Golden Plow Awarded to Rep Mike Conaway

Joanna Schroeder March 1, 2016

The Golden Plow award was given to Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas) during the Farm Bureau Advocacy Conference that took place last week. AFBF President Zippy Duvall presented the award to the Chairman of the House Ag Committee- the highest honor given to members of Congress.

AFBF President Zippy Duvall (right) presents Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas) with the Golden Plow award, the highest recognition the organization grants members of Congress.

Conaway was nominated by the Texas Farm Bureau who noted his dedication to the ag industry in his role of chairman. He was also closely involved with the passage of the 2014 Farm Bill and according to Duvall, remains involved in defending its programs and overseeing its implementation by the Agriculture Department.

Duvall also highlighted Conaway’s support for crop insurance. When a $3 billion cut was included in the bipartisan budget agreement, he led the fight to ensure funding would be restored in the final bill. More recently, his early involvement with the redrafting of federal dietary guidelines resulted in recommendations that were true to their intended purpose. And finally, Conaway was thanked for his leadership on the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act, GMO legislation, that Duvall said would not have passed the House without his efforts.

“We are tremendously pleased to be able to recognize Chairman Conaway for all the great things he has done for America’s farmers and ranchers,” said Duvall. “Thank you for your dedicated service to agriculture and rural America.”

AFBF, politics

Overview of 2016 AASV Meeting

Chuck Zimmerman February 29, 2016

Tom Burkgren, DVM, Exec. Dir., American Association of Swine Veterinarians, sure seems to love his job. In the middle of an annual meeting with about 1,200 people attending and over 160 speakers you’d think the stress would be showing. But nooo. He’s smiling and tonight he’ll be one of the auctioneers at the AASV Foundation live fundraiser.

So even with the Nola distractions this is a serious educational meeting. Besides all the seminars there is a huge room with 85 company “technical tables” at which attending veterinarians can visit with representatives to discuss their products and services.

There are 150 students attending this year of which 55 submitted posters of their research abstracts into a competition. They have their own schedule of presentations and I’ll have more on them in an upcoming interview.

You can listen to my interview with Tom here: Interview with Tom Burkgren, DVM, AASV

BIVI 2016 AASV Meeting Photo Album

Watch for further coverage of the AASV meeting, sponsored by BIVI, here and on Animal.AgWired.com.

Coverage of American Association of Swine Veterinarians annual meeting sponsored by

Ag Groups, Animal Health, Audio

Supreme Court Declines Chesapeake Bay Review

Cindy Zimmerman February 29, 2016

There will be no Supreme Court review of the Environmental Protection Agency’s total maximum daily load (TMDL) restrictions in the Chesapeake Bay region, referred to as EPA’s “blueprint” for restoring the bay.

The American Farm Bureau Federation and a coalition of agricultural and builder groups asked the Supreme Court last November to review a lower court ruling that “allows the Environmental Protection Agency to micromanage local land use and development decisions under the guise of implementing the federal Clean Water Act.” AFBF president Zippy Duvall says they will continue to monitor the agency’s actions in connection with the Bay blueprint, as well as any efforts to impose similar mandates in other areas. “This lawsuit has ended, but the larger battle over the scope of EPA’s power is not over,” said Duvall.

National Corn Growers Association President Chip Bowling, who farms on the Chesapeake Bay watershed in southern Maryland, says the court decision has national implications. “The EPA has consistently pushed the legal limits of the Clean Water Act, with the Chesapeake Bay blueprint and the Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule being two of the most recent examples,” said Bowling. “When Congress passed the Clean Water Act, their intention was to create balanced, practical policies to protect America’s water resources with a clear division of power between states and the federal government. In both of these cases, the EPA’s actions represent an unlawful expansion of their authority. That’s why we joined this petition on the Chesapeake Bay TMDL, and we are party to a lawsuit challenging the WOTUS rule,” he added.

AFBF, Corn, EPA, NCGA

FMC Talks Grower Benefit Programs

Lizzy Schultz February 29, 2016

The team at FMC is offering growers a number of benefit programs for the coming year, and Retail Market Manager Lester Scott sat down for an interview at the 2016 Mid-South Farm & Gin Show to discuss three programs that benefit southern rice and soybean growers in particular.

FMC is offering rice growers a $1 per acre rebate when they choose Command 3ME herbicide, based on a 13 ounce rate, offering growers $10 back per acre.

“I think the Command 3ME rebate will be a welcome addition for our rice growers this year, especially with the economy the way it is,” said Scott. “It allows them to stay with a branded product in 2016 with the stability they’ve had and used over the years.

Additional programs available for Authority Elite herbicide, an individual program that offers both grass and broad-leaf control with a $2/acre rebate, as well as a unique program with Anthem Max, a member of Bayer’s Liberty Link residual program.

“This year really gives us an opportunity to have personal contact with our growers,” said Scott. “Most of the time we’re spending most of our efforts with our star retails, but this is an opportunity to really touch our growers, with an opportunity to not only promote our products, but to offer a discount in a year where we know the economy is such that they will be needing it.”

Listen to my full interview with Lester here:
Interview with Lester Scott, FMC

2016 Mid-South Farm & Gin Show Photo Album

Coverage of the Mid-South Farm & Gin Show is sponsored by

Ag Groups, Audio, Bayer, FMC, Herbicide

Issues Facing Swine Producers in 2016

Chuck Zimmerman February 29, 2016

I met Neil Dierks, CEO, National Pork Producers Council, in New Orleans and got to talk with him about issues facing swine producers this year.

A big one has to do with food security. He says, “The world is shrinking. Globalization is real which means pathogens can cross borders very rapidly which can raise questions on health in the herds.” Neil says they just provided testimony to Congress and the committee on the oversight of homeland security talking about those kinds of threats and how to prepare for them. Food security is one of the pillars of homeland security. You can read that testimony here.

Among actions NPPC suggested the federal government take to be better prepared to address a foreign pest infestation or disease outbreak:

• A sufficient quantity of vaccine to control and eradicate an outbreak of Foot-and-Mouth Disease.
• A more robust review of biosecurity measures in each sector of the agriculture industry.
• More vigorous scrutiny of imports at ports of entry.
• An animal identification system to better trace the movement of livestock to control the spread of a disease and to determine the origins of an outbreak.
• More funding for the systems that safeguard U.S. agriculture.
• Share data, including on animal movements, to improve disease response.

You can listen to my interview with Neil here to learn more: Interview with Neil Dierks, NPPC

BIVI 2016 AASV Meeting Photo Album

Watch for further coverage of the AASV meeting, sponsored by BIVI, here and on Animal.AgWired.com.

Coverage of American Association of Swine Veterinarians annual meeting sponsored by

Ag Groups, Animal Health, Audio, NPPC, Pork, Swine

Record Year At Mid-South Farm & Gin Show

Lizzy Schultz February 29, 2016

The 64th Annual 2016 Mid South Farm & Gin Show was held last week at the Cook Convention Center in Memphis, Tennessee. The event has been held in the same location since its beginning, and is sponsored by the Southern Cotton Ginners Association(SCGA).

The spacious facility offered the 17,000 attendees a four-story trade show, hosting 400 exhibitors from around 40 different states, and 15 foreign countries.

Outside of the trade show, attendees found educational opportunities around every corner, with breakout sessions, keynote speakers, meet and greet events with several state Farm Bureau presidents, and two Ag Outlook Seminars on the state of the commodities market.

“This is a fascinating show; it’s grown every year, and every year is different, because every year we see a change in agriculture,” said Show Director Tim Price. “This show is sort of a bell weather of what agribusiness professionals and farmers are thinking. There’s a lot of great interaction opportunities for farmers and exhibitors. What we’ve found is through the years, some great innovations, great ideas, and the solutions to some great challenges have been raised through those interactions.”

The level of community involvement surrounding the show also works to make it incredibly unique. FFA students from around the Mid-South were at the event, packaging meals for the Mid-South Food Bank as part of the event’s “Farm Show Feeds” program. The program fed over 35,000 families last year, with hopes to do the same in 2016.

Listen to my full interview with Tim here:
Interview with Tim Price, Farm & Gin Show Director

2016 Mid-South Farm & Gin Show Photo Album

Coverage of the Mid-South Farm & Gin Show is sponsored by

Ag Groups, Audio, Cotton, Events, Farm Shows

Swine Vets Learn from Other Animal Ag Vets

Cindy Zimmerman February 29, 2016

Prior to the start of the American Association of Swine Veterinarians (AASV) in New Orleans, a group of swine vets heard from their counterparts in cattle, poultry and aquaculture during a Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica (BIVI) seminar.

Dr. Nels Lindberg of Kansas belongs to a team of veterinarians known as Production Animal Consultation. For him, the most important controllable factor for animals to start healthy and end strong is people. “We can control how we treat cattle, how we train our employees to interact and co-mingle with cattle,” he said. “We also focus on just making people better leaders and teaching them how to lead groups of people.”

Listen to my interview with Dr. Nels here: Interview with Dr. Nels Lindberg, PAC

Poultry veterinarian Dr. Craig Rowles with Iowa Cage-Free took the swine vets Back to the Future and talked about producing protein in a changing consumer environment. “What’s happened in the poultry industry mimics what is happening in the swine industry today, in fact it just leads it by almost a generation,” said Dr. Rowles, explaining how 60 years ago eggs were raised by family farmers selling them for grocery money and that moved into large-scale caged operations to supply a growing population. “Now, in response to the consumer, we’re changing back to a cage-free environment, which is leading to some of the problems that we ran into before we went into cages.”

Listen to him explain in this interview: Interview with Dr. Craig Rowles, Iowa Cage-Free

Louisiana State University aquatic diagnostics veterinarian Dr. John Hawke was surprised at the parallels he found between aquaculture and swine production.

“I was amazed at how similar the things that we worry about are,” said Hawke. At the same time, treating diseases by vaccination, for example, is quite different for fish than it is for swine. “It’s just not efficient to try to inject each little individual fish,” he said. “So all of our vaccines we’re developing are designed to be short term bath treatments.”

In this interview, Hawke also talks about the devastating impact imports have had on the catfish industry. Interview with Dr. John Hawke, LSU

BIVI 2016 AASV Meeting Photo Album

Watch for further coverage of the AASV meeting, sponsored by BIVI, here and on Animal.AgWired.com.

Coverage of American Association of Swine Veterinarians annual meeting sponsored by

Animal Health, Aquaculture, Audio, Boehringer Ingelheim, Livestock, Poultry, Swine

BIVI Starts Healthy at #AASV2016

Cindy Zimmerman February 28, 2016

Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Inc. (BIVI) got the 2016 American Association of Swine Veterinarians meeting off to a healthy start Friday with a twist on their traditional pre-AASV Swine Health Seminar, hearing from vets in other animal agriculture fields.

“It was a very unique program, different than what we’ve had in the past,” said Dr. Nathan Schaefer, BIVI Professional Service Veterinarian. “Our goal was to focus on starting healthy and ending strong.”

Speakers included veterinarians who specialized in cattle, poultry and fish. “What was really clear is that we need to reach out to other industries and learn from them how we can do a better job raising hogs,” Schaefer said. “It’s all about prevention.”

Listen to my interview with Dr. Schaefer here: Interview with Dr. Nathan Schaefer, BIVI

Dr. Abbey Harding of Lowe Consulting, Ltd. in Illinois was the only one of the four vets at the BIVI seminar to talk directly about swine health and why it is so important right now with low margins expected in the coming year to be more efficient. “Things that we’re looking at are trying to be able to capitalize on that low margin economy that we have, and being able to get producers in the mindset that every little dollar counts,” she said, adding that the industry as a whole needs to evaluate everything they do to decide if it is really creating value.

Hearing from the other animal industry vets was a great experience for Harding. “Really being able to see how intergrated and tied we are together to be able to produce protein,” said Harding.

Listen to my interview with Dr. Harding here: Interview with Dr. Abbey Harding, Lowe Consulting

BIVI 2016 AASV Meeting Photo Album

Watch for further coverage of the AASV meeting, sponsored by BIVI, here and on Animal.AgWired.com.

Coverage of American Association of Swine Veterinarians annual meeting sponsored by

Animal Health, Audio, Boehringer Ingelheim, Swine, Veterinary

Zimfo Bytes

Talia Goes February 26, 2016

Rhea + Kaiser announces the promotion of two current staff along with the return of a former employee.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the selection of Dr. Warren Preston as U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Deputy Chief Economist, effective February 21.
Swanson Russell announces three new employees: Max Maguire, Liz McCue and Katie Scherer.
Monsanto Company announced it has officially opened up nominations for its 2016 America’s Farmers Mom of the Year contest.
Register now for the 2016 Grassfed Exchange Conference – “Regenerating Lives One Farm at a Time”.

Zimfo Bytes

Purdue President Calls for End to GMO Attacks

Cindy Zimmerman February 26, 2016

Purdue University President Mitch Daniels on Thursday (Feb. 25) called on leaders in the public, private and nonprofit sectors to push back against the attackers of biotechnology in agricultural production. Daniels was a keynote speaker at the annual Agricultural Outlook Forum in Arlington.

“The attack on GMO technology is the most blatant anti-science of the age, but it is far worse than that,” Daniels said. “Lives are at stake, and while scientists, regulators and business people are naturally reluctant to fight back, it’s morally irresponsible not to.”

Daniels cited projections by the United Nations that the global population is expected to grow to more than 9 billion people in 2050, generating a 70 percent increase in the demand for food. He described GMOs as the best hope to ensure the world’s poor have access to an affordable and nutritious diet.

“Thousand of studies and trillions of meals consumed prove the safety of biotechnologies,” he said. “We would never withhold medications with a safety record like that, and it’s just as wrong and just as anti-scientific to do so for food.”

Daniels also praised Purdue and other land-grant universities for making the world’s food supply not only safer and more abundant, but far friendlier to the environment.

Biotech, GMO

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