ARC Foundation Receives Major Endowment Gift

Chuck Zimmerman

The Agricultural Relations Council/C.O.nxt Scholarship Program has received a very generous donation.

Lyle Orwig, founder of Charleston|Orwig, now rebranded as C.O.nxt, has generously fully funded the Agricultural Relations Council/C.O.nxt Scholarship Program with a recent contribution of $75,000. It is part of an endowment established within the ARC Foundation a couple years ago.

A long-time champion of agricultural public relations/public affairs, Orwig is a founding inductee of the Agricultural Public Relations Hall of Fame, sponsored by the Agricultural Relations Council and Agri Marketing magazine. He has been an ARC member for decades and his former agency has been active in the organization through the years.

“The Foundation can now invest this and earn additional dollars for the endowment,” Orwig said. “We hope that the returns at some point will allow the ARC Foundation to increase the value of the scholarship each year and become even more meaningful to the recipients.”

The scholarship program has honored seven students since it was re-instituted in 2015. The scholarship assists a college student enrolled in an ag communications program.Read More

ARC, Public Relations

Industry Ag News 1/8

Carrie Muehling

  • CLAAS is saddened to announce that Helmut Claas, long-time managing director, chairman of the Supervisory Board and chairman of the Shareholders’ Committee of the CLAAS group, passed away on January 5 at the age of 94.
  • The National Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow elected five student officers to serve until July of 2021. President Layne Mustian is a senior at Texas A&M University, Vice President Rachel McGreal is a sophomore at the University of Illinois, Secretary/Treasurer Lauryn Luttrull is a junior at West Texas A&M University, Member Relations Coordinator Zach Andrews is a junior at the University of Arkansas, and Communications Coordinator Callie McClay is a junior at the University of Illinois.
  • After an extensive nationwide search, the United Sorghum Checkoff Program has selected Norma Ritz Johnson as the organization’s third executive director.
  • MGEX, a Designated Contract Market and Derivatives Clearing Organization, reports 2020 concluded as the second-best calendar year in history with a total of 2,766,442 contracts traded. Alongside this achievement, it was also the best calendar year for electronic volume with a total of 2,476,313 contracts. Additionally, MGEX recorded that 2020 had the most total futures contracts traded in a year for the Exchange.
  • The American Farm Bureau Federation will be presenting its highest honors, the Distinguished Service Award and the Farm Bureau Founders Award, to former Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas) and former Louisiana Farm Bureau President Ronnie Anderson, respectively, during the 2021 American Farm Bureau Virtual Convention, Jan. 10-13.
  • Record potato retail sales continued from October to December 2020, the second quarter of Potatoes USA’s marketing year 2021. All three months saw an increase in both dollar and volume sales, with the largest growth in December.
  • ASTA is offering a series of sessions this month as a “bridge” between the CSS & Seed Expo Virtual event in December and the upcoming Vegetable & Flower Seed Conference in February. These sessions are included with a registration to either conference. Register now for ASTA’s upcoming bridge sessions, held between January 12-28.
  • The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency announced details for the Quality Loss Adjustment (QLA) Program. Producer signup for the program will begin today, January 6 and run through March 5, 2021. QLA is intended to help growers who suffered crop quality losses due to weather-related disasters in 2018 and 2019. Corn growers in several states were impacted by these events. For more information, growers can visit farmers.gov/quality-loss, or contact your local USDA Service Center. Producers can also obtain one-on-one support with applications by calling 877-508-8364.
Zimfo Bytes

Cotton Council CEO Wraps up Beltwide

Cindy Zimmerman

National Cotton Council President and CEO Dr. Gary Adams is pleased with the first ever virtual Beltwide Cotton Conferences this week.

“Attendance was really quite strong,” said Adams in a wrap up interview. “Hopefully, we actually provided an opportunity for some people to participate where they might not have otherwise.”

Adams gave an update on the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol during the sustainability conference. “We are trying to stress to growers that the success of this program is necessary so that continue to have access to all the marketing channels that we can going forward. It is an important part of not just maintaining but growing the demand base for U.S. cotton.”

In this interview, Adams also takes a look back at 2020 and how it impacted the cotton industry, as well as a look forward to working with a new administration.
2021 Beltwide Cotton wrap up with NCC CEO Gary Adams 15:33

2021 Beltwide Cotton Conferences Virtual Newsroom

Audio, Beltwide Cotton, Cotton

2020 – A Pivotal Year for ZimmComm

Chuck Zimmerman

You could say that 2020 was a pivotal year for ZimmComm. Sorry about using the “P” word. But as crazy as the year was and all the challenges that have been presented, we’ve come through it by virtually using all the tools we have been using for years and some new ones. Sorry about using the “V” word.

Let’s summarize a year of work that we are very grateful for receiving and proud to have completed. Let’s start with what we first called live blogging an event, which morphed into full-blown coverage of events that include photography, broadcast quality audio interviews, videos on YouTube and Facebook all for the use of the media. It also made for good content for our blog – AgWired. So, here’s a list of events from last year that we attended live or virtually. For the virtual events we just “pivoted” to phone/Zoom/Skype/Meetings interviews and screenshots for images.

Read More

Virtual, ZimmComm Announcement

COVID and Cotton Supply Chains

Cindy Zimmerman

The Beltwide Cotton Economic Economics and Marketing Conference included a presentation by Cotton Incorporated Senior Economist Jon Devine on how the COVID pandemic impacted cotton supply chains in 2020.

Devine says the retail segment was hit the hardest, building on already declining sales in stores. “I think the transition was already underway in terms of pushing clothing purchases away from brick-and-mortar outlets towards on-line sales and that has been exacerbated and accelerated.”

Learn more in this interview.
2021 Beltwide Interview with Jon Devine, Cotton Incorporated 8:47

2021 Beltwide Cotton Conferences Virtual Newsroom

Audio, Beltwide Cotton, Cotton

Hurricanes May Have Increased Cotton Seed Coat Fragments

Cindy Zimmerman

The National Cotton Council is pleased that USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service will be collaborating with the Georgia Department of Agriculture to study the significant increase in seed coat fragments being found in 2020 season Southeast cotton classing samples.

The AMS Macon, GA Classing Office has reportedly classed 2.2 million samples, of which approximately 895,000 contained seed coat fragments. In addition to seed coat fragments, a portion of samples also contained whole cotton seed.

“This significant increase in seed coat fragments has caused obvious concern around the region and questions about the possible cause as well as the cotton classing process,” said Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Gary Black. “We are working closely with USDA and industry experts to identify the cause of the issue and potential solutions.

Vice President of Economics and Policy Analysis Jody Campiche noted an unprecedented level of seed coat fragments in the southeast during her cotton market outlook at the Beltwide Cotton Conferences this week. “The latest estimate for the seed coat percentage damage in Alabama is 24 percent of the crop, in Florida it’s 53 percent, and in Georgia it’s 41 percent.”

Dr. Campiche used a chart in her presentation that shows the path of the two late season hurricanes Sally and Zeta, and says they believe the seed coat fragment increase is related to the specific timing of the hurricanes and the stage in the crop cycle when they came through.

2021 Beltwide - Jody Campiche, NCC, seed coat fragments 1:58

2021 Beltwide Cotton Conferences Virtual Newsroom

Audio, Beltwide Cotton, Cotton

Precision Ag News 1/6

Carrie Muehling

  • The Fertilizer Institute announced that it and the Biostimulant Coalition have reached a formal agreement to form a “Biostimulant Council” and work together to advance policy and regulatory frameworks that increase biostimulant market access and encourage research and innovation. The Biostimulant Coalition is a non-profit group of interested parties cooperating to proactively address regulatory and legislative issues involving biological or naturally derived additives, including but not limited to bacterial or microbial inoculants, biochemical materials, amino acids, humic acids, fulvic acid, seaweed extract and other similar materials. The group was formed in 2011.
  • Brake® On! preemergence residual herbicide for the control of annual grass and broadleaf weeds in permanent crops is being launched by SePRO Corporation, long known for its aquatic and horticultural products. The active ingredient in Brake® On! is fluridone, an HRAC Group 12 herbicide, that provides a unique mode-of-action relative to all other residual herbicides in crops including stone fruit, avocado, mandarin, pistachio and pomegranate.
  • A&L Biological Inc., a subsidiary of A&L Canada Laboratories Inc., announced their first two products have now moved into the registration phase of development for the Canadian agricultural market. Cuc-Guard™ has demonstrated efficacy in both small plot and large-scale greenhouse trials for control of Cucumber Green Mottle Mosaic Virus. Similarly, the bio-stimulant ‘AL-BIO 7’ has shown in development trials significant improvement in plant vigour, root development and biomass for plants in a transplant setting.
  • C&H Ag Products of Benton County, Ind., announced their own line of plant growth regulators, adjuvants, water conditioners and drift control agents expressly designed to serve farmers with quality products that will improve return on investment. C&H Ag Products will initially offer NUTRIPRIME™ Plant Growth Regulator and FULLVIEW™ adjuvants, water conditioners and drift control additives. Founders Scott Creek and and Brad Harman also announced a new strategic supply agreement they’ve formed with Meristem Crop Performance Group, LLC.
  • Nature Biotechnology has published research — partially funded by The 2Blades Foundation — on the development of a new wheat variety that shows exceptional resistance to wheat stem rust.
AgWired Precision, Precision Ag Bytes, Precision Agriculture

U.S. Cotton Market Outlook from NCC

Cindy Zimmerman

National Cotton Council Vice President of Economics and Policy Analysis Jody Campiche gave her annual cotton market outlook Tuesday during the Beltwide Cotton Conferences.

Campiche discussed the impacts of COVID-19 on retail demand, which dropped more than 80 percent in April, as well as unharvested acres due to drought in the West, and quality issues from hurricanes in the Southeast. One big bright spot in the 2020 picture was exports. “We’ve seen a lot of sales to China due to the Phase One trade agreement and China’s commitment to buying more U.S. cotton,” said Campiche. “We’re seeing an increase also in Pakistan, which is an important market.”

Beltwide registrants will be able view her whole presentation on-demand. Listen to this interview to hear some of the highlights of Campiche’s talk.
2021 Beltwide Interview with Jody Campiche, NCC 9:48

2021 Beltwide Cotton Conferences Virtual Newsroom

Audio, Beltwide Cotton, Cotton

New Ag Committee Leadership is Cotton Friendly

Cindy Zimmerman

Presumptive new leadership in both the House and Senate Agriculture Committees for this coming Congress includes two lawmakers with cotton roots.

Agricultural economist Bart Fischer, Co-Director of the Agricultural & Food Policy Center at Texas A&M University, gave a policy update Tuesday during the virtual Beltwide Cotton Economic Outlook conference. He says while the political landscape is still somewhat uncertain on the Senate side, Rep. David Scott of Georgia has been elected serve as Chairman on the House committee with Rep. Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson (R-PA) to serve as the Ranking Member.

Sen. John Boozman of Arkansas will be replacing retiring Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS) and is in line to become either the chairman or ranking member, depending on the outcome of the Georgia Senate runoff elections. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) is expected to retain her position of leadership on the committee.

Fischer discussed a number of policy issues during his presentation, such as COVID relief legislation and looking ahead to the next farm bill. His presentation is available on demand for Beltwide cotton registrants.

Here is an excerpt from Fischer’s presentation.
2021 Beltwide - Bart Fischer, Texas A&M 1:40

2021 Beltwide Cotton Conferences Virtual Newsroom

Audio, Beltwide Cotton, Cotton

EPA Pesticide Program Update for Cotton

Cindy Zimmerman

The 2021 virtual Beltwide Cotton Consultants Conference Tuesday included an update from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Pesticide Programs on crop protection products important to cotton growers.

Michael Goodis, Acting Deputy Director, provided information on a number of pesticides, including dicamba. In this excerpt from his presentation, Goodis explains the process that went into determining the final registration decision for dicamba products from Bayer, BASF and Syngenta last year.

2021 Beltwide - Micahel Goodis, EPA 6:52

2021 Beltwide Cotton Conferences Virtual Newsroom

AgWired Precision, Audio, BASF, Bayer, Beltwide Cotton, Cotton, EPA, Syngenta