“Make #Ethanol Great Again!”

Cindy Zimmerman

The president of the Renewable Fuels Association took a line from the new president of the United States at the 2017 Iowa Renewable Fuels Summit Tuesday, encouraging the industry to “make ethanol great again.”

“I believe we are on the cusp of making ethanol great again,” said RFA president and CEO Bob Dinneen, who added that support for ethanol has been undermined for the last eight years by an administration mostly unwilling to fight for biofuels, with the notable exception of Tom Vilsack “absolutely the best secretary of agriculture for farmers and biofuels that there has ever been.”

“Unfortunately he became a lonely voice in an administration that didn’t necessarily get it…the rest of the administration kept us stuck in neutral,” Dinneen said.

Ever the optimist, Dinneen is enthusiastic about the future of ethanol with the new presidential administration. “You have a president who supports the RFS,” he said. “And you have a president who has an America first agenda.”

Listen to Dinneen’s remarks, courtesy of Brownfield Ag News, here: RFA CEO Bob Dinneen at Iowa RFA Summit

Audio, Ethanol, RFA

#CIRB2017 Faces Change, Challenge, Opportunity

Cindy Zimmerman

The 53rd annual meeting of the Crop Insurance and Reinsurance Bureau is officially underway with the theme of Change-Challenge-Opportunity and record attendance, according to Executive Vice President Michael Torrey.

“I think it reflects the theme,” said Torrey. “Obviously a transition is going on, there’s going to be a lot of new people, and we’re going to have a lot of folks who probably aren’t fully aware of what risk management is for America’s farmers and ranchers.”

And that change is both a challenge and an opportunity for the industry, especially as work begins this year on a 2018 farm bill. “As folks start looking at where to get the money to spend on some programs, I think one can safely assume they are going to look at crop insurance,” Torrey said.

Considering the mood in Washington right now, Torrey says there’s “obviously a lot of uncertainty, a lot of unknowns, and folks are just trying to find their way through all of this, but there’s excitement as well.”

Learn more about the CIRB meeting here: Interview with Michael Torrey, CIRB Executive Vice President

2017 CIRB Annual Meeting photo album

Audio, CIRB, Insurance

#CattleCon17 is Here – Get the Scoop from NCBA CEO

Jamie Johansen

The 2017 Cattle Industry Convention & NCBA Trade Show is underway in Nashville, TN and we are set up to bring you updates on policy impacting the beef community and other hot topics cattlemen and women across the country need to know. My first conversation of the week was with the NCBA CEO, Kendall Fraizer, who shared highlights of #CattleCon17 and what we can see from NCBA in 2017.

Fraizer said his team looks forward to working with the new administration and Congress on trade, tax reform and environmental regulation relief. “This year’s going to be an interesting year for our business. We are expanding the cowherd in reaction to higher prices we had in 2013-2015 after liquidating the cowherd during the major drought. The inventory report says we have about a million more cows now so we are going to have a lot of beef to sell this year.”

Education is a key component of this event. Listen to my complete interview with Fraizer to here what the folks at home are missing out on: Interview with Kendall Fraizer, NCBA CEO

View and download photos from the event here: 2017 Cattle Industry Convention & NCBA Trade Show Photos

Ag Groups, Audio, Beef, Cattle Industry Conference, Livestock, NCBA

Joining @CIRBdc in Florida for Annual Meeting

Cindy Zimmerman

Change, challenge and opportunity are the three words chosen by the Crop Insurance and Reinsurance Bureau (CIRB) for their annual meeting this year, being held in Bonita Springs, Florida and they seem pretty appropriate given the new political climate in Washington DC.

This will be my first time attending this event so I am looking forward to what crop insurance industry has to say about the new administration and the first steps toward a 2018 Farm Bill. Some of the experts we will be hearing from at the conference include American Farm Bureau’s Mary Kay Thatcher, University of Illinois economist Gary Schnitkey and former Farm Service Agency administrator Jonathan Coppess, and Jim Wiesemeyer of Informa Economics. We will also be getting an update on the Emerging Leaders Program just now in its second year. Stay tuned!

CIRB, Insurance

Agri-Pulse Unveils New, Improved Website

Kelly Marshall

Agri-Pulse.com has received a makeover, from homepage to new landings for topics like the Farm Bill, Energy, and Labor & Immigration.

The new website was created to offer users better support on mobile phones and tablets, in addition to providing more content, says Editor Sara Wyant. “With the growing number of our readers accessing content on mobile devices, we wanted to ensure that our top-quality content worked on a variety of platforms. This new design will enhance the Agri-Pulse brand while enhancing the user experience with more value in a user-friendly environment”.

To celebrate the launch, Agri-Pulse is celebrating with unrestricted access to their content for the rest of this week. Next week subscribers will need to login. As always, first-time visitors can receive a free, four-week trial subscription to explore the high-quality content.

Agri-Pulse

Georgia Peanut Commission Supports Tornado Relief

Kelly Marshall

Victims of the South Georgia tornado have received more than 10,000 jars of peanut butter from peanut farmers across the state. The Georgia Peanut Commission made the donation through Second Harvest earlier this week and donations are still being accepted.

“Peanut farmers in Georgia, through the Georgia Peanut Commission, have supported the Peanut Proud relief efforts since its inception and we are proud to continue to do so in disaster relief efforts,” says Armond Morris, chairman of the Georgia Peanut Commission. “Peanut butter is the perfect food in disaster relief efforts since it does not have to be refrigerated, does not require cooking, and delivers a nutritional punch that is life-sustaining.”

For additional information on the project, visit www.gapeanuts.com or www.peanutproud.com.

Ag Groups, Peanuts

No Date for Ag Secretary Confirmation Yet

Cindy Zimmerman

Confirmation hearings for Trump administration cabinet members have been moving slowly, so it may be toward the end of February before Sonny Perdue is confirmed as Secretary of Agriculture, but he has been meeting with lawmakers in the meantime.

Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE) “had a good conversation” with the former governor of Georgia on Tuesday where they discussed “regional differences in agriculture” and the importance of sound policies. “I am confident that Governor Perdue’s experience and unique perspective will prepare him well to take on the critical role of leading the USDA,” said Fischer.

You might be wondering just who’s minding the USDA during this transition time. According to a USDA memo, various career department staffers were named by outgoing Secretary Tom Vilsack to perform critical duties in the transition period. No acting secretary was named but Michael Young (Director of the Office of Budget and Program Analysis) has the title of acting Deputy Secretary of Agriculture so is the de facto head of the department without cabinet status. Michael Scuse, who was named acting secretary for the week between Vilsack leaving and the inauguration, was just confirmed as Delaware Secretary of Agriculture last week.

Working on the transition is Dr. Sam Clovis, a political science professor and talk show host from Iowa who was named Senior White House Advisor for USDA.

Uncategorized

#Seed has Spot in Epcot Flower and Garden Festival

Cindy Zimmerman

The 24th Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival will feature a special place of honor this year for that which makes it all possible – the seed!

Debbie Mola Mickler and Eric Darden with Disney horticulture speak to ASTA members

During the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) 56th Vegetable & Flower Seed Conference this week at Disney’s Epcot Center, festival coordinator Eric Darden announced that they will feature an ASTA garden at this year’s three month long event. “We’re going to tell the story to our guests about your organization and more importantly about seeds,” he said. “We’re going to show both edibles and ornamentals…to visually tell our guests about what plant breeding has done for their food and their ornamental plants.”

The display will be in front of the Land Pavilion between March 1 and May 31 and will include signage explaining the importance of seed and plant breeding and some special activities. “There’s no better storyteller than Disney,” said ASTA CEO Andy LaVigne. “We’ve got two days where we’re going to be able to make four presentations to participants about the seed…We really appreciate the chance to get in there and tell a story with master storytellers.”

Listen to the announcement here: Disney horticulturist Eric Darden and ASTA CEO Andy LaVigne

ASTA, Audio, Seed

I Am @USFRA – @AgRetailers

Cindy Zimmerman

i-am-usfra-webThe Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) represents the people who supply farmers and ranchers with the products and services they need to produce food, fiber, and fuel for the world. Many members are also farmers who sell seeds, nutrients, crop protection products, farm equipment, precision technology and agronomic services, so ARA has a strong interest in educating the public so those tools remain available for farmers to use.

That is why ARA became involved with the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance (USFRA) from the start and communications director Brian Reuwee says it is well worth it for them.

“It provides us such a great opportunity to educate the public and inform consumers about agriculture’s story in a way that our organization can’t do on its own,” said Reuwee. “We’re not making a multi-million dollar investment in USFRA, but we feel a multi-million dollar impact of the work that they do because of our small contribution to be part of it.”

Reuwee says they especially appreciate USFRA’s focus on sustainability issues such as water and pesticide application and the SMART Farm concept. “Retailers are looking for ways to help their farmers implement precision ag technologies, be better stewards of the land, be more sustainable,” he said. “There’s a great role for retailers to play in promoting that message and telling agriculture’s story.”

Learn more about why ARA is USFRA in this interview: Interview with Brian Reuwee, Ag Retailers Association

iamusfra-graphic

ARA, Audio, USFRA

Off to IPPE thanks to @NovusInt

Chuck Zimmerman

This week is going to be a busy one for the ZimmComm Team. I’m off to Atlanta for the 2017 International Production & Processing Expo sponsored by Novus International again this year. The Expo features more than 1,200 exhibitors and 30,000 visitors from Jan. 31- Feb. 2, 2017.

Hailed as the largest annual trade show for the poultry, meat and feed industries, the show focuses on Innovation – bringing together buyers and sellers of the latest technology of products and services to make your business successful, Education – learning from the experts in free- and fee-based world-class programs beginning Mon., Jan. 30, on topics that cross industry interests, Global Reach – attracting more than 7,200 International visitors from 140 countries, and Networking – meeting new and rekindling old relationships with leaders across the industries.

While I’m in Atlanta Cindy will be covering the Crop Insurance & Reinsurance Bureau annual meeting and Jamie will be covering the Cattle Industry Convention. Lots of new content from the masters of online content creation coming. We hope you enjoy it.

Coverage of the International Production and Processing Expo is sponsored by
Coverage of the International Production and Processing Expo is sponsored by NOVUS
IPPE, Novus International, Poultry Expo