Biotech Alfalfa Deregulated

Cindy Zimmerman

Farmers can prepare to “grow the feed, not the weeds” once again, anywhere they want, with the complete deregulation of alfalfa that has been genetically engineered to be resistant to Roundup.

USDA made the announcement today. “After conducting a thorough and transparent examination of alfalfa through a multi-alternative environmental impact statement (EIS) and several public comment opportunities, APHIS has determined that Roundup Ready alfalfa is as safe as traditionally bred alfalfa,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said.

This means that, for the first time since 2007, U.S. farmers will have the choice to plant Genuity® Roundup Ready® alfalfa, which makes Monsanto very happy.

“This is great news for farmers who have been waiting for the green light to plant Roundup Ready alfalfa,” said Steve Welker, alfalfa commercial lead at Monsanto. “USDA’s action gives farmers the choice to enjoy the benefits of this product, including superior crop safety and high-quality yield opportunity.”

The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) is also pleased by the USDA decision. “This is the right decision,” said Wisconsin farmer Jim Zimmerman, vice chairman of NCGA’s Trade Policy and Biotechnology Action Team. “A clean, full deregulation is the best decision for producers and lets farmers plant the kind of alfalfa they choose this spring.”

The USDA announcement comes just one week after the U.S. House Agriculture Committee held a hearing to review the biotechnology product regulatory approval process where biotech alfalfa was in the spotlight and Secretary Vilsack testified.

Let the complaining by those opposed to genetically modified crops begin!

Corn, Dairy, Feed, NCGA, USDA

Dick Butkus Meets Novus International

Chuck Zimmerman

Chuck and Dick ButkusThe biggest crowd in the trade show at the International Poultry Expo/International Feed Expo today was at the Novus International booth. Having a former NFL player/coach and Hall of Fame member didn’t hurt. Dick Butkus was there signing autographs and talking with all the customers and attendees who came by. Thanks to James Hermann, E-Marketing Mgr. for Novus for taking my photo.

I was able to talk with Dick and he told me about a program he’s very committed to called, Play Clean. He started it with his son a few years ago. Here’s what the mission of Play Clean is.

Novus Team and Dick ButkusTo educate and encourage high school students to make the right choice of playing clean – that is, training hard, eating well and playing with attitude, instead of resorting to illegal and dangerous steroids and performance enhancing products.

He says attending a poultry show “is kind of unusual” although his parents raised chickens and he did too once upon a time. He pointed out that he’s learned how important it is to the health of chickens to be raised in cages unlike what some animal activist organizations would have you believe. Pictured is the whole Novus team here with Dick.

You can listen to my interview with Dick here: Interview With Dick Butkus

The man signed a lot of autographs as seen in this little video clip:

2011 International Poultry Expo/International Feed Expo Photo Album

AgWired IPE/IFE coverage sponsored by: Novus

Agribusiness, Audio, Novus International, Poultry Expo

Novus International Started In Poultry

Chuck Zimmerman

Scott CarterWorking with Novus International yesterday I conducted several interviews that I’ll be featuring here on AgWired. To start out, I talked with Scott Carter (left). Scott is the global poultry market manager so he was a good one to provide an overview of how important the poultry market is for the company. He says it’s the market they started in and their largest customer segment.

There are several key issues that Novus is addressing in the poultry sector right now that Scott says include feed efficiency, gut health and feed safety. I always like to learn what’s new and he points to their IDEA assay:

IDEA™ assay allows users to determine the protein and amino acid digestibility of feed ingredients. IDEA assay analyzes the ingredients in a formulation in order to optimize feed balance and nutrition. IDEA is an excellent tool to help users screen different batches and sources of a given ingredient and gives them the opportunity to use alternative feed ingredients.

You can listen to my interview with Scott here: Interview With Scott Carter

2011 International Poultry Expo/International Feed Expo Photo Album

AgWired IPE/IFE coverage sponsored by: Novus

Animal Health, Audio, Novus International, Poultry Expo

iFeeder Helping Communicate Safe Food Messages

Chuck Zimmerman

Joel NewmanThe American Feed Industry Association recently created iFeeder, the Institute for Feed Education and Research. To learn more about it I spoke with AFIA President/CEO, Joel Newman. He says the mission of the foundation is “To sustain the future of food and feed production through education and research.” He describes the challenge faced by the feed industry which is summed up on their website:

Today the average U.S. farmer feeds 144 people. In 1940 that number was only 19 people. We’ve made great progress but we have a long way to go. Today 1 acre feeds 1.6 people. By 2050 1 acre must feed 4 people. To feed the world in 2050, investment in agriculture must reach $83 billion per year. This equals a 50% increase in investment from current levels. The U.S. feed industry is a critical part of this chain.

Only through education and scientific based research done today will our future generations be able to support the increased world food demand.

Joel says that one of the things the foundation will work on is communication to audiences outside of the industry including the consuming public to help them better understand the safety of the food they eat. Of course social communications plays a role in that!

You can listen to my interview with Joel here: Interview With Joel Newman

2011 International Poultry Expo/International Feed Expo Photo Album

AgWired IPE/IFE coverage sponsored by: Novus

Ag Groups, Audio, Education, Feed, Poultry Expo

Potential Presidential Hopefuls at Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit

Cindy Zimmerman

Potential presidential candidates for 2012 were already testing the waters in the all-important Hawkeye State this week, appearing at the 5th annual Iowa Renewable Fuels (IRFA) Summit.

newt gingrichFormer speaker of the U.S. House Newt Gingrich spoke to a full house of more than 700 at the summit in Des Moines on Tuesday. Gingrich supports all types of energy and strongly believes in the ability of modern agricultural technology to grow enough crops for all purposes. “The people who talk about food versus fuel are just plain flat wrong,” he said. He said if anyone is to blame for any food shortages, it is the European opposition to using genetically engineered crops.

Probably the biggest applause came when Gingrich gave his opinions on the U.S. EPA. “One of the things we are working on at (his action network) American Solutions is to develop an Environmental Solutions Agency to replace the Environmental Protection Agency,” he said.

Listen to or download Newt’s entire speech at IRFA here: Newt Gingrich at Iowa RFA Summit

IRFA Rick SantorumFormer Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, a conservative Republican who served two terms in the U.S. House and two terms in the Senate, closed out the summit by telling his story of being a biofuels convert.

“I looked at this issue differently, until 9/11,” Santorum said. “Post 9/11, I went from someone who was skeptical at best of developing domestic sources of energy, to being a grand proponent of such things,” he said. “My pledge to you is to work with this industry to create a bigger and bigger place in the market for domestically produced ethanol and biodiesel.”

Santorum served on the Senate Agriculture Committee during his time in office. “I was the first Pennsylvanian to serve on the agriculture committee in the United States Senate in over 100 years,” he said.

Listen to or download Santorum’s address at IRFA here: Rick Santorum at Iowa RFA Summit


More photos from the IOWA RENEWABLE FUELS SUMMIT

Audio, Biodiesel, Biofuels, Ethanol

State of the Union Talks Trade and Biofuels

Cindy Zimmerman

President Obama made some folks in the ag industry happy with his State of the Union (SOTU) address Tuesday talking about the importance of both biofuels and free trade agreements.

Corn farmers and representatives of the renewable fuels industry were especially pleased to hear the president say that America needs to “break our dependence on oil with biofuels.”

Obama SOTU 2011“The success of all biofuels hinges on the success of ethanol from corn – on the growth of an ethanol industry that is leading the way, sustainably increasing in economic, environmental and energy efficiency,” said National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) Chairman Darrin Ihnen of South Dakota.

Tom Buis, CEO of the ethanol organization Growth Energy, released a video statement in reaction to the SOTU. “Mr. President, thank you again for providing leadership,” said Buis. “The idea is to move this nation forward and we stand ready to work with you and Congress to help achieve these goals because we all know it’s best for America.”

The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) was pleased to hear the president address “the sacred cow of oil subsidies” to pay for his initiatives, saying “instead of subsidizing yesterday’s energy, let’s invest in tomorrow’s.” RFA’s Matt Hartwig noted that there’s no need to wait until tomorrow. “There are great technologies available to us today. Current ethanol and biofuel production is already contributing to our nation’s prosperity by adding jobs and reducing our reliance on foreign oil.”

On the issue of trade, President Obama called on Congress to pass the recently finalized agreement with South Korea “as soon as possible,” something that 60 food and agricultural groups and companies encouraged lawmakers to do in a letter sent Monday. “We are hopeful President Obama truly makes the immediate implementation of this trade agreement a priority,” said National Cattlemen’s Beef Association President Steve Foglesong.

American Farm Bureau Federation president Bob Stallman noted trade agreements pending with Korea, Colombia and Panama would add an additional $3 billion to the U.S. economy through agricultural trade. “These trade agreements are not only important to the bottom line of America’s farmers and ranchers but the economic health of our rural communities and the overall U.S. economy,” said Stallman.

Read the full SOTU transcript here.

Corn, Ethanol, NCBA, NCGA, RFA

Helping Soybean Growers Understand Their Top Customer

Chuck Zimmerman

USSEC Press ConferenceThis morning Dave Russell, Brownfield Network (right), moderated a United Soybean Board teleconference at the International Poultry Expo. Participating was Dwain Ford (center), USB Director and a soybean farmer from Kinmundy, IL and Mousa Wakileh, General Manager, National Poultry Co., Jordan. On a side note, I met Mousa on a U.S. Grains Council trip to his country a little over a year ago. It’s always nice to see people from other parts of the world and that’s one of the cool things about a show like this.

The subject of the teleconference was raising U.S. soybean farmer awareness of top customers and the poultry industry is the largest one. You might wonder why soybean farmers wouldn’t be aware of this and why the USB has had an on-going initiative to foster better understanding of this fact. In the teleconference you’ll hear Dwain say that there have been soybean farmers who oppose the growth and development of livestock operations and that shows the possibility that they don’t understand how important it is to their livelihood to be more supportive of their biggest customer.

Soybean checkoff-funded research indicates a significant disconnect between U.S. soybean farmers and their most important end customers. In fact, many U.S. soybean farmers identify their local elevator as their end customer.

Poultry and livestock, both here in the United States and throughout the world, use the vast majority of U.S. soybeans. For example, U.S. poultry and livestock consume nearly 98 percent of the U.S. supply of soybean meal. And poultry farmers use more U.S. soybean meal than any other end user.

You can download or listen to the full press conference here: USB Teleconference - IPE/IFE

2011 International Poultry Expo/International Feed Expo Photo Album

AgWired IPE/IFE coverage sponsored by: Novus

Ag Groups, International, Soybean, USB

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • High school and two-year college students are invited to apply for a $1,000 scholarship from the CHS Foundation.
  • Lessing-Flynn was named the newest member of the Intermarket Agency Network.
  • Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) is the recipient of the National Association of Wheat Growers’ 2010 Wheat Leader of the Year Award, the wheat industry’s highest public service award.
  • FBSciences, Inc., has contracted research and development of its proprietary plant growth regulator technologies for seed treatments and crop protection products to AgriThority LLC.
    Zimfo Bytes

    Novus International Invites You To IPE/IFE

    Chuck Zimmerman

    I’m back on the floor for the start of the trade show portion of the International Poultry Expo and International Feed Expo. My coverage sponsor, Novus International, created a welcome invite to their booth. I’ll be there shortly.

    2011 International Poultry Expo/International Feed Expo Photo Album

    AgWired IPE/IFE coverage sponsored by: Novus

    Agribusiness, Animal Health, Feed, Novus International, Video

    World Agriculture Investment Conference USA welcomes IFC and IDB

    Chuck Zimmerman

    The World Agriculture Investment Conference 2011 announces new speakers.

    On May 9-10, leading investment groups from across the globe are coming to Chicago to discuss the opportunities and risks in agricultural markets at the World Agriculture Investment Conference USA.

    The meeting’s foremost speaker panel – addressing a delegation of institutional and private investors – has recently been strengthened by Warren Weissman of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Rajesh Behal of the Agribusiness Department, IFC.

    Following months of research, this forum has been designed specifically to help investors to walk away with the practical information and contacts needed to make an appropriate choice based on varying risk tolerances and return objectives.

    Among the timely discussion, Mr. Weissman will take a look at agriculture opportunities throughout Latin America, focusing on regulatory environments and current crop production.

    And Mr. Behal will talk on private equity investment in the full agriculture supply chain, exploring opportunities in fertilizer, technology and infrastructure.

    This is a truly unique chance to network with key investors, hedge funds and Ag managers, and to effortlessly discover how best to develop the ideal Ag portfolio.

    For more information please visit: http://www.aginvestconference.com/usa/

    For additional information, registration assistance or questions, please contact George Kiley, Investment Director – World Agriculture Investment Series by email on gkiley@aginvestconference.com, or call on +44(0)207 3757 54

    You can find the agenda here.

    Agribusiness, International