Single Week Sorghum Sales Shatters Records

Cindy Zimmerman

Export sales of U.S. sorghum hit a single week record this month of more than 33.9 million bushels with almost all of it heading to China. That shatters the previous record set in August 2020 by more than 10 million bushels. In addition, new sales commitments of 33.8 million bushels, predominantly purchased by China, also topped the previous record for weekly sorghum sales of 32 million bushels, also set in August 2020.

National Sorghum Producers CEO Tim Lust said, “U.S. sorghum exports continue to signal very strong demand for our crop, and new purchases at this level only reaffirm that.”

New crop purchases of U.S. sorghum for this point in marketing year are also at a record level, reaching 40 million bushels this past week—a 264 percent increase from the previous record set in 2014. These new crop purchases are significant, particularly in the wake of a + $5 Dec 2021 Chicago Board of Trade price.

“This is the strongest new crop demand we have ever seen at this time in the season,” Lust said. “Availability is so scarce that the sorghum crop being planted now is being marketed at the same time, and farmers have not even started planting in Kansas yet. This sends a strong demand signal to U.S. sorghum producers from our international customers, and we look forward to getting the 2021 crop in the ground.”

Lust comments:
National Sorghum Producers CEO Tim Lust discusses record sales 1:29

Audio, Exports, sorghum

ZimmCast 669 – Stratovation Group

Chuck Zimmerman

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast.

Happy Earth Day. This episode is being produced on the 2021 Earth Day and I’ve lost count of all the messages in my inbox or social media feeds as ag and food companies use the opportunity to bring focus to their efforts on caring for our environment. Agriculture has a lot to offer in the discussion on climate which has ramped up to a fever pitch under the new administration in Washington, DC.

So, let’s move on to this week’s program in which I have a conversation with Cameron Camfield, founder and CEO of Stratovation Group. Cam has lots of energy as you’ll hear in our discussion and he’s got it focused on working for his clients.

Stratovation GroupHelping clients build businesses through informed strategy, insightful innovation and relentless execution is the mission of the Stratovation Group, LLC, a new boutique consulting firm officially launched by business development expert Cameron Camfield, founder and CEO of the new company.

“I’ve spoken to many senior leaders who are coming out of this time of great upheaval with many, many questions,” says Camfield in announcing the new company. “We are setting up Stratovation to help them and their management teams find answers and efficiently, rapidly and profitably move ahead to better business.”

Listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast 669 - Stratovation Group (17:34)

That’s the ZimmCast for this week. In case you didn’t know it you can find more podcast we produce in all your favorite podcast apps. That includes the Golden ZimmComm Mic Podcast, The Ethanol Report, Field Notes from Koch Agronomic Services and the Daugherty Water for Food Podcast. We hope you enjoy listening to them.

If you would like to advertise in the ZimmCast or become an on-going sponsor please let me know and we’ll work out a plan just for you.

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Agencies, Audio, Marketing, ZimmCast

USDA Expands CRP and Funds Rural Infrastructure

Cindy Zimmerman

As President Biden opened a two-day virtual climate summit on Earth Day, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack discussed the role USDA and agriculture will play in the administration goal calling for U.S. emissions to be 50% to 52% lower in 2030 compared to 2005.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced USDA will open enrollment in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) with higher payment rates, new incentives, and a more targeted focus on the program’s role in climate change mitigation. Additionally, USDA is announcing investments in partnerships to increase climate-smart agriculture, including $330 million in 85 Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) projects and $25 million for On-Farm Conservation Innovation Trials.

In addition, USDA is investing $487 million in critical infrastructure that will help communities in 45 states build back better and stronger while prioritizing climate-smart solutions and environmental stewardship. USDA is making the investments under the Water and Environmental Program, the Rural Energy for America Program, the Electric Loan Program and the Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentive Program.

Secretary Vilsack held a media call Thursday to discuss the actions.
USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack press call 29:23

Audio, climate, Environment, USDA

Happy Earth Day – Take a Virtual Farm Tour

Chuck Zimmerman

Global Farmer NetworkThe Global Farmer Network has 5 new virtual farm tours that let you see practices GFN farmers are putting in place to protect and enhance the environment here on this Earth Day 2021. There are tours of farmers from the United States, New Zealand, India, Uruguay and the United Kingdom.

Make plans to celebrate Earth Day on April 22, 2021 by watching our new, virtual farm tours! The Global Farmer Network of farmers are showcasing regenerative agriculture practices used on their farms around the world. See how farmers protect the earth. New tours can be viewed here.

Ag Groups, climate, Conservation, Farming

Daugherty Water for Food Podcast – Episode 7

Cindy Zimmerman

This episode of the Daugherty Water for Food podcast features Nebraska state climatologist Martha Shulski for a discussion on the impact of climate change on society and the environment and how to talk about it.

Shulski is also a DWFI Faculty Fellow, associate professor of Applied Climate Science at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, director of the Nebraska State Climate Office and a proud “weather nerd.” She was one of the contributing authors on the Fourth National Climate Assessment released in 2018 and took part in a recent Water for Food student forum.

Daugherty Water for Food Podcast Episode 7 25:02

How to subscribe:

Audio, climate, Environment, Podcasts, Water for Food

Precision Ag News 4/21

Carrie Muehling

  • Verdesian Life Sciences announced that it has acquired Cytozyme Laboratories, Inc. The addition of Cytozyme provides additional value to Verdesian and strengthens its position as The Nutrient Use Efficiency People.
  • To support UPL Ltd.’s growing BioSolutions business, the company has hired Ellis R. (Randy) Gilliam to service the North and East territory regions with strategic sales support.
  • Craze™ Herbicide from Nichino America, Inc. is now registered in California for use on grapes and nut crops as well as nonbearing stone fruit. The active ingredient in Craze, orthosulfamuron, is a HRAC Group 2 herbicide that works by inhibiting the plant enzyme acetolactate synthase (ALS). Inhibition of this enzyme blocks branched-chain amino acid biosynthesis of valine, leucine, and isoleucine which leads to plant death.
  • Pluton Biosciences is proud to announce the promotion of Brian Throm to Head of Business Development and the hiring of Lead Scientist Ben Wolf, PhD as Project Lead on its carbon sequestration venture with Bayer AG.
  • Grow Pro Genetics, headquartered out of Bourbonnais, Ill., has recently announced the acquisition of the AgriPro Soft Red Winter Wheat breeding program – previously owned by Syngenta.
  • Valley® Irrigation, The Leader in Precision Irrigation®, has acquired PivoTrac®, an ag tech company based in the Texas Panhandle. PivoTrac offers solutions focused on remote monitoring of center pivot irrigation machines.
  • BRANDT, a leading retailer of professional agronomic services and manufacturer of specialty input products, is pleased to announce Brian Dintelmann has joined BRANDT as a technical agronomist supporting the company’s agriculture retail locations in central Illinois and Iowa.
  • Building on the success of the Bayer Carbon Program launched last summer, the company announced enhancements to the program, providing new opportunities for U.S. growers to participate for the 2021-22 program season. Highlights include a significant geographic expansion, nearly doubling the number of states where growers are eligible to participate. For the first time, growers who have previously adopted some climate-smart farming practices also may be able to enroll those acres in the program.
  • Nufarm Americas, Inc. is pleased to announce the addition of Pentia® Plant Regulator to its expanding portfolio of performance-driven cotton solutions. Acquired from BASF, Pentia will be offered exclusively by Nufarm for the 2021 crop year and beyond.
  • Syngenta Seeds and the Analytics Society of INFORMS selected a team affiliated with CSIRO Data61 in Australia as the winner of the 2021 Syngenta Crop Challenge in Analytics. The Syngenta Crop Challenge in Analytics is a collaborative effort between Syngenta Seeds and the Analytics Society of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). Now in its sixth consecutive year, the competition brings together experts in data analytics, mathematics and statistics to create analytical solutions to agriculture challenges.
AgWired Precision, Precision Ag Bytes, Precision Agriculture

Alltech News and Brews Features Acutia

Chuck Zimmerman

Acutia Nikki Badding PutnamThe Alltech Ideas Hub – News and Brews, featured Nikki Putnam Badding, registered dietitian nutritionist and director of Acutia, for this week’s program. The topic is Acutia: Sustainable Wellness, Backed by Science.

You can listen to her remarks below.

Launched on March 24, Acutia, a wholly owned subsidiary of Alltech, applies more than 40 years of scientific innovation and proven nutrition expertise to human health.

This exciting milestone represents the continuation of a legacy of innovation that was established by Dr. Pearse Lyons, the late founder of Alltech. An avid runner who understood the benefits of proper nutrition, Dr. Lyons sought to create dietary supplements for humans based on Sel-Plex® and Bio-Mos® — two of Alltech’s flagship organic nutrition solutions.

Enlisted by Dr. Lyons for her vast experience as a dietitian, Nikki Putnam Badding played an integral role in building the business from its inception, leading the project through Alltech’s internal incubator and startup accelerator programs.

Lisen in: Alltech News & Brews - Acutia

Agribusiness, Alltech, Audio, Nutrition

Are Your Passwords NordPass Safe?

Chuck Zimmerman

Agriculture PasswordsAccording to NordPass these are the top 10 passwords used by agriculture industry. Surely you don’t use passwords like this still? Well, do you? I have over 1,000 passwords for all kinds of things. An application like NordPass is an essential in today’s world. I’ve been using 1Password for many years now and could not keep my logins safe if I didn’t and I can tell you, I’ve learned the hard way. I really found this information interesting and timely since hacking of all kinds have risen significantly and can be devastating to an individual or a company. Here’s more from the release I received from NordPass.

Agriculture industry employees use shockingly weak passwords, as revealed by NordPass’s new research. This alarms security experts, as weak passwords make it very easy for hackers to access accounts.

Here are the top 10 passwords in agriculture industry:

  • 1. password
  • 2. aaron431
  • 3. Company name*
  • 4. 123456
  • 5. ozzymandius
  • 6. default
  • 7. jakubiak
  • 8. company name*
  • 9. republic
  • 10. august

* This password is a company name or a variation of it (e.g. Company name2002). We are not naming the exact company.

The researchers analyzed data from public third-party breaches that affected Fortune 500 companies. In total, the analyzed data included 15,603,438 breaches and was categorized into 17 different industries. The researchers looked into the top 10 passwords used in each industry, the percentile of unique passwords, and the number of data breaches affecting each industry.

Weak passwords are one of the top causes of data breaches in business.

According to an IBM report, an average global cost of a data breach is $3.86 million. However, a data breach in the healthcare industry costs much more — $7.13 million. And out of all countries, data breaches in US-based companies are the most expensive — $8.64 million. According to Statista, the cost consists of things like: lost business resulting from diminished trust or confidence of customers; costs related to detection, escalation, and notification of the breach; ex-post response activities, such as credit report monitoring.

In addition to that, counties in the European Union face GDPR fines, which are maximum €20 million or 4% of the annual global turnover, whichever is greater.

You can learn more on the NordPass website.

Apps, Security, software, Technology

University of Arkansas student earns ARC/C.O.nxt Scholarship

Chuck Zimmerman

Jessica WessonJessica Wesson, a University of Arkansas agricultural communications graduate student, received the Agricultural Relations Council 2021 ARC/C.O.nxt Scholarship. In May 2020, Wesson earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural education, communication and technology (AECT) from the University of Arkansas.

In addition to her graduate school studies, Wesson works as a graduate assistant in the AECT department. She assists with teaching ag communications and leadership courses, grades assignments and manages the department’s communications, including social media accounts, monthly newsletter and website.

Lyle E. Orwig, founder of Charleston|Orwig, now rebranded as C.O.nxt, generously funds this annual $1,500 scholarship through the endowment he set up with the ARC Foundation.

ARC, Education

Student NAMA Sales Competition Winners Announced

Chuck Zimmerman

NAMA LogoHopefully in 2022 we’ll be able to “see” the National Agri-Marketing Association student competitions. But that doesn’t mean that are not happening this year. In fact, the winners of the Student NAMA Sales Competition have been announced. The competition took place April 14-15, virtually, and over 20 students were registered.

​The National Agri-Marketing Association Collegiate Sales Competition began in 2019. NAMA has long hosted a Marketing Competition for member universities and branched out into the sales arena. It seeks to advance the practice and professionalism of selling and the sales profession. The NAMA Sales competition is a basic sales call skills challenge for individual contestants. For your sales folks, how do you think they did?

2021 Sales Competition Winners
1st Place
Isaac Brockman, Illinois State University
Recorded Presentation

2nd Place
Regan Ragsdale, University of Missouri-Columbia
Recorded Presentation

3rd Place
Radine Kruisselbrink, University of Guelph
Recorded Presentation

Finalists (in alpha order)
Kariann Elsbernd, Iowa State University
Paden McDermid, New Mexico State University
Ellie McGowan, Murray State University
Jason Nelson, Pennsylvania State University
Jack Swartz, Cal Poly SLO

The contest was sponsored and judged by AgReliant Genetics and FS Growmark.

The winners will be honored along with the Marketing Competition winners and Scholarship recipients at the Student Awards Ceremony on April 22 at 4:30 central. The ceremony is free and open to all.

Education, Marketing, NAMA