Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. This week, we check in with the American Seed Trade Association to see how they have adapted to the reality of a virtual world and taken its annual conferences to a new level. Founded in 1883, ASTA is one of the oldest trade organizations in the United States and they conduct four regular events …
Benson Hill Builds a Home for the Future of Food
St. Louis-based food tech company Benson Hill, held a ribbon cutting for its new state-of-the-art headquarters on Monday, joined by Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. The 160,000 square foot headquarters will house a diverse and growing team focused on innovation of better food and ingredient options from plant to plate. “Today celebrates a milestone on our journey to move food forward,” …
EPA Announces Interim Approval of Atrazine
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler joined farmers and ranchers at an outdoor round table in Missouri where he announced the interim decisions for the triazine herbicides atrazine, propazine and simazine. “The benefits of atrazine in agriculture are high,” said Wheeler. “If we were to lose that, it would cost the corn growers between 475 and 775 million dollars …
So Long to Farm Broadcaster Evan Slack
Heaven has gained another farm broadcaster. The legendary Evan Slack passed away on Saturday, September 19, at the age of 86. His radio career spanned 68 years including most recently as owner of the Evan Slack Network based in Denver, Colo. During that time, he broadcasted from 45 states, 4 Canadian Provinces and Australia. Russell Nemetz purchased Evan’s network earlier …
USDA Undersecretary Censky to Return to ASA
USDA Undersecretary Steve Censky gave one of his last addresses in his current role to the American Coalition for Ethanol virtual annual conference this week. It was announced this morning that Censky will be returning to his former job as CEO of the American Soybean Association in November as after serving with USDA since October 2017. In his prerecorded remarks …
ZimmComm Headquarters Hit by Hurricane Sally
A generator and cell phone WiFi are keeping ZimmComm in operation here at world headquarters near Pensacola, Florida after being hit by Hurricane Sally yesterday. We are very fortunate to only have some trees and branches down and a little tear in the pool screen, probably a few missing roof tiles. If you are seeing the pictures from the storm …
EPA Denial of RFS Waivers Good News for Ethanol
Ethanol producers and farmers were pleased to hear Monday that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is denying petitions for retroactive small refinery waivers for the 2011-18 compliance years. EPA announced it is denying 54 “gap-year” small refinery exemption petitions and will deny the remaining 14 petitions once they are received from the Department of Energy. In announcing its decision, EPA …
Branstad Coming Home from China
U.S. Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China Terry Branstad will retire from his position as U.S. envoy and depart Beijing in early October. During his tenure as ambassador, which began in June 2017, the former Iowa governor traveled to 26 provinces and autonomous regions in China, and would have visited all of them if COVID-19 had not limited his …
MACA Honors Margy Eckelkamp
The Mid America CropLife Association (MACA) honored one of our favorite agricultural journalists at its recent virtual annual meeting. The Ruth White Media Award is presented to an individual who’s demonstrated an evidence of consistent, objective, and accurate reporting on American agriculture and the myriad of issues involved in modern agriculture, including the CropLife industry. This year’s winner is Margy …
USDA Lowers Corn and Soybean Forecasts
The August derecho that charged across the Midwest has taken its toll on the latest crop estimates in USDA’s September World Agricultural Supply and Demand report. Despite the decline, the numbers would still be records or near records for both crops this year. The 2020 corn crop would still be nine percent higher than last year and the second highest …