Zimfo Bytes 4/5

Carrie Muehling

  • Ag Resource Management announces the hire of Leroy Startz as Director of Market Channel Development.
  • The Georgia Peanut Commission board of directors has approved $653,901 in research project funding for the 2019-20 research budget year.
  • The farm and ranch families of Farm Bureau donated 32.4 million pounds of food and raised more than $362,000 to assist hungry Americans in 2018 as part of the organization’s “Harvest for All” program. Combined, the monetary and food donations totaled the equivalent of 28.2 million meals.
  • The American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture has launched a mobile app for four of its My American Farm games. Available mobile games and corresponding STEM components that meet national standards are: Keys to Stewardship (science); The Great Seed Search (technology); Thrive (engineering); and Operation Peanut Butter (math). Download the free My American Farm STEM app from the App Store or Google Play. To take advantage of the free My American Farm resources, games and activities, visit http://myamericanfarm.org. Links to all of My American Farm’s classroom resources are available at www.myamericanfarm.org/classroom.
  • The Director-General of the World Trade Organization will open the April 30 Farm Foundation trade conference, Agricultural Trade in a Time of Uncertainty. Director-General Roberto Azevêdo will address conference attendees via video at 8:30 a.m. at the DoubleTree Hotel Crystal City, Arlington, VA.
  • The 2019 Illinois Cooperative Council Youth Conference will be held June 6-7 on the campus of Western Illinois University in Macomb. High school sophomores, juniors, and seniors are provided a unique opportunity to learn about the cooperative business model. A registration form is available at http://illinois.coop/youth-conference/2019-registration/ and students should register by April 30.
  • National 4-H Council announced the election of two new Trustees to its Board, Lisa Safarian, Bayer and Kaye Reitzenstein, Nutrien Ag Solutions. .
Zimfo Bytes

2019 TCGA Trade Show Underway

Chuck Zimmerman

The 2019 Texas Cotton Ginners’ Association & Annual Meeting & Cotton Trade Show is underway in Lubbock, TX. The ribbon was cut this morning and a large crowd is anticipated for the 112th annual event. That is, except for the Texas Tech cotton grower fans who are in or on the way to Minneapolis for the Final Four of men’s basketball.

Cutting the ribbon today was Larry Black, President, TCGA and Manager at Central Rolling Plains Co-op. Since this is my first time at the show, courtesy of BASF, I visited with him to learn more about the show and who participates. Larry also talks about last year’s crop and the challenges it presented to the industry. He says that even with the heavy rains at the end of the season there is a lot of optimism for this season since those rains provide good ground moisture to get things started.

You can learn more in my interview with Larry: Interview with Larry Black

Here are some photos for your viewing/sharing pleasure: 2019 TCGA Trade Show Photo Album

Audio, BASF, Cotton

Sen. Grassley Honored for Lifetime Achievement in Bioenergy

Cindy Zimmerman

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) was honored at the Advanced Bioeconomy Leadership Conference (ABLC) in Washington DC this week with the Holmberg Award for Lifetime Achievement in Bioenergy. Accepting the award, Grassley said he was honored, but noted that his “work’s not done yet.”

The Iowa senator, who has been a champion of renewable energy for decades, gave a fiery address to the conference culminating in a challenge to the fossil fuel industry to support the “all of the above” energy strategy. “If there’s anybody here, particularly from the oil industry, that disagrees with me, I’d like to remind you that I have supported your industry – all of the above!” ABLC2019 address by Sen. Chuck Grassley

The ABLC program started Thursday morning with a bioeconomy policy forum featuring many of those “all of the above” choices for transportation fuel, including advanced biofuels, ethanol, biodiesel and renewable natural gas (RNG).

The ABLC is actually six conferences in one place, including the 10th Annual Advanced Biofuels Summit. The Digest editor Jim Lane moderated the panel discussion which featured Mike McAdams, Advanced Biofuels Association; Geoff Cooper, Renewable Fuels Association; Emily Skor, Growth Energy; Kurt Kovarik, National Biodiesel Board, Brooke Coleman, Advanced Biofuels Business Council; and Anne Steckel, Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas.
ABLC2019 Bioeconomy Policy Forum

Biodiesel, Biofuels, Energy, Ethanol

Study Finds Lamb Checkoff Has Positive ROI

Cindy Zimmerman

U.S. lamb producers have received a positive return on investment from the American Lamb Checkoff Program since it started in 2002, according to a new Texas A&M University report.

The study prepared by agricultural economists Gary Williams, Ph.D., and Dan Hanselka concluded that the American Lamb Checkoff Program added 2.4% to 2.7% of the annual value of retail lamb. The study measures 2002 to 2018, the time period during which the American Lamb Board (ALB) has been conducting programs. This new study has similar results compared to five years ago, when the last study was released.

Another measure of checkoff program contribution to the industry is the cost-to-benefit ratio. The Texas A&M study reported that the average return to industry stakeholders for every $1 invested into the American Lamb Checkoff Program is approximately $14.20.

“These results are a win for every member of the American lamb industry,” says ALB Chairman Dale Thorne, a Michigan lamb producer and feeder. “The purpose of our checkoff is to increase demand for American Lamb and enhance opportunities for all segments to profit. This extensive analysis tells us that we remain on the right track with our promotion programs.”

The American Lamb Checkoff Program’s promotion program is about $1.5 million a year, with another $0.5 million invested in education and research programs. Administration costs must be less than 10 percent of yearly collections.

AgWired Animal, Lamb, Meat

Censky Addresses Ethanol Group

Cindy Zimmerman

USDA Deputy Secretary Steve Censky addressed members of the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) meeting in Washington DC this week, just a day after the agency released a new study showing the significant greenhouse gas benefits of corn-based ethanol compared to gasoline.

Censky talked about that study, as well as many other topics of interest to the farmers and ethanol industry representatives who spent a day on Capitol Hill Tuesday talking with lawmakers about their concerns. Among those issues – E15, small refinery waivers, and trade.

ACE19DC USDA Deputy Secretary Steve Censky address

ACE19DC USDA Deputy Censky Q and A
2019 ACE Fly-in Photo Album

ACE, Audio, Ethanol, USDA

ZimmCast 613 – Agri-Marketing Conference Preview

Chuck Zimmerman

In this week’s program I visit with Susan Hunyor, DTN/The Progressive Farmer, who is the Chair of the Agri-Marketing Conference Committee. This is the annual conference of the National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA). Susan walks us through a preview of the program for this year’s conference. 

ZimmComm is celebrating 15 years and will be having fun in the Connection Point, Booth 312. The Golden ZimmComm Microphones will be set up to conduct interviews with attendees. It’s an opportunity to tell us about your company or organization and we’ll publish them into the virtual ag newsroom for the conference on AgNewsWire.com.

When you visit us you can enter to win a flex Portable, Universal Keyboard & Detachable Stand. We have donated a special Beats Pill+ to the NAMA Foundation Silent Auction too. The winning bidder will be able to select colors for the bluetooth speaker and we’ll order it to be delivered direct to them.

It’s going to be a great conference and we hope to see you there.

Thank you for listening.

Listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast - Agri-Marketing Conference Preview

Audio, NAMA, ZimmCast

Precision Ag Bytes 4/3

Carrie Muehling

  • New Ag International will take two conferences to Brazil in August 2019. InfoAg International Conference & Exhibition, a three-day event jointly organized with the International Plant Nutrition Institute, will run in Campinas, São Paulo State, Brazil from 26-28 August 2019.
  • Kynetec, the global leader in agricultural and animal health market research, announced that it has completed the acquisition of Neil Clark & Associates, one of Australia’s most established providers of agribusiness data and business intelligence.
  • The Iowa AgriTech Accelerator hosted its second annual AgTech Day on Tuesday, March 26. Nine early-stage AgTech startups from across the country gathered in West Des Moines, Iowa, where they showcased their innovations to The Accelerator’s community of mentors and supporters.
  • Solinftec, a leading international digital ag company, was presented with a 2019 AgFunder Innovation Award in the category of Most Innovative International Startup Series A and Beyond.
  • Nominations for the 2019 Borlaug Field Award are open. This award honors a young scientist or extension worker who has shown Borlaug-like determination, dedication and intellectual innovation in the fight to eliminate global hunger, malnutrition and poverty. This prestigious award offers a USD $10,000 prize endowed by the Rockefeller Foundation. To learn more about awardee qualifications, visit www.worldfoodprize.org/nominate.
  • TerrAvion announces the promotion of Lee Smith to Chief Commercial Officer. In this role, Lee will be responsible for all commercial activities at TerrAvion, the world’s largest volume agricultural aerial imagery provider.
  • Having succeeded in protecting funding for the Conservation Title in the 2018 Farm Bill, more than 140 leading farm, conservation, and wildlife groups are once again joining together to protect those hard-fought conservation funds and programs in the fiscal year (FY) 2020 appropriations process. The groups called upon appropriators to respect the funding decisions made in the 2018 Farm Bill and reject any cuts to farm bill conservation funding through the appropriations process.
AgWired Precision, Precision Ag Bytes

Bayer Feed A Bee Milestone

Chuck Zimmerman

The Bayer national pollinator forage initiative, Feed a Bee, has announced it has reached its goal of awarding grants supporting diverse forage for honey bees and other pollinators in all 50 states. The 50th recipient awarded recently was Gateway to the Arctic Camp in Talkeetna, Alaska. I talked with Dr. Becky Langer, Bayer, about the milestone and success of this program.

Dedicated to service and agriculture, the nonprofit camp teaches the significance of serving those in need and the value of hard work through fun activities involving sustainability, farming and environmental stewardship. This summer it will dedicate an entire field as forage for bees and other pollinators where campers of all abilities, including those with special needs, will discover the connection between honey bees and the crops they pollinate.

“We’re proud to have awarded more than $650,000 for pollinator-focused planting projects over the last three years,” said Dr. Becky Langer, project manager, Bayer North American Bee Care Program. “We’re now connected to nearly 170 organizations all over the country who are thinking critically about how to diversify forage for pollinators, have put that plan to action and, equally important, have integrated educational components encouraging their local community to get involved.”

Listen to my interview with Becky here: Interview with Dr. Becky Langer, Bayer

AgWired Precision, Audio, Bayer, Bees

Farmers Expected to Plant More Corn, Record Low Wheat

Cindy Zimmerman

More corn, but less soybeans, wheat and cotton is USDA’s forecast for Prospective Plantings this season.

The report released on Friday puts corn planted acres for this year at 92.8 million acres, up 4 percent or 3.66 million acres from last year. Soybean planted area for 2019 is estimated at 84.6 million acres, down 5 percent from last year. All wheat acreage is estimated to be four percent lower than 2018 and all cotton acreage is down two percent.

All wheat planted area for 2019 is estimated at 45.8 million acres, down 4 percent from 2018. This represents the lowest all wheat planted area on record since records began in 1919. The biggest hit comes in the Durum planted area for 2019 is estimated at 1.42 million acres, down 31 percent from the previous year. Both spring and winter wheat are down about three percent.

MGEX held a call for reporters about the report featuring commentary from Jack Scoville of The PRICE Futures Group. Listen here:
MGEX crop call 3-29-19

Audio, Corn, Cotton, Soybean, USDA, Wheat

Animal Ag Bites 4/1

Carrie Muehling

  • U.S. Poultry & Egg Association and the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council officially broke ground on an expansion to USPOULTRY’s existing offices in Tucker, Georgia. The expansion will create an additional 12,000 square feet of space owned by “The Coop Group, LLC” a partnership of USPOULTRY and USAPEEC.
  • The American Feed Industry Association released the results of its annual charitable giving survey. AFIA member company employees donated a collective 104,000 hours of their time to supporting community service projects in 2018 – a 13 percent increase over 2017. AFIA member companies, including company-employee matches, also donated over $56 million to an expansive list of community causes.
  • A long-awaited scrapie rule was published this week in the Federal Register. The rule incorporates into regulation APHIS’ long-standing policy to use genetic testing to identify genetically resistant or less susceptible sheep for exemption from destruction and as qualifying for interstate movement. The rule takes effect on April 24, 2019.
  • GENYOUth, an organization founded through the dairy checkoff to help create healthier schools, is providing Grab-n-Go breakfast carts to Fuel Up to Play 60 schools across the country that will serve more than 5 million pounds of milk annually.
  • From wet silage to dry hay to straw and stalks, the new Case IH RB565 Premium HD round baler provides producers the flexibility to bale a full range of crops. The RB565 Premium HD round baler is equipped with components to efficiently handle wet hay making in an all-purpose, multicrop baler. This new baler expands the RB5 series lineup, taking high-efficiency hay production to the next level.
  • According to a survey by the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, Major League Baseball fans this season are expected to consume about 18.3 million hot dogs and nearly four million sausages.
  • R-CALF USA has sent a formal request to U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr urging him to block the proposed acquisition of Iowa beef packer Iowa Premium by National Beef Packing Company, which is now majority owned by Brazilian-based Marfrig Global Foods.
AgWired Animal, Animal Bites