Add Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal to those calling on the EPA to waive the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS). In a letter to the EPA (available from the National Chicken Council website), Deal joins Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe and North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue asking for the waiver because of the impact the drought is having on corn. The EPA has …
AG CONNECT Previews Lineup at Ag Media Summit
It might be a few months off, but it’s certainly not too early to think about the coming AG CONNECT Expo, January 29-31, 2013 in Kansas City, MO. At the recent Ag Media Summit, I caught up with AG CONNECT show manager Sara Mooney, who says the show will include several co-located meetings and a chance to meet the Masters …
Come for Beach, Stay for Info at BIVI Swine Seminar
Lots of good information and a chance for plenty of questions at the recent 12th annual Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Swine Health Seminar held in North Carolina. I talked with Mike Neil with Murphy Brown in Virginia. While he (kiddingly) said he comes for the beach, it’s really the amount of information valuable to his company that brings him there. “It …
EcoTek Highlights Young Scientists at USB Event
A group of young scientists got to show off what they have learned in their lab during the recent USB Biobased Products Stakeholders Workshop in Dearborn, Michigan. “My focus is on innovation and how to use science as a way of improving society,” explained Keith Young, the founder of EcoTek Lab… a Detroit-based program for students from 2nd grade through …
Looking Ahead With IFAJ
Wow. The 2012 IFAJ Congress was fantastic as usual. I recommend that any American ag journalists take advantage of this opportunity to make good contacts internationally while expanding your horizons. In this week’s program you’ll hear from new IFAJ President Marcus Rediger, Managing Editor, Agricultural Information Center in Switzerland. Here’s Marcus passing the IFAJ flag forward to Argentina which will …
Ford Works with USB to Develop Soy-based Materials
Ford Motor Company is working with the United Soybean Board to help research, develop and implement soybean-based materials into their products to take the place of petroleum-based materials and improve the sustainability footprint of their operations. At the recent USB Biobased Products Stakeholders Workshop in Dearborn, Michigan, Deb Mielewski, Technical Leader of Plastics Research at Ford, talked about the development …
FAPRI Looks at Farm Bills’ Differences, Impacts
A new analysis of the two Farm Bills out there … the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012 that passed the full Senate in June and the House’s Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2012, which made it out of the House Ag Committee last month … shows some similar impacts of the two bills, especially …
Know the Enemy – Palmer Pigweed
It’s not just pigweed, it’s Palmer amaranth pigweed, and it was all over the Bayer CropScience Respect the Rotation plot tour in Collinsville, Illinois – towering over corn and soybeans and most other weeds. Waterhemp is also a member of the pigweed family that might be more familiar to growers in the Midwest and both are developing resistance to glyphosate. …
IFAJ Tour Day
It’s tour day number one at the 2012 IFAJ Congress. I’m on tour bus #4, now known as “The Meat Wagon.” We visited Stenhammar Estate, a beef cattle farm run by the Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf. Here’s our group posing with Helios of Mattarp, a champion bull. We had lunch with the Minister of Rural Affairs, Eskil Erlandsson and …
RFS Waiver Might Lower Corn Prices… Eventually
A new report from researchers at Purdue University shows that a waiver of the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) could lower corn prices… but it could be a while until livestock producers and consumers at the grocery stores see those prices go down. Purdue’s Wally Tyner, Farzad Taheripour and Christopher Hurt presented their report, entitled Potential Impacts of a Partial Waiver …