According to the USDA 2014 Prospective Plantings report released today, farmers are intending to plant an estimated 81.5 million acres of soybeans in 2014, up six percent from last year and an all-time record high if realized, surpassing the previous record of 77.5 million acres planted in 2009. Planted acreage intentions for soybeans are up or unchanged in all states …
Conversation with Sen. Mike Johanns
During the American Coalition for Ethanol Biofuels Beltway March last week, I was fortunate to be able to tag along on a few Congressional office visits – and pushy enough to get a few interviews with some lawmakers! One of those was Senator Mike Johanns (R-NE) who will be retiring this year after serving for more than 30 years in …
Happy 10th Anniversary to Agri-Pulse
Just like us, our friends at Agri-Pulse started their company in 2004, so we are celebrating our tenth anniversary together! Also like us, Agri-Pulse is run by a husband and wife from a home office in a nice vacation spot, so we have a place to wind down when not on the road – which is more often than not! …
Little Ethanol Lobbyist
Wearing a tie and sporting a “Don’t Mess with the RFS” button, 10-year-old Ethan Fagen was the youngest of the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) Biofuels Beltway marchers last week on Capitol Hill. Ethan came along with his grandfather, Ron Fagen of Fagen, Inc., and he was right in the trenches with him handing out materials and talking about the …
Agri-Pulse Kicks Off National Agriculture Week
The National Agriculture Day celebration in Washington DC has events spread across three days – and really it should be more because it is officially National Agriculture Week. We started it all off with a bang, thanks to the Farm to Fork politics session sponsored by our friends with Agri-Pulse, who are celebrating their 10th anniversary of business this year …
Gators Luv Pork!
This is breaking news! The Pork Checkoff has just released the results of a nationwide competition to discover which state has the most #PorkLUV – and Florida wins! After sharing more than 2,400 declarations, 30,000 fresh pork meals will be donated and divided among food banks within the state. North Carolina and New York were close behind, and with more …
Farmers Present Case for Immigration Reform
The Partnership for a New American Economy and the Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform released a report Tuesday entitled “No Longer Home Grown: How Labor Shortages are Increasing America’s Reliance on Imported Fresh Produce and Slowing U.S. Economic Growth.” The report found that the share of fresh fruits and vegetables imported and consumed by American families has grown by almost …
BASF Sharpen Gets Registration for Rice
Rice growers now have a new weapon in the fight against tough weeds such as hemp sesbania, morning glory, and Texasweed. BASF has received federal registration of Sharpen® herbicide for both pre- and post-emergence applications on rice to allow for flexible control of broadleaf weeds. “This is a herbicide that offers growers broad-spectrum control on broadleaf weeds,” said Eric Webster, …
Kip Cullers in Africa
About a week or so before Commodity Classic, I got a call from our good friend and rock star soybean grower Kip Cullers who was all excited about the trip he had just taken to South Africa. So, I did an interview with him while I had the chance, which was a good thing because I barely saw him at …
Hortau Tweet Gets our Attention
As I said before, we were so busy at Commodity Classic even with four people we were unable to cover everything we wanted to cover, but one company did something that caught our attention and made us go out of our way to meet them. @Hortau Simplified Irrigation sent a tweet to @Agriblogger asking him to come by and do …