2025 Tech Hub Live

USDA Estimates Corn Acres Down 3%, Soybeans Up 3%

Cindy Zimmerman

The planted acres report out Friday from USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) estimates 91.5 million acres of corn planted in the United States for 2024, down 3% from last year, with soybean acres estimated at 86.1 million acres, up 3% from last year. The estimate for all cotton planted area for 2024 is 11.7 million acres, 14% above 2023. …

Corn, Cotton, Soybean, USDA

DWFI Podcast 36 – Impacts of Drought on Human Health

Cindy Zimmerman

Drought is a prolonged dry period that can occur anywhere in the world and results in a water shortage. Unlike some other disasters, drought has a slow onset and a prolonged impact on health, agriculture, economies, energy and the environment. An estimated 55 million people globally are affected by droughts every year and as many as 700 million people are …

Audio, Podcasts, Water for Food, Weather

Rabobank BBQ Index is Hotter Than Ever

Cindy Zimmerman

At a cost of $99, the latest Rabobank BBQ Index is hotter than ever this year and consumers are feeling the heat. The 2024 Rabobank BBQ Index, which measures the cost of staple ingredients for a 10-person barbecue, shows that it will cost $99 to host a cookout on the Fourth of July this year, up from $97 last year …

Beef, Food

UFA Co-operative and MyLand Announce Commercial Pilot

Cindy Zimmerman

UFA Co-operative (UFA) and soil health company MyLand are excited to announce a three-year collaboration on a commercial pilot with various growers in Alberta, Canada. The goal of the initiative is to transform responsible farming practices and soil health management, leveraging advanced microbial technologies to benefit farmers and the environment. The commercial pilot will be integrating MyLand’s proprietary technology and …

AgWired Precision, Precision Agriculture, Soil, Technology

AMVAC® Promotes Rick Rice to Business Unit Leader

Cindy Zimmerman

AMVAC®, an American Vanguard® Company, announces the promotion of Rick Rice to business unit leader, application technologies. In his new role, Rice leads the company’s application technology business unit (ATBU) which oversees the commercial aspects of AMVAC’s legacy systems SmartBox® and Lock’N Load® as well as SIMPAS® technologies (SIMPAS, SmartBox+/SIMPAS Solo), SIMPAS-applied Solutions® and ULTIMUS®. Under Rice’s leadership, AMVAC’s ATBU …

AMVAC, people

Pathogens Identified as Cause of Citrus Fruit Drop

Cindy Zimmerman

Research conducted in the European Union by KeyPlex at the University of Torino in Italy have determined causes of fruit drop on citrus, and the results will help to guide the citrus industry into the future. While fruit drop was thought to be caused by physiological conditions and other pathogens such as huang long bing (HLB), the research has clearly …

Citrus, Research

RFA and NFU File Separate Lawsuit Over EV Mandate

Cindy Zimmerman

The Renewable Fuels Association and National Farmers Union have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals challenging recently finalized light- and medium-duty vehicle emissions standards. This action is separate from the lawsuit filed last week by National Corn Growers Association, American Farm Bureau Federation, and American Petroleum Institute to “ensure that …

EPA, Ethanol, RFA

Bid on Beef Auction Platform Launched

Cindy Zimmerman

A new kind of auction platform for beef sales was launched this month. On June 1, CK6 Consulting and Texas Beefhouse launched Bid on Beef, the vision of Chris Earl, owner of Reverse Rocking R Ranch and CK6 Consulting in New Mexico. Working with beef cattle producers across the nation, CK6 Consulting has conducted $150 million in sales through price …

Beef, Livestock, Marketing, Markets

ASTA Honors Industry Pioneers

Cindy Zimmerman

The American Seed Trade Association honored industry pioneers during the 2024 ASTA Leadership Summit this week in Nashville, Tennessee. Awardees were recognized in the following categories: Heritage, Distinguished Service, Lifetime Honorary Member, and Excellence in Science. The Heritage Award serves to preserve and build seed industry history by honoring and recognizing individuals who have significantly impacted the American seed industry …

AgWired Precision, ASTA, Seed

AgGateway Publishes ADAPT Standard 1.0

Cindy Zimmerman

Members of AgGateway at the Mid-Year Meeting in Iowa last week were excited about the recent publication of the ADAPT Standard 1.0, a data model designed for the business-to-business transfer of agricultural production data. ADAPT stands for Ag Data Application Programming Toolkit and ADAPT Standard 1.0 is the successor to the AgGateway ADAPT Framework released in 2015 that served as …

ag retailers, AgGateway, Agribusiness, AgWired Precision, Audio, data, Precision Agriculture