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Elanco Invests $100M in China Animal Healthcare

Joanna Schroeder

Elanco logoElanco is investing approximately $100 million to purchase a minority equity stake in China Animal Healthcare Ltd., one of the leading players in the animal health industry in the People’s Republic of China. The investment expands Elanco’s commitment to China, with the goal of providing ChinaAnimalHealthCarelogoinnovative, safety-enhancing food production solutions to help meet the growing food demands and nutritional needs of the Chinese people. The parties have agreed to a framework to allow for future commercial collaboration activities.

“At Elanco, we are committed to providing innovative solutions to enhance food production and companion animal care. In China, we are working with local stakeholders to improve the health and performance of animals and help to ensure a growing supply of safe, affordable and abundant food,” said Jeff Simmons, president, Elanco. “Our sizable financial investment in China Animal Healthcare builds on our long-term commitment to China. By working with local stakeholders, together, we can make a real difference in the lives of the Chinese people.”

With global population expected to exceed 9 billion in the next 40 years, some of the greatest growth – about 750 million – will come from Asia, driving significant demand for meat, milk and eggs. China is poised to help meet this demand. By the end of this decade the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization predicts about 25 percent of the production growth for meat will come from China alone.

“In the past few decades China’s government has made significant strides to reduce poverty and improve food security, resulting in unprecedented growth of a middle class that demands a safe, high-protein, affordable diet,” said Eduardo Lopes Alberto, Elanco Country Director in China. “Elanco and China Animal Healthcare are well positioned to help China meet this demand by further working to enhance animal health and productivity.”

Listen to the official announcement here: Elanco Press Conference

Agribusiness, Audio, Elanco, International

Husker Food Connection Connects Urban and Rural

Melissa Sandfort

IMG_7235The Alliance for the Future of Agriculture in Nebraska (A-FAN) collaborated with agriculture-related student organizations at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to host the second annual, Husker Food Connection.

Husker Food Connection helps urban students better understand where their food comes from. The theme of the Husker Food Connection was, “Know what we grow: Discovering Nebraska Agriculture.”

Listen to Lukas Fricke, UNL freshman and animal science major, as he explains how he addresses consumer concerns about modern pork production.
Listen to Fricke explain

Participants learned about where their food comes from and the importance of agriculture in Nebraska while engaging in several activities. Students received a free lunch featuring beef, pork and turkey sandwiches along with ice cream — all products raised and made in Nebraska. During the event, approximately 2,000 lunches were served. The first 1,000 students to attend the event also received free t-shirts. Numerous students were eager to take a closer look at the piglets, chicks and Holstein calf. For many of them, this was their first experience with livestock.

Listen here to Bob Meduna, Southeast Extension Education, about helping students understand how what cattle eat impacts the final beef product.
Listen to Meduna explain

Willow Holoubek, A-FAN Organizational Director, said she is impressed with the eagerness of students to help their peers understand how their food is grown. “Having conversations about food production and making this connection is vitally important for the future. A-FAN applauds the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources (IANR) students for their hard work in their efforts to connect farm to fork.”

Agribusiness, Beef, Corn, Dairy, Events, Pork, Poultry, Soybean

BASF Sequential Fungicide Application Program

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BASFHigh-production corn growers can now utilize a fungicide program that includes the latest products from BASF: Priaxor fungicide and Headline AMP fungicide. More than 40 research trials across the Midwest from 2010 to 2012 show a sequential fungicide application program increased corn yield by 15.3 bu/A.

The sequential fungicide application program involves an application of a Plant Health fungicide early in the season pre-tassel, followed by another Plant Health fungicide application at tassel (VT-R2). Studies show sequential fungicide applications are an effective way to consistently deliver the highest yields for growers and control corn diseases throughout the season.

Agribusiness, BASF

Get Your FarmOn

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast 390Hey folks let’s FarmOn! Now, I know that’s not real easy these days, especially for young people who want to get started. Here’s an organization that’s trying to help. The FarmOn Foundation is compiling a number of online resources while also conducting social media awareness campaigns like #FARMVOICES. We’ll learn all about it in this week’s program.

FarmOn

I had a conversation with Sarah Wray, a FarmOn Foundation director and one of the founders of this effort. With her husband they worked hard to find investment funds to get their farm started in Canada. From the effort it took to make that happen they started FarmOn. Sarah says it has been a very cool experience basing their decisions of what they learn by listening to young farmers and the business community. For young farmers, she says “We actually have a real live online facilitator who can help them to find resources themselves in areas we might not have on the site right now.” If you’re interested in helping this effort then consider a sponsorship.

Learn all about FarmOn and #FARMVOICES in this week’s ZimmCast: All About #FARMVOICES

We also talked about the FarmOn social media campaign that’s going on now through Earth Day, April 22. The organization is inviting farmers and consumers to post a photo and a thought to Facebook, Instagram and/or Twitter about their experience. Learn more about it here.

Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsors, GROWMARK, locally owned, globally strong and Monsanto, Roundup Ready Plus, for their support.

The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired. Subscribe so you can listen when and where you want. Just go to our Subscribe page.

Ag Groups, Audio, Farming, Social Media, Social Networking, ZimmCast

Farm Bureau Sends Up Farm Bill Proposal

Cindy Zimmerman

afbf annual hawaiiThe American Farm Bureau Federation sent a farm bill proposal to Capitol Hill this week that offers a diverse mix of risk management and safety net tools to benefit a wide range of farms and it saves $23 billion compared to the cost of continuing the current program.

“We’ve tried to look at providing farmers a three-legged safety net stool where every farmer would have crop insurance and marketing loans available to them,” said Congressional Relations Director Mary Kay Thatcher. The third leg would let farmers choose between a modified STAX (stacked income protection) provision, or a target price program.

Thatcher says the plan approved by the FB board over the weekend saves 23-billion over the current bill – the same as the Senate bill last year.

Listen to my interview with Mary Kay here: Mary Kay Thatcher with AFBF

AFBF, Audio, Farm Bill

Vilsack Speaks to North American Ag Journalists

Cindy Zimmerman

naajAfter speaking to 4-H members for breakfast, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack joined North American Agricultural Journalists for lunch on Monday, covering a variety of important issues, including immigration and getting a new food, farm and jobs bill.

“I believe we will have a bill this year because we have to have a bill this year,” Vilsack said, noting the need to resolve issues such as Brazil’s WTO case against the cotton program. As to when it gets done – “I don’t know when Congress is going to act,” said the secretary. “I know what the ag chairs have said and that is that they’re anxious to get started now.”

naaj-vilsackRegarding immigration reform challenge as it relates to agriculture, Vilsack said, “It would be whether we’re going to import workers or import food…I think comprehensive immigration reform is as much about food security in the long term as it is about access to workers.”

Vilsack also talked about budget cutting, climate change, sugar for ethanol, and more.

Listen to his remarks and Q&A from reporters here: Secretary Vilsack at NAAJ

Audio, USDA

The Blogging Beef Board CEO

Chuck Zimmerman

sustainability-spheresThe CEO of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board, Polly Ruhland, is blogging during her 2013 Eisenhower Fellowship for International Leaders which is taking her to Japan and Taiwan. The blog is, pencilplow.

“Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil, and you’re a thousand miles from a cornfield.” ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

Here’s an excerpt her most recent post from Tokyo.

Every Monday through Friday, buyers of Waygu and other extremely high-quality domestic beef for outlets in Japan visually appraise hanging carcasses at Tokyo Market, where they sell them one at a time. This is a private auction and being granted entry is difficult for outsiders (thank you again, Eisenhower network). I had an unexpected invitation that arose on the evening we arrived in Tokyo, made possible through Takeichi-san (EF Fellow 1995). Ogawa-san, president of Ogawa Chikusan Kougyou Co., the harvest facility attached to the auction, narrated a tour through the auction and the plant. The 800 or so carcasses a day move slowly down the line as a small group of buyers appraise them with flashlights illuminating the ribeye the same way meat inspectors do in the U.S. The electronic board above each carcass flashes key information (including the name of the farmer/breeder) and the bids skyrocket. This is where the most expensive, highly marbled beef in Japan sells. For occasions like weddings and other important social gatherings, this is the type of beef Japanese people want to serve their guests. And it goes out the door here daily, one single, perfectly prepared carcass at a time. For occasions or clientele with slightly lower budgets, quality U.S. beef makes an excellent substitute.

The graphic comes from the 2002 University of Michigan Sustainability Assessment (pdf). Polly uses it because she is “dedicated to improving the triple bottom line of sustainability (social, environmental, economic–or people, planet, profit) for agriculture in a country that often takes food availability and security for granted.”

Ag Groups

North American Agricultural Journalists Meeting

Chuck Zimmerman

NAAJ Second AmendmentsThe North American Agricultural Journalists are holding their annual meeting in Washington, DC. It’s not all about work.

Thanks to Chris Clayton, DTN/Progressive Farmer, for sharing the photo. This is the Second Amendments playing for the group last night. I’ve seen the band several times and they do a great job. The band is led by House Agriculture Committee ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn. The band includes Peterson, lead singer and rhythm guitar; Rep. Stephen Fincher, R-Tenn., on bass and vocals; Former Rep. Kenny Hulshof, R-Mo., on drums and vocals; and Manning Feraci, a former Hulshof aide, as lead guitar player.

North American Agricultural Journalists is a professional, international group of agricultural editors and writers with a membership spanning the United States and Canada. Formerly the Newspaper Farm Editors of America, and then the National Association of Agricultural Journalists, it was organized in 1952 to promote the highest ideals of journalism and agricultural coverage.

I hope to get to attend this meeting in the future.

Media

SDA Omega-3 Soybean Oil

Talia Goes

untDSM Nutritional Products and Monsanto Company announced a strategic partnership to deliver the first SDA (stearidonate soybean oil) omega-3 soybean oil for use in foods in North America.

DSM Nutritional Products, the leading global provider of trusted nutritional lipids solutions with the most complete product portfolio (plant, algal and fish) addressing the full spectrum of consumer health benefits will license the SDA soybean from Monsanto, the global expert in plant technology. Monsanto will develop SDA soybean varieties and sell the seeds to its farmer customers. DSM Nutritional Products will have the exclusive global rights to brand, market, package and sell the SDA soybean oil to the food industry. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Agribusiness, Soybean