Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue topped off the ARA Conference and Expo on Thursday in Phoenix, covering a broad range of topics in his comments including tax reform, de-regulation, trade, food security, infrastructure, school lunches and the farm bill. Perdue, who noted his past experience in the fertilizer business and with ARA’s predecessor organization, the National Fertilizer Solutions Association, talked …
American Veal Commits to Innovation, Collaboration & Quality
The American Veal Association (AVA) represents milk-fed veal producers and those members are small family farms. We were able to learn more about the organization and its vision of being a source of information and collaboration to customers about the high-quality, safe and nutritious veal their members provide and its mission of leading advocacy efforts that engage the industry in …
Biofuels Industry Reacts to Final RVO Numbers
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released today its final Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) renewable volume obligations (RVOs) for 2018. The agency finalized a total renewable fuel volume of 19.29 billion gallons, including 4.29 billion advanced biofuel – a slight increase from the proposal – and 288 million gallons of cellulosic biofuel. The agency maintained the requirement for conventional renewable fuels …
FBN Launches E-Commerce Platform
Farmers have another option when it comes to buying inputs with a new e-commerce platform offered by Farmers Business Network (FBN). FBN currently encompasses more than 16 million acres of farmland across the United States growing a variety of crops. FBN Vice President Charles Baron said customers can now buy inputs online with national pricing and financing programs to provide …
Deere ExactApply™ Nozzle Control System Wins AE50 Award
The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) has recognized the ExactApply™ Nozzle Control System from John Deere with the AE50 Award for 2018. The award highlights the year’s most innovative designs in product engineering in the food and agriculture industry, as chosen by a panel of international engineering experts. Introduced in 2016, the ExactApply Nozzle Control system provides …
ARA Presents Distinguished Service and Lifetime Awards
The Agricultural Retailers Association recognized the 40-year career of William “Tip” O’Neill with the Jack Eberspacher Lifetime Achievement Award, and presented the Distinguished Service Award to long-time board member Steve Nielsen during the ARA Conference and Expo in Phoenix this week. Nielsen, most recently general counsel and corporate secretary for United Suppliers, joined the ARA board of directors in 2011. …
Asmus Farm Supply Named ARA Retailer of the Year
The Agricultural Retailers Association this week presented Asmus Farm Supply of Rake, Iowa with the 2017 Retailer of the Year at the ARA conference and expo in Phoenix. The operation is lead by second-generation owners Harlan and Amy Asmus, who accepted the award along with their sons Garrett and Holden and daughter-in-law, Billie. Mark Helt, National Sales Manager for Monsanto, …
“Change not a Choice” for Agribusiness
The recent merger of Dow and DuPont is just one of the high profile deals in the agribusiness world that mean significant changes for the industry going forward. DowDuPont Agriculture Division Leader Jim Collins addressed the current consolidation atmosphere in the industry as opening keynote speaker at the 2017 ARA Conference & Expo in Phoenix this week. “I know this …
Arizona FFA Leaders Welcome ARA Conference
This morning the opening general session of the 2017 ARA Conference & Expo got underway. ARA President/CEO, Daren Coppock, introduced us to Anisa Hermosillo, Arizona State FFA President and Sarah Toth, State Secretary. Our keynote speaker after Anisa and Sarah spoke said he hates having to follow FFA leaders on the stage. I think you will hear why since I …
Valagro Showcases Innovation at Biostimulants Congress
One of the gold sponsors at the 3rd Biostimulants World Congress in Miami this week is industry pioneer Valagro. “Valegro started in business in 1980…so for the past 30 and more years, we have been developing biostimulants,” said Mario Mastrangelo, Valagro USA country manager. The company is headquartered in Atessa, Italy with a product distribution network covering more than 80 …