Welcome to the 6th Annual VISION Conference

Cindy Zimmerman

The 6th annual VISION Conference kicked off in Glendale, Arizona Tuesday with a welcome from Joe Monahan, President and Chief Operating Officer of Meister Media Worldwide, organizer of the event.

“Our goal with the vision conference is to bring together a broad mix of voice, perspectives and capabilities that are driving change across the food value chain,” said Monahan. “It’s really looking into the future of ag tech.”

The theme for this year’s conference, Harnessing the Power of Agriculture 4.0 – Turning Innovation into Reality, centers around key topics that are driving Agriculture 4.0: virtual cropping systems, autonomy, AI, climate smart ag, vertical farming, weather mapping, imagery and more.

Monahan says the VISION Conference is just one of element of Meister Media Worldwide’s Global AgTech Initiative. “Our goal with the Global AgTech Initiative is to provide opportunities to connect the industry through multiple touchpoints ranging from market intelligence to research and thought leadership.”

Listen to Monahan’s remarks and interview below.
VISION 2023 welcome - Joe Monahan, Meister Media Worldwide (5:28)

Interview with Joe Monahan, Meister Media President and Chief Operating Officer
VISION 2023 interview with Joe Monahan, Meister Media Worldwide (3:12)

2023 VISION Conference Photo Album

AgWired Precision, Audio, Precision Agriculture, Technology

Animal Ag News 1/17

Carrie Muehling

  • John Starkey has announced his upcoming retirement as president of U.S. Poultry & Egg Association (USPOULTRY). A search committee for his replacement will be formed at the January USPOULTRY board meeting, and a selection process and timeline will be established. Once a successor is in place, Starkey will remain available in an advisory role for the remainder of 2023.
  • The top 10 teams of the National FFA Food Science and Technology Career Development Event (CDE) have been invited to attend the International Poultry Expo, part of the 2023 International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE), as a result of the USPOULTRY Foundation’s continued initiative to attract students to the poultry and egg industry. The opportunity for teams of the Food Science and Technology CDE to attend is made possible in part by endowing Foundation gifts from Pilgrim’s and Cargill.
  • Every day cattle producers across the country reaffirm their commitment to protecting environmental resources, supporting communities and creating an economically viable future through effective management practices. The “Beef Sustainability Forum – Continuing our Commitment to a Sustainable Future,” sponsored by Elanco, will be held on Thursday, Feb. 2 at 12:30 p.m. in New Orleans to highlight the industry’s sustainability efforts. The annual Cattle Industry Convention & NCBA Trade Show is the oldest and largest convention for the cattle business. The 2023 convention, Feb. 1-3 in New Orleans, features education, entertainment and business meetings.
  • Colorado State University graduate students Ashley Schilling of Timnath, Colorado, and Lane Giess, of Pierz, Minnesota, have each been awarded a $15,000 W.D. Farr Scholarship by the National Cattlemen’s Foundation (NCF). The annual W.D. Farr Scholarship program, established by NCF in 2007, recognizes outstanding graduate students who plan to pursue careers furthering the beef industry.
  • The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) is pleased to welcome credentialed members of the media to register free of charge for Dairy Forum 2023 in Orlando, Fla. Members of the press who are interested in attending the event must first RSVP to Matt Herrick at mherrick@idfa.org. Learn more about the event at www.dairyforum.com.
  • Fifty cattle, farm, rural and consumer groups sent a joint letter to U.S. Senate and House members who, during the last session of Congress, cosponsored the American Beef Labeling Act that restores mandatory country of origin labeling (MCOOL) for beef. The letter expressed the groups’ gratitude for the congressional members’ leadership and support of the American Beef Labeling Act during the last session of Congress and urged them to reintroduce the measure in the new Congress that started on January 3, 2023. In their letter, the groups pledged their support to assist Congress in the swift enactment of the bill.
  • Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association announced several student opportunities during the 2023 Cattle Raisers Convention & Expo including free admission for students, a graduate research poster showcase and a youth photo contest. Students will receive free admission to the 2023 School for Successful Ranching and Expo by using the code STUDENT when registering at cattleraisersconvention.com. Students must present a student ID at the registration desk on site.
AgWired Animal, Animal Agriculture, Animal Bites

2023 Beltwide Cotton Conferences Wrap Up

Cindy Zimmerman

Another successful Beltwide Cotton Conferences is in the books and it was good to see attendance and participation back up to pre-pandemic levels.

“I’m always glad to kick off the year with Beltwide,” said Hank Jones, RSJ Ag Services, who once again served as chair for the Consultants Conference. “One of the things that I’ve always loved about the conference is that it’s for the cotton belt so if we need to get somebody from Washington DC or a high end specialist we can do that.”

2023 Beltwide Cotton interview with Hank Jones, RSJ Ag Services 7:18

Lori Duncan, University of Tennessee Biosystems Engineering Professor, was chair for the Sustainability Conference. “This is our fifth year as a conference within the Beltwide Cotton Conferences,” said Duncan. “We’ve seen a lot more conversation around transparency with programs like the Cotton Trust Protocol.”

Duncan said they also talked more in this year’s conference about circularity and going from a linear to a circular economy.

2023 Beltwide Cotton interview Sustainability Conference chair Lori Duncan 4:32

Find photos and lots more interviews from the Beltwide Cotton Conferences in the
Beltwide Cotton Conferences Virtual Newsroom

Audio, Beltwide Cotton, Cotton

Industry Ag News 1/13

Carrie Muehling

  • Farmer and rancher delegates to the American Farm Bureau Federation’s 104th Convention adopted policies to guide the organization’s work in 2023. Key topics ranged from expanding risk management programs and improving dairy pricing transparency to battling hunger. Delegates were polled regarding their farms at the beginning of the voting session. The results show almost 99% (334 delegates) of those who cast votes operate family farms and almost 65% represent small- to mid-size farms as defined by USDA.
  • Only a few days remain to take advantage of early registration discounts for the 2023 Commodity Classic to be held March 9-11 in Orlando. Friday, January 20, 2023, is the last day the early registration discount will be in effect.
  • Once again, the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) invites all its guilds to participate in the IFAJ Star Prize. Online entry forms are now open, and entries will be accepted until February 28, 2023. New this year, individual members of IFAJ member guilds can nominate themselves and enter their work directly into the online form.
  • Yield10 Bioscience, Inc., an agricultural bioscience company, announced that it has signed with Mitsubishi Corporation a Memorandum of Understanding to evaluate the establishment of a partnership to supply, offtake and market Camelina as a low-carbon feedstock oil for biofuels. Mitsubishi Corporation recently announced its aim to mass produce sustainable aviation fuel to decarbonize commercial aviation.
  • The American Feed Industry Association is pleased to announce the promotion of Sarah Novak to chief operating officer. Novak has served the association for over 15 years as the vice president of membership and public relations.
  • Farm Journal’s 26th annual Top Producer Summit is set for Jan. 23-25, 2023, at the Grand Hyatt in Nashville. The event will bring forward-thinking farmers and ranchers together to share business opportunities and ideas to take their operations to the next level.
  • Minneapolis Grain Exchange, a Designated Contract Market and Derivatives Clearing Organization, reported full-year 2022 trading volume of 3.3 million contracts, representing a 15.0% year-over-year decrease from the same period in 2021 and the second highest annual volume total in its history.
  • Mike King has joined Blank Page Marketing (BLNKPG) as a new Account Director. King brings more than 25 years of experience in both agricultural communications and public relations to BLNKPG. In his new role, King will assist in managing BLNKPG’s client services team and its members.
  • The Ag Innovation Campus (AIC) is excited to announce a major sponsorship to ring in the new year. Farmers Union Enterprises, which comprises Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Wisconsin’s Farmers Union organizations, is lending substantial financial support to the future crush and research facility in south Crookston.
  • The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association (IRFA) is excited to announce Jared Palmer as its new Communications Manager. Palmer’s responsibilities will include overseeing IRFA’s social media networks and press communications.
  • KCoe Isom, doing business as Pinion*, and Anderson ZurMuehlen, two leading U.S. accounting and business advisory firms, announced they have combined businesses, effective January 1, 2023. Pinion will provide expanded advisory services, resources, and outstanding career opportunities, building the foundation required for long-term growth and a stronger national presence with a gateway to global expansion. *Pinion is a public-facing brand under the legal entity KCoe Isom, LLP. Attest services provided by KCoe Isom, LLP.
  • The Illinois Soybean Association (ISA) Government Relations department has hired four new team members whose expertise and relationships will strengthen advocacy efforts with policymakers and stakeholders that will benefit Illinois soybean farmers by developing and executing complex policy initiatives.
AgWired Precision, Precision Ag Bytes, Precision Agriculture

Corn, Soybean and Cotton Production Down in 2022

Cindy Zimmerman

Production for corn, soybeans and cotton all declined in 2022 compared to the previous year, according to the 2022 Crop Production Annual Summary from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.

U.S. corn growers produced 13.7 billion bushels, down 9% from 2021. Corn yield in the United States is estimated at 173.3 bushels per acre, 3.4 bushels below the 2021 record high yield of 176.7 bushels per acre. Area harvested for grain, at 79.2 million acres, is down 7% from 2021.

Soybean production for 2022 totaled 4.28 billion bushels, down 4% from 2021. The average soybean yield is estimated at 49.5 bushels per acre, 2.2 bushels below 2021, and 0.7 bushel below the Nov. 1 forecast.

For 2022, all cotton production is down 16% from 2021, at 14.7 million 480-pound bales. The U.S. yield is estimated at 947 pounds per acre, up 128 pounds from last year’s yield. Harvested area, at 7.44 million acres, is down 28% from last year.

Corn, Cotton, Soybean, USDA

Cotton Policy Update at #BWCC23

Cindy Zimmerman

Attendees at the Beltwide Cotton Conferences this week in New Orleans were updated on current policy issues relating to cotton by Bart Fischer, Co-Director of the Agricultural and Food Policy Center Texas A&M University.

Fischer says one of the big policy issues on the plate this year is the next farm bill. “The 2018 Farm Bill expires on September 30,” said Fischer. “We’re not quite off to the races but we’re very soon going to be if we’re going to get a farm bill done this year.”

Fischer says he is optimistic about getting a farm bill done this year because the members of the Agriculture Committees in both houses of Congress are motivated, especially Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) who has announced she is retiring and probably would like to get one more farm bill done before she departs.

Listen to Fischer’s update remarks and interview below.
2023 Beltwide Cotton Policy Update - Bart Fischer, Texas A&M 34:30

2023 Beltwide Cotton interview - Bart Fischer, Texas A&M 6:44

Audio, Beltwide Cotton, Cotton, Farm Bill

DWFI Podcast 21 – Peter McCornick, New Year at Water for Food

Cindy Zimmerman

In this episode of the Water for Food Podcast, DWFI Communications Specialist Arianna Elnes discusses exciting projects coming out of the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute (DWFI) and what lies ahead in the upcoming year with Executive Director, Dr. Peter McCornick.

McCornick leads the institute in delivering on its vision of a water and food secure world, building its partnerships and collaborations in Nebraska, nationally in the US, and other key food producing regions in the world. He is a tenured professor in the Department of Biosystems Engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and the Robert B. Daugherty Chair of Water for Food.

McCornick was recently re-elected to the Board of Governors of the World Water Council; and is a member of the steering committee of the Water Scarcity in Agriculture (WASAG) initiative, a global partnership organized by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN (FAO). Prior to joining DWFI, Peter was the deputy director general of research at the International Water Management Institute. With an international career focused on improving the sustainable management of water resources, he has led inter-disciplinary research and development programs on water, agriculture and the environment in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Canada and the U.S.

View DWFI’s 2021-2022 Annual Report: https://go.unl.edu/annualreport
Watch Peter McCornick’s end-of-the-year video: https://go.unl.edu/2022year

Listen here or subscribe on your favorite podcast platform:
DWFI Podcast 21 - Dr. Peter McCornick, DWFI 34:54

The Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute (DWFI) at the University of Nebraska was founded with the mission to have a lasting and significant impact on achieving more food security with less pressure on scarce water resources by conducting scientific and policy research, using the research results to inform policy makers, and sharing knowledge through education and communication.

How to subscribe:

Audio, Podcasts, Water, Water for Food

Cotton Pesticides and the Endangered Species Act

Cindy Zimmerman

L-R: Leah Duzy and Ashlea Frank, CSI; Jack Royal, Royal’s Ag Consulting Company; Rogers Leonard, Integrated Crop Consulting

The future of pesticides under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) was a topic for a panel at the Beltwide Cotton Conferences Consultants Conference this week in New Orleans.

The panel was composed of Leah Duzy and Ashlea Frank, Compliance Services International (CSI); Jack Royal, Royal’s Ag Consulting Company, Leary GA; and Rogers Leonard, Integrated Crop Consulting, St. Josesph, LA.

“EPA must comply with the Endangered Species Act,” explained Duzy. “Any products currently registered have to go through registration review every 15 years and have to meet their ESA obligation.”

EPA now has a work plan which was updated in November which outlines strategies and actions for EPA to meet that ESA obligation. “Because of this work plan there are going to be changes to labels with Endangered Species specific information,” said Frank. That includes a directive to check an EPA website which contains species and geographically specific mitigations.

According to Frank, number of endangered species varies around the country, but virtually every county has at least one and the total nationwide is around 1700.

Listen to the panel conversation and an interview with Duzy and Frank below.

2023 Beltwide Cotton Pesticides and Endangered Species Act panel 44:59

2023 Beltwide Cotton interview Leah Duzy and Ashlea Frank, CSI 7:54

2023 Beltwide Cotton Conferences Photo Album
Beltwide Cotton Conferences Virtual Newsroom

Audio, Beltwide Cotton, Cotton, EPA, pesticides

Precision Ag News 1/11

Carrie Muehling

  • Deere & Company has released the names of eight companies chosen for its 2023 Startup Collaborator program. The Startup Collaborator was launched in 2019 and helps John Deere enhance precision technology in its agriculture and construction equipment.
  • At the American Farm Bureau Federation annual convention, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced several major developments at the U.S. Department of Agriculture that will benefit farmers, ranchers and producers across the nation. Secretary Vilsack announced that USDA continues to make progress by assisting producers facing high input costs to access domestic, innovative fertilizer capacity; improving risk protection for underserved producers; investing in new choices and meat processing capacity for livestock producers; and providing relief for producers impacted by disaster and the pandemic.
  • Soiltech Wireless, the leader in remote crop monitoring and traceability, announced the appointment of Shane Thomas to its board of directors.
  • Deere & Company is adding to its lineup of balers with the introduction of the new L341R High-Density Large Square Baler. The new baler creates 3×4 high-density bales. For straw bales, farmers can expect bale weight increases of up to 30% when using the new baler.
  • Premium denim label Citizens of Humanity Group announced a long-term partnership with regenerative agriculture leader Advancing Eco Agriculture (AEA) and regenerative advocacy group Kiss the Ground Foundation (an inspiration for the highly-acclaimed Kiss the Ground Film, available on Netflix) to work with farmers to grow cotton regeneratively. The Citizens of Humanity Group and its family of brands, Citizens of Humanity, AGOLDE, and GOLDSIGN will launch Kiss the Ground Cotton as part of their Fall 2023 Collections and beyond to supply regeneratively grown cotton that consumers can believe in.
  • As the official agricultural seed of John Force Racing (JFR) for the 2022 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series, NK Seeds was literally on the fast track last year. More importantly, NK Seeds helped farmers race toward their own yield and profit potential by offering the newest standouts and tried-and-true favorites.
  • Another leading agronomic professional has joined Meristem Crop Performance, one of the fastest-growing crop input suppliers in America. Eli Swenson becomes a Meristem sales representative in North Dakota and the Red River Valley. Swenson has great experience in helping growers boost their profitability with the right products and practices.
AgWired Precision, Precision Ag Bytes, Precision Agriculture

US Cotton Trust Protocol Update

Cindy Zimmerman

The 2023 Beltwide Cotton Conferences kicked off in New Orleans Tuesday with the consultants conference and an update on the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol from president Gary Adams.

Launched in 2020, the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol is a farm level, science-based program designed to set a new standard in more sustainably grown cotton. Adams says membership in the program grew from about 600 growers in 2021 to between 800 and 900 in 2022 and increased substantially across the value chain as well. “We enroll mills and manufacturers…and now that’s about 1100 companies from over 30 countries that have joined,” said Adams. “And then those end use customers and we have approximately 30 major brands and retailers, such as Gap and Levi’s.”

Adams notes that the Cotton Trust Protocol was the recipient of a USDA Climate Smart project grant that will be undertaken in 2023. “The objective is to enroll 1,650 U.S. cotton farmers into the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol,” said Adams, who is also president and CEO of National Cotton Council.

Listen to Adams’ remarks at the Beltwide and a summary interview below:
2023 Beltwide Cotton - U.S. Cotton Protocol Update 25:34

2023 Beltwide Cotton - interview with Gary Adams, NCC/US Cotton Protocol 7:17

Audio, Beltwide Cotton, Cotton