President Trump at 91st National FFA Convention

Cindy Zimmerman

The synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh on Saturday delayed President Donald Trump’s arrival at the National FFA Convention in Indianapolis and led to a somewhat disjointed address to nearly 70,000 blue jacketed members with their family, advisers and industry supporters.

Trump first made remarks about the tragedy and called on a local rabbi and pastor to pray for the victims of the shooting. He then spoke to the FFA audience for another hour, frequently talking about trade agreements and how much he loves farmers and consistently referring to the organization as the “Future Farmers” – a name that was changed in 1988 to recognize the many career paths that relate to agriculture. The address received lots of attention from the mainstream media that also consistently called FFA the Future Farmers of America in coverage, like this USA Today story.

WARNING – Editorial comments ahead.
Not to criticize the president, since he gets enough of that, but the press should be able to get a simple fact like the name of an organization right. I was disappointed in both the president’s speech and the resulting national coverage because it was a missed opportunity to showcase the diversity of agriculture. National FFA members are shining examples of what is great about America and what is great about American agriculture, so that’s a shame.

If President Trump and the media had stuck around, they would have heard a real “Make America Great” speech from Breanna Holbert of California, the outgoing National FFA President. Her retiring address was not just inspiring, it was awe inspiring. That young lady is going places.

Listen to some of both their speeches below.
President Trump at 91st National FFA Convention

National FFA president Breanna Holbert retiring speech
Audio, FFA

Georgia Farmers Still Counting Hurricane Michael Losses

Cindy Zimmerman

Irrigation system in Georgia peanut field damaged by Hurricane Michael

Hurricane Michael hit Georgia agriculture right at harvest season for many crops, including peanuts, where only half of what was looking to be a pretty good crop had been harvested. The remaining 50 percent is yet to be harvested as crop conditions deteriorate and damaged peanut buying points struggle to regain power to dry and grade the peanuts.

Officials with the Georgia Peanut Commission have been meeting with federal and state officials since the storm hit on October 10 trying to determine the impact on growers and the industry’s infrastructure.

“Hurricane Michael for peanut farmers is still an invisible problem in some locations, because we have peanuts in the ground that haven’t been dug yet and major infrastructure issues with buying points not being able to dry the peanuts or grade them,” says Don Koehler, GPC executive director.

Koehler says crop insurance is of little help to farmers since guarantees are based on old production history and the best thing Congress could do to provide assistance is get back to Washington and pass a new farm bill. “For a farmer trying to move forward now from this, he can’t tell his banker what he’s going to do and he can’t get financing,” without a new farm bill, said Koehler.

Learn more in this interview – Interview with Don Koehler, GA Peanut Commission, on hurricane damage

Audio, Farm Bill, Peanuts

NCBA Advocates for USDA to Oversee Fake Meat

Cindy Zimmerman

Officers of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) reiterated their unwavering support for USDA oversight of lab-grown fake meat during a public meeting this week, hosted jointly by USDA and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

President-Elect Jennifer Houston explained why USDA is well-positioned to apply current food safety processes to lab-grown fake meat products, since two-thirds of the facilities already overseen by USDA are “processing-only” facilities where harvesting of animals does not take place.

“Ensuring lab-grown fake meat products are subject to strong, daily inspection by USDA’s trained professionals is essential,” she said. “The health of consumers is on the line, and USDA is far better suited to ensure the safety of lab-grown products.”

Listen – NCBA President-Elect Jennifer Houston delivers remarks at fake meat hearing

NCBA President Kevin Kester focused his comments on how USDA oversight provides protects consumers against false and misleading marketing claims.

“USDA can be trusted to enforce truthful, transparent labeling of the products under its jurisdiction,” he said. “Beef producers welcome competition, but product labels and marketing must be based on sound science, not the misleading claims of anti-animal agriculture activists.”

AgWired Animal, Audio, Beef, Food, Meat, NCBA

Zimfo Bytes 10/26

Carrie Muehling

  • The potential economic impacts of Mexican and Canadian retaliatory tariffs and the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement on U.S. agricultural trade, will be the focus of the Farm Foundation Forum on Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2018. Register HERE for the free, live audiocast made possible by a grant from Farm Credit.
  • Syngenta has announced it will establish a major Global and North America Seeds office in the western suburbs of Chicago.
  • Filament announces the hiring of Allison Luety as a marketing executive. Luety will assist with strategic marketing communications plans and focus on content development.
  • Applications for Class XI of the Peanut Leadership Academy have been extended until Oct. 31, 2018. To download a copy of the upcoming class application, visit www.southernpeanutfarmers.org. Applications must be postmarked by Oct. 31, 2018, for consideration. The first session will begin in December 2018.
  • Charleston|Orwig announces the addition of Taylor Ruffing as an account executive within account services.
  • With harvest already underway in many parts of the country, the National Corn Growers Association reminds farmers that National Corn Yield Contest entrants must report within two weeks of their final yield check or by Nov. 16, whichever comes first. For access to contest information and a detailed list of the entry and harvest rules, click here.
  • Advanta Seeds, a global agriculture company specializing in seeds and agricultural solutions, announces Barry Lubbers as Business Director for North America.
  • Frank Lessiter, who has reported on no-till since 1972, has written ‘From Maverick to Mainstream: A History of No-Till Farming,’ an all-new book including over 416 pages, 650 photos and another 125 visuals. Details on From Maverick to Mainstream: A History of No-Till Farming can be found at No-TillFarmer.com/Maverick.
  • Since its inception in 2005, the Alltech Young Scientist has had participation of over 60,000 students from more than 70 countries and has awarded $1 million in prizes. New for 2019, the AYS competition is open exclusively to university graduate students (master’s degree and Ph.D.) and professor nominations are no longer required. Registration is currently open for the 2019 competition and will close on Jan. 31, 2019.
  • Katharine Girone of Varna, Illinois, is the grand prizewinner of the 2018 Thrive #RootedinAg contest from Syngenta.
Zimfo Bytes

Concerns Raised About E15 Rulemaking Delay

Cindy Zimmerman

Ethanol interests have been raising concerns this week about the Environmental Protection Agency delaying the start of the rulemaking process for year-round E15 until February 2019, which would make the timeline for getting it approved before next summer very tight.

“EPA ought to speed it up, or otherwise it’s going to look like the president wasn’t serious about his announcement,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) this week. “We don’t need this sort of bureaucratic red tape with something that’s been discussed in Washington for years.”

The issue was brought up during a roundtable discussion Thursday with Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, Sen. Mike Rounds and Rep. Kristi Noem at POET Biorefining in Chancellor, South Dakota. “EPA bureaucrats already appear to be slow-walking the rule, which raises doubts it can be done by June 1,” said American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) CEO Brian Jennings, who attended that roundtable. “We cannot accept EPA slow-walking the process after the President made such a big splash announcing it for rural America, particularly our farmers who are hurting from low corn prices.”

Secretary Perdue is optimistic it will happen. “Federal regulations take more time than certainly I would like, but we believe the E15 rule will be in place prior to next year’s driving season,” he told reporters in Illinois this week – USDA radio news story 10-25-18

Renewable Fuels Association president and CEO Geoff Cooper says they would very much like to see a proposal out sooner than February, but the administration has assured them it can be done before next summer. “We’re certainly hopeful that’s the case but it’s going to take the pedal to the metal to make that happen,” said Cooper during a conference call with reporters Thursday. He confirmed that some retailers may be hesitant about making the commitment to E15 now based on promises for next year, while a couple have already jumped on board since the president made the announcement earlier this month.

RFA CEO Geoff Cooper comments on E15 rulemaking timeline
ACE, Audio, Corn, Ethanol, RFA, USDA

Sorghum Growers Benefit From Export Exchange 2018

Cindy Zimmerman

Exports are very important to U.S. sorghum growers, so the United Sorghum Checkoff Program (USCP) was pleased to take part in Export Exchange 2018 and take a couple of teams on tours.

“We are excited to host the upcoming trade teams and grow our network at Export Exchange 2018 as sorghum exports have represented a large portion of the U.S. sorghum marketplace over the last few years,” said Florentino Lopez, Sorghum Checkoff executive director. “The Sorghum Checkoff is dedicated to building strong relationships between buyers and sellers, resulting in continued sorghum sales.”

After Export Exchange concluded Wednesday, the South American delegation headed out to visit export facilities in New Orleans and an ethanol plant and corn and sorghum farms Texas. The Chinese delegation will visit corn and sorghum farms in Missouri, Arkansas and Texas as well as an ethanol plant, local elevators and transloading facilities.

Export Exchange is sponsored by the U.S. Grains Council (USGC), the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) and Growth Energy, allowing these buyers to meet with U.S. sellers of corn, sorghum, barley, distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS), corn gluten meal and corn gluten feed.

Learn more in this interview – Export Exchange 18 interview with Florentino Lopez, Sorghum Checkoff

Export Exchange 2018 Photo Album

Audio, Ethanol, Exports, Grains, RFA, sorghum

Garth Brooks Wows National FFA

Cindy Zimmerman

“This isn’t a convention, it’s a freaking PARTY!” That’s what Garth Brooks said at last night’s “private” concert for some 70,000 members, advisors, and supporters at the 91st National FFA Convention. Many of them took to social media to share the experience of seeing the #JustOneFFA and only Garth, who is now an honorary lifetime member of FFA. It was just Day One of the convention, which will conclude on Saturday after an address from President Donald Trump, the first address by a U.S. president since President George H.W. Bush spoke in 1991 and only the fifth to do so in 91 years.

FFA, Social Media

Fighting Mycotoxins in the Field

Carrie Muehling

Dairy farmers must be diligent when it comes to managing mycotoxin levels and reducing the potential effects in feed.

Because mycotoxins are a byproduct of molds found in the field, that is the place to begin. But strobilurin-based fungicides are not always the best answer based on university research, according to Brian Springer, North American Technical Manager with Alltech Crop Science.

“They’ve found that if you go and you get a particular type of fungicide that’s in the strobilurin-based family, then what happens is those mycotoxins react to that, and they actually get worse instead of better. So it actually causes them to go under stress,” said Springer. “We approach with a natural approach from Alltech Crop Science, and we do not trigger that same response.

Springer said farms with a history of high mycotoxin loads need to look at the residue in the fields ahead of time because molds are carried over from one season to the next. Another key time is the growing point during the tassel process, as that’s when mycotoxins actually infect the grain.

Springer was at the 2018 World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin.

Listen to Jamie’s interview with Brian here: Interview with Brian Springer, Alltech

2018 World Dairy Expo Photo Album

AgWired Animal, Alltech, Audio, Crop Science, Dairy, World Dairy Expo

ZimmCast 601 – FMC in the Field

Chuck Zimmerman

FMC Agricultural Solutions held a field day at its Sparks, GA research station earlier this month, hosted by the FMC technical service team with a plot tour, presentations and certification training.

In particular, the FMC technical service team showcased new Lucento™ fungicide, which is expected to be approved by the end of this year for the 2019 season. You can find a virtual news rooms from the event on AgNewsWire with more interviews and photos: FMC Georgia Field Day

In this week’s program you’ll get to hear from these FMC representatives who did presentations in the field for agricultural retailers.

Ryan Osborn, Southeast Region Business Manager, FMC
David Wheeler, Technical Service Manager, FMC
Matthew Wiggins, Technical Services Manager, FMC
Craig Heim, Senior Technical Service Manager, FMC
Jake Franklin, FMC Research Station Manger
Del Brandenberg Retail Marketing Manager, FMC

And to make the lawyers happy, here is the disclaimer:
Lucento fungicide is not registered for sale or use in the United States. No offer for sale, sale or use of this product is permitted prior to issuance of the required EPA and state registrations.

Listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast 601 - FMC in the Field

The ZimmCast

sponsored by
The ZimmCast podcast is sponsored by GROWMARK
Locally owned, globally strong.
AgWired Precision, Audio, FMC, Fungicide, Podcasts, ZimmCast

National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center Celebrates 15 Years

Cindy Zimmerman

NCERC at SIUE receives ethanol industry Award of Excellence in 2015

The National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center (NCERC) at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville (SIUE) is celebrating 15 years of biofuels research this month.

The Illinois Corn Growers Association was instrumental in fostering development of the Center in 2003 and the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) has worked closely with NCERC since its inception and continues partnering on various projects.

NCERC Executive Director John Caupert says they are committed to assisting in finding new homes, for new bushels of corn, with new market opportunities. “NCERC was an early leader in transforming corn into dozens of renewable compounds, including biofuels, biochemicals, biomaterials and bioproducts,” said Caupert. “The NCERC has directly contributed to the growth of the ethanol industry, helping grow ethanol production in the United States from 2.8 billion gallons annually to the nearly 16 billion gallons of production today,”

Caupert adds that NCERC has assisted in advancements in fuel ethanol production, moving more than 65 products and technologies into the commercial marketplace that are now being utilized in every commercial corn ethanol plant operating today. The center received the ethanol industry Award of Excellence at the 2015 Fuel Ethanol Workshop.

Corn, Ethanol, NCGA