Alltech Helping to Future-Proof Food

Cindy Zimmerman November 21, 2016

A human nutritionist by trade, Nikki Putnam, is a registered dietitian nutritionist for Alltech. Her focus is to help bridge the gap between producers and consumers. We are seeing a ‘consumer-push’ for natural or traceable production and antibiotic-free functional foods. So, what does the future look like for food companies? Nikki shared some insight into what Alltech is doing to help future-proof food while attending the recent NAFB’s Trade Talk.

“What we are looking to do is help those farmers and ranchers stay relevant for the next 10, 20, 30, 40 years. By doing that, we are listening to the consumers, asking them what they want and then going back to the producers and providing them innovative solutions to then provide that to the consumer through their food products.”

Producers must still meet that bottom-line, understand the return on investment while still being innovative on farm. Nikki said one thing they have most recently seen success with is creation of functional foods. Listen to my complete interview to hear examples of programs they have created to not only bridge the gap, but also build consumer trust. Interview with Nikki Putnam, Alltech

From the beginning, Alltech’s approach to animal health has been to look for solutions that are natural and not to simply jump to antibiotics. The Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD) has been a key talking point for the last year and Alltech’s Dr. Amanda Gehman shares more about a lifetime approach to antibiotic-free production.

“We are able to show a lifetime approach in multiple species in multiple ways without the need to depend on the use of antibiotics.”

Listen to my complete interview as Amanda takes us through their work in beef, poultry, dairy and how they are helping their producers adopt the new guidelines from VFD. Interview with Dr. Amanda Gehman, Alltech

View and download photos from the event here: NAFB Convention Photo Album

Coverage of NAFB Convention is sponsored by

Alltech, Audio, Feed, Food, NAFB

Propane Performs on the Farm

Joanna Schroeder November 21, 2016

A lot of growers are making the switch to propane and saving money, according to Cinch Munson with the Propane Education & Research Council (PERC) who attended the recent National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) Trade Talk. Munson said there is a lot happening in the world of propane and much of it is in the engine markets including irrigation. Speaking of farms, there have been good efficiency improvements across a lot of equipment including some new grain dryers.

Another topic that PERC was discussing with media was incentives available for farm equipment. “The Propane Council is offering incentives towards the purchase of qualifying equipment,” said Munch. “The program in 2017 is going to change a little bit…If you are interested in buying a generator for prime power or a new building heat system for a greenhouse or swine building or poultry building or buying a new propane irrigation engine, we’re encouraging people to use the incentive in 2016 while it’s there.”

Munson said in 2017 growers will need to work through their local dealer to get their incentives. Today the Propane Farm Incentive Program is an open enrollment program so Munson is encouraging people to go to propane.com to see what incentives are available and to learn more about the advantages of propane on the farm.

The farm incentive program has just celebrated its fifth anniversary and Munson said the program has helped the industry.

“The Propane Farm Incentive Program is ultimately a research program for the propane industry,” Munson explained. He said PERC works with equipment manufacturers to develop propane powered equipment. They then use the farm incentive program to see how the equipment is performing on the field. “Over five years we’ve seen that people are very happy about how propane equipment is operating today. Manufacturers are committed to making equipment that is efficient, clean and reliable and in the field performance is being proven that propane is all those things,” added Munson.

To learn more about propane on the farm and propane incentives, listen to Cindy’s interview with Cinch Munson here: Interview with Cinch Munson, PERC

View and download photos from the event here: NAFB Convention Photo Album

Coverage of NAFB Convention is sponsored by

Audio, NAFB, PERC, Propane

I AM @USFRA New Board Member

Cindy Zimmerman November 18, 2016

As one of the new board members for the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance (USFRA), Katie Brenny representing the Federation of State Beef Councils got the gold mic treatment at last week’s meeting in Kansas City.

Katie and her husband Ted live on a beef farm outside of Mazeppa, Minnesota where they raise Charolais and Angus cattle, and she says USFRA is helping beef producers like her reach consumers in more ways than ever before. “I truly think it’s what the research shows and how can we tweak things to just constantly improve,” she said.

Her favorite USFRA projects so far have been the FARMLAND movie and Faces of Farming and Ranching. “As a millennial, I think it’s awesome to see friends of mine become Faces or people I know in FARMLAND to become movie stars, to really promote agriculture,” said Brenny.

Over the past six years of USFRA’s existence the organization has grown to include 100 agricultural organizations and companies, both small and large, and Brenny hopes to see that growth continue. “If you’re selling tires or plastic to a food company, the opportunities for companies to be involved is endless,” she said. “What we’re doing is really sharing good information and research and creating brand strategies to continue these stories and have a face to face conversation.”

Katie replaces Dawn Caldwell on the newly appointed USFRA board. Get to know Katie better in this interview: Interview with Katie Brenny, USFRA board member

USFRA 2016 Fall Board Meeting photos

Audio, Beef, Beef Checkoff, USFRA

Reaction to Election and Policy Priorities for NCGA

Lizzy Schultz November 18, 2016

NCGA president Wesley Spurlock and CEO Chris Novak at NAFB Trade Talk

Much of the conversation during NAFB’s Trade Talk last week surrounded the industry’s response to the election of Donald Trump, and the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) President Wesley Spurlock was on hand to discuss what this new administration will mean for NCGA and how the organization intends to move forward into the future.

“It is great to have the election behind us, and we really are watching and putting our names out, and working with them in order to get ag knowledge into the different areas of administration,” Spurlock said in an interview with Cindy. “They’ve got a tremendous amount of people to appoint, and the more ag knowledge that we have in there, the better we’ll be as we move forward into the future.”

Spurlock discussed how he believes the Trump Administration will impact several of the major issues that have been priorities of NCGA for the past several years, including the strong Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) opposition that was made clear during President-Elect Trump’s campaign.

“I think as we looked at the way he talked about TPP and what was said, he believed it needed to be re-negotiated,” said Spurlock. “When the Trump Administration sits down and reads the entire TPP agreement, they will see that a lot of their concerns have already been addressed, and we’re hoping that they will put their support behind it as they understand it better.”

Hear more about Spurlock’s thoughts on what a Trump Administration will mean for agriculture in his interview with Cindy here Interview with Wesley Spurlock, NCGA President

NCGA CEO Chris Novak is also optimistic about the future, believing that the new administration offers some major opportunities for American farmers.

“Our farmers have struggled over the past four years with regulatory challenges from the EPA on our ability to utilize atrazine and roundup on the farm, and we’ve been challenged by EPA with respect to renewable fuels use,” he said in an interview with Chuck. “We know from this election season that reforming regulation means giving us access to the tools that allow us to continue to innovate, and that we need to bring science into policy. These are all themes we’ve heard from President-elect Trump, so there is an opportunity for farmers in this next administration.”

Catch his entire conversation with Chuck to learn more about what Novak believes this election also means for trade and the renewable fuels industry:
Interview with Chris Novak, NCGA

View and download photos from the event here: 2016 NAFB Convention

Coverage of NAFB Convention is sponsored by

Ag Groups, Audio, Corn, NAFB, NCGA, politics, Trade

BASF Engenia Close to Approval

Cindy Zimmerman November 18, 2016

Reporters at the National Association of Farm Broadcasting last week were eager to find out more from BASF about when Engenia™ herbicide will be registered for use.

“We’re expecting registration of Engenia herbicide within weeks and growers will have it in time for the 2017 growing season,” said BASF Technical Marketing Manager Chad Asmus.

Engenia™ herbicide is a technologically advanced dicamba formulation that provides an additional site of action for control of broadleaf weeds in dicamba-tolerant crops, including soybeans and cotton. “As a new and effective site of action for dicamba-tolerant crops, Engenia herbicide will control over 200 of the most difficult broadleaf weeds, including glyphosate-resistant species, giving growers back the weed control that they need,” said Asmus.

In this interview, Asmus also talks about what BASF has been doing over the past two years to prepare for registration of Engenia by educating growers on proper application stewardship. Interview with Chad Asmus, BASF

NAFB Convention Photo Album

Coverage of NAFB Convention is sponsored by

Audio, BASF, Crop Protection, NAFB

ASTA Talks Future of Seed at #NAFB16

Kelly Marshall November 18, 2016

ASTA 1st Vice Chair Tracy Tally and CEO Andy LaVigne

The American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) CEO and First Vice Chair traveled to Kansas City, Missouri last week to take part in the National Association of Farm Broadcasting‘s Trade Talk event. Cindy Zimmerman spoke with them about the direction of the organization and the direction of the industry, especially in light of the recent Trump win. A new administration is sure to mean a new direction, says Andy Lavigne, ASTA CEO.

“I think as you look at agriculture over all you’re going to see something of a reset with direction for the political appointees in the new administration. Whenever you have eight years of one administration you sort of get a direction with them and I think what people will start to do is fall back to science based policy, a direction that is based on the great work we have in our industry with respect to science- so how to continue that process? And from the seed industry, that’s all we’re asking for policy. Base it on science, base it on the information we know today,” Lavigne told Cindy.

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack was open to science-based decision, but Lavigne believes there is possibility for the next Secretary to move further in that direction. We’ll have plenty of chances to see; next year will bring the enforcement of the new labeling law, new policies will be put into place regarding breeding techniques, and decisions regarding the EPA will be coming down.

Listen to the full interview with Lavigne here:
Interview with Andy Lavigne, ASTA

First Vice Chair, Tracy Tally is concerned with what the future will bring for plant breeding techniques. It wasn’t that long ago that plant breeding was based on humans who went out to the field and selected plants based on what they could see and understand.

“Now we are having to start to define how much non-human input is allowed to help us select plants, and select for quality, quality of harvest, consistent harvest, weather affects, yields, to perhaps things we as humans can’t measure,” Tally explained. “And we have technology that’s coming on now to help us do that and to help us do it in a very timely fashion.”

Consumer understanding of plant breeding techniques is sure to shape the future of the industry, both abroad and at home. Hear more in the full interview here:
Interview with Tracy Tally, ASTA

View and download photos from the event here: NAFB Convention Photo Album

Coverage of NAFB Convention is sponsored by

ASTA, Audio, NAFB

NCGA Partners with Benson Hill Biosystems

Cindy Zimmerman November 17, 2016

The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) has partnered up with agriculture technology company Benson Hill Biosystems to use the power of cloud biology for the creation of new corn hybrids.

The primary goal of the funding and partnership initiative will be to accelerate breeding and development of new corn hybrids utilizing CropOS™. “Our members are telling us loud and clear that they need more choices in the corn marketplace,” said North Dakota farmer Larry Hoffmann who serves as shairman of NCGA’s Corn Productivity & Quality Action Team. “We believe that the CropOS platform offers a fresh approach to leverage big data and technology and foster a more competitive industry.”

The CropOS cognitive engine uses machine learning to grow smarter and more predictive with every experiment and data set. With each additional breeder that takes advantage of the analytical power and machine learning of CropOS, progress in corn breeding has the potential to accelerate significantly, making the industry more responsive to the needs of growers. “The more responsive and competitive the industry is, the better equipped growers will be to sustainably meet demand for increasingly diverse solutions that benefit farms, communities, consumers and our society,” said Benson Hill Co-Founder and CEO Matthew Crisp.

CropOS combines vast amounts of genomic data and expert biological knowledge from public and private sources to pinpoint which plants will produce desired traits and improved performance prior to ever being planted in the field, allowing researchers to bypass multiple generations of experimentation.

Corn, NCGA, Research

Give Thanks for Cheaper Turkey Dinner

Cindy Zimmerman November 17, 2016

Americans will be giving thanks a week from today for a less expensive Thanksgiving dinner on their tables, according to the annual survey from American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF).

The American Farm Bureau Federation’s 31st annual informal price survey of classic items found on the Thanksgiving Day dinner table indicates the average cost of this year’s feast for 10 is $49.87, a 24-cent decrease from last year’s average of $50.11.

The biggest drop was in the center of the plate. The price of a 16-pound turkey came in at a total of $22.74 this year – down two cents per pound from a year ago or a total of 30 cents per whole turkey, compared to 2015.

“Consumers will pay less than $5 per person for a classic Thanksgiving dinner this year,” AFBF Director of Market Intelligence Dr. John Newton said. “We have seen farm prices for many foods – including turkeys – fall from the higher levels of recent years. This translates into lower retail prices for a number of items as we prepare for Thanksgiving and confirms that U.S. consumers benefit from an abundant, high-quality and affordable food supply.”

The AFBF survey shopping list includes turkey, bread stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls with butter, peas, cranberries, a veggie tray, pumpkin pie with whipped cream, and coffee and milk, all in quantities sufficient to serve a family of 10 with plenty for leftovers.

Foods showing the largest decreases this year in addition to turkey were pumpkin pie mix, milk and a veggie tray comprised of celery and carrots. A 30-ounce can of pumpkin pie mix was $3.13; a gallon of milk, $3.17; a one-pound veggie tray of celery and carrots, $0.73; and a group of miscellaneous items including coffee and ingredients necessary to prepare the meal (butter, evaporated milk, onions, eggs, sugar and flour), $2.81.

Find out all the details from AFBF.

AFBF, Food

Sugar Cane Growers Mourn Passing of Founder

Cindy Zimmerman November 17, 2016

The Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida is mourning the loss of its founder George H. Wedgworth, 88.

“George left his mark on every facet of our business, Florida agriculture as a whole and the entire Glades community,” said Cooperative President and CEO Tony Contreras. “He was a great friend, mentor, a true leader and a man of the highest integrity.”

Wedgworth was recognized on many occasions for his contributions to agriculture, the sugar industry and the community, including his induction into the Florida Agricultural Hall of Fame in 1994 and being named Sugar Man of the Year in 2005.

Wedgworth formed the Cooperative in 1960 as a way to bring stability to Glades area vegetable growers’ businesses. The first crop was grown in 1962 on 22,000 acres of land. He was at the helm of the organization for 50 years and grew the business to continue to increase the financial returns and stability to all 45 member-growers of the Cooperative. Today, the Cooperative processes sugarcane grown on 75,000 acres producing 4.2 million tons of cane yielding 482,000 tons of raw sugar and 25 million gallons of blackstrap molasses.

Ag Groups, Agribusiness, Cooperatives

Ag Thinks Positive With Trump Administration

Jamie Johansen November 16, 2016

Our latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “What will Trump presidency mean for ag?”

The election is over, however we are still discussing what a Trump Administration will not only mean for agriculture, but for our nation as a whole. NAFB hosted an agriculture “Reaction to Election” panel last week highlighting insights from key agricultural leader opinions. Remarks from those leaders fell into place with our recent poll results. An overwhelming majority feel a Trump presidency will equal positivity for ag.

Here are the poll results:

All good – 43%
All bad – 17%
Bad for exports – 9%
Nothing will change – 17%
I’m moving to Canada – 14%

Our new ZimmPoll is live and asks the question, What are you most thankful for this year?

As we come off the high from political discussion overload, this week we want to take it easy and think back over 2016. Thanksgiving is a time of reflection, a time to remember and give thanks. Share with us what tops your charts when it comes to thankfulness this year.

ZimmPoll

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