ZimmComm loves holiday greetings, including Merry Christmas messages.
At this time of year we like to share random examples of the ones we receive.
Let’s start with the Water for Food Daugherty Global Institute at the University of Nebraska.
Wishing you a warm holiday season and a New Year filled with joy, peace and prosperity.
Raven Industries was at this year’s Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) Conference & Expo to showcase three main products during this year’s event.
“We have a long history with ARA, they’re a great customer of ours and we’ve been providing a lot of technology to make their businesses more efficient for many years, and this year we’re just bringing them the next evolution of tools to help them better serve the farmer,” said Tim Heins, Director of Product Management, during an interview with Chuck at the 2016 conference.
Raven’s Hawkeye Nozzle Control System has been on the market for two years, providing a pressure based product control system that allows for precise sprayer application and a reduction in spray drift, allowing farmers to get the most out of every nozzle. Individual pulsing valves control each nozzle, giving a consistent spray pattern as speed and conditions change.
Also on display was the AgEagle RX60 UAV, the drone distributed through Raven that offers growers the ability to greatly improve field insights.
“You can fly your field, get an NDVI image and start to see crop stresses before you would normally,” said Heins. “It’s a great tool that provides information that may help you make some timely decisions on your operation.”
An exciting new product on display was the Raven Rate Control Module (RCM), which offers the next generation in precision application rate control. It uses Raven’s innovative control algorithms, making it the most precise application controller on the market today.
Learn more in Chuck’s full interview with Tim here:
Interview with Tim Heins, Raven Industries
View and download photos from the event here: 2016 ARA Conference Photo Album
The Sorghum Checkoff Board swore in one new and three returning directors this week at the annual board meeting in Lubbock, Texas.
Returning to the board are Martin Kerschen of Kansas; Daniel Krienke of Texas; and Clayton Short of Kansas. Newly appointed to the board is Kent Martin of Oklahoma. The newly sworn in board members were appointed by the U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in October and will serve a three-year term.
New leadership was also elected during the December board meeting with David Fremark of St. Lawerence, South Dakota now serving as chairman, Krienke as vice chairman, Short as secretary, and Verity Ullibarri of New Mexico as treasurer.
The American Farm Bureau Federation and the National 4-H Council have announce a new partnership to support agricultural education. The partnership will highlight the impact of agriculture on our everyday lives, as well as encourage youth to be excited about the industry and empower them with opportunities to improve the world around them.
“For more than a century, 4-H has provided young people with opportunities to spark and grow their interests in agriculture, giving them the courage, confidence and resilience to lead,” said Jennifer Sirangelo, president and CEO, National 4-H Council. “National 4-H Council is proud and excited to join forces with the American Farm Bureau Federation to help empower and develop young people with the workforce skills necessary to pursue careers in the agriculture industry.”
“Farm Bureau has a long history of investing in young people with a demonstrated interest in not only farming and ranching but also agri-business and food-related careers,” said AFBF President Zippy Duvall. “We’re pleased to build on our tradition of supporting youth in agriculture through this formal collaboration with National 4-H Council.”
The partnership officially begins in 2017.
The American Seed Trade Association Future Seed Executives (FuSE) had the opportunity to hear about an agricultural high school right in Chicago that is growing the next generation for the industry.
The Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences (CHSAS) is located just about a half hour south of the Hyatt Regency where the ASTA CSS & Seed Expo is held every year so it was a short trip for the school’s agricultural sciences chair JaMonica Marion and the three students she brought to talk to the ASTA group last week. “We are located on a farm actually in the city of Chicago,” she said of the school that opened in 1985 and includes various ag career pathways. “We are promoting career success and providing our students with outstanding opportunities to get exposure to agricultural education in an urban setting.”
The school is open to any student in the city of Chicago, but they have to apply for the opportunity. “We receive over 3000 applications a year for only 180 spots,” said Marion. The school claims a 93 percent graduation rate and an impressive 75 percent go on to major in agricultural careers. “In fact, out of the nine agricultural teachers on staff (at CHSAS), seven of those are alumni, including myself,” Marion said.
The room full of young and more seasoned agribusiness professionals at ASTA were spellbound by JaMonica’s presentation of what the school does, from the working farm, to giving back to the community and showcasing agriculture in downtown Chicago. Many were interested in how they could help support the school. “With us being a farm, we will always take seeds, we’ll always take farm equipment, if they want to make donations,” Marion said.
Learn more about the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences in this interview: Interview with JaMonica Marion, CHSAS ag teacher
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The Obama Administration has launched a new trade enforcement action against the People’s Republic of China over tariff-rate quotas (TRQs) for rice, wheat, and corn. The complaint was filed with the World Trade Organization (WTO) by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR).
“China’s TRQ policies breach their WTO commitments and limit opportunities for U.S. farmers to export competitively priced, high-quality grains to customers in China,” said United States Trade Representative Michael Froman. “The United States will aggressively pursue this challenge on behalf of American rice, wheat, and corn farmers.” USDA estimates that China’s TRQs for these commodities were worth over $7 billion in 2015.
Separately, USTR has requested that the WTO establish a dispute settlement panel to examine China’s level of domestic support for Chinese producers of rice, wheat, and corn under a WTO challenge USTRA launched in September.
According to a new survey of U.S. farmers and ranchers, the majority view biotechnology and GMO crops as an important solution in helping raise crops more efficiently.
The U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance (USFRA) and National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) surveyed over 280 farmers across the United States about their attitudes toward GMO crops and specifically the impact of biotechnology on the environment, pesticide use, and yields.
Findings conclude that farmers believe biotechnology helps raise crops more efficiently, and that the environment and sustainability practices will suffer if GMO technology utilization is reduced in crop production in the future. Seventy-eight (78%) percent of farmers foresee increased environmental impacts—including an increase in water usage and application of pesticides—if GMO seeds were not to be available to them as a choice in crop production. When asked about farmers’ ability to lessen their environmental footprint, 98 percent of those polled ranked GMO seeds at the top of their list.Read More
Jill Sackville from Aldeo, Illinois has been announced the Illinois winner of the 2017 GROWMARK essay contest for FFA students. Sackville wrote an essay to answer the prompt: “What value do cooperatives provide to today’s farmers?”
“Today’s cooperatives still play a pivotal role in farming, allowing members to obtain high quality seeds, fertilizers, herbicides, insecticides, and many more essential agricultural needs. They set the pace for quality, price, and services and are a strong competitive influence in and amongst local farmers. They make the services of specialists available to farmers who otherwise would be unable to afford the extra help. Individualized products can be tailored to each of a farmer’s fields based on all manner of criteria,” Sackville wrote.
A student at Mercer County High School, Sackville is a member of the Mercer County FFA chapter. For her efforts she will receive $500 from GROWMARK, and her FFA chapter will be given $300 in her honor.
Four state runners-up will each receive a $125 award. The runners-up and their FFA chapters are, in alphabetical order: Mikayla Busby, Monticello FFA, Monticello, Illinois; Koby Gooden, West Prairie FFA, Colchester, Illinois; Mallory Unverfehrt, Okawville FFA, Okawville, Illinois; and Garrett Williams, Flora FFA, Noble, Illinois.
This is the 24th year for the program, sponsored by the GROWMARK System and FS member cooperatives, in conjunction with state FFA leaders, to help young people develop their writing skills, learn about current issues in agriculture, and understand the unique role of cooperatives.
Monsanto Company held a special meeting of shareowners earlier this week to vote on the merger of Monsanto with Bayer Aktiengesellschaft. The agreement states that Monsanto shareowners receive $128 per share in cash.
“We are pleased we received such strong support from our shareowners,” said Hugh Grant, Monsanto Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “This is an important milestone as we work to combine our two complementary companies and deliver on our shared vision for the future of agriculture. By bringing together our expertise and our resources to drive this shared vision, we can do even more together to benefit growers around the world and to help address broad global challenges like climate change and food scarcity.”
“The acquisition of Monsanto is driven by our strong belief that this combination can help address the growing challenges facing farmers and the overall agriculture industry today and in the future,” said Werner Baumann, CEO of Bayer AG. “Together, Bayer and Monsanto will be able to offer the new, innovative solutions that our customers need. We look forward to completing the transaction and working closely with Monsanto to ensure a successful integration.”
Based on a preliminary tabulation of the shareowner vote, approximately 99% of all votes cast, which represents approximately 75% of all outstanding shares on November 7, 2016, the record date for the special meeting, were voted in favor of the merger. Monsanto shareowners also approved the proposal to approve, on an advisory (non-binding) basis, certain compensation that may be paid or become payable to the Company’s named executive officers in connection with the merger. The final voting results on all agenda items will be filed with the SEC in the company’s Form 8-K and will also be available at http://www.monsanto.com/investors/pages/default.aspx.
Follow with Bayer/Monsanto merger at www.AdvancingTogether.com.
