There was a lot of buzz about bees at the 2016 Potato Expo this week in Las Vegas. The National Potato Council announced this week that they are joining the Bayer CropScience Feed a Bee initiative as an official partner committing to enlist America’s potato farmers to help feed bees. Dr. Becky Langer, manager of the North American Bee Care …
Federal Grants Workshop at #AFBF16
Navigating the federal grant system was the topic of a workshop at the American Farm Bureau Federation’s 97th Annual Convention and IDEAg Trade Show. Decisions about whether a farm or agribusiness can or should apply for a federal grant requires significant foresight and self-analysis, according to grant-writing and rural entrepreneurship experts who spoke at the workshop. A value-added support team …
AFBF Patriot Project
The Farm Bureau Patriot Project, a mentoring program that connects military veterans interested in agricultural careers with experienced farmers and ranchers to help them develop professional networking and business planning skills, was a featured workshop during the AFBF 97th Annual Convention & IDEAg Trade Show this week in Orlando. Military veterans in production agriculture are finding that the farming and …
NuFarm Working to Tame the Zebra
Chip, the Nufarm zebra has been roaming the rows at the 2016 Potato Expo this week with a goal of educating attendees about new research into fighting zebra chip. Zebra chip is a potato disease vectored by a psyllid, according to Bob Bruss with Nufarm technical services. “This is a problem that’s been slowly growing and has become more of …
#SpudNation Throwdown Competition
One of the main events at the Potato Expo in Las Vegas this week was the first SPUD NATION THROWDOWN COOK-OFF. The live competition featured the top three finalists of a nationwide recipe contest for food truck chefs and the winner was named Top Spud and with a prize of $5000. Congratulations to Bridgett Blough (pictured on the right) from …
USDA Outlook Forum Panel Announced
USDA has announced the members of the 92nd annual Agricultural Outlook Forum Plenary Panel on “Providing Leadership for Present and Future Generations in the Transformation of Agriculture.” This year’s panelists include Elizabeth Garrett, President of Cornell University; Ilene Gordon, CEO of Ingredion; Pamela Hess, Executive Director of the Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food and Agriculture; and Pam Johnson, an Iowa …
NAFB Emeritus Rankin Passes Away
The National Association of Farm Broadcasting announced this week that Emeritus NAFB member Charlie Rankin has passed away. Charlie was an NAFB member for 61 years. Rankin “retired” from broadcasting in 1990, but remained on the air for several years. In addition to broadcasting, Charlie was passionate about Texas A&M and rodeo and was a founding president of the National …
Meet the New @FarmBureau President and VP
A good crowd of ag media reporters stayed to the bitter end of the American Farm Bureau Federation convention in Orlando Tuesday evening to hear from the new president and vice president of the organization. Zippy Duvall, who served as president of Georgia Farm Bureau for nine years, is the 12th president of AFBF, chosen in the first open election …
Zippy Duvall Elected New @FarmBureau President
Georgia Farm Bureau president Zippy Duvall has a new job after a three ballot election at the American Farm Bureau Federation convention in Orlando. Duvall, a third generation dairy farmer who currently maintains a 300 head beef cow herd, defeated three other candidates to be elected as president of the nation’s largest farm organization. His passionate acceptance speech stressed faith …
GMO Convert at #AFBF16
Anti-GMO activist turned advocate Mark Lynas shared his conversion experience during a featured workshop at the 97th American Farm Bureau Federation Annual Convention and IDEAg Trade Show. Lynas told an audience of farmers and ranchers how he changed his mind on GMOs when he came face-to-face with the science supporting biotechnology. “As a scientist, you must have data to back …