynote presentation this week at the 2025 AgGateway Annual Meeting and Conference, offering what he called a Practical AI Playbook for Ag.
Fay says right now is agriculture’s iPhone moment. “So we have this really interesting situation where we’re using AI in a lot of ways in the ag industry to do smart spraying, for example, and drones and Internet of Things,” Fay said in an interview after his remarks. “And yet on the commercial side of agriculture, we’re really not taking advantage of the tool set that’s available to us to drive demand and really create a win-win scenario for both manufacturers, retail and distribution partners, and ultimately end users in terms of managing disease states and yield and really taking advantage of the technology in ways that improve things for everybody across the value chain.”
Fay says the technology has now evolved to a point where it’s really practical to use and apply. “So we really have to think through the use cases and the proper management of implementation to ensure that we’re getting the biggest bang for the buck…With proper planning and proper implementation, we’re really in a unique position to drive incremental sales opportunities.”
Listen to Fay’s presentation and interview:
Keynote presentation – Preston Fay, Kearney
Remarks from Preston Fay, Kearney (36:00)
Interview with Preston Fay, Kearney
Interview with Preston Fay, Kearney (5:14)
Sen. Klobuchar Headlines Motorcade for Trade Last Stop
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) spoke out against the Trump administration’s tariff policy during the final stop of the Farmers for Free Trade Motorcade for Trade on the National Mall Tuesday.
Klobuchar is looking forward to the Supreme Court ruling on the legality of President Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. “You have got a president that’s using it way beyond whatever it was intended to do, and you have a lower trade court that unanimously said that it was wrong… they say that it is illegal, and now it’s heading to the Supreme Court. So I think it’s going to be one of the most important arguments of the year… And I think there’s a very strong argument that these tariffs will ultimately be thrown out as illegal.”
The senator says the tariffs have made a difficult year disastrous for small farmers. “When these tariffs hit, it’s the small farms, it’s the small companies that are the immediate roadkill.”
Listen to Klobuchar’s remarks:
Sen. Klobuchar at Farmers for Free Trade event (10:45)
The Motorcade for Trade event in DC marks the conclusion of a 2,800-mile, 11-state tour across the country. Farmers for Free Trade has released a report detailing what they heard from farmers on the tour. The top five priorities highlighted include:
– New market agreements with meaningful tariff reduction
– An exemption for agricultural inputs from tariffs
– A reduction in trade tensions with North American neighbors
– A timely and constructive USMCA review process
– Overall reduction in global trade tensions
Animal Ag News 11/4
State of AgGateway at 20 Years
All this year, AgGateway has been celebrating two decades of achievement in fulfilling its core mission: To develop the resources and relationships that drive digital connectivity in global agriculture and related industries.
This celebration is reaching its peak this week at the North America Annual Conference in Clearwater, and at the 20 year mark, AgGateway president and CEO Brent Kemp says the state of the organization is solid.
“Membership is steady. We’re currently at 216 members. That is even taking into account mergers, acquisitions, the things that we face as an industry every day. Membership is stable. We are a strong organization thanks to you, thanks to the work that you do, and the stories that you share with trading partners every day,” said Kemp.
Kemp says AgGateway has worked very hard to accomplish goals set in the 2021 to 2025 strategic plan. “We’re coming to the end of that plan,” he said. “Now let’s take a look at 2026 through 2030. The way that we’ve talked about the last five years in create, engage, and grow, Our watchwords for the next five years are implement, impact, and advocate.”
Learn more about the state of AgGateway in Kemp’s remarks.
State of the Organization, Brent Kemp, President/CEO, AgGateway (36:25)2025 AgGateway Annual Meeting Underway
The 2025 AgGateway Annual Meeting is taking place in Clearwater, FL. We’ve just started the program and will end midday Wednesday. I have a virtual ag newsroom started on AgNewsWire.com. So, let’s learn more about the organization that is celebrating 20 years!
Throughout 2025, AgGateway has been celebrating two decades of achievement in fulfilling its core mission: To develop the resources and relationships that drive digital connectivity in global agriculture and related industries.
This celebration concludes at the North America Annual Conference, where the industry gathers to understand the state of interconnectivity in agriculture, what the association and its membership has accomplished over the past year, and the core initiatives on deck for the year ahead.