Get Corny with #CUTC16

Chuck Zimmerman

Corn Utilization Technology ConferenceCorn technology might conjure up many different ideas in your mind. Think ethanol, feed for animals, boiled corn for the table and much more. Follow along this week as I attend the Corn Utilization Technology Conference and we’re going to learn about a lot more than that.

Session topics at the CUTC will cover wet and drying milling technology, traits/breeding/biotechnology, biorefining and uses for starch. There are quite literally many new uses for corn and in fact, that is a topic that will be covered all on its own. My job is to interview researchers working on very complex projects and get them to explain in easy to understand language. I can do it. I’ve done it before.

So follow along on AgWired this week and the hashtag, #CUTC16.

Ag Groups, Biotech, Corn, CUTC, NCGA, Technology

Potatoes USA Inspires International Chefs

Lizzy Schultz

RTM-Chefs Potatoes USA brought 21 chefs from Mexico, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines on a reverse trade mission (RTM) to the U.S. to learn about U.S. potatoes and products, as well as new and creative ways to put them on menus back home.

The RTM began with potato training in Idaho, then switched to a two-day training session at Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Institute in Portland, OR. The final segment of the trip was the National Restaurant Association annual conference and trade show in Chicago.

The Idaho portion of the trip first brought the international chefs to a fresh packing shed and dehydrated potato processing facility in Idaho Falls. The group received intensive training on dehydrated potatoes at Miles Willard Technologies, and allowed to directly observe the scale, sophistication and quality of U.S. potatoes and products. The next stop was Boise, where chefs met with Lamb Weston, the Idaho Potato Commission and the J.R. Simplot Company.

The Oregon Potato Commission sponsored the group’s two-day cooking workshop at the Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Institute. The workshop included cutting edge culinary demonstrations with dehydrated, frozen and fresh potatoes, two opportunities to prepare dishes with U.S. potatoes and products, and training by a lead instructor on classical potato preparations and dishes.

The group then traveled to Chicago for the National Restaurant Association annual conference, which offered the chefs an extra opportunity to learn about U.S. food products, including potatoes, which they can feature in their restaurants plus all of the other aspects of the restaurant business.

All of the chefs expressed sincere gratitude to participate in this “experience of a lifetime,” and all participants felt that their views and thoughts about potatoes had completely changed. There was complete consensus that their experiences in the U.S. could be applied in their own restaurants.

Ag Groups, Agribusiness, Education, Food, International, Potato

GreenStone Farm Credit Teams With Ag Incubator

Lizzy Schultz

image001 GreenStone Farm Credit Services recently announced that the community and agricultural lender has made a $25,000 contribution to the Great Lakes Ag-Tech Business Incubator, a non-profit organization that focuses on helping farmers and entrepreneurs rapidly commercialize their ag-technology machinery, equipment or software innovations.

The Incubator will utilize the financial contribution by providing business startup services to clients. GreenStone will also offer its expertise to Incubator clients in areas such as financial counseling, lending to qualified clients, and business finance training to clients and ag-tech entrepreneurs.

“For the last century, GreenStone has supported organizations, programs and initiatives dedicated to advancing agriculture. This partnership with the Great Lakes Ag-Tech Business Incubator fits with our commitment to help Michigan ag-technology based businesses get started and become successful,” said Dave Armstrong, President and CEO of GreenStone Farm Credit Services.

Farmers, entrepreneurs and business owners who have an ag-technology idea or invention and would like more information about the business services offered by the Incubator can visit their website here. Farmers and industry professionals interested in helping to review and/or test new ag-technologies being developed by Incubator clients should also contact the Incubator team.

Ag Groups, Agribusiness, Farm Credit

AgCareers.com Earns User’s Choice Award

Kelly Marshall

AgCareersAgCareers.com is being recognized as one of the top online employment services.  WEDDLE’s gathered information from job seekers about online sites in 2015 and AgCareers.com was named as one of the best, earning the prestigious User’s Choice Award.

Thirty sites from among the 200,000 on the internet today earned this distinction.

“There is no higher accolade than the recognition provided by satisfied customers,” said Peter Weddle, Chief Executive Officer, WEDDLE’s LLC. “Selection as a User’s Choice Award Winner is proof positive that an organization is, in fact, among the elite in its field.”

“We are delighted that our candidates and employers have voted AgCareers.com as a User’s Choice Award winner,” said Eric Spell, AgCareers.com President. “We take pride in being the leading ag-specific career portal and job board, and plan ongoing developments to continually enhance the experience for our users,” added Spell.

AgCareers

Nebraska Woos Biobased Companies

Joanna Schroeder

© Zivana | Dreamstime.com - Nebraska State Flag Photo

© Zivana | Dreamstime.com – Nebraska State Flag Photo

Nebraska is ramping up its bio-based partnerships and wooing new companies to move to the state. According to a recent Nebraska Department of Economic Development (DED), bioscience companies employ more than 16,000 people in the state with the industry growing at a faster pace than the national average. For instance, several global and national companies are already located in Nebraska, including: NatureWorks (corn-based plastics), Novozymes (enzyme technology), Purac (lactic acid), Laurel BioComposite (bioresins from distillers grains), Pharmgate (animal pharmaceuticals) and many more.

“Nebraska is well-suited to capitalize on the next wave of scientific breakthroughs in the biosciences,” said Phil Kozera, executive director of Bio Nebraska Life Sciences Association. “There are many opportunities for next-generation companies to evolve in Nebraska, which leads to job creation and strengthening the state’s global leadership in value-added agriculture.”

Nebraska is the nation’s second largest ethanol producer with 25 plants. Ethanol and its co-products can serve as the foundation for many next-generation bioproducts from green chemicals to nutraceuticals and animal feed supplements.

Todd Sneller, Nebraska Ethanol Board administrator notes, “Ethanol plant locations have a steady and abundant supply of grain, oilseeds, biomass and livestock, on which many bio-based technologies depend. Nebraska has all the raw materials necessary to create strategic partnerships with bio-based companies.”

The state has also implemented several economic development incentive programs to lure additional biosciences companies to Nebraska. For example, Nebraska Advantage offers significant tax incentives for companies that relocate or expand their businesses in the state.

“In order to foster the development and growth of these enterprises, we actively collaborate between government, education, business and agriculture to reduce red tape,” said DED Director Courtney Dentlinger. “This strong partnership between the public and private sectors is a major factor in attracting companies to locate in Nebraska.”

Agribusiness, Biofuels, Ethanol

Apply for 2016 E4D Trip to China

Lizzy Schultz

IFAJ2016 will mark the 5th annual International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) Exposure-4-Development Tour, and this year’s attendees will get the opportunity to explore agriculture and mechanization in China!

The attendees, a group of 12 jury-selected journalists from around the world, will have the chance to travel through Beijing, Changzhou and Shanghai, China, for a first-hand look at farming and development in the world’s most populous country.

Journalists will meet farmers and visit dairy and produce farms in two Chinese provinces, see the world’s most advanced tractor factory, which produces Massey Ferguson Global Series tractors scaled for small-scale farmers, meet the network behind one of the world’s most creative machinery marketing programs: AGCO’s distribution partnership with virtual marketing giant Alibaba.

The group will also meet in the nation’s capital with officials and Chinese journalists for an in-depth exploration of China’s agricultural policy.

The tour will begin in Beijing on 23 September 2016 and depart Shanghai on 30 September. Each participant will be responsible for his/her travel arrangements and costs to and from China. Tour expenses for the week in China will be 400 euros. All lodging and in-country travel, and most meals, will be covered under the tour. Each participant will receive an official letter of invitation from AGCO and IFAJ, which can be used to arrange a press visa for the trip through the Chinese Consulate in the journalist’s home country.

Interested journalists can click this link to download the application form. Once the form is completed, applicants must send it to their guild representative, and have their guild fill in this application their behalf. Every guild can submit one nominee and one alternate.

Submit samples of your work as requested in the application. Deadline for guilds to submit their nominees is 10 July 2016. Participants will be selected by 29 July.

Ag Groups, IFAJ, International, Journalism

Zimfo Bytes

Talia Goes

Zimfo Bytes

  • Woodruff Sweitzer (WS) recently announced the addition of Darlene Hanenburg to its Minneapolis/St. Paul office and Jessee Swezey to its Kansas City office.
  • The Center for Dairy Excellence has named Jayne Sebright, an Adams County native, as Executive Director of both the center and the Center for Dairy Excellence Foundation of Pennsylvania.
  • Barchart, a leading provider of financial market data and technology, announced that Mark Haraburda has been named CEO.
  • Scott Swinton, a professor and former associate chairperson in the Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics at Michigan State University, has been elected by his peers as President-Elect of the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA).
  • As farmers busily work on the farm this time of year, National Farmers Union (NFU) hopes to raise awareness about farm safety issues and best practices through a series of 10 educational videos.
Zimfo Bytes

USDA Extends Deadline for Recording Farm Structure

Kelly Marshall

USDAAgriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says the USDA will be offering a one-time, 30-day extension on the June 1 deadline for recording farm organization structures related to Actively Engaged in Farming determinations.  Operations now have until July 1 to finalize changes or complete their restructuring.  This comes as a response to farmers and ranchers who needed more time to provide information compliant with the new rules.

“Most farming and ranching organizations have been able to comply with the actively engaged rule,” said Vilsack. “This one-time extension should give producers who may still need to update their farm structure information the additional time to do so.”

The 2014 Farm Bill provided the Secretary with the direction and authority to amend the Actively Engaged in Farming rules related to management. The final rule established limits on the number of individuals who can qualify as actively engaged using only management. Only one payment limit for management is allowed under the rule, with the ability to request up to two additional qualifying managers operations for large and complex operations.

The rule does not apply to farming operations comprised entirely of family members. The rule also does not change the existing regulations related to contributions of land, capital, equipment or labor, or the existing regulations related to landowners with a risk in the crop or to spouses. The payment limit associated with Farm Service Agency farm payments is generally limited annually to $125,000 per individual or entity.

Producers who planted fall crops have until the 2017 crop year to comply with the new rules.

USDA

AFBF Launches Online Peanut Butter Game

Lizzy Schultz

farmbureau The American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture, along with the National Peanut Board and state peanut producer and industry organizations, have launched Operation Peanut Butter, a new online game from My American Farm. Geared for students in grades 3-5, the game allows students to follow peanuts from the field to the peanut butter on their sandwiches.

“While playing Operation Peanut Butter, students will have the chance to not only learn about the production of peanut butter, but also the value that peanut butter has as an ideal food to feed the hungry because of its protein content and long shelf life,” said Julie Tesch, executive director of the Foundation. “Along with the game, we’ve also created a lesson plan that will allow students to dive deeper into the role peanuts play in the nitrogen cycle.”

The game allows students to enhance their science, math, social science, and english language arts skills by reading about peanuts while playing the game.

“We are proud to debut this educational online resource as an enjoyable way for children to learn where their food comes from. Discovering how peanuts are grown, harvested and processed connects us all to the nutritious and delicious qualities of peanuts and peanut butter,” said Cathy Johnson, marketing and communications associate at the National Peanut Board.

The game, lesson plan and activity sheet, along with other agricultural-based learning resources, are available online here.

AFBF, Ag Groups, Education

R+K Shakes Up Staff

Kelly Marshall

Rhea-Kaiser-LogoRhea + Kaiser (R+K) has promoted a team member in the Public Relations (PR) department and added three new staffers.

Amy McEvoy moves to the position of Account Director-Public Relations/Associate Public Relations Director.  She will now be responsible for offering strategic direction and overseeing all PR for the Bayer account, in addition to PR and digital staff management and agency responsibilities.

“Amy does an outstanding job of managing our PR and integrated work for Bayer,” said R+K Vice President, Director of Public Relations Rob Merritt. “She is highly regarded by our clients and the R+K team, because she truly cares about doing quality work and helping make our clients happy and successful.”

Allison Saegebrecht comes on as the new Media Strategy Director.  Her new job description includes heading up the media strategy team and developing integrated, multi-platform communications plans for clients.  She has a background in strategic media planning with a Chicago-based firm, working on account like Walgreens, REI and Pier 1.

Hannah Barthels will be part of the R+K team as an Assistant Account Manager on its public relations team and Bayer account.  Barthels was raised on a dairy farm in Wisconsin and holds a degree in dairy science from the University of Wisconsin.  Her previous work experience includes Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese, Helena Chemical Company and AgriAbility.

Rocio Acosta moves from freelancer to full time Studio Production Artist.  She has 10 years experience working with brands like Sears, K-mart, Maurices, Ulta and Quixstar.

Visit rkconnect.com for more on Rhea + Kaiser, its capabilities, staff, award-winning work, industry insights and career opportunities.

Agribusiness, Public Relations