Zimfo Bytes 9/28

Carrie Muehling

  • The Feeding America Board of Directors announced, effective October 1, 2018, Claire Babineaux-Fontenot will become the organization’s new CEO.
  • Calyxt, Inc. and Cellectis S.A. announced the appointment of James A. Blome, former President and CEO of Bayer CropScience LP (North America), as Chief Executive Officer of Calyxt, effective October 1, 2018.
  • The American Farm Bureau Federation and a broad coalition of business groups on Wednesday asked a federal district court in Georgia to expand its prior order delaying implementation of the flawed 2015 Waters of the U.S. rule in 11 states. The coalition asked that the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia extend its previous injunction to block the WOTUS rule in the remaining 22 states that are currently subject to the controversial and unlawful rule.
  • Deere & Company has completed its acquisition of PLA. In July, Deere said it signed a definitive agreement to purchase the manufacturer of sprayers, planters, and specialty products for agriculture.
  • Qingli Liu, Ph.D., principal scientist, Syngenta, has been recognized as the 2018 Future Giant of the Seed Industry.
AFBF, Syngenta, Zimfo Bytes

Secretary Purdue Rings Bell for Agriculture

Cindy Zimmerman

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue rang the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday afternoon, along with agriculture industry representatives both on and off the podium.

“The farmers, ranchers, foresters and agricultural producers across America contribute a great deal to the American economy,” Secretary Perdue said. “I’m pleased to be here today, at the center of our economic activity, with all these people that I’ve met across the country to celebrate the bounty of the American harvest.”

On the podium, Secretary Perdue was joined by members of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, National Pork Producers Council, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, National FFA students and representatives from New York, and four farmers he met while traveling across the nation.

Off the podium, Secretary Perdue also welcomed farmers, producers and leaders he met on his travels.

Ag Groups, USDA

New AAEA President Shares Goals

Carrie Muehling

Christy Couch Lee of CeeLee Communications has begun her service as president of AAEA, The Agricultural Communicators Network.

“It’s definitely an honor. There are large shoes to fill, for sure. I am just going to work my hardest for the membership to preserve what has been done and hopefully help to help the association grow,” said Lee, who lives in East Central Illinois.

She said membership restructuring is a continuing project for the membership committee, with the goal of helping the association continue to meet the constantly evolving needs of members while preserving the history and legacy of the association. AAEA members have received an email survey to complete to help the association to know where they will fit within the new structure. Along with membership changes, finances are also a priority for Lee.

“My main goal for the year is to get our association back into a stronger financial standing. We’re looking at ways that we can cut back on expenses and we’re going to look at ways we can generate some new revenue, hopefully,” she said.

Lee welcomed feedback and encouraged people to get involved in the association as there are lots of opportunities to participate and serve.

Listen to Chuck’s interview with Christy here: Interview with Christy Couch Lee, CeeLee Communications

ACN, Audio

Precision Ag Bytes 9/26

Carrie Muehling

  • AgLaunch Initiative announced the Innova $100,000 Row Crop Challenge powered by AgLaunch as part of their expanded partnership with Farm Journal Media to be held at the 2018 Farm Journal AgTech Expo, December 3-5, in Indianapolis.
  • Researchers at UW–Madison, Iowa State University and the Rodale Institute are embarking on a new project to assess current technologies that could be used in no-till organic systems and determine which practices will help farmers protect soil health in their fields. The project is funded through a grant from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) that totals $2.2 million, including matching funds.
  • U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue praised the Department of Justice’s decision to request a rehearing of a pesticide case before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. DOJ has asked for a panel rehearing and a rehearing en banc in a case in which the court directed the Environmental Protection Agency to ban chlorpyrifos, a common and useful pesticide, within 60 days.
  • Semtech Corporation announced that Sensoterra, offering low-cost, wireless solutions for real time soil moisture measurement for commercial farms, leveraged Semtech’s LoRa® devices and wireless radio frequency technology (LoRa Technology) and Senet’s LoRaWAN-based network into its smart agriculture systems to reduce up to 30% of water usage in commercial farms including potato and almond orchards.
  • Nutrien Ltd. announced that Jochen Tilk will be stepping down as Executive Chair and as a director of the Company, effective September 30, 2018 to pursue other opportunities.
AgWired Precision, Precision Ag Bytes

Land O’Lakes SUSTAIN Debuts Truterra Insights Engine

Carrie Muehling

Land O’Lakes SUSTAIN plans to introduce its interactive on-farm digital platform called the Truterra™ Insights Engine later this year. The platform’s goal is to help farmers with stewardship goals and to help food companies measure sustainability progress.

“Truterra holds tremendous potential to harness stewardship to drive value by providing data-driven insights from farm-to-fork,” said Matt Carstens, senior vice president of Land O’Lakes SUSTAIN. “Using the Truterra Insights Engine, farmers and food companies will have the ability to establish and report clear metrics, create customized stewardship strategies that meet farmers where they are in their sustainability journey, and use a common language for on-farm stewardship that holds meaning and value. It’s a major step forward in supporting food system sustainability that starts on the farm.”

The Truterra Insights Engine aims to provide tangible conservation options and benefits customized to every business by leveraging agronomic expertise and technical capabilities from a variety of contributors to enhance the value of stewardship across the supply chain.

Such collaborations include USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service and integration of the sustainability metrics of Field to Market’s Fieldprint® Platform. The Insights Engine even ties into major private-sector commitments such as Walmart’s Project Gigaton.

For farmers and agricultural retailers, the Truterra Insights Engine will utilize soil, weather, economic, and farm management data to create customized reports showcasing the potential impacts of various stewardship practices – providing field-by-field insights, tracking against both economic performance and conservation practices. Together, the economic and environmental results will facilitate the long-term productivity and success of our farmers and food system.

A key differentiator for this platform from other data tools is its design to be of value for farmers first and foremost. It was created by a farmer-owned cooperative, to be used by farmers, agricultural retailers, and agricultural experts to improve on-farm economic and natural resource stewardship. The benefits of the platform span the food value chain, but it was built to start with the farmer and deliver value back to the farm. The Truterra Insights Engine will measure and track stewardship progress over time. In addition to helping farmers make the right choices for their business, these expanded metrics will help food companies achieve their sustainability goals – leading the industry toward a more sustainable food system.

To learn more about Truterra and see the Truterra Insights Engine in action, visit www.TruterraInsights.com.

AgWired Precision, Sustainability

Ag Communicators Network Holds Regional Workshop

Chuck Zimmerman

AAEA, the Agricultural Communicators Network held a Midwest Regional Workshop at CHS headquarters in Inver Grove Heights, MN. The workshop was very well attended with an estimated 60 people filling the room to learn tips and techniques for improving their professional skills.

I was only able to attend the first session, “A Guide to More Effective Writing: Finding Your Voice.” The presenter was Stephen Wilbers. Wilbers not only talked about writing improvement but also had us doing exercises like proofreading examples on his handouts. I have pledged to only single space after a period from now on.

ACN, Media

Bayer Announces 2019 Youth Ag Summit in Brazil

Cindy Zimmerman

Bayer is now accepting applications for the fourth edition of the Youth AgVocate Summit, which will take place November 4-9, 2019, in Brasília, Brazil. The event has been held every other year since 2013.

Several participants from the 2017 YAS in Belgium attended last week’s Future of Farming Dialogue in Germany and Netherlands. Four joined moderator Simon Pampena for a panel at Wageningen University. Left to right, we heard from Magnus Kamau Lindhart – Denmark/Colombia; Maurizio Chiurazzi – Italy; Luke Bloomfield – United Kingdom; Florine Kremer – Netherlands.

Listen here: Youth Ag Summit panel

The Youth Ag Summit brings together 100 young talents aged 18 to 25 from across the globe to develop solutions and answers to one of society’s most challenging questions: how to feed a hungry planet in a more sustainable manner.

Also at the Dialogue was Shafina Hossain, who represented Bengladesh at the 2017 Summit and is a member of the Next Gen Council. She spoke about reducing post-harvest loss for Bangledesh farmers – Shafinaz Hossain, Youth Ag Summit 2017

Bayer Future of Farming Dialogue 2018 Photo Album

Audio, Bayer

Animal Ag Bites 9/24

Carrie Muehling

  • Louie DeBoer recently joined the Vita Plus Columbus team as a dairy specialist. Based in Columbus, Wisconsin, DeBoer will provide nutrition and management expertise to help dairy producers reach their production goals.
  • USPOULTRY and the USPOULTRY Foundation announce the completion of a funded research project at the University of Georgia in Athens, Ga., in which researchers created a new rapid method to develop infectious bronchitis vaccines. The research was made possible in part by an endowing Foundation gift from Fieldale Farms and is part of the Association’s comprehensive research program encompassing all phases of poultry and egg production and processing.
  • Attendee registration and general housing for the 2019 International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE) is now open. For more information and to register for the 2019 IPPE, visit www.ippexpo.org.
  • Michigan Milk Producers Association, a dairy farmer-owned cooperative and dairy producer serving more than 1,700 farmers in the Midwest, plans to add a new 7,500-square-foot processing area to its existing facility. The project is expected to generate a total investment of $24 million and create 11 jobs. Michigan was chosen over a competing site in Indiana.
  • The 7th Annual World Food Championships, presented by Walmart, is preparing for its 2018 main event in November. In a few short months, over 1,500 chefs and home cooks from 41 states and 14 countries will meet at The Wharf in Orange Beach, Alabama to battle it out for more than $350,000 in cash and prizes.
  • A talent in poetry will win one cattleman or woman a trip to the 2019 Cattle Industry Convention & NCBA Trade Show in New Orleans, La., Jan. 30–Feb. 1, 2019. The Cowboy Poetry Contest, being coordinated by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and sponsored by IMI Global, is accepting entries until Oct. 19, 2018. For more information and to enter, go to www.ncba.org, then click on conventions and events/Cattle Industry Convention & NCBA Trade Show.
AgWired Animal, Animal Bites, Beef, Dairy, Poultry

ZimmCast from 2018 NAMA Fall Conference

Chuck Zimmerman

This week the ZimmCast, sponsored by GROWMARK, will focus on the 2018 National Agri-Marketing Association Fall Conference.

With 195 registered this was a very successful conference and one of the largest. From the comments I was hearing and from my own viewpoint it was also one of the best programs I can remember. The theme was Grow North – Bringing Fresh Ideas To Market.

This week’s program features interviews with Melanie Rice, Brownfield Ag News, who is the Chair of the NAMA Fall Conference committee; Jerry Gennaria, Brighton Agency, recipient of the PDA for Excellence in Marketing Communications; John Robinson, NCBA, recipient of the PDA for Excellence in Public Relations and Laurie Fleck, newly appointed President/CEO of FLM Harvest.

Listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast 598 - NAMA Fall Conference

You can find lots of photos from the event here: 2018 NAMA Fall Conference Photo Ablum

The ZimmCast

sponsored by
The ZimmCast podcast is sponsored by GROWMARK
Locally owned, globally strong.
Audio, Marketing, NAMA, ZimmCast

Bayer Announces Care4Cattle Grant Winners

Cindy Zimmerman

During a panel discussion on animal health at the Bayer Future of Farming Dialogue this week, Bayer announced the winners of its new Care4Cattle grant initiative program.

In March 2018, Bayer launched the initiative in collaboration with the World Farmers’ Organisation (WFO) to recognize and support innovative-thinking livestock professionals who have created new ways of advancing beef and dairy cattle well-being on the farm.

The initiative received over 100 entries across 37 countries and the winners selected to jointly receive the EUR 30,000 Care4Cattle grant funding were from Australia, Brazil and the United Kingdom.

Dr. Dominique van der Saag from Australia was selected for her research into novel ways in which calves could self-administer analgesia after standard husbandry procedures which can often cause animals stress both during and after.

Brazil Professor Mateus Paranhos da Costa’s study into the effects different weaning methods can have on the well-being of beef calves, was the second project granted funding by the Care4Cattle initiative.

The third winning submission was from The Cattle Lameness Academy in the United Kingdom to create a modular training platform using videos, where they can support farmers in dealing with the rising threat of lameness.

In this interview, Dr. Almut Hoffmann, Head of Farm Animal Products Marketing at Bayer Animal Health, talks about the program and the three winners – Interview with Dr. Almut Hoffmann, Bayer Animal Health

Bayer Future of Farming Dialogue 2018 Photo Album

AgWired Animal, Animal Health, Audio, Bayer