USDA Announces Meat Supply Chain Actions

Cindy Zimmerman

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack used an appearance before the Senate Agriculture Committee on Thursday to make a few announcements, including issuing a new Packers & Stockyards Act rulemaking, making available $200 Million to expand competition in meat processing, and investing $25 million in workforce training.

Vilsack said the actions build on President Biden’s whole-of-government effort to promote competition in the American economy and fulfill key pillars of the Meat and Poultry Supply Chain Action Plan launched in January. These actions are designed to combat market dominance by a small number of major meat and poultry processors in key markets, where excessive concentration and control has led to lower prices paid to producers and higher prices paid by consumers.

Listen to Vilsack’s announcement and learn more details from USDA.
Vilsack at Senate Ag Committee Hearing (4:06)

AgWired Animal, Animal Agriculture, Audio, Beef, USDA

Alltech ONE Presents Two Humanitarian Awards

Cindy Zimmerman

L-R: Erik Weihenmayer, Dr. Mark Lyons, Mick Ebeling

The Alltech ONE Conference (ONE) wrapped up this week with a closing session featuring a double dose of inspiration – Mick Ebeling, founder and CEO of Not Impossible Labs, and world-class blind adventurer Erik Weihenmayer, who were both presented with Alltech Humanitarian Awards.

“We are pleased to present friends and first-time double Alltech Humanitarian Awards to Mick Ebeling and Erik Weihenmayer at the Alltech ONE Conference,” said Dr. Mark Lyons, president and CEO of Alltech. “Together, we have the collective courage and impact to work together for a Planet of Plenty™.”

Previous award winners have included Muhammad Ali, Steve Wozniak, Bear Grylls and late Alltech founder and Mark’s father, Dr. Pearse Lyons.

You can listen to Mark present the awards on stage here: Humanitarian Award Presentation (1:58)

ONE welcomed nearly 2,000 international delegates in person, with an additional 5,000 participating virtually. Now in its 38th year, this world-class event brought inspiring keynote speakers and more than 100 industry leaders to the stage, sharing valuable insights in live workshops and focus tracks and uncovering the challenges and opportunities in agriculture, business, health and wellness, and professional development.

Virtual Newsroom

2022 Alltech ONE Conference Photos and Audio

AgWired Animal, Alltech, Animal Agriculture, Animal Health

ZimmCast 692 – Alltech Planet of Plenty Awards

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCastHello and welcome to the ZimmCast.

This week I was in Lexington, KY for the Alltech ONE Conference. It has been 3 years since Alltech created one of the very first virtual conferences in 2020. So you can imagine the excitement and joy of being with customers and friends from all over the world. That includes agricultural media who had a great press room to work out of as usual.

Dr. Mark LyonsYou can find our virtual newsroom for the event on AgNewWire.com. It includes links to the photos I took as well as many interviews. I figured out that this is my 16th Alltech conference, counting the two virtual ones. The first one I attended and that you can find on AgNewsWire, was held in 2007. Pictured is Dr. Mark Lyons, President/CEO, Alltech, on stage during this year’s opening plenary session.

So, for this week’s ZimmCast I’m going to share two interviews. First will be the 2021 Alltech Canada Planet of Plenty Award Winner, Andrea Stroeve-Sawa, Shipwheel Cattle Feeders, Alberta. Next will be the 2022 Alltech Canada Planet of Plenty Award winner, Jillian Byers, Blue Ridge Farms, Alberta.

Throughout the conference sessions, speakers and interviews I did, there was a consistent message focused on sustainability, concern for the environment and all of it is part of the Alltech Planet of Plenty. The three key pillars of sustainability for Alltech are social, environmental and economic.

If you did not attend this year’s conference you can still register for on-demand access to virtual sessions. You can find that link on the website – one.alltech.com.

Coming up next on the agriblogging highway will be a trip to Iowa for the AgGateway Mid-Year Meeting. You can find the initial agenda here.

I hope you enjoyed this episode and thank you for listening.

Listen to the ZimmCast here:
ZimmCast 692 - Alltech Award Winners (19:36)

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.

Subscribe to the ZimmCast in:

Agribusiness, Alltech, Audio, Sustainability

MyLand Expands Leadership Team

Cindy Zimmerman

Soil health company MyLand announces that Matt Kessel is the new Vice President of Operations, Environmental Health, and Safety. Matt will oversee MyLand’s in-field service operations in Arizona, California, Florida, and Texas and build the company presence nationally, as well as outline and implement safety programs throughout the organization.

“We are grateful to welcome Matt to the MyLand team as we continue to scale up our regenerative agriculture service with growers nationally,” said Sascha Welz, Chief Operating Officer at MyLand. “His passion for enhancing business performance through creative problem solving and striving for continuous improvement in operational efficiency, focus on delivering the highest quality service, and experience developing and implementing world class safety programs will be a great asset to the company.”

Matt brings over 15 years of engineering expertise, business administration, and operations experience to MyLand. He holds an MBA from McCombs School of Business and a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas. Most recently, he served as Senior Vice President, Regional Operations at RWE Renewables, formally known as E.ON Climate & Renewables, where he joined the company as an engineer.

AgWired Precision, Precision Agriculture, Soil

Precision Ag News 5/25

Carrie Muehling

  • Seeking to understand what advancements are needed, staff at the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute (DWFI) have completed a study which maps and analyzes the business ecosystem for smallholder irrigation in Rwanda.
  • AgGateway announced that Ben Craker is joining the organization as Portfolio Manager, effective June 12, 2022. Craker succeeds Dan Berne in this role, who retired from the organization on April 30.
  • The American Soybean Association (ASA) recently led an analysis of federal conservation programs to determine which programs were the most beneficial to farmers and led to greater adoption of conservation practices. The economic analysis showed that the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) funding to farmers increased cover crop acres more efficiently than the whole-farm Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP). In addition, neither program moved the needle forward on no-till practice adoption.
  • New AG International brings the first ever Future AG: Sustainable Goals event, taking place in San Diego, CA, USA on 19 – 21 September 2022.
  • Vive Crop Protection has received distinction as one of Canada’s inaugural Sustainability Changemakers for 2022, as awarded by the Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) organization. Vive is one of 10 companies being honored with the distinction based on outstanding growth and a track record for delivering on SDTC’s mandate of sustainability and economic benefits for Canada.
  • As fertilizer prices hit record highs and are set to stay there into the 2023 season, one company is pushing in-field testing to extremes. Earlier in the season, Meristem Crop Performance sent each of 688 growers across the Corn Belt enough EXCAVATOR™ to treat 25 acres. Now soil tests will be collected at those locations with results posted online. EXCAVATOR is Meristem’s new patented, innovative, fast-acting biological that breaks down residue and releases nutrients.
  • Canadian farmers across cattle, swine, and poultry sectors are poised to benefit from an expanded availability of innovative feed technology solutions supporting animal health, performance, and profitability. U.S. based Advanced Ag Products has announced the official launch of a new Canadian division for the company out of Lethbridge, Alberta with a network serving farmers across key production regions.
  • AgriThority®, an agricultural product development company specializing in accelerating new technologies to commercialization around the world, announces the addition of new Associate Wally Palm, Ph.D., to deepen the AgriThority intellectual knowledge base in seed operations, traits and production.
  • 2022 Tech Hub LIVE Conference and Expo is the new and innovative center for the precision agtech industry. Come to Indianapolis in July for the full experience.
  • John Deere announced it has established an allied agreement with Mike and Jason Grady of Twin Pak to better serve existing and future John Deere small square baler customers in the United States.
  • NanoBio Designs LLC, a company that provides grain distributors and seed suppliers with onsite, rapid genetic detection solutions, has received a $100,000 investment from the Purdue Ag-Celerator, an agriculture innovation fund.
  • The SCN Coalition’s public relations campaign to move more soybean farmers to actively manage the soybean cyst nematode (SCN) was the recipient of the Public Relations Society of America’s (PRSA) prestigious Silver Anvil Award in the “Issues Management” category. For more than 75 years, the Silver Anvil has been considered an icon of the communications profession.
AgWired Precision, Precision Ag Bytes, Precision Agriculture

IFAJ Officers at the #AlltechONE

Cindy Zimmerman

IFAJ officers L-R: Adalberto Rossi, Adrian Bell and Steve Werblow at ONE with Chuck Zimmerman

Members of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) were happy to be able to meet up in person again at the Alltech ONE Conference this week in Lexington, Kentucky.

Like most other organizations, IFAJ has also been unable to meet in person since 2019, so it was great for officers from three different continents to be together again. Vice President Steve Werblow from here in the United States, Secretary General Adalberto Rossi of Argentina, and Treasurer Adrian Bell from the UK have all enjoyed meeting with their colleagues around the world and enjoying the hospitality of Alltech, which is a strong supporter of the organization.

Listen to Chuck’s conversation with the IFAJ officers here.
ONE22 Interview with IFAJ Officers (13:19)

Virtual Newsroom

2022 Alltech ONE Conference Photos and Audio

AgWired Animal, Alltech, Animal Agriculture, Audio, IFAJ

Alltech CEO Thrilled With Open of ONE

Cindy Zimmerman

Alltech President and CEO Mark Lyons was thrilled to be back on the stage in the Central Bank Center in Lexington, Kentucky today to welcome over a thousand of his closest friends from around the world back to the Alltech ONE Conference in person.

“It was a three year hiatus so it was a bit different than what we’ve done in the past,” Lyons said of the opening general session on Monday. “Alltech has been on this mission and focused on the Planet of Plenty over the past three years and its gone from being an idea of a few to permeating all of our company and beyond.”

Now in its 38th year, Alltech’s global agri-food conference features tracks in agriculture, business, health and wellness, and professional development. It is in person in Kentucky this year but also available virtually on a first-class platform, with live-streaming keynote and select on-demand track presentations available to ensure accessibility to everyone, everywhere.

Alltech CEO Mark Lyons welcome remarks
ONE22 Alltech CEO Mark Lyons welcome (2:15)

Alltech CEO Mark Lyons thrilled with open of ONE22
ONE22 Alltech CEO Mark Lyons comment (1:44)

Virtual Newsroom

2022 Alltech ONE Conference Photos and Audio

Alltech, Audio

Alltech Welcomes World Back to Kentucky

Cindy Zimmerman

LtoR: Damien O’Reilly, Susanna Elliott, David Markey, and Patrick Charlton

Alltech welcomed the world back to Lexington, Kentucky this week for the 2022 Alltech ONE Conference, the first time the legendary international symposium has been held in-person since 2019.

“This is my 32nd symposium/ONE, if I include the two virtual ones,” said Alltech Vice President European Operations Patrick Charlton during the welcome reception Sunday night. “Although the virtual program has worked the last couple of years delivering information, there’s so much more to these meetings that comes over cups of coffee, over lunch, over the occasional Kentucky Ale where we get to share ideas as well.”

The two day agenda is now well underway and if you can’t be there in person, there is still a virtual component this year.

In this interview, Charlton talks about how Alltech and its European customers and operations have fared over the past few years, including how the office in Kiev, Ukraine has been handled since the conflict began.

ONE22 Interview with Patrick Charlton, Alltech European Operations (9:21)

Photos

2022 Alltech ONE Conference Photo Album

Alltech, Audio

Animal Ag News 5/23

Carrie Muehling

  • Swine industry leaders from across the globe will take part in the United Pork Americas Pre-Event Symposium titled “Global Markets: The Americas Opportunities for Future Advancements in Exports, Quality, Health and Profitability.” The session is scheduled for Wednesday, May 25, at 9 a.m. CDT. Registration is open and free to all industry stakeholders.
  • The Animal Agriculture Alliance recently hired Abby Kornegay as manager, issues and engagement. Kornegay assumed her new role on May 9. In this role, Kornegay is responsible for shaping the Alliance’s issues management and crisis communications strategy.
  • The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) condemned the unfunded and duplicative Meat and Poultry Special Investigator Act of 2022, which was marked up recently by the House Agriculture Committee.
  • U.S. Poultry & Egg Association is celebrating 75 years of service to the poultry and egg industry. Formed in May of 1947 in Atlanta, the organization was originally known as the Southeastern Poultry & Egg Association and was created to help its members meet the challenges of the ever-changing poultry and egg industry. The organization’s name was changed to the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association (USPOULTRY) in 1996 to reflect the Association’s national scope.
  • National Dairy Council’s Dr. Greg Miller, who serves as chief science officer, Global Dairy Platform’s nutrition sector lead, and special counsel to the CEO on global nutrition affairs, has been recognized with four prestigious awards and honors.
  • The Beef Alliance announced the second annual Startup Challenge to be held on September 28, 2022. This will be a virtual pitch competition for entrepreneurial innovators and early-stage companies with solutions related to the cattle feeding industry. The 2022 event is specifically seeking innovation and technologies that can help cattle feeders enhance sustainability in feedyard operations and meet industry sustainability goals.
  • The stakes are high, as talented young chefs bring out their aprons and return to the kitchen on the hit culinary competition series MASTERCHEF JUNIOR airing Thursdays (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. This week, the seven remaining junior chefs test their culinary knowledge of different cuts of steak. In the first challenge of the night the young chefs will have just 45 minutes to create an egg dish. The winner of the steak challenge will get his or her recipe published on BeefItsWhatsForDinner.com and win a trip to a cattle farm.
  • Join cattle industry leaders in Reno at this year’s Summer Business Meeting for updates on current issues and planning for 2023 and beyond. The 2022 Cattle Industry Summer Business Meeting in Reno, Nevada, will be July 25-27, 2022.
  • The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) and the U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) called on the U.S. government to levy retaliatory tariffs on Canada after Ottawa made clear that it refuses to meet its signed treaty obligations under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) concerning dairy market access.
  • The American Feed Industry Association’s (AFIA) Board of Directors met in Arlington, Va., this week for their annual spring meeting, where they advocated for key industry priorities on Capitol Hill and conducted other official business, including approving new Board leadership and members. The AFIA Board of Directors recognized outgoing Board chair Mike Schuster, of Laidig Systems, Inc., for his leadership over the past year and installed Mike Gauss, of Kent Nutrition Group, Inc., as its new chair effective through the end of AFIA’s fiscal year April 30, 2023.
AgWired Animal, Animal Agriculture, Animal Bites

Industry Ag News 5/20

Carrie Muehling

  • Recently the Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) presented Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas and Sen. Todd Young of Indiana with its Legislator of the Year Award. The award is an annual ARA tradition that serves to recognize one or more legislators who have championed issues that impact agricultural retailers and the entire agriculture industry.
  • From farm to frontline, the Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council (MSR&PC) is taking another giant leap forward to highlight environmentally friendly investments from the soybean checkoff. MSR&PC, which directs the state’s soybean checkoff resources, is launching the Stepping Up campaign to amplify farmer profitability and promote the value-added uses of the “miracle bean” while making community connections.
  • Approximately one in four farmers struggle with mental health issues. National Corn Growers Association asks farmers, their families, and the people they do business with to look for signs. NCGA’s Member and Consumer Engagement Action Team (MCEAT) distributed a short, one-minute video asking our industry partners to assist in this effort.
  • The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that commodity and specialty crop producers impacted by natural disaster events in 2020 and 2021 will soon begin receiving emergency relief payments totaling approximately $6 billion through the Farm Service Agency’s (FSA) new Emergency Relief Program (ERP) to offset crop yield and value losses.
  • After two years of offering a hybrid program, the GROWMARK/FS System is pleased to welcome its newest class of interns back in-person for the complete immersive experience. Seventy-four interns were selected during a rigorous application process and are now working hands-on at GROWMARK and FS-company locations across North America.
  • The U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol announced that grower participation for the 2021/22 crop doubled since the program’s pilot last year. The Trust Protocol’s mission is to bring quantifiable and verifiable goals and measurement to the key sustainability metrics of U.S. cotton production.
  • Applications are now open for the 2022-2023 Maryland Farm Bureau Ambassador program, a scholarship and leadership development initiative for Maryland’s Farm Bureau member-families. After receiving entries from the county Farm Bureaus, the state Farm Bureau will choose one female and one male ambassador to represent Maryland Farm Bureau and the importance of agriculture’s role in the state from December 2022 – December 2023.
  • With many countries around the globe relaxing restrictions and showing signs of recovery from the pandemic, demand for U.S. potato exports is strong in many markets. During the first three quarters of the marketing year (July 2021-March 2022), overall U.S. potato and potato product exports increased from the same period one year earlier.
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