Soybean CEOs United For Clean Fuels

Cindy Zimmerman

The heads of several state soybean organizations and the American Soybean Association (ASA) sat down together at the first Clean Fuels Conference in Tampa this week to share their perspectives on the changing landscape for agriculture and clean fuels.

Kansas Soybean Association CEO Kaleb Little moderated the conversation with ASA CEO Steve Censky, Iowa Soybean Association CEO Kirk Leeds, North Dakota Soybean Council Executive Director Stephanie Sinner, and New York Corn & Soybean Growers Association Executive Director Colleen Klein.

Clean Fuels soybean CEOs panel (33:13)

While the clean fuels industry has expanded into other areas and other feedstocks, it’s good to remember where it started. “Certainly, it was soybean farmers that founded the biodiesel industry as we know it today…and it still is soybean farmers showing the strong support for the industry,” said Censky in an interview at the conference.

Clean Fuels interview with Steve Censky, American Soybean Association (7:52)

Clean Fuels Conference Blog

2023 Clean Fuels Conference Photo Album

Audio, Biodiesel, Biofuels, Clean Fuels Alliance, Soybean

Precision Ag News 1/25

Carrie Muehling

  • The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) awarded two AE50 recognitions to Case IH. The award-winning innovations include: Early Riser® 2150S front-fold split-row planter and Steiger® series tractor with 3-point hitch system.
  • CNH Industrial announces a minority investment in the US-based ag tech company EarthOptics through its Ventures arm. EarthOptics’ proprietary sensor technology precisely measures the health and structure of soil through a combination of ground-based sensors, satellites, physical soil samples, machine learning models and agronomic expertise.
  • John Deere released Operations Center PRO, an all-new level of the John Deere Operations Center built specifically for ag service providers requiring specialized fleet and logistics management capabilities beyond what is currently provided with Operations Center.
  • Congratulations to the 2023 winners of the World Ag Expo Top-10 New Products Competition. Click here to view product photos and descriptions of the Top-10 New Products.
  • Bayer and the agricultural biotech company Oerth Bio announced a new collaboration seeking to develop the next generation of more sustainable crop protection products. The unique protein degradation technology used by Oerth Bio has the potential to generate products that support Bayer’s sustainability objective to reduce the environmental impact of agriculture, via lower application rates and favorable safety profiles.
  • EVOIA and Albaugh announced an agreement to bring an innovative seed treatment solution to seed companies and farmers. Under the supply and distribution agreement, Albaugh’s experienced seed treatment team will now offer the new AmpliFYR product for their customers. This innovative and proprietary seed treatment for row crops improves crop establishment, increases seedling root and shoot growth, and enhances the ability of the seedling to tolerate abiotic stress.
  • Nutrien Ag Solutions Inc., a subsidiary of Nutrien Ltd., and John Deere jointly announced the release of advanced digital connectivity between the John Deere Operations Center and Nutrien Ag Solutions’ Digital Hub. This connectivity enables both companies to better serve growers by optimizing logistics and enabling variable rate agronomic recommendations to be seamlessly transferred to their equipment for execution. In addition, the two companies announced a multi-year commitment to deepen the integration and jointly develop streamlined solutions so that growers can more easily benefit from precision ag technology.
  • Seven new agtech startup companies that are addressing today’s most pressing farm and food production and sustainability issues have been selected to participate in AgLaunch365, a world-class accelerator program conducted by Memphis-based AgLaunch Initiative.
  • Crop Nutrition Week will connect growers and agronomy experts for five days of online learning Feb. 6-10. The week, in its inaugural year, will feature a wide range of topics that answer growers’ biggest questions, from how to balance fertilizer input costs and yield goals to how to understand and act on soil test results.
AgWired Precision, Precision Ag Bytes, Precision Agriculture

BHN Announces Leadership Expansion

Cindy Zimmerman

Bio Huma Netics, Inc. (BHN), a leading miner and manufacturer of raw humates (humic and fulvic acids) as well as creator of soil amendments and crop nutrients based on humic technologies, has announced new leadership to better align with the company’s continued growth and strategic goals. In addition, the BHN Research and Development Center has welcomed two new members from Brazil. The newly promoted and appointed individuals stepped into their new roles this month as BHN prepares to celebrate its 50th anniversary this year.

With these new developments, the BHN executive leadership team includes Lyndon Smith, Jonathan Plehn, Justin Smith, Steve Lunt, Melanie Parkinson, Mike Boyd and Fred Nichols.

Jonathan Plehn is the new president of BHN. He succeeds Lyndon Smith, who will continue to serve as chief executive officer. Plehn joined BHN in 2020 as the chief financial officer (CFO) with more than 20 years of experience as a proven leader in the global finance sector.

Steve Lunt has been promoted to chief financial officer, succeeding Plehn. Lunt is a finance and accounting professional with a career spanning 17 years in progressive leadership within world-class business environments including Big 4 experience.

Fred Nichols came on board as the chief marketing officer in October 2022. Having worked in 20 countries with a range of clients, Nichols brings more than 30 years of agricultural marketing experience.

Dr. Mirella Santos and Dr. Daniel Zandonadi are married visiting scientists from Brazil joining the research and development center. Santos has joined BHN as senior plant cell and molecular biologist and Zandonadi is senior plant physiologist/agronomist.

AgWired Precision, Nutrient Management, people, Precision Agriculture, Soil

Clean Fuels Industry United as One

Cindy Zimmerman

Clean Fuels Alliance America CEO Donnell Rehagen welcomed representatives of an industry united as one for a sustainable energy future at the first ever Clean Fuels Conference in Tampa, Florida Tuesday. Formally the National Biodiesel Conference, the new focus encompasses biodiesel, renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel.

“We are united with federal and state legislators and regulators who are looking for ways to reduce emissions,” said Rehagen. “We’re also united with consumers. They are the ones who are driving the demand for clean fuels.”

Rehagen says the industry is very optimistic about the demand for clean fuels but admits they face a policy hurdle with the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed Renewable Fuel Standard volumes. “We didn’t think these RVOs were very consistent with the last announcements for the previous year where they were much more aggressive on the biomass diesel side,” Rehagen said during a press availability. Noting that the EPA proposal includes multiple years, Rehagen said, “That could be a good thing when you start thinking about signals. If they get it right, it’s a really good thing. We believe they got it wrong for our industry, so that makes it not a very good thing at all.”

Listen to Rehagen’s remarks and press conference below:

Opening general session – Clean Fuels Alliance America CEO Donnell Rehagen annual address
Clean Fuels CEO Donnell Rehagen opening remarks (21:41)

Clean Fuels CEO Donnell Rehagen press conference
Clean Fuels CEO Donnell Rehagen presser (11:09)

2023 Clean Fuels Conference Photo Album

Clean Fuels Conference Blog

Audio, Biodiesel, Biofuels, Clean Fuels Alliance

Truterra Launches Sustainability Services

Cindy Zimmerman

Truterra, LLC, the sustainability business of Land O’Lakes cooperative, is announcing the launch of Truterra™ sustainability services, a comprehensive suite of agronomic and financial resources designed to meet farmers where they are at every stage of their sustainability journey and to encourage adoption of regenerative farming practices by working to remove one of the biggest barriers to practice change – fear of lost profitability and productivity of their acres.

Truterra sustainability services focuses on working with farmers to plan, make and maintain sustainability practice changes, including:
Making a plan: The Truterra™ soil health assessment and plan sets quantifiable soil health baselines and provides custom recommendations to improve overall soil health and resiliency. The soil health assessment brings much-needed locally relevant context to soil health measures for farmers to understand more about their soil health status, potential for improvement and to help create a roadmap toward improved soil health. After a successful 2022 pilot across several states including Iowa, Kansas and Missouri, Truterra is expanding the soil health assessment to Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska and Wisconsin. The soil health assessment offering builds on the robust conservation agronomy support already being delivered through Truterra and Winfield United networks of trusted local ag retail advisors and its farmer support team.
Creating a pathway to make change: Truterra’s market access program is an on-ramp for eligible farmers considering adopting new regenerative practices on their fields. Farmers can potentially receive $2/acre to begin building the baseline data required to participate in future carbon program opportunities. In addition, farmers have the opportunity to participate in the WinField United Advanced Acre® Rx prescription plan1 – a component of which provides a warranty to offset part of the risk of this practice change implementation.
Being rewarded for transition: For fields that have made eligible practice changes within the last four years, qualified farmers can potentially earn between $15-$30 per tonne of new carbon stored through Truterra’s 2023 carbon program which is now open for enrollment through February 28. Truterra offers farmers earning potential by paying based on results – carbon stored – rather than a set payment per acre.

As part of sustainability services, Truterra’s 2023 carbon program is now open for enrollment and Truterra is also working to develop additional opportunities for farmers to be rewarded for their stewardship, such as the USDA-funded Climate SMART (Scaling Mechanisms for Agriculture’s Regenerative Transformation) project to scale production and demand for climate-smart corn, soybean, wheat, cotton and milk production.

Truterra’s 2022 carbon program is expected to pay farmers more than $4.5 million total in cash payments for nearly 237,000 tonnes of carbon stored in soils. The program delivered 220 participating farmers an average payment per participating farmer of $24,842. Full results for the 2022 program will be released in the coming months once all payments have been finalized.

Interested farmers can learn more and find the program that is right for them at Truterraag.com/enroll or contact their local Truterra retail partner.

carbon, Sustainability

How Technology Will Help Future Food System

Cindy Zimmerman

Rob Dongoski is the Global Food & Agribusiness Lead with the corporate consulting firm EY (Ernst & Young) which has as its purpose to build a better working world. His purpose as keynote speaker for day two of the 2023 VISION Conference was to discuss How Technology Will Enable the Future Food System – from Producers to Consumers.

As consumers want to know more about their food and there is a bigger focus on sustainability, “the opportunity to leverage technology in the food system is phenomenal right now,” said Dongoski. “As a society, what we’re leaning in on is friendliness to our planet, so how do we improve some of our practices using technology to make it more planet-friendly.”

At the same time, farmers need to know more about consumer trends than ever before to be able to respond to them in the marketplace. “So as consumers shift away from certain types of foods, are they producing something on the down cycle or could they shift over to something that may be on the growth cycle,” Dongoski explained.

More and more we are all getting information and making decisions with our phones as it relates to food, which provides new opportunities for interaction. “People want to be served by their phones. Particularly the Gen Zs and Millennials have grown up always having a phone, their channel starts with the phone,” said Dongoski. “Whether it’s delivery folks, or directly through stores or restaurants, I think we’re just starting to see the opportunity.”

VISION 2023 interview with Rob Dongoski, Ernst & Young (4:55)

AgWired Precision, AI, Audio, Food

Alltech Releases 2023 Agri-Food Outlook

Cindy Zimmerman

Alltech released its 2023 Alltech Agri-Food Outlook today, showing global feed production remained steady in 2022 at 1.266 billion metric tons, a decrease of less than one-half of one percent (0.42%) from 2021. The annual survey, now in its 12th year, includes data from 142 countries and more than 28,000 feed mills.

Europe bore the brunt of the impact, including significant disease challenges, severe weather and the impacts of the invasion of Ukraine. The global COVID-19 pandemic has had major impacts on the agri-food sector, contributing to supply chain challenges and accelerating the adoption of new technology and environmental sustainability practices.

The top 10 feed-producing countries over the past year were China (260.739 million metric tons [MMT]), the U.S. (240.403 MMT), Brazil (81.948 MMT), India (43.360 MMT), Mexico (40.138 MMT), Russia (34.147 MMT), Spain (31.234 MMT), Vietnam (26.720 MMT), Argentina (25.736 MMT) and Germany (24.396 MMT). Together, the top 10 countries produced 64% of the world’s feed production, and half of the world’s global feed consumption is concentrated in four countries: China, the U.S., Brazil and India. Vietnam experienced a great recovery in terms of its feed tonnage in 2022, entering the top 10 ahead of Argentina and Germany and crowding out Turkey, which reported reduced feed tonnage. Russia overtook Spain, where there was a significant reduction in feed production.

Key observations from the survey:

Feed production increased in several regions, including Latin America (1.6%), North America (0.88%) and Oceania (0.32%), while Europe decreased by 4.67%, Africa by 3.86% and the Asia-Pacific region also dropped 0.51%.

Globally, increases in feed tonnage were reported in the aquaculture, broiler, layer and pet food sectors, while decreases were reported in the beef, dairy and pig sectors.

Although it experienced a narrow reduction in feed production, China remains the largest feed-producing country in the world, followed by the United States and Brazil.

See the survey results here.

Alltech, Animal Agriculture, Feed, Food, Livestock, Poultry

Agri-Pulse Expands California Staff

Cindy Zimmerman

Agri-Pulse Communications, Inc., is pleased to announce the addition of Burke Kennedy as western sales associate for the digital media company.

“Burke will support the continued expansion of Agri-Pulse West subscriptions, advertising and event sponsorship in the California market,” said Jason Lutz, Agri-Pulse sales and marketing manager. “We’ve experienced steady growth since our launch in 2019 and look forward to continuing that upward trend.”

Kennedy has a background in the grower/shipper industry and precision agriculture. Most recently, he worked for Green Rubber Kennedy Ag, providing solutions to food processors and growers through various agricultural and industrial product lines. He also worked with PlantTape to increase crop yield, improve efficiency and lower per-acre cost for growers through automated transplanting systems.

He was born and raised in California’s Salinas Valley, where his family grows, both conventionally and organically, leafy greens, fresh vegetables and strawberries. Kennedy graduated from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural business.

Agri-Pulse, Media

Animal Ag News 1/23

Carrie Muehling

  • The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) announced new members of the organization’s Executive Council as well as new directors for the group’s five Industry Segment Boards. Patricia D. Stroup, senior vice president and chief procurement officer of Nestle S.A., and CEO of Nestrade S.A., was selected to chair the IDFA Executive Council. Mike Durkin, president and CEO of Leprino Foods Company was selected to be vice chair of the IDFA Executive Council.
  • National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) President-Elect Todd Wilkinson, a South Dakota cattle producer and chairman of the NCBA traceability working group, released a statement regarding the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) proposed rule on electronic identification for cattle moving interstate.
  • The Dairy Business Association, Wisconsin’s leading dairy advocacy group, presented several Wisconsin legislators with awards for their efforts on behalf of the state’s signature industry at their annual Dairy Strong conference.
  • National FFA Officer Candidates will be attending the International Poultry Expo (IPE), part of the 2023 International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE), as a result of the USPOULTRY Foundation’s ongoing initiative to further attract the best and brightest students to the poultry and egg industries. The students will receive an all-expense paid trip to IPE in Atlanta, Georgia, and this opportunity is made possible in part by an endowing Foundation gift from Tyson Foods.
  • VAS is pleased to work with Zoetis to bring genomic data to the PULSE Platform and DairyComp herd management software. This integration makes it easy to view genomic data from the CLARIFIDE brands and herd data in one place for efficient herd management.
  • The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) announced the appointment of key cattle industry leaders to serve on the association’s policy committees. The policy committees review, discuss, and vote on policy resolutions brought forward by NCBA members. These grassroots policies guide NCBA’s advocacy efforts in Washington, D.C.
  • Grazing connections between crop farmers and livestock farmers is a win-win-win for soil health, livestock, and farm profitability. As you’re taking stock of 2022 and planning for 2023, consider adding or expanding a grazing component to your farm operation and look to the Midwest Grazing Exchange to help make it happen.
AgWired Animal, Animal Agriculture, Animal Bites

ZimmCast 704 – From Beltwide to VISION

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCastHello and welcome to the ZimmCast. I’m Chuck Zimmerman.

I’m a little behind on this latest episode. The holidays and early conferences have kept Cindy and I very busy. This includes traveling to see family and that includes a beautiful wedding for one of our nieces. We are very blessed to be able to see so many of our family members. We’re scattered all over the place so it’s not easy. But worth it.

So, I’m going to include a few of the interviews I conducted in the last two weeks.

Let’s start with the Beltwide Cotton Conferences in New Orleans. These interviews are from the Cotton Sustainability Conference. First up will be Dr. Gary Adams, President and CEO, National Cotton Council, talking about the U. S. Cotton Trust Protocol. Following Gary will be Dr. Jesse Daystar, Chief Sustainability Officer, Cotton Incorporated, talking about Climate Smart Cotton.

There are a quite a few more interviews and other audio in the Beltwide Cotton Conferences virtual ag newsroom on AgNewsWire.com. That includes regulatory updates, cotton policy updates and a world cotton outlook.

Now let’s move to this week’s VISION Conference conducted by Meister Media and held in Glendale, AZ. It is the 6th year for this conference.

First up is Joe Monahan, President and COO of Meister Media. He talks about the conference theme of Harnessing the Power of Agriculture 4.0. Then you’ll hear Rob Dongoski, Global Food & Agribusiness Leader, Ernst & Young. He has some great information about how technology will enable the future food system from producers to consumers.

Coming up next on the ZimmComm schedule is the Clean Fuels Conference followed by the annual meeting of the Crop Insurance and Reinsurance Bureau. I’m looking forward to them!

I’d also like to remind you that you can subscribe, not only to the ZimmCast, but the ZimmComm Golden Mic Audio Podcast. That podcast contains all interviews or other audio files that we publish. You can find it in all the major podcast directories. Just search for ZimmComm Golden Mic Audio Podcast.

That’s the ZimmCast for this week. I hope you enjoyed it and thank you for listening.

Listen to the ZimmCast here:
ZimmCast 704 - From Beltwide to VISION (22:22)

Want to sponsor the ZimmCast? Just let me know and we can talk through ideas for your company. I’m AgriBlogger on Twitter or just email me at chuck@zimmcomm.biz.

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Audio, Media, Precision Agriculture, Technology, ZimmCast