Liberty Weed Control Guarantee Returns

Cindy Zimmerman

For the second year, Bayer is offering the Liberty® Weed Control Guarantee on the effective weed control of Liberty herbicide.

Heading into the 2018 season, growers who use Liberty can look forward to clean fields, thanks to the herbicide’s effective weed control and the guarantee. To qualify, growers must talk to their retailer about local requirements and S.T.O.P. Weeds with Liberty application guidelines.

“I have been using Liberty herbicide for two years,” said Mark Tuttle, a grower from Somonauk, Ill. “I’m always impressed by how Liberty controls some of the most challenging weeds like waterhemp and giant ragweed. But, every season is different, and weeds are always one of my greatest concerns. The Liberty Weed Control Guarantee helps make the decision to use Liberty each year easy. It’s a great added benefit.

S.T.O.P Weeds with Liberty application guidelines

Start clean and stay clean – Start clean with a burndown herbicide prior to planting and stay clean by controlling escapes
Target weeds under three inches tall – Small weeds are easier to control and Liberty should be applied on less than 3 inch weeds.
Optimize coverage – Use appropriate rates, a minimum of 15 gallons of water and medium to coarse droplet size.
Pair with residuals – Apply labeled rates of pre-residual herbicide with two effective modes of action.

Local Bayer representatives can provide requirements for specific regions.

Listen to Mark Tuttle at Commodity Classic talk about why he uses Liberty: Interview with Mark Tuttle, Illinois Grower

Learn more about Liberty from Jody Wynia and David Tanner: Interview with Jody Wynia & David Tanner, Bayer

Photos, video, and audio interviews from Bayer at Commodity Classic Bayer sponsor logo
AgWired Precision, Audio, Bayer, Commodity Classic, weed management

Ethanol and Pork on China’s Draft Retaliation List

Cindy Zimmerman

Following action by President Trump yesterday to impose tariffs on up to $60 billion in Chinese imports, China is making its list of what U.S. products will be the target of retaliation. The list reportedly includes agricultural products such as U.S. pork, modified ethanol, wine, fruits and nuts, and soybeans are expected to be as well.

“We sell a lot of pork to China, so higher tariffs on our exports going there will harm our producers and undermine the rural economy,” said National Pork Producers Council President Jim Heimerl of Ohio. “No one wins in these tit-for-tat trade disputes, least of all the farmers and the consumers.”

Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Bob Dinneen says they expected ethanol would be on the list. “China’s response was entirely predictable, given recent actions by our administration to implement new tariffs. It is my fervent hope that the White House now fully understands the impact these actions will have on America’s ethanol industry and farmers, and we urge the administration to redouble its efforts to expand demand for ethanol here at home.”

China was the third-largest market for U.S. ethanol exports in 2016, accounting for almost 20% of total exports, but Dinneen says the country imposed a 30% tariff on U.S. ethanol last year, bringing sales down to almost nothing until recently when they have started to tick back up despite the tariff. “But a 15% additional tariff, on top of the 30 percent that’s already there will clearly prohibit any sales to that country,” Dinneen says.

Audio file – RFA CEO Bob Dinneen reacts to potential China retaliation tariffs

AgWired Animal, Audio, Ethanol, Exports, Pork, RFA, Soybean

Reaction to Presidential Trade Tariff Actions

Cindy Zimmerman

Exports are literally the life blood of U.S. agriculture, so it is not surprising that reaction to President Trump’s trade tariff actions this week from agricultural groups has been largely negative and fearful that it will lead to retaliation.

U.S. Grains Council (USGC) President and CEO Tom Sleight says they are dismayed by the tariffs against China announced yesterday by the Trump Administration. “For every action there’s an opposite and equal reaction,” said Sleight. “Agriculture is usually at the front of the line when it comes to retaliatory action.”

Thanks to Tony St. James, All Ag Radio Network, for these comments from Sleight:
USGC CEO Tom Sleight comments on China tariffs

“We know that China is a bad actor, there’s no doubt about that, but we have to be very thoughtful when it comes to trade policy,” said Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) in an interview yesterday. “Just by knee-jerk reaction with any sort of tariffs could create problems for our agricultural industry.”
Sen. Ernst comments on China tariffs

U.S. Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS), chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, commented on the potential harm tariffs could cause for farmers and ranchers during the Agri-Pulse policy summit on Wednesday. “Agriculture producers are understandably concerned about trade and the effects of recent actions taken by the administration,” said Roberts. “China is one of the United States’ top agriculture markets and damage to that market in any form will likely result in a significant harm to the U.S. agricultural economy.”

Sen. Pat Roberts comments at Agri-Pulse summit

More audio to come – stay tuned!

Audio, Exports, Trade

Meeting Demand for Soy in Southeast Asia

Carrie Muehling

The Southeast Asian region represents a large part of the world’s soy consumption, and a significant market for U.S. soy products. While dietary needs and preferences are changing in that region, U.S. soy is still an important part of meeting the region’s demand.

“Southeast Asia is a very traditional soy food consumption region,” said Boon Yee Yeong, Senior Technical Consultant for Human Utilization in Southeast Asia for the U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC). “A quarter of the world’s soy food is actually consumed in Southeast Asia. Over the past 25 years, definitely we are moving away from a lot of the old traditional soy food into the new modern trait. I think it can be seen through a lot of the new innovation in terms of soy products, and even the traditional soy food is actually taking a new life. They are much more attractive to the younger generation. And, of course, people are recognizing the functional benefit of eating soy, so definitely there is a movement of the producers and manufacturers to capture this new identity of soy.”

Education programs coordinated by USSEC have been instrumental in promoting U.S. soy to the region, which imports American soy products for use in every sector, from traditional to new foods and from high value ingredients to generic products.

Listen to Jamie’s interview here: Interview with Boon Yee Yeong, USSEC SE Asia

USSEC SE Asia Buyers Conference Photo Album

Audio, Soybean, USSEC

Zimfo Bytes 3/23

Carrie Muehling

  • U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue issued a statement regarding the omnibus spending bill released by Congressional leaders:
    “The omnibus spending plan released last night contains a number of our priorities at USDA. Fixing the so-called ‘grain glitch’ 199A problem is simply an issue of fairness. We should not be picking winners and losers through the federal tax code by favoring one side over another.”
  • Meister Media has teamed with NXT Events Media Group of Norwalk, CT, to create a joint venture called Meister | NXT LLC. The new JV will focus on producing conferences and trade shows to help the many diverse segments of agriculture realize the promise of new systems, technologies, and alliances to meet the challenges of ensuring safe, reliable, and abundant food for our expanding world.The first event of the joint venture will be Growing Innovations, which will debut November 7-8, 2018 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV.
  • The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service announces the annual USDA Data Users’ Meeting. The meeting is free of charge and open to anyone interested in learning about recent and pending changes in various data and information programs important to agriculture. USDA and partner agencies will seek comments and input on these programs. The 2018 meeting will be held from 1:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. CDT on Tues., April. 24, 2018 at the University of Chicago – Gleacher Center.
  • To celebrate the 45th anniversary of National Ag Day, AGDATA hosted Feed + Kids Food & Fund Drive for two weeks in March 2018 at its headquarters in Charlotte, NC. All donations benefit Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina’s school-based program, Together We Feed. AGDATA’s employees collected 155 food items and enough money to purchase 900 pounds of food. According to Together We Feed, these food and financial donations will provide meals for approximately 550 children in our region.
  • The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) recently attended the Aquaculture America Conference to learn more about the industry and make connections with companies to discuss the benefits of corn and corn byproducts in aquaculture diets. NCGA met with a number of companies and representatives while at the conference, including tru SHRIMP of Minnesota, Prairie Aquatech of South Dakota, Eagles Catch of Iowa, and various feed mills and feed ingredient companies including Cargill, Zeigler, ADM, Blue Ridge Aquafeeds and BlueWater Feed Company.
Zimfo Bytes

Ag Day Essay Contest Winner

Cindy Zimmerman

Some 400 young people from around the country entered the National Ag Day written essay contest and the winning entry was Rio Bonham from Tishomingo, Oklahoma. He received a $1,000 prize and travel to Washington, D.C., for recognition during the National Press Club Event this week.

With the theme Agriculture: Food for Life, Rio’s essay highlighted job opportunities in an industry vital to everyone’s life.

“From the jeans they wear, to the E-10 they put in their car, to every single thing they eat or drink, high schoolers must not only understand but appreciate all that agriculture produces for them. In addition, agriculture has thousands of job opportunities for young adults if their eyes were just opened to them.”

Listen to Rio read his essay here: Ag Day Essay winner Rio Bonham

The national video essay winner for 2018 is Zoey McCormick from Carlisle, Indiana. She will win a $1,000 prize for her video.


The Ag Day Essay Contest is sponsored by CHS Inc., National Association of Farm Broadcasting and Farm
Progress.

2018 National Ag Day Photo Album

Ag Day, Audio, Video

Ethanol Supporter Optimistic About Industry

Cindy Zimmerman

Senator Joni Ernst has earned the title of “ethanol champion” for her work on behalf of the industry to protect the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), but she took the time today to visit with people she thinks are the real champions – the grassroots farmers, producers, retailers and investors who make up the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE).

“You are all out there making a difference,” said Sen. Ernst in her address to ACE members in Washington DC.

Her main remarks centered around the continuing debate over the RFS and Renewable Identification Number prices and her own discussions with Sen. Ted Cruz and others on the idea of a “win-win” solution for both ethanol and refiners. “Their ‘win-win’ is to cap RINs. That’s not a win for us,” said Ernst. “For us the “win-win” is the RVP waiver and going to E-15 year-round….The president thought that was a brilliant idea.”

During an interview, Sen. Ernst says she believes the White House is “backing away” from the RIN cap idea and leaning toward sending the whole issue to Congress to resolve. “We have had a strong coalition in Congress as well that pushes back against any efforts to weaken the RFS,” she said.

Listen to her remarks and my interview below where the senator also comments on the omnibus bill and trade issues.

Sen. Joni Ernst remarks to ACE

Interview with Sen. Joni Ernst

2018 ACE DC Fly-in Photo Album

ACE, Audio, Ethanol, Exports

KEENAN Connects Farmers to Nutrition Specialists

Carrie Muehling

U.S. dairy farmers visiting the headquarters for KEENAN Systems in Dublin, Ireland, learned more about MechFiber and the impact it can make on a dairy herd.

KEENAN Corporate Marketing Manager Martin Minchen shared that the concept, developed in 2008, has been a key value proposition for the company globally. The focus is on consistent fiber lengths and an even mix that encourages rumination and feed efficiency. The company’s newest development is the InTouch app controller, connecting the farmer to a nutrient specialist at any time.

“The company developed MechFiber. That was one step in terms of the physical mix,” said Minchen. “But delivering that consistently is crucial, so they set about using their own in-house team of software engineers developing an InTouch platform which was launched by the company in 2009 and since then has undergone various updates and with the latest ones being the app that was released in 2018.”

Minchen said almost 300,000 cows are currently part of that system, which is unique to KEENAN Systems.

“We can analyze real time data, mixer performance, if feed is over or under mixed, if the farmer has been adding the right ingredients, how long the feeder has been working, and then we can get the output data back from the cows so if the nutritionist noticed that cow output may have dropped on farm, they can proactively call the farmer,” he said.

Listen to Jamie’s interview here: Interview with Martin Minchen, KEENAN Systems

Alltech KEENAN Great Green Getaway Photo Album

AgWired Animal, Alltech, Animal Agriculture, Audio, KEENAN

Sen. Heitkamp Opposes RIN Price Cap

Cindy Zimmerman

Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) one of several lawmakers on Capitol Hill who received a visit from a team of American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) members in DC for their annual fly-in, and she was overjoyed to be presented with one of the organization’s special corn kernel cracking display for her office. She’s pictured here with National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) president Kevin Skunes of North Dakota.

Sen. Heitkamp is obviously a friend of ethanol, speaking out this week against the idea of a cap on Renewable Identification Number (RIN) prices. “If the administration takes this action, it would undercut our farmers and biofuel producers at a time we should be bolstering our renewable fuel industry – not sabotaging it,” Heitkamp said. “While I’ve long pushed for the year-round sale of E15 to support biofuels, the artificial RIN cap reportedly being considered by the administration could tank biofuel prices and cost North Dakota jobs. We must keep fighting for our rural communities and farmers, and I urge the administration to reject a RIN price cap.”

Listen to the senator explain why a RIN cap is a bad deal:
Interview with Sen. Heidi Heitkamp

2018 ACE DC Fly-in Photo Album

ACE, Audio, Ethanol

Bringing Together Soy Food Stakeholders in SE Asia

Carrie Muehling

The U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC) hosted its 13th Annual Southeast Asia Soy Food Symposium in Indonesia, bringing together all stakeholders in the soy food industry in that region.

“Soy food is one of the most important sources of diet for our region, so it has become one of the most important food sources for many of us here. So this event is really a place to build networking between soy suppliers and soy users in the region,” said Dady Maskar, Soy Food Program Manager for USSEC Southeast Asia.

Consumers in the region want tempe and tofu, primarily. Producers face challenges including food safety, hygiene and the ability to source good quality soybeans. Maskar said Indonesia chooses U.S. soybeans because of the quality and the support they get from the U.S. soy industry, including education for producers in that region. This event is an important opportunity for networking between the U.S. soy industry and soy buyers in Indonesia and other southeast Asian countries.

Listen to Jamie’s interview here: Interview with Dady Maskar, USSEC SE Asia

USSEC SE Asia Buyers Conference Photo Album

Audio, Soybean, USSEC