ASTA President and CEO Welcomes Attendees

Maggie Seiler

asta-13-andyAndy LaVigne, ASTA President and CEO, opened the ASTA 130th annual meeting by welcoming everyone to Nashville and taking a look at what attendees would hear about and discuss over the next two days. His opening remarks surrounded the evolution of the seed industry. LaVigne said the seed industry has a great opportunity to bring its message to the world, and it comes with the responsibility to feed the world.

LaVigne said participants could look forward to hearing more about advocating their industry and their strategic plan to do so. “You will see our focus in the future in our strategic plan is intellectual property,” LaVigne said. “It’s a responsibility to tell a story.”

He concluded his comments by saying, “Your association’s in great shape, and it’s because of you.”

Listen to LaVigne’s full remarks here: Welcoming by LaVigne

ASTA Annual Meeting Photo Album

Agribusiness, ASTA, Seed

ASTA Honorary Lifetime Member

Maggie Seiler

asta-13-KeithlyKelly Keithly was awarded the Honorary Lifetime Member award at the ASTA 130th annual meeting. Keithly is the president of Keithly-Williams Seeds (KWS). He has been involved in the seed business since he graduated from college. Keithly began the company in 1981 with his partner, Walt Williams, and two employees, and it has since expanded to 150 employees and in 18 western states and more than three-quarters of Mexico. KWS is now the largest seed dealer in North America with over $110 million in sales.

As a member of ASTA, Keithly has served as the 2008-2009 ASTA Chairman, a Director-at-Large and the Western Regional Vice President. He got involved with ASTA and had the opportunity to meet many of his suppliers and people in the industry. He said he also had the opportunity to learn about seed beyond vegetables. “The future for the organization is great because the staff and the people involved will continue to figure out how to meet those needs and changes and be a part of them,” Keithly said.

Listen to Cindy’s full interveiw with Kelly Keithly here: Kelly Keithly Honorary Lifetime Member

ASTA Annual Meeting Photo Album

Agribusiness, ASTA, Seed

Zimfo Bytes

Talia Goes

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Ticket on sale June 18th for Farm Aid 2013 which will be held September 21st at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, New York
  • Chicago Farmer welcomes you to the new and improved Chicago Farmers website.
  • U.S. Poultry & Egg Association is now accepting nominations for the 13th annual Family Farm Environmental Excellence Award.
  • JCB has announced a successor to Chief Executive Officer Alan Blake who is to retire at the end of the year.
Zimfo Bytes

Shoot It Straight Video Contest

Talia Goes

VideoLights, Camera, Action! The Illinois Corn Growers Association is calling on all students to channel their “inner Spielberg” and create a video highlighting agriculture. All high school and college students are eligible to submit a short video (2 minutes or less) into the Shoot it Straight Video Contest.

Sponsors will be looking for a fresh, original and convincing approach that persuades the viewer of the positive impact agriculture has on the state of Illinois, the United States and the world. All types of videos are welcome; show us your serious newscaster side or make us laugh, just remember to be positive in tone and highlight agriculture (extra points for emphasis on corn!). Video should be in one of the following categories: ethanol and the environment, locks and dams and exports, farmer imaging, nutrients/regulations, or other.

Completed application must be received no later than 11:59 PM on August 5, 2013. For complete rules, click here.

Don’t delay, you won’t want to miss out on winning the $2000 grand prize!

Ag Groups, Agribusiness, Corn, Video

First Honey Bee Health Summit

Talia Goes

hbhsA first-of-its-kind Honey Bee Health Summit concluded at Monsanto Company’s Chesterfield Village Research Center. The three-day event hosted by Project Apis m. (PAm) and Monsanto’s Honey Bee Advisory Council (HBAC) included nearly 100 members of the bee community representing academics, beekeepers, industry associations and government sectors.

Summit attendees heard from some of the nation’s top apiculture researchers on the challenges facing honey bees, an important ecosystem service provider and natural pollinator.

“Healthy honey bees are essential for productive agriculture and the environment,” said Jerry Hayes, who runs Monsanto’s bee industry efforts as the Beeologics commercial lead. “As a company focused on sustainable agriculture, Monsanto has made significant investments in collaborations and R&D for the betterment of honey bee health, including the formation of Monsanto’s Honey Bee Advisory Council.”

Year-one results of a three-year partnership between PAm and Monsanto also were provided during the summit. The goal of the partnership is to educate and provide forage with growers and landowners in California about the value of planting honey bee forage on land they would otherwise leave unused. The selected flowering plants provide pollen diversity to keep pollinating bees strong.

Agribusiness

New Beef Ad Campaign Launched

Melissa Sandfort

You may be seeing and hearing new “Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner.” advertising this summer. The beef checkoff has updated the popular campaign and rolled out new print and radio ads. Watch and learn more about the strategy behind the beef ad campaign and one of the beef producer-leaders involved.

The new campaign targets millenial and Gen-X consumers ages 25-44, and features radio ads with a new voice, actor Garrett Hedlund, who grew up on a Minnesota beef operation.

That’s the question each “Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner” print advertisement asks. It’s answered with bold copy highlighting the nutritional benefits of beef along with tantalizing food photography reminding the consumer that delicious can, and does go right alongside nutritious. Each advertisement calls out an individual essential nutrient, like protein: “The Strip steak has lots of protein…and your appetite’s attention.” Another ad reminds you that a dinner with beef “has iron. The most lean, delicious and tender iron known to man.”

Agribusiness, Beef, Video

Science For A Better Life On Tour

Jamie Johansen

bayer-150-3Bayer has hit the road with an interactive exhibit celebrating 150 years of research in science. The exhibit set off on it’s long voyage in February 2013 and recently made it’s way to the one and only stop in the United States at the Bayer Crop Science Headquarters in North Carolina.

Chuck got the chance to visit the facilities and see the exhibit first-hand. He also interviewed Beth Roden, Bayer Director of Corporate Communications, who shared some more insight into the companies goal behind this worldly exhibition. “It’s a great way to get people to connect with Bayer and all it’s businesses and get a flavor of what we do and what we bring to society.”

The Anniversary Tour covers 22 components. Each component represents a letter from Bayer’s mission of, “Science For A Better Life.” Next stop on the tour is Latin America.

The interactive exhibition shows how the company has improved the quality of life for millions of people around the world has begun its tour of some 30 sites in Europe, America, Asia, Africa and Australia. Bayer has chosen a highly creative way to portray these subjects. The Anniversary Tour brings to life the company mission, “Science For A Better Life.” The exhibition will focus on the topics of health care, agriculture and high-performance materials.

Listen to Chuck’s interview with Beth here: Interview with Beth Roden

Audio, Bayer

Two ASTA Chairs Reflect on Industry

Cindy Zimmerman

asta-13-chairsThe current and incoming chairmen of the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) are pleased with the state of the industry and looking forward to a bright future.

Blake Curtis, Curtis & Curtis, has served as the chairman of the organization for the past year, which he says has gone by very quickly. “It has been a year of successes,” he said. “A number of things our past chairman put into effect we’ve been able to finish up this year – the strategic plan, intellectual property rights protection bureau – these are on-going projects that we’ve been able to bring to fruition and implement.”

Newly-elected chairman Craig Newman, president and CEO of AgReliant Genetics, is especially excited about the future of the industry and ASTA’s Future Seed Executives (FuSE) program. “I’m one of the mentors of one of the students and actually our company has already hired three of that group already,” he said.

Nashville has been a great venue in the heartland for the convention and both Craig and Blake are really looking forward to racing into the future for next year’s convention in Indianapolis.

Both Blake and Craig have lots more to say in this interview: Interview with Blake Curtis and Craig Newman

ASTA 2013 Annual Convention

Agribusiness, ASTA, Audio, Seed

Getting More Nutrients From A Pig’s Diet

Joanna Schroeder

I caught up with Aidan Connolly, vice president of corporate accounts with Alltech, recently while he was in Des Moines, Iowa for the 25th Anniversary of the World Pork Expo. I peppered him with questions from feed prices to the importance of nutrients in the diet to some of the diseases the pork industry is addressing and got the low down on some key issues affecting hog producers across the U.S. and the globe.

wpx13-alltech-connollyThe interview was kicked off with concerns about this year’s harvest – too much rain in the Midwest has caused many farmers to be quite late in planting – and how this might affect feed prices. Connolly explained that many things affect feed prices, but mainly it comes down to supply and demand. He believes the demand side will stay very strong and foresees continued growth in China. However, Connolly said from his view, he remains optimistic about the harvest.

He stressed the important of getting the nutrients out of the diet. He believes the industry needs to be very concerned about intestinal health, gut health – the need to keep the pig healthy. “We need to be looking at any technologies that can improve feed efficiency.”

Alltech has products to help just this, including various enzymes and Actigen™. They are also working with antioxidants – all things Connolly said help the pig absorb nutrients better. “Basically I would say to any hog producer today, spend the money to improve feed conversion. It’s money well spent.”

Listen to my interview with Aidan Connolly here: Getting More Nutrients From A Pig's Diet

Visit the 2013 World Pork Expo photo album.

Alltech, Audio, Pork, Swine, World Pork Expo

Lowell Catlett talks future at ASTA annual meeting

Maggie Seiler

asta-2013-CatlettThe 130th American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) annual meeting opened today with a look into the future of the seed industry provided by Dr. Lowell Catlett, the Dean of the College of Agriculture and Home Economics at New Mexico State University. Catlett is a self-professed “weirdo” who provided his perspective on what it takes to look to the future with optimism and to be prepared to face the challenges of a growing world.

Catlett painted a picture of a world that is searching for ways to live longer and more fruitfully. He pointed to agriculture as a wonderful place to be for this development. “You want to have healthy people you can’t separate them from plants and animals and people,” Catlett said. He emphasized that agriculture has the plants and the animals and the people the world needs to stay healthy. Many times throughout his presentation, Catlett called today the “golden age of agriculture” and challenged those in the room to embrace it and keep moving forward.

I caught up with Catlett following the opening ceremony and you can listen to my interview with him here: Interview with Lowell Catlett

Also take a listen to his full keynote presentation here: Lowell Catlett Keynote

ASTA Annual Meeting Photo Album

Agribusiness, ASTA, Audio, Seed