FamilyFarms Now Accepting Scholarship Applications

Jamie Johansen

FamilyFarms-GroupFamilyFarms Charities is offering two $1,000 scholarships to high school seniors planning to pursue college training in fields related to agriculture. Each recipient is then eligible for a $500 follow-up scholarship for the next three years of their undergraduate program provided they remain on a career path in agriculture and maintain good grades.

The FamilyFarms Charities Scholarship was created to support tomorrow’s farmers as they continue their education and training in preparation for their role in agriculture. The scholarship is awarded to individuals who possess the characteristics necessary to positively impact our world through agriculture.

“Preparing today’s youth to continue their family’s farming legacy is foundational to accomplishing the singular purpose of our parent organization, FamilyFarms Group: ‘Keeping Families on the Farm,’” said Karmen Mehmen, FamilyFarms Charities Chairperson. “We believe that as farmers we can help individuals, families and communities in North America and overseas gain self-sufficiency by using agriculture as a vehicle for change. Together we can do more than any one person can on his own. Providing basic needs, tools and education is key to this endeavor.”

All applications for the scholarships must be submitted by March 15, 2016. With applications from across the U.S., winners are selected based on a number of factors, including career plans in agriculture, desire to return to their family farm to continue the legacy, GPA, test scores, and essays about the future of agriculture, its impact and importance. Since 2012, eight scholarships have been awarded.

Ag Groups, Education, Farming

Ag Marketing Advice from Buzzfeed VP

Lizzy Schultz

DS_Perelman The 2016 Dairy Strong conference featured a variety of exceptional keynote presentations, with many presenters coming from outside of the agriculture sector, but few would argue that any of them made as strong of an impact as Jonathan Perelman. Perelman is the Head the Digital Ventures at ICM Partners, the former Vice President of Motion Pictures at Buzzfeed, the former Global Lead of Industry Relations at Google, and has had incredible success in the world of digital strategy and online advertising. His presentation centered around the power that social media has on our culture, and the potential it holds for businesses in terms of successfully sharing stories and engaging with customers.

“Be it 40,000 years ago with cave paintings, to the invention of the printing press, to the invention of television and cable television, and now to mobile communications and social media, we all want stories, we all want to be entertained,” he said. “And if you do that the right way, it can actually be stronger than just entertainment. It can make people take an action.”

Perelman sat down with AgWired for an interview following his presentation. He discussed his take on some of the problems agriculture is facing in the realm of communications, such as the power and influence held by several anti-agriculture groups and documentaries, and offered several ideas and solutions.

“Whatever side of this argument you’re on, the impact [of the anti-ag content] has already been made, so I would try to flip it around and call on people in the industry to ask what stories they would like to tell,” he said. “Look at how successful some of those stories have been, even if they’re wrong. Ask yourselves how can you go on the other side, and tell people your story. You can do it in a big documentary, or a big film, but you can also do it every single day with the power of the social web. You can have that impact every single day. It might not be the mass impact right away, but little by little that impact of each and every farmer will become a tidal wave.”

In terms of how agriculture should market their story to a population of consumers that has never been more removed from the practice of food production, he offered the following advice: “We may be three generations removed from farming, but everybody eats. There is a story behind everything that’s on your plate and in your glass. if the industry comes together and celebrates that, and tells that story, it doesn’t matter how removed consumers are, you are impacted every day by it. Understand and own the messaging that you want to have and say “this is us, this is what we’re doing.”

Listen to Lizzy’s full interview with Jonathan here:
Interview with Jonathan Perelman, ICM

Ag Groups, Audio, Marketing, Media, Technology

Promote Your Company in Washington D.C.

Kelly Marshall

National Ag DayNational Ag Day will be here soon and on March 15, 2016 members of this community will be spreading the word of agriculture across the nation. Right now the Agriculture Council of America is looking for companies who would like to boost their exposure, especially in Washington D.C., by sponsoring Ag Day.

The purpose of Ag Day is to better educate consumers about how food, fiber, and renewable resources are grown and to build an appreciation for the contribution agriculture brings. Sponsoring companies can help meet this goal by providing materials for classrooms, hosting a community meal, contributing to displays, or reaching out to media and elected officials.

Find out more about sponsorship opportunities in this brochure and visit the Ag Day website or call the Agriculture Council of America at (913) 491-1895 to secure your spot today.

Ag Day, Ag Groups

Indiana Dept of Ag Director Stops By #SHPSummit16

Taylor Truckey

ted-mckinney-being-interviewedThe Director of the Indiana State Dept of Agriculture, Ted McKinney, stopped by the Soil Health Summit last week in Indianapolis to show support for the direction of the program.

“[The Soil Health Partnership] is outstanding, primarily because it brings together a lot of different groups to be aligned and focused on a single purpose.

One of the best things that they’re doing, is they are data driven. You have the evidence points to show farmers the benefits of improved soil health. We know what they are; you retain moisture better, and that helps in the case of a drought. It allows for much better drainage in the case of rainfall, which was plentiful in most parts of Indiana in 2015.”

McKinney is proud of those farmers in his state, and across the US, who have already begun to focus on improving soil quality through measurable standards. “We’re the only state that’s measuring the reductions or the retention of sediment, nitrogen, and phosphorous in the soil. We’re very proud of that because we’ve been able to tell the public, it’s working. These practices are working.”

For more from McKinney’s interview: Interview with Ted McKinney, IN Director of Ag

2016 Soil Health Summit Photo Album

Agribusiness, Soil, Soil Health Partnership, Sustainability

Farm Foundation, SHP Share Common Goals

Taylor Truckey

tim-brennanFarm Foundation is one of the supporting partners of the Soil Health Partnership (SHP). While at the Soil Health Summit late last week, Tim Brennan, Farm Foundation, shared why the being a part of the Partnership just makes sense for their organization.

The Farm Foundation started the Soil Renaissance (with the Noble Foundation) a little over two years ago to try and create a movement around soil health. A project like the Soil Health Partnership, one focused on researching the benefits of improving soil quality, are a natural fit for the Farm Foundation.

Brennan elaborated, “What we love about this project is that it’s at the farmer level. Farmers are deeply involved and learning right along with everybody else. The best part is the data. We don’t have enough data to support some of the big ideas in soil health, such as the benefits of cover crops. The longer we stick to this project, the more we will learn.”

Provided by the NRCS, over the next three years the Farm Foundation will use the Conservation and Innovation Grant alongside partners like the SHP to really help farmers develop on-the-ground tools to figure out the real value of these conservation practices. A large part of it will be taking the data they are collecting through the field trials, but Farm Foundation is also focused on creating new models for farmers to use to figure out the benefits, both economic and environmental, more clearly.

For more from Tim’s interview: Interview with Tim Brennan, Farm Foundation

2016 Soil Health Summit Photo Album

cover crops, Farm Foundation, Soil Health Partnership, Sustainability

Iowa Farmer Joins SHP As Demo Farmer

Taylor Truckey

john-maxwellLast year at Commodity Classic, John Maxwell was introduced to the idea of soil health. From there, he became excited about it and signed up to become a demo farmer with the Soil Health Partnership (SHP) to learn how cover crops could impact the soil on his farm.

Years ago, Maxwell originally got into cover crops years ago to feed his cattle and livestock.

With approximately 4000 acres to farm, a robotic dairy milking 250 jersey cows where they also make their own cheese, raising beef cattle and hogs, and have chickens, Maxwell’s operation is definitely unique. They offer tours of their farm operations with over 1500 kids, 1500 visitors from the US, and 3000 foreigners visiting each year. Participating in the SHP project is beneficial for Maxwell, but it’s also beneficial for the Partnership to get one of their research fields in front of a lot of people ready to ask questions.

“Soil Health Partnership has helped me become aware of all the possibilities I can receive from cover crops,” Maxwell explained. “One of the things I’m really interested in is composting. Taking that manure with the carbon, such as the cornstalks,and mixing that together to have a better product to put out on the field at times when it would be most advantageous to the crop.”

Maxwell grows high production corn, typically 250-300 bu/ac, leaving a large amount corn stover in the field. He’s left asking how he can get a really good stand of cover crop with a high density of residue in the field. Maxwell has chosen this as his focus area during his field trials with the Soil Health Partnership.

For more from Maxwell’s interview: Interview with John Maxwell, Iowa Farmer

2016 Soil Health Summit Photo Album

cover crops, Soil, Soil Health Partnership, Sustainability

Zimfo Bytes

Talia Goes

Zimfo Bytes

Zimfo Bytes

Scott Walker Addresses #DairyStrong

Lizzy Schultz

DS16_WalkerPhoto The second annual Dairy Strong conference, held earlier this month in Madison, Wisconsin, began its first full day with an opening address from Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.

Though the Dairy Strong conference is internationally attended and focuses on global collaboration, there is no denying that Wisconsin is one of the dairy industry’s shining stars. Walker’s speech highlighted the value of Wisconsin’s dairy industry, which represents over half of the state’s 80 billion dollar agriculture sector.

“Florida makes a big deal about their oranges, and they should. Oranges contribute 9 billion dollars to Florida’s economy,” Walker said in the address, “but our dairy industry contributes over 40 billion dollars to the economy of Wisconsin annually, and that is something to brag about.”

Walker also addressed a worrisome trend that many agriculture professionals know too well: The demand for quality producers, as well as the necessary food supply, is continuing to increase, and so is the average age of the American farmer.

“It is paramount that we get our youth more involved in agriculture,” he said. “We need to work harder to get the message out to students, at the state’s three agriculture colleges as well as at the K-12 level, about the opportunities that agriculture can offer them.”

Photo courtesy of the Dairy Business Association

Listen to the full address here:
Dairy Strong 2016 Opening Address

Animal Agriculture, Audio, Dairy, Education

SHP Demo Farmers Utilizing AgSolver Technology

Taylor Truckey

dave-muthAgSolver had demo farmers and partner companies excited at the Soil Health Summit last week as they plan on rolling out access to their Profit Zone Manager to the demo farmers this year. Dave Muth, co-founder of AgSolver, spoke with AgWired about what they do and how that will impact the SHP.

“The Soil Health Partnership is certainly working on practices to help improve soil health and working lands. Part of that equation is making sure that we’re leveraging our land resources correctly.”

AgSolver, a young precision ag startup from Ames, IA, is building a concept called precision business planning. AgSolver works to leverage available data (both private and public) to create a precision business plan that will accompany their agronomic plans. Largely, they believe in shifting the conversation to returns rather than revenue. Muth explained how AgSolver’s business management platform would be integrated into the Partnership project.

“One of the key things: when we understand the scale that business performance varies between our fields, there are actually a lot of synergies between economic performance and environmental performance. There is a common perception that environmental performance issues and that economic performance goals are competitive. Once we get down and understand how business varies within our fields, they are actually very synergistic,” Muth said.

As part of the incentives, each demo farmer involved in the Soil Health Partnership can run their farm business through the Profit Zone Manager, AgSolver’s precision business planning process. This also helps collect and organize some precision data and economic analysis within the research trials down to each strip.

To learn about AgSolver and for more from Muth’s interview: Interview with Dave Muth, AgSolver

2016 Soil Health Summit Photo Album

Agribusiness, Markets, Soil, Soil Health Partnership, Sustainability

Latest #FoodD Talks Sustainability at Dairy Strong

Jamie Johansen

Linsley The 2016 Dairy Strong Conference was able to serve as a host for the U. S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance’s (USFRA) latest installment of Food Dialogues, a comprehensive discourse on food production between a panel of food industry experts. This group of panelists was asked to focus discussion around the controversial topic of sustainability.

One panelist was Lauren Linsley, RDN, CD, a dietician manager for the Wisconsin supermarket chain Skogen’s Festival Foods. Lauren’s unique role in the food industry allows her to work and engage directly with consumers. She is responsible for creating innovative nutrition programs for consumers, as well as collaborating with a variety of community groups, including health care systems, schools, government agencies, area businesses, non-profit organizations and universities, to help community members learn ways to shop smarter in the supermarket.

During the panel discussion, she brought up several common misconceptions she hears from consumers in regards to food labels that market their product as “sustainable,” and how that has skewed public perception about the nutritional content of certain foods. She sat down for an interview after the panel, and discussed some of these misconceptions, their consequences, and how she is working to combat them.

“When we’re out in the community we often get questions surrounding the idea that something labeled as organic or wild caught or grass-fed is always more nutritious than something that is conventionally grown, and that is just simply not true,” she said. “An organic apple has the same nutrition profile as an apple that is conventionally grown.”

While these marketing tactics began as a way to promote these niche markets, Lauren explained several negative consequences that have begun to emerge in response to the heavy marketing of organic, grass-fed, and other products that label themselves “sustainable.”

“There are so many marketing claims out there, there are so many documentaries that present false information, and it breeds this fear-based marketing, and it makes people confused,” she said. “A lot of people want to eat healthier, they want to feed their families, they may be trying to do it on a budget, but they simply don’t know how, so our job is really to cut through those marketing claims and find good food to help them feed their families, whether it’s focused on nutrition or financial concerns.”

Listen to my full interview with Lauren here:
Interview with Lauren Linsley, RDN, CD, Festival Foods

Ag Groups, Audio, Dairy, Sustainability, USFRA