Passing of Gene Hemphill
Cindy and I are very sad about the passing of Gene Hemphill. He was a great man who smiled a lot and always wanted to help anyone. He was also a very good friend. I don’t know how many hours or days we worked together, especially some unique projects like a trip to Jay Leno’s garage where we ate pizza with him or starting a Celebrity Tractor Race in Nashville during the CMA summer Fan Fair. We liked a lot of things in common like a good beer or maybe something stronger, while we talked for hours some times. We worked together with people like Michael Peterson and Chuck Leavell. And from a media perspective he helped so many over the years for the New Holland Farm Progress Show media tent to sponsored media room at Commodity Classic and more. I personally think it was genius since he had all these media folks interacting with him and the New Holland logo showed up on a lot of photos and videos.
Oh Lord, grant eternal rest to Gene who is no longer with us. Shine your perpetual light over his soul and to rise to you.
The obituary can be found here.
Cindy helped find some photos of Gene. I’m sure there are more and we knew him before we started taking photos. But there are some good memories in these pictures including many in the industry with Gene.
Sen. Thune Calls for Farm Bill and Year-round E15
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) took to the floor yesterday to urge Congress to help farmers who are struggling.
“Many commodity producers are bracing for the prospect of serious financial losses this year,” said Thune. “These challenges are real. That’s why last December, Congress approved relief funding for agriculture producers hit by economic headwinds, as well as those affected by natural disasters.”
But, Thune says, that is only temporary relief and no substitute for a new farm bill and the stability nationwide E15 could provide. “When I became Majority Leader, I made it clear that a full and updated farm bill would be a priority for the new Republican majority. Secretary Rollins has been clear that this is a priority for the Trump administration as well….As is a stable biofuels policy, including year round access to E15 and timely and meaningful updates to the renewable volume obligations that matter to ethanol producers in America’s heartland.”
Sen. Thune floor speech 4:35Agrauxine Teams with Syngenta to Supply Ornamental Market
Syngenta Crop Protection and Agrauxine by Lesaffre have signed an agreement to private label and exclusively distribute products STROVEQ® and SPREXIMA® in the U.S. ornamental market.
STROVEQ is a systemic resistance inducer and SPREXIMA is a biofungicide and both utilize Agrauxine’s unique strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast. STROVEQ is a systemic resistance Inducer (SRI) that acts preventively to prepare plants to defend against fungal attacks. SPREXIMA prevents disease infections by protecting fruits, flowers and wounds.
“We are extremely excited to partner with Syngenta,” states Ariel Gohlke, North American Regional Manager for Agrauxine. “This agreement is another opportunity to expand the reach of our technology. Syngenta will be an excellent partner for us to reach more markets with our unique products.”
The agreement gives Syngenta the rights to sell the products through its own distribution channels in the U.S. for the next five years.
Ag and Biofuels Groups Seek Exemption to Shipping Rules
The United States Trade Representative‘s office is holding public hearings this week on proposed actions in the Section 301 investigation of China’s targeting of the maritime, logistics, and shipbuilding sectors for dominance that would result in new fees being imposed on Chinese vessels. The first hearing was held on Monday, March 24 and the second will be on Wednesday, March 26.
More than 100 agricultural and biofuels organizations sent comments in a letter to USTR seeking an exemption for agricultural exports from both newly proposed fees on Chinese vessels and graduated sourcing requirements for U.S. built and flagged vessels “until such time as our nation’s ship production can meet the requirements needed to keep U.S. agriculture competitive in the global market.”
“While we support President Trump’s effort to rebuild the United States position and power in global shipping, we are worried the current fees and timelines cannot be achieved without substantial economic harm on the farm and in rural America,” the letter stated. “These are not idle concerns. U.S. commodity prices and agriculture exports have already been negatively impacted due to uncertainty regarding when trade actions would become effective. Vessel operators have told U.S. exporters they intend to pass on 100 percent of the cost of the port fees.”
Indiana soybean farmer and American Soybean Association director Mike Koehne testified Monday that the proposed solution offered by USTR in this investigation creates unintended consequences for soybean farmers. “Imposing port fees on most of the maritime fleet that exports from and imports to the U.S. will increase costs for U.S. farmers—both in terms of inputs like fertilizer, seed, etc., and getting crops to market. At the same time, our competitors in Brazil and Argentina will not be subject to the same regulations. While well-intended, this proposal would ensure U.S. soybeans will bear higher costs and be less competitive in the global marketplace.”
ZimmCast 744 – Agri-Pulse Summit & Ag Day
Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast.
The first day of spring started the day after the annual Agri-Pulse Ag & Food Summit and National Ag Day Activities. We have published virtual newsrooms on our AgNewsWire website and story posts on AgWired. So, in this episode I’d like to share a few of the interviews and audio from the events.
I’ll start out with Agri-Pulse. You can listen to the opening remarks from Ireland’s Ambassador to the United States Geraldine Byrne Nason. Next will be Jim Sutter, CEO, USSEC and then Jane Franch, Sr. Director, Climate Impact, Pivot Bio.
I’ll move to the National Ag Day Activities with a student panel discussion. The students are Taylor Rogers, National Grange Youth Ambassador; Lance Williams, AFA advisor; Caroline Groth, FFA Eastern Region Vice President; and Matias Habib, National 4H. Moderated by Miles Chiotti, Manager, Public & Industry Relations – Agriculture & Turf Division at John Deere.
It is Cindy’s time to be in Washington, DC this week for the ACE Fly-in. After that the next event coming up soon is the 2025 Agri-Marketing Conference. If you haven’t registered, you can still do so. I’ll see you there.
Listen to the episode here:
ZimmCast 744 - Agri-Pulse & Ag Day (42:18)
That’s the ZimmCast for now. Please let us know if you have ideas for a future podcast. Just email Chuck at chuck@zimmcomm.biz.
We hope you enjoyed it and thank you for listening.
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Ethanol Report on Industry Roots
The theme of the recent 30th National Ethanol Conference was Back to Our Roots and it was a celebration of how the industry started and how it’s going.
One panel featured a walk down memory lane with some industry pioneers who talked about the early days and how the roots of the ethanol industry were firmly planted by farmers. Included in this edition of The Ethanol Report podcast are comments from Karol King, Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy (SIRE); Rodney Jorgenson, Al-Corn Clean Fuel, MN; Todd Brown, Dakota Ethanol, SD; Rod Gangwish, KAAPA Ethanol, NE; and Dave VanderGriend, CEO, ICM, Inc.
Ethanol Report 3-19-25 17:55Audio interviews, presentations and photos from the NEC can be found in the conference virtual newsroom.
The Ethanol Report is a podcast about the latest news and information in the ethanol industry that has been sponsored by the Renewable Fuels Association since 2008.
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Industry Ag News 3/21
USDA Farm Production and Conservation Leaders Announced
Key presidential appointments to the USDA’s Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC) mission area were announced today.
Brooke Shupe Appleton is already serving as the Deputy Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation. Previously, she served as Vice President of Public Policy for the National Corn Growers Association. She spoke in place of Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins Tuesday during National Ag Day at USDA.
Bill Beam will serve as the Administrator for the Farm Service Agency (FSA) within Farm Production and Conservation. Bill is from Elverson, Pennsylvania where he owns and operates Beam Farms Inc. with his family.
Pat Swanson will serve as the Administrator for the Risk Management Agency (RMA) within Farm Production and Conservation. Most recently, Pat has served as a director for the American Soybean Association (ASA) and completed her term on the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation Board.
Aubrey Bettencourt will serve as Chief of the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS). Aubrey is a prominent leader in agriculture, water, and sustainability, most recently serving as the Global Director of Government Relations and External Affairs for Netafim, an Orbia Company. Bettencourt spoke on a panel at the Agri-Pulse Ag and Food Policy Summit earlier this week on the topic of transforming agriculture productivity through AI and new technologies.
Aubrey Bettencourt
Feeding the Economy Report
In conjunction with the National Ag Day celebrations this week, 36 food and agriculture groups released the ninth annual Feeding the Economy report, a farm-to-fork study of the entire agricultural supply chain that analyzes the economic contributions of one of America’s most essential industries to U.S. jobs, wages, economic output, and taxes.
The 2025 report confirms the agriculture industry is at the heart of the U.S. economy, generating more than $9.5 trillion in economic value, which amounts to 18.7% of the overall national economy. While these findings highlight the enormous impact of the agriculture industry, this is a modest decrease compared to 2024, when agriculture contributed more than $9.6 trillion to the economy, about 20% of total economic output.
The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture was one of the many organizations that support the annual report. “The annual Feeding the Economy report alongside National Ag Day illuminates the essential contributions of farmers, ranchers and all food producers, driving economic growth and stability for the entire nation,” NASDA CEO Ted McKinney said.
McKinney was at the Agri-Pulse Ag and Food Summit in Washington D.C. this week where we got a brief interview with him.
Ted McKinney, NASDA 3:33