Animal Ag News 9/14

Carrie Muehling

  • A wild boar, found near the Polish border, is the first confirmed case of African swine fever in Germany. According to Germany’s Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, a zone at risk has been established, and domestic pig movement will not be allowed within the area. So far, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines have announced they will temporarily suspend pork imports from Germany.
  • Macey Hurst will begin her career journey with the Missouri Cattlemen’s Association on October 5, 2020. In addition to serving as the manager of strategic solutions, responsible for non-dues revenue, she will also serve the Missouri Beef Cattleman publication and manage overall association communications.
  • The future of America’s national mammal continued to brighten this week as officials from South Dakota State University (SDSU), the National Bison Association and the National Buffalo Foundation formally launched the Center of Excellence for Bison Studies, to be headquartered at SDSU’s West River Research and Extension facility in Rapid City, South Dakota.
  • Register your company today for the first Ag Media Summit Virtual Career Fair on September 18, hosted by the Livestock Publications Council and AAEA. Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with current ag communications students, grad students, and young professionals and find your next intern or full-time employee.
  • National Pork Producers Council is hosting its fall Legislative Action Conference this week. The virtual fly-in draws pork producers from around the country to meet with Congress and discuss various issues, including support for a COVID-relief package that includes much-needed assistance to hog farmers in crisis and efforts to ensure Congress fully funds foreign animal disease prevention programs.
  • A fun, rewarding and engaging opportunity is available for college students wanting to attend the 2021 Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show in Nashville, Tennessee, Feb. 1 – 5, 2021. A team of interns – vital to the success of the largest annual meeting in the U.S. beef cattle industry – will gain first-hand experience and be able to interact with leaders of every segment of the cattle and beef industry. Interested students must complete a Student Internship Application and send college transcripts, two letters of recommendation and a resume. Deadline for applying is Oct. 23, 2020.
AgWired Animal, Animal Agriculture, Animal Bites

USDA Lowers Corn and Soybean Forecasts

Cindy Zimmerman

The August derecho that charged across the Midwest has taken its toll on the latest crop estimates in USDA’s September World Agricultural Supply and Demand report. Despite the decline, the numbers would still be records or near records for both crops this year.

The 2020 corn crop would still be nine percent higher than last year and the second highest in history, with a record yield of 178.5. The soybean crop is projected to be 21 percent higher than last year with a yield of 51.9, a tie for the record.

Corn production is forecast at 14.9 billion bushels, down 378 million from last month on a lower yield forecast and reduction in harvested area. Corn supplies are reduced from last month, as a smaller crop more than offsets greater beginning stocks mostly due to lower estimated exports for 2019/20. Corn used for ethanol for 2020/21 is lowered 100 million bushels based on the continued slow recovery in motor gasoline demand as a result of COVID-19. Exports are raised 100 million bushels reflecting reduced supplies in competitor countries.

Soybean production is projected at 4.3 billion bushels, down 112 million on a lower yield forecast of 51.9 bushels per acre. Yield is down 1.4 bushels per acre from the August forecast. With soybean crush and exports unchanged, ending stocks are projected at 460 million bushels, down 150 million from last month.

Corn, Soybean, USDA

Industry Ag News 9/11

Carrie Muehling

  • An interdisciplinary University of Nebraska team led by the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute (DWFI), has received a three-year, one million dollar grant from the International Fund for Agricultural Development to advance access and education around smallholder farmer irrigation in Africa.
  • The Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute welcomes Dr. Jesse Bell to its leadership team. The new position is the result of a generous $5 million gift to the University of Nebraska from Anne Hubbard through her family’s foundation, the Claire M. Hubbard Foundation to create a new collaborative program between the College of Public Health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, DWFI and the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources to address some of Nebraska’s most pressing public health issues associated with water and climate.
  • Wrangler®, a global icon in jeanswear and casual apparel, announced plans for a new jean that celebrates the benefits of regeneratively grown cotton. Global cotton farmers who can demonstrate and document soil-carbon and biodiversity improvements are invited to apply for their cotton to be purchased for a Wrangler Retro® Premium submission as part of The Jeans Redesign project from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Farmers interested in applying can find more information about the submission process at soilhealthinstitute.org/regenerative-cotton/.
  • Rosy Brummette has joined the National Corn Growers Association’s Washington, D.C. office as Manager of Public Policy for Market Development and Renewable Fuels.
  • To further the United States Department of Agriculture’s work on the Agriculture Innovation Agenda, USDA announced it is seeking public- and private-sector input on the most innovative technologies and practices that can be readily deployed across U.S. agriculture. To help identify and accelerate adoption of ready-to-go innovations, USDA is currently accepting public comments and written stakeholder input through its Request for Information through November 9, 2020, which is published on the Federal Register.
  • Lewis & Clark AgriFood, a St. Louis based food and agriculture focused investment firm, announced the closing of a $7.7 million investment round from their Lewis & Clark AgriFood Growth Fund in BinSentry, which provides digital sensor technology to help feed mills and farmers operate more efficiently. Participation from additional investors includes BDC Capital’s Industrial Innovation Venture Fund and existing investors Garage Capital and Chilligo Investments.
  • While companies and schools continue to navigate the sometimes challenging path of remote learning in the U.S., CLUTCH, a hybrid consultancy and agency based in Minneapolis, is expanding one of its core offerings, learning and development programs, to meet the needs of businesses in a rapidly changing environment. CLUTCH recently bolstered its services with the addition of Michelle Jackson, a 30-year veteran in learning and development, international program management, and human resource management.
  • The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced that University of Florida scientist Spiro Stefanou has been appointed the USDA Economic Research Service administrator. Stefanou was a professor in the UF/IFAS food and resource economics department (FRED).
Zimfo Bytes

Farmobile Honored with AgTech Breakthrough Awards

Cindy Zimmerman

Ag data company Farmobile has been named ‘Blockchain-based AgTech Solution of the Year’ and ‘Yield Forecasting Solution of the Year’ in the inaugural AgTech Breakthrough Awards program.

The mission of the AgTech Breakthrough Awards is to honor excellence and recognize innovation in a range of agricultural and food technology categories, including Internet-of-Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) based agricultural technologies, farm management, indoor farming, food quality, data analytics and many more. This year’s program attracted more than 1,750 nominations from over 15 different countries throughout the world.

“Farmobile’s innovative use of blockchain technology is redefining how the agriculture industry collects, stores, protects, and shares important data,” said Bryan Vaughn, Managing Director of AgTech Breakthrough Awards. “By both creating new revenue streams for farmers and helping industry partners use ag data to solve the industry’s biggest challenges, Farmobile is making the industry smarter and more sustainable.”

The Farmobile DataStore exchange leverages blockchain technology to protect privacy, and preserve the anonymity of the farmer-subscribers, who choose to use the world’s first online marketplace that digitally connects them with potential data buyers. Farmobile DataStore participants are able to license single-use copies of their data to approved third-party buyers for a recurring revenue source.

Farmobile’s Farmobile Index (for both Planting and Harvest) provides daily updates on crop progress as it happens during farming’s most crucial times of the year.

Farmobile CEO Jason Tatge said, “We created the Farmobile Index so farmers could get more timely updates — especially during planting and harvest — that can help them more effectively market their commodities. We’re thrilled that the AgTech Breakthrough Awards realize the tremendous value this is going to have in agriculture.”

AgWired Precision, data, Precision Agriculture

Precision Ag News 9/9

Carrie Muehling

  • With the vacated registrations of three dicamba herbicides this summer, including XtendiMax®, Engenia® and FeXapan®, farmers are looking for additional soybean weed management options. Those options start with seed. Golden Harvest offers farmers the broadest choice of soybean herbicide tolerance trait platforms, including a strong supply of Enlist E3® soybeans for 2021 planting. For 2021, Golden Harvest expanded its product portfolio with the release of 22 new soybean varieties. In addition to Enlist E3, it offers farmers access to Roundup Ready 2 Xtend® soybeans and LibertyLink® GT27™.
  • AGCO Corporation announced the launch of a virtual product showroom for consumers in North America. The showroom, available at AGCOvirtualshowroom.com, allows users to learn more about products of the company’s well-known brands, including Massey Ferguson®, Fendt®, Challenger®, Gleaner®, RoGator® / TerraGator®, GSI® and others.
  • Sakata Seed America announced the formation of a Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) department. This new department will focus on Indoor agriculture, a growing segment of the produce industry that focuses both on traditional greenhouse production as well as specialized vertical farming.
  • Join the Phipps Environmental Film Series on Fri., Sept. 18 for a screening of Living Soil. R.S.V.P. in advance. Upon registration, you will immediately receive a Zoom link to join the conversation after the film, and you will receive the link to the film on the afternoon of September 16.
  • Inari Agriculture, a biotechnology company developing next-generation seeds, has secured $145 million since its founding less than four years ago and is expanding its operations at its Purdue Research Park-based Seed Foundry.
AgWired Precision, Precision Ag Bytes, Precision Agriculture

Join the AMS Virtual Career Fair

Cindy Zimmerman

Agricultural marketing and media companies have the opportunity to connect with current ag communications students, grad students, and young professionals during the first Ag Media Summit Virtual Career Fair on September 18, hosted by AAEA The Agricultural Communicators Network and the Livestock Publications Council (LPC).

Using this platform, companies can list available internships, jobs and other opportunities, and include a personal zoom link for students to communicate. You can also host a virtual roundtable and discuss with a small group of students the opportunities and daily life in your industry.

Booths are $100 and will be open for networking from 9:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. Central Time on Friday, September 18 and then available for continuous viewing until November 1. Details and registration information can be found on the Ag Media Summit website. While you are there, you can also register for the virtual Ag Media Summit November 16-17.

ACN, Ag Media Summit, LPC

ZimmCast 655 – Agri-Pulse September Virtual Events

Cindy Zimmerman

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast.

Agri-Pulse is calling this month a “September to Remember” with a total of four virtual or semi-virtual events they are hosting – that’s about 24 hours of content! Those events include:

2020 Virtual Food & Ag Policy Summit West –
September 9, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm Pacific Time
2020 Ag & Food Policy Summit (normally in Washington DC in March) –
September 21, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm Eastern
KC Agribusiness Club Ag Outlook Forum (hybrid live/virtual) –
September 28, 8:00 am to 4:00 pm Central
USB/ASA Webinar on Infrastructure Improvements (third in a series) –
September 24, 12-1:00 pm Central

In this ZimmCast, I talk with Agri-Pulse president Sara Wyant about the challenges of meeting planning in our COVID-19 world this year and the realities of going virtual.

That’s the ZimmCast for this week. I hope you enjoyed it and thank you for listening.

Listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast 655 - AgriPulse September Virtual Events

Subscribe to the ZimmCast in:

Agri-Pulse, Audio, Events, Podcasts, politics, ZimmCast

Animal Ag News 9/8

Carrie Muehling

  • College students across the country are gearing up for the Animal Agriculture Alliance’s annual College Aggies Online scholarship competition which kicks off September 14. This year’s students and collegiate clubs are competing for more than $20,000 in scholarships throughout the nine-week program. For more information or to sign up, visit https://collegeaggies.animalagalliance.org.
  • The National Corn Growers Association is the sole sponsor of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Cattlemen’s Education Series, engaging with cattle producers on production efficiency, profitability and sustainability. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many grant-funded in-person events have been canceled, but corn and cattle have been able to innovate new solutions aimed at connecting agriculturalists with the latest industry information.
  • The International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE) is launching the ninth annual IPPE Young Leaders Under 30 Program targeting young professionals who normally would not have the opportunity to attend IPPE. The goal of the program is to engage and invest in the next generation of young professionals, between the ages of 21 and 29, who work for companies directly involved in the production and processing of poultry and meat or in the production of animal food. Interested applicants must apply to the program by Oct. 16 and meet select requirements, including being a member of at least one of the following IPPE sponsor organizations: the American Feed Industry Association, North American Meat Institute or U.S. Poultry & Egg Association.
  • September is #HungerActionMonth. Feeding America projects 1 in 6 people in America could face hunger in the wake of the pandemic. That’s why the dairy industry is leading the way to raise gallons all month to help get milk to those who need it most. Please check out the Raising Gallons video on the front page of www.USDairy.com.
  • The Nature Conservancy, McDonald’s, Cargill and Target are coming together to launch a new five-year, $8.5 million project aimed at working with Nebraska farmers to advance proven soil health practices to help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and help farmers adapt to climate change. Overall, this effort has the potential to sequester 150,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide over the course of the project – equivalent to removing over 32,000 cars from the road in one year.
AgWired Animal, Animal Agriculture, Animal Bites

Industry Ag News 9/4

Carrie Muehling

  • U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue designated 18 Iowa counties as primary natural disaster areas, enabling producers who suffered losses because of the recent Derecho, that occurred on August 10, 2020, to be eligible for emergency loans. Additionally, Perdue reminded producers about the suite of disaster assistance programs available through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, including program flexibilities and a special signup through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program.
  • Deputy Undersecretary for Research, Education, Economics Dr. Scott Hutchins announced that USDA has named Dr. Spiro Stefanou to lead the Economic Research Service (ERS) as its new Administrator.
  • MGEX reports that August 2020 was the second-best month in history with a total monthly volume of 318,992 contracts. This past month was also the best August in Exchange history, beating the previous record holder, August 2017, by nearly 7,500 contracts.
  • The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) Board of Directors adopted a new strategic plan to guide the association for 2020-25. The months-long process was produced in coordination with Nuffer Smith Tucker Public Relations.
  • The National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) elected a new slate of officers for the coming year. Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles will serve as NASDA’s 2020-2021 President and will host the 2021 NASDA Annual Meeting in Louisville, Kentucky on September 19-22, 2021.
  • Agri-AFC, GreenPoint AG, Tennessee Farmers Cooperative’s wholesale agronomy business announce the formation of a joint venture combining their agronomy operations. The combination will include all operations of Agri-AFC, LLC’s wholesale and retail business, GreenPoint AG’s retail business, and Tennessee Farmers Cooperative’s wholesale agronomy business. The new venture will do business under the name GreenPoint AG.
  • U.S. Hemp Growers Association has announced the organization’s Founding Board of Directors. Michael Bowman is the chair.
  • Registration is now open for the American Seed Trade Association‘s CSS & Seed Expo virtual. Register by Sept. 15 for “First Access” including deeper discounts and the ASTA attendee roster.
  • Syngenta Group opens its first major manufacturing facility since the formation of the Group in June 2020. This step marks a major strategic investment in the Group’s Crop Protection business. It is also an important building block in the Group’s overall strategy to drive growth, upgrade delivery and continue market leadership in crop protection. The plant had formerly been operated by pharmaceutical company Novartis and 70 employees will be retained within Syngenta Group.
  • Start making your plans to virtually attend the 2020 NAFB Virtual Convention, set for November 18-20. Virtual Trade Talk is slated for Thursday, and there will be plenty of networking opportunities, newsmaker sessions, and more throughout the online event. Register here.
  • The Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute (DWFI), recently held the Women Leaders in Water for Food webinar on August 27. Watch a recorded version of the full webinar here. To find a specific speaker’s remarks, click the corresponding timestamp by expanding the video’s description.
  • Farmer’s Business Network, Inc. launched GRO Network™, which provides new technology and services that facilitate the scoring, sourcing, and pricing of Low-Carbon Grain from farm to fork, making environmental transparency in the grain industry a reality now.
  • The Industry Task Force II on 2,4-D Research Data welcomes Lindsay Thompson as the new executive director.
Zimfo Bytes

Farmobile Announces Farmobile Index for Harvest

Cindy Zimmerman

Agricultural data company Farmobile LLC today announced the release of the Farmobile Index for Harvest — a crop progress and benchmarking tool that provides daily, state-level crop insights as corn and soybeans are harvested. Users can view total aggregated harvested acres/yield for an individual state or a group of states and chosen date ranges.

Uniquely crowd-sourced by and for the farmers, who use the Farmobile PUC™ device to collect real-time field and fleet data, the Farmobile Index for Harvest also allows users to compare results against USDA-NASS estimates. All Farmobile subscribers have exclusive, immediate and free access to this data tool. Earlier this spring, the Farmobile Index for Planting was released following a full year of 2019 farmer-testing. The Farmobile Index, now available for both harvest and planting seasons, enables all farmer-users to obtain a holistic view of the crop year.

According to Farmobile CEO Jason Tatge, tools like the Farmobile Index are fueled by collecting ground-truthed, organized, top quality, real-time data to power decision making.

“Unlike other means of evaluating crop yield — such as satellite imagery, rainfall, temperature maps, surveys, and public data — the Farmobile Index updates in real-time to uncover insights the rest of the marketplace may not realize for weeks,” said Tatge. “When paired with the Farmobile Index for Planting, released this spring, the harvest functionality ultimately brings the power back to the farmer as they head into the harvest season. It’s not a best-guess. It’s the truth about yield as it happens, and it’s the edge that farmers deserve to make the strategic decisions today that define their future profit.”

As always, the privacy and security of farmers is paramount to Farmobile. Only data totals, aggregated at the state-level, are used for Farmobile Index insights. No identifiable farm data or individual Electronic Field Records are shared. Users’ control over their data is strictly protected by Farmobile’s data privacy and permissioning protocol. The Farmobile Index was created to benefit subscribers by providing “first-to-know” insights. Results are not intended for public use.

The Farmobile Index for Harvest (and Planting) is available to Farmobile subscribers via the Farmobile DataEngine platform. Farmobile anticipates harvest data to be available online for subscribers in mid September (contingent on harvest conditions).

AgWired Precision, data, Farming, Harvest, Precision Agriculture