National Farmers Union presented Matt Birgen, Sue Carlson and Janet Nelson with the Meritorious Service Award at the organization’s 116th Anniversary Convention. Birgen, Carlson and Nelson were selected for their outstanding leadership and service to family agriculture and to Farmers Union over the course of their lifetimes.- At the Farm Foundation Forum on Tuesday, March 20, university leaders will explore how challenges and the options used to address them may shape the future of education in food and agriculture. The Forum will begin at 9 a.m. EDT in the Holeman Lounge at the National Press Club, 529 14th Street NW, Washington, D.C. A free live audiocast will also be available.
- See China and get a greater understanding of the country’s agricultural sector! The National Association of Farm Broadcasting’s Farm Broadcasters and Friends trip to China is scheduled for June 21-July 4, 2018. Contact NAFB Executive Director Tom Brand at tom@nafb.com or (816) 431-4032 to add your name to the list and get additional information.
- McKenna Nielsen, of Audubon, Iowa, received the 2018-19 Soy Scholarship award, sponsored by BASF and the American Soybean Association. The scholarship is a $5,000 award presented to an exceptional high school senior who excels in both academics and in leadership roles, and plans to pursue a degree in an agriculture-related field at an accredited college or university.
- March is National Peanut Month! The Georgia peanut industry plans to celebrate by hosting the 2018 Georgia PB&J Day at the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta, Georgia, and donating 10,080 jars of peanut butter to the Atlanta Community Food Bank. The event kicks off Monday morning March 12, 2018, and will be held in the south wing of the Capitol from 9:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m.
- On April 10-11, 2018, Farm Foundation and USDA’s Economic Research Service will bring together applied researchers and rural infrastructure stakeholders to examine the impact of rural infrastructure investments on economic activity and policy-related research findings. The workshop will be at the National Press Club, with sessions planned 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, April 10, and 8:30 a.m. to noon on Wednesday, April 11. For registration information, click here.
- After 134 years of its annual convention each June, the American Seed Trade Association has taken a bold step in 2018. Registration is now open for the inaugural Policy & Leadership Development Conference.
Transparency Key for Ag Data
As more and more equipment will gather information for its farmer customers, John Deere is taking that data and the questions about privacy that go along with it very seriously.
“Data is becoming increasingly important for our customers. If you look over the past five years, data has really become a prominent part of the conversation, because customers understand how it can be utilized to make their operation better,” said Matt Olsen, product marketing manager for precision agriculture.
Olsen said the company recognizes that with the transfer of information comes privacy concerns for farmers. John Deere is working to maintain integrity through this age of information in a number of ways, including recent certification as an American Farm Bureau Ag Data Transparent company. The certification allows customers to better understand how their data is being used by the provider.
Listen to Jamie’s interview with Matt here: Interview with Matt Olsen, John Deere
John Deere at 2018 Commodity Classic Photo Album
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Rest in Peace Dr. Pearse Lyons
Right now I am saddened and in shock after learning of the passing of Dr. Pearse Lyons, Alltech. There is so much I can say about this man and what he meant to me personally. I considered him a friend, teacher and supporter.
Some thoughts that come to mind include:
I’ve met many successful people but Pearse has to be one of the best entrepreneurial salesmen I ever met. Pearse always took time to visit with me even when I knew his schedule was tight and other people were waiting. He had a fantastic memory for details and would ask me about my family and business and offer suggestions if I asked him. He always seemed to be looking beyond the current moment but that moment was also very important to him. He was genuine and I believed what he said and meant and that he did too.
He was a perfectionist (which could annoy people in the hall outside of the general session at his symposium who were waiting to get in while he perfected the program). He enjoyed good whiskey, beer and bourbon so he bought a brewery and built a distillery. He was a leader with endless energy. He had a great sense of humor and could sing better than I ever could or will. He taught me that good marketing was done through education.
Several years ago I sat down with Pearse for my favorite interview with him during which we talk about his 30 years of building a company one of the finest company customer events I’ve ever attended. Perhaps you will enjoy hearing it today: ZimmCast with Dr. Pearse Lyons
You can learn more about the life of Dr. Pearse Lyons, including arrangements, in this page put together by his company, Alltech.
I have taken lots of photos of Dr. Lyons, along with Jamie and Cindy too. You can find many of them in our Alltech event albums online here.
DowDuPont™ Ag Division to Become Corteva Agriscience™
The Agriculture Division of DowDuPont™ will someday become a stand-alone company under restructuring and the name was revealed during last week’s Commodity Classic to be Corteva Agriscience™ (kohr-‘teh-vah), which is derived from a combination of words meaning “heart” and “nature.”
Vice President of Public Policy and Chief Sustainability Officer Krysta Harden said during the general session that it took months to come up with the name. “We wanted a name that means something,” she said. “So the name means heart of the earth, or heart of nature.”
The division will be called Corteva – the ag division of DowDuPont until the intended company is spun-off, which is expected to happen by June 1, 2019.
Listen to Harden’s comments here:
Krysta Harden, Corteva, at Commodity Classic
2018 Commodity Classic Photo Album
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FMC Expands Portfolio & In Hiring Mode
No doubt the FMC team is excited about the aquciaiton of the DuPont product line. Strong brands were brought over in insecticies, fungicides and herbicides. FMC Regional Business Manager, Chris Reats, shared more on the growth of the FMC portfolio at the recent Mid-South Farm & Gin Show.
“It’s been a great transition. We just got into this last November and we are through the hard parts. Here in March 2018, we feel like we are a long way along the way. We have a really great company this year,” Reats said.
As the business side of FMC expands, so do options for growers. “We hope it will be a positive thing they will experience. Traditionally, FMC has been a pretty lean company as far as representation. This new acquisition has allowed us to be right staffed. We have more people in the geographies to help us serve. You will see more of us in the field. The people we have brought on are super and we are actually in a hiring mode,” Reats said.
Learn more about the growing FMC portfolio and expansion here: Interview with Chris Reats, FMC
View and download photos from the event here: 2018 Farm & Gin Show Photo Album
Coverage of the Mid-South Farm & Gin Show is sponsored by
USFRA Launches engAGe App to Help Advocate Online
In in a proactive effort to bring farmers and ranchers into the mainstream conversation about food and ag-related issues, U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance® (USFRA) has launched engAGe – a new app to give farmers, ranchers and advocates a turnkey tool in sharing their story on social media.
This platform allows users to easily stay abreast of current news in agriculture and broadens relevant content to their social media channels with a simple click. It’s easy to download and integrates with social media accounts to strengthen agriculturalists’ voices and share a united message.
“Agriculture has an opportunity to come together and proactively elevate the voices of farmers, ranchers and agriculturalists on social media,” says Brad Greenway, USFRA Chairman and South Dakota diversified crop and animal farmer. “We know through USFRA research that consumers are interested in how their food is grown and raised. It’s our responsibility to take 5-10 minutes a day to join the dialogue on social media and share our story while we’re in the fields and in our barns.”
The news feed within the app allows users to publish stories and posts to their own social media networks. engAGe also encourages farmers, ranchers and advocates to network with others, so if someone has a video, photo, link or story they want to share, it can be posted and distributed to the entire engAGe community.
How to download engAGe:
– To join, search “Dynamic Signal” in either iTunes or Google Play and download the free app.
– Once you download and open the app, enter the engAGe community code: ENGAGE (not case sensitive).
– Once you type in the community code, you will be able to create an engAGe account.
– For further instructions, or to download a manual, visit fooddialogues.com/engAGe
Listen to the audio tutorial and watch the video below with USFRA Digital Marketing Manager Liz Ireland below: engAGe App Tutorial
2018 Commodity Classic Photo Album
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Soybean Leader Hoping to Replace Bill Northey
ASA President John Heisdorffer (left) presents Ray Gaesser with the Distinguished Leadership Award. Photo credit: Joe Murphy
Last week at Commodity Classic, the former American Soybean Association (ASA) president from Corning, Iowa received the organization’s Distinguished Leadership Award for his years of service to the industry on the state and national level. Gaesser also participated in a grower perspective panel at the Bayer AgVocacy Forum, where he talked about the importance of advocating for agriculture. “One of the ways is to really share what we’re doing on the farm,” he said. “Folks want to know more about their food and how we grow it.”
Gaesser shared the panel with farmers Kyle Tom of Indiana; Nancy Kavazanjian from Wisconsin; Jacob Wagers, Golden Grain Farms in Colorado; Vince Restucci with R.D. Offutt Company in North Dakota; and Meagan Kaiser, PAL Farm Management LLC, Missouri.
During an interview at the forum, Gaesser talked about why he is running for Iowa agriculture secretary. “I’m really passionate about agriculture, it’s all I’ve ever wanted to do,” said Gaesser. “I just want to be able to give back from all the benefits I’ve had as a farmer for 40 years in Iowa.” Gaesser has been on some 50 trade missions to help promote agricultural exports, which are vitally important for Iowa farmers. “Those relationships that you build are really important in these times when there’s lots of competition.”
Listen to that interview here: Interview with Ray Gaesser, Iowa farmer
Listen to the panel from the Agvocacy forum here: Grower Perspectives Panel
2018 Bayer AgVocacy and Commodity Classic Photo Album
Photos, video, and audio interviews from Bayer at Commodity Classic 
Aptimmune Shares Vaccine Success
Aptimune Biologics is fighting swine disease with vaccines formulated especially for Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome virus and influenza. In 2017, the company introduced the BARRICADE formulation technology. A recent symposium in San Diego gave veterinarians who have been conducting field trials with that mucosal vaccine to share how the product is performing.
“The reality is that we’ve got to know more about our product than anybody, and it doesn’t always work so it’s important for us to distinguish when it’s appropriate to use and when it doesn’t work as well so we can educate people when they’re making product choices,” said Aaron Gilbertie, Aptimune CEO.
Gilbertie reported about an 85 percent success rate for the BARRICADE vaccine, with more trials in progress.
Listen to Chuck’s interview with Aaron here: Interview with Aaron Gilbertie, Aptimmune
Farmers Slightly Optimistic About 2018
After a couple of tough years, farmers attending this year’s Commodity Classic in Anaheim were hopeful of better days ahead when it comes to the economics of their operations.
“I think what we’re hearing here is some slight optimism,” said Tom Sloma, Jr., Senior Vice President of Financial Services at Farm Credit Mid-America. “The last three years have been a challenge, I think, for lots of operations. They had the low commodity prices, and what does that mean to their operation? How do we come out of some of the very best years we’ve had about five or six years ago and adjust the operations appropriately so that we can make sure we have staying power for the next three to five years? And as things cycle in agriculture, we’ll come out of this and then look at how to grow those operations either for ourselves or for the next generation that comes into farming.”
Sloma said now is the time for farmers to plan their financial forecasts for the next year. He encouraged them to get that meeting on the calendar and then revisit the plan quarterly to ensure the business strategy they have in place is viable for the long term.
Listen to Chuck’s interview with Tom here: Interview with Tom Sloma, Jr., Farm Credit Mid-America
Farm Credit at 2018 Commodity Classic Photo Album
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2018 National Farm Machinery Show Sets Records
The 2018 National Farm Machinery Show (NFMS) saw an increase in attendance and ticket sales and a record number of new exhibitors and exhibit sales.
Over 314,000 attendees packed the Kentucky Exposition Center for the four-day event that celebrated 53 years of providing the agricultural industry’s latest and most comprehensive display of equipment, services and technology. With the largest number of exhibitors in its history, NFMS spanned more than 1.3 million square feet filling 920 booths, for an increase of 40 exhibitors.
Celebrating its 50th anniversary, the Championship Tractor Pull attendance was the largest number in recent history. Over 67,000 tickets were sold to the five performances in Freedom Hall. During the Saturday night finals, a ceremony honored past participants and the organizers of the first tractor pull. In a half-century of growth, the invitation-only tractor pull now draws the nation’s top drivers competing for the title of Grand Champion and more than $200,000 in prize money.
In case you missed it, you can find photos, audio and video in the NFMS18 virtual newsroom, sponsored by FMC and John Deere.
2018 National Farm Machinery Show Photo Album
Coverage of the National Farm Machinery Show is sponsored by
