RFA Honors Corn Growers With Industry Award

Cindy Zimmerman

RFA CEO Geoff Cooper, NCGA Chair John Linder, NCGA president Chris Edgington, NCGA CEO Jon Doggett

For the first time, the Renewable Fuels Association Industry Award was presented to an organization this year.

The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) was honored in recognition of the group’s dedicated and sustained efforts on behalf of the ethanol industry over the last 40 years. The award, RFA’s highest recognition, was presented this week at the 27th annual National Ethanol Conference in New Orleans.

RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper noted that NCGA has collaborated with RFA over the years on countless research and ethanol promotion efforts, such as technical work, market development programs, ethanol export initiatives, co-products research and development, and economic studies. “This is what a real partnership looks like, and we are so proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with our friends at NCGA as we identify and seize new opportunities for ethanol and agriculture moving forward.”

RFA Industry Award (9:12)

2022 National Ethanol Conference Photo Album

Ag Groups, Audio, Corn, Ethanol, National Ethanol Conference, NCGA, RFA

Precision Ag News 2/23

Carrie Muehling

  • Riceland Foods announced a new partnership with Arva Intelligence as the cooperative shifts its sustainability focus towards capturing the agronomic and economic data associated with its farmer members crop production. Through the Ingrain Good Sustainability Initiative, Riceland is dedicated to creating value through sustainability for its farmer members.
  • To meet farmers’ demands for more sustainable and profitable growing practices, Verdant Robotics announced the expansion of its robot-as-a-service (RaaS) model to ensure access for more specialty crop farmers.
  • The Gadfly Project announced it has awarded a Q4 2021 in-kind climate grant to the Soil Health Institute to develop an application called the Drought Resilience Calculator. This free, web-based decision support tool will enable growers, advisors, consultants, and other agricultural stakeholders to calculate how much more water their soil can store by increasing the carbon in it. This application is based on a novel algorithm developed by the Soil Health Institute and is planned to be released in June 2022.
  • Meristem has announced the new formulation of EXCAVATOR. EXCAVATOR and Meristem’s other new biologicals are part of the antidote for high fertilizer prices and can help farmers boost yields and beat inflation.
  • Alltech Crop Science, the agronomic division of Alltech, announced Liqui-Plex® Mn, the latest addition to the Liqui-Plex® line of products, which also includes Liqui-Plex® Cu and Liqui-Plex® Zn. Approved for use across Canada for all agriculture and horticulture crops, Liqui-Plex products provide the right nutrients at the right time to help plants deal more efficiently with environmental and other stressors, in addition to improving overall plant health.
  • Honey bees and other pollinators play an important role in the agricultural ecosystem. These same pollinators are under stress from a number of factors: pests, disease, lack of habitat, and more. The GROWMARK System would like to help youth organizations do their part to help sustain and increase honey bee populations. Clubs across the United States wishing to participate should fill out the online application by March 11, 2022: http://bit.ly/2022GMKPollinator.
AgWired Precision, Precision Ag Bytes, Precision Agriculture

Ethanol Industry Zeroes in on New Opportunities

Cindy Zimmerman

In his annual State of the Industry Address at the National Ethanol Conference Tuesday in New Orleans, Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Geoff Cooper said the global quest to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 “may very well be the greatest opportunity for growth and value creation in the industry’s history.”

“Just as the ethanol industry seized on opportunities to stimulate the rural economy, reduce smog-forming air pollution, and bolster energy security, we now have—right in front of us—another great opportunity to provide a solution to one of the world’s most daunting challenges: reducing carbon emissions and combatting climate change,” Cooper said. “And we cannot afford to miss this opportunity—not just because it will help our industry grow and thrive, but because the very health of the planet is at stake.”

The ethanol industry has already made great progress toward decarbonization, Cooper said, as today’s corn ethanol reduces greenhouse gas emissions by roughly 50% percent compared to gasoline. And, as highlighted in a new study released at the conference, ethanol is on a trajectory to achieve net-zero carbon emissions well before 2050. But ethanol’s ability to contribute to decarbonization goals goes far beyond the light-duty vehicle fleet, Cooper said.

“With the right chemistry and technology, ethanol can serve not only as a future low-carbon fuel for jets, ocean liners, trucks, and farm equipment, but also as the fundamental building block for sustainable chemicals and plastics,” Cooper said. “In reality, anything you can do with a barrel of crude oil, we can do with a barrel of renewable ethanol.”

Cooper also highlighted a big opportunity for ethanol to help address another vexing problem: high gas prices. Oil prices topped $95 per barrel last week and average retail gas prices hit $3.50 a gallon, which Cooper said “reminds us of an inconvenient reality: We cannot frack our way to low gas prices and energy security. Whether we like it or not, pump prices here in America continue to be shaped by the whims of OPEC and geopolitical events—like the current situation in Ukraine.”

Read Cooper’s state of the industry remarks

Listen to Cooper’s full address below:
RFA CEO Geoff Cooper Industry address (29:16)

The 2022 NEC runs through Wednesday afternoon.

Audio, Ethanol, RFA

Verdant Delivers Multi-Action Robot for Specialty Crops

Cindy Zimmerman

Verdant Robotics today announced the expansion of its robot-as-a-service (RaaS) model to develop the first multi-action, autonomous farm-robot for specialty crop farmers.

Verdant raised $21.5 million to develop the robot, which is capable of millimeter-accurate spraying, laser weeding, and AI-based digital crop modeling. Verdant has already contracted to service approximately 40% of the U.S. carrot market exclusively for the next five years and is currently scaling to meet the needs of the U.S. multi-billion-dollar fruit and vegetable industry.

“Farmers told us not to give them more data, but to figure out what to do with the mountains of data they already have, or better yet just go do it,” said Gabe Sibley, PhD., co-founder and CEO, who brings more than 20 years of experience in geo-spatial computation and AI. “They want a complete solution that takes action in real-time and keeps farmers in control – all while improving profitability and automating dangerous, back-breaking field work.”

Following successful large-scale roll-out over the past 18 months, Verdant logged thousands of hours in 2021 and is already proven on multiple crops. “Today, Verdant machines are in the field all-day, every-day helping farmers achieve superhuman efficacy,” said Sibley.

Combining multiple technologies, the company’s 6-row and 12-row commercial implements can treat up to 4.2 acres per hour, achieving a higher weed-removal rate per acre than other technology or human ability, and reducing chemical usage by up to 95 percent. Simultaneously, its autonomous software system collects data and uses machine learning capabilities to optimize yield and growing outcomes, ultimately unlocking new revenues to help farmers reach profitability and sustainability goals.

Learn more about this new development in this interview with Sibley.
Interview with Verdant Robotics CEO Gabe Sibley (10:58)

AgWired Precision, AI, Audio, Precision Agriculture, robotics

Ethanol Industry Gathers in New Orleans

Cindy Zimmerman

From emerging technologies and new uses to opportunities in global carbon reduction policies, market insights, and international and domestic marketplace developments, there is much to learn and experience at the 27th Annual National Ethanol Conference: Zeroing in on New Opportunities.

New Orleans is the place where the ethanol industry is meeting this week and Renewable Fuels Association president and CEO Geoff Cooper says the agenda is packed but the best reason to go is to be in person again. “We’re just looking forward to seeing everybody again. It’s been two years since we’ve been able to have this event in person,” said Cooper. “The National Ethanol Conference really is the premier networking event for the ethanol industry.”

The theme “Zeroing in on New Opportunities” focuses on the commitment of the industry to achieving net zero emissions for ethanol by 2050 or sooner. “We’re going to spend a lot of time talking about how to achieve that goal which is admittedly ambitious but I believe is absolutely achievable,” said Cooper.

Cooper previews the NEC in this edition of The Ethanol Report.
Ethanol Report 1-31-22 (11:01)

Audio and photos from the event can be found in the:
2022 National Ethanol Conference Virtual Newsroom

Audio, Ethanol, RFA

Animal Ag News 2/21

Carrie Muehling

  • Paying tribute to Florida’s hardworking dairy farmers and the animals in their care, Florida Dairy Farmers have partnered to transform the T.G. Lee dairy, a farmer-owned processing plant of Dairy Farmers of America in DeLand, Fla into a larger-than-life tribute to agriculture. Located on a major highway and visible to tens of thousands of commuters each day, the T.G. Lee plant is a massive building and has been a landmark in the region for decades. At more than 5,500 square feet, the iconic mural is the largest in Central Florida.
  • The National Dairy Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM) Program shared the results of its Animal Care Version 5 Development Survey. The report summarizes stakeholder perspectives on animal care issues of importance and captures ideas and levels of support for potential changes to the industry’s animal care standards.
  • The quality of the traffic in the Expo halls, enthusiasm from attendees and exhibitors in reconnecting with their colleagues, and participation in the educational offerings made for a highly productive 2022 International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE). A total of 1,121 exhibitors showcased their latest technology and solutions, occupying more than 500,000 square feet of exhibit space. IPPE is the world’s largest annual poultry, meat and animal food industry event of its kind and is one of the 30 largest trade shows in the United States.
  • FarmFirst Dairy Cooperative members and delegates gathered on February 11-12 to take a deeper look at important industry topics, approve its 2022 public policy and review the cooperative’s accomplishments from the past year during its 10th annual meeting in Onalaska, Wis.
  • The National Pork Board shared more about its industry’s aspiration to produce a leading sustainable protein choice, with an announcement of goals and metrics and its first official U.S. Pork Industry Sustainability Report.
  • The World Pork Expo returns for its 34th year to the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines, June 8-10. Presented by the National Pork Producers Council, World Pork Expo is expected to draw thousands of producers and industry professionals for three days of networking, education, innovation – and free pork, too.
  • The U.S. dairy sector has undergone substantial structural change characterized by a shift to larger and fewer dairy operations, concentrated in relatively few states. A report issued by USDA’s Economic Research Service, Sources, Trends, and Drivers of U.S. Dairy Productivity and Efficiency, measures and analyzes the dairy sector’s productivity growth and efficiency and identifies proximate drivers and sources of this growth in the face of the structural change observed from 2000 to 2020.
  • Austin Hill was first to the checkered flag, and the beef, as he won the 41st season-opening race for the NASCAR Xfinity Series – the Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner.® 300. For the second year the Federation of State Beef Councils, on behalf of the Beef Checkoff, partnered with the Daytona International Speedway to sponsor the race one day ahead of the legendary DAYTONA 500.
AgWired Animal, Animal Agriculture, Animal Bites

Industry Ag News 2/18

Carrie Muehling

  • Meet two keynote speakers joining the Alltech ONE Conference lineup: Mick Ebeling, founder and CEO of Not Impossible Labs and author of “Not Impossible: The Art and Joy of Doing What Couldn’t Be Done,” will take the ONE mainstage in person, and his presentation will also be live-streamed for those joining virtually. Presenting virtually is Paul Polman, who has been described by the Financial Times as “a standout CEO of the past decade”. As CEO of Unilever (2009-2019), he stopped reporting quarterly earnings to focus on a long-term strategy that would successfully double revenues while reducing the company’s environmental impact by half.
  • Peggy Findley, Commodity Classic director for the past 26 years, has announced that she will be retiring later this year, once her replacement is hired and the transition of duties for managing the 2023 event in Orlando is complete. Commodity Classic is actively recruiting candidates for the position at commodityclassic.com/join-the-classic-team.
  • There’s still time to enter the IFAJ Star Prize competition! With categories in Print, Photography, Audio, Video and Digital/Multimedia, the Star Prize recognizes the best agricultural reporting in the world… and every entry receives feedback from our global judging panels. The entry deadline is March 10.
  • During the recent Growth Energy Executive Leadership Conference, National Corn Growers Association Communications Director Julie Busse received the TOBI Award for Public Affairs.
  • The Renewable Fuels Association welcomed six companies to the organization as its newest associate members. The new associate members are: The Greenbrier Companies, P&E Solutions, Richard Design Services, Texas International Terminals Ltd., Trucent Inc., and Unison Energy LLC.
  • The Agriculture Council of America (ACA) has announced the 2022 National Ag Day video and written essay winners. The winners were chosen based on the theme: American Agriculture: Growing a Climate for Tomorrow. The national written essay winner, Haden Coleman of Trinity, Texas, receives a $1,000 prize and will read his winning essay at the virtual Ag Day event on March 22, 2022. The winning entries can be viewed online at agday.org/2022-contest-winners.
  • GROWMARK, Inc. is honoring the 40-year career of CEO Jim Spradlin with gifts to his alma mater, Illinois College. The GROWMARK Foundation is providing $50,000 to establish the James Spradlin Endowed Scholarship Fund. This permanent endowed fund at Illinois College will provide financial assistance annually to a student or students majoring in agribusiness or a similar field.
  • The National Cotton Council announced that Ron Rayner, a third generation Arizona cotton producer, is the recipient of the 2021 Harry S. Baker Distinguished Service Award.
  • Ted Schneider, a Lake Providence, La., producer, was elected National Cotton Council chairman for 2022 during the organization’s annual meeting in Houston, Texas.
  • The BASF Board of Executive Directors has decided on changes to the responsibilities in two Board Ressorts. These will take effect on March 1, 2022, and are structured as follows: Saori Dubourg (Ressort IV) will assume responsibility for the Monomers, Performance Materials, Petrochemicals and Intermediates divisions. She will continue to be responsible for the region Europe. Michael Heinz (Ressort V), based in Florham Park, New Jersey, will assume responsibility for the Agricultural Solutions, Care Chemicals and Nutrition & Health divisions. He will continue to be responsible for the regions North America and South America.
Zimfo Bytes

Passing of Jerry Passer

Cindy Zimmerman

Sad to share the news that longtime farm broadcaster Jerry Passer died over the weekend. He would have been 79 years old today, born on Feb 17, 1943, in Wells, MN.

Passer was a veteran of the US Navy where he served as a corpsman for 4.5 years in Washington D.C. at the Bethesda Naval Hospital. After his time in the service, Passer joined KBEW Radio in Blue Earth, Minnesota, in 1967. From there, he moved on to spend time at KATE Radio in Albert Lea and Austin, Minnesota. He joined NAFB at KQAQ Radio in 1972 as an associate member, working as both a broadcaster and doing sales.

In 1973 when he became farm editor at WMT Radio in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and stayed for the next 18 years. After leaving WMT in 1991, Passer continued in farm broadcasting at KOEL Radio in Oelwein, Iowa, and Brownfield Ag News. He retired from Brownfield in June 2017.

Read more about Jerry and arrangements here.

NAFB

SABIC Signs Agreement With Intrinsyx Bio

Cindy Zimmerman

SABIC, a global leader in diversified chemicals with a focus on agri-nutrients, has signed a technology collaboration agreement with Intrinsyx Bio, a California based company focused on the development and commercialization of endophytes (plant microbes) that can increase crop yields and optimize fertilizer usage.

As part of this collaboration, SABIC will be evaluating Intrinsyx Bio’s patented endophyte products’ technology and their ability to fix nitrogen from the air and improve crop yield and farmers’ investment.

“SABIC Agri Nutrients Company focuses on responsive sustainable innovations to provide food and fiber to the world. This collaboration with Intrinsyx Bio would lead to the next generation bio-enhanced fertilizers,” said Munif Al Munif, General Manager T&I of SABIC Agri Nutrients Company.

“We are excited to partner with SABIC to commercialize this technology and meet their sustainability goals. Our solutions enable companies like SABIC to optimize nitrogen use on a global scale,” said Ahsan Ali, CEO of Intrinsyx Bio.

Intrinsyx Bio’s solutions are built on three decades of academic research in the plant microbiome and field trialing across the US and Europe. Its endophyte products rely on improved nutrient use efficiency to simultaneously increase crop yields and optimize the use of nitrogen fertilizers.

Studies show that conventional nitrogen management is only 30-50% efficient in terms of what the plant utilizes. The rest is lost to the environment through volatilization and leaching.

AgWired Precision, Biologicals, Farming, Fertilizer, Precision Agriculture

Precision Ag News 2/16

Carrie Muehling

  • Invaio Sciences, Inc., a Flagship Pioneering company focused on unlocking the potential of the planet’s interdependent natural systems to solve pressing agricultural, sustainability, and environmental challenges, announced the appointment of Hugh Grant to its Board of Directors.
  • Overall ag tractor sales in the U.S. and Canada continued rising into January 2022, while combine harvesters slowed for the month according to the latest data from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers. U.S. total farm tractor sales gained 1.5 percent for the month of January compared to 2021, while U.S. self-propelled combine sales for the month fell 41.4 percent to 205 units sold. The 100+ horsepower 2WD segment led all segments with a 10.8 percent gain, followed by the sub-40 horsepower 2WD segment up 2 percent. Mid-range tractors between 40 and 100 horsepower fell 2.8 percent while articulated 4WD tractors inched down 0.4 percent.
  • Ag Leader is growing their full-farm solution lineup with the newest addition to their DirectCommand application product line, trusted by farmers for nearly two decades. RightSpot offers nozzle-by-nozzle sprayer control for consistent and effective coverage plus added flexibility for a wider speed range, greater productivity and increased accuracy.
  • Biome Makers, AgTech leader in microbial soil analysis, releases their 2021 Impact Report measuring its progress toward soil health and sharing its goals for the next 5 years. Biome Makers’ impact focus is on 3 pillars: a nature-positive food production system, fair socioeconomic conditions for farmers, and empowering the ecosystem.
  • AGCO Corporation celebrates the 75th anniversary of Hesston by Massey Ferguson in 2022.
  • The American Society of Agricultural Consultants selected Traci Schermerhorn to serve as the ASAC executive vice president.
  • The Board of Trace Genomics announces the promotion of co-founder and VP Science, Technology and Innovation, Poornima Parameswaran, Ph.D to President. Since co-founding the firm in 2015 Parameswaran has been a driving force behind the science, development and lab-to-field application of the most comprehensive soil microbial database to advance production agriculture.
  • AgroLiquid, a liquid fertilizer company, launched “Season 2” of the Back 2 Basics free educational online course. The Back 2 Basics video series is intended to take an in-depth look at the nutrients that may make a difference for a grower’s crop.
  • Farm Journal’s Trust In Food and Field to Market: The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture today released the 2022 edition of their “State of Sustainable Ag” report, highlighting perspectives of 500 row-crop producers across the U.S. on pathways and barriers to accelerating conservation adoption.
  • Heliae® Agriculture, an algal tech company specializing in scalable regenerative agriculture solutions, is proud to announce PhycoTerra® ST, its innovative new seed treatment product, was named a Top 10 Most Innovative Product by leading seed industry publication, Seed World.
  • Syngenta announces EPA registration of Tendovo™ soybean herbicide which will be available for use next season, subject to state approvals. The first and only soybean three-way premix of its kind, Tendovo provides redefined early-season preemergence weed control, without the crop injury of competitive brands.
AgWired Precision, Precision Ag Bytes, Precision Agriculture