The long-awaited Water Resources Reform and Development Act (WRRDA) conference report was released by House and Senate negotiators on Thursday, to the great relief of agricultural interests. “This is a huge step forward to ensure the continued success of the soybean supply chain, and leaders in both the House and Senate deserve a great deal of credit for shepherding this …
Senators and Industry Call for Biodiesel Support
A group of U.S. Senators including Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Al Franken (D-MN), Joe Donnelly (D-IN), and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) joined the National Biodiesel Board on Wednesday to release the results of a national survey highlighting uncertainty in the biodiesel industry as a result of policy setbacks in Washington this year. The survey found that …
Soy-Biobased Products Compete in Solar Decathlon
Students from Appalachian State University (ASU) are heading to France with a “reimagined” row house using soy-biobased products to compete against 20 global teams in the Solar Decathlon Europe 2014. According to the United Soybean Board, soy-based, formaldehyde-free plywood as well as durable floor matting are important features of Maison Reciprocity, ASU’s solar-powered row house developed with their partner school, …
USDA Outlook Board Chair to Retire
After 43 years with USDA and 20 years as chairman of the World Agricultural Outlook Board, Dr. Gerald Bange has decided it’s time to retire. USDA Chief Economist Joseph Glauber announced today that Bange will retire at the end of this month and Dr. Seth Meyer will become Acting Board Chair. Dr. Meyer is currently a Senior Economist in the …
KernelQuest for Your Smart Phone
Look down on your smart phone! It’s a bird, it’s a plane – it’s Captain Cornelius! The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) just launched a new smartphone/tablet game featuring beloved character Captain Cornelius. “KernelQuest is a game of skill, maneuverability and all-around corniness. Join Captain Cornelius, our a-maize-ing superhero in green spandex, as he defies gravity and weaves his way …
Grow it, Kill it, Melt it with Conserv FS
The GROWMARK FS System is well known in the Midwest agricultural world for grain, energy and agronomy services, but maybe not so well known is its turf products and services. “If you want to grow it, kill it, or melt it, the turf division would be who you would talk to,” says Jim Coens, Turf Department Manager for Conserv FS …
ZimmCast with Paulsen’s Sara Steever
We are so pleased to offer our sincere congratulations to a good friend and professional colleague Sara Steever, who was just named president of Paulsen Marketing! Sara is only the fourth president in the 63-year history of the Sioux Falls-based agency that specializes in ag and rural lifestyle clients. She succeeds Greg Guse, who has been Paulsen’s president for the …
iCropTrak Introduces 60 Second Soil Zoning
iCropTrak has released a new mobile farming app with the ability to create a new grower, a new farm, add CLU field boundaries, and soil zones in as little as 60 seconds on an iPad without the need of a desktop or cloud server. According to Cogent 3D president Aaron Hutchinson, this new application means that for the first time, …
Farm Bureau Provides Farm Bill Help
If you have questions about how the new farm bill works, American Farm Bureau has answers. The American Farm Bureau Federation has produced a new series of videos and launched a website to help farmers, landowners and other stakeholders better understand the provisions of the 2014 farm bill. “We have distilled down a massive and complex piece of legislation – …
EPA Chief Discusses Climate Change Report
The administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency discussed the new White House climate change report out yesterday with members of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting meeting in Washington DC this week. “It’s a really good document in terms of focusing on the United States,” she said. “In particular, it looks at the agriculture sector. It talks about the droughts …