So Long to Farm Broadcaster Evan Slack

Cindy Zimmerman

Heaven has gained another farm broadcaster.

The legendary Evan Slack passed away on Saturday, September 19, at the age of 86. His radio career spanned 68 years including most recently as owner of the Evan Slack Network based in Denver, Colo. During that time, he broadcasted from 45 states, 4 Canadian Provinces and Australia.

Russell Nemetz purchased Evan’s network earlier this year after helping him do the broadcasts for the past four years. “The agriculture and broadcast industries have lost one of their biggest advocates. Not only did he have a positive impact on me, but Evan touched the lives of millions of people during his amazing career and we can all be thankful for that.” Read Russell’s tribute to Evan.

Evan was a leader in the National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) and served as president in 1987. He was inducted into the NAFB Hall of Fame in 2009 and won tons of other awards from various industry organizations. Evan was born in Missouri and received a degree in Agriculture with a minor in Journalism from the University of Missouri. After that, he moved westward, into the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, establishing Farm and Ranch departments at two different radio stations and eventually becoming a farm radio network pioneer in the west, working to establish network programming specifically targeted for the farmers and ranchers of that region in the early 1970s. After getting his pilot’s license in 1967, Evan was able to cover the entire western farm and ranch territory and quickly became a well-loved radio personality with the slogan On the Air and In the Air.

He was early to adopt new technology, taking his network on-line in 2006 to distribute his programming to radio stations. He was a Mac man and bought the first iPhone that came out and was quick to see its uses for broadcasting in the field.

He was also a very dear friend of ours and we will be missing that joyful greeting we always received from Evan when we met him at events like the Cattle Industry Conference and NAFB. So long, good friend. Fly high.


NAFB

Industry Ag News 9/18

Carrie Muehling

  • InfoAg Conference is Now All-Virtual for December. Content sessions will address blockchain and traceability; biostimulants and micronutrients; integrating big data into nutrient recommendations, carbon markets, soil health and more. Mark your calendar for December 15-17, 2020.
  • Michael Torrey Associates welcomed Brandon Barnett to its team as a Policy Coordinator. The Washington, D.C.-based firm offers government relations, strategic communications, and issue advocacy as well as full-service association management to a growing number of clients in the food, agriculture, and forestry sector.
  • AMVAC, an American Vanguard Company, is excited to announce the winners of the second annual Cotton Industry Advancement Scholarship. A total of seven students were selected from 26 qualified applicants. Each scholarship recipient was awarded $2,000. To learn more about AMVAC and the Cotton Industry Advancement Scholarship, visit www.AMVAC.com/scholarship.
  • GrainBridge, an ag technology joint venture of Archer Daniels Midland Company and Cargill Incorporated, announced the launch of a new digital platform focused on helping farmers streamline the grain marketing process to make more informed and profitable decisions.
  • As a global pandemic and extreme weather events batter an already weak agricultural economy, more than 400 farmers, ranchers, and rural residents are gathered online this week to speak directly with their elected representatives and administration officials as part of National Farmers Union’s fall legislative fly-in.
  • The theme for the 2021 GROWMARK Essay Contest is: “If you could invent a new technology to improve agriculture, what would it be?” The contest is open to all high school FFA members in Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
  • Abby Himburg has joined the Alabama Peanut Producers Association staff as the Communications Coordinator. Her project priorities will be print and digital publications.
Zimfo Bytes

USDA Undersecretary Censky to Return to ASA

Cindy Zimmerman

USDA Undersecretary Steve Censky gave one of his last addresses in his current role to the American Coalition for Ethanol virtual annual conference this week. It was announced this morning that Censky will be returning to his former job as CEO of the American Soybean Association in November as after serving with USDA since October 2017.

In his prerecorded remarks at the ACE conference this week, Censky accepted the organization’s Paul Dana Marketing Vision Award for his leadership on the Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentive Program (HBIIP).

“USDA received 121 applications from 27 different states for HBIIP,” said Censky. “We are reviewing those applications now and will be getting the money out the door starting (this month).”

Listen to his remarks here:
ACE 2020 USDA Deputy Secretary Steve Censky (7:42)

ACE, Audio, Ethanol, Soybean, USDA

ZimmComm Headquarters Hit by Hurricane Sally

Cindy Zimmerman

A generator and cell phone WiFi are keeping ZimmComm in operation here at world headquarters near Pensacola, Florida after being hit by Hurricane Sally yesterday.

We are very fortunate to only have some trees and branches down and a little tear in the pool screen, probably a few missing roof tiles. If you are seeing the pictures from the storm damage in Pensacola, that is not us, fortunately. But it is everywhere around us. We are just in a very sheltered spot away from the floodplains and very wind mitigated. Still, being without power and internet makes work pretty challenging. Cell phone WiFi is pretty slow because that’s what everyone is having to use!

This was my first ever hurricane and the first Chuck has been through since he was a kid in Sarasota, Hurricane Alma in 1966. Because of our location, we were able to stand out on the lanai and watch the awesome power of the storm. I even did a Jim Cantore impression in our front yard, stepping out briefly in 100 mph winds! I found it totally fascinating.

It was amazing that the storm stopped around noon yesterday as the eye came over us and Sally broke apart. Chuck fired up the grill and made some shrimp for dinner with stir fry over a propane fish cooker. He is smoking beef roast today! I think we will survive.

ZimmComm Announcement

Precision Ag News 9/16

Carrie Muehling

  • Raven Industries, Inc. debuted its autonomous platform, Dot®, for the first time at Farm Progress Virtual Experience, one of the largest public farm shows in the United States.
  • PureAcre™ launches as part of BPS Agriculture’s portfolio of companies, announcing they’ll bring new high-performance, Earth-friendly biostimulants and nutritionals to field crop growers in the coming months. The line of agricultural products utilizes PureAcre’s proprietary technology, OpusMAX, to significantly improve nutrient delivery and up plant performance.
  • Bayer announced the final large-scale pre-launch trials of Roma-type tomatoes to help growers address Tomato brown rugose fruit virus.
  • Nominations for the AE50 Awards, meant for new and innovative technology, are closing on September 25th. All nominations must be completed through an online nomination website. Awards are presented at ASABE’s annual Agricultural Equipment Technology Conference. The top ten winners are then eligible for the prestigious Davidson Prize. The Davidson Prize was designed by AEM and ASABE to celebrate breakthrough innovations in areas of agricultural, food and biological systems engineering.
  • FieldBee‘s innovative guidance systems are now available on tractors of the CNH Industrial Case IH and New Holland brands.
  • CropX announced the acquisition of New Zealand-based Regen, a leading provider of cloud-based, precision effluent and irrigation decision support tools. Current Regen customers now have access to CropX’s unmatched combination of in-soil data and advanced farm management analytics and automation tools.
  • AGCO announces an agreement to acquire research and product development firm 151 Research based in Winnipeg, Canada to create new technology solutions for grain customers. AGCO and 151 Research previously had an exclusive technology partnership to develop GSI GrainViz precision grain monitoring, which gives growers and commercial operators advanced insight into the moisture content of the grain in their steel storage bins. This acquisition will allow AGCO to continue development of GrainViz and expand into new solutions.
  • Heliae® Agriculture announced the addition of Jon Collison as a Regional Sales Manager for California and Arizona. In his new role, Collison will work closely with distributors and retail partners to strategically implement the PhycoTerra® product line into their recommended grower applications.
  • The 2020 corn harvest is drawing near, and now is the time for growers to assess their pest control experience and make a plan for 2021. The Agrisure® traits portfolio from Syngenta offers high-performing rotational options to show pests something different.
AgWired Precision, Precision Ag Bytes, Precision Agriculture

EPA Denial of RFS Waivers Good News for Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman

Ethanol producers and farmers were pleased to hear Monday that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is denying petitions for retroactive small refinery waivers for the 2011-18 compliance years.

EPA announced it is denying 54 “gap-year” small refinery exemption petitions and will deny the remaining 14 petitions once they are received from the Department of Energy. In announcing its decision, EPA acknowledged that it would be completely inappropriate to grant a waiver to a refinery for a compliance obligation from many years ago, especially when the refinery had already fully complied with the obligation.

EPA also cited the Tenth Circuit Court’s decision from January as an important consideration in rejecting the waiver petitions. Importantly, EPA is applying these petition denials nationally. The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) led the litigation in the Tenth Circuit, while the National Corn Growers Association, National Farmers Union, and American Coalition for Ethanol were co-petitioners.

“The petitions were never anything more than an absurd and bizarre attempt by the refineries to circumvent the Tenth Circuit Court’s decision in the Renewable Fuels Association v. EPA case,” said RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper. “This should serve as the final nail in the coffin of these gap-year petitions, and we are eager to put this dark and sordid chapter in the history of the RFS behind us once and for all.”

RFA CEO statement on gap year waiver denials (1:20)

“Asking for waivers for nearly ten years ago was a new low by the oil industry to undermine the RFS and rewrite history,” said NCGA President Kevin Ross. “While denial of these past-year waivers is obviously positive news for farmers and biofuel producers, we’re never going to have the certainty we need until the underlying waiver issue is fully resolved.”

ACE CEO Brian Jennings added, “Simply put, these retroactive waivers ignored the RFS statute and the Tenth Circuit Court decision, so rejection of the gap-year requests is what the law and court precedent required of EPA…The next logical step is for EPA to once and for all nationally apply the precedent set by the Tenth Circuit Court, which likely means denying most of the pending refinery waivers for 2019 and 2020.”

EPA currently has 31 waivers under consideration for 2019 and 2020 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) compliance years.

NFU President Rob Larew also urged the administration to follow up by releasing the overdue Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs) for 2021.

ACE, Audio, Corn, NCGA, RFA

Branstad Coming Home from China

Cindy Zimmerman

U.S. Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China Terry Branstad will retire from his position as U.S. envoy and depart Beijing in early October.

During his tenure as ambassador, which began in June 2017, the former Iowa governor traveled to 26 provinces and autonomous regions in China, and would have visited all of them if COVID-19 had not limited his domestic travel. “Getting to know the Chinese people, meeting them in their homes and hearing their personal stories, has been one of the great privileges of this job,” said Branstad.

Secretary of State Pompeo tweeted that, “Ambassador Branstad’s contribution to the rebalancing of U.S.-China relations will have lasting, positive effects on U.S. foreign policy in the Asia-Pacific for decades to come.”

President Trump mentioned Branstad would be coming home during a phone call to Sen. Joni Ernst that was shared on Twitter over the weekend.

The president gave a shout out Terry Branstad’s son Eric, who is senior adviser for the Trump 2020 re-election campaign in Iowa. “Eric Branstad’s fantastic and you know Eric’s father is coming home from China because he wants to campaign,” said Trump.

Pres. Trump call to Sen. Ernst (1:05)

Audio, Trade

MACA Honors Margy Eckelkamp

Cindy Zimmerman

The Mid America CropLife Association (MACA) honored one of our favorite agricultural journalists at its recent virtual annual meeting.

The Ruth White Media Award is presented to an individual who’s demonstrated an evidence of consistent, objective, and accurate reporting on American agriculture and the myriad of issues involved in modern agriculture, including the CropLife industry. This year’s winner is Margy Eckelkamp, Editor of The Scoop, a part of Farm Journal Inc.

Margy is a multimedia journalist who provides the agricultural industry with leading service journalism. Since 2006, Margy has reported on machinery, agronomy, and technology for Farm Journal. Eckelkamp works to bring the foremost in industry news to the public through multiple channels including print, digital and broadcast such as her periodic features on AgriTalk. When launching a product to the market, Margy has made it a priority to ‘get ahead’ of her competition with the lead story. She’s objective and does accurate reporting, yet provides important and useful information.

Eckelkamp is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia with a BS in Agriculture Journalism and one of AgWired’s very first interns way back in 2006!

Journalism

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