NCGA Moves Forward with Farmer Success

Kelly Marshall

It should be noted that the efforts of growers to create healthier soils and cleaner water are having an impact, which is why the National Corn Growers Association is taking that momentum forward.

Last week the staff of the NCGA in Illinois, Colorado, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, and Ohio met to learn more about the balance between water quality and ag nutrients.  “Finding the best path and striking the balance” was the theme for the event and covered topics like: assessing current water quality initiatives; costs and benefits of current practices; educating key thought leaders and the public; and farm bill proposals.

During the meeting, participants agreed upon the importance of: showcasing success stories of farmers pioneering new techniques; expanding and promoting outside cost sharing incentives; working with all available partners with common goals; and documenting the positive changes in detail for government regulatory bodies.

Ag Groups, AgWired Precision, NCGA, Soil, Water

NCGA Urging Innovators To Consider Corn

Lizzy Schultz

The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) and innovation facilitator NineSigma recently announced the launch of The Consider Corn Challenge, a global competition to identify new and innovative uses for field corn as a renewable feedstock for making sustainable chemicals with significant market demand.

Corn production in the United States has increased from 105.5 million metric tons in 1970 to 345.5 million metric tons in 2015, and NCGA is inviting innovators around the world from industry, academia and other research institutions to consider new ways to utilize corn and maximize its contributions to the economy.

Up to six winning proposals will be selected and winners will each receive $25,000. Winners will be announced in February 2018. NCGA may also explore funding or other support of an entry for further development and/or commercialization, even if the entry is not a prize winner.

Lizzy Schultz sat down with Jim Bauman, Director of Market Development at NCGA, to talk about this exciting new opportunity for the corn industry.

“We’re always trying to go back and find new markets, new demand for our growers’ production and we believe that the bio-sustainable market really presents the best opportunities for growers as far as future growth,” said Bauman. “There’s a lot of excitement out there right now for this competition, it’s something we have never done before.”

NCGA has recently ramped up their focus on finding alternative uses for corn. The strategic plan of the organization is currently focused on finding three new uses for corn that will generate 25 million bushels of demand each by 2020.

Responses to the Consider Corn Challenge are due by September 28, 2017 at 5:00 PM US EDT. Solution providers can submit proposals through NineSigma’s Open Innovation community, available here. Click here for more information and updates on the challenge.

Listen to Lizzy’s full conversation with Jim here:
Interview with Jim Bauman, NCGA

Ag Groups, Audio, Corn, NCGA

Increased Access to Chinese Market for U.S. Dairy Exporters

Jamie Johansen

U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC), the National Milk Producers Federation(NMPF) and officials from the U.S. and China have reached an accord on dairy trade by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will increase access to China for more than 200 U.S. dairy exporters. The action creates new opportunities for dairy farmers and processors, and the milk, cheese, infant formula and ingredients they produce.

The MOU formally outlines a process in which third-party certification bodies, on FDA’s behalf, will audit U.S. dairy facilities to make sure they comply with Chinese food safety requirements. There was never a question of U.S. product safety. It was more a question of compliance with regulations between two countries with rigid regulatory systems.

“This deal marks a significant opportunity for the U.S. dairy industry,” said Tom Vilsack, president and CEO of USDEC. “China is already the world’s largest dairy importer, even though per capita consumption remains far below that of the United States, Europe and even its Asian neighbors like Japan and South Korea. The potential to increase exports there is tremendous.”

The Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People’s Republic of China (CNCA) and FDA needed to find a solution. Until that happened, no new U.S. dairy plants could be added to China’s list, effectively putting companies in a state of limbo, until this agreement.

The USDEC says U.S. companies can begin shipping once their plants have been officially listed as registered on the CNCA website.

Agribusiness, AgWired Animal, Dairy, Exports, Trade

Volvo Trucks Improve Sugar-Cane Harvest

Kelly Marshall

Volvo’s new self-steering truck is changing the Brazilian sugar-cane harvest with precision steering through the fields to avoid damage to young plants that will grow into next year’s crop. Currently, growers face a four percent loss each season as plants are run over by vehicles, meaning each of these trucks has the potential to save tens of thousands of U.S. dollars each year.

“With the help of Volvo Trucks’ solution we can increase productivity, not just for one single crop but for the entire lifecycle of the sugar-cane plant, which lasts five to six years,” explains Santa Terezinha’s Finance and Procurement Director, Paulo Meneguetti.

The automated truck eliminates the need for the driver to concentrate fully on following the harvester at exactly the right speed and directly in its tracks by using GPS receivers to follow a coordinate-based map through the field. Two gyroscopes keep the entire vehicle no more than 25 mm off course.

The project is being field tested this summer, with a commercially available solution to follow soon.

Agribusiness, AgWired Precision, Audio

Dairy & Poultry Groups Say Modernize NAFTA

Jamie Johansen

Leading animal agricultural groups representing the dairy and poultry sectors spoke out this week highlighting what a NAFTA modernization would mean for each of their prospective industries.

The U.S. Dairy Export Council (USDEC) and the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) sent comments to the U.S. Trade Representative describing the existing North American dairy landscape as one in which U.S. dairy products flow relatively unhindered to Mexico but are curtailed by Canada’s increasing use of policy tools violating international trade obligations.

“NAFTA has accomplished a great deal over the past two-plus decades, but it has also been overtaken by new, unanticipated forms of trade and trade problems,” said Tom Vilsack, USDEC president and CEO. “We agree that NAFTA could use a facelift and our industry looks forward to working with the Trump Administration to explore ways to preserve and strengthen it.”

Last year, the U.S. dairy industry exported $1.2 billion worth of dairy products to Mexico, a dramatic increase from $124 million in 1995. Mexico is the largest U.S. dairy export market by far, roughly double the size of the industry’s second-largest market, Canada.

The National Chicken Council (NCC), USA Poultry & Egg Export Council (USAPEEC), and the National Turkey Federation (NTF) call Mexico their most important U.S. export market followed by Canada. They ask for:

First, Canada and the U.S. had reached preliminary agreement on increasing the quotas for U.S. chicken into Canada. This would represent modest improvements in trade liberalization, but would not represent threats to current domestic policies or create market disruptions. The U.S. industry also believes that there should be similar increases in the market access for U.S. turkey and turkey products.

Second, significant progress was made in the course of TPP negotiations to improve and update the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) rules applicable to free trade agreements. This important work should not be lost. The poultry industry joins its fellow agricultural industries in urging the U.S., Canada and Mexico to adopt these improved SPS provision as a replacement to the SPS chapter currently in the NAFTA text.

Ag Groups, AgWired Animal, Dairy, Exports, Poultry, Trade

Precision Ag Bytes 6/16

Kelly Marshall

  • Dow AgroSciences has announced that Enlist corn will be commercially available in the United States for the 2018 growing season now that China has officially approved the trait for import.
  • Tracy Linbo has taken the position of Senior Vice President of Agronomy for Wheat Growers.  She comes from 10 years at DuPont Pioneer where she most recently held the position of Director, Global Strategy Planning.
  • Syngenta is reminding growers that this year’s heavy spring rainfall throughout the South and Midwest created the perfect environment for diseases like frogeye leaf spot to thrive. Growers should take steps to take the necessary steps to protect yields.
  • The National Corn Growers Association offered a voice to farmers’ concerns about the proposed rule regarding genetically engineered organisms during the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service public comment meeting held at the University of California, Davis.  This was the second of three such sessions to gather comments.
  • USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service is featuring the story of seven rice farmers who sold the first carbon credits to Microsoft earlier this week.  The growers used a grant from NCRS’s Conservation Innovation Grants program.
AgWired Precision, Zimfo Bytes

Staying Credible in a ‘Fake News’ World

Chuck Zimmerman

AAEA, The Ag Communicators Network, is holding a webinar right now titled, “Staying Credible in a “Fake News” World.”

The webinar has a panel including veteran ag journalists Chris Clayton, DTN/Progressive Farmer, Willie Vogt, Penton Agriculture, and Betsy Freese, Meredith AgriMedia. They’ll discuss how ag journalists and communicators can advocate for trust in the media, writing for rural America, and how “fake news” impacts the ag industry. The webinar is being moderated by Jenni Latzke, High Plains Journal.

I’m listening in because this whole issue of “fake news” is becoming extreme thanks to social media and how it is being produced as well as how it is influencing people who are very easily duped. How many of you know people who quote comedy shows as if it is news much less true? Opinion is now news.

I love social media. It has been very good to me and my business but at the same time, it has a dark side that is showing up more and more in my opinion.

These journalists are providing the audience of the webinar with really good thoughts and ideas. This includes how to make sure you’re doing your job as an editor properly to be credible and also cautioning news consumers to be cognizant of where their information is coming from.

Thank you AAEA for putting on this program.

Post Update:

You can watch the webinar at this link.

ACN, Media

Bayer Launches Sustainability Initiative for Horticulture

Cindy Zimmerman

To meet the growing need for sustainability information about food, Bayer has introduced Grow On, an initiative to provide growers with tools to identify, implement and communicate sustainable farming practices. Grow On provides citrus, grape, pome and stone fruit, potato, tree nut and vegetable growers with the resources needed to continue to sustainably produce safe, nutritious food for the growing global population.

“Generations of growers have rapidly embraced new agricultural technologies that not only have improved their environmental sustainability but also increased yields and farm productivity,” said Jennifer Maloney, Bayer food chain and sustainability manager. “Through Grow On, growers can identify products that achieve sustainability benefits in six key areas and then utilize tools to share those benefits with stakeholders.”

Those six areas are Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices, optimizing plant water usage and water quality, improving soil health and plant nutrient uptake, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and fuel use, ensuring safe work environments, and reducing food waste by preventing pre-harvest loss and extending post-harvest shelf life.

Learn more at Grow On.

AgWired Precision, Bayer, specialty crops

RFS Impacts: By the Numbers

Cindy Zimmerman

Twelve years since the original Renewable Fuel Standard was passed in 2005 and 10 years after it was expanded in 2007, the numbers tell an objective story of how successful the legislation has been in a new analysis by the Renewable Fuels Association “RFS Impacts: By the Numbers”.

RFA Senior Vice President Geoff Cooper says EPA is expected to issue its proposed 2018 renewable volume obligations (RVOs) under the RFS at any time so they did the analysis to remind everyone of what a success the program has been.

In this edition of The Ethanol Report podcast, Cooper talks about the RFS numbers, as well as ethanol production and exports this year: Ethanol Report on RFS Analysis

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Audio, Ethanol, RFA

ASTA Annual Meeting is Next Week

Cindy Zimmerman

The 2017 American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) Annual Convention is coming up next week, June 21-24 in Minneapolis with a theme of Voyage to Better Seed.

“This year we’ve got a lot of topics in front of us with a new administration, a farm bill out there, all the issues within the farm bill, and how do we develop policy that will benefit the industry into the next year and beyond,” said ASTA president and CEO Andy LaVigne. There are also number of special sessions and tours planned for the week, including an Opening General Session panel featuring representatives from several major food companies discussing consumer food trends and a tour of Syngenta’s Seedcare Institute to see its state of the art research and training facility.

This meeting is also when new ASTA officers are installed and it includes more than 400 seed industry professionals from every division of the association. Learn more in this interview: Interview with Andy LaVigne, ASTA

AgWired Precision, ASTA, Audio, Seed