Two North America Journalists Earn Global Award

Kelly Marshall

Sarah Hill from Brookings, South Dakota, USA and Julienne Isaacs of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada  have been honored as two of this year’s 2016 IFAJ-Alltech Young Leaders in Agricultural Journalism Award winners. These representatives from North America competed with some of the best throughout the world and will now participate in the International Federation of Agricultural Jounralists (IFAJ) Congress.  They will …

Agribusiness, Alltech, IFAJ, Journalism

CIRB Graduates Inaugural Emerging Leaders

Kelly Marshall

The Crop Insurance and Reinsurance Bureau (CIRB) is celebrating the graduation of their first ever Emerging Leaders Program.  The ceremony was held during the Spring Policy Conference and Fly-In.  The class has spent more than year learning the necessary tools to become effective advocates for the next generation of crop insurance leaders. “Today, crop insurance is a centerpiece of the …

Agribusiness, CIRB, Insurance

#ZimmieZebra is Zelfie Ready

Jamie Johansen

#ZimmieZebra made it to her temporary home this weekend and jumped at the chance to stretch her legs after her long journey. Tomorrow Zimmie and I will make the trip to Kansas City for the 2016 Agri-Marketing Conference, but wanted to make sure she wasn’t camera shy and ready for the many Zelfies to come. Thankfully, she thoroughly enjoyed getting …

Agribusiness, NAMA, Nufarm, ZimmComm Announcement

Chromatin Provides Relief to Growers Hit by Fire

Kelly Marshall

The Anderson Creek Fire destroyed more than 400,000 and now Chromatin, Inc. is moving in to help farmers and ranchers.  The company will be providing producers with seed that will rapidly feed livestock or cover the ground to prevent soil erosion. “We are saddened to hear of the tragic damage caused by this fire to crops, pastures and livestock in …

Agribusiness, sorghum

NRGene Selects St. Louis for U.S. Headquarters

Jamie Johansen

GlobalSTL, the initiative of BioSTL focused on attracting high-growth international companies to St. Louis, announced that Israeli genomics company NRGene has selected St. Louis as the location of its U.S. headquarters. NRGene is the fourth company to move to St. Louis through the GlobalSTL initiative. NRGene develops advanced computational tools leveraging big data to identify genetic traits to improve yield, …

Agribusiness, Research, Technology

NAFB Offers $25,000 in Scholarships

Kelly Marshall

The National Association of Farm Broadcasters believes in the future of farm broadcasting, which is why they’ve been supporting college students with financial support since 1975.  This year the NAFB will be offering five $5,000 scholarships to college juniors, seniors or graduate students enrolled for the fall of 2016. The scholarships include the Glenn Kummerow Memorial Scholarship, the George Logan …

Agribusiness, Education, Journalism

Study Shows How Farmers are Dealing with Downturn

Cindy Zimmerman

J.L.Farmakis, Inc has just released a new research study conducted in February by Millennium Research that shows plans farmers are making this year in reaction to lower commodity prices. Among the findings of the “Farmer Speaks Study” are: • Half of the farmers surveyed are seeking off-farm employment • 74% will switch to generics or change brands of crop protection …

Agribusiness, Audio, Farming, Marketing

The Andersons Sell Facilities to MaxYield Co-Op

Kelly Marshall

The Andersons, Inc. has completed an agreement to sell eight grain facilities located in Iowa to MaxYield Cooperative. “We have referenced performance issues in our western grain assets during several recent investor calls. We anticipate this sale will improve our prospects and provide a pathway to profitability for this area of our business,” said CEO Pat Bowe. “We believe MaxYield …

Agribusiness, Cooperatives

USDA Reports Big Growth in Organic Certification

Kelly Marshall

Certified organic operations continue to increase significantly, according to the latest numbers from the USDA.  Growth is seeing a double-digit trend, with 21,781 certified operations in the U.S. and 31,160 world-wide. “Organic food is one of the fasting growing segments of American agriculture,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “As consumer demand for organic products continues to grow, the USDA organic …

Agribusiness, Food, Organic, USDA

Hot Dogs for the MLB Win

Kelly Marshall

While apple pie and baseball might be quintessentially American, hot dogs and major league baseball go together much better.  And even though some have suggested it might be possible to attend a game and not eat a hot dog, the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council (NHDSC) is predicting the consumption of more than 19.4 million hot dogs and 4.3 million …

Agribusiness, Food