The Senate Agriculture Committee yesterday heard from nominees Greg Ibach to be Under Secretary of Agriculture for Marketing and Regulatory Programs and Bill Northey to be Under Secretary of Agriculture for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services. “Both Mr. Ibach and Mr. Northey have valuable ‘boots-on-the-ground’ experience. They are both farmers,” said Committee Chairman Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS). “They know what …
Ag and Ethanol Groups Among EPA Partners
The Environmental Protection Agency this week rolled out Smart Sectors, a partnership program with regulated sectors of the economy – including agriculture and renewable fuels – which is “focused on achieving better environmental outcomes.” Trade associations from 13 industry sectors were selected for their environmental and economic impacts. “The Smart Sectors program is designed to effectively engage business partners throughout …
Precision Ag Bytes 10/4
The Seam, a leading provider of agribusiness software and trading solutions, is launching new business intelligence tools for peanut farmers and handlers with real-time, actionable insights. The tools are part of The Seam’s Peanut Commodity Management Platform, which was released a year ago. Illinois Nutrient Research & Education Council (NREC) has released “Considerations for First Time Cover Crop Adopters.” This guidebook …
Help Finally on the Way for USDA
Over five months after he took office, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue finally has some help on the way. Yesterday, the Senate voted to formally approved the nominations of Stephen Censky as Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, and Ted McKinney as Under Secretary of Agriculture for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs. “I am pleased that the U.S. Senate was able to work …
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 …
Bayer Showcasing Commitment to Cotton
The Head of Seeds, North America, for Bayer CropScience is Lee Rivenbark. Lee was a lunchtime presenter during the Bayer Showcase Plot Tour in Lubbock, TX. I thought he would be a great person to provide an overview of why Bayer holds these events and especially the one in their new Cotton Breeding Station. He started out by telling me, …
Zimfo Bytes 9/29
Rural Media Group has brought Janet Shope on board as VP of Advertising Sales for RFD-TV and Rural Radio Channel 147 on SiriusXM. Shope has more than 20 years of Cable, Radio and Broadcast sales experience and was previously Senior Account Executive with Sinclair Broadcast Group. The Georgia Peanut Commission is hosting “Photos from the Field,” a photo contest to …
ASTA Support for Cover Crops
The latest Cover Crop Survey released earlier this month will be highlighted at the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) Farm & Lawn Seed Conference, coming up November 5-6 in Kansas City. Since 2014, ASTA and its members have helped support this important survey conducted by the Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC) with funding from USDA’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education …
Precision Ag Bytes 9/27
Land O’Lakes, Inc. announced the finalists for the Land O’Lakes Prize: Drone Challenge, a crowdsourced competition launched to help find drone solutions for farmers. Finalists are: Sandhills Robotics, Fayetteville, North Carolina; CreateUAS, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; and American Robotics, Boston, Massachusetts. The 3rd World Congress on Biostimulants in Agriculture is an international scientific and technical congress to …
Alltech Talks Farm of the Future LIVE
Alltech hosted a live video event on the future of agriculture and technology with a panel of agribusiness experts discussing and debating their thoughts on the future of the agricultural industry, new consumer demographics and demands, ag technology, big data, nutrigenomics and precision nutrition. Continue to follow the discussion on Twitter with the hashtag #FarmingTheFuture. Great questions were posed, thought-provoking …