With sustainability and carbon reduction the main focus of food production right now, there was discussion at the recent CattleCon about breeding cattle to be more sustainable. Dr. Emily Stackhouse is a research manager in livestock and environment at Alltech and she shared a Cattlemen’s College panel around sending beef x dairy calves into beef production, how the carbon of …
USDA Releases 2022 Census of Agriculture Data
USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) on Tuesday released results of the 2022 Census of Agriculture, which includes more than 6 million data points about America’s farms and ranches and the people who operate them down to the county level. The information collected directly from producers shows a continued decline in the total number of U.S. farms. However, the data …
BQA Honors Best in Beef Quality Awards
Each year, the National Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) Awards, funded in part by the Beef Checkoff program and sponsored by Cargill, recognize outstanding beef and dairy producers, marketers and educators who demonstrate high-quality animal care and handling principles, as well as express a strong desire to continually improve their operations through BQA. The 2024 honorees include Cow-Calf Award winner VanWinkle …
CIRB Honors Ron Rutledge for Industry Service
Ron Rutledge retired at the end of 2021 after a successful 40-year career at Farmers Mutual Hail, and this year as he officially goes off the board, the Crop Insurance and Reinsurance Bureau (CIRB) had a chance to properly honor him for his years of service to the industry with the Chairman’s Award. Outgoing CIRB Chairman Brian Young, Great American …
ZimmCast 725 – NCBA Leaders
Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. The last two weeks have been hectic for the ZimmComm Team. I was in Orlando for CattleCon and I’m going to share some interviews from there in this episode. Then I was off to Ft. Worth for the Clean Fuels Conference while Cindy went to Scottsdale for the Crop Insurance and Reinsurance Bureau Annual …
Federal Clean Fuels Policy Update
At the Clean Fuels Conference in Fort Wort last week, Kurt Kovarik, who serves as Vice President, Federal Affairs for Clean Fuels, provided an update on federal policies and described the work Clean Fuels does on the Hill. A significant part of it is education and persistence. Kovarik leads members in advocating federal policies that support the industry’s growth. Kovarik …
CIRB’s Largest Emerging Leaders Program Class
The 2023-24 class of the Crop Insurance and Reinsurance Bureau (CIRB) Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) is the largest yet since the program started in 2015, and also the most diverse, including professionals from all aspects of the insurance business. The ELP allows crop insurance and reinsurance professionals to increase their knowledge of advocacy and communications and provides networking experiences with …
Harnessing Ag Tech for Sustainable Ag
As the agricultural landscape grapples with macro issues such as extreme weather, economic pressures, and evolving consumer demands, growers are compelled to not only prepare for challenges but also adapt their entire business models. Harnessing Ag Tech for Sustainable Ag was the title of a panel at the recent VISION Conference that explored how cutting-edge agricultural technology serves as a …
Talking Policy at #CattleCon24
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s (NCBA) Executive Committee last week approved the organization’s policy priorities for the year which focus on advocating for the reauthorization of the Farm Bill, protecting cattle producers from federal regulatory overreach, and defending the U.S. cattle industry against external attacks. NCBA’s policy priorities include: Secure reauthorization of the animal health provisions in the 2018 Farm …
Clean Fuels CEO Optimistic as Industry Faces Headwinds
On the MainStage at the 2024 Clean Fuels Conference, Clean Fuels Alliance America CEO Donnell Rehagen, provided a state of the industry report noting that it is a very transformative time for clean fuels, biodiesel, renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel. “We are facing a serious headwind right now with the low RVOs set by the EPA as part of …