Being a farmer is the greatest job on earth noted USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack. He spent the morning back in his home state of Iowa (Vilsack is a former Iowa Governor) to kick off the 10th Annual Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit. He kicked off his speech noting that he is proud of the work the USDA has done to help …
Poll Shows Farmers Back Trump
A new poll among farmers show Trump is the Republican forerunner for the nomination due to his strong support of agriculture. Conducted by Farm Futures, the poll found 37 percent of those favoring a Republican candidate said they would vote for Trump “if the election were held today.” Trump’s support among GOP farmers was even stronger at 39 percent from …
Farmers Increase Profits with Solar Leases
You hear some news about farmers receiving payments for leasing land for wind turbines, but some growers are also receiving lease payments for solar power projects. For example, Farmland Partners recently entered into two ground lease agreements for photovoltaic solar power generation facilities on two farms in South Carolina. The agreements offer the right to lease up to an aggregate …
Ag Secy Vilsack Talks SOTU, Trade & Climate
USDA Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack held a press call yesterday to discuss President Obama’s last State of the Union (SOTU) address. Vilsack, who has served in the capacity of Ag Secretary throughout Obama’s Administration, was in attendance during the speech. He said he is very proud to have been part of an administration that has basically taken the country from …
China Opens DDGS Anti-Dumping Investigation
China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) has initiated, again, an anti-dumping countervailing duty investigations into U.S. produced distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) exported to the country. This is not the first time that China has been down this road. Back in 2011 China began an investigation into DDGs but then in 2012, they dropped it. Now, in 2015, they have …
Family Farmers Support Climate Focus in SOTU Address
Last night marked President Obama’s last State of the Union (SOTU) address, and as expected one area of focus was the fight against climate change. National Farmers Union (NFU) President Roger Johnson said after the speech that the administration’s focus on the climate change is an issue that farmers and ranchers across the U.S. have been dealing with for many …
NRGene Assists in Wheat Genome Sequencing
The bread wheat genome has now been sequenced. Wheat is one of the most widely grown cereals in the world, and the project will help accelerate global research into crop improvement. The project was led by the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium (IWGSC). Using NRGene’s DeNovoMAGICTM software, the bread wheat variety Chinese Spring genome was assembled. The new data will …
#USDA Celebrates Bob Stallman Appreciation Day
This month marks the last for Bob Stallman, a 16 year veteran at the helm of the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF). Stallman will be passing the torch during the upcoming 2016 AFBF Annual Convention& IDEAg Trade Show taking place in Orlando, Florida January 8-13, 2016. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) honored Stallman’s efforts today with a brief ceremony …
MGEX Boasts Record Year
MGEX has concluded its best year with new annual highs in both total volume and electronic volume. Total volume finished the year with 2,315,186 contracts traded, surpassing the previous record set in 2014 by six percent. During the year, MGEX reported five separate months of volume greater than 200,000, doing so for the first time in Exchange history. Of the …
Merry Christmas from AgWired!
The AgWired team is thankful to all of you for tuning in through a busy 2015 as we worked to provide the latest agriculture news. We’ll be bringing you some new stories throughout the end of the year and resume full coverage on January 2, 2016. We’ll be onsite all over the country next year and look forward to seeing …