RFA Ethanol Podcast

NAMA Honors Industry Award Winners

Cindy Zimmerman

The National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) honored the winners of its 2022 Agribusiness Leader, Ag Association Leader, and Marketer of the Year Awards on Thursday at the Agri-Marketing Conference in Kansas City.

Kent Harrison, Vice President of Marketing and Premium Programs with Tyson Foods Fresh Meats, was honored as the 2022 Agribusiness Leader of the Year. In 2008, Harrison joined the Tyson Fresh Meats Team as director of marketing. Today, as the vice president of marketing and premium programs, Harrison is involved in nearly all facets of the company’s domestic and international business operations.
2022 NAMA Agribusiness Leader remarks (4:55)

U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) president Kasey Cronquist is NAMA’s 2022 Ag Association Leader of the Year. Soon after taking the helm at USHBC in 2019, Cronquist’s ability for long-term strategic visioning became apparent and proved vital. Through the “Grab a Boost of Blue” program, Cronquist has placed the blueberry health benefits at the center of every story told.
2022 NAMA Ag Association Leader remarks (3:46)

Lisa Homer, Senior Communications Manager, FMC, is the 2022 NAMA Marketer of the Year Award. Throughout a marketing and advertising career spanning more than 20 years, Homer has spent time on the client side, agency side and as a consultant. This unique perspective, coupled with a ‘can-do’ attitude, has enabled Homer as a skilled builder and driver of brands.
2022 NAMA Ag Association Leader remarks (3:23)

2022 Agri-Marketing Conference Photo Album

Ag Groups, Agencies, Agribusiness, Audio, NAMA

Congrats to the Best of NAMA

Cindy Zimmerman

A grand total of 60 Best of NAMA awards were handed out this week at the 2022 Agri-Marketing Conference in Kansas City, with Wyffels Hybrids/O&H Brand Design being crowned the Grand Champion at the end of the night.

Best of Show awards winners were:
Advertising: BASF/VMLY&R
Public Relations: AGCO/Colle McVoy
Digital: Zoetis/Bader Rutter
Consumer: Wyffels Hybrids/O&H Brand Design
Specialty: Cat Health & Royal Canin/WS

Check out all the photos of all the winners:
2022 Agri-Marketing Conference Photo Album

Ag Groups, Agencies, Agribusiness, NAMA

Gevo and Farmers Edge Partner for Carbon Program

Cindy Zimmerman

Gevo and Farmers Edge have signed an agreement to work together on a new type of carbon inset management program.

The potential combination of Farmers Edge highly precise and proprietary datasets with Gevo’s Verity Tracking platform and blockchain technology is expected to create value around agriculturally driven carbon impact. The companies plan to launch a program with US growers to measure and track carbon intensity scores for corn and soy in the production of sustainable aviation fuel and other low-carbon hydrocarbon fuels.

“We think farmers should be paid for their corn and then be rewarded for the benefit they provide all of us in capturing carbon,” said Gevo CEO Patrick Gruber, who presented testimony before a House Agriculture Committee hearing on energy this week.

Gruber outlined Gevo’s concept of a Net-Zero manufacturing plant for SAF they hope to be operational by 2025 and how existing ethanol plants can decarbonize to add jet fuel and hydrocarbon production by updating our lifecycle carbon accounting method to the Argonne GREET model. “There’s lots of carbon accounting models used around the world and we need to use the best, that’s the Argonne GREET model, it’s the gold standard, it’s the foundation for others.”

Here is Gruber’s opening statement to the committee:
GEVO CEO Testifies at House Ag Hearing (4:55)

AgWired Precision, Audio, Biofuels, carbon, Corn, Ethanol, Sustainability

Precision Ag News 4/6

Carrie Muehling

  • The Corn Utilization and Technology Conference (CUTC) answers the question of how can we produce more quality corn, build new markets and continue to create opportunities for agriculture. CUTC will be held in St. Louis, Missouri, at the DoubleTree Hotel and Conference Center from June 6 through June 8, 2022. To learn more about the agenda, registration, sponsorship or exhibitors, visit ncga.com/cutc.
  • UPL is reimagining sustainability in North America through its OpenAg purpose. Natural Plant Protection increases UPL’s agility to deliver innovative BioSolutions for greater crop resilience and environmental sustainability. Environmental Solutions business unit strengthens UPL’s focus for customer-centric solutions across key markets in North America.
  • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Assistant Administrator for Water, Radhika Fox, released a new policy memorandum on Accelerating Nutrient Pollution Reductions in the Nation’s Waters. This memo reaffirms EPA’s commitment to working with federal agencies, state co-regulators, Tribes, water stakeholders, and the agricultural community to advance progress in reducing excess nutrients in our nation’s waters.
  • Syngenta announced the launch of its 2022 Find More Bushels program. By helping growers plan their 2022 National Corn Growers Association Yield Contest entries, Syngenta aims to help growers find more bushels and more rewards through the use of Acuron® corn herbicide – the only corn herbicide shown to outyield others by 5-15 bu/A due to its powerful weed control, longest-lasting residual and proven crop safety.
  • Vocational agriculture instructors and FFA advisors for grades 7-12 will be provided free access to the regenerative agriculture online course, Regen Ag 101, the non-profit Soil Health Academy (SHA) announced. Thanks to a grant from global food company General Mills, SHA is providing the course on a first-come, first-serve basis.
  • Ontario-based software startup, IntelliCulture, has secured US$1.36 million in seed financing to fuel the growth of its farm management platform. The round consisted of a group of strategic investors and industry experts, led by Emmertech (an agtech focused VC fund managed and operated by Conexus Venture Capital) and supported by 519 Growth Fund.
AgWired Precision, Precision Ag Bytes, Precision Agriculture

Vilsack Talks Trade With Mexican Officials

Cindy Zimmerman

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack met with his counterpart Mexico Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development Victor Villalobos this week to “continue cooperation on shared priorities including open trade, science-based policy making, and sustainable and climate-smart agricultural production.”

That meeting resulted in Vilsack and Villalobos announcing that the two countries have agreed to final actions to expanded access to the entire Mexican market no later than May 15 for all U.S. table stock and chipping potatoes.

The Secretaries reaffirmed their shared commitment to promoting food security by facilitating trade and continuing to support rural development by expanding market opportunities for agricultural producers and their products; and enhancing plant and animal health cooperation to meet emerging threats and to promote food security.

Vilsack also met with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador for over two hours to discuss a number of issues, including labor and biotechnology.

Listen to a press call with Vilsack from Mexico in which reporters also ask the secretary about CRP signup and Avian flu.
Secretary Vilsack press call (31:19)

Audio, USDA

It’s Time for the Agri-Marketing Conference

Chuck Zimmerman

2022 Agri-Marketing ConferenceIt is Agri-Marketing Conference week in Kansas City, MO. Today the Executive Committee met followed by an afternoon of NAMA Foundation Topgolf. Meanwhile on the Student’s schedule is the Student Sales Competition. The winner will be announced in the Student Orientation right before a reception.

Tomorrow things really get rolling down the track with meetings, workshops, the Best of NAMA Awards ceremony and a celebration of those awards in the Connection Point where ZimmComm will be exhibiting and conducting short interviews with attendees with the Golden ZimmComm Mic. We’ve got a drawing for an Apple HomePod mini (blue) and are donating a free news release distribution via our AgNewsWire service to the silent auction to raise money for the NAMA Foundation. Keep your eye out for more here on AgWired and we have a virtual newsroom on AgNewsWire too.

I’m taking lots of photos as you might image and just got started this afternoon. You can find my album here: 2022 Agri-Marketing Conference Photo Album

NAMA

Field Notes from Koch Agronomic Services – Episode 18

Chuck Zimmerman

The Field Notes podcast series from Koch Agronomic Services (Koch) breaks down the science and technology behind agronomy to help growers do more with less.

The experts we’ve heard from on our previous episodes have covered topics ranging from how different crops use nitrogen to the 4R’s of Nutrient Stewardship and how growers and retailers work together to choose the best input for an operation. If you haven’t checked out the previous episodes, you can find them on your favorite podcast platform.

4R Advocate Award Winners

In this episode, we’ll hear from two winners of the 2022 Fertilizer Institute’s 4R Advocate award, Shannon McClintock, a staff agronomist with MFA, and Wyatt Harris, a grower he works with in Hepler, Kansas. They’ll discuss how integrating the 4R Nutrient Stewardship framework on Wyatt’s operation worked to control input costs and helped them become better stewards of the land.

You can listen to the program here: 4R Advocate Award Winners (19:42)

And to make sure you don’t miss an episode, choose an option to subscribe

For Spotify on your computer download the desktop app.

Agribusiness, Audio, Koch Agronomic Services, Podcasts, Soil

Yield Forecast Challenge Launches April 15 on AEI Premium

Cindy Zimmerman

AEI Premium, the online community for agricultural decision makers, is launching a new online contest called the Yield Forecast Challenge.

Beginning April 15, you are invited to forecast 16 questions about USDA yield estimates for corn and soybeans. The questions will span the USDA World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) reports from May through November 2022.

You can earn points after each question based on how well your forecast stacked up and how often you participate. The overall winner will receive the grand prize at the end of the contest: $1,600. Additional prizes will be awarded throughout the contest.

“We’re excited to provide a new way for farmers, agribusiness leaders, farm policy wonks, and students to engage with AEI.ag,” said AEI Premium co-founder David Widmar. “This contest supports our broader mission to help agriculture decision makers navigate today’s uncertainty and information overload. The Yield Forecast Challenge will empower you to be your own guru.”

Learn more about the Yield Forecast Challenge at aei.ag/16-questions.

Corn, Soybean, USDA

Animal Ag News 4/4

Carrie Muehling

  • The National Pork Producers Council has hired Chase Adams as manager of congressional relations in its Washington, DC, public policy office. In addition, Annemarie Pender has been hired by NPPC as assistant vice president for marketing and communications in the DC office.
  • As of March 1, there were 72.2 million hogs and pigs on U.S. farms, down 2% from March 2021 and down 3% from Dec. 1, 2021, according to the Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report published today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.
  • National Bison Association Executive Director Dave Carter has announced that he will be stepping down as the organization’s leader after more than two decades of helping to build the business as a solid, economically growing sector within the food economy while restoring bison to native habitat across North America.
  • U.S. Senators Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) released an updated version of their legislation, the Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act. The senators first introduced the bill in November. Click here to read the amended bill text.
  • The U.S. Department of Agriculture published the highly anticipated Origin of Livestock (OOL) final rule for organic dairy. This change to the USDA organic regulations will promote a fairer and more competitive market for all organic dairy producers, by making sure that certified USDA organic dairy products are produced to the same consistent standard.
  • The results from Alltech’s 2021 U.S. Harvest Analysis revealed that the mycotoxin risk was notably higher for forage harvested in 2021 compared to the previous year. As dairy producers are now opening their forage bunks and taking 2021 corn out of their silos, the mycotoxin risk has been found to be amplified in the total mixed rations (TMR) that are being tested in the Alltech 37+ laboratory. Almost 140 TMR samples have been tested since the beginning of January 2022, and the results show that 100% of samples contain mycotoxins, with an average number of 7.5 mycotoxins per sample.
  • The U.S Department of Agriculture announced that ranchers who have approved applications through the 2021 Livestock Forage Disaster Program for forage losses due to severe drought or wildfire in 2021 will soon begin receiving emergency relief payments for increases in supplemental feed costs in 2021 through the Farm Service Agency’s new Emergency Livestock Relief Program.
  • Sanderson Farms’ feed mill in Collins, Mississippi has been recognized as the 2021 Integrator Feed Facility of the Year by the American Feed Industry Association in partnership with Feedstuffs and the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association. The award, which recognizes the highest achievement in feed manufacturing facilities, was presented during the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association’s annual Feed Mill Management Seminar.
  • Nonprofit regional dairy council Dairy MAX announced that Marty McKinzie has been promoted to chief growth officer of the organization, responsible for business development, industry image and relations, sustainability and organizational development. Dairy MAX has additionally hired Kay Johnson Smith as chief operating officer, leading key areas of the business including consumer marketing, corporate communications, issues management, health and wellness and school marketing.
  • For advocating relentlessly for North Carolina pork producers and farmers, for educating people about the value of production agriculture, for addressing childhood hunger by getting food banks and farmers to work together, and for creating an army of producer advocates for the pork industry and agriculture as CEO of the North Carolina Pork Council, Deborah Johnson was honored with the Paulson-Whitmore State Executive Award. The award was presented by the National Pork Producers Council and National Pork Board at the organizations’ joint annual business meeting, the National Pork Industry Forum.
  • WATT Global Media has announced a Chicken Marketer of the Year will be awarded during the annual Chicken Marketing Summit, with nominations being accepted until May 1, 2022. The executive conference is scheduled for July 25-27 at the Château Élan in Braselton, Georgia.
AgWired Animal, Animal Agriculture, Animal Bites

White House Fuel Price Plan Overlooks Biofuels

Cindy Zimmerman

Biofuel organizations are baffled by the White House “Plan to Respond to Putin’s Price Hike at the Pump” released last week that completely ignores increasing use of renewable fuels.

“It is baffling to us that President Biden continues to overlook ethanol, which is the most readily available, lowest-cost, and lowest-carbon option for extending our nation’s fuel supply,” said Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Geoff Cooper. “Today, ethanol is selling for $1 per gallon less than gasoline and we are sitting on record ethanol inventories and ample spare capacity; yet access to the marketplace continues to be limited by decades-old regulatory barriers that never made sense.”

President Biden has been sent letters from lawmakers, organizations, and individuals over the past month urging him to simply allowing gasoline blenders to sell E15 year-round, which could be accomplished by administrative action.

U.S. Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) led the six bipartisan Co-chairs of the Congressional Biofuels Caucus and 23 additional Members of Congress in a letter to President Joe Biden Thursday urging him to direct EPA to both allow the summer sales of E15 this year and to reverse course on proposed retroactive reductions to 2020 and 2021 Renewable Volume Obligations.

“This is one of the most simple and most environmentally friendly way to address the issue,” said Rep. Craig in an interview.

Interview with Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) (13:28)

Audio, Ethanol, RFA