USFRA Research Focuses on Consumers and Sustainability

Cindy Zimmerman September 8, 2016

Sustainability is the biggest buzz word of the day when it comes to food. That’s why the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance (USFRA) has spent a lot of time this year researching just what sustainability means to consumers and their food choices.

USFRA Randy Krotz says they found out that while there seems to be no consistant definition of sustainability, most consumers associate sustainability with four key areas. “We found out if you talk about air, soil, water and habitat, it connects with consumers,” said Krotz during an interview at Farm Progress Show last week. “They’re wondering what we as agriculturalists are doing that impacts the environment.”

The research finds that younger consumers in particular are literally hungry for information about food. “Millennials are looking for information at a rate that we almost can’t keep up with,” said Krotz. “We’ve got to be transparent, we’ve got to tell our story, and we need to do it because 75 percent of consumers are concerned about where their food is coming from.”

USFRA was sharing this sustainability research with producers at Farm Progress Show and providing training on ways to use it to create productive, positive dialogue about the industry.

Learn more from Randy in this interview: Interview with Randy Krotz, USFRA

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#IFAJ2016 Tour – Part 11 – Bayer Wheat

Chuck Zimmerman September 8, 2016

In this next episode of my stories from the 2016 IFAJ Congress Bayer Tours we’re going to learn about wheat production. In this ForwardFarm tour stop Cristiane Henk talks about Bayer crop protection products for wheat on the Damianshof Farm. Wheat is the biggest crop in the world in case you didn’t know that.

Wheat can be affected by many different pathogens and the wheat product portfolio for Bayer addresses many of them like fungi and insects. Christiane shows us how Bayer’s products helped this farm deal with yellow rust which was especially prevalent this year.

Besides crop protection Bayer is also working on new wheat hybrids but not at this farm. However, the company does have 7 R&D locations around the world for this type of research.

You can listen to the presentation here or watch below to learn more: Christiane Henk, Presentation

2016 IFAJ Congress Photo Album

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Agrible Alien Rooster Lands at #FarmProgressShow

Cindy Zimmerman September 8, 2016

The Agrible alien rooster and MiniZ became good friends at the Farm Progress Show last week and helped us learn more about Agrible’s “alien technology” on the farm.

“It really is so far ahead and so foreign to a lot of people that it just seems alien,” said Agrible sales director Jason Little.

Among Agrible’s alien technology products is the free Find My Seed™ tool which combines searchable data from over 300,000 third-party seed trial plots covering 23,000 different seed varieties. “It’s an independent seed trial aggregator,” said Little. “Based on the criteria, it will search the data base and come back with the hybrids that have the highest yield advantage.”

Agrible just expanded Find My Seed™ to include five additional crop types. In addition to corn and soybeans, Find My Seed now includes thousands of varieties of wheat, barley, peanuts, oats, and cotton. Find My Seed makes it easy for growers to find the right seed based on the factors that are important to them, such as location, soil type, seed technology, brand and more.

Learn more about Agrible in this interview: Interview with Jason Little, Agrible

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Demand for Aquaculture Creates Demand for #USsoy

Jamie Johansen September 7, 2016

Did you know that aquaculture is the fastest growing animal production system in the world today? Or that aquaculture is the fastest growing utilization area for soy protein ingredients? Aquaculture and U.S. soybean production easily fit hand-in-hand. While I was at the U.S. Soy Global Trade Exchange I quickly realized the relationship aquaculture and the soybean community have formed and understood the extreme potential for growth on both ends.

Colby Sutter, Marketing Director, Aquaculture & Customer Focus, U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC), sat down with me to share more about this growth. “Aquaculture is an industry that has been growing at a rapid pace for the last nine years. It has grown 10% per year, which means more and more feed is needed. More high quality, consistent protein are needed for these aquafeed ingredients. U.S. soy with it’s sustainability and consistent supply really fits that need perfectly.”

USSEC has boots on the ground globally providing technical assistance, sharing the latest in new technologies and training. Colby said that was just one aspect as to why international customers choose U.S. soy. “Our protein, our actual ingredient is of a higher protein. Our amino acids are better. We offer a more sustainable product and now with the U.S. Soy Sustainability Assurance Protocol, we offer people the ability to have certified U.S. sustainable soy, which is more and more important in food products.”

China is leading the world in seafood production and they are a net importer, as well. Colby said they are also seeing a lot of growth in Southeast Asia and surprisingly, they are seeing growth in Latin America. “That is where we, as USSEC, are really focusing. There we have great marketshare. We have put a lot of emphasis in working on our program there and helping to see that aquaculture industry grow because that will be straight U.S. soy going into that market.”

Listen to my complete interview with Colby here: Interview with Colby Sutter, USSEC

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

Ag Groups, Aquaculture, Audio, Feed, Soybean, Sustainability, Trade, USSEC

New Holland SmartTrax™ II Upgrades

Chuck Zimmerman September 7, 2016

At Farm Progress Show last week, New Holland announced expansion of the SmartTrax™ offering for model year 2017 T9 Series tractors with the SmartTrax™ II Standard Track and Deep Traction Lug options and new belt traction lug.

“We heard from a number of customers who were searching for a similar solution at a lower acquisition cost, and we listened,” said Dan Valen, Cash Crop Marketing Segment Lead at New Holland. “The new Standard design offers a cost-effective alternative to the premium Hi-Idler, featuring the same benefits with the exception of the aggressive approach angle.”

Both the Hi-Idler and Standard modules are available with Agricultural lug tread or new Deep lug tread for added traction on the T9.600, T9.645 and T9.700 vehicles. The Agricultural lug tread has a tread height of 2 inches, while the Deep Lug tread height is 2.6 inches, making it ideal for very wet conditions or in loose or softer soils where traction is difficult to achieve. Both track belts are designed with a 153.3mm (6 inch) tread spacing, which improves traction in wet or soft ground conditions and optimizes tread cleanout in muddy or sticky field conditions.

Learn more about this new offering in the audio and video links from FPS below:

Listen to Dan’s presentation here: Presentation by Dan Valen, New Holland

You can watch Dan’s presentation below:

2016 Farm Progress Show Photos

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Why #USSoy? These Customers Answer

Jamie Johansen September 7, 2016

The U.S. Soy Global Trade Exchange & Midwest Specialty Grains Conference welcomed hundreds of decision-making global U.S. soy customers to this year’s event to further the relationship building process and put a face to the American soybean producer. International leaders were able to meet one-on-one with key U.S. trading partners and visit soybean farms throughout the midwest.

I met many over the three-day event, but sat down with Samuel Kwame Ntim Adu, CEO, Yedent Agro Group, who traveled here from Ghana. Yedent processes soy and maize and serves as a supply chain partner for the World Initiative for Soy in Human Health (WISHH) and American Soybean Association (ASA) in Ghana. Pictured with Samuel is Executive Director of WISHH, Jim Hershey.

Samual said he came on this trip to identify businesses where relationships could be built with WISHH. “WISHH is an arm of the U.S. agency that tries to encourage soy consumption outside of the U.S in both humans and animals. Ghana is an emerging market with a growing income, growing middle class and where health issues have become a certain proposition. It’s a great time for U.S. soy processed products.”

Learn more about Ghana’s emerging soy market and why this conference was so important for Samuel in my complete interview here: Interview with Samuel Kwame Ntim Adu, Yedent Agro

I also caught up with one of the international customers representing the America’s and calls Colombia home. Mauricio Campillo is CEO of Solla, which produces soybean and soybean oil for animal feed and pet foods. Solla customers are located in Central America and throughout the Caribbean. Mauricio said their customers are feeding soy products in areas of aquaculture, poultry, swine and cattle.

The bottom line for buyers is a quality product. So, why U.S. soy? “We use the soybean products because they are the core ingredient to produce the feed to feed animals in Colombia. We import from the United States because they produce a very good product and logistics are very good for our country.”

It was Mauricio’s first time to the global trade event and he said it was a very good opportunity to get an update on all the things that are happening in soy globally. Unfortunately, I forgot to get a photo of Mauricio, but you can listen to my complete interview to learn more about the soybean market throughout Central and South America here: Interview with Mauricio Campillo, Solla

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

Agribusiness, Animal Health, Audio, Food, International, Soybean, USSEC

Bayer Holds #FutureFarming Dialog at Headquarters

Chuck Zimmerman September 7, 2016

Giving a keynote address to about 200 agricultural journalists this week in Leverkusen, Germany at the Future of Farming Dialog 2016 was Liam Condon, President of the Bayer Crop Science Division.

There were three key areas to Condon’s address: challenges in agriculture, innovation and sustainability. He started out with a statement that he can not comment on the negotiation between Bayer and Monsanto. Liam made a point that even with a volatile agricultural market right now, Bayer will continue to invest significantly in the Crop Science Division.

During his keynote address, Condon confirmed the current outlook for the Crop Science Division of Bayer in 2016: “In light of the continuingly weak market environment, we expect Crop Science to continue to outperform the market with sales to remain on the prior-year level on a currency- and portfolio adjusted basis. This is equivalent to reported sales of about EUR 10 billion.”

Condon also outlined the current Crop Science R&D pipeline with products to be launched from 2015 to 2020, highlighting a combined peak sales potential of more than EUR 5 billion. Beyond 2020, the R&D organization is working with more than 20 R&D targets in chemical crop protection, six targets for biological crop protection and eight targets for traits. In addition, the breeding programs include nine field crop targets in late development and research and 27 vegetable targets.

Condon also confirmed the commitment to R&D: “With about 10 percent of sales going into R&D our investment into innovation remains at an industry leading level in the agricultural industry. Irrespective of the volatility of the agricultural cycle, we need to take the long-term approach to innovation because in our highly regulated industry it takes us on average about 10 years to develop new products.”

You can listen to Liam’s speech and the Q&A here: Liam Condon, Bayer, Speech - Q&A

Please feel free to view and share photos from #FutureFarming here: Bayer Future of Farming Dialog 2016 Photo Album

Agribusiness, Audio, Bayer

Agrivisor Offers Marketing Solutions For Growers

Lizzy Schultz September 6, 2016

Low corn and soybean prices are still placing pressure on growers across the nation, especially with the record yields expected to come out of this year’s harvest season. Cory Winstead, GROWMARK’s Division Manager for Grain Risk, spoke with AgWired during the 2016 GROWMARK Annual Meeting & Agribusiness Symposium last week to discuss ways GROWMARK is helping farmers continue to manage risk and maximize profitability during challenging state of the economy.

“One of the things you really need to look at is putting a plan together, and having that plan put together early. Know where your breakeven is, know what’s profitable and what’s not, and then trying to put forth the tools that will get you there,” he said in an interview during the annual meeting.

Along with his work at GROWMARK, Winstead is a manager at Agrivisor, a joint venture between GROWMARK and the Illinois Farm Bureau, a full service agricultural advisory firm that provides growers with a unique, comprehensive set of risk management tools and marketing services that can help set them up for success.

“We offer marketing solutions, and our products can give you some more premium,” said Winstead. “They’re managed bushel products, so instead of trying to price grain on your own, we allow you to commit on a cash grain contract and select an analyst to price the grain for you over a time period.”

Learn more about AgriVisor in his full interview here:
Interview with Cory Winstead, GROWMARK/Agrivisor

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

Ag Groups, Agribusiness, Audio, GROWMARK

The Modern Global Foodie – Are You Marketing to Them?

Jamie Johansen September 6, 2016

Sopexa is the only international marketing agency that focuses entirely on the food and beverage community making their relationship with agriculture essential. Pauline Oudin, managing director, conducted the first ever study on the global foodie. She shared her findings during the U.S. Soy Global Trade Exchange and highlighted key elements to engaging the modern foodie around the world.

The multi-country foodie study focused on the preferences, behaviors of Millennials and younger food consumers in China, Japan, U.S. Germany, U.K. and France. They defined a foodie as someone who considers food a key hobby and who is socially active in discussing those subjects.

“The most interesting thing was the comparison of the foodie across the six major countries. We saw many differences,” said Oudin. “For example, in the U.S. they are older than we expected. They are older in Japan as well, which we could have expected. However, significantly younger in France.”

Oudin said they were also very surprised in the difference between social media use. Naturally, we assumed the foodie would be connected online and socially active. But they use different kinds of social media in different markets. “In the U.S. the foodie is into showing off. They want to be creative with food and get praise for that creativity. They show off their food rather than discussing issues or concerns. You will have more forum discussions in China, where it is more community based. As a marketer, you will want to target those different audiences with very different marketing approaches.”

Surprisingly, the study showed that U.S. foodies don’t eat out as often as we might have assumed. In fact, it reported that many only ate out two to three times a month. Oudin said one of the reasons for this is price sensitivity linked to quality. The modern foodie would rather have better less often then good frequently.

I honestly could have talked to Pauline for hours on this issue. But who would want to listen to all of that? However, you can catch my complete interview with Oudin where she expands on what type of information are foodies seeking, what sources are they trusting, where are they shopping, what do they want to see on the label and finally, where does she see this foodie trend going in the future.

Listen here: Interview with Pauline Oudin, Sopexa

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

Agribusiness, Audio, Food, International, Marketing, Soybean, USSEC

#Soybean Grower Priorities

Cindy Zimmerman September 6, 2016

Passage of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) is one of the top priorities for soybean growers and now they are hoping it will get passed by Congress, regardless of who is elected president in November.

“It’s unfortunate that this important landmark piece of trade has become politicized in the general election campaign,” said American Soybean Association (ASA) president Richard Wilkins of Delaware (right) during an interview at Farm Progress Show last week. “It’s a shame but we’re going to continue to keep our shoulders in the yoke and hope that we can convince the majority of the folks on the Hill that this is important to get done before the end of the year.”

ASA Vice President Ron Moore of Illinois says they are pleased with passage by Congress of the GMO disclosure bill and look forward to implementation. “It passed with an overwhelmingly majority in the House so that’s a big win,” said Moore. “But now the crucial part comes where we have to work with the USDA to make sure the regulations they write mirror the intentions of Congress.”

Wilkins and Moore also talk about what they would like to see in a new farm bill here: Interview with ASA Officers Richard Wilkins and Ron Moore

2016 Farm Progress Show Photos

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ASA, Audio, Farm Progress Show, Soybean

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