NCBA Names 2018 Beef Quality Assurance Award Winners

Carrie Muehling

2018 BQA Feedyard Award Winner – BLAC-X Farms

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association recognized winners of the 2018 Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) awards at the recent Cattle Industry Convention in Phoenix.

BQA Feedyard Award winner Peter Bakken of BLAC-X Farms, Inc. in Rock County, Minn., said the components of the program, which include low stress animal handling, pharmaceutical use, record keeping and feed management help to set important standards for the industry.

“It’s a standard set of practices that feedyards, whether they’re in Rock County, Minn. or in Little Rock, Ark., can follow the same set of animal raising and care practices so that at the end of the day the steak that’s on the plate or in the meat counter, the consuming public can have confidence that’s in been raised by a standard set of practices that everybody is following, not just us,” said Bakken.

2018 BQA Educator of the Year – Dr. Ron Gill, Texas A&M University

BQA Educator of the Year Dr. Ron Gill said reducing stress is a key component of the program.

“The main thing we’re talking about through livestock handling and stockmanship is to reduce stress on the cattle and the people that are handling them,” said Gill. “If we can reduce stress, we can cut down on sickness rates in those cattle, which allows us to use less antibiotics to treat respiratory disease and other illness. Everything starts kind of rolling together if we can keep stress down.”

Gill said the program offers a self-assessment tool for producers and encouraged more operators to use those tools to evaluate what they are currently doing and to see where they might make improvements.
Read More

Ag Groups, AgWired Animal, Animal Agriculture, Beef, Cattle Industry Conference, NCBA

Animal Ag Bites 2/12

Carrie Muehling

  • The American Hereford Association will open for business Monday, Feb. 5, at its new headquarters location, 11500 N.W. Ambassador Dr., Suite. 410, Kansas City, MO 64153, in the Kansas City Northland. The mailing address for the new location is P.O. Box 901570, Kansas City, MO 64190.
  • NutriQuest has added a number of new team members, including Kenny Seidel as Senior Account Manager for Swine, Petra Chang, Ph.D. as Technical Sales and Service for Swine, and Liang (Ted) Chen, Ph.D. as a Dairy Research Coordinator. NutriQuest Business Solutions welcomes Kevin Christensen as a Consulting CFO serving the Midwest region. Jennifer Brown has also joined NutriQuest Business Solutions as a Consulting CFO.
  • National Cattlemen’s Beef Association offers Part 2 of 4 in its Cattlemen’s Genetics Webinar Series on Thursday, Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. CST. The webinar is titled “Show Me The Money: Are There EPDs For Profit?” Click here to register.
  • The Make It With Wool National Finals celebrated 70 Years on Feb. 3 at the San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter. State winners in the junior and senior divisions gathered to compete for prizes and honors at the 70th annual national finals.
  • All American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) and AQHYA members are invited to attend the AQHA convention as a way to stay involved with the horse industry, have an impact on decisions, voice opinions and learn new things. Click here to register for this year’s convention, scheduled for March 2-5 in Jacksonville, Florida.
  • The American Meat Science Association (AMSA) is excited to announce an additional PORK 101 course to be held in 2018 at the University of Florida March 5-7. The course will be offered March 5-7 at the University of Florida, May 22-24 at Texas A&M University, and October 22-24 at Iowa State University. Click here to register for one of the upcoming courses.
AgWired Animal, Animal Bites

Nebraska Congressman Praises Water for Food Forum

Cindy Zimmerman

Congressman Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE) is very proud of the work that the Water for Food Global Institute at the University of Nebraska has been doing for the future of sustainable agriculture by encouraging the involvement of young people in the industry.

“Agriculture has become cool! I never thought I would see that,” said Fortenberry at the recent Water for Food International Forum at the World Bank. “Agriculture as a leading edge science integrated successfully into a holistic approach to ecology is capturing the imagination of many young people.”

Fortenberry says we are at a tipping point when it comes to natural resources, leading us into what he calls “economic regeneration…a holistic approach to the ecological system is the new thinking and the new dynamic,” he said.

Listen to his remarks at #Water4Food here: Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE)

2018 Water for Food Forum Photos

AgWired Precision, Audio, Farming, Food, International, Water, Water for Food

The Power of Prevention

Jamie Johansen

Prevention truly is key when it comes to herd health. During the NCBA Trade Show in Phoenix, Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) vets were there to discuss the economic proof points on why stopping problems before they started leads to reduced antibiotic use and higher profitability for producers’ operations.

“We are seeing more and more people interested in preventing disease instead of having to treat it. It is very expensive to treat disease. We know if we can prevent diseases the cattle are going to do better, they are going to gain more and be healthier overall,” said BI’s Professional Services Veterinarian, Dr. Peggy Thompson.

Dr. Thompson said when an animal is sick early in life, they are 30-35 pounds lighter at weaning and that impacts a producer’s bottom line. It’s also more than just getting an animal vaccinated, timing is key.

Listen to my complete conversation with Peggy to learn more about the trends in preventative medicine we are seeing today.
Interview with Dr. Peggy Thompson, Boehringer Ingelheim

2018 Cattle Industry Convention & Trade Show Photo Album

Agribusiness, AgWired Animal, Animal Agriculture, Animal Health, Beef, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cattle Industry Conference, NCBA

Manito Transit Acquires Lobdell Transportation

Cindy Zimmerman

Manito Transit of Bloomington, Illinois has acquired the assets of Lobdell Transportation, Inc., a family-owned trucking company based in Lena, Illinois. The acquisition comes with 21 tractor units, 22 fuel tankers, and eight pressure vessels capable of hauling propane and anhydrous ammonia, as well as a two-bay maintenance shop. Manito Transit now operates 120 trucks, serving customers in 13 states.

“We are excited to build new relationships with external customers in this area, while expanding our footprint to better serve our current customer base,” said Brandon Curtis, Manito Transit General Manager. “We remain committed to providing excellent service for our patrons and this acquisition will enhance those efforts.”

Manito Transit, distributes fuel oil, biodiesel, soybean oil, ethanol, chemicals, lube oil, fertilizer, and propane for farm, commercial, and industrial use, serving Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri, Iowa, Ohio, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Minnesota.

I caught up with Brandon yesterday to find out more about this acquisition and what it means for their customers: Interview with Brandon Curtis, Manito Transit

Audio, Biofuels, GROWMARK, transportation

Alltech Research Leads to Changes in Mineral Management

Carrie Muehling

Mineral management is changing, thanks to research in nutrition and genomics. Butch Whitman is an Alltech beef nutritionist who was at the 2018 Cattle Industry Convention and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Trade Show in Phoenix.

Whitman said research at Alltech’s Center for Nutrigenomics and Applied Animal Nutrition looks at how nutrients impact the expression of genes. That includes what nutrients are essential for genes that control the immune system and animal health, feed digestion, growth feed efficiency, or even at the cellular level for composition as far as fat or muscling. Producers can follow Alltech’s Blueprint Beef Nutrition program, targeted for the needs of the animal at various stages of the production cycle.

“What we used to do is feed cattle a feed, we’d see a response and we’d take the next 10 years trying to figure out why. How it worked, what was the right level to feed,” said Whitman. “The [Alltech] Nutrigenomics lab has a lot of applications to producers because it’s identified what we expect to do up front as far as how nutrients impact gene expression. So when we go to the field for either live cattle research, we’re going to the producer or the customer, we’ve got a pretty good idea of what we expect to achieve.”

Whitman said it’s an exciting change in animal nutrition that should bring new technology to customers much more quickly.

Listen to Jamie’s interview with Butch Whitman here: Butch Whitman, Alltech

2018 Cattle Industry Convention & Trade Show Photo Album

Ag Groups, AgWired Animal, Alltech, Animal Agriculture, Audio, Cattle Industry Conference, NCBA, Nutrition

Zimfo Bytes 2/9

Carrie Muehling

  • The Georgia Peanut Commission seeks eligible peanut producers who are interested in serving on the National Peanut Board. GPC will hold a nominations election to select two nominees each for member and alternate to the National Peanut Board during a meeting on Thursday, March 1, 2018 at 1:30 p.m. at the commission headquarters in Tifton, Georgia.
  • The Economics of the Next Farm Bill is the topic to be explored at the Farm Foundation Forum on Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2018. A free live audiocast will be available. Register HERE if you plan to attend the Forum in person at the National Press Club. Register HERE to participate in the live audiocast. Audiocasting is made possible by a grant from Farm Credit.
  • MGEX announces that effective with the February 2018 index roll period, MGEX’s flagship Hard Red Spring Wheat futures contract will be included in the Rogers International Commodity Index.
  • Harvest Returns, an online platform for agriculture investing, has announced the formation of its Business Advisory Board and the appointment of Deb Dunie, Mike Gumina, Adam Hartung, Stephen Joyce, and David Stanton. The Advisory Board’s role will be to provide ongoing counsel and strategic guidance as the company scales its equity crowd-funding platform.
  • Family farmers and ranchers traveling to Kansas City for the National Farmers Union (NFU) 116th Anniversary Convention will have the opportunity to hear from top speakers in American and international agriculture during the four-day conference. The most up-to-date convention information, including a tentative agenda and hotel information, can be found on the NFU website at www.nfu.org/convention.
  • The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service has announced the launch of a new electronic data platform to deliver market price information to the commodities industry. The new web-based platform, Market Analysis and Reporting Services (MARS), uses state-of-the-art technology to present detailed data sets in a more customer-focused way to better support competitive markets for producers and help stabilize food prices for American families.
  • The National Farmers Union and Farmers Union state divisions have developed a digital campaign, complete with a new website, a Farm Bill video, animated short videos, weekly promotions and a petition to raise awareness and generate support for a Farm Bill to be passed this year.
  • Lessing-Flynn has launched a new program called The Good & The Ad Initiative, which aims to provide $25,000 in pro-bono marketing services to one lucky, local non-profit organization. Interested parties are encouraged to visit LessingFlynn.com/Good for additional information and to submit the application, which highlights the vying organization’s background, mission and proposed use of the $25,000 in pro-bono support. Applications will be accepted until March 9, 2018.
  • AgCareers.com will host a workshop on Internship Programs for Success in St. Louis on March 27-28, 2018. For more information or to register, click here.
Zimfo Bytes

John Deere Dealers Develop Applications to Help Growers

Carrie Muehling

Some of the John Deere dealers who attended this year’s Develop with Deere conference are also developers. Ryan Hutchison with South Country Equipment in Regina, Saskatchewan, has been working on the John Deere Field Connect application. The app takes data, applies agronomic knowledge from the grower and the agronomist, and incorporates weather information to develop what he calls “crop intelligence.”

“With our agronomy team and feedback from our growers, we needed to develop a very quick way for growers to get insights that are actionable from Field Connect data that they can make decisions with in season, immediately,” said Hutchison.

South Country Equipment Agronomist Kendall Gee said one example would be calculating water driven yield potential and showing customers where they stand throughout the season so they can make data driven decisions, understanding what is going on below the ground in their fields.

“They’re excited to have an edge over their neighbors, to have some more data to support their decisions,” said Gee. “Many of our customers are very analytical driven. If they have better information to make better decisions, they’re happier campers.”

Gee said even though farmers can’t control the amount of moisture they have in a dryland farming situation, there are many other factors they can control to best manage the crop in any given year.

You can hear Chuck’s interview with Ryan here: Interview with Ryan Hutchison, South Country Equipment

You can hear Chuck’s interview with Kendall here: Interview with Kendall Gee, South Country Equipment

You can find conference photos here: 2018 Develop with Deere Conference Photo Album

AgWired Precision, Audio, John Deere

The Future of Energy

Jamie Johansen

Onalytica, who specialises in providing Influencer Relationship Management software and supporting professional services to help brands, has identified the Top 100 Influencers, Brands & Publications in Energy.

Our team was excited to see Energy.AgWired.com made the list of influencing publications. Formally, Domestic Fuel, Energy.AgWired has been bringing you the news in renewable fuels since September 2005. We have just wrapped up coverage of the 2018 National Biodiesel Conference and will be heading to the 2018 National Ethanol Conference next week. The Ethanol Report and Driving Ethanol podcasts are other great ways to stay-up-to-date on the industry.

Thanks for the recognition Onalytica!

Agribusiness, Biodiesel, Biofuels, Ethanol

Study Shows U.S. Lags Behind in Developing Ag Exports

Cindy Zimmerman

The latest analysis of foreign export promotion program investment shows that several competing countries and the European Union outspent the United States in publicly-funded agricultural export promotion by a margin of four to one in 2016, according to a release from the Coalition to Promote U.S. Agricultural Exports and the Agribusiness Coalition for Foreign Market Development.

The other countries spent close to $1 billion, an increase of 70 percent in real competitive public spending since 2011, while U.S. public funding for the two largest agricultural export promotion programs is about $235 million per year and its real value has declined by 12 percent since 20111.

“An Analysis of EU and Other Selected Foreign Export Promotion Programs,” was commissioned by Wine Institute and other agricultural associations and conducted by Informa Economics, IEG, with Market Access Program funding. With a focus on EU export development investment, Informa Economics also reviewed agricultural export promotion investment by major competitors from Australia, Chile, China, New Zealand and others.

“The total public investment alone from just the EU and four European countries are expected to exceed $550 million in 2019, which is more than twice what the U.S. government authorizes for agricultural export development under the farm bill,” said Mark Powers, president of the Northwest Horticultural Council and chairman of the Coalition to Promote U.S. Agricultural Exports.

The study showed the EU is investing about $300 million per year on wine export promotion alone. Canada and Italy doubled their total annual spending, and Brazil and China tripled their total annual export promotion budgets according to the study.

“Other governments are investing more in global food and agricultural markets while inflation, sequestration and administrative costs are chipping away at U.S. funding,” said Tom Sleight, CEO of U.S. Grains Council, which is a member of the Agribusiness Coalition for Foreign Market Development. “That also cuts into the ability of American family farmers, livestock and dairy producers, fishermen and small agri-food businesses to compete in growing export markets.”

The executive summary of the Informa Economics competitive study, and more in-depth information about MAP and FMD programs and their outcomes, are posted online at www.AgExportsCount.org.

Ag Groups, Exports, Trade