The University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) hosted the very first House Agriculture Committee farm bill listening session on Saturday in Gainesville, Florida. Committee Chairman Mike Conaway (TX-11) presided over the first of many “Conversations in the Field” that will be held in the coming year as work on the 2018 Farm Bill is just beginning …
ASTA Elects New Leadership
The American Seed Trade Association has been a continuously growing family for the past 134 years, and the family of new chairman Tracy Tally has been a constant at the ASTA annual meeting for many of those years. Tally is president of Justin Seed Company in Justin, Texas, a company founded by his father in 1956. Besides running Justin Seed …
Learning Innovation from the Seed at #ASTAannual
Stan Abramson of Arent Fox LLP, Law Firm spoke with members of the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) about promoting agriculture innovations in Washington D.C. We can learn a lot about innovation from the seeds themselves. “Plants and seeds are natural innovators. They constantly reinvent themselves,” he told the audience. “A lot of innovation is just figuring out how nature …
Enogen Presents American Ethanol Race in Iowa
Coming up tomorrow at the Iowa Speedway, Enogen presents the NASCAR XFINITY Series American Ethanol E15 250 for the fifth year. Ron Wulfkuhle is excited to be attending the race for the first time as head of Enogen at Syngenta. “We’ll have about 1200 corn farmers attending as our guests and also we’ll be working with the FFA,” said Wulfuhle. …
Herrmann Concludes Year as ASTA Chair
The American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) annual meeting marks the end of Mark Herrmann’s service as Chair of the organization. For the past year he has lead the group in some major changes and successes, including the passing of a federal GMO bill. “The GMO transparency bill being a federal bill, as opposed to the patchwork that was being done …
Panel Offers Food Company Perspectives
The Opening Session of the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) annual meeting featured three speakers offering “Perspectives from Today’s Major Food Companies.” John Wiebold from General Mills, Jenny Verner from Cargill, Inc., and Autumn Price representing Land O’Lakes each addressed the audience before participating in a panel discussion and taking questions from the audience. Each spoke of the challenges of …
ASI Debuts SheepCast
The American Sheep Industry (ASI) debuts their broadcast, SheepCast. The weekly audio program is designed to keep you up to date on the latest happenings in the sheep industry. This week, ASI discusses the efforts on behalf of the nation’s 88,000 sheep producers. Top priorities are maintaining support for agricultural research in the upcoming farm bill and continued work toward …
Trump Commits to Agriculture in Iowa
President Donald Trump stood among various models of John Deere and Case IH farm equipment as he pledged to boost agriculture exports, loosen federal regulations on the agriculture industry, and support ethanol and biofuels yesterday while speaking to a crowd of about 250 at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. “Today we are celebrating the dignity of work and …
Joe Funk Earns ASTA Distinguished Service Award
Joe Funk, Editor at SEED TODAY, was selected as this year’s American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) Distinguished Service Award winner. He was honored during the Opening General Session of the ASTA Annual convention in Minneapolis, MN. The award is given to a member who has made a significant contribution both to ASTA and the seed industry. “Joe has been faithfully …
ASTA Annual Conference in Full Swing
The American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) annual conference is in full swing in Minneapolis, MN with both Cindy and Kelly on the ground to bring you all the news. To kick off our coverage of the event Cindy spoke with President and CEO Andy LaVigne about the past year’s work and what ASTA hopes to accomplish at the conference for the …