Animal Ag News 9/5

Carrie Muehling

  • Since 1963, the Federation of State Beef Councils has been committed to building beef demand by inspiring, unifying and supporting an effective and coordinated state and national Checkoff partnership. By working together with one unified vision and plan, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, a contractor to the Beef Checkoff, and state beef councils continue to set a positive course for beef’s future. The unified vision of the Federation of State Beef Councils continues to drive Beef Checkoff success. For more information, visit www.ncba.org/federation.
  • Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative announced the hiring of Laura Hensley to lead the company’s communication team to help develop and execute the multiple channels of communications to members, lawmakers and other stakeholders.
  • The American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) released its annual, “Our Industry, Our Promise,” report, detailing the operational challenges facing today’s animal feed and pet food manufacturers and actions the AFIA is taking to address them. The report provides an analysis of the animal food industry’s contribution to the U.S. and global economies and the forces making it difficult to conduct business. It also provides an inside look at efforts underway to usher the federal regulation of animal food into the 21st century and steps the industry is taking to better protect animal and human health while producing safer, more sustainable food.
  • Purina Animal Nutrition, along with the Land O’Lakes Foundation, is announcing its new scholarship program designed to assist students involved in agriculture and livestock production in pursuing their passions and further their educations. Current undergraduate students who have experience raising and caring for small or large livestock, equine and/or poultry, are eligible to apply for four $5,000 scholarships. Scholarship applications will be accepted August 28 through October 12.
  • The results of a checkoff-initiated smoothie program pilot showed increased consumption of milk and yogurt and will be offered to more schools this fall. Dairy Management Inc. (DMI) pitched the smoothie program concept in 2022 to Chartwells K12, a food management company that serves more than 2 million meals in 4,500 schools representing 665 districts across the U.S. every day.
  • The Colvin Scholarship Fund supports the next generation of leaders in agriculture who are devoting their studies and careers to making the beef industry better. This year, 23 students were awarded $81,500 through the Colvin Scholarship Fund. Each recipient strives for a career in production agriculture, industry research or an agricultural pursuit that influences the beef business. The students recognized for this scholarship are carrying the legacy of the Certified Angus Beef brand’s co-founder and executive director for 22 years, Louis “Mick” Colvin. 
  • The American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) announced that Gina Tumbarello, AFIA’s senior director of global strategies, policy and trade, has been reappointed to serve on the U.S. Foreign Agricultural Service’s Agricultural Technical Advisory Committee (ATAC) for Trade in Grains, Feed, Oilseeds and Planting Seeds.
  • The International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE) is accepting applications for the 12th annual IPPE Young Leaders Under 30 Award. The American Feed Industry Association (AFIA), the North American Meat Institute (NAMI) and U.S. Poultry & Egg Association (USPOULTRY) want to recognize professional leadership qualities and to provide exposure to the world’s largest annual trade show involving the production and processing of meat, poultry and egg products or in the production of animal food and pet food products.
  • Purdue Agriculture’s Indiana Sheep and Wool Market Development Council and the Indiana Sheep Association (ISA) are jointly sponsoring the annual Hoosier Sheep Symposium Sept. 23 at Franklin College. Sheep health and agrivoltaics will be among the topics explored by expert speakers at the event.
    • AgWired Animal, Animal Agriculture, Animal Bites

    University of IL AgComm Students Shadow Media at #FPS23

    Chuck Zimmerman

    University of Illinois students at #FPS23During the Farm Progress Show a group of students from the University of Illinois had an opportunity to shadow ag media representatives as they were covering the show for their respective outlets. This is the idea of Dr. Owen Roberts, a professor at the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Assisting him in the effort was Mike Wilson, Senior Executive Editor, Farm Progress. The photo is the group when they arrived at the show.

    I participated by working with student Logan Bend. He helped me with photos I needed while conducting interviews and we had plenty of time to discuss how I handle the assignments I had with various companies. Before I left the Farm Progress I interviewed Logan about his experience. He describes his farm background in northern Illinois and what he learned through the experience.

    You can listen to my interview with Logan here:
    2023 Farm Progress Show interview with Logan Bend, University of Illinois Student 3:35

    2023 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

    Audio, Education, Farm Progress Show

    Industry Ag News 9/1

    Carrie Muehling

  • Syngenta Group announced that Saswato Das is appointed as Chief Communications Officer, effective September 1, 2023. Das joined Syngenta Group in November 2020 as Head of Media Relations and has successfully built up a professional external communications function of the then newly established Syngenta Group. He has over twenty-five years of experience in communications, with previous leadership positions at IBM, ABB and SAP, among others. Das will join the extended Syngenta Group leadership team and report to the CEO.
  • Pro Farmer, a division of Farm Journal, shared its much-anticipated production estimates today for the 2023 U.S. corn and soybean crops after analyzing information from the 31st annual Pro Farmer Crop Tour and other sources. The estimates are informed by Crop Tour data and observations collected this week through an exceptional effort by scouts in thousands of fields across seven key Midwestern states.
  • Major U.S. agriculture organizations including Farmers For Free Trade implored all 2024 presidential candidates to prioritize new market access trade agreements as a means to strengthen U.S. agriculture and decrease reliance on China. The organizations also called on the presidential candidates to hold China accountable in a responsible manner that does not endanger U.S. food and agriculture’s largest export market or threaten American farmers with new retaliatory tariffs.
  • American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall commented on the Biden Administration’s revised Waters of the U.S. Rule. “EPA had a golden opportunity to write a Waters of the U.S. Rule that’s fair to farmers and stands the test of time, but instead chose to continue government overreach and revise only a small slice of the rule that was rejected by the Supreme Court. We’re pleased the vague and confusing ‘significant nexus’ test has been eliminated as the Supreme Court dictated. But EPA has ignored other clear concerns raised by the Justices, 26 states, and farmers across the country about the rule’s failure to respect private property rights and the Clean Water Act. Farmers and ranchers share the goal of protecting the resources they’re entrusted with. They deserve a rule that respects farmers as partners in that effort.”
  • In response to Tuesday’s announcement by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers of a final Waters of the U.S. rule, the National Cotton Council (NCC) released the following statement: “We are concerned that the EPA is continuing to expand their jurisdictional authority with this latest rule. Their revisions do not appropriately comply with the recent Supreme Court decision which sought to bring clarity and simplicity to a complicated regulatory regime,” said NCC Chairman Shawn Holladay, a Texas producer. “Furthermore, the EPA published this final rule without allowing for public notice and comment which could have shed light on areas of concern and strengthened the final result. This action may end up in the courts, once again leaving regulators and growers in a confused state regarding legally appropriate ways to protect our nation’s waters.”
  • Competitive Markets Action (CMA) announced the hiring of Vinnie Trometter, as Director of Government Affairs. Trometter most recently worked at Cassidy and Associates, one of Washington, D.C.’s top lobbying firms, and is a native of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, located in the 15th Congressional District of Pennsylvania, a seat held by U.S. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “G.T.” Thompson, R-State College.
  • Farm Foundation, an accelerator of practical solutions for agriculture, will host its next virtual Forum, What to Expect From the 2023 Farm Bill Now, on Tuesday, September 26, from 9 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Central.
  • Torrey Advisory Group (TAG) is proud to welcome Heath Brandt to the policy team. The Washington, D.C.-based firm offers effective government relations, strategic communications, and issue advocacy as well as full-service association management to a growing number of clients in the food, agriculture, and forestry sector.
  • The annual Ag Outlook Forum is a chance to get a comprehensive preview of what lies ahead from leading experts. Presented by the Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City and Agri-Pulse, this “must attend” event brings together USDA’s Chief Economist and other industry experts to share key insights on existing and new market opportunities. Congresswoman Sharice Davids (KS-3) has joined the speaker line up to discuss the 2023 Farm Bill.
  • American Agri-Women will hold their 48th Annual Meeting in the heart of downtown Sacramento, California, Nov. 1-5, 2023. The host group, California Women for Agriculture, has planned colorful tours and informative speakers for convention attendees.
  • The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture announced the hiring of Becky Garrison Warfel, RDN, LD, a licensed and registered dietitian nutritionist, as Director of Public Policy.
  • POET, the world’s largest producer of biofuels, has reopened its bioprocessing facility in Cloverdale, Indiana, signaling the bioeconomy’s bright future.
    • Zimfo Bytes

    Syngenta Storen Corn Herbicide Registered

    Cindy Zimmerman

    Syngenta latest residual corn herbicide, Storen™, just received registration by the Environmental Protection Agency in July and will be available for use in 2024, subject to state approvals, according to Shawn Hock, corn herbicide product lead for Syngenta Crop Protection. Hock was talking with farmers about Storen at the Farm Progress Show this week in Decatur, Illinois.

    “Storen is providing next level weed control of really challenging weeds that farmers are having difficulty controlling, such as Palmer amaranth and waterhemp,” said Hock. “It’s providing up to three weeks longer residual than any other herbicide in the market.”

    Learn more about Storen, as well as the latest on Acuron, which helps maximize corn yield, in this interview.
    2023 Farm Progress Show interview with Shawn Hock, Syngenta corn herbicides 7:03

    2023 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

    Audio, Corn, Farm Progress Show, Syngenta

    Beautiful Weather for 70th Farm Progress Show

    Cindy Zimmerman

    The 70th Farm Progress Show this week featured fabulous weather and one of the best events in many years, according to show manager Matt Jungmann.

    “It’s kind of amazing how good I am at my job when the weather cooperates,” said Jungmann. “The last time we were here (in Illinois), 2021, COVID was still a thing and it wasn’t a full show…now we are full, all 12 streets, and the new larger varied industry tent is full.”

    Jungmann says the field demonstrations have gone “unbelievable” this year. “That 87-day corn in central Illinois that didn’t get a rain for six weeks, pollinated without rain, and now we’ve had field averages between 205 and 240. It’s gone tremendous,” Jungmann said.

    “In terms of exhibitor count, we’re at 550 of the world’s most important agricultural companies here,” said Jungmann. “What makes the Farm Progress Show fresh and new every year… is the work that the exhibitors do to hold back and bring their new stuff, the biggest and the best and most progressive things on display.”

    Today is the last day for the show in Decatur, Illinois.

    2023 Farm Progress Show interview with show manager Matt Jungmann 3:20

    2023 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

    Audio, Farm Progress Show

    EPA Puts More Woe in WOTUS

    Cindy Zimmerman

    The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of the Army managed to yet further muddy the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) this week by announcing a final rule amending the 2023 definition of “waters of the United States” to conform with the recent Supreme Court decision in Sackett v. EPA.

    The agencies are committed to following the law and implementing the Clean Water Act to deliver the essential protections that safeguard the nation’s waters from pollution and degradation. This action provides the clarity that is needed to advance these goals, while moving forward with infrastructure projects, economic opportunities, and agricultural activities.

    Among the many farm organizations expressing disappointment in the ruling this week was the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA). “The agency failed to open the process to public comment and engagement, which would have been extremely valuable,” said NCGA President Tom Haag. “Instead, the agency has released a rule that does not fully respect the holdings from the recent U.S. Supreme Court case on WOTUS.”

    Listen to Haag’s comments from the Farm Progress Show in this interview:
    2023 Farm Progress Show interview with Tom Haag, NCGA president 3:50

    Audio, Corn, EPA, Farm Progress Show, NCGA

    Secretary Vilsack Announces More IRA Funding

    Cindy Zimmerman

    USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack stopped briefly at the Farm Progress Show in Decatur, Illinois Wednesday to award $266 million in loans and grants for agriculture producers and rural small businesses to make investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency improvements, made possible in part by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

    Vilsack used a white board to talk about funding under the IRA Climate Smart Agriculture initiative that is being used to help increase farm income while helping the environment. “There are 141 projects, we’re putting three billion dollars into those projects across every major commodity, every state in the country,” said Vilsack. “Farmers are going to get paid to adopt climate smart agricultural practices and new markets are going to be created.”

    Listen to Vilsack’s remarks here:
    2023 Farm Progress Show - Secretary Tom Vilsack 12:52

    2023 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

    AgWired Animal, AgWired Precision, Audio, climate, Farm Progress Show, USDA

    Golden Harvest Celebrates 50 Years at #FPS23

    Cindy Zimmerman

    Golden Harvest is celebrating its golden anniversary this week at the 2023 Farm Progress Show in Decatur, Illinois.

    Fifty years ago, seven families came together to create a new way to sell seed. That spirit of innovation continues today with investments in research and technology to continually deliver an expanded portfolio of proven corn and soybean products, including game-changing corn hybrids that outperform the competition in trials across the Midwest1 and Gold Series soybean varieties that offer high yield potential, robust agronomic defensive packages and flexibility in herbicide trait choice.

    “Golden Harvest is proud to celebrate the milestone of 50 years of experience and partnership alongside farmers,” said Kramer Farney, Golden Harvest head of marketing. “A lot can change over half a century, but our commitment to research and development and to the fast delivery of innovative corn and soybean products to farmers has remained at our core.”

    To celebrate, Farney says Golden Harvest is sponsoring NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Sammy Smith throughout the 2023 season and they were happy to showcase the Number 22 car in front of the Golden Harvest tent this week.

    2023 Farm Progress Show interview with Kramer Farney, Golden Harvest 3:51

    2023 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

    Audio, Corn, Farm Progress Show, Seed, Soybean, Syngenta

    #FPS23 Panel Highlights Ag Outlook

    Cindy Zimmerman

    L-R: Spencer Chase, Agri-Pulse; Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL); MO Ag Secretary Chris Chinn; and IA Ag Secretary Mike Naig

    The Syngenta Golden Harvest tent featured an Agricultural Outlook panel on the first day of the 2023 Farm Progress Show that provided perspectives from officials in Illinois, Iowa and Missouri on a host of ag policy issues.

    Agri-Pulse Managing Editor Spencer Chase moderated the panel which included Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL), Missouri Secretary of Agriculture Chris Chinn, and Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig. Listen to their discussion which offered comments on topics such as the farm bill, China buying US farmland, Proposition 12, Mexico and GMO corn exports, and more.

    2023 Farm Progress Show Syngenta Golden Harvest Ag Outlook panel 53:23

    Mary Kay Thatcher, senior lead for federal government relations at Syngenta, talks about the farm bill and other issues in the interview below.
    2023 Farm Progress Show interview with Mary Kay Thatcher, Syngenta 3:29

    2023 Farm Progress Show Photo Album

    Audio, Farm Bill, Farm Policy, Syngenta

    Precision Ag News 8/30

    Carrie Muehling

  • Pairwise, a food and agriculture company known for bringing the first gene-edited food to the U.S. market, and Bayer announced a new five-year, multi-million dollar agreement focused on innovations in short-stature corn. This new program leverages Pairwise’s Fulcrum platform and builds on the success of the companies’ initial five-year collaboration for corn, soy, wheat, cotton, and canola.
  • The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is announcing the selection of 33 organizations to receive over $3.1 million in funding for projects under the Environmental Education Grants program, including $99,795 to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln will use the funding to expand the Know Your Well Project and develop a science curriculum that will be rolled out to over 100 rural Nebraska high school students with the goals of increasing science literacy, awareness of agricultural practices, and groundwater stewardship.
  • Encouraging results from a three-year on-farm sustainability project show that implementation of conservation practices can have a lasting impact on the natural resources of the farm and surrounding areas. Most notable was that 91 percent of fields in the project have improved water quality by mitigating excess loss of subsurface nitrogen. The three-year findings, based on 2020-2022 data, are detailed in a 19-page report available online at farmersforsustainablefood.com/projects.
  • New research by scientists at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and Cornell University provides a key enabling technology to produce obligate outcrossing in soybean. The newly published study, Introduction of barnase/barstar in soybean produces a rescuable male sterility system for hybrid breeding in the Plant Biotechnology Journal revealed that obligate outcrossing with the Barnase/Barstar lines provides a new resource that can be used to amplify hybrid seed sets, enabling large-scale trials for heterosis in this major crop.
  • Agrela Ecosystems, a startup launched by Nadia Shakoor, PhD, principal investigator, at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center announced the pilot launch of its flagship product, PheNode. This milestone marks the first step towards a full-scale commercial release set for 2025. PheNode is an advanced, scalable environmental sensor platform designed to empower users with customizable data collection and the rapid integration of new technologies.
  • Corteva Agriscience announced the expansion of its U.S. fungicide portfolio with the launch of Viatude fungicide, a new solution for farmers from northern U.S. soybean-producing states to help protect their soybeans from white mold disease.
  • CropX, a global leader in digital solutions for agronomic farm management, announced the appointment of agricultural technology veteran John Gates to Chief Revenue Officer. Gates will oversee CropX’s commercial expansion globally following leadership roles in Europe and North America.
  • Trace Genomics, an industry-leading provider of science-validated soil biology insights, and Taurus Agricultural Marketing, market-leading distributor of agricultural products in Canada, announced an international partnership.
  • As Farm Equipment Magazine prepares to celebrate its 55th Anniversary this October with a special issue that looks back at the past five decades of the farm equipment industry, parent-company Lessiter Media has announced a special partnership with NAEDA’s Equipment Dealers Foundation to use the momentous occasion to raise funds for technical education scholarships.
  • Arva Intelligence Corp. and MillPont announce an innovative and strategic collaboration to enhance the confidence of ecosystem market participants in the integrity and exclusivity of environmental asset claims in the agricultural market. Arva will work with MillPont, leveraging their environmental claims clearing solution platform, Atlas.
  • Forty years ago, a desire to change the fertilizer industry brought Troy Bancroft and his father-in-law, Douglas Cook, together to start a groundbreaking company. Now AgroLiquid is celebrating the progress made throughout those 40 years and looking to the future.
    • AgWired Precision, Precision Ag Bytes, Precision Agriculture