Biodiesel producers and farmers who raise the feedstocks for the biodiesel industry took to Capitol Hill this week, joining a group of U.S. Senate Democrats in their calls to end policy uncertainty that is hurting their industry. Terry Goerger, a soybean grower from North Dakota, expressed his concerns, especially how many farmers made plans believing Congress and the Obama Administration …
FS Sales Lens Offers New Views
A great benefit of new communications technology is how it provides farmers the opportunity to access information nearly anyplace or time right in the palm of their hand. GROWMARK is utilizing the immediacy of tablets and smartphones for crop specialists to provide farmers with visual information on the spot with FS Sales Lens. “It’s really designed for them to understand …
WRRDA Conference Report Released
The long-awaited Water Resources Reform and Development Act (WRRDA) conference report was released by House and Senate negotiators on Thursday, to the great relief of agricultural interests. “This is a huge step forward to ensure the continued success of the soybean supply chain, and leaders in both the House and Senate deserve a great deal of credit for shepherding this …
Senators and Industry Call for Biodiesel Support
A group of U.S. Senators including Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Al Franken (D-MN), Joe Donnelly (D-IN), and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) joined the National Biodiesel Board on Wednesday to release the results of a national survey highlighting uncertainty in the biodiesel industry as a result of policy setbacks in Washington this year. The survey found that …
Canadian Farm Writers to Dig Deep
I’m going. Going on the bicycling farm tour again too! Although there is a brew tour at the same time. I talked with Kim Waalderbos who serves on this year’s committee for the annual conference of the Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation. She provides a preview of what this year’s conference will be like. We can’t wait to welcome you to …
Ag Issues Discussed at Missouri State’s Ag Forum
Each year Missouri State University’s Collegiate Farm Bureau hosts an Ag Forum to discuss hot topic agriculture issues. This year’s panel was formed by Senator Roy Blunt and Missouri Farm Bureau President Blake Hurst and moderated by Missouri State University’s William H. Darr School of Agriculture Department Head, Dr. Anson Elliott. After a dinner of steaks raised from the school’s …
Panera Bread and Millennials
How many of you remember the Panera EZChicken campaign? If so, you know that it sparked a social media response from the agriculture community due to the way farmers were portrayed who did not farm the way Panera wants their food ingredients farmed. Panera did issue an apology and you’ll hear another one in this week’s program.
Silent Auction Benefits Interns & Aggies
It’s a familiar sight at a lot of conferences. The silent auction. This one is for the Animal Agriculture Alliance and took place at the Stakeholders Summit About $4,000 were raised this year. There were some great agnerd items like an iPad mini, Mophie phone charger and more. The funds are used to support the AAA summer intern program and …
AAA College Aggies
The Animal Agriculture Alliance presented scholarships to several of the members of the current College Aggies Online group. Last November the Alliance announced the winners of the fall competition. Members of the University of Wisconsin, Madison Association of Women in Agriculture formed the top-scoring club with 229,820 total points, earning $5,000.00. Louisiana State University Les Voyageurs came in second place …
Grow it, Kill it, Melt it with Conserv FS
The GROWMARK FS System is well known in the Midwest agricultural world for grain, energy and agronomy services, but maybe not so well known is its turf products and services. “If you want to grow it, kill it, or melt it, the turf division would be who you would talk to,” says Jim Coens, Turf Department Manager for Conserv FS …