Survey Spurs Farm Groups to Action on Opioid Crisis

Carrie Muehling

Two of the nation’s largest farm groups plan to work together in response to staggering numbers released in a recent survey on opioid abuse in rural America.

The Morning Consult survey shows farmers and ranchers are more affected than the rest of their rural neighbors, with 74 percent confirming they’ve been directly impacted by opioid abuse. The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) and National Farmers Union together sponsored the survey, and those groups will collaborate on how to fight opioid addiction on America’s farms and ranches.

“This is a new challenge,” said Will Rodger, director of policy communications for AFBF. “It’s not the boll weevil, it’s not the Dust Bowl, but it’s something just as tough and something just as potentially fatal, and we need to start getting moving on this.”

Rodger said the groups don’t have a specific plan in place just yet, but the process will begin with conversations.

“You can’t beat this problem unless you address it. The worst thing we can do is to judge people for mistakes that they or others may have made. The best thing we can do is to get them the help that they so desperately need,” said Rodger.

Listen to the full interview here: Interview with Will Rodger, AFBF

AFBF, AgWired Precision, Audio

New Ag Retailers Chair Has Game Plan

Cindy Zimmerman

New ARA chair John Oster; outgoing chair Tim McArdle, CEO Daren Coppock

The new chairman of the Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) says 2017 was a championship year for the organization and he hopes to sustain that excellence moving forward.

John Oster with Morral Companies in Ohio says one area where ARA will be very active in the coming year is in development of the new farm bill. “Although we are a small percentage of the total outlay for the farm bill, what we do is extremely important,” he said in an interview after the passing of the ARA gavel to him from Tim McArdle.

Oster says they want to work closely with new administration officials such as Sonny Perdue and Scott Pruitt on regulations impacting the industry, and do an even better job of telling agriculture’s winning story.

Listen to Chuck’s interview with Oster here: Interview with new ARA chair John Oster, Morral Companies

2017 ARA Conference and Expo Photo Album

ARA, Audio

New White Paper Explores Opportunities for U.S. Ag in Cuba

Jamie Johansen

Two leading advocates for normalizing trade with Cuba announced the release of a new white paper, Opportunities for U.S. Agriculture in Cuba: A White Paper, that examines how 16 farm states could benefit if the U.S. repeals longstanding restrictions on food sales to the island nation.

The paper was produced by Cuba Trade Magazine and the U.S. Agriculture Coalition for Cuba (USACC) and is based on research analysis provided by the University of Florida and Texas A&M. The analysis uses current and historical data from national and state farm bureaus, federal agriculture agencies, academic analysts, and the Cuban government to illustrate the potential net benefits to U.S. states with the greatest potential for agriculture sales to Cuba.

“This white paper provides some of the most convincing evidence to date regarding the detrimental effects that the U.S trade sanctions on Cuba trade are having on America’s pocketbook,” said Cuba Trade Magazine Publisher Richard Roffman. “The negative impact that these trade barriers continue to impose on agriculture—extensive as they are—in fact can be multiplied across all of America’s industrial sectors. For this reason, we believe policymakers soon will see the great value—to the United States and Cuba alike—in rescinding these constraints and reopening the natural flow of trade.”

“The research contained in this report provides a state-by-state look at missed opportunities,” said USACC co-chair Paul Johnson. “This white paper paints a clear picture of the benefits that U.S. farm states could be enjoying if not for the unfair barriers imposed by outdated U.S. trade policy. We believe this paper will help reignite momentum to the growing effort—in both the public and private sectors—to finally make open trade with Cuba a reality.”

Listen to the press conference on white paper here: IPress Conference on Opportunities for U.S. Ag in Cuba

Ag Groups, Audio, International, Trade

Agriculture Secretary Addresses Ag Retailers

Cindy Zimmerman

Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue topped off the ARA Conference and Expo on Thursday in Phoenix, covering a broad range of topics in his comments including tax reform, de-regulation, trade, food security, infrastructure, school lunches and the farm bill.

Perdue, who noted his past experience in the fertilizer business and with ARA’s predecessor organization, the National Fertilizer Solutions Association, talked extensively about the tax reform bill currently under debate in the Senate. He encouraged those in the business of agriculture to contact their representatives in Washington, D.C., to communicate their corporate and individual interests.

“Farming is a great lifestyle, but you don’t get to do it very long as a lifestlye if you don’t make money at it,” he said. “You need to speak through your associations, but you also need to speak independently. Talk to your members of Congress and let them know what’s on your mind. Weigh in on what you like about (the tax reform bill), what you don’t like about it.”

Perdue also stressed the need for development of rural broadband to maximize technological innovations within agriculture. Precision agriculture depends on broadband everywhere, he said.

Watch the video below.

Listen to or download his entire remarks and press gaggle –
Secretary Perdue at ARA2017
Secretary Perdue press gaggle


2017 ARA Conference and Expo Photo Album

AgWired Animal, AgWired Precision, ARA, Audio, USDA

American Veal Commits to Innovation, Collaboration & Quality

Jamie Johansen

The American Veal Association (AVA) represents milk-fed veal producers and those members are small family farms. We were able to learn more about the organization and its vision of being a source of information and collaboration to customers about the high-quality, safe and nutritious veal their members provide and its mission of leading advocacy efforts that engage the industry in delivering on their commitment to innovation, collaboration and quality.

“We are out there working on policy issues and promotion of the image of the industry, especially the changes we have made in the last 10 years,” AVA President, Dale Bakke said while at the National Association of Farm Broadcasting’s Trade Talk.

One of those changes is the move to group pens. Bakke said the end of 2017 was the deadline for all AVA members to make the switch. They now want to spread the word and inform consumers of the benefits.

Another involves the amount of veal being imported from the European Union. Bakke said they do not consider it fair trade and want to make sure policy leaders understand the detriment it will have on American veal.

Listen to my complete interview with Dale as we continue trade talks and more about AVA’s role here: Interview with Dale Bakke, American Veal Association

View and download photos here: 2017 NAFB Convention Photos

Coverage of the NAFB Convention is sponsored by
Coverage of the NAFB Convention is sponsored by FMC
Ag Groups, AgWired Animal, Animal Agriculture, Audio, Beef, Livestock, NAFB

Zimfo Bytes 12/1

Carrie Muehling

    • Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue has announced the appointment of 19 members and 3 alternate members to serve on the United Soybean Board. The board is composed of 73 members representing 29 states and Eastern and Western regions.
    • Texas Governor Greg Abbott joined officials from Kubota Tractor Corporation, Commissioner John Sharp and local elected leaders in Fulton, Texas to announce a $1 million dollar donation of funds and equipment from Kubota to the Hurricane Harvey relief effort.
    • The International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) has opened the application process for the 2018 IFAJ/Alltech Young Leaders Award. Each of IFAJ’s 43-member guilds may submit one nominee for the prestigious award, which recognizes outstanding young journalists who demonstrate great potential to become leaders in the agricultural journalism industry. The online application must be completed by January 12, 2018.

    • A record number of equipment manufacturing industry companies were recognized for their outstanding commitment to advocacy efforts on behalf of the industry at the Association of Equipment Manufacturers’ (AEM) recent Annual Conference. Thirty companies received AEM’s highest honor for their participation in I Make America, the association’s national grassroots campaign that advances the equipment manufacturing industry’s policy priorities. Twenty-two companies were recognized as Gold level supporters of I Make America, while an additional eight companies were honored as Legacy Award winners for reaching Gold level for five consecutive years.

    • Introducing the new RURAL TV app, now available on Amazon! The RURAL TV app is compatible with Amazon FireTV and Amazon FireStick products and includes hours of great programming in the Western Sports, rural lifestyle, entertainment, agriculture, and equine genre catagory. Customers can customize the programming by purchasing the exclusive genre packages which start at $2.99 a month, or customers can get all programming genres for just $9.99 a month.

    • Walmart has joined the Cotton LEADS program supporting responsible production practices by cotton growers. Walmart joins more than 480 companies worldwide which recognize both the environmental gains cotton growers in Australia and the United States continue to achieve and their commitment to meeting the challenge of growing sustainable cotton.
    • The Georgia Peanut Commission hosted a photo contest June 7-Oct. 1, 2017, to fill the pages of the 2018 Georgia Peanut Calendar, “Photos from the Field.”

 

Zimfo Bytes

ZimmCast from #ARA2017

Cindy Zimmerman

This ZimmCast comes to you from the 25th annual Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) conference and expo in Phoenix. Chuck interviews ARA communications director Brian Reuwee, provides comments from BASF and Monsanto representatives about dicamba in 2018, and shares the comments of ARA’s retailer of the year award winners.

Brian was actually the subject of the ZimmCast at this time in 2014, back in Chuck’s Google glass phase. This is the fourth year that ZimmComm has attended the ARA conference to produce content, especially photos, and this year we also shot board and staff photos for the organization – a new service we have been offering lately.

Check out the 2017 ARA Conference and Expo Photo Album and the AgNewsWire virtual newsroom for the ARA conference.

Listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast 567 from the 25th Ag Retailers conference

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.
ARA, ZimmCast

Biofuels Industry Reacts to Final RVO Numbers

Cindy Zimmerman

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released today its final Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) renewable volume obligations (RVOs) for 2018.

The agency finalized a total renewable fuel volume of 19.29 billion gallons, including 4.29 billion advanced biofuel – a slight increase from the proposal – and 288 million gallons of cellulosic biofuel. The agency maintained the requirement for conventional renewable fuels like corn ethanol at 15 billion gallons. EPA also kept the requirement for biomass-based diesel at 2.1 billion gallons again for 2019.

Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Bob Dinneen says they are pleased that the final rule maintains the statutory requirement for ethanol. “The final rule is a marked improvement, increasing both total renewable fuel and cellulosic biofuel volumes by 50 million gallons over the proposed levels. Still, we would encourage EPA to closely monitor the commercialization of new cellulosic technologies, particularly regarding corn kernel fiber conversion, because we believe greater cellulosic production is likely. The RFS needs to remain a forward-looking program, driving investment in these new technologies.”

Hear Dinneen’s comments: RFA CEO Bob Dinneen comments on Final RVO

Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor – “The EPA’s on-time announcement upholds the statutory targets for conventional biofuels, which will provide much-needed certainty for hard-pressed rural communities. We would like to have seen a boost to the target blending levels for cellulosic biofuels, and we will continue to work with the administration to advance the RFS goal of further stimulating growth and showing U.S. leadership in 21st century fuels.”

Skor’s comments: Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor comments on Final RVO

American Coalition for Ethanol CEO Brian Jennings says the advanced biofuel volume of 4.29 billion gallons “represents a modest step in the right direction for the RFS” to “reassure retailers that it makes sense to offer E15 and flex fuels.”

Jennings’s comments – ACE CEO Brian Jennings comments on Final RVO

National Biodiesel Board chief operating officer Doug Whitehead says the industry is disappointed in the final numbers but optimistic moving forward “to right this wrong for future volumes.”

Whitehead’s comments – NBB's Doug Whitehead comments on Final RVO

Audio, Biodiesel, Biofuels, Ethanol, RFA

AMVAC® to Market and Sell ReTurn™ XL

Cindy Zimmerman

AMVAC® Chemical Corporation has signed an exclusive distribution agreement with Rotam North America to market and sell ReTurn™ XL 42% insecticide/nematicide, a broad-spectrum oxymyl-based crop protection product which recently received federal registration to manage nematodes and control various sucking and chewing insects in potato, cotton, tobacco and peanut crops.

“AMVAC has been selected because of their long and successful history of crop protection sales, marketing and stewardship in specialty crops. It’s the right partnership to bring this product to key crop segments,” said Rotam North America Vice President of Global Marketing and Business Communications Tom Chavez.

AMVAC Vice President of Business Development and Marketing Peter Eilers said they are excited about the agreement. “We are well-aligned to market this product to specialty crop segments, and we will be working directly with distributors and retailers to ensure that the product gets into the hands of the grower in 2018,” said Eilers.

ReTurn XL includes two-way foliar and soil systemic activity for above and below ground protection, making it an excellent pest management option for growers. It allows for optimal control of key pests so that cotton, potato and peanut plants get off to their best start, helping to maximize the grower’s yield and return on investment.

AgWired Precision, AMVAC, Crop Protection, Insecticides

FBN Launches E-Commerce Platform

Carrie Muehling

Farmers have another option when it comes to buying inputs with a new e-commerce platform offered by Farmers Business Network (FBN).

FBN currently encompasses more than 16 million acres of farmland across the United States growing a variety of crops. FBN Vice President Charles Baron said customers can now buy inputs online with national pricing and financing programs to provide more transparency for growers.

“Buyers come to us wanting very specific genetics or very specific varieties of soybean, for example, or wanting a non-GMO crop,” said Baron. “If a grower is participating in FBN, then we can instantly identify them and bring them those opportunities as soon as we can get them from buyers. We’re out there working with buyers all across the country and all across the world to bring new premiums and bring offers for their crop.”

Baron said members can share data about agronomic practices, seed performance and price intelligence regarding seed and crop protection products. FBN also recently launched a crop marketing service.

Listen to Chuck’s interview from NAFB Trade Talk: Interview with Charles Baron, FBN

2017 NAFB Convention Photos

Coverage of the NAFB Convention is sponsored by
Coverage of the NAFB Convention is sponsored by FMC
Audio, NAFB