This greeting comes to you from the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ).
Best wishes to all IFAJ members for a warm holiday season and a peaceful and prosperous 2018.
Thank you for your vital work in helping farmers feed their families, their communities and the world.
Best Regards,
Owen Roberts
President, IFAJ
Andy Jones
Brian Hora
GROWMARK reported $7.3 billion in sales for fiscal year 2017, up from $7.0 billion in 2016. The company shows a pretax income of $91 million, down from $116 million the previous year.
“The fiscal year was not without its challenges, with economic conditions putting continued pressure on farm net incomes,” said GROWMARK CEO Jim Spradlin. “Warm winter weather lowered demand for home heat, and the challenges of Hurricane Harvey on the energy supply chain impacted energy results. Crop Nutrients endured a devaluation of nitrogen products during the peak spring season. Crop Protection and Seed had record or near record results. Retail Supplies and Grain had improved operations year-over-year.”
The company distributed estimated patronage refunds of $59 million to its members in a combination of cash and stock, followed by stock redemption. Highlights included record chemical sales in the Crop Protection and Crop Nutrients Divisions, record-high bushel volume and improved earning compared to 2016 reported by Retail Grain Units, higher sales volumes in the Energy Division compared to the previous year, and an uptick in soybean seed sales. Corn sales were down slightly compared to 2016.
GROWMARK has also added two new faces to its Board of Directors. Brian Hora of Ainsworth, Iowa, operates a 650-acre corn and soybean farm and has served as a director of AGRILAND FS since 2000. Andy Jones operates a 2,100-acre cash grain enterprise in Bloomdale, Ohio. He currently serves as chairman of the board at Legacy Farmers Cooperative, an FS company based in Findlay, Ohio.
Midwest farmers now have another source for local grain prices. The Brownfield Mobile application, available to iPhone and Android users, now provides cash bids and basis levels for the five nearest grain elevators when farmers enter a zip code. Data is updated after the close of the Chicago Board of Trade each day. The free app is available from iTunes or the Google Play store.
Brownfield provides agriculture-related information through a variety of platforms, including more than 450 affiliate radio stations, as well as several social media outlets and digital channels. Serving farmers for 45 years, Brownfield has one of the oldest agriculture news radio networks in the country.
Our House of Representatives again passed the GOP Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, H.R. 1 (115) today after a re-vote. And agriculture is beginning to chime in.
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway (TX-11) praised House passage and said, “Today, Congress has delivered the fairer, simpler tax code that American families and small businesses deserve. This historic tax relief package both simplifies our broken system and sets the economy on a course to stimulate growth and create jobs. As chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, I’m pleased that Chairman Brady and his team have produced a bill that acknowledges the unique tax challenges faced by those in agriculture. From lower marginal rates to the treatment of pass-through income to improved small business expensing, this bill delivers for farmers, ranchers and all rural America.”
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today said, “This is a once-in-a-generation reform of the federal tax code and it comes just in time to be an eagerly awaited Christmas present for taxpayers. Having traveled through our nation’s heartland for most of this year, I know that the hard-working, tax-paying people of American agriculture need relief. Most family farms are run as small businesses, and they should be able to keep more of what they earn to reinvest in their operations and take care of their families. Simplifying the tax code and easing the burden on citizens will free them up to make choices for themselves, create jobs, and boost the overall American economy. I thank President Trump for his leadership, and commend Congress for being responsive to the people.”
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s (NCBA) Beltway Beef podcast was also centered around this hot topic impacting agriculture. Listen to NCBA’s Director of Government Affairs Danielle Beck discuss it’s impact on U.S. cattlemen and women.Beltway Beef with Danielle Beck
The Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion & Research Board (CBB) has named Scott Stuart of Colorado as the new chief executive officer, effective February 1, 2018.
“The beef industry is very complex,” notes Brett Morris, CBB chairman from Ninnekah, Oklahoma. “Scott has the background and understanding to bring all those pieces together to help producers meet their goal of promoting beef and getting the most value from their checkoff dollar”.
“The outstanding work he has done with National Livestock Producers Association (NLPA) illustrates the type of CEO we were looking for to fulfill the expectations we had.
“Scott is a visionary with a strong ability to be very productive. He is thorough and productive, with an immense amount of enthusiasm for this industry. I am most excited about his cowboy background. He will resonate with farmers and ranchers from all over the country, helping them to better understand the benefits of their beef checkoff investments,” Morris added.
Stuart has an extensive background in the livestock industry, including board management and as a contractor to the beef board. He currently serves as the President and CEO of the National Livestock Producers Association (NLPA), which comprises several regional livestock marketing cooperatives marketing over 2.5 million cattle annually. He graduated from Colorado State University with a degree in Agriculture Business and completed a law degree at the University of Wyoming.
Diseases like Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS) and Soybean Cyst Nematode (SCN) continue to plague soybean growers to the tune of $1.6 billion per year, based on USDA 2016–2017 marketing year projection for average soybean price of $9.10 per bushel. Those two diseases contribute to the largest number of bushels lost for soybean farmers, who sometimes don’t even realize disease is present.
“Much like Soybean Cyst Nematode, you might not see those visual symptoms of Sudden Death Syndrome, because SDS is a soil-borne pathogen, so we can have that root rot occur – the actual pathogen enters through the root system and can have root rot occur – and then toxins are produced by the fungus in the root system and that is what creates the foliar symptoms,” said Jeremiah Mullock, seed growth product development manager with Bayer. “The expression of those foliar symptoms and toxin production are based on the environment during the growing season.”
Mullock said that’s why seed treatments like Bayer’s ILeVO are becoming more important, especially at a time when resistant soybean varieties are not always getting the job done against SCN, in particular. He said ILeVO provides protection beginning at planting, creating a larger root mass and ultimately increasing yield.
Learn more in Cindy’s interview from the recent ASTA CSS 2017 and Seed Expo: Interview with Jeremiah Mullock, Bayer
Next month, for the first time in 26 years, the President of the United States will address the membership of the largest general farm organization in the country.
Donald J. Trump, the 45th president of the United States, will address farm and ranch families from across the nation at the American Farm Bureau Federation’s 99th Annual Convention, Jan. 5-10 in Nashville, Tenn. It was January 13, 1992 when the 41st president of the United States, George H.W. Bush, addressed the AFBF 73rd annual convention in Kansas City, Missouri.
That was just two weeks after Chuck and I had uprooted our Florida family and moved them to Missouri to work for the Brownfield Network. Lynn Ketelsen and I were chosen for some reason to anchor the live audio feed of President Bush’s speech, delivered via satellite to radio stations. That was where I first heard the pronunciation Missour-uh for the Show Me State and wondered if I had been pronouncing it wrong all my life. The scanned photo here is the best I could find in my archives – which is a box in the attic.
Searching on-line for photos from the event, I did find the video of the address on C-SPAN, and the text of the speech from the American Presidency Project. Two of President Bush’s main themes were international trade and tax reform, which are likely to dominate President Trump’s remarks as well. President Bush actually addressed the AFBF annual convention twice – the first time in 1990, which C-SPAN also has archived.
This is pretty fun to watch – and thanks to C-SPAN for keeping such an extensive archive and being a good use of our tax dollars!
BRANDT has announced that Randy Blackburn has joined the U.S. ag sales team as Territory Sales Manager for the Northeast region. Randy has over 25 years of ag sales experience in the northeastern U.S. Prior to BRANDT, Randy managed customer development for Meherrin Chemical and spent 15 years in customer development for WinField Solutions and 10 years in sales and retail management for CPS.
The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) has named the 2017 winners in its popular National Corn Yield Contest (NCYC). Five national entries surpassed the 400-plus bushel mark in the contest again this year.
The 18 winners in six production categories had verified yields averaging more than 386 bushels per acre, compared to the projected national average of 175.4 bushels per acre in 2017. While there is no overall contest winner, yields from first, second and third place farmers overall production categories topped out at 542.2740.
That 542-plus bushels is another world record, set by the previous world record holder David Hula of Virginia. The new record yield was accomplished using Pioneer® P1197AM™ brand corn and breaks his 2015 record of 532 bushels per acre. Pioneer is proud to say that nine national and 191 state NCYC awards for 2017 are going to growers using Pioneer® brand products in their contest entry.
NCGA will honor this year’s winners during Commodity Classic 2018 in Anaheim, Calif. Find the complete list of state and national winners at www.ncga.com. The NCGA National Corn Yield Contest is in its 53rd year.
The Soil Health Partnership (SHP) is expanding its program thanks to a large investment made by the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR) and matched by other donors.
The FFAR, a nonprofit established in the 2014 Farm Bill, awarded a $9.4 million grant to SHP, the Soil Health Institute, and The Nature Conservancy. The grant is being matched by General Mills, Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham Environmental Trust, Midwest Row Crop Collaborative, Monsanto, Nestlé Purina PetCare Company, The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, Walmart Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation, and individual donors for a total investment of nearly $20 million.
National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) director of soil health and sustainability Nick Goeser says the grant represents one of the largest investments ever made in soil health. “It will allow us to expand our program to include more farmers who want to benefit from our body of work analyzing how practices like growing cover crops, reducing tillage and using advanced nutrient management can help family farms survive and thrive,” said Goeser, who also serves as director of SHP, which is an initiative of NCGA
The partnership, which is a farmer-led initiative that fosters transformation in agriculture through improved soil health, has already expanded to 111 farms in 12 states a year ahead of schedule and hired two new field managers. Abigail Peterson and Alex Fiock will help manage the growing number of farmers enrolled in the program in Illinois and Indiana.
In this interview, Goeser talks about the growth of SHP, as well as the upcoming 4th annual Soil Health Summit. Interview with Nick Goeser, Soil Health Partnership director
