Heliae Brings Regenerative Ag and Soil Health to Canada

Cindy Zimmerman

Heliae® Agriculture is pleased to announce the addition of Ron Taylor as Canadian General Manager to lead their regenerative agriculture initiatives expansion in Canada.

Taylor joins Heliae® Agriculture efforts with over 30 years of experience focused on the science and development of products to improve plant health. He brings a broad experience in Canadian crop production with his background spanning the seed industry, crop protection, as well as the biostimulant segment.

With roots in crop production in South West Ontario, Taylor brings a wealth of knowledge from his past experiences at Acadian Seaplants, Syngenta Canada Inc., Engage Agro Corp., BASF Canada Inc., and Monsanto Canada Inc. Taylor has actively supported organizations such as the Canadian Seed Trade Association, Plant Technology Agency, Corn Pest Coalition, and the Agri-Marketing Association. He holds a BA in Physical Geography/Geomorphology from the University of Windsor and professional development trainings from Harvard Businss School, INSEAD Business School, CropLife Canada, and Syngenta.

Taylor says he is looking forward to introducing PhycoTerra® to Canadian agriculture. “Crop production is dependent on the health of soils and the PhycoTerra® product line is proven to help rejuvenate the life of multiple soil types, with higher levels and diversity of microbial activity, resulting in healthier plants and improved production.”

For more information on PhycoTerra® and how it is driving regenerative agriculture forward, visit PhycoTerra.com.

Link to press release.

Soil

Ethanol Ready to Fuel Summer Adventures

Cindy Zimmerman

As America gets moving again, ethanol is ready to fuel summer adventures.

Ethanol production is slowly climbing back up after hitting historic lows due to coronavirus restrictions keeping people from traveling. Now that people are getting back on the road and in the water, Renewable Fuels Association Vice President of Industry Affairs Robert White talks about some of their summertime promotions that help educate the public about ethanol.

Ethanol Report 5-29-20 (14:17)

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.

Choose an option to subscribe

Audio, Ethanol, RFA

Agricultural Solutions LLC Announces New Ownership

Cindy Zimmerman

Agricultural Solutions LLC has ended its financial partnership with Intergro, Inc., but Intergro will remain a distributor for crustacean meal products. The newly independent leadership team responsible for the creation of the crustacean meal product line is excited to now take the brand in a new direction.

Agricultural Solutions’ Managing Partner Don Long pioneered the conventional and organic production of grape tomatoes in the US and was introduced to the use of crustacean meal in 2004. He soon began using it in both conventional and organic production and after leaving commercial production, Long founded Agricultural Solutions to introduce crustacean meal and its benefits to the agricultural community. Other members of the leadership team include Dan Chellemi, Ph.D., who serves as Research & Development Director, and Everett Hendrixon, Chief Operating Officer.

“We are excited about the new direction, it gives us the opportunity to be more flexible and focus additional efforts in commodity crops and other agricultural sectors where CrabLife™ and PreBiotech™ products can be used as a preferred food source for beneficial microbes,” said Don Long. “Growers love our products because they are effective, economical and designed to be combined with current crop protection applications, so they are easy to implement.”

Agricultural Solutions’ patent-pending microbial-based formulations include:
CrabLife™: A line of natural fertilizers (CrabLife, CrabLife Powder and CrabLife Plus) scientifically proven to stimulate the soil microbiome, particularly microbes associated with plant growth promotion and the biological control of plant pathogens and parasitic nematodes.

PreBiotech™: Micronized crustacean meal designed for foliar applications to provide a preferred food source for beneficial microbes on plant surfaces including foliage, flowers, and fruit.

To learn more, visit agricultural.solutions.

View full press release.

Biologicals, Organic, Precision Agriculture, specialty crops

Animal Ag News 6/1

Carrie Muehling

  • Zoetis and American Horse Publications announced Barbra Schulte as the recipient of the 2020 Equine Industry Vision Award. The annual award, established and sponsored by Zoetis, recognizes the innovation and commitment made by an individual or organization to positively influence the equine industry. Zoetis presented the award to Schulte by video since the 2020 AHP Equine Media Conference was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • In celebration of National Dairy Month, Dairy Management Inc. and state and regional checkoff teams around the country are showcasing dairy’s resilience and community impact during the COVID-19 pandemic. The efforts begin on June 1 – World Milk Day – with a “Raising Gallons” video that DMI created in partnership with state and regional checkoff organizations.
  • Organizers are excited to announce the upcoming launch of PigX, a monthly podcast developed to share information from the national Improving Pig Survivability project with pork producers and other PigX swine extension podcast graphicdecision makers in the swine industry. The first session airs June 1. You can find and subscribe now to the podcast on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify or Stitcher. PigX podcast updates also will be available on the project website.
  • Flies cost U.S. cattle and dairy producers $1 billion or more in lost income every year. Learn how to fight back against flies during our next Dairy Calf and Heifer Association webinar on June 4.
  • Cargill announces the addition of Brett Mackay as a Dairy Focus Consultant for the Western region. In his new role, Mackay will focus on serving and developing our dairy business in the Granger, Washington market.
  • Like much of the world right now, the global animal health and nutrition industry is unable to meet in person at livestock events or industry conferences. In response to this challenge, Phibro Animal Health Corporation has launched Phibro Academy, a new digital learning and content platform, to allow customers and partners to continue to learn and exchange ideas, no matter where they are.
AgWired Animal, Animal Agriculture, Animal Bites

Podcasting Report from Stitcher

Chuck Zimmerman

The Stitcher Podcast ReportOne of the platforms we use for all our podcasts is Stitcher. Hopefully, you’re familiar with it and have given it a try.

Stitcher just published The Stitcher Podcast Report.

Stitcher, the leading company dedicated to listening to, producing and monetizing podcasts, today released the “Stitcher Podcasting Report,” a first-of-its-kind look at the evolution and growth of podcasting over the past 10 years, including what Stitcher’s COVID-19 listener data could mean for the industry’s future growth.

The “Stitcher Podcasting Report” represents the industry’s only analysis of in-app data, network content and listener demographics from Stitcher – the top network for share of podcast listening in the U.S., as measured by Edison Research’s Podcast Consumer Tracker. The report examines the factors that have driven the industry’s growth and the trends shaping it today:

Here are some those factors and trends:

The growth of podcasts is not slowing down
Some states carry more listening weight
Streaming remains popular
The rise of the mini-series
Episodes are trending shorter
Gen X is dedicated
Bouncing back amid COVID-19

Take a look at the report and it might give you some good ideas for how podcasting can fit with your marketing plan. I really like the idea of mini-series. We’ve done those in the past with the interviews we created at events like Commodity Classic. I could see more of these to come as we look at more and more digital ways to communicate.

Podcasts

Industry Ag News 5/29

Carrie Muehling

  • Discovery Park of America has announced new partners and more details for “AgriCulture: Innovating for Our Survival,” a permanent exhibit dedicated to telling the story of innovation in agriculture. The exhibit will open Dec. 5, 2020 in the Simmons Bank Ag Center. New partners include The Dairy Alliance; East Tennessee Nursery and Tennessee Department of Agriculture Division of Forestry; H&R Agri-Power and Case IH; Roundstone Native Seed; “Silo”; Star Pastures Apiary; Tennessee Beef Promotion Board; and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.
  • The Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute, the World Bank, the International Water Management Institute and the Global Water Partnership will host a series of interactive webinars on accelerating inclusive farmer-led irrigation development. Session I – Accelerating inclusive FLI and reaching scale: Key things to consider – is scheduled for Thursday, June 11, 2020, from 8-9 a.m. CST. Session II – Accelerating inclusive FLI sustainably: A systems approach to reaching scale – will take place Thursday, July 9, 2020.
  • Fifteen agriculture students have been selected as the fourth class of recipients of the GROWMARK Foundation scholarship. More than 260 students from across the United States and Ontario, Canada, applied for the award. Applications were evaluated by a panel of agribusiness professionals, and the funds are available for the fall 2020 semester.
  • Thirty-five students are taking part in the GROWMARK/FS System’s Exploring Agriculture Internship Program for the spring and summer. Ten interns started in April and twenty-five summer interns start in May. The students are spending 10 weeks working at FS member cooperatives in Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, Ohio, New Jersey and Ontario, Canada.
  • Farmers National Company, the nation’s leading agricultural landowner services company, has announced that Matt Gunderson, Omaha, Neb., has been promoted to senior vice president of sales and marketing.
  • Swanson Russell welcomes five new team members in the Omaha and Lincoln offices of the agency. New hires are project manager Ben Fleming, email marketing coordinator Juliane Glasco, senior account manager Candace Jindra, media coordinator/buyer Holly Kohel and digital strategist Megan Moore.
Zimfo Bytes

NPPC Urges Senate Action on Relief for Hog Farmers

Cindy Zimmerman

The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) hosted a press briefing Thursday with four pork producers to talk about the need for immediate aid and urge the U.S. Senate to adopt livestock agriculture provisions included in COVID-relief legislation recently passed by the U.S. House of Representatives.

The impact of COVID-19 has caused hog values to plummet, creating a financial disaster for pork producers nationwide who face a collective $5 billion loss for the remainder of the year. Additionally, U.S. pork producers face staggering costs for the millions of hogs that will be euthanized as pigs back up on farms due to ongoing bottlenecks in the pork supply chain.

Participating in the briefing were:

NPPC president Howard A.V. Roth, Wisconsin
Iowa producer Mike Paustian
Minnesota producer Kevin Hugoson
Illinois producer Chad Leman

Listen to their stories here:
NPPC producers need COVID-relief (17:40)

Audio, NPPC, Pork

Precision Ag News 5/27

Carrie Muehling

  • HELM Agro US, Inc. and Ishihara Sangyo Kaisha, Ltd., have entered into a long-term collaboration for the commercial development of three novel crop protection herbicides. Under the initiative, HELM will partner with ISK Biosciences Corporation of Concord, Ohio, a subsidiary of Ishihara Sangyo Kaisha Ltd. of Osaka, Japan, in the commercial development of the new market offerings beginning in 2020.
  • FMC Corporation announced the launch of Arc™ farm intelligence, an exclusive precision agriculture platform that enables growers and advisors to more accurately predict pest pressure before it becomes a problem. Arc™ farm intelligence is the first mobile platform to use predictive modeling based on real-time data to help ensure the right crop protection products are applied precisely where and when they are needed to improve sustainability, optimize crop yield and enhance grower return on investment.
  • Seminis Vegetable Seeds, Inc.® is reinventing its Onion Idea Exchange (iX) event, which was to take place in mid-April in Donna, Texas. Instead, the company is bringing those same onion fields and the innovative insights and information that was to be shared on those fields to life through OnionExperience.com.
  • Six early-stage companies have been selected to participate in the Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN2), a technology incubator and platform. Each company participating in the second cohort of this invitation-only program will receive up to $250,000 in non-dilutive funding to further develop and validate its technology with scientists at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, the world’s largest nonprofit independent plant science institute. IN2 is funded by the Wells Fargo Foundation and co-administered by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
AgWired Precision, Precision Ag Bytes, Precision Agriculture

GROWMARK Intern Program Goes Virtual

Cindy Zimmerman

GROWMARK‘s legacy internship program that just celebrated 60 years will continue this year with a little change – the program will primarily operate virtually in an effort to keep interns and employees safe. The 2020 interns who will spend the next few weeks learning from professionals in the GROWMARK/FS System were recently welcomed to the program via video chat by GROWMARK CEO Jim Spradlin.

Thirty college students are exploring agricultural career opportunities this summer as GROWMARK Interns. They are working at FS member cooperatives in Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, and Ontario, Canada; as well as the GROWMARK corporate office in Bloomington, IL, and GROWMARK FS in the northeast.

The interns are exposed to accounting, marketing, and product and service-related activities. Each intern will complete a business-related project and deliver a presentation on their project at the conclusion of their internships.

The GROWMARK internship program began in 1959 with three interns. Since then, more than 1,300 students have been involved in the program.

Education, GROWMARK

Farm Credit Shares Produce Farmers’ COVID-19 Challenges

Cindy Zimmerman

Like every other sector of agriculture, fruit and vegetable producers are being impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic response. Many farmers around the country have experienced devastating losses from the shutdown of the foodservice supply chain and slowdown at retail.

Farm Credit held a webinar panel discussion last week with specialty crop producers on the challenges they are facing. Participants included Toby Basore from the largest lettuce farm east of the Mississippi River, Sean Gilbert from an apple/cherry/stone fruit operation in Washington and Savannah Gillis Turner from a diversified onion and green chile farm in New Mexico. They discussed labor and market issues, along with their plans for the future.

Listen here:
Farm Credit specialty crop producers

Audio, Farm Credit, Produce, specialty crops, Vegetables