A bipartisan coalition of 28 producers, national and state commodity groups, supply chain companies, and environmental and conservation groups have signed a letter to U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS) and Ranking Member Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) urging them to support the Agriculture Data Act of 2018 (S. 2487). The coalition applauds Senators John Thune (R-SD) and Amy Klobuchar …
AEM Releases First-Quarter Sales Data
The latest sales data from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) shows total U.S. 2-wheel drive tractor sales gained four percent for March compared to last year, while 4-wheel drive tractors sales dropped five percent. Self-propelled combine sales declined 20 percent. First-quarter 2018 U.S. sales were essentially flat for the smaller-size tractors and 100-plus HP 2-wheel drive tractors declined about …
House Ag Committee Unveils Agriculture and Nutrition Act
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway (R-TX) today introduced the first draft of a new farm bill, the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018 (H.R. 2). ““The farm bill keeps faith with our nation’s farmers and ranchers through the current agriculture recession by providing certainty and helping producers manage the enormous risks that are inherent in agriculture,” said Rep. Conaway. …
WEDA Acquires Friend Management Systems™
Western Equipment Dealers Association (WEDA) announced today that it is acquiring Friend Management Systems™ (FMS), pairing two leading providers of management consulting and professional development services for equipment dealers. Friend Management is a Canadian-based management consulting firm providing leadership development and peer-to-peer learning to agricultural, consumer, and golf equipment dealerships in Canada, United States and Australia. The company is also …
Precision Ag Bytes 4/11
Cytozyme Laboratories, Inc. has announced the recent opening of a Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprise office in Beijing, China, to improve its business processes and meet the growing demands of consumers throughout the region. The LG Seeds brand announces the launch of a new Technical Team Agronomist role. This role will provide technical support services to LG Seeds’ sales team, customers, …
Equipment Dealers Fighting Tax Policy Changes
The 2018 Oklahoma state legislature has seen several bills this session that seek to increase revenue by making tax policy changes that would impact the agriculture industry at an already difficult time, and the Western Equipment Dealers Association (WEDA) says they expect more such challenges in the future. WEDA Vice President of Government Affairs Eric Wareham explains that the Oklahoma …
Deere’s Lagemann New AEM Vice Chair
John D. Lagemann is the new Vice Chair of the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), filling the unexpired officer term of recently retired Jim Walker of CNH Industrial. Lagemann is Deere & Co. Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing-Regions 3 & 4. Lagemann has served in AEM leadership roles since 2001. AEM has also elected CNH Industrial’s Scott Harris to …
Credenz Soybeans Building on Strong History
Bayer CropScience is seeing rapid growth in the use of its Credenz soybean varieties. In 2018, Credenz sales broke into the top ten out of more than 150 soybean brands available in the United States. The strength of the Credenz soybean brand continues to be the fact that it is based on the LibertyLink system, which is outstanding for both …
Nebraska Water for Food at 8th World Water Forum in Brazil
The 8th World Water Forum, held in Brazil last month, drew more than 20,000 participants from 170 countries to focus on the challenges and solutions to ensuring water security around the world. The Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute at the University of Nebraska (DWFI) coordinated the Water for Food track of sessions with the Food and Agriculture …
Precision Ag Bytes 4/4
Dr. Henry Nguyen, a Curators’ distinguished professor of plant sciences in the University of Missouri College of Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources, has employed NRGene‘s DeNovoMAGICTM to assemble two genomes of soybean: “Lee,” a Glycine max variety, and a Glycine soja accession PI 483463. In addition to the United Soybean Board, funding for the sequencing project was provided by three …