Monsanto Part of CTIC Conservation Efforts

John Davis

ctic-13-emilio-oyarzabalMonsanto was one of the sponsors on the recent Conservation Technology Information Center tour in Livingston County, Ill., and Chuck caught up with the company’s Emilio Oyarzabal, who said the CTIC’s work is very important to Monsanto and its customers.

“We need agriculture more than ever,” Emilio said, but he added that farmers are being accused of doing environmental damage. “If we observe the problem and see how we can fix this, conservation is one way to make your farm sustainable and deflect that criticism.”

Emilio said Monsanto is right on the forefront of that environmental charge, working on how to double crop yields and decrease the inputs by a third… not an easy task.

“Biotechnology is a tool, but not the only tool. We need to make a paradigm shift in what we do in agriculture,” suggesting new crop rotations and different ways of using fertilizers, just to name a few ideas. “We need to think in different ways.”

He went on to say that precision farming tools are helping farmers adopt better practices, while companies are providing the better tools farmers need.

Listen to Chuck’s interview with Emilio here: Emilio Oyarzabal, Monsanto

2013 Conservation in Action Tour Photo Album

Ag Groups, Agribusiness, Audio, Conservation, CTIC, Environment

Texas Congressman at Peanut Conference

Cindy Zimmerman

spgc13-conawayCongressman Mike Conaway (R-TX) provided an update on the farm bill at the 2013 Southern Peanut Growers Conference on Saturday.

Rep. Conaway, a member of the House Agriculture Committee, says the House still intends to get a nutrition bill passed. “We’ll have a nutrition title and it will have reforms in it…probably stronger reforms than what we had in the one that passed out of committee,” he said.

The House farm-only bill was sent over to the Senate last week and but when it goes to conference is still up in the air. “There’s an awful lot of work that goes on in conferences ahead of the appointment of conferees,” said Conaway. Of course, the chairs of both the House and Senate ag committees will be conferees, and since they take turns chairing conference committees, it’s the House’s turn so Cong. Frank Lucas (R-OK) will have the chair this time.

The White House has already threatened to veto a farm-only bill but Conaway thinks that makes no sense. “It’s illogical,” he said. “If there are no changes to food stamps and your only real beef was with the food stamp changes, why would you punish the farm bill because we didn’t change food stamps?”

Listen to or download my interview here: Interview with Rep. Mike Conaway

Ag Groups, Audio, Farm Bill, Peanuts, SPGC, Video

Investing in Illinois Soil’s Wealth

John Davis

ctic-13-jean-payne“The wealth of Illinois is in her soil, and her strength lies in its intelligent development.” That quote was from one of the first presidents of the University of Illinois almost 200 years, but attendees of the recent Conservation Technology Information Center tour in Livingston County, Ill., heard it reiterated by Jean Payne, President of the Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association, who spoke at one of the tour dinners.

She says, while many recognize the need for good investment in that great natural resource, the recent economic troubles of Illinois has ended up cutting any state funding to nurture that investment. Rather than relying on the government, members of Jean’s group decided they’d take their own fate in their own hands and not be dragged down by what went on with the politicians.

“Are we going to let this tremendous [ag] industry get sucked down the vacuum that is becoming our state government? I said ‘No!'”

They went to other ag groups, including the Farm Bureau, corn and soybean growers, pork producers and Syngenta Crop Protection, and they were able to raise support for research. Eventually, they talked the Illinois legislature into letting them put together their own fertilizer checkoff that the groups, not the state, would manage. Now, they’re able to collect $2.5 million each year that they can use to be good stewards of the land.

“Despite the fact that we have a vacuum in our state government, I feel phenomenal about where our Illinois agriculture stands with our nutrient stewardship efforts. And it’s only going to get better,” Jean said.

She said they’ll need to keep working to educate people about the need for the checkoff and the dividends it pays on that investment.

“We have had to fight for this, [but] everything in life worth having is worth fighting for.”

Listen to Jean’s remarks to the CTIC group here: Jean Payne, President of the Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association

2013 Conservation in Action Tour Photo Album

Ag Groups, Agribusiness, Audio, Conservation, CTIC, Environment, Fertilizer

Corn Growers Adopting New Conservation Practices

Chuck Zimmerman

Dan Cole NCGAThe National Corn Growers Association is very supportive of the work of the Conservation Technology Information Council. That certainly makes sense as corn farmers have a strong desire to better manage their land in a sustainable way.

During the 2013 Conservation in Action Tour, Dan Cole, corn grower (left in photo) and member of the NCGA Production & Stewardship Action Team (PSAT), was on hand along with other growers to see the projects being worked on in the Indian Creek Watershed. NCGA sponsored the first tour stop at the Bachtold Farm which focused on soil health.

You can listen to my interview with Dan here: Interview with Dan Cole

2013 Conservation in Action Tour Photo Album

Ag Groups, Audio, Conservation, Corn, CTIC, NCGA

Zimfo Bytes

Talia Goes

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Avocados From Mexico (AFM), announced several leadership additions to the new marketing agenc.
  • NovaSource Inc. announced the expansion of its international organization and the establishment of a new position in Latin America.
  • The results of a survey about the 4R nutrient knowledge of and the communication between soil and water conservation districts and agricultural retailers will be discussed in a free webinar on Thursday, July 25 from 1-2 p.m. Central Daylight Time.
  • The Senate confirmed, on a mostly partisan 59-40 vote, the nomination of Gina McCarthy to serve as EPA administrator.
Zimfo Bytes

Southern Peanut Growers Team

Cindy Zimmerman

The 15th annual Southern Peanut Growers Conference is officially underway in Panama City Beach and I had the opportunity to catch up with all four of the state executives for the associations involved in the event as soon as I arrived on the scene yesterday to get an update and a preview.

spgc13-1Left to right, the fabulous four are Randy Griggs with Alabama Peanut Producers; Ken Barton with Florida Peanut Producers; Don Koehler with Georgia Peanut Commission; and Malcolm Broome of the Mississippi Peanut Growers Association.

As usual, I asked each of them to talk about the condition of the crop in their states and what the biggest concerns of the growers are right now. Randy says the Alabama crop is “wet, wet, wet” right now. In Florida, Ken says the state is pretty much a “mixed bag” with “an excellent crop in half the state and a questionable crop in the other half.” Don reports that the Georgia crop is “like a Clint Eastwood movie – the good, the bad and the ugly.” Finally, Mississippi is a little wet in the traditional southern peanut growing area of the state “but the northwest corner of the state, which is a new area, is extremely dry,” according to Malcolm.

Meanwhile, all farmers are waiting to see when and if they will finally get a farm bill this year, which we will be hearing more about on Saturday here at thhttp://www.processoptimizationseminar.com/e conference. The theme for the 15th annual event is Making Sustainability Work, an issue which is important to all the growers as well.

Randy and Don have been a part of the SPGC since the beginning in 1999. “We started out with about 3 or 4 sponsors and the first year we had about 250 people,” said Randy. “We’ve seen it just constantly grow ever since.”

Listen to my interview with the fab four: Interview with Southern Peanut Grower State Execs

2013 SPGC Photo Album

Ag Groups, Audio, Farming, Peanuts, SPGC

New Program to Empower Farmers as Leaders

Talia Goes

DuPont_oval_redDuPont and the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) announced a new program to develop corn farmers for agricultural leadership opportunities. With more focus on food than ever, the NCGA DuPont New Leader Program will help to empower growers to share their story of their farms and the benefits of a robust agriculture system with key audiences, including consumers, media and decision-makers.

The NCGA DuPont New Leader Program will bring farmers from each affiliated state to two sessions to develop and hone their communications and leadership skills. The first session will be held in November at the DuPont Pioneer facilities in Johnston, Iowa. The second session will take place in Washington in July 2014. In between the two sessions, those farm couples involved will be encouraged to be actively participating and honing their skills in state and national programs.

Applications for the inaugural class will be available later this summer.

Agribusiness, NCGA

Grant Program Supports Future Newscasters

Talia Goes

NAFBFoundation-color-compressedNearly a dozen future newscasters throughout the U.S. are gaining valuable experience in farm broadcasting this summer as part of the DuPont Pioneer NAFB (National Association of Farm Broadcasting) Foundation Internship Program.

The program assists 10 NAFB member stations and networks with $1,000 grants from Pioneer to provide interns on-the-job agricultural broadcasting experience — from news production to live reporting.

“This program complements the Pioneer commitment to providing expanded opportunities to young people who want to enter agriculture as a career,” says Jerry Harrington, DuPont Pioneer sales and marketing public relations manager. “This also reflects the company’s support for farm broadcasters and the valuable service they provide agriculture.”

Working with NAFB, Pioneer doubled the number of grants for 2013 compared to prior years. The support expands station and network involvement and allows more interns to experience farm broadcasting.

Agribusiness, NAFB

Stabilizing Nitrogen Important for Conservation Tillage

Chuck Zimmerman

2013 CTIC TourI want to say a big thanks to Koch Agronomic Services for being the sponsor of our coverage of the 2013 Conservation in Action Tour again this year. During the tour I visited with Greg Schwab, Director of Agronomy. He says that some of the products they make help farmers do conservation tillage. One of the challenges is maintaining the fertilizer nitrogen that you apply which can be lost as a gas. That’s where their product AGROTAIN plays a role since it is a nitrogen stabilizer. There are a number of research plots that we saw during the tour in the Indian Creek Watershed.

You can listen to my interview with Greg here: Interview with Greg Schwab

2013 Conservation in Action Tour Photo Album

Ag Groups, Audio, Conservation, CTIC, Koch Agronomic Services

Fate of Catfish Program in Farm Bill Conference

Cindy Zimmerman

catfish-imageThe House farm-only version of the farm bill includes repeal of USDA catfish inspection program but the Senate bill does not and those who are in favor of getting rid of the program are hoping it will survive the conference committee.

“Its fate now lies with the Farm Bill conferees who will have to decide if they support American farmers or a special interest handout that wastes 170 million taxpayer dollars and puts U.S. Ag exports at risk for retaliatory measures from our trading partners,” said Gavin Gibbons with the National Fisheries Institute. “As this process unfolds it’s important to remember a bipartisan group in the Senate opposes the program, a bipartisan group in the House opposes the program, the GAO opposes the program, countless Ag groups oppose the program, and even the White House opposes the program.”

The House bill was sent to the Senate this week and the next step is putting together a conference committee.

Farm Bill