Senate Urged to Vote as USDA Remains in Limbo

Cindy Zimmerman

With the Senate in the midst of contentious debate over Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, agricultural interests are begging the Senate leadership to take a few minutes this week to confirm Sonny Perdue as Secretary of Agriculture before recessing for spring break. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Michael Conaway (R-TX) and Ranking Member Collin Peterson (D-MN) sent a letter to Senate leaders this week encouraging swift confirmation of Perdue. “Beyond the challenges that await the Secretary upon confirmation, we have been presented a budget blueprint for discretionary spending that had no input from the nation’s Secretary of Agriculture,” they wrote.

Meanwhile, initial House ag hearings on the next farm bill are continuing without the next agriculture secretary. The Subcommittee on Commodity Exchanges, Energy, and Credit held a hearing on credit programs Tuesday where chairman Austin Scott (R-GA) asked witness to encourage their senators to hold the vote on Perdue this week. “I think the votes are there, it’s just a matter of delays that are quite honestly from other things,” said Rep. Scott, who says the former governor of his state is a “good honest man and a hard worker that understands the issues.”

Listen to Rep. Scott’s comments here: Rep. Austin Scott urges confirmation vote for Perdue

Since the U.S. Department of Agriculture is without a secretary, it took a directive from President Trump this week to get the agency to authorize emergency grazing on Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) lands located in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas that have been impacted by ongoing wildfires which began almost a month ago.

President Trump sent a memo to USDA Acting Deputy Secretary Michael Young authorizing the action. “I commend and thank President Trump for acting decisively in response to this dire situation,” said Young.

Audio, USDA

AEM Vice President Announces Retirement

Kelly Marshall

Charlie O’Brien will be retiring from his position of senior vice president at the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) later this year. O’Brien has been with AEM since 2007. He will be working with President Dennis Slater to begin phasing out of his position in order to spend more time with his family and a family business.

“I care a great deal about the continued success of AEM and AEM’s Ag Services, both domestically and internationally, so I want to make sure we have a very smooth transition,” O’Brien said. “As I work through the details of the transition with Dennis, and as a successor is named, we will finalize the actual date of my retirement.”

“Charlie has played a critical, strategic role in elevating Ag sector programs and services during his tenure with AEM,” Slater said. “Obviously he will be missed. During the next few months, we will put together a plan to ensure that we cover the many leadership roles Charlie held with industry organizations.”

O’Brien and Slater will be working together to determine his official last day.

AEM, Agribusiness

FMC Command® 3ME is Tops for Rice Growers

Chuck Zimmerman

Command® 3ME herbicide remains the South’s number one preemergence solution for protecting rice production from annual grasses despite recent entries into the market, according to FMC tech service rep Don Johnson in Mississippi.

“We’ve been on the marketplace for rice growers in the Delta region for 16 years now,” said Johnson during an interview at the 2017 Farm and Gin Show. The microencapsulated form of clomazone was first introduced by FMC in 1996 to address previous volatility issues.

Johnson says other clomazone products that have been introduced to the market recently have less volatility reduction compared with FMC to prevent off-target whitening effects caused by volatility from field applications. “The microencapsulated products are not all the same,” said Johnson. “We stewardship our Command 3ME in the marketplace.”

Johnson adds that FMC has another clomazone product for rice growers called Obey which provides effective weed management for Southern rice growers facing increasing pressure from threats like barnyardgrass and hemp sesbania.

Learn more in this interview: Interview with Don Johnson, FMC

Mid-South Farm & Gin Show

Coverage of the Mid-South Farm & Gin Show is sponsored by
Coverage of the Mid-South Farm & Gin Show is sponsored by FMC
Audio, FMC, Rice, weed management

Zimfo Bytes

Lizzy Schultz

Zimfo Bytes

  • American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall recently presented Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) with AFBF’s Golden Plow award, the highest honor the organization gives to members of Congress, for his commitment in Congress to issues important to farmers and ranchers.
  • MGEX has concluded the best March in its history, with a total of 202,500 contracts traded during the month and a total volume for the month surpassing the record set in 2014 by 19 percent.
  • Food and agriculture economic research priorities, specifically those in the areas of trade, big data and consumer health, will be the focus of a symposium to be Thursday, April 6, at the National Press Club, Washington, D.C. The symposium has been organized by the Council on Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics (C-FARE) and the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA) as part of a joint Priorities and Solutions Project.
  • Machinery Pete, the industry’s leading used farm equipment listing website, announced that its YouTube channel has reached over 9 million views, show the channel’s success in capturing the attention of farm enthusiasts across the country and internationally.
Zimfo Bytes

Seed Industry to Take to Capitol Hill

Kelly Marshall

Tomorrow members of the American Seed Trade Association will come together to tell the story of the seed industry to members of Congress. Members hope to highlight the 2017 ASTA priorities, including the need for a strong trade agenda, funding for key research and science programs through the USDA, the need to review the Food Safety Modernization Act, and policies that align with science-based research, among other topics.

“From international trade, to plant breeding innovation, Farm Bill and funding for critical research and conservation programs, Congress is debating serious issues that will affect the seed industry’s ability to continue meeting the evolving needs of farmers, consumers, and the environment in the years ahead,” said ASTA President & CEO Andrew LaVigne. “So many issues impact the seed industry, and the seed industry impacts virtually every aspect of our daily life. We’re excited to bring our diverse industry to Capitol Hill to share our unified priorities for ensuring better seed for a better quality of life.”

ASTA

Passing of Legendary Farm Broadcaster Cliff Mitchell

Cindy Zimmerman

We called him legendary back in 2009, and he was inducted into the NAFB Hall of Fame in 2005. Cliff Mitchell, one of the great farm broadcasters, passed away on his 89th birthday March 30.

Cliff is remembered for his service to the NAFB Foundation auction as auctioneer and as host of Aunt Sara’s Partyline. Those who were privileged guests on his program during NAFB Convention fondly remember the simple invitation of Cliff’s room number and time on the back of his business card. Upon arrival, Miss Ellie would offer you coffee and donut balls while you could hear Cliff talking to the board operator at KASM getting ready for the broadcast. His broadcasts included interviews with guests, the ‘road kill’ report, live commercials and a lot of fun.

A Celebration of Life with Mass will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 8 at Seven Dolors Catholic Church in Albany, where Cliff married Miss Ellie in 1954. Military honors will be provided by the Albany American Legion. Cliff has donated his body to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. In lieu of flowers the family requests memorial donations that will be used for a scholarship fund in Cliff’s memory to continue Cliff’s commitment to agriculture.

Learn more about Cliff in this interview with Mike Adams, Agri-Pulse:


NAFB, Video

Outstanding Young Farmers Recognized

Kelly Marshall

Some of the outstanding farmers at Ag Day: Kevin and Jennifer Wolsky, Ida and Joseph DeFrancesco III, Brooke Loisel, Nathan Youngquist, Jessica Niederer

As part of National Ag Day, John Deere welcomed four new inductees to the Outstanding Farmers of America (OFA) Fraternity as National Outstanding Young Farmers at the OYF Awards Congress.  This year Jessica Niederer spoke on behalf of the inductees. Niederer is an organic grower who sells all of her 57 varieties at farmer’s markets in New Jersey. Selling at farmer’s markets offers her a chance to interact with customers every day– to talk with them and share her own individual story each day.

“We can personally hope that agriculture holds the key to at least a shelter belt of common ground within the divisiveness within our country today,” Niederer says of her experiences. “For 10,000 years agriculture and the business of raising and growing food has been at the base of the way human societies have interacted with their environment and with each other. It’s how our culture really started.”

Growers are in the unique position to make the decisions that shape the way customers view agriculture, Niederer says. We’re under fire all the time, but we can conduct our businesses in a way that gives people a reason to be proud of our work.

The four national winners from the OYF Class of 2016 are: Jessica Niederer, Nathan Youngquist, Joseph DeFrancesco III and Kevin Wolsky.

Listen to Jessica’s acceptance speech here: Jessica Niederer, Outstanding Young Farmer

National Ag Day Photo Album

Ag Day, Audio, John Deere

Soy-Biobased Grassmaker Partners for Pets

Kelly Marshall

SYNLawn, a leader in soy-biobased artificial grass, has teamed up with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) International to offer turf to pet shelters, a discount to homeowners with a rescue pet, and sponsor a military pet rescue.

“We are pleased that our collaboration with the SPCA International allows us to donate premium synthetic grass in rescue shelters for pets that haven’t always been in friendly environments,” said George Neagle, SYNLawn’s vice president of sales and marketing. “The partnership will help raise much-needed funds for pet rescue and adoption.”

America’s energy security benefits because SYNLawn artificial grass is made with a U.S. soy-based backing called BioCel™ manufactured by Universal Textile Technologies. BioCel uses soy-based polyol technology developed with support from the soybean checkoff. Based on UL third-party verification, soybean oil displaces 60 percent of the petroleum-based polyurethane in BioCel. Using soy in industrial products like SYNLawn artificial grass helps to create new markets for U.S. soybeans and jobs here at home.

Soybean

CAPA Launches New Website

Kelly Marshall

The Coalition to Advance Precision Agriculture (CAPA) is excited to present their new website, www.DiscoverPrecisionAg.org.

CAPA is comprised of ag organizations, grower groups and agribusiness associations. Their goal is to facilitate communication between farm and agribusiness associations and government decision-makers in regards to all things precision agriculture. The new website will offer a valuable tool to promote science-based policy decisions for a safe, susutainable food source.

“From AgGateway’s perspective, CAPA is an important resource, informing government and industry leaders about the essential work being done to facilitate the exchange of electronic information for precision agriculture. The ability to manage data is key to the continuing success of U.S. agriculture,” Wendy Smith, President of member organization AgGateway.

Ag Groups

How to Subscribe to a Podcast

Chuck Zimmerman

Here’s a Monday morning, “Ask the AgriBlogger” question. “How do I subscribe to a podcast?”

Good question. And it is one I am getting a lot all of the sudden. Farm podcasting has been around about 13 years now but seems to be getting quite a bit of traction as a communication channel now. So let me provide you with some direction on this very simple, while somewhat complicated topic.

Think of a podcast as a regularly scheduled, recorded audio program in the form of a digital audio file. Instead of it being broadcast via a radio transmitter to your radio it is distributed via a digital signal like your phone’s cellular connection or wifi or your home/office internet wired connection. The term podcast comes from the fact that when this started we only had iPods. It’s a goofy name but it’s what we’ve got.

So here are some notes on how to subscribe:

  • The podcast file must be put into a little text file called an RSS Feed. This small file contains the directions (code) for your device to download the audio file so you can listen to it. RSS Feeds can be used for different purposes but here we’re just talking about distributing the audio program.
  • You device (computer, smart phone, tablet) needs to have an app that will use that podcast RSS Feed. This app will know when there is a new episode of the podcast and automatically download it for you. You only have to subscribe one time.
  • App examples would be Podcasts on iOS or Google Play on Android. On your computer, most all browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Chrome) have a built-in app that lets you subscribe to the podcast RSS Feed.
  • There are a number of online directories which use the podcast RSS Feed to make the podcast more easily found and available for your device. For example, my weekly ZimmCast can be found in the iTunes podcast directory. If you open iTunes on your computer or device and search for “ZimmCast” you will find it and iTunes easily lets you subscribe right there.
  • Using the ZimmCast as an example, here are the links for what I have described above.

    ZimmCast RSS Feed
    ZimmCast in iTunes

If you will be attending the National Agri-Marketing Conference this year, please stop by the ZimmComm booth where we will be answering this question and even helping you subscribe to podcasts in whatever device you have.

Email me if you have questions or problems.

Podcasts