GROWMARK FS Expands Reach into Northern New York

Cindy Zimmerman

GROWMARK FS has just acquired Miller Spraying in Lowville, NY, expanding its footprint in the northern regions of New York.

Aaron Miller, who launched Miller Spraying in 2001, will continue in a consultation role and his team will stay on as GROWMARK FS employees.

“As GROWMARK FS explored the opportunity of expanding its reach into the North Country and beyond, we became excited to continue the customer focus that Aaron and his team have fostered,” said GROWMARK FS Atlantic Region Manager John A. Richman. “The customer focused and team-oriented nature of Miller Spraying fits perfectly with that of GROWMARK FS.”

GROWMARK FS is reaching out to customers of Miller Spraying, and looking forward to providing expanded solutions for current and future customers in New York’s North Country.

GROWMARK FS operates more than thirty full service agricultural retail locations throughout New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and Virginia. GROWMARK FS is part of the larger network of GROWMARK, Inc., an agricultural cooperative with annual sales of $8.5 billion providing agronomy, energy, facility planning, and logistics products and services, as well as grain marketing and risk management services throughout North America.

GROWMARK

Egg Prices Down for Easter

Cindy Zimmerman

About 180 million eggs are purchased each year in the United States for Easter, and this year they are a little less pricey than normal.

According to an American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) analysis, the typical seasonal bump in retail egg prices that normally occurs just prior to Easter did not not happen this year because an increase in the supply of eggs has placed downward pressure on retail prices.

“At 79 cents per dozen, retail egg prices showed a moderate price decline two weeks prior to Easter, rather than the normal seasonal bump,” explained AFBF Economist Michael Nepveux. In March, wholesale large egg prices averaged 93 cents per dozen, a 56 percent decline compared to a year ago.

The current supply of eggs is more than adequate to meet retail demand for the holidays, Nepveux noted.

In March 2019, wholesale egg prices averaged 93.02 cents/dzn. This is a decline of 56 percent from 2018, but an increase of 38 percent from 2017.

Read the AFBF Market Intel update.

AFBF, AgWired Animal, Food

New CEO Joins Beck Ag

Carrie Muehling

Richard Bettison began his new role as CEO of Beck Ag on April 8, just in time to attend the Agri-Marketing Conference in Kansas City last week and become a new member of the ZimmComm Golden Mic Club. Bettison said he has known Beck Ag as a customer and now looks forward to working with an incredibly talented group of people serving the agriculture industry.

“I think there is a lot of change in the marketplace and that’s what’s exciting about joining Beck Ag,” said Bettison, who previously worked for Syngenta and AGDATA, LP. “They really are transforming their business to provide much more data analytics and services to the market, understanding trends, being thought leaders in the industry to help organizations think about how they should allocate resources more effectively.”

Bettison said he looks forward to building relationships with key players in the marketplace that will help Beck Ag to serve clients in a more meaningful way.

Listen to Chuck’s Golden Mic interview with Richard here: NAMA19 Interview with Richard Bettison, new Beck Ag CEO

2019 National Agri-Marketing Conference Photo Album

Marketing, NAMA

Precision Ag Bytes 4/17

Carrie Muehling

  • An agricultural industry collaboration led by Growing Matters, a coalition committed to neonicotinoid product stewardship, launched “BeSure!” – a stewardship-awareness campaign to promote best-management practices to farmers and applicators who use neonic products. Powered by Growing Matters along with the American Seed Trade Association and the National Pesticide Safety Education Center, BeSure! is designed to strengthen awareness of stewardship practices to protect bees and other wildlife during the handling, planting and disposal of treated seeds, and from other neonic applications used throughout the growing season.
  • Since 1956, when U.S. Olympic track and field star Bob Richards first graced its cover, Wheaties cereal boxes have featured athletic champions who have overcome challenges in pursuit of their personal best. General Mills, the makers of Wheaties, recently featured soil health champion Gabe Brown on a specially prepared box cover. While the company has no current plans to put the mock-up into mass production or distribution, the cover is a special tribute to Brown’s work as a regenerative agricultural advocate and educator. It is also emblematic of the food giant’s renewed commitment to expand the use of soil health-improving practices among General Mills’ cereal grain growers.
  • Miravis® Ace fungicide for improved control of Fusarium head blight (head scab) in wheat is now available from Syngenta for the 2019 season. The convenient premix of propiconazole and Adepidyn® fungicide, a new mode of action for head scab, will help wheat growers unlock a completely new way to manage head scab and get ahead of diseases such as Septoria that could be more prevalent if current weather patterns continue.
  • TerrAvion, the leading aerial imagery provider for the agricultural industry is excited to partner with Skymatics, to be their aerial imagery provider for agriculture.
  • Registration is now open for AgGateway‘s Mid-Year Meeting, June 10-13 at Prairie Meadows in Altoona, Iowa, just outside of Des Moines. Registration is just $250 for both members and non-members. The special hotel rate at Prairie Meadows available until May 22 is $122/night.
  • Inari continues to expand its capabilities with exclusive patent licenses to technologies developed at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. The technology, Promoter Fine Tuning, helps Inari researchers influence plant architecture and other agricultural traits by managing the extent to which specific existing genes are expressed. This approach — already proven in the field — will initially be used to increase yields and reduce the amount of land required to grow more food.
AgWired Precision, Precision Ag Bytes

NAMA Gavel Passes from Seger to McClure

Cindy Zimmerman

Sheri Seger, DTN/Progressive Farmer, passed the gavel of National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) president on to Scott McClure, Brighton Agency, at the Agri-Marketing Conference last week in Kansas City.

Scott has been active with NAMA for many years at both local and national levels. He has served as a Best of NAMA judge for five years, he was the Agri-Marketing Conference Vice Chair in 2012 and chaired the committee in 2013. Scott joined the Executive Committee in 2014.

He stopped by the Golden Mic interview stand to talk about his plans as NAMA president and what’s new with Brighton:

NAMA19 Interview with incoming president Scott McClure, Brighton

2019 National Agri-Marketing Conference Photo Album

Agencies, NAMA

AMVAC® Cotton Industry Advancement Scholarship

Cindy Zimmerman

AMVAC Chemical Corporation is now accepting applications for its 2019 Cotton Industry Advancement Scholarship. Seven $2,000 scholarships will be awarded.

Applicants must be nominated by a practicing cotton consultant, have worked for a cotton consultant at some point between 2017 and 2019 and be either a senior in high school or currently enrolled full-time in an undergrad or graduate-level agricultural program at an accredited college or university.

Information on how to nominate a student is available https://www.AMVAC-chemical.com/scholarship. All applications must be completed and submitted by the July 1, 2019, deadline to be considered. Winners will be selected by a panel of judges and announced by August 1, 2019.

AgWired Precision, AMVAC, Cotton

Best of NAMA Stars Shine

Cindy Zimmerman

The National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) presented its annual Best of NAMA Awards for excellence in agri-marketing at its annual conference last week in Kansas City.

Wyffels Hybrids/O&H Brand Design took home the Grand Champion award, with top category awards as follows:

Advertising: Wyffels Hybrids/O&H Brand Design

Public Relations: Cytozome/Archer>Malmo

Digital: Bayer/HLK

Consumer: Land O’Lakes/Colle McVoy

Specialty: Boehringer Ingelheim/Sullivan Higdon Sink

See all the winners here

See more photos in the Flickr album:

2019 National Agri-Marketing Conference Photo Album

NAMA

Professional Agri-Marketers Honored

Cindy Zimmerman

The three highest individual awards from the National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) were presented last week at the annual Agri-Marketing Conference.

Congratulations to Lynn Huston, John Deere Financial, who was named Agribusiness Leader of the Year. This award, which is NAMA’s highest honor, recognizes outstanding leadership in private, public or academic service and is conferred each year to a senior agribusiness executive who not only exemplifies excellence in agribusiness, but has also made significant contributions to the industry. Huston has been a key contributor to the John Deere Financial team for the past 22 years. During this time, Huston focused on highlighting women in agriculture and the critical role they play in farm operations and in shaping the industry as a whole.

Listen to her remarks here:
NAMA19 Agribusiness Leader Lynn Huston, John Deere Financial

Dean Broadhead of broadhead was named NAMA Marketer of the Year. This award is sponsored by Agri-Marketing magazine. This recognition is the most prestigious honor awarded to an active member of the association and recognizes outstanding accomplishments in the field of agri-marketing. Dean founded broadhead with a unique goal to connect urban and rural. Over the 18 years broadhead has been in business, the agency has been able to work in many different sectors of agriculture and work to bridge the gap between rural and urban audiences.

Listen to Dean’s remarks here:
NAMA19 Marketer award Dean Broadhead

Congratulations to American Farm Bureau Federation president Zippy Duvallfor the Ag Association Leader award. Duvall has been president of AFBF since January 2016 after serving for nine years as president of the Georgia Farm Bureau. While he was unable to attend the NAMA conference last week in person, Duvall sent a video message thanking NAMA for the honor.

NAMA19 Ag Association award Zippy Duvall, AFBF

2019 National Agri-Marketing Conference Photo Album

Agencies, AgWired Animal, AgWired Precision, Audio, NAMA

Animal Ag Bites 4/15

Carrie Muehling

  • Nominations for the 13th annual National Beef Quality Assurance Awards are now being accepted. Deadline for nominations is June 7, 2019.
  • The U.S. Poultry & Egg Association, National Chicken Council, National Turkey Federation and United Egg Producers have released an updated economic impact study that highlights the positive impact the poultry industry has on jobs, wages, and federal and state revenue in the United States. A dynamic and integral part of the national economy, the U.S. poultry industry provides 1,984,784 jobs, $108.9 billion in wages, $495.1 billion in economic activity and $38.5 billion in government revenue. Since the last study conducted in 2016, the poultry industry has created 302,515 additional jobs, and the economic impact has increased by 11 percent.
  • Federal lands ranchers from across the West attended the 2019 Public Lands Council Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C. The event was a platform for official association business and featured updates from congressional and agency officials.
  • Harris Farms, Inc. Owner John Harris and Central Valley Meat Company, Inc. President and CEO Brian Coelho announced that Central Valley Meat Holding Company will acquire Harris Ranch Beef Holding Company, including its wholly owned subsidiaries, Harris Feeding Company and Harris Ranch Beef Company. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
  • BoVantage from Kent Nutrition Group has a new name: NutriVantage® for beef. NutriVantage is a Nutrition Optimizer®, an exclusive feed supplement that is a unique blend of natural ingredients, vitamins and minerals that impact cattle performance at every stage and help to increase dry matter intake up to 10 percent.
AgWired Animal, Animal Bites

NDSU Bison Win Student NAMA Competition

Cindy Zimmerman

Congrats to the North Dakota State University Bison team for their first place win in the Student NAMA Competition at the Agri-Marketing Conference in Kansas City this week.

Team President Thomas Konetschka says it was the greatest experience of his collegiate career. “We’ve been close a lot of years, been in the finals a lot, so this is for all the teams that were a part of this in the last four years.”

Listen to Konetschka and his teammates talk about the experience and be sure to check out the photo album for more pictures of the finalist teams – Texas A&M, Kansas State, Iowa State, University of Nebraska, and University of Guelph. Congrats to all of the students!

Interview with NAMA Student Competition Winners - NDSU

2019 National Agri-Marketing Conference Photo Album

Audio, NAMA