It’s a great week for the National Council of Farmers Cooperatives to be holding its annual Washington Conference with all that is going on in the nation’s capitol impacting the agriculture industry. GROWMARK Executive Director of Corporate and Government Relations Chuck Spencer called me from DC this morning to talk about what they are discussing on the Hill and of …
Senate Farm Bill Comments
There was not much discussion as the full Senate considered and voted on the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2013 Monday evening, but a few senators had some comments. Prior to the vote, Senate Ag Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) talked about the hard work the Senate has done to pass the second farm bill in two years …
Senate Passes Farm Bill – Again
By a vote of 66 to 27, the full Senate passed its version of a 2013 Farm Bill Monday evening, much to the relief of agricultural interests. “America’s farmers greatly appreciate the leadership and bipartisan efforts by the Senate to complete their work on the farm bill,” said National Corn Growers Association President Pam Johnson. “We also recognize the efforts …
Farm Bill Attention Turns to the House
The Senate passed the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2013 by a vote of 66 to 27 on Monday evening, putting even more pressure on the House of Representatives to complete its work to get a bill to conference and passed by the end of summer. Representative Vicky Hartzler (R-MO), a member of the House agriculture committee, is …
USFRA Wins National PR Award
The U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance recently earned a place next to big names like Kimberly Clark, GE, Proctor & Gamble, and General Motors by capturing one of the public relations industry’s most prestigious awards – the Gold Sabre. USFRA won the award for its digital campaign “From East to West and Everywhere In Between, America’s Farmers and Ranchers are …
NAFB Exec Suffers Heart Attack – Updated
*Important UPDATE 2:30 pm Central* He is reported to be doing well, but prayers are requested for National Association of Farm Broadcasting Executive Director Tom Brand who suffered a “serious heart attack” yesterday, according to the NAFB office. NAFB president Mark Oppold informed the membership of the organization by email that Tom is doing fine and is at Heartland Regional …
The Infection Chain of Swine Diseases
We first heard about the Infection Chain concept in managing swine disease from Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica (BIVI) back in March at American Association of Swine Veterinarians annual meeting. We learned more about it during World Pork Expo. “BI is very dedicated to understanding the diseases overall,” explained Swine Technical Manager Brian Payne. “We’ve done a great job with the PRRS …
Novus Goes Whole Hog for WPX
As has become the tradition at World Pork Expo, Novus International once again offered a whole, tender, juicy roasted hog for expo goers during the Thursday afternoon street party. This year the Novus theme was “More Than A Mineral Happy Hour” in honor of Mintrex, the next-generation trace mineral that has its own official ingredient definition by the Association of …
National Pork Board Provides PEDV Research Funds
Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDV) was a big topic of discussion at the World Pork Expo this past week and the National Pork Board announced the investment of $450,000 in Checkoff funds to help speed research into finding answers to this new disease threat facing the domestic pork industry. This amount, coupled with funds just approved by the Iowa Pork …
Improving Digestibility Can Reduce Feed Costs
Applying nutrient digestibility concepts and the use of certain enzymes can help hog producers reduce waste and lower feed costs. Dr. Jeffrey Escobar of Novus International talked about that during a presentation at World Pork Expo this week, explaining the benefits of their feed additive Cibenza DP100. “It’s a heat-stable protease … that will digest proteins to release amino acids,” …