RFA Ethanol Podcast

Animal Ag News 12/28

Carrie Muehling

  • The nation’s largest union for meatpacking workers and the association representing meat producers joined forces to urge all 50 U.S. governors to urgently prioritize COVID-19 vaccination for frontline meat and poultry workers across the United States, in accordance with official Centers for Disease Control guidance. In a new joint letter to governors, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union and the North American Meat Institute emphasized that quickly vaccinating the sector’s diverse workforce of some 500,000 employees across the country will maximize health benefits, especially in rural communities that often have limited health services, while keeping Americans’ refrigerators full and our farm economy working. Click here to read the full letter to governors.
  • House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin C. Peterson of Minnesota pointed to multiple provisions to benefit dairy farmers in the new COVID-19 relief compromise package passed by the House and Senate and signed by President Trump.
  • As of Dec. 1, there were 77.5 million hogs and pigs on U.S. farms, down 1 percent from December 2019 and down 1 percent from Sept. 1, 2020, according to the Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.
  • The Animal Agriculture Alliance announced that its 2021 Stakeholders Summit, set primarily for May 5-6, will be hosted virtually and themed “Obstacles to Opportunities.” The annual Summit brings top thought leaders in the industry together to discuss hot-button issues and out-of-the-box ideas. In addition to announcing the theme and virtual format for 2021, the Alliance also issued a call for proposals to speak at the event.
AgWired Animal, Animal Agriculture, Animal Bites

Thank God It’s Christmas

Cindy Zimmerman

This year our Christmas message comes from a relatively unknown but very appropriate Christmas song by Queen called Thank God It’s Christmas. These lyrics have never been so true:
“Oh my friends it’s been a long hard year – But now it’s Christmas, Thank God it’s Christmas.”

We here at ZimmComm are especially grateful to God this Christmas after this very long, hard year. We have been so blessed and as we anxiously await the coming of the Lord we continue to pray for the our nation and the world.
“What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (Jn 1:4-5)

Thank you to all of our friends and may God abundantly bless you in this season of Light.


Video, ZimmComm Announcement

Season’s Greetings from Alltech

Chuck Zimmerman

Alltech Season's GreetingsWe wish you and your family a healthy, happy holiday season.

Please enjoy this musical gift, featuring winners of the Alltech Vocal Scholarship Competition performing Christmas classics.

May the new year bring you peace, joy and all that makes your heart sing!

Click here for some world class holiday music.

Since 2006, the Alltech Celebration of Song, along with Dr. Everett McCorvey and the University of Kentucky Opera Theatre, has brought the magic of holiday music to downtown Lexington, Kentucky. The uplifting renditions of Christmas classics feature winners of the Alltech Vocal Scholarship Competition, which helps talented singers pursue their musical dreams. The celebration also features special guest performances by renowned musical artists. We hope you enjoy this collection of some of our favorite performances from over the years.

Alltech

Holiday Greetings from IFAJ

Chuck Zimmerman

Happy Holidays from IFAJHere are a couple of excerpts from International Federation of Agricultural Journalists President, Lena Johansson. She shares the news that the Denmark IFAJ Congress 2021 will be virtual like this year and we all hope we can meet in person in 2022! Here’s the caption from the photo: “Winter in Sweden: Rudolph with friends, no doubt on their way to Father Christmas. Photo by: Gunnar Andersson”

It’s been a long time since we had the opportunity to meet in person. And I’m afraid it’s going to be a while. Our colleagues in Denmark have really done everything to be able to arrange a congress in 2021 but came to the conclusion that travellers and sponsors still won’t be ready for an in-person meeting by next summer. Sadly, that means that we won’t have the opportunity to meet at a congress next year either and we are now trying to adjust the schedule of future congresses according to the new circumstances.

In the beginning of 2021, we will also start to plan for another e-congress and we are very eager for input to make it a great event. If you have any ideas about how we can make it both professionally useful and personally enjoyable, please don’t hesitate to contact someone in the Presidium or at the Global Office. Maybe you have connections to someone who could be an interesting speaker at a webinar? Or you know someone who might be interested in sponsoring our digital event? Would you like to help organize a session or two?

I also want to thank you all for my first six months as IFAJ President. It has been inspirational and gratifying, and IFAJ has been a real glimmer of light for me during this year. As difficult as this year has been around the world, so many people from IFAJ have brought people together, shared news and insights and been examples of hope to each other.

I wish you all a Better New Year 2021 and hope to meet you digitally or personally soon again!

IFAJ, Media

Precision Ag News 12/23

Carrie Muehling

  • John Deere has entered into an allied distribution agreement with Smart Guided Systems to sell and support its Smart-Apply Intelligent Control System through the John Deere dealer channel in the U.S., Canada, and Australia.
  • For much of the past century, the invasive pink bollworm wreaked havoc in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico – inflicting tens of millions of dollars in damage annually to cotton on both sides of the border. A multifaceted strategy combining genetically engineered cotton with classical pest control tactics eradicated the pink bollworm from cotton-producing areas of the continental U.S. and Mexico, according to a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
  • U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced a significant step in modernizing regulations of agricultural animals modified or produced by genetic engineering. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will be moving forward with an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to solicit public input and feedback on a contemplated regulatory framework that would modernize our system into a scientifically-sound, risk-based, and predictable process that facilitates the development and use of these technologies for U.S. farmers and ranchers under USDA’s authorities. This initiative follows President Donald Trump’s Executive Order on agricultural biotechnology that called upon federal agencies to make regulatory improvements to rectify some of the long-standing barriers to innovation for U.S. agriculture.
AgWired Precision, Precision Ag Bytes, Precision Agriculture

Happy Holidays – Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute

Chuck Zimmerman

Happy holidays from all of us at the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute!

As we come to the end of 2020, we reflect on an unprecedented year in many ways — with a new set of challenges, but also some unexpected opportunities. With the help of our board, staff, faculty fellows, students and partners, we saw measurable progress in our mission to improve water and food security, despite moving most of our work remote.

We have our many partners — within the University, locally and around the globe — to thank for our continued success in a trying year and hope to reconnect with many of you in person in 2021 or beyond.

Please enjoy a special message from Executive Director Peter G. McCornick by clicking the video link above. Best wishes for a peaceful holiday season and a new year filled with health and happiness.


Water for Food

Happy Holidays from NAMA

Chuck Zimmerman

Happy Holidays from NAMA

The NAMA staff wishes you a safe and happy holiday season! Thank you for being part of the NAMA community. In the coming year we will continue to connect you to the people, tools and programs you need to position yourself and your organization for success.

Please note the NAMA office is closed and will re-open on January 4. We will be checking email over the break.

Sincerely,

Jenny Pickett
Sherry Pfaff
Janae Prewitt
Debbie Brummel

NAMA

Evaluating 2020 to Prepare for 2021

Carrie Muehling

Longer residual control from products like Miravis and Trivapro will help growers fight disease in 2021.

“We’re protecting that plant longer and that’s what’s adding that extra ROI and benefit because we have maximized that photosynthetic area to put into that ear to get that yield and that’s where that benefit is coming from,” said Dean Grossnickle, Syngenta Agronomic Service Representative from Central Iowa.

Grossnickle said these products provide 40-45 days of residual control, covering the corn crop from pollination through grain fill and almost to black layer. He said it is important to consider several factors when choosing products, including what crop was planted the previous season and whether or not diseases were present in the field last year. Grossnickle participated in the National Association of Farm Broadcasting virtual Trade Talk event.

2020 NAFB Interview with Dean Grossnickle, Syngenta agronomic services 7:50

Audio, Fungicide, NAFB, Syngenta

Industry Ag News 12/22

Carrie Muehling

  • Richard Rominger, fifth-generation California farmer who served as Deputy Secretary of Agriculture under President Clinton from 1993 to 2001, died Sunday of a heart attack at the age of 93.
  • Building on its legacy of support for FFA, John Deere announced this week that it is donating $1 million in 2021 to help support the National FFA Organization’s mission to make a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education.
  • The National Dairy Promotion and Research Board has honored Mike Kruger as the 2020 recipient of the Richard E. Lyng Award for his contributions and distinguished service to dairy promotion.
  • The Alabama-Florida Peanut Trade Show scheduled for Feb. 4, 2021 in Dothan has been postponed until February 2022. The Alabama Peanut Producers Association and Florida Peanut Producers Association made the decision after the Alabama COVID-19 Safer at Home order was extended until Jan. 22, 2021. Should the mandate be extended past Jan. 22, the trade show staff would not be able to regulate social distancing and mask guidelines for attendees to enjoy the trade show safely.
  • The Georgia Peanut Farm Show and Conference, originally scheduled for Jan. 20-21, 2021 at the University of Georgia Tifton Campus Conference Center, has been postponed until January 2022.
  • Frenchman Valley Farmers Cooperative, Inc. announces the launch of a strategic new partnership, VantagePoint™.
  • Wounded Warrior Project® expanded partnerships to include 12 new and existing veteran and military service organizations to help meet the needs of our nation’s wounded, ill, and injured veterans and their families. Farmer Veteran Coalition was one of the dozen awarded.
  • A belief in transparency, a core value at CLUTCH, and putting people first, were among the ingredients in the mix that enabled the firm to add eight new clients in 2020. Among the new CLUTCH clients spanning the agribusiness, food business and construction categories heading into 2021: Heartland Ag Systems, the largest Case IH Application distributor in North America; Real American Hardwood Coalition; the Sod Industry Checkoff; genetics company Benson Hill; the Ag Climate Partnership, led by U.S. Farmers and Ranchers in Action, Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research, and the World Farmers Organisation; and crop nutrition company AdvanSix.
  • The U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol welcomes its first ten U.S. cotton textile manufacturers – Buhler Quality Yarns, Cap Yarns, CCW, Contempora Fabrics, Cotswold Industries Inc., Frontier Yarns, Hamrick Mills, Inman Mills, Parkdale Inc., Swisstex Direct as members. U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol membership enables these mills and manufacturers to prove that they are an approved supply chain partner for brands and retailers who are sourcing more sustainably grown cotton.
  • Growth Energy announced the return of Dave Vander Griend to the association’s Board of Directors during its December 2020 board meeting in a move to further unify the industry and develop winning strategies on clean fuels, air quality, and climate goals.
  • The American Gelbvieh Association is excited to announce the addition of Laura Handke to the AGA publications team, serving as editorial contractor.
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