Congressmen Talk Farm Bill at Peanut Meeting

Cindy Zimmerman

U.S. Representatives Mike Rogers (R-AL) and Austin Scott (R-GA) both shared their perspectives on the new administration, gridlock in Congress, and the outlook for a 2018 farm bill at the 2017 Southern Peanut Growers Conference Saturday.

“It’s going to be a tough fight, I don’t want anybody to fool themselves,” said Rep. Rogers about getting the next farm bill passed in Congress. He says he would like to see the legislation – which is about 80 percent nutrition programs – split, just to see who votes for or against. “Neither one of them will pass on their own, but it’ll show us who our friends are.”

Rep. Scott says his number one concern is to make sure “we don’t get splits between the commodity groups and within the commodity groups” with respect to farm programs. “I think one of the big debates in the farm bill will be planted acres versus base acres, I can tell you it’s coming,” he said. “Permanent law versus temporary law is another issue that we’re going to have some honest discussion about.”

Other topics the Congressmen addressed in their remarks and interview afterwards include infrastructure legislation, the recent farm bill listening session held in Florida, and cottonseed legislation.

Check out the SPGC Blog for full conference coverage
Southern Peanut Growers Conference Photo Album

Listen or download audio:
Reps. Mike Rogers and Austin Scott address peanut farmers
Interview with Reps. Rogers and Scott
Watch the video:


AgWired Precision, Audio, Farm Bill, Peanuts, SPGC

Peanut Growers Navigating the Marketplace

Cindy Zimmerman

The theme for the 19th annual Southern Peanut Growers Conference theme is Navigating the Marketplace and this marks the 10th year in a row for us to attend and populate the conference blog for this great group of farmers from Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi.

This is the second year the event has been held at the Sandestin Resort on Florida’s emerald coast. There is lots of farm bill talk going on here with Reps. Mike Rogers (R-AL) and Austin Scott (R-GA) on the program and we’ll learn more about what’s behind the “Peanut Program Works” campaign.

Florida Peanut Producers Association Executive Director Ken Barton talks about what is in store at this year’s meeting, and how the Florida peanut crop is doing. Interview with Ken Barton, Florida Peanut Producers

Southern Peanut Growers Conference Photo Album

Check out the SPGC Blog for full coverage

Audio, Peanuts, SPGC

ZimmCast with FLM Harvest CEO

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast 553We recently published the announcement about the Harvest PR & Marketing acquisition by FLM+ and I thought it would be interesting to have a conversation with Rob McClelland, president/CEO, of what will now be known as FLM Harvest. So, that’s this week’s program. Rob and I have a conversation about how this deal came to be and what it means to the future growth of the agency and the services it offers to client companies and organizations. Here is what the announcement said to describe it.

“We have watched and admired the growth and business strategy of Harvest for some time,” said Rob McClelland, president/CEO of FLM Harvest. “This acquisition will help us realize a long-standing goal to fully build out a farmer-driven food practice, and have more depth and expertise in reaching consumers to tell the story of food, agriculture and environmental sciences.”

FLM+, a hybrid strategic consulting, marketing and communications company, specializes in agriculture and life/environmental sciences to improve the lives and health of plants, animals, people and communities. The FLM+ team focuses on setting strategies, aligning teams, framing opinions and creating demand.

Harvest PR & Marketing represents a unique spectrum of food and farm clients, with a heavy focus on grower organizations, national commodity boards and food associations.

Rob says that when it comes to working with farmer checkoff programs the firm now holds a leadership position helping these programs achieve their goals.

Besides discussing the merger itself, which will include new a new logo/website by the beginning of 2018, we also talk about how changes in agribusiness and farming are affecting agencies, especially the need to work in a constantly growing and changing digital environment.

I hope you enjoy the program and thank you for listening!

Listen to the ZimmCast here: ZimmCast with Rob McClelland, FLM Harvest

Subscribe to the ZimmCast podcast here. Use this url in iTunes or your favorite news reader program/app.

The ZimmCast

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Agencies, Audio, Marketing, ZimmCast

Zimfo Bytes 7/21

Kelly Marshall

Zimfo Bytes

  • Former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Mike Johanns, is joining alliantgroup as the firm’s new Chairmen of Agriculture.
  • Mahindra North America and RFD-TV are honoring first responders with an essay contest.  Police departments, firefighter departments, and EMTs are eligible to be nominated by anyone over the age of 18.
  • U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue has appointed three positions within the USDA’s Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services (FNCS). Brandon Lipps will serve as Administrator of the Food and Nutrition Service and also Acting Deputy Under Secretary of FNCS until the Senate confirms a permanent appointee.  Maggie Lyons has been named Chief of Staff and senior advisor to the Under Secretary and Kailee Tkacz is a policy advisor.
  • MGEX, a Designated Contract Market and Derivatives Clearing Organization,  has broken the July monthly volume record.  The previous record, set in July 2015, was 188,361; volume through Wednesday of this week was 191,324 contracts.
Zimfo Bytes

U.S. Rice Heading to China

Jamie Johansen

History was made this week when an agreement permitting US rice exports to China was signed during bi-lateral trade meetings held in Washington DC. An inspection of US rice mills and packaging facilities by the Chinese phytosanitary authorities is the next step to take place. The first exports to China will take several months but will provide a boost to new crop sales.

The U.S. Rice Producers Association (USRPA) said the process began in 2006 when they applied for funding under the Department’s Emerging Markets Program. The grant from USDA allowed USRPA to travel to China and determine that in fact there was a market for U.S. rice. They conducted additional consumer sampling and research, accompanied Chinese food inspection officials on a tour of U.S. rice farms and mills, and hosted large supermarket buyers in the US all leading up to this agreement.

Greg Yielding, director of emerging markets at USRPA, was the man behind these grants and the boots on the ground in China. He was able to show that Chinese consumers did want to buy U.S. rice. He guesses we could see exports heading to China before the end of the year.

“China could eat the entire U.S. rice crop in about 12 days with our current acreage. With this, we could be the number three or four exporter in the world. It’s really unknown but the skies the limit on how much rice we could sell. This is huge for rice producing states and for exports,” Yielding said.

Listen to my complete interview with Greg here: Interview with Greg Yielding, U.S. Rice Producers Association

Audio, Exports, Rice, Trade

Arkansas Cattlemen Take On the Black Headed Vulture

Jamie Johansen

Cattle producers seek depredation order from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife service allowing producers to control an invasive vulture species stalking and killing livestock. I was recently in North Central Arkansas where I saw first hand the devastation the Black Headed Vulture leaves in its wake.

Adam McClung, Executive Vice President, Arkansas Cattlemen’s Association (ACA), said, “The Black Headed Vultures and the depredation loss cattlemen are seeing has been an ongoing discussion inside the ACA with policy for a number of years. Over the last few years, the stories and testimonies we get from cattlemen give evidence of the birds moving from a migratory to predatory.”

The aggressive birds are protected under the Miragroty Bird Act and the Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma Cattlemen Association’s have come together taking policy to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. This created a greater voice for reaching out to elected officials stressing economic loss and the need to measure populations and migratory patterns of these birds.

Farmers take steps during calving season to protect their cattle, but there simply isn’t much that can be done to detour these aggressive birds. The solution to any migratory bird problem is proper management. When it comes to these birds, population reduction is the answer. Farmers can obtain annual permits to begin eliminating the invasive species. These permits will allow measurable data to be collected and used to justify the management needed. Controlling bird population without a permit can put producers in violation of the Migratory Bird Act which has serious penalties. The number of birds permitted is given on a case by case basis according to the % of population found.

“We want some help. Let’s measure these populations. Are these birds migrating or are they staying here year round,” said McClung. ACA has had many meetings with USDA-APHIS and U.S. Fish & Wildlife to get everyone on the same page with what the permit means and how it works. “Our end game and the reason for the policy is a depredation order to be filed by U.S. Fish & Wildlife. We want our cattlemen to have the right to take at time of loss.”

Listen to my complete interview with Adam and watch This Week in Agribusiness this weekend for the complete story: Interview with Adam McClung, Arkansas Cattlemen's Association

AgWired Animal, Audio, Beef, Livestock

Two More USDA Appointees Announced

Cindy Zimmerman

President Donald Trump intends nominate Indiana Agriculture Director Ted McKinney to be USDA Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs and former Iowa economics professor Dr. Sam Clovis for Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics.

Ted McKinney

McKinney grew up on a family farm in Tipton, Indiana. He began his career at Elanco Products Company in 1981, and in 1990 joined Dow AgroSciences where he spent nearly 20 years in a variety of Corporate Affairs responsibilities. In 2009, he returned to Elanco in Global Corporate Affairs and in 2014 became director of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture.

Sam Clovis

Clovis has been the White House representative at USDA since President Trump was elected. He was born in Kansas and spent 25 years in the Air Force where he attained the rank of Colonel. Clovis holds Ph.D. in public administration from the University of Alabama and was formerly a professor of economics at Morningside College in Iowa.

Several sources reported the likely nominations of McKinney and Clovis in May, as well as Steve Censky to be Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, whose nomination was officially sent to the Senate yesterday. Bill Northey was also reported at the time to be undersecretary for farm and conservation programs, but that announcement has yet to be made.

USDA

Senator Blasts Ethanol from the Floor

Cindy Zimmerman

As over 200 corn growers were meeting in the nation’s capitol this week, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) blasted corn ethanol in an attempt to kill legislation that would allow 15% ethanol blends to be sold year round, instead of being restricted in some areas during the summer months.

Inhofe began his speech by complaining that “the fossil fuel industry has long been under assault” from people who want to put it out of business but thanks to the election of President Trump “help has arrived.”

The National Corn Growers Association refuted Inhofe’s remarks that, “Land is increasingly set aside for the production of corn to feed the mandate, and the more corn that is diverted to ethanol production, the less there is for our food consumption and for ranchers who need corn to feed their livestock, making the cost of our food rise,” and “Fuels with corn-ethanol are less efficient than gasoline or diesel—by 27 percent.”

The nation’s corn farmers would like to assure Senator Inhofe that, despite his claims to the contrary, corn productivity has increased significantly over the past 10 years, going from an average of 150 bushels per acre in 2007 to 174.6 bushels per acre in 2016. Today’s efficient farmers produce more than enough corn to meet feed, food, and fuel needs, in an increasingly sustainable manner. Corn farmers are also proud that, based on actual corn and ethanol production experience over the past 10 years, ethanol currently results in 43 percent lower greenhouse gas emissions than gasoline.

Energy Information Administration (EIA) data disputes other claims by the Oklahoma Republican. Inhofe said that “with the shale revolution our dependency on foreign energy has stopped” so the Renewable Fuel Standard is no longer needed. According to EIA, the United States imported just over 10 million barrels per day of petroleum, or about 25 percent of our consumption, with over half coming from OPEC and Persian Gulf nations.

Inhofe also stated that to comply with the RFS, the U.S. has “become reliant on foreign imports of soybeans and ethanol from South America to count towards the RFS.” But, again according to EIA, foreign imports of ethanol have dropped from a high of 11.7 million barrels in 2012 to only 862 thousand last year.

Listen to Inhofe’s remarks here: Sen. Inhofe floor speech

Audio, Corn, Ethanol, NCGA

Teachers Offered a Day on the Farm

Cindy Zimmerman

The Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council (MSR&PC) has partnered with U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance (USFRA) to start a program to help urban teachers learn more about agriculture so they can teach it to their students. To kick it off, educators in Minneapolis and Sacramento are invited to take a farm tour at the end of August to engage with farmers and others who work in the agriculture industry.

“We hope to teach the teachers,” said MSR&PC CEO Tom Slunecka. “We want to make sure that teachers in large cities hear the story of agriculture and have the tools to help them teach.”

The teachers who take part in the program will learn about innovation in today’s agricultural industry, sustainability, crop biotechnology, animal health and welfare. They will also learn more about USFRA’s Discovering Farmland curriculum and receive an iPod Touch and virtual reality headsets to help incorporate agricultural videos into their curriculum and classrooms.

The Minneapolis event will be held August 29 and the Sacramento event will be on August 31. Click on the links for registration information and details. There is no cost for participation and the curriculum tools are free.

Learn more in this interview and if you can help get the word out in Minneapolis and Sacramento, please do: Interview with Tom Slunecka, MSR&PC CEO

AgWired Precision, Audio, Soybean, USFRA

First ASA-Valent Ag Voices of the Future

Cindy Zimmerman

ASA voices – Front row: Mason Gordon, Kelsey Smith, Evan Jackson and Kelsey Cassebaum. Back row: Corbin Bell, Abby Steinkamp, Will Nalley and William Raftis.

Eight college students from five states make up the inaugural class of the Ag Voices of the Future program, sponsored by Valent U.S.A. and the American Soybean Association (ASA). The class provides an opportunity for young people to improve their understanding of agricultural policy issues, advocacy, and careers, and was held last week in conjunction with the ASA Board Meeting and Soy Issues Forum in Washington, D.C.

Congratulations to this enthusiastic group of young people:
Corbin Bell, Missouri
Kelsey Cassebaum, Alabama
Mason Gordon, Indiana
Evan Jackson, Kentucky
Will Nalley, Kentucky
William Raftis, Illinois
Kelsey Smith, Illinois
Abigail Steinkamp, Indiana

Also congrats to farm broadcaster Jeff Nalley, since young Will is his son. Being a voice for agriculture is already in his DNA!

AgWired Precision, ASA