Pivot Bio Names North American Distribution Head
Ag tech company Pivot Bio today named former Bayer Crop Science executive Jason Hoag as head of North American commercial distribution. The role includes development and management of channels and distribution networks, retail expansion and ongoing fostering of commercial partnerships. Hoag will be based in St. Louis and will report to Chris Turner, chief commercial officer for Pivot Bio.
Hoag most recently served as VP of North America Marketing Lead for retail distributed brands (DEKALB, Asgrow, Deltapine, Crop Protection) for Bayer Crop Science. Previously, he served as vice president regional business lead for the eastern Corn Belt region. He held additional marketing and brand roles at Monsanto and American Cyamamid.
Hoag received his Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural economics from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Grassley Sounds Off on Senate Farm Bill Proposal
During his weekly call with farm reporters Tuesday, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) gave his opinion on the last minute Farm Bill introduced Monday by Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow.
“The timing of this bill is disappointing and unrealistic,” said Grassley. “It’s a sad commentary that Senate Democrats kept farmers waiting two years before even releasing a bill text, while grain prices fell below the cost of production.”
Grassley says there clearly is not enough time to pass a bill before the end of the year. “After this week, we only have three weeks before Christmas. So I expect Congress to pass another short term extension.”
Asked why he thought Sen. Stabenow would make such a move when she is retiring from Congress at the end of the year, Grassley speculated, “One, I think to show that she is willing to show her hand so she can’t be condemned without having at least her ideas put into text. And the second thing may be laying down a gauntlet for Democrats to follow in the next new Congress.”
Grassley also gave his thoughts on who President-elect Trump should choose for Secretary of Agriculture. “Somebody with dirt under their fingernails, active farming. Nothing in regard to policy that I can think of, because I think those first two things I stated probably speaks for all I need to know about somebody that knows something about agriculture if they’re going to be Agriculture Secretary.”
Grassley press call 11-19 (11:11)ZimmCast 738 – Reaction to Elections
Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast.
In this episode I’m going to share some interviews from the NAFB Trade Talk about reactions from the recent presidential election.
I’m going to include Mary Kay Thatcher, Syngenta Sr. Manager, Federal Government and Industry Relations; Brian Jennings, ACE CEO; Geoff Cooper, RFA CEO and Ethan Lane, NCBA, VP of Government Affairs.
Adding to these interviews, Cindy recently interviewed Kip Tom, Indiana farmer and served as the Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture during President Trump’s previous term. You can listen to his reactions here.
That’s the ZimmCast for now. Please let me know if you have ideas for a future podcast. Just email me at chuck@zimmcomm.biz.
Listen to the episode here:
ZimmCast 738 - Reactions to Elections (21:28)
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Climate-Smart Soybeans Mark Milestone in U.S. Market
An Illinois-based processing facility successfully completed its first run of climate-smart soybeans this fall, marking a significant milestone in the
initiative to bring climate-smart commodities to market. These food-grade soybeans are now poised to enter the soy milk market as part of the Transforming the Farmer to Consumer Supply Chain project (Transform F2C) leads the effort, funded by a U.S. Department of Agriculture Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities grant.
The Scoular processor is the first of five processing facilities expected under the project and it is located at the company’s grain-cleaning facility in Andres, Illinois.
“The ability to trace and build markets for climate-smart commodities throughout the supply chain has proven to be a barrier to widespread adoption,” said Nick Goeser, co-founder of Carbon A List, which administers the Transform F2C grant. “We’re thrilled that this project is already having success in demonstrating that a traceable approach can work with climate-smart agriculture in the supply chain. And this is only the beginning,” Goeser said.
The Transform F2C project incentivizes producers to implement climate-smart practices, such as cover cropping, conservation crop rotation and reduced tillage practices. These practices reduce greenhouse gas emissions, promote carbon sequestration and improve soil health. The project expects to engage farmers implementing these practices across the Midwest and Great Plains regions, with a goal to exceed the 36,000-acre target set forth at the beginning of the effort.
Agri-Pulse Adds International Trade Editor
Agribusiness digital media company Agri-Pulse is pleased to announce the addition of Oliver Ward to the editorial team as international trade editor.
Ward joins Agri-Pulse from Inside U.S. Trade, a print and digital trade publication that is part of the Inside Washington Publishers news service. Prior to that, he was a digital content producer at the Peterson Institute for International Economics – a non-partisan economics think tank. Ward authored newsletters and economic explainers, built data visualizations, and was part of a small team that maintained a widely cited PIIE tracker for goods purchased under the U.S.-China phase one agreement.
Ward is a graduate of the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom where he received a bachelor’s degree in history and sociology. He has a master’s degree in journalism and digital storytelling from American University in Washington.
Ayrstone® Announces AyrMesh® HubDuo Meshing Feature
Ayrstone® has sold hundreds of its new AyrMesh HubDuo for better outdoor Wi-Fi across the United States and Canada since it was introduced in August and now they have announced an important new feature – Meshing Modes.
Meshing Modes allow HubDuo users to adjust the Hub for either the traditional AyrMesh long-range meshing, with Hubs at least half a mile apart, or a new close-in mesh. Using the “close” meshing option, AyrMesh HubDuo units can be placed as close as 100 feet apart up to half a mile apart. It does this by shifting the meshing signal between the 2.4 GHz. radio and the 5.8 GHz. radio.
The new AyrMesh HubDuo is an outdoor, high-power, meshing WiFi access point, like the existing AyrMesh Hubs, with one important difference: it is the first AyrMesh Hub to use dual-band technology. The new HubDuo is designed to deliver very high-speed outdoor WiFi to nearby devices, and standard high-speed WiFi at longer distances. Like the AyrMesh Hub2x2, using MIMO the AyrMesh HubDuo can provide broadband-class WiFi to hundreds or even thousands of acres of property.
Ayrstone Productivity Presdient Bill Moffitt explains, “With ‘normal mode,’ the HubDuos mesh with all the AyrMesh Hub products on 2.4 GHz. ‘Close mode’ allows them to just mesh with other AyrMesh HubDuos on 5.8 GHz., so the Hubs can be placed as close as a hundred feet apart,” said Moffitt. “Best of all, there’s a ‘hybrid mode’ that uses the 2.4 GHz. mesh to communicate with AyrMesh Hub2 units half a mile to 2 miles away while using the 5.8 Ghz. mesh to communicate with other AyrMesh HubDuo units that may be as close as a few hundred feet.”
This new feature is available immediately on all Ayrstone AyrMesh HubDuo units by selecting the appropriate mode in the “Network Settings” section of AyrMesh.com.
More information can be seen at https://ayrstone.com/www/introducing-the-new-ayrmesh-hubduo/, and the AyrMesh HubDuo is available now at the Ayrstone store – https://ayrstone.com.
Animal Ag News 11/19
Last Minute Senate Farm Bill Introduced
On Monday, with only weeks before the end of this session of Congress, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) at last released the text of her nearly 1400 page farm bill the Rural Prosperity and Food Security Act.
According to Sen. Stabenow, the bill includes funding from the IRA. “This bill will roll the historic investment we made in the Inflation Reduction Act into the farm bill baseline for the future,” she said on the Senate floor. “We take dollars for voluntary conservation programs that farmers are using, right now that funding is outside the farm bill baseline, we can make a tremendous move forward for farmers by moving it into the farm bill baseline while keeping the language regarding climate.”
Stabenow says her bill improves on crop insurance for farmers. “Importantly, I include a provision that will partially reimburse farmers crop insurance premiums,” she said. “Again, we can use the structure and policies of a farm bill rather than ad hoc assistance and just move up the payments, provide more assistance right now, and do it while we’re passing a five year farm bill.”
Also on Monday, the White House made a formal request to Congress for $21 billion in disaster aid for farmers who have lost crops and livestock due to natural disasters over the past two years, including the most recent hurricanes.
Sen. Stabenow farm bill (10:47)NCBA Pleased with Election Results, Hopeful for Farm Bill
The 2024 election turned out well for the nation’s cattle producers, according to National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Vice President of Government Affairs Ethan Lane.
“Whether it be a president that we’ve worked with before, whether it be the defeat of radical animal rights action around the country, a tremendous election cycle, and I think now eyes turn to what can be done with this in this new administration,” Lane said during an interview at the National Association of Farm Broadcasting convention last week. “There’s been discussion for months about how to tackle the tax package that’s expiring. The best case scenario was exactly what we’re looking at, which is, Republican control of the House, the Senate and the White House. So he I think is going to be very focused on getting that renewed, whether that’s the budget reconciliation process or elsewhere.”
During a panel at the convention, Lane agreed that the opportunity exists to get a farm bill through in the lame duck session. “You have this moment in time now where you’ve got a bill that passed out of the House Ag committee on a bipartisan basis,” he said. “So I think there are a lot of us that feel like maybe they could put the pieces together and get this cleared off the decks before we go into the 119th Congress.”
The last minute introduction Monday by Sen. Chairwoman Deb Stabenow of the Rural Prosperity and Food Security Act could make that more difficult.
NAFB24 Ethan Lane, NCBA (4:56)