Industry Ag News 5/1

Carrie Muehling

  • Farm Foundation, an accelerator of practical solutions for agriculture, is now accepting nominations for its Young Farmer Accelerator Program, aimed at helping young farmers grow their knowledge, experience and network. The deadline to nominate a young farmer is May 15, 2020.
  • The Alabama Peanut Producers Association and its farmer members have donated 5,760 jars of peanut butter to regional food banks across Alabama to help with the demand for food due to COVID-19. The peanut butter was provided by Peanut Proud, Inc., the non-profit industry organization dedicated to humanitarian efforts.
  • The American Soybean Association (ASA) COVID-19 Task Force conducted a survey in April regarding the effects of COVID-19 on soy growers, their operations, employees, and families. Stress reported by the 86 farmer respondents from across the soy-producing states was high. ASA, state soybean affiliates, and the United Soybean Board (USB) want to help. This May, during Mental Health Month, ASA is launching a proactive communications campaign to combat #FarmStress and offer #SoyHelp.
  • The Nebraska Power Farming Show is now called the Nebraska Ag Expo and the Iowa Power Farming Show is the Iowa Ag Expo. The Nebraska Ag Expo will be held December 8-10, 2020 at the Lancaster Event Center in Lincoln, NE. The Iowa Ag Expo will be held February 2-4, 2021 at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines, IA.
  • House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson of Minnesota and Ranking Member K. Michael Conaway of Texas, issued a statement Wednesday commemorating the 200th anniversary of the establishment of the House Committee on Agriculture.
  • The Chicago Farmers presented 2019-2020 scholarships to: Caroline Treadwell, Iowa State University; Noah Poynter, Purdue University; John Searl, University of Illinois; Ben Mrotek, University of Wisconsin-Madison; and Joliet Junior College students Brooklyn Tice, Abigail Wagner, and Jillian Camp.
  • American Farmland Trust’s Farmer Relief Fund started sending out $1,000 grant checks to 1,000 farmers across the country as Americans witnessed unprecedented disruptions to the food system. A huge thanks goes out to donors, members and the host of corporate contributors who stepped up when farmers needed it most. The funds are going to help small to mid-size producers that sell direct to consumers, to food services businesses, or to institutions. All funds raised by AFT are being put in the hands of farmers with no restrictions on use, only that they use the money to support modifications to their business model that will get them through until their normal markets return.
  • Thirty-eight agriculture groups and businesses including the American Farm Bureau Federation sent a letter to congressional leaders requesting changes to the Paycheck Protection Program. Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting sectors received only 1.3% of the original $349 billion in approved funding.
  • The deadline to submit entries for the Golden ARC Awards is May 4. Put together your best work from 2019 and enter today! If you have any questions, please contact Sandra O’Rourke at sandraorourke@gandgcomm.com.
  • Calyxt, Inc. has launched a retail offering of Calyno® cooking oil, the company’s first commercial product, a premium, high-performing oil, through the company’s newly launched e-commerce website calyno.com.
  • Save the date for two special events honoring 100 years of the American Soybean Association. A celebration on the Indiana farm where it all began will take place on August 4, 2020, at Fouts Farm in Camden, Ind. Or, attend the Next Soy Century Symposium on August 5, 2020, at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.
Zimfo Bytes

Farmobile Unveils Crowd-Sourced Index

Cindy Zimmerman

Farmobile LLC is announcing the launch today of the Farmobile Index – “a crop progress and benchmarking tool that leverages crowd-sourced data to deliver planting and harvest insights to farmer-customers.”

The Farmobile Index provides users with a daily view into aggregate, state-level crop results, ahead of USDA-NASS reported survey estimates. This allows farmer-customers to glean crop progress insights which the rest of the marketplace may not realize for up to a week.

The Index provides farmers with state-level, aggregated totals of planted and harvested acres (plus yield) while contributing their anonymized, ground-truthed data to enrich the accuracy of the data set. Users can create customized views by selecting state(s) and date ranges, and compare what is happening in-field to USDA/NASS reported estimates.

“We created the Farmobile Index exclusively for our farmer-users to bridge the gap in data reporting that currently exists in ag, and ultimately help reduce market volatility,” said Jason Tatge, CEO of Farmobile. And, 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. Only Farmobile customers, who agree to the Equipment Lease and Data Upload Agreement, are able to access the data, and they can call us to opt-out their data from the Index.

Learn more from Farmobile.

AgWired Precision, data, Farming, Precision Agriculture

ZimmCast 643 – COVID-19 Impacts on Ag Communications

Chuck Zimmerman

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast.

This week’s program is part one of at least two that feature conversations with the leadership of agricultural media and marketing associations. This week I’m sharing conversations with Jenny Pickett of the National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA), Tom Brand with the National Association of Farm Broadcasting, and Hugh Maynard of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists/Canadian Farm Writers.

Each of these organizations has had to cancel or postpone important annual events and the staff has had to deal with that as well as looking at alternative communications methods and what plans look like going forward.

How has your company or organization has been affected and what are you learning during this trying time?

Listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast 643 - COVID-19 Impacts on Ag Communications

Subscribe to the ZimmCast in:

Audio, IFAJ, NAFB, NAMA, ZimmCast

Preview of the Alltech ONE Virtual Experience

Cindy Zimmerman

Alltech has always been ahead of the curve as an animal health company and they are leading the way when it comes to response to COVID-19. The global company was the first to make changes in a conference by announcing on March 9 that its annual ONE: The Alltech Ideas Conference (ONE) would go on as a virtual event.

The annual event was scheduled for May 17–19 in Lexington, Kentucky, and typically assembles more than 3,500 attendees from 70 countries. The Alltech ONE Virtual Experience will begin on May 18 with livestreamed keynote presentations and on-demand video content from some of the world’s leading industry experts will launch on the event website.

“Our first priority remains the health and safety of attendees, our colleagues and the communities in which we live and work,” said Dr. Mark Lyons, president and CEO of Alltech. “With that in mind, we decided to host this year’s international conference on a virtual platform, allowing registrants from around the world to engage in industry-leading content in a way that is accessible for everyone.”

Alltech has also created a special discussion series, Forging the Future of the Farm & Food Chain.

Learn more about both in this interview with Dr. Lyons.

Interview with Alltech CEO Dr. Mark Lyons (16:30)

Learn more about Alltech ONE and register here.

AgWired Animal, Alltech, Animal Agriculture, Animal Health, Audio

Precision Ag News 4/29

Carrie Muehling

  • The Soil Health Institute announced its 5th Annual Meeting will go virtual. As previously announced, the annual meeting will be July 30-31. An agenda and more information on how to register will be available in early May.
  • Golden Harvest is expanding its product portfolio for the 2021 growing season with the release of 12 new corn hybrids and 22 new soybean varieties.
  • The National Association of Conservation Districts applauded the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) for announcing nine conservation district-led projects as part of this year’s Regional Conservation Partnership Program awards. To learn more about this year’s RCPP projects, visit NRCS’s storymap webpage.
  • NRCS also announced a $15 million investment through the Conservation Innovation Grants program to help support the adoption of innovative conservation approaches on agricultural lands.
  • Radicle Growth, an acceleration fund, and Syngenta, a leading agriculture company helping to improve global food security, today announced the launch of The Radicle Protein Challenge by Syngenta. Together, Radicle and Syngenta will identify two companies with novel solutions to support the future of protein (which could include new or experimental protein sources, or protein conversion technologies) that are solving challenges spanning from plant-based ag to the regenerative side of agriculture, to invest $1.25m in. For more information on The Radicle Protein Challenge by Syngenta, visit radicle.vc/the-radicle-challenge/.
  • The current COVID-19 pandemic is continuing to wreak havoc on our industry’s business operations, as well as our families and communities, but we’re heartened by the glimmers of good news now being reported. We are proceeding as planned to hold a safe, productive, and successful 2020 event, and registration remains open. We encourage you to check InfoAg.org often and sign up to receive updates.
AgWired Precision, Precision Ag Bytes, Precision Agriculture

Koch Agronomic Services Offers New Educational Tools

Cindy Zimmerman

Koch Agronomic Services (Koch) is breaking down the science and technology behind nitrogen loss and soil health. Field Notes, an online educational platform from Koch, will help arm growers and retailers with the knowledge to increase their operational efficiencies.

Throughout the year, Koch will release new Field Notes content from crop science and industry experts in the form of videos, articles and podcasts to be released onto KASFieldNotes.com.

“We wanted to offer growers and retailers a series of in-depth tools that could help explain the complexities of agronomic processes,” says Steve Coulter, senior vice president at Koch. “In the situation we’re currently facing with COVID-19, most people aren’t able to have their usual face-to-face meetings. We believe Field Notes will be extremely valuable in assisting producers determine what’s best for their operations.”

The third episode of the Field Notes podcast series from Koch Agronomic Services was just posted yesterday featuring Retailer Perspectives on Nitrogen Loss. The series has already featured episodes on Understanding Nitrogen, and spring weather’s impact on nitrogen and input issues growers could face.

Agronomy, Koch Agronomic Services, Nutrient Management, Podcasts

Trump Orders Meat Packing Plants to Stay Open

Cindy Zimmerman

President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order Tuesday to keep meat and poultry processing facilities open during the COVID-19 national emergency.

During a Tuesday press availability, President Trump said the order “will solve any liability problems” for the plants. “We’re working with Tyson… and we always work with the farmers. There’s plenty of supply.”

President comments on packing plant order :30

Under the Executive Order and the authority of the Defense Production Act, USDA will work with meat processing to affirm they will operate in accordance with the CDC and OSHA guidance, and then work with state and local officials to ensure that these plants are allowed to operate to produce the meat protein that Americans need.

“I thank President Trump for signing this executive order and recognizing the importance of keeping our food supply chain safe, secure, and plentiful. Our nation’s meat and poultry processing facilities play an integral role in the continuity of our food supply chain,” said Secretary Perdue. “Maintaining the health and safety of these heroic employees in order to ensure that these critical facilities can continue operating is paramount.”

National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) CEO Colin Woodall says the action taken by President Trump will help keep the beef supply chain intact, ensure beef remains available to consumers and ultimately provide the food that American consumers will need to reopen the nation.

Audio, Beef, Livestock, Meat, NCBA

Field Notes from Koch Agronomic Services – Episode 3

Chuck Zimmerman

Welcome to Episode 3 of the Field Notes podcast series from Koch Agronomic Services, where we break down the science and technology behind agronomy to help growers do more with less. Crop science experts and others in the agriculture industry will discuss topics ranging from nitrogen loss and soil health to ways growers can increase operational efficiencies.

Retailer Perspectives on Nitrogen Loss

In this podcast, Corey Cables, key account manager for Koch, and Troy Walker, agronomy field sales manager for MKC, discuss nitrogen loss from the perspective of the retailer. Field Notes from Koch Agronomic ServicesHow are they working with growers to develop nitrogen management plans to help them get the highest yields? And in this unprecedented time when face-to-face meetings aren’t possible, they also share what user-friendly tools they’re using to communicate with growers.

You can listen to the program here: Retailer Perspective on Nitrogen Loss

And to make sure you don’t miss an episode, choose an option to subscribe

For Spotify on your computer download the desktop app.

Agribusiness, Audio, Farming, Koch Agronomic Services, Nutrient Management, Podcasts, Soil

NAMA #COVID19 Feedback Survey Results

Chuck Zimmerman

The National Agri-Marketing Association just completed a simple survey of members with questions about their plans/intentions for the coming quarters of the year as well as the rest of the year as a whole. I thought they had great participation with 212 respondents.

Here are a couple of the questions with tidbits from the results. You can see the full document online here.

For the remainder of 2020, how would you characterize marketing budgets for your brands, or your clients’ brands?
80 percent said that budgets are being reduced, shifted to other tactics or both and 20 percent said neither being reduced or shifting to other tactics.

In 2020, what level of planned market budget for new product / offer launches will now be allocated?
65 percent said slightly reduced, significantly reduced, launches cancelled, N/A – no planned launches in 2020 and 36 percent said staying the same, slight increase/

Feel free to add your thoughts or comments on this.

BTW. Here’s information on NAMA’s next webinar.

April 30, A Marketer’s Guide to Podcasting, Stephanie Lynch & Seth Hurd, Brighton

According to Edison research, more than 62 million Americans listen to podcasts at least weekly – a 17% jump from last year – the largest spike since the advent of podcasts in 2013. Along with a steady increase in listenership, there are now more than 800,000 podcast titles to choose from and growing. How can marketers get in the game and utilize podcasts to their best abilities? Join the Brighton Agency team to discuss this unique format and its special storytelling properties. Gain insight on when to launch a brand-owned podcast and why consumers want and need to hear from brands.

Advertising, Ag Groups, Agencies, Agribusiness, Marketing, Media, NAMA, Podcasts, Public Relations

BASF Welcomes 15th Class of Top Cotton Growers

Cindy Zimmerman

BASF recently celebrated 92 cotton growers who achieved four-bale or greater yields by welcoming them to the exclusive FiberMax®One Ton Club™ for their 2019 harvest results. There are 14 first-time members in the group of winners for 2019, bringing total membership to 1,206 cotton growers.

Special awards were presented for:

Most Varieties: Apple Creek Farms of Garden City, Texas, earned the most varieties planted using FM 2334GLT, FM 2398GLTP, FM 2498GLT and FM 2574GLT.
Most Acres: Kitten Land Company of Lubbock, Texas, harvested an average yield of 2,164 pounds per acre on 475 acres with FM 1830GLT and FM 2498GLT.
Highest Loan Value: Micah and Magen Carter of Wellington, Texas, garnered $0.5722 on their qualifying acres with FM 1830GLT.
Highest Yield: Gary Shiflett Farms of Deming, New Mexico, harvested an average yield of 2,796.82 pounds per acre with FM 2498GLT.
Highest Gross Value: Gary Shiflett Farms earned $1,589.71 per acre on their qualifying acres with FM 1830GLT.

Each year, One Ton Club members are entered into a drawing for a two-year lease on a Ford Super Duty F-350 King Ranch® pickup truck. This year’s winner was Blake Fennell of Earth, Texas. Fennell qualified for the One Ton Club with FM 1911GLT.

“It’s been a tough year for cotton growers, but these growers took on the challenge and still accomplished excellent results,” said Rachel Walters, Cottonseed Marketing Manager, BASF. “We’re proud to offer growers advanced genetics that deliver premium fiber quality, high yield potential and up to $159* more per acre than the competition, giving them the economic advantage they need in today’s tight markets and tough growing conditions. We appreciate the opportunity to celebrate their remarkable milestones with the FiberMax One Ton Club.”

BASF, Cotton