AMVAC Gearing Up for Farm Progress Show

Cindy Zimmerman

Like pretty much everyone in the corn and soybean belt, AMVAC Chemical is gearing up for Farm Progress Show next week in Boone, Iowa.

Neil DeStefano, AMVAC director of portfolio management and marketing communications, is really excited about this year’s show and what they will have on display for farmers. “We’re really going to have two booths in one – our traditional product portfolio and then our SIMPAS exhibit,” said DeStefano during an interview at Ag Media Summit. “SIMPAS stands for Smart Integrated Multi-Product Prescriptive Application System…so we’re going to have a really cool interactive exhibit at Farm Progress.” Watch a video about SIMPAS here.

Learn more from Neil in this interview. Interview with Neil DeStefano, AMVAC, about SIMPAS and Farm Progress preview

On the product side, ImpactZ™ Herbicide for control of glyphosate-tolerant weeds and grasses in corn will be in the spotlight. Jim Lappin, AMVAC Chemical marketing manager for corn and soybean portfolio, says ImpactZ™ has had a very successful first year on the market. “One of the segments that has been growing very quickly is adding more residual herbicides in an early post-emergence application,” said Lappin, who explains that the combination of Impact and atrazine provides two modes of action and can be tank mixed with other residual herbicides.

Listen to Lappin explain the benefits of ImpactZ.
Interview with Jim Lappin, AMVAC, about Impact Z

2018 Ag Media Summit photo album

Ag Media Summit, AgWired Precision, AMVAC, Audio, Crop Protection

Old MacDonald Had a Daughter

Cindy Zimmerman

Female farmers have a new anthem thanks to the efforts of Land O’Lakes, song writer Liz Rose, and songstress Maggie Rose who collaborated to re-imagine the children’s song “Old MacDonald Had a Farm,” introducing “She-I-O” for a new generation.

The song and video featuring women on the farm is the cornerstone of the new All Together Better initiative from the farmer-owned cooperative that’s owned and run by 1,791 farmers, many of whom are women.

Land O’Lakes has also partnered with Feeding America to raise awareness around the issue of food insecurity and will donate $1 to Feeding America for every share, tag or comment on any of the “She-I-O” music video content on Land O’Lakes social channels, as well as the “She-I-O” music track, up to $100,000. Use the hashtag #AllTogetherBetter when you share!


AgWired Animal, Cooperatives, Video

Study Reveals Growing Interest in Lamb

Cindy Zimmerman

A new survey from the American Lamb Board (ALB) reveals increasing consumer interest in lamb.

“This study revealed positive trends for lamb in the US,” said Jim Percival, ALB board chairman and sheep producer from Xenia, Ohio. “Among the General Population, 24% reported eating lamb in the last year, up from 20% in 2011 and 21% in 2006.”

The lamb usage and attitude study assessed consumers’ knowledge and preference levels of domestic and imported lamb and will assist industry stakeholders in making strong, strategic decisions about how to market U.S. lamb.

“The American Lamb Board has devoted more than a decade to building awareness and demand for Lamb,” said Megan Wortman, ALB executive director. “As we work through our 2018 strategic plan, advancing American Lamb’s value proposition is a core element. Understanding consumer attitudes and product usage patterns are also critical components.”

The online study was conducted during 2018 among 2,084 U.S. adults aged 18-74 years. The American Lamb Board has three target audiences including: Infrequent Lamb Users (those who eat lamb less than four times a year and/or only in restaurants), Thoughtful Eaters (those who are concerned about where their food comes from and how it’s grown) and Millennials (those who were born between 1980-2000 and who are also interested in food and where it comes from).

While consumer interest and enjoyment in lamb is growing, respondents said price and availability are the leading barriers to purchasing lamb in the meat case. The study also showed that learning more about preparing lamb, along with increased availability, could increase lamb usage.

“Half of General Population respondents indicated a willingness to learn how to cook lamb; this is even higher among the target groups as 79% of Infrequent Lamb Users, 59% of Thoughtful Eaters and 56% of Millennials showing an interest in learning about lamb cuts and cooking methods,” said Wortman.

In addition to preparation information, survey respondents desired to hear about locally raised, animal care, and assurances of antibiotic-free and no added hormones.

ALB conducted a webinar outlining the research results for agricultural media Tuesday. Listen to or download audio from the call here: American Lamb consumer study webinar

Links to more information:
2018 American Lamb Usage & Attitudes Consumer Market Research Report PowerPoint
Webinar outlining 2018 American Lamb Usage & Attitudes Consumer Market Research

AgWired Animal, American Lamb Board, Audio, Lamb, Meat

Precision Ag Bytes 8/22

Carrie Muehling

  • Syngenta announced the registration of Vibrance® Trio seed treatment by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The premix of three fungicide active ingredients – mefenoxam, fludioxonil and sedaxane – is recommended for soybean growers whose main early-season concerns are strong stands and disease protection. ​​​​​​
  • The American Farm Bureau Federation, in partnership with Farm Credit, has opened online applications for its 2019 Farm Bureau Ag Innovation Challenge. Entrepreneurs will compete for $145,000. The competition provides an opportunity for individuals to showcase ideas and business innovations in agriculture. Competitors are invited to submit for-profit business ideas related to food and agriculture online at http://fb.org/aginnovationchallenge by Sept. 24.
  • Cargill Animal Nutrition is celebrating the launch of a new line of advanced calf and heifer nutrition, HerdFirst™, with a new Facebook campaign to support The Great American Milk Drive. Cargill will donate three servings of milk — the recommended daily amount for Americans — for every person who shares how much they care for their dairy animals using the HerdFirst™ Facebook frame and hashtag #putyourherdfirst, from now until October 31.
  • Shefali Mehta is the new executive director of the Soil Health Partnership, a long-term data project that measures and quantifies the impact of farm management practices known to promote healthy soils.
  • Smart Ag Inc., an Iowa-based technology company, will conduct in late August the first-ever Farm Progress Show field demonstration of a driverless tractor system. Throughout the three-days of Farm Progress, Smart Ag will introduce to farmers AutoCart®, a software platform and aftermarket kit that fully automates an existing grain cart tractor for use during harvest.
  • Michael Stebbins, Director of External Engagement for GMO Answers, joined Kaci Creel of Dairy MAX and Allison Garriga of US Farmers & Ranchers Alliance to discuss consumer attitudes and how to reach them at the annual Agriculture Media Summit in Phoenix, Arizona. In a session entitled, “Managing Information in the Consumer Digital Space” the three panelists shared their experiences, successes, and shortcomings when sharing stories and consumer messages digitally.
  • UrtheCast Corp. and Land O’Lakes, Inc. announced they have entered a binding term sheet for the purchase of Geosys Technology Holding LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Land O’Lakes, for a purchase price of US$20 million.
AFBF, AgWired Precision, Precision Ag Bytes, Soil Health Partnership, Syngenta, USFRA

BASF Living Acres Program Increases Monarch Habitat

Carrie Muehling

BASF is helping to increase the monarch population with its Living Acres program.

“Living Acres is our biodiversity program that focuses in on monarch habitat,” explained Chip Shilling, sustainability strategy manager. “For that you need milkweed, so we’re really encouraging farmers and farm families to think about places that are outside of their field boundaries where they can plant milkweed or protect milkweed that they may already have.”

Shilling said two years ago, 500 farmers signed up for the program. Last year, they signed up more than 1,000 additional farms. To date, BASF has shipped out more than 50,000 milkweed plants to golf courses and farms. Those interested in participating in the BASF Living Acres program can sign up at monarchchallenge.com or look for the Living Acres display at a variety of farm shows around the country. Shilling was at the Ag Media Summit in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Listen to Cindy’s interview with Chip Shilling here: Interview with Chip Shilling, BASF

2018 Ag Media Summit Photo Album

Ag Media Summit, AgWired Precision, Audio, BASF, pollinators

NFU and Urban Air Initiative Join to Expand Biofuels Use

Cindy Zimmerman

National Farmers Union, Farmers Union Enterprises and the Urban Air Initiative have announced the formation of a new alliance to expand the use of American-grown biofuels.

The three groups intend to pursue a broad spectrum of advocacy and advertising activities in furtherance of social, regulatory and legislative solutions to current barriers that limit the amount of biofuels used in the nation’s transportation sector.

“Protecting the public health and welfare—and at the same time improving the rural economy and benefiting family farmers, is a win-win for America,” said NFU president Roger Johnson.

Urban Air Initiative Director Trevor Hinz noted that the vast body of best available science proves renewable ethanol’s superior octane properties substantially reduce the most harmful mobile source air toxics (MSATs), the predominant source of which are benzene-based aromatics that refiners synthesize from crude oil. Hinz cited the mandatory provision in the Clean Air Act that requires EPA/OTAQ to reduce MSATs to the “greatest extent achievable…as technologies present themselves.”

Farmers Union Enterprises President Doug Sombke adds that the recent U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of Transportation (DOT/NHTSA) proposed rule requesting input on whether and how U.S. regulatory policy should require higher quality, cleaner burning fuels such as E30 provides a great opportunity to expand the use of cleaner, higher octane fuels.

Environment, EPA, Ethanol

GROWMARK Collaborates with NRCS on Sustainability

Carrie Muehling

A Memorandum of Understanding between GROWMARK and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is yet another way the agricultural cooperative is showing a commitment to environmental stewardship and sustainability.

“Our goal, or our vision, is to help to enhance the relationship and the knowledge of NRCS and our local FS team members at the local level,” said Liz Hobart, GROWMARK government relations manager.

GROWMARK will continue to provide strong agronomic advice to growers at the farm gate, while collaborating with NRCS experts to ensure the best conservation practices are followed in order to protect natural resources on the farm. The national memorandum was signed in January 2018, followed by another memorandum in the state of Iowa, where the partnership is beginning.

Hobart said the two groups are working closely together on things like training and communication, streamlining those processes wherever possible. They plan to expand and replicate the program in other states once it is well established in Iowa.

“I think as you look at some of the issues that are facing our farmers today, I think it’s very important collaboration,” said Hobart. “Partnerships, consistent messaging, science-based messaging are very important to our growers. So I think we are seeing that success, raising that awareness with our growers and helping them to be more profitable and recognizing that things are changing.”

She said GROWMARK is committed to stewardship and sustainability, helping farmers to protect assets and resources they have and helping them to achieve that sustainably.

Listen to Carrie’s interview with Liz Hobart here: Interview with Liz Hobart, GROWMARK

AgWired Precision, Audio, GROWMARK, Sustainability

America’s Pig Farmer of the Year Announces Final Four

Carrie Muehling

The public will once again help to choose the 2018 America’s Pig Farmer of the Year. The National Pork Board honors a U.S. pig farmer each year who excels at raising pigs follow the We Care ethical principals and who is committed to sharing the farming story with the American public.

“The four finalists demonstrate how pig farmers embrace the We Care ethical principles as their daily standard of care,” said National Pork Board President Steve Rommereim, a pig farmer from Alcester, South Dakota. “They represent these principles by being the best in pig farming.”

The 2018 finalists are: Patrick Bane of Arrowsmith, Illinois; Bill Luckey of Columbus, Nebraska; Brad Lundell of Kiron, Iowa; and Kevin Rasmussen of Goldfield, Iowa. The four finalists will meet with an expert panel of third-party judges in Chicago. The judges will view videos produced at the finalists’ farms and will interview each of them. Through Aug. 29, the public can vote once a day per person per email address for their favorite finalist at www.americaspigfarmer.com. The winner will be announced the week of Oct. 1 based on the judges’ scores and the online voting.

Patrick Bane – Arrowsmith, Illinois
Raising pigs has been a life-long passion for Patrick Bane, whose family has been raising pigs for three generations. Bane raises 74,000 pigs on his farm in west-central Illinois, where he focuses on protecting public health, hiring the best people and maintaining herd health.

Bill Luckey – Columbus, Nebraska
Farming and raising pigs is a family tradition for Bill Luckey, who is a fourth-generation farmer. Luckey, along with his wife and three sons, market 10,000 pigs a year. They also raise cattle, corn and soybeans on their farm.

Brad Lundell, Kiron, Iowa
Being a good caretaker of the pigs drives Brad Lundell’s passion. Learning from five generations of family farming, Lundell hopes consumers see why pig farming is family-oriented. With the help of his wife Sarah, and four children, they also raise turkeys, corn and soybeans.

Kevin Rasmussen, Goldfield, Iowa
Employee care is important in providing a safe product at KLR Pork, where Rasmussen markets 26,000 pigs a year from his farrow-to-finish farm. As a fourth-generation Iowa farmer, he considers the employees who work for him as family, and that makes all the difference in the product they produce.

AgWired Animal, Pork, Pork Checkoff

ACE Makes Case for Low Carbon Benefits of Corn Ethanol

Cindy Zimmerman

The American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) released a White Paper on “The Case for Properly Valuing the Low Carbon Benefits of Corn Ethanol,” coinciding with a general session panel at the 31st annual ACE conference in Minneapolis last week.

The panel highlighted the paper in a discussion on updates to lifecycle modeling and opportunities on the horizon for ethanol as a low carbon fuel. Members of the panel included Bill Hohenstein, Acting Director of the Office of Energy Policy and New Uses, Office of the Chief Economist, USDA; Ron Alverson, member of ACE’s Board of Directors representing Dakota Ethanol and a chief contributor to the White Paper; and Brendan Jordan, Vice President of the Great Plains Institute.

“The ACE White Paper makes a compelling case that lifecycle GHG modeling must reflect the latest science if low carbon fuel programs are to achieve their desired results,” said Jordan. “The Great Plains Institute agrees there is a huge opportunity for existing corn ethanol plants to lower their carbon footprint through innovative technology and updated lifecycle modeling.”

“Since the direct effects on soil carbon stocks of each biofuel feedstock crop can have a very large impact on carbon intensity, it is crucial that this accounting is included in the modeling,” Alverson said. “The trend is biofuel’s friend — petroleum-based transportation fuel lifecycle GHGs continue to rise and biofuel lifecycle GHGs continue to improve.”

Click here to read the White Paper and listen to the panel and interviews with Jordan and Alverson below.

Low Carbon Fuel panel with Bill Hohenstein, USDA; Ron Alverson, Dakota Ethanol; and Brenden Jordan, Great Plains Institute –
ACE18 Low Carbon panel

Former ACE President Ron Alverson, Dakota Ethanol, talks about White Paper on Low Carbon Benefits of Corn Ethanol –
Interview with Ron Alverson, Dakota Ethanol

Interview with Great Plains Institute Vice President Brendan Jordan
Brendan Jordan, Great Plains Institute

2018 ACE Conference Photo Album

ACE, Audio, Corn, Ethanol

Corteva Agriscience Making a Name at Ag Media Summit

Carrie Muehling

Corteva Agriscience continued the longstanding partnership of its legacy companies with the Ag Media Summit as a gold sponsor this year.

The company is working to ensure all agriculture stakeholders know the new business name and what it stands for.

“[It’s] very important for us as Corteva Agriscience in our first year to get our name out there and talk to a lot of these great ag journalists and explain to them who we are and what we’re going to be, and just get out there and make sure that we’re connecting with everyone,” said Gregg Schmidt, head of external communications.

The company’s name combines “cor” meaning heart and “teva” meaning earth, celebrating a rich agricultural history for both Dow and DuPont, the companies that merged to form the new venture.

“We’ve got a presence all around the world, but we are excited to connect with our consumers and customers and be the only pure play agriculture company in the world when we eventually spin off in 2019,” said Schmidt, who noted that senior leaders at Corteva have been meeting with farmers, customers and ag journalists to be sure the Corteva name is one everyone understands.

Listen to Cindy’s interview with Gregg Schmidt here: Interview with Gregg Schmidt, Corteva Agriscience

2018 Ag Media Summit Photo Album

Ag Media Summit, AgWired Precision, Audio