Learning at Inaugural Florida Industrial Hemp Conference

Chuck Zimmerman

Florida Industrial Hemp Conference & ExpositionI’m starting out this week on the agriblogging highway attending the first Florida Industrial Hemp Conference & Exposition in Orlando. With an expectation of 200 attendees the actual number is about 450 according to conference coordinator, Gene Jones.

In the photo our keynote speaker is leading the program off today. She is Holly Bell, Director of Cannabis, Florida Department of Agricultural & Consumer Services. She gave us an overview of her department and said that there will be a “Fresh from Florida” program for hemp.

You can listen to my interview with Holly after her presentation here: Interview with Holly Bell, FDACS

In the meantime, please enjoy, use and share photos from my Florida Industrial Hemp Conference photo album.

AgWired is a conference supporter.

Ag Groups, Audio, Cannabis, hemp

New National FFA Officers are Elected

Cindy Zimmerman

The 2019-20 National FFA Officer team was announced Saturday at the conclusion of the 92nd National FFA Convention in Indianapolis. Each year at the National FFA Convention & Expo, six students are elected by delegates to represent the organization as national officers.

Kolesen McCoy, an agribusiness and applied economics major at Ohio State, was elected national president.
Kourtney Lehman, an agricultural business management major at Oregon State University, was elected national secretary.
Lyle Logemann, an agricultural education major at Eastern New Mexico University, was elected western region vice president.
Tess Seibel, a nursing major at James Madison University, was elected eastern region vice president.
Mamie Hertel, a financial engineering major at Montana State University, was elected central region vice president.
Yomar Roman, an office administration major at Universidad de Puerto Rico, was elected southern region vice president.

National officers commit to a year of service to the National FFA Organization. Each officer travels more than 100,000 national and international miles to interact with business and industry leaders; thousands of FFA members and teachers; corporate sponsors; government and education officials; state FFA leaders; the general public; and more.

FFA

Animal Ag Bites 11/4

Carrie Muehling

  • Support from dairy checkoff food scientists has helped McDonald’s USA produce a reduced-sugar, low-fat chocolate milk that will be unveiled nationwide in January. The new formulation has 25 percent less sugar than McDonald’s previous chocolate milk and is no longer a fat-free product. Dairy Management Inc., which manages the national dairy checkoff, has had a partnership with McDonald’s since 2009. DMI provided on-site support from food scientists and other resources and worked closely with the McDonald’s team to create the final product.
  • About 85 percent of U.S. beef today comes from Beef Quality Assurance (BQA)-certified farmers or ranchers. But do American consumers know that? Just as important, do they know what BQA is – and what it stands for? Those are the kinds of questions a new Beef Checkoff-funded campaign from the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, a Beef Checkoff contractor, is addressing. Its goal is to bridge the gap between what the industry is doing to produce high-quality beef in a humane, environmentally friendly way, and what consumers know about those efforts.
  • Four finalists have been announced for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s seventh annual National Anthem Singing Contest. The winner will receive a trip to the 2020 Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show Feb. 5-7 to perform the Star Spangled Banner at the event’s Opening General Session Feb. 5 as well as the Friday Night NCBA PBR Invitational Event Feb. 7. The videos of the top four finalists are available for voting on the convention website at https://convention.ncba.org.
AgWired Animal, Animal Bites

Suterra Announces New Navel Orangeworm Control

Chuck Zimmerman

SuterraHere’s some latest news from Suterra.

Suterra today announced the launch of CheckMate® Puffer® NOW Ace™, a new aerosol pheromone formulation for season-long Navel Orangeworm (NOW) control in almonds, pistachios, walnuts, figs and other crops where NOW is present.

“California tree nut growers are very concerned about the serious and increasing threat Navel Orangeworm poses, with damage costs soaring over a thousand dollars per acre in some areas” said Suterra Technical Manager Greg Montez. “This pest is well established in California’s Central Valley and it is spreading its range northward. Resistance of NOW to some insecticides has been documented, and the role Navel Orangeworm plays in aflatoxin contamination of the harvested crop means that its damage will impact many more growers in seasons to come.”

New for the 2020 growing season, CheckMate Puffer NOW Ace features twice the active ingredient per can as Suterra’s previous NOW Puffer formulation, enabling growers to deploy fewer units in the field, one unit per acre, and achieve the same control as the company’s prior mating disruption product.

See full release here.

Agribusiness, AgWired Precision, Citrus

Zimfo Bytes 11/1

Carrie Muehling

  • To increase diversity and reach a broader applicant pool that more accurately reflects rural America, National Corn Growers Association’s Engaging Members Committee created two new scholarship programs and increased the benefit of their long-standing William C. Berg Academic Excellence in Agriculture Scholarship Program. Applications must be submitted by Dec. 1, 2019.
  • Minnesota farmer and National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) Ethanol Action Team member Brian Thalmann called on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to follow the law and accurately account for expected refinery waivers in the 2020 RFS volume rule. Thalmann testified at an EPA hearing to review the agency’s supplemental proposal to the 2020 Renewable Volume Obligation (RVO) rulemaking.
  • The Agricultural Retailers Association welcomed Danielle Sikes to the organization in the role of Director of Public Policy.
  • Syngenta has been recognized as one of the world’s leading biotech employers – and the top agriculture employer – in the 2019 Science Careers Top Employers Survey.
  • Now through January 15, Syngenta invites eligible university students to apply to its annual Accelerating a Generation (AG) Syngenta Scholarship program. In a 2-5 minute video essay, entrants should share how their roots have influenced the way they view the future of the ag industry. Applications are due Jan. 7, 2020.
  • The International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) and Alltech have announced the call for nominations for the IFAJ-Alltech International Award for Leadership in Agricultural Journalism. The award will be presented during ONE: The Alltech Ideas Conference (ONE), held May 17–19, 2020, in Lexington, Kentucky, USA. Journalists aged 40 years or younger by Dec. 31, 2019, can be nominated through their IFAJ guilds via the online application form.
  • As part of ongoing efforts to support 4-H youth nationwide, Tractor Supply Company customers and team members raised $967,681 for the National 4-H Council during this year’s Fall Paper Clover campaign.
  • HELM Agro US, Inc., a global manufacturer of high-quality crop protection and fertilizer products, announced the hiring of Aaron Locker as Vice President of Sales for the organization’s U.S. business.
  • U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) signed a lease for permanent office space at 805 Pennsylvania Avenue, Kansas City, Missouri to serve as the new home for USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) and National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA).
Zimfo Bytes

Biofuels Groups Express Concerns at EPA Hearing

Cindy Zimmerman

Representatives from multiple ethanol and biodiesel stakeholder organizations and companies delivered basically the same message to the Environmental Protection Agency during a hearing Wednesday on the proposal to make up for volumes lost under the Renewable Fuel Standard due to small refinery waivers – nice try, but you still need to follow the law.

Here is what some had to say:

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig testified to the sense of betrayal experienced by the industry when the proposal was announced:
“On Oct. 4, we celebrated when the EPA announced that it would reallocate waived gallons based on a three-year rolling average of actual exemptions. This would ensure the future RFS levels would be met, and I was proud to support this deal,” said Naig. “A week later, we were astonished to learn that the EPA had rebuffed President Trump’s commitment to Iowa’s leaders and proposed a rule which offered no accountability or transparency, and fell short of the 15 billion gallon commitment. The proposed rule is eroding the public’s trust and creating even more uncertainty in the market.”

EPA Hearing Naig Testimony

Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Geoff Cooper – “This proposal fails to reflect the letter and spirit of the president’s commitment to restore integrity to the RFS, fails to assure that the statutorily-required 15-billion-gallon level for conventional biofuels will be met, and fails to restore stability in the marketplace by definitively ending the practice of allowing small refinery exemptions from eroding RFS biofuel demand.”

EPA Hearing RFA Testimony

American Coalition for Ethanol CEO Brian Jennings – “While this proposal is not going to make renewable fuel producers whole for EPA’s prior abuse of SREs, we urge the Agency to take a small step in the right direction by issuing a final rule which reallocates the actual average volume waived from 2016 through 2018 and ensures at least 15 billion gallons for the 2020 compliance year.”

EPA Hearing ACE Testimony

National Biodiesel Board Director of Regulatory Affairs Kate Shenk – “EPA should change how it accounts for small refinery exemptions in the final rule in order to ensure that the renewable volume obligations are achieved. EPA could do so by taking further steps to limit the number of exemptions it grants in the future. Or, it could base its estimate for the number of small refinery exemptions in 2020 on the number of exemptions it has actually granted in recent years.”

EPA Hearing NBB Testimony

Audio, Biodiesel, Biofuels, EPA, Ethanol

USDA Deputy Secretary on Trade Mission in West Africa

Cindy Zimmerman

U.S. Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Steve Censky is on a trade mission to West Africa this week to help United States exporters unlock new opportunities in a region where strong economic growth is driving demand for imported food and farm products. He is joined by representatives of more than 40 companies and organizations seeking to increase exports of U.S. agricultural commodities.

“At USDA we are working to sell the bounty of American agriculture. West Africa is a bright spot with a growing middle class that are hungry for our delicious and wholesome agriculture products,” said Deputy Secretary Censky. “Through this trade mission and other efforts, USDA is proud to support President Trump’s Prosper Africa initiative, which is seeking to boost two-way trade and investment between the United States and Africa. Prosper Africa brings together the full range of U.S. government resources to connect U.S. and African businesses with new buyers, suppliers, and investment opportunities – a win for the United States and for countries across the African continent.”

Deputy Censky held a telephone press briefing from Accra, Ghana on Wednesday to talk about the opportunities in West Africa for U.S. agricultural producers.

USDA Deputy Censky from West Africa (18:24)

Audio, Exports, Trade, USDA

ASTA Events App Now Live

Chuck Zimmerman

ASTA Events AppThe all-new, year-round mobile app for ASTA event information is now live and available.

Replacing our former app, this new mobile experience includes a new, often-requested feature: one-to-one messaging and appointment setting with other attendees!

To download the new app, search ASTA Events in your app store. Special thanks to our app sponsor, Corteva Agriscience! Like this sponsorship? Hurry to secure your company’s own promotion – ASTA sponsorship opportunities for the CSS & Seed Expo 2019 close November 15!

NOTE: The app requires registrant login to access certain areas, including attendee list areas. When logging in, use the login you created when registering for ASTA’s CSS & Seed Expo 2019. If necessary, a “forgot password” will offer login assistance for any conference registrant. You must be a conference registrant in order to access these special features.

Find it in iTunes
Find it in Google Play

Ag Groups, Apps, ASTA

New PED Talks Video Series Digs into Soil Health

Chuck Zimmerman

Soil is for Life PED TalksYou’ve heard of TED Talks. How about PED Talks? Here’s a new series of PED Talks on soil health.

Soil peds are aggregated particles of sand, silt, clay and organic matter. Like their namesake, PED Talks combine soil-related topics including explanations of soil health, how we can improve it, and the progress that’s being made to ensure we have the healthy soils necessary to feed, clothe and fuel the world in the future.

The PED Talks series was created by the Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC), Soil Health Institute (SHI), Soil Health Partnership (SHP), Soil Science Society of America (SSSA), Soil and Water Conservation Society (SWCS) and U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

The inaugural PED Talks include a video introduction from NRCS Chief Matt Lohr and the following presentations:

  • Shannon Cappellazzi of SHI on “Soil Health Diagnosed as You’ve Never Heard Before”
  • Alex Fiock of SHP on “Focusing on Soil Health from the Ground Up”
  • Barry Fisher of the NRCS Soil Health Division and Betsy Bower of Ceres Solutions Cooperative presenting “Partnering to Enhance Soil Health”
  • Jane Hardisty, former NRCS Indiana State Conservationist on “You Are Changing the World!”


Ag Groups, Soil, Soil Health Partnership, Video

Precision Ag Bytes 10/30

Carrie Muehling

  • Taranis announced its partnership with precision imaging company Stratus Imaging to bring specialized imagery services to farmers in Australia and strengthen its foothold in the region.
  • John Fisher has joined BioLiNE® Corporation as the company’s new Director of Product Innovation & Market Development.
  • NRCS is seeking public comments on 13 conservation practice standards. Per direction from the 2018 Farm Bill, NRCS will gather feedback on 94 practices over the coming months through posting on the Federal Register. Comments on these current 13 practice standards are due by Thursday, November 21.
  • Indigo Agriculture, a company dedicated to harnessing nature to help farmers sustainably feed the planet, announces the launch of Indigo Acres, a comprehensive new offer for U.S. growers transitioning to regenerative farming practices.
AgWired Precision, Precision Ag Bytes