Leslie McCuiston, a pig farmer from Columbus, Nebraska, has been named the 2017 America’s Pig Farmer of the Year. According to the National Pork Board, the award recognizes a pig farmer who excels at raising pigs using the We Care ethical principles and who connects with today’s consumers about how pork is produced. McCuiston received the highest combined score from …
Groups Urge Trump to Stop EPA Changes to RFS
Biofuels stakeholder organizations have sent a letter to President Donald Trump, urging him to “act quickly to prevent actions” at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that threaten to undermine future growth of the biofuels industry under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). “If the proposed changes are finalized, EPA’s actions would cause severe harm to our industry, undermining your efforts to …
Ag Export Coalition Urges Increased Funding for Export Programs
More than 120 members of the Coalition to Promote U.S. Agricultural Exports are urging leaders of the House Committee on Agriculture to increase funding for USDA export promotion programs in the new farm bill. The coalition ssent a letter to Committee Chairman Michael Conaway (R-TX), and Ranking Minority Member Collin Peterson (D-MN), asking them to increase funding for the Market …
Vroom Announces Retirement From CropLife America
CropLife America will be in the market for a new president and CEO next year, as Jay Vroom has given notice that he will retire at the end of 2018, which will mark his 30th year at the helm of the organization. Vroom announced his plans Monday during the general session at the 2017 CLA Annual Meeting in Dana Point, …
CREAATE Act Would Promote Ag Exports
U.S. Senators Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Angus King (I-Maine), Joe Donnelly (D-IN), and Susan Collins (R-ME) introduced bipartisan legislation this week that would increase funding to USDA’s export promotion programs. The Cultivating Revitalization by Expanding American Agricultural Trade and Exports (CREAATE) Act would double funding for two of the USDA’s most successful programs, the Market Access Program (MAP) and Foreign Market …
Florida & Georgia Cattle Country Hit by Irma
Hurricane Irma traveled straight through Florida and Georgia cattle country. An assessment of damaged areas is still being tallied. Florida dairies are running on generators, still struggling to keep cows milked and forced to dump tons of milk for various reasons. Less impacted appears to be the beef cattle industry, as most fences remained intact and kept cattle from getting …
Communicating with the National Association of Wheat Growers
This week’s ZimmCast continues my series visiting with farm organization Directors of Communications. At the Farm Progress Show I sat down with Caitlin Eannello, National Association of Wheat Growers, to talk about her career choice and what the challenges of the job are. Caitlin does not have a farm background but does have a passion to help farmers and a …
Wisconsin Sends 17,000 lbs. of Cheese to Houston
Driven by online conversations shortly after Hurricane Harvey, Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board’s (WMMB) Social Media Specialist, Lizzy Schultz, wondered how they could help. After a team meeting, the idea became a quick reality. Wisconsin’s cheesemakers were contacted and more than 17,000 pounds of cheese was sent to Houston to help the victims of the hurricane. “We are deeply saddened by …
Rice for Today and the Future
Dr. Chrisitan De Guzman, Southeast Missouri State University, spoke to attendees of the Missouri Rice Council Field Day about varieties in the trial plots answering their questions about his research. “I believe they are looking for which varieties are most suitable to them because most of our resourceful research here- they try to evaluate it and see if it is …
Secretary Sonny Visits Farm Progress Show
It was a packed house for our Secretary of Agriculture as he was hosted by WGN and ADM during the 2017 Farm Progress Show. Sec. Sonny Perdue visted with ag and local media prior to taking the stage. Naturally, trade was a hot topic followed by Hurricane Harvey and an update from D.C. Listen to or download the complete press …