Florida Hosts 1st House Ag Farm Bill Listening Session

Cindy Zimmerman

The University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) hosted the very first House Agriculture Committee farm bill listening session on Saturday in Gainesville, Florida.

Committee Chairman Mike Conaway (TX-11) presided over the first of many “Conversations in the Field” that will be held in the coming year as work on the 2018 Farm Bill is just beginning to get underway.

“Writing the farm bill is a big task, with a lot of moving parts – and it’s vitally important we get the policy right,” said Rep. Conaway. “The best way to do that is by getting out of D.C. and hearing from the folks this legislation impacts.”

Eleven other Committee members attended the session, a majority from the Southeastern region of the country, and most of those who presented comments to the committee were from Florida, Georgia and Alabama. Several members of the Southern Peanut Farmers Federation spoke, including Ken Barton, farmer and executive director of the Florida Peanut Producers Association. “I’m especially grateful to our Florida delegation, Congressmen Dunn and Yoho for hosting today’s event. While citrus is bigger than peanuts in Florida, our delegation understands how important the Peanut Program is to Florida’s economy,” Barton said. “(It) was a good opportunity to discuss how a fair reference price brings certainty to farming – both when demand is high, like it is currently, and during times of economic downturn.”

Commodities represented at the microphone were across the board, from poultry and cattle, corn and soybeans, to cotton and peanuts, vegetables, citrus, timber and more.

Listen to the session in segments below:

Segment 1 (45 minutes) – House Ag Farm Bill Field Hearing – Florida – part 1
Segment 2 (45 minutes) – House Ag Farm Bill Field Hearing – Florida – part 2
Segment 2 (45 minutes) – House Ag Farm Bill Field Hearing – Florida – part 3

AgWired Animal, Audio, Farm Bill, Peanuts

ASTA Elects New Leadership

Cindy Zimmerman

Justin Seed president Tracy Tally receives the gavel as incoming chairman of ASTA with the support of his family

The American Seed Trade Association has been a continuously growing family for the past 134 years, and the family of new chairman Tracy Tally has been a constant at the ASTA annual meeting for many of those years.

Tally is president of Justin Seed Company in Justin, Texas, a company founded by his father in 1956. Besides running Justin Seed for the past 25 years, he served as the ASTA Southern Region Vice President, an officer on the Texas Seed Trade Association Board, was previously a certified crop adviser and serves for a variety of organizations in his community. Joining Tracy in celebrating Friday were his wife, Julie and four daughters, Emily, Elizabeth, Erica and Ellen, as well as his parents Curtis and Oneta.

“My goal is to continue the strong legacy that has been built over the past 134 years as we work to address new and emerging challenges at home and around the globe,” said Tally. “In the coming days, weeks and months, we will have new opportunities ranging from new plant breeding innovations, and how they’ll be defined both domestically and internationally, the implementation of a new food labeling law, and making our voice heard in the midst of the changing political landscape.”

Listen to my interview with Tracy here: Interview with New ASTA Chair Tracy Tally, Justin Seed Co.

Other newly elected members on the ASTA board for the coming year are First Vice Chair Jerry Flint, DuPont Pioneer; Second Vice Chair Wayne Gale, Stokes Seeds; Canada rep Jim Schweigert, Gro Alliance; Mexico rep Pablo Fernandez, Dow AgroSciences; and Central Region Vice President Dave Pearl, The Cisco Companies.

2017 ASTA Annual Meeting Flickr album

AgWired Precision, ASTA, Audio, Seed

Syngenta Will Appeal Verdict

Cindy Zimmerman

Syngenta intends to appeal a verdict reached by a Kansas jury last week to award $218 million in compensatory damages to more than 7,000 Kansas corn growers who claim the company caused them economic harm by introducing Agrisure corn before China approved it for import.

Syngenta released a statement after the verdict saying they are disappointed “because it will only serve to deny American farmers access to future technologies even when they are fully approved in the U.S. The case is without merit and we will move forward with an appeal and continue to defend the rights of American farmers to access safe and effective U.S.- approved technologies.”

Syngenta commercialized Agrisure Viptera in full compliance with U.S. regulatory and legal requirements, including USDA, EPA, and FDA regulations. Viptera had also received approval in the key import markets recommended at the time by the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) and other industry associations.

The Kansas case is the first of eight class action lawsuits in different states.

Biotech, Corn, Exports, Syngenta

Animal Ag Bites 6/23

Lizzy Schultz

ag_wired_animal-ag-bites

  • Zoetis joins existing industry partners, adoption organizations and equine advocates in partnering with the Right Horse Initiative to help horses in transition and promote adoption as a preferred method of finding a horse.
  • Angus Productions Inc. (API) has selected Rick Cozzitorto to take the helm as API’s new President. His role will begin June 30th.
  • Zoetis, in partnership with American Horse Publications (AHP), presented Sydney Knott, founder, president, and CEO of Horses4Heroes, with the 2017 Equine Industry Vision Award. The award recognizes ingenuity and service and works to inspire those qualities in others.
  • The boards of directors for Select Sires Inc. and Accelerated Genetics have reached a unanimous decision to unify the two cooperatives. Select Sires will acquire the assets of Accelerated Genetics and the two companies will join forces of employees and independent sales representatives in each of their geographical member organizations.
    • AgWired Animal, Zimfo Bytes

    Learning Innovation from the Seed at #ASTAannual

    Kelly Marshall

    Stan Abramson of Arent Fox LLP, Law Firm spoke with members of the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) about promoting agriculture innovations in Washington D.C.

    We can learn a lot about innovation from the seeds themselves.  “Plants and seeds are natural innovators. They constantly reinvent themselves,” he told the audience. “A lot of innovation is just figuring out how nature operates and try to use those same techniques to improve agriculture, to put more food on the table for folks here and all around the world.”

    The current administration offers different possibilities than in the past for promoting innovation. Trump appears to be friendly to the industry, and while he is constrained by the usual laws, rules, and procedures of any President, Abramson believes agriculture has a real opportunity. The key is to be strategic in what is asked for, he advised. Think of the long- and short-term implications of your asks and consider all the stakeholders who stand to benefit.

    We are also at a point in history where people are beginning to see the advantages of technology like gene editing. There isn’t a single documented incident of harm from science-based farming and other countries are taking notice. They don’t want to lose out, but the U.S. needs to take a leading role, he asserts.

    Listen to Cindy’s full interview with Abramson here:Interview with Stan Abramson, Arent Fox

    2017 ASTA Annual Meeting Flickr album

    Ag Groups, AgWired Precision, ASTA, Audio, Seed

    Clariant Ups R&D Support for Agriculture

    Kelly Marshall

    Clariant is excited to announce their new greenhouse at Clariant Innovation Center (CIC) opened earlier this week. The state-of-the-art greenhouse will offer R&D for crop protection and managment, along with yield-enhancement solutions.

    The 400sqm greenhouse offers smart simulation of environmental conditions such as humidity, light, rainfall and temperature, creating a proper climate for testing to supplement Clariant’s existing laboratory testing facilities at the CIC. The aim is to reduce development time and speed-to- market for advances in the niche growth areas of Plant Growth Regulators, Foliar Fertilizers and Bio-herbicides. These have been identified as focus areas to Clariant for successfully addressing current customer-specific needs and future global food demands.

    “The new Crop Solutions greenhouse creates the perfect environment for fostering joint development in the areas we see as having most potential for delivering sustainable crop protection and, in the bigger picture, addressing the world’s increasing nutrition requirements,” said Britta Fünfstück, Member of Clariant’s Executive Committee. “It’s a level of support that sets us apart within our industry and we are excited at the prospect of contributing even more closely to the innovations of tomorrow.”

    The new facility reinforces Clariant’s focus on sustainability and puts the company in a stronger position to provide answers going forward. Keep watching for unique solutions to come.

    Agribusiness, AgWired Precision, Clariant, Crop Protection

    Enogen Presents American Ethanol Race in Iowa

    Cindy Zimmerman

    Coming up tomorrow at the Iowa Speedway, Enogen presents the NASCAR XFINITY Series American Ethanol E15 250 for the fifth year.

    Ron Wulfkuhle is excited to be attending the race for the first time as head of Enogen at Syngenta. “We’ll have about 1200 corn farmers attending as our guests and also we’ll be working with the FFA,” said Wulfuhle. “They’ll be doing a fundraiser at the race and just to make it interesting we’ve agreed to match whatever they raise.”

    At the Fuel Ethanol Workshop in Minneapolis this week, Wulfuhle was spreading the word about the winning combination of Cellerate™ process technology and Enogen corn for ethanol plants and corn farmers by getting more ethanol from the same kernel of corn.

    Learn more about Cellerate, Enogen, and the race in this interview and watch for photos and stories from the race where our Jamie Johansen will be this weekend.
    Interview with Ron Wulfkuhle, Enogen

    2017 Fuel Ethanol Workshop Photos

    Coverage of the Fuel Ethanol Conference is sponsored by

    Coverage of the Fuel Ethanol Conference is sponsored by Syngenta Enogen

    AgWired Precision, Audio, Corn, Ethanol, Syngenta

    Precision Ag Bytes 6/22

    Kelly Marshall

    AgWired Precision, Zimfo Bytes

    USDA Halts Imports of Fresh Brazilian Beef

    Jamie Johansen

    U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced the suspension of all imports of fresh beef from Brazil because of recurring concerns about the safety of the products intended for the American market.

    Since March, USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has been inspecting 100% of all meat products arriving in the U.S. from Brazil. FSIS has refused entry to 11% of Brazilian fresh beef products. Since implementation of the increased inspection, FSIS has refused entry to approximately 1.9 million lbs. of Brazilian beef products due to public health concerns, sanitary conditions, and animal health issues. It is important to note that none of the rejected lots made it into the U.S. market.

    Perdue said, “Ensuring the safety of our nation’s food supply is one of our critical missions, and it’s one we undertake with great seriousness. Although international trade is an important part of what we do at USDA, and Brazil has long been one of our partners, my first priority is to protect American consumers. That’s what we’ve done by halting the import of Brazilian fresh beef. I commend the work of USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service for painstakingly safeguarding the food we serve our families.”

    The announcement came on the heels of a scandal in which Brazil’s JBS and BRF were raided by government authorities for allowing rotten meat to be distributed in Brazil and exported to Europe. National Farmers Union (NFU) President Roger Johnson, said, “We’ve long had concerns about the importation of fresh beef from Brazil. Since the 2015 repeal of Country-Of-Origin Labeling (COOL), food safety scandals can undermine consumer confidence in the entire beef industry, harming American producers’ bottom line. We applaud the USDA’s decision and we urge them to avoid similar circumstances in the future by following more rigorous importation standards.”

    Ag Groups, AgWired Animal, Beef, USDA

    Herrmann Concludes Year as ASTA Chair

    Kelly Marshall

    The American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) annual meeting marks the end of Mark Herrmann’s service as Chair of the organization. For the past year he has lead the group in some major changes and successes, including the passing of a federal GMO bill.

    “The GMO transparency bill being a federal bill, as opposed to the patchwork that was being done by state bills, is huge– for not just the American Seed Trade Association but the entire food industry in general,” Herrmann stated.

    There have been other major milestones during his tenure as well. ASTA placed a staff member in China to assist with developing intellectual property rights and processes along with other bills. The communications team has also released two videos, one featuring a plant breeder, mother, and gardener, and a new animated video that seeks to educate the public on a very simple level about what breeding actually means.

    Herrmann also leaves behind the legacy of an entirely rebranded event for future years. While “annual conference” is a very broad term, the summer meeting has evolved into something more specific. The new title of the session going forward has been changed to “Policy and Leadership Development Conference” to reflect this focus.

    Listen to Cindy’s interview with Mark here: Interview with ASTA Chair Mark Herrmann, Ag Reliant Genetics

    2017 ASTA Annual Meeting Flickr album

    Agribusiness, AgWired Precision, ASTA, Audio, Seed