#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 …
Chromatin Provides Relief to Growers Hit by Fire
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 …
NRGene Selects St. Louis for U.S. Headquarters
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, …
NAFB Offers $25,000 in Scholarships
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 …
Study Shows How Farmers are Dealing with Downturn
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 …
The Andersons Sell Facilities to MaxYield Co-Op
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 …
USDA Reports Big Growth in Organic Certification
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 …
Hot Dogs for the MLB Win
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 …
IFAJ 2016 Young Leaders Chosen
The International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) has selected ten participants for this year’s IFAJ-Alltech Young Leaders in Agricultural Journalism Award. Judges selected candidates based on leadership potential, proven abilities and a narrative explaining their interest in the program. The ten selected journalists will have the opportunity to attend an IFAJ congress and a boot camp style workshop in Bonn, …
Merger Means Finalization of Landus Cooperatives
The final merger between Farmers Cooperative Company (FC) and West Central Cooperatives has been completed. Landus Cooperative is officially established. The new farmer-owned agricultural cooperative is headquartered in Ames, Iowa. They have more than 725 full-time employees in more than 70 locations with approximately 7,000 members. “While today’s signing ceremony to formalize Landus Cooperativeze is historic for our employees, our communities and …