GROWMARK Sustainability Efforts Focus on Farmer

Lizzy Schultz September 12, 2016

GROWMARK’s commitment to sustainability was made evident during the 2016 GROWMARK Annual Meeting & Agribusiness Symposium, and Mark Orr, GROWMARK’s Vice President of Agronomy, sat down with AgWired during this year’s event to discuss the ways that the company is working directly with farmers to implement sustainable practices that will improve the long term profitability and success of their farms.

“We really want to focus on profitability at the farm gate. We believe sustainability in the long term has to be profitable for the farmer, and with that being said, we are focusing not only on the agronomic piece of sustainability but the social piece of it, which is also key to remaining sustainable in the long haul,” said Orr.

Orr explained that one of the major sustainability initiatives GROWMARK has brought forward this year is the 4R Sustainability Advocate Program.

“We really want to recognize the crop specialists that are working with the producer on the 4R stewardship practices that are in place throughout their territory,” he said.

GROWMARK is also putting major effort into working with their member farmers on updating some best management practices, especially related to nitrogen management, that will improve the long-term, profitable sustainability on their operations.

Learn more in Lizzy’s full interview with Mark here:
Interview with Mark Orr, GROWMARK

Jack McCormick, one of GROWMARK’s Board Members and a corn, wheat, and soybean grower from southern Illinois, is one of GROWMARK’s farmer-owners that has been prioritizing sustainable practices for years. McCormick’s operation utilizes a comprehensive nutrient management system, and the family has been practicing no-till planting since 1970.

“Like anything, you start with the practices, you refine it, and you start doing practices that make sense for the environment and for your operation,” said McCormick in an interview during the Annual Meeting. “The practices that we think make a difference to the public have to do with keeping our water as clean as we can and using practices to keep crop protection products on the field as long as we can. I would like to see everybody embrace as many practices as they can.”

Listen to all of Jack’s thoughts on sustainability in his full interview here:
Interview with Jack McCormick, GROWMARK

View and download photos from the event here: 2016 GROWMARK Annual Meeting & Agribusiness Symposium Photo Album

Ag Groups, Agribusiness, Audio, GROWMARK, Sustainability

Putting a Face on the American Soybean Farmer

Jamie Johansen September 12, 2016

Missouri soybean grower, Todd Gibson, has worn many leadership hats throughout the soy community at the state and national levels. His farm is located just east of Kansas City in the heart of Midwestern crop country. He was just elected to the U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC) board and shared more about his commitment to the industry during the 2016 U.S. Soy Global Trade Exchange.

“USSEC gives us an opportunity to see where our crop goes. A lot of people don’t realize what happens to their soybeans after they take it to the elevator. It gives us an opportunity to visit with dignitaries from other countries, formulate a market plan and make connections because over half of our commodity goes overseas.”

Importers of soy products have options, so what makes them select U.S. soy? Todd said U.S. soybeans are consistent, the quality is good. “Our soybeans are safe. Our GM products are safe. We are going to keep growing it.”

During his time on the United Soybean Board (USB) Todd said he was able to travel overseas and build connections. It was his first trip to the Trade Exchange and was excited to see many familiar faces because of those trade missions. Our U.S. soybean buyers had yet another opportunity to put a face to the American soybean farmer. Listen to my complete interview with Todd here: Interview with Todd Gibson, MO Soybean Farmer

View and download photos from the event here: 2016 US Soy Global Trade Exchange Photos

Ag Groups, Audio, Exports, Markets, Soybean, Trade, USSEC

Court Rules EPA Violated Farmer Privacy

Cindy Zimmerman September 12, 2016

The Environmental Protection Agency has violated the personal privacy of tens of thousands of farmers and ranchers, according to a unanimous ruling issued Friday by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in a lawsuit brought by the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) and the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) over EPA’s release to environmental groups of personal information on tens of thousands of farmers.

“This was an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy by a federal agency in violation of law,” said AFBF General Counsel Ellen Steen. “The court’s decision is a vindication of the right of farm families to control their own personal information. Farmers and ranchers have a strong privacy interest in their personal information, including their home address, even when they live and work on the farm.”

Late last year, a U.S. district court dismissed the lawsuit for lack of standing. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit in St. Louis ruled that “the associations have established a concrete and particularized injury in fact traceable to the EPA’s action and redressable by judicial relief.”

“EPA’s release of sensitive, private and personal materials on more than 100,000 farmers and ranchers was an outrageous abuse of its power and trust,” said NPPC President John Weber, a pork producer from Dysart, Iowa. “We are very pleased with the Court of Appeals’ decision to reinstate our lawsuit to prevent the EPA from doing this again.”

The case stems from the February 2013 release by EPA’s Office of Water to several activist groups, which filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, of extensive private and personal information the agency had collected on farmers in 29 states.

AFBF, EPA, NPPC

Aquaculture Explodes & #USSoy Meets Nutrient Demand

Jamie Johansen September 12, 2016

I sat down with Sebastian Bell, Executive Director of the Maine Aquaculture Association, during the 2016 U.S. Soy Global Trade Exchange, to talk about the role soy protein is playing in the formulation of aquatic feeds as the industry of aquaculture continues to explode globally as an agricultural production system.

“Aquaculture is the largest growing food production activity in the world, and a large part of that is because traditionally we have gotten a lot of our seafood from wild fisheries that have become increasingly exploited,” said Bell during the interview. “As the global demand for seafood has risen, it has been increasingly satisfied by farmed products.”

In the development and formulation of feeds for the aquatic animals that are new to domestication, soy has been an important nutritional component for producers and nutritionists. Several challenges face the industry as it continues to track through the learning curve of increasing the production and domestication of fish and aquatic species.

“Our use of soy has increased dramatically over the last ten years, and it’s been a great ingredient to use in feed. We’re still learning as we go, we’re working with animals that are not fully domesticated yet and so we still have things to learn as far as their nutritional needs go, but its very clear to us that soy has already played an important role in the formulation of aquatic feeds and probably will continue to do so,” said Bell.

Learn more in my complete interview with Sebastian here:
Interview with Sebastian Bell, Maine Aquaculture Assoc.

View and download photos from the event here: 2016 US Soy Global Trade Exchange Photos

Ag Groups, Animal Agriculture, Aquaculture, Audio, Food, Soybean, USSEC

New Holland’s Big #Biomass Baler

Joanna Schroeder September 12, 2016

Several years ago the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) published the Billion Ton biomass report and recently made an updated version available. The study shows that there is more than 1 billion tons of biomass available to be used for bio-products including biofuels. For many years, New Holland has been committed to growers who harvest biomass and when the biofuel industry was getting ready to make the move to cellulosic ethanol, New Holland was ready to go with their biomass baler equipment including the BigBaler. To learn more about the company’s technological evolution in the biomass space, I spoke with Jarrod Angstadt during the 2016 Farm Progress Show.

Angstadt said New Holland has been a leader in hay harvesting technology for many, many years. But 10 years ago they launched a Clean Energy Leader initiative and their equipment has evolved to meet the needs of growers as the market changes. “It’s really exciting because there are a lot of opportunities out there and where this is going to go exactly is still the unknown and it’s really, really exciting for us,” says Angstadt.

I asked Angstadt how the feedback has been from growers who are using the BigBaler to harvest corn stover and he says the feedback has been very positive. He adds, though, that baling a crop like corn stover is harder to bale than say a crop like alfalfa or hay. So New Holland “beefed up” the equipment specifically for hardier crops and the results have been great. The BigBaler is working well in the fields. And with some additional add-ons, the BigBaler can be used for crops like miscanthus and corn stover and still harvest forage crops.

Yet creating high-performance, long-lasting ag equipment is not only what New Holland is doing for the biofuels industry. They are the first and only company to come on board with Growth Energy to support American Ethanol. Angstadt adds, “We’re really proud of it. Going back to the clean energy leader strategy and our brand position and who we want to be, it made perfect sense. It made the growers understand we really care about them, our customer and we get that this affects them and ethanol is important to them so it’s important to us.”

Learn more about New Holland’s BigBaler by listening to my interview with Jarrod Angstadt: Interview with New Holland's Jarrod Angstadt on the BigBaler

New Holland 2016 Farm Progress Photo Album

Coverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by

Audio, Energy, Ethanol, Farm Progress Show, Harvest, New Holland

Geared to Give Honors Farmer Veteran

Cindy Zimmerman September 12, 2016

Aaron White is now the owner of an L-Series compact Kubota tractor, thanks to the “Geared to Give” program. White was given the keys during a ceremony at the Farm Progress Show in honor of his years of service in the U.S. Marine Corps and his dedication to farming.

“Geared to Give” is a partnership between Kubota and the Farmer Veteran Coalition (FVC) that provides support for military veterans pursing a future in farming. White served as a machine gunner in Japan, the Arabian Gulf and Afghanistan from 9/11 through May of 2005. Now he and his wife, Dana, farm 150 acres of row crops, a garden and cow-calf operation. White was notified of this honor the same day he won “tallest corn” at the Iowa State Fair (21 ft. 9 in.).

“I’m absolutely bewildered and can’t express my gratitude at this point with more than just a simple ‘thank you.’ In farming it seems that there is always a wolf at the door, but I’m a positive person even through the hard times and I’m so thankful to this program for helping my dreams come true,” White said.

The “Geared to Give” program works to identify the needs and further the agriculture careers of those who have served their country and are now serving their communities through farming.

“Farmer veterans like Aaron have earned the right to a little help,” said Todd Stucke, Kubota senior vice president of sales, marketing and product support. “They have proudly given back to this country through their military service to protect our way of life, and here at Kubota we are proud to help Aaron continue to make a difference in his community by farming in Iowa for many years to come.”

2016 Farm Progress Show Photos

Coverage of the Farm Progress Show is sponsored by

Farm Progress Show

GROWMARK Buzzing For Pollinator Program

Lizzy Schultz September 9, 2016

GROWMARK has made an ongoing commitment to ensuring the financial and environmental sustainability of the solutions they offer their growers, and their commitment to sustainability was made evident through several of the programs discussed last week during the GROWMARK Annual Meeting and Agribusiness Symposium. Lance Ruppert, Director of Agronomy Marketing, sat down during the meeting to discuss several of the company’s major sustainability initiatives, including the ENDURE 4R Advocate Award and the new pollinator program.

“In general, agriculture hasn’t done the best at getting the message out there about letting people know what we’re doing from a proactive standpoint, so a large part of these initiatives comes from our want to get our message out and show how we’re actively going our part and being stewards of the land,” he said during an interview with AgWired.

The GROWMARK pollinator program gotten some great “buzz” throughout the industry this year. GROWMARK donated 10 pounds of pollinator-friendly flower seed mix to member companies, encouraging them to plant, give away, or promote the planting of the flower seeds in whatever ways they could imagine. The program has been a huge success, and several 4H pollinator programs have stemmed off of it this year.

“It really engaged our people, and we even started an employee pollinator program. By the end of the season we had 24 different sites where our employees were planting seeds,” said Ruppert.

Learn more in Lizzy’s full interview with Lance here:
Interview with Lance Ruppert, GROWMARK

View and download photos from the event here: 2016 GROWMARK Annual Meeting & Agribusiness Symposium Photo Album

Ag Groups, Agribusiness, Audio, Environment, GROWMARK, pollinators, Sustainability

Why Chinese Choose #USSoy

Jamie Johansen September 9, 2016

During the 2016 U.S. Soy Global Trade Exchange in Indianapolis, buyers from China committed to buy nearly $1.8 billion worth of U.S. soy, totaling 146 million bushels of new crop U.S. soybeans. Several of these commitments were made official at a signing during the event, hosted by the U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC).

Sherwin Li, Vice General Manager, Chinatex Grains and Oils participated in the signing and said his company imports about 1.5 million metric ton of soybean each year.

He also commented on the signing stating, “I think it’s a big event for Chinese and U.S. soybean industries. With the development of China, we need a lot of importing to supply to our people to increase life-standard and safety of the food.”

Sherwin said it’s obvious that U.S. is one of the largest soybean providing around the world. “If you want to have good quality…we need to choose U.S.”

Listen to my complete interview with Sherwin here: Interview with Sherwin Li, Chinatex

View and download photos from the event here: 2016 US Soy Global Trade Exchange Photos

Agribusiness, Audio, Exports, Feed, Food, Soybean, USSEC

I AM @USFRA – @Iowa_Corn

Cindy Zimmerman September 9, 2016

Many of the 100 affiliates and partners that make up the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance (USFRA) are state organizations like Iowa Corn and we had a chance to catch up with them in their home state last week during the Farm Progress Show.

“We’re strong supporters of USFRA,” says Shannon Textor, Director of Marketing and Communications for Iowa Corn. “The way that we work together and invite customers and consumers to our table to learn more about where their food comes from is really the value that USFRA brings to us.”

Textor says USFRA has accomplished a great deal in a short time and helped provide its members with resources they can use in their own outreach efforts. “FARMLAND is a prime example of really showcasing agriculture and the farm families that grow the food,” she said. “It’s been a great asset for us. We’re brought it into schools and colleges to really help show and tell the story of American agriculture.”

Iowa Corn has also been able to take advantage of the USFRA Food Dialogues and Faces of Farming and Ranching. “I really think the partnerships show through on talking about antibiotics and GMOs, some of the tough issues.”

In this interview, Textor also talks about the importance of working with all commodity groups under one tent to share agriculture’s story: Interview with Shannon Textor, Iowa Corn

Audio, USFRA

AgCareers.com Launches Virtual Career Fairs

Lizzy Schultz September 9, 2016

AgCareers.com is now providing candidates the opportunity to attend a career fair from anywhere with AgCareers.com Virtual Career Fairs.

The Virtual Career Fairs allow anyone pursuing a career in the agricultural industry to attend a career fair with just a computer and internet access.

The virtual fairs are free for job seekers, and allow them to network and communicate with agricultural employers in real time. Candidates may can talk with representatives various employers, ask questions, and express interest in securing an agricultural career.

The Resume Database Virtual Career Fair, created exclusively for job seekers who have uploaded their resume into the AgCareers.com Database, will take place on September 27, 2016. The deadline for uploading your resume to receive an invitation to the event is September 12th, and interested job seekers may do so here.

Another upcoming event is the Two-Year & Technical Colleges Virtual Career Fair on October 6, 2016, created exclusively for job seekers with an associate’s/technical degree or certificate. Candidates may connect with employers looking for ready-now, skilled talent from a wide variety of careers and sectors within agriculture. For additional information and to register, visit here.

“Both passive and active job seekers can use virtual career fairs to their advantage to connect with employers,” said Ashley Collins, Education and Marketing Manager, AgCareers.com. “The number one piece of feedback we receive from job seekers is that they feel like their applications go into a black hole when they hit submit. Taking advantage of events like these two fairs offered by AgCareers.com will allow job seekers to have a conversation with the employer and make a connection through the application process,” said Collins. “We’re also very excited to bring this avenue to our community of skill and trade job seekers. Career fairs for that community can be limited while career opportunities are plentiful,” added Collins.

AgCareers, Agribusiness, Events

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