American Chopper Unveils Ethanol Bike

Cindy Zimmerman

The highly anticipated debut of the custom Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) ethanol motorcycle created by Paul Jr. Designs on Discovery Channel’s American Chopper revealed a masterpiece with a patriotic theme that runs on E85.

“The bike encapsulated everything we were hoping to get,” said RFA Vice President of Industry Relations Robert White. “Patriotic theme, running on 85 percent ethanol, E85 – it’s perfect.”

Bike designer Paul Teutel Jr. said it was easier than he expected to make the chopper run on E85. “The only thing we had to do was up the jets about 30 percent and advance the timing a little bit and the thing runs like a top.”

Teutel says the whole effort is to help educate people about ethanol. “The same way I got educated about ethanol through the process of building a bike for RFA,” he said. “It’s about public awareness and letting them know that ethanol is a good product – matter of fact it’s a very good product and it works very well in motorcycles.”

The custom motorcycle is the centerpiece for RFA’s new consumer-focused educational campaign called “Fuel Your Knowledge” to educate and inform consumers about the proper use of ethanol-blended fuels in boats, motorcycles, lawn and garden equipment and other off-road engines.

Teutel was with White last night at a viewing party in Omaha for the big reveal and today will be at the Fuel Ethanol Workshop meeting and greeting folks at the RFA booth from 11 am to 1 pm. The bike will be on display at the booth as well.

Click here to see more photos of this awesome motorcyle.

Ethanol, RFA

ASTA Elects 2018-19 Officer Team

Cindy Zimmerman

2018-19 ASTA Chair Jerry Flint

The American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) is pleased to announce its 2018-19 officer team, officially elected during the ASTA Policy & Leadership Development Conference in Washington, D.C.

The members of the 2018-19 ASTA officer team are:
• Chair – Jerry Flint, Corteva Agriscience™
• First Vice Chair – Wayne Gale, Stokes Seeds
• Second Vice Chair — John Latham, Latham Hi-Tech Seeds

Newly-elected Regional Vice Presidents are: Rick Falconer, Rijk Zwaan (Western Region Vice President), and John Romines, WinField Solutions (North Central Vice President).

Incoming Chair Jerry Flint leads Global Initiatives and Sustainability for Corteva Agriscience™, Agriculture Division of DowDuPont. Throughout his 25-plus year career, Dr. Flint has served on several committees and held leadership roles to support and promote the seed and crop protection industry.

In addition to serving as an ASTA officer for the past two years, Dr. Flint is a member of ASTA’s International Executive Committee. He also serves on the Crop Life International Plant Biotech Steering Committee, the Biotechnology Industry Organization Food and Agriculture Governing Board and is a member of the National FFA Sponsors Board. Dr. Flint earned his Bachelor of Science in agriculture from Purdue University and his Master of Science and doctorate in crop science from the University of Kentucky.

Learn more about Dr. Flint in this USFRA podcast: SMART Farmer Podcast with Jerry Flint

AgWired Precision, ASTA, Audio, Seed

Crops & Chemicals USA 18 Agenda Features Industry Experts

Cindy Zimmerman

The full agenda is now available for this year’s Crops & Chemicals USA meeting, July 23-25, at the Raleigh Convention Center in Raleigh, NC.

The agenda for the meeting provides attendees with the critical science, technologies and contacts needed to accelerate the development and regulatory approval of biostimulant, biopesticide and agrochemical products.

Included on the program this year are industry experts representing Mosanto, BASF, Bayer, DowDuPoint, Syngenta, EPA, USDA, FDA and many more. The program is designed to offer key strategies, industry insights and connections needed to overcome today’s biggest challenges:

Developing targeted, efficacious and economical biocontrol products for use in IPM programs
Creating new offerings, support product claims and dispel misconceptions around biostimulants and biofertilizers
Enhancing the compatibility and delivery of your active ingredient to ensure optimal efficacy

More information and registration details for Crops & Chemicals USA is available online.

Register by June 15 and save $300. Save an extra 10% when you register here using the VIP code AGNEWSWIRE (new registrations only).

Agribusiness, AgWired Precision, BASF, Bayer, Biologicals, Crop Protection, Events

ZimmCast 587 – IFAJ Congress 2018

Chuck Zimmerman

In this week’s program we’ll get a preview of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists annual Congress which will take place in the Netherlands this year. I spoke via Skype with one of the organizers of the Congress, Jacqueline Wijbenga, Adjunct-uitgever, Eisma Businessmedia. We discussed the program and the theme of this year’s Congress. Here is some more information.

The International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) annually organizes a world congress. Alternately, the congress takes place in Europe and on another continent. After previous editions in Germany (2016) and South Africa (2017) the conference will take place in the Netherlands in July 2018. The congress organization is appointed by the IFAJ at the request of the NVLJ, the Dutch Association for Agricultural and Horticultural Journalism. The conference will hook on to the centenary that Wageningen University & Research (WUR) celebrates in 2018. The congress organization is controlled by the independent foundation Dutch Roots, which is based on the voluntary commitment of NVLJ members and a conference manager who partly receives paid hours of work.

The Dutch Roots board has set Dutch Roots: small country big solutions as the denominator for the Dutch agricultural product chains. The starting point for the IFAJ2018 World Congress program and the route towards it, is that the foundation and its activities provide a platform for numerous journalistic productions for (agricultural) journalists worldwide.

Looking ahead, the IFAJ Congress in 2019 will be held in the United States in the Minneapolis, MN area. More information on that will be forthcoming.

Listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast 587 - IFAJ Congress 2018

I hope you enjoy it and thank you for listening.

Subscribe to the ZimmCast podcast here. Use this url in iTunes or your favorite news reader program/app.

The ZimmCast

sponsored by
The ZimmCast podcast is sponsored by GROWMARK
Locally owned, globally strong.
Audio, IFAJ, International, Media, ZimmCast

GROWMARK Welcomes Student Interns

Cindy Zimmerman

Forty-one college students are exploring agricultural career opportunities this summer as GROWMARK interns, and another 19 students are taking part in GROWMARK’s summer Exploring Agriculture Internship program.

​The interns are exposed to accounting, marketing, communications, and product and service-related activities. The group kicked off the program at the GROWMARK corporate office on Monday, May 21 and will reconvene in June for an agribusiness tour and professional development opportunities. Each intern will complete a business-related project and deliver a presentation on their project in August.

This is the 59th year for the GROWMARK internship program which began in 1959. Over the years, more than 1,100 students have been involved in the program.

The Exploring Agriculture Intern program was developed to help build relationships between students and faculty at colleges and technical school level and GROWMARK’s FS member companies.

The interns are exposed firsthand to the inner workings of retail energy and agribusinesses to help them evaluate future career aspirations. The students will be operating field research and crop monitoring equipment and technology for scouting, assisting with facility and equipment maintenance and repair, and building professional relationships with FS personnel and customers while learning the different products and services they offer.

Learn more about the GROWMARK 2018 interns here.

Cooperatives, Education, FS System, GROWMARK

DuPont Opens Industrial Biosciences Global Headquarters

Cindy Zimmerman

DuPont Industrial Biosciences officially opened the doors of its renovated global business headquarters last week in Wilmington, Delaware.

“At this new facility, we have hundreds of people working toward a more sustainable future by innovating biobased solutions that are better, safer and more renewable. These technologies go into products that are used in everyday life,” said William Feehery, president of DuPont Industrial Biosciences. “The redesigned and upgraded laboratories and office spaces are incubators for some of DuPont’s most groundbreaking work.”

The revitalization of Building E353 is part of a more than $200 million investment in the Experimental Station campus, which began in 2016 and encompasses about 50 buildings, with over 2 million square feet of space.

Read more from DuPont.

Agribusiness, AgWired Animal, AgWired Precision, Biofuels

Animal Ag Bites 6/11

Carrie Muehling

  • McDonald’s USA presented Cargill Protein’s Egg Team with the 2017 U.S. Supplier of the Year award at its Lake Odessa, Mich., and Mason City, Ia., egg processing facilities on Friday, June 1. As a McDonald’s supplier for nearly 25 years, Cargill was selected for the U.S. Supplier of the Year award for its leadership in supporting the launch and execution of McDonald’s “All Day Breakfast,” and pledging to supply 100 percent cage-free eggs for dedicated supply by 2025.
  • USPOULTRY and the USPOULTRY Foundation have approved approximately $500,000 in funding for five new research grants at five institutions through the Board Research Initiative program. The research funding was approved by the boards of directors of both organizations, based on recommendations from the Foundation Research Advisory Committee. The committee evaluates research proposals to determine their value to the industry and then makes recommendations to the boards for funding.
  • U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue has announced the appointment of six members to serve on the National Pork Board. More information about the board is available on the AMS National Pork Board webpage and on the National Pork Board website.
  • Missed a speaker or want to watch a replay of ONE: The Alltech Ideas Conference? The Alltech Idea Lab gives you the chance to hear talks from the inspiring leaders and future thinkers from ONE18. Access to the Alltech Idea Lab is complimentary, requiring only registration. Plenary sessions are now available. Interactive focus sessions will be available for viewing on June 29. Sign up now at http://ideas.alltech.com.
  • Allflex Livestock Intelligence, an Antelliq brand, is pleased to introduce the SenseTime Beef cow monitoring solution. This new monitoring solution designed exclusively for beef cattle farms delivers actionable information on the reproduction, health, and wellbeing status of individual cows and groups. A smart and modular solution, SenseTime Beef supports both AI and natural breeding farms (cow-calf operations), for both penned and grazing cows.
AgWired Animal, Animal Bites

#CornTech18 Poster Contest Winners

Chuck Zimmerman

A graduate student from Iowa State University took home the top prize in the National Corn Growers Association’s Corn Utilization and Technology Conference 2018 Poster contest held in St. Louis, Mo. this week. Joseph P. Polin, from Iowa State University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, received top honors in the Gary Lamie Student Poster Competition, sponsored by the Indiana Corn Marketing Council for his work on improving the process economics of making bio-renewable fuels and chemicals from corn stover. He is pictured with other general poster session winners included Tanvee Deshpande of South Dakota State, who received second place honors for a project entitled “Developing food quality standards for distillers dried grains- evaluating composition quality and safety.” Third place went to Jennifer Mobley of the Rose Hulman Institute of Technology for “Investigation of the production of long-chain dicarboxylic acids from distillers corn oil using candida viswanathii.” Presenting the awards are NCGA CEO, Chris Novak and NCGA CUTC Chairman Dennis Maple.

“Encouraging young researchers to consider a career in agriculture is a major focus for the National Corn Growers and their State Partners. Those recognized in the poster contest show our efforts are paying off and they provide another reason for optimism,” said Dennis Maple, chair of CUTC and the National Corn Growers Association’s Corn Productivity and Quality Action Team. “I think all of the conference attendees were very impressed with the quality of research and the level of enthusiasm the students exhibited. These are the people who will drive much needed new uses for corn in the future.”

CUTC also conducted a second poster session focused on mycotoxin research efforts which were sponsored by Biocognito. Mycotoxin contamination of corn or DDGs complicates the handling of corn and can reduce limit in marketability and value.

Claiming first place in the mycotoxin poster session was Weiran Li a graduate student in the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology at Purdue University for a project titled “Characterization of ZMPK1 and its role in disease resistance to Goss’s Wilt.”

Also, recognized for their research work on mycotoxins were: Second place – Felipe Dalla Lana of The Ohio State University for “Weather factors associated with Gibberella ear rot and vomitoxin accumulation in corn grains.” Third place – Huijuan Yan: Texas A & M for “FRN1, a gene coding for putative GPCR protein, critical for ear rot and fumonisin biosynthesis in maize pathogen fusarium verticillioides.”

2018 Corn Utilization & Technology Conference

Corn, CUTC, NCGA, Technology, University

Filter Technology Key to Corn Milling Process

Carrie Muehling

The sifting and separation process is an important one when it comes to corn and wet milling.

Sefar is a global company headquartered in Switzerland, whose specialty is precision weaving synthetic fabrics used in a variety of applications primarily for filtration, including in corn and wet milling plants.

“We have a lot of partnerships and ongoing businesses with the corn and wet milling plants throughout the United States and we supply particular products that they need to keep their plants running,” said Curt Carstens, vice president of sales for the process filtration division at Sefar.

Carstens said the Corn Utilization & Technology Conference is a great place to interface with researchers who are not already familiar with the company, and to reconnect with those that are.

Listen to Chuck’s interview with Curt here: Interview with Curt Carstens, Sefar

2018 Corn Utilization & Technology Conference

Audio, Corn, CUTC

Zimfo Bytes 6/8

Carrie Muehling

  • BRP redesigned its lineup of Can-Am ATVs and side-by-side vehicles for 2019. Redesigned Outlander ATVs heighten adventure with top-tier performance, world-class handling, incredible design, and friendlier price tag. Can-Am Defender vehicles get rugged upgrades and one-year limited warranty in the U.S. and Canada.
  • MGEX announced another historical month with 180,836 contracts recorded for May 2018. With an 11 percent increase between the now best and second-best May, recorded in 2014, 2018 has proven to be an all-around steady year for MGEX.
  • IDEAg Minnesota Farmfest announced its first national anthem contest for this year’s show, scheduled for Aug. 7-9, in Redwood Falls, Minnesota. The winner will be invited to sing the national anthem on the Wick Buildings Farmfest Center stage the opening day of Farmfest in front of 500 potential attendees. The winner will receive free entry to Farmfest for him/herself and up to three guests for Tuesday. The deadline to apply is July 6. Interested singers can visit the Farmfest website to apply.
  • Lindsay Corporation, a leading global manufacturer/distributor of irrigation and infrastructure equipment and technology, and Farmers Edge, a global leader in decision agriculture, today announced a new strategic partnership that will deliver an unmatched suite of ag tech and digital agronomy solutions for their customers.
  • FMC Corporation and Chr. Hansen have announced a five-year extension of their collaboration to develop and commercialize natural solutions for the agricultural industry. The collaboration, which has launched several natural products over the last five years, has enabled both Chr. Hansen and FMC to join resources and expertise to accelerate entry into the rapidly growing biological crop protection market.
  • The Farm Credit Administration has launched a redesign of its website, which includes a brief video about the agency’s mission.
  • The American Farm Bureau Federation announced that Michael Nepveux has joined the organization as an economist in the Public Affairs Department. Nepveux will play an important role in conducting economic research and analysis on a broad range of factors related to agricultural commodity markets and policy.
Zimfo Bytes