Growing up on a corn and soybean farm in Illinois is really what led Nick Fassler to his role at BASF Crop Protection in helping farmers keep their crops healthier. “We raised about 1200 acres of corn and soybeans,” Nick told me during an interview at Commodity Classic, noting that he got his undergrad degree from Western Illinois and got …
How GROWMARK Uses Social Media to Recruit
GROWMARK’s gold-standard internship program is over 50 years old and it keeps growing because they are using all of the latest social media tools to reach students about the potential for career opportunities within the vast cooperative system. “Social media has allowed us to continue to enhance our traditional recruiting efforts,” says University Relations Manager Ashley McClintock. “We utilize Facebook, …
NCBA Praised for Youth Labor Rule Efforts
In deciding not to pursue controversial youth labor regulations for agriculture, the Obama administration said it would work with rural stakeholders for safety education, specifically mentioning organizations such as the Farm Bureau, the NFU, FFA, and 4-H. But the livestock industry has been just as involved in the issue, if not more so, according to Congressman Denny Rehberg (R-MT). “I …
Driving a New Holland Combine
My personal thrill at the New Holland Mega Media event this week was test driving a CR8080 combine. Never drove anything like it before and it was so easy! You may not realize it, but New Holland is kind of a big deal in combines. “New Holland was the first company to launch a rotary combine in the market,” Combine …
Victory for Kids in Agriculture
Agricultural organizations are pleased that the U.S. Labor Department has officially withdrawn proposed rules that would have prevented many young people from working on farms and ranches. “The Obama administration is firmly committed to promoting family farmers and respecting the rural way of life, especially the role that parents and other family members play in passing those traditions down through …
New Holland Mega Media Event
New Holland wants everyone to know that they are rejuvenated and back in the game for agriculture. Not that they ever left the game, they’ve just been flying a bit under the radar for awhile and now New Holland North American VP Abe Hughes says they really want to get out and show they industry what they’ve got. “We’ve been …
USDA Confirms BSE Case
The U.S. Department of Agriculture today confirmed the nation’s fourth case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in a dairy cow from central California. “The carcass of the animal is being held under State authority at a rendering facility in California and will be destroyed. It was never presented for slaughter for human consumption, so at no time presented a risk …
BASF Survey Confirms Glyphosate Resistance
Farmers are responding to the threat of glyphosate resistance, according to results from a recent national BASF survey. The survey found that about four out of five farmers plan to alter their weed control programs in 2012 due to resistance issues. More than 50 percent of farmers surveyed acknowledged the existence of glyphosate-resistant weeds in their fields, and many of …
MGEX Debuts Canadian Conference Call
The Minneapolis Grain Exchange has been doing a monthly conference calls with commentary on USDA crop and supply/demand reports for many years. Now they are doing the same for their friends north of the border. Today was the inaugural MGEX conference call in conjunction with the Stats Canada agricultural data releases, following the release of March Intentions of Principal Field …
Farm Bill Work This Week
While farmers are busy getting crops in the ground this week, members of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees will be busy trying to get a 2012 Farm Bill off the ground. As the Senate Ag Committee released a draft proposal on Friday, several agricultural organizations sent a letter to the leadership thanking them, while at the same time expressing …