Industry Ag News 4/24

Carrie Muehling

  • Register now to virtually attend Farm Journal’s Farm Country Update on Thursday, April 30 at 3:00 pm CDT. Why are producers dumping milk and breaking eggs? We’ll talk directly with producers about the challenges they face in getting products from the farm to the hands of consumers.
  • The House of Representatives passed H.R. 266, the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act, legislation to provide additional COVID-19 response funds for hospitals and small businesses. House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member K. Michael Conaway (TX-11) released a statement after voting in favor of this legislation.
  • Farm Foundation and the USDA’s Economic Research Service have issued a call for papers highlighting empirical data and models that bring cutting-edge thinking on one or more themes related to beginning farmers and ranchers. The Beginning Farmers and Ranchers project is a joint effort of the organizations to examine issues that either hinder or facilitate the entry of beginning farmers into the agricultural sector, as well as the factors that lead to their success or failure. Farm Foundation encourages researchers, farmers and other thought leaders from private industry, government, and non-profits to submit paper proposals.
  • It’s planting season, and USDA is closely following spring planting across the country. Follow the #plant2020 campaign, or even better, send photos of how planting is going on your farm by emailing sharingoursuccesses@usda.gov. Learn more about the #plant2020 campaign by visiting farmers.gov/plant2020.
  • Stress levels are high among America’s soybean farmers, so much so that the terms “stress,” “anxiety,” and “concerns over mental health” were used dozens of times in an informal survey released this week by the American Soybean Association.
  • U.S. Department of Agriculture Deputy Under Secretary Bette Brand announced that USDA has received 172 applications requesting $1.57 billion in the second round of the ReConnect Pilot Program. The applications seek funding to provide or upgrade rural broadband services across 41 states.
  • Agricultural Retailers Association President and CEO Daren Coppock released a statement after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Army published the Navigable Waters Protection Rule to define “Waters of the United States” in the Federal Register.
  • In an effort to keep essential agriculture employees and customers safe and healthy during this pandemic, GROWMARK/FS is teaming up with the Illinois Corn Marketing Board and Illinois Soybean Association Checkoff Program to help distribute free hand sanitizer to ag retailers.
  • American Agri-Women presented the LEAVEN Award to Jean Goslin of Kansas Agri-Women and Pam Townsend of Maine Agri-Women. The award is presented to those persons who, to an outstanding degree, have acted as “leaven”, a truly feminine concept since “lady” means giver of bread.
  • Register today for a virtual Farm Foundation Forum, April 28 at 9 a.m. CDT, about the challenges facing agriculture due to the COVID-19 pandemic–but also the possible silver linings.
Zimfo Bytes

Southern States Coop Partners with Heliae® Agriculture

Cindy Zimmerman

Southern States Cooperative is partnering with Heliae® Agriculture to bring regenerative agriculture practices that improve yields while enhancing soil health to their farmer owners.

The selective distribution agreement announced today is a model for the future adoption of a ground-breaking approach developed by Heliae – to provide nutrients to growing crops through accelerated microbial growth while improving the health and structure of soils. After years in development, Heliae is carefully selecting a limited number of partners like Southern States Cooperative to introduce its soil microbe food to growers.

Southern States Cooperative is one of the largest farm supply retail and service cooperatives in the country, providing agronomic assistance to growers in Kentucky, North and South Carolina, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, and bordering states. Heliae® Agriculture is focused on developing microalgae products and bringing them to the market. Its development of PhycoTerra® is considered groundbreaking because its application can simultaneously improve crop yields and soil health by feeding the soil microbes.

“The professional agronomists at Southern States Cooperative know the local crops and soil characteristics,” says Norm Davy, Chief Revenue Officer at Heliae® Agriculture. “In addition, their track record with precision agriculture makes them an excellent partner to lead the adoption of yield-enhancing, soil-building products like PhycoTerra®.”

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

Agronomy, AgWired Precision, Precision Agriculture, Soil

ZimmCast 642 – Conversation with Calyxt

Chuck Zimmerman

Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast.

How are y’all doing? We hope you’re well and safe. We also want to see an end to this stay at home situation.

Although the ZimmComm Team has not been traveling, we have been pretty busy. Podcast production, video editing, recording media calls, interviews via phone, sending news releases are part of our stock in trade and we’ve been busy with this work. I want to thank our clients for their support which is so much appreciated during a trying time like this for our country and this industry.

Calyxt LogoIn this week’s program we’re going to learn about Calyxt, a plant science company, doing some very interesting work with new technology. I spoke with Calyxt CEO, Jim Blome, about the work they are doing. He focuses on the future of food and how the types of technology being developed at the company is creating new products to give farmers more options to meet today’s consumer demands.

I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

Listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast 642 - Conversation with Calyxt

Subscribe to the ZimmCast in:

Agribusiness, Audio, Plant Breeding, ZimmCast

Precision Ag News 4/22

Carrie Muehling

  • In celebration of Earth Day, the Renewable Fuels Association and Renewable Fuels Nebraska announced that Trenton Agri Products (TAP) in Trenton, Nebraska will become the first demonstration site for a new ethanol industry initiative to expand pollinator habitat in key production regions. TAP will establish a 5-acre pollinator plot this spring near the entrance to their facility to increase awareness and encourage local farmers to expand pollinator habitat on private lands. The plot will remain in place for at least three years.
  • The American Soybean Association and other interested parties including the Agricultural Research Association have joined together as intervenors to block a challenge that would toss out the Environmental Protection Agency’s plans to reregister glyphosate. The group filed a joint motion to intervene April 20 in Rural Coalition et al. v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency et al and Natural Resources Defense Council et al. v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to support EPA’s decision.
  • NRCS announced that it is investing in 48 partner-driven conservation projects across 29 states through its Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). NRCS will award $206 million for these 48 RCPP projects while leveraging nearly $300 million in partner contributions.
  • Unit sales of agricultural tractors and self-propelled combines in March 2020 fell across the board in the U.S. and Canada according to the latest data from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers. U.S. total farm tractor sales decreased 15.6 percent in March compared to 2019 while U.S. March self-propelled combine sales fell 11.9 percent. That includes decreases in all segments, with combines and 40-100hp tractors (-15.2 percent) performing the best.
AgWired Precision, Precision Ag Bytes, Precision Agriculture

Farm Credit Update on COVID-19 Impact

Cindy Zimmerman

Farm Credit leaders participated in a media call Tuesday for an update on agricultural credit conditions, COVID-19’s impact on farmers, ranchers and rural communities, and how Farm Credit is helping during this challenging time – including via the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program.

Webinar participants:
Todd Van Hoose, President and CEO, Farm Credit Council
Pat Calhoun, President and CEO, AgSouth Farm Credit
Bill Johnson, President and CEO, Farm Credit Mid-America
Tracy Sparks, President and CEO, Yosemite Farm Credit

Farm Credit Update Call (01:04:06)

Audio, Farm Credit

BioAg World Congress Postponed

Cindy Zimmerman

BioAg World CongressOrganizers of the 2020 BioAg World Congress have changed the dates for the event in Sacramento, California from June to August 26-28 this year.

Global BioAg Linkages (GBAL) says the Congress will be held at the same location, the DoubleTree by Hilton, and will feature the same speakers and topics.

This congress is produced “by the BioAg industry and for the BioAg industry” and unites continents, allows face-to-face networking to grow distribution networks and offers the latest technological advances within BioAg.

In the over-crowded market of Bio-Ag events, based on some candid feedback and research, GBAL decided to bring a “one-stop annual BioAg event”, to bring all stakeholders together to address all the opportunities and challenges, see you soon.

GBAL will continue to monitor the situation with COVID-19 to determine if it will need to be moved again but they are planning to implement some new protocols to maintain social distancing.

Early bird registration ends July 13 if you would like to go ahead and make yours.

Agribusiness, Farm Shows

Farm Workers Not Included in Immigration Order

Cindy Zimmerman

President Donald Trump will be signing an Executive Order today prohibiting immigration into the United States for 60 days, but that order will not apply to seasonal farm workers.

“Farmers will not be affected by this at all,” the president said during the daily Coronavirus Task Force briefing on Tuesday. “If anything we’re going to make it easier.”

Pres Trump on farm workers immigration (:44)

Audio, Farming, labor

Analysis Shows $50 Per Acre Loss for Corn

Cindy Zimmerman

A new analysis from the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) is projecting a $50 per acre revenue decline for the 2019 corn crop as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The analysis showed cash corn prices since March 1 have declined by 16 percent on average, with several regions experiencing declines of more than 20 percent.

NCGA commissioned the economic analysis, conducted by Dr. Gary Schnitkey of the University of Illinois, as part of the organization’s efforts to better understand the economic impact of the global pandemic on the corn industry and work to create solutions to help corn farmers and their customers recover from the financial impacts of this crisis.

“Corn will be one of the most impacted crops as its two largest uses – livestock feed and ethanol – are under pressure. Impacts of reduced livestock demand are just beginning to come to bear in the market, as livestock processing plants are beginning to be disrupted,” wrote Schnitkey.

The analysis was based on cash corn prices as of mid-April and estimated losses would likely increase through the rest of the marketing year. Further analysis is already underway for the 2020 crop year, with losses anticipated to be higher than those in 2019.

Read the analysis: Impacts of Coronavirus on 2019 Corn Revenue

Corn, Ethanol, NCGA

Ethanol Industry Losses Mount

Cindy Zimmerman

As the COVID-19 pandemic and crude oil glut continue to ravage world fuel markets, U.S. ethanol sales in 2020 could fall by more than $10 billion and the industry’s contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) could drop by nearly one-third, according to a new analysis by the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA).

The economic losses stem from a “pernicious combination of steep production cuts and sharply lower prices” in response to COVID-19 stay-at-home orders and the resulting collapse in fuel consumption, according to the report.

RFA held a press conference Monday to discuss the new report, as well as other developments in the industry related to the COVID-19 response. Participating were:

Geoff Cooper, President and CEO, Renewable Fuels Association
Neil Koehler, Chairman, RFA; Co-Founder and CEO of Pacific Ethanol
Mike Jerke, CEO of Southwest Iowa Renewable Energy
Mick Henderson, General Manager, Commonwealth Agri-Energy
Scott Richman, Chief Economist, Renewable Fuels Association

RFA COVID-19 update (58:46)

Audio, Corn, Ethanol, RFA

AMVAC and Syngenta Team Up for Soybean Growers

Cindy Zimmerman

Syngenta Crop Protection and AMVAC, an American Vanguard® company have teamed up to promote the agronomic value of tank mixing Prefix® herbicide from Syngenta with FirstRate® herbicide from AMVAC for long-lasting and full-season weed control in soybeans.

The combination of Prefix and FirstRate herbicides provides unmatched flexibility and performance across all soybean trait platforms, including LibertyLink® GT27™, Enlist® and Roundup Ready 2 Xtend® soybeans. Together they provide unique flexibility and performance, resulting in better on-farm solutions for tough-to-control weeds.

Not only does Prefix plus FirstRate provide excellent crop safety with a flexible application window of preplant, preemergence and early postemergence, the combination delivers multiple modes of action to address tough-to-control weeds, such as waterhemp, Palmer amaranth, giant ragweed, common ragweed, morningglory, and marestail. Soybean growers should talk to their trusted retailer to further discuss the weed control benefits of Prefix and FirstRate herbicides.

AMVAC, Crop Protection, Soybean, Syngenta