Alltech ONE World Tour Begins in Budapest
Budapest, Hungary, was the first stop of the Alltech ONE World Tour (ONE) this week, launching a series of international events that will be bringing the ideas and inspiration of the annual Alltech ONE Conference to the world. Discussions explored collaborative solutions to the greatest challenges facing the agri-food industry as it confronts the “4 Cs” — the major forces of climate, conflict, consumer trends and rising costs.
Dr. Mark Lyons, president and CEO of Alltech, welcomed delegates to Budapest and challenged them to think about what comes next for the agri-food industry.
“In times of uncertainty, it is crucial for businesses like ours to adapt and innovate,” Lyons said. “The Alltech ONE Conference is no exception. While our annual symposium has had its roots in Kentucky, USA, for four decades, we felt it was important to adapt and engage with our customers on their home ground. Thus, it is only fitting that we launch the Alltech ONE World Tour in Budapest, Hungary, which is at the center of both change and opportunity.”
ONE Budapest attendees heard from industry experts on various topics, including insights from the dairy industry, data for profitable and sustainable agriculture, and mycotoxin management, and they were also able to attend focus track sessions on dairy, pigs and poultry. Robert Walker, European growth officer at Alltech, moderated a panel discussion featuring the species focus track speakers, who discussed how to remain profitable amid uncertainty and how the learnings from the day’s sessions can be applied to individual operations.
The Alltech ONE World Tour will continue with stops in Dublin, Ireland, on June 19–20 and Calgary, Canada, on July 3–4, then on to the U.S., Asia, South America and the Middle East. For more information and to register for an Alltech ONE World Tour stop, visit one.alltech.com.
Learn more about the World Tour in this interview with Dr. Lyons from the Cattle Industry Convention earlier this year.
Dr. Mark Lyons, Alltech (8:05)
International Delegation Tours Nebraska Agriculture
A diverse delegation from at least nine different countries recently had the opportunity to see Nebraska agriculture firsthand on a tour following the Water for Food Global Conference earlier this month in Lincoln, Neb.
After three days of discussing solutions for food and water security, nearly 30 attendees stayed an extra day to visit Nebraska producers and learn about the innovation and technology in the state. Attendees represented the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Peru and Rwanda, as well as the United States. In collaboration with the Nebraska Corn Board, the Nebraska Soybean Board, and the Nebraska Cattlemen Foundation, the group toured Weber & Sons Feedlot in Dorchester, as well as Allan Tiemann’s row crop farm in Seward.
Debbie Borg (L) on a panel at Water for Food Conference with moderator Susan Littlefield, Rural Radio Network
Borg was joined on the “View from the Field” panel at the Water for Food Conference by producers from Argentina, El Salvador, Uganda, and the Philippines, moderated by farm broadcaster Susan Littlefield with KRVN/Rural Radio Network.
Listen to an interview with Borg here:
2023 Water for Food interview - Debbie Borg, Nebraska farmer (5:06)
NCBA Celebrates Supreme Court Ruling on WOTUS
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) is one of many agricultural organizations thrilled with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling Thursday against EPA’s controversial Waters of the United States or WOTUS rule.
The court ruled unanimously in favor of the Sackett family in Sackett v. EPA, soundly rejecting the contentious “significant nexus” test.
NCBA submitted an amicus brief in the Sackett case, encouraging elimination of the Significant Nexus test in exchange for a more practical standard. “In its brief to the Court, NCBA highlighted the unconstitutionality of imposing criminal penalties for violations of vague standards under the Clean Water Act. The Court recognized and reversed the Significant Nexus test, in part due to the constitutional due process risk that it created,” said Mary-Thomas Hart, Chief Counsel for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.
NCBA has been heavily involved in litigation surrounding the WOTUS rule since 2015. NCBA filed suit against the Obama-era WOTUS definition, defended the Trump-era definition that brought more clarity to what water features are included under WOTUS, and filed suit against the Biden administration’s WOTUS rule that did not include critical agricultural exemptions.
Listen to an interview with Hart by NCBA Director of Policy Communications Hunter Ihrman.
NCBA interview on WOTUS ruling (4:01)
Water for Food Conference Partners for 2024 World Water Forum
Loïc Fauchon, president of the World Water Council, was one of more than 120 global speakers and 400 participants who gathered at the recent Water for Food Global Conference in Nebraska to discuss innovative ways to improve water and food security by increasing farmers’ resiliency to a changing landscape.
“Water and food are two of the most important priorities of tomorrow’s world,” Fauchon said during his remarks. “We must stop ignoring that water is food.”
The conference was produced by the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute at the University of Nebraska (DWFI) and held May 8-11 in Lincoln, Neb. The 2023 conference was a partner event for the 10th World Water Forum, the world’s largest water-related forum organized by the World Water Council. It will be held May 18-24, 2024, in Bali, Indonesia.
“The role of the forum is to be able to gather all of the water family, so it’s a huge meeting,” Fauchon said in an interview. “Water is politics because the solutions are here, we need political will. Water has to be considered as a priority.”
Learn more in this interview with Fauchon.
2023 Water for Food interview - Loïc Fauchon, World Water Forum (9:03)
See more interviews and photos from the Water for Food Conference
Pluton Biosciences Closes $16.5M Series A Funding Round
Pluton Biosciences, a startup working to discover microbes to fight climate change, has announced the close of a $16.5 M Series A funding round co-led by Illumina Ventures and RA Capital.
“The funding will accelerate the development of Pluton’s flagship product, the Microbial Cover Crop™, through field trials and towards commercial partnerships,” remarked Elizabeth Gallegos, CEO of Pluton. “It will also enable us to expand our team, advance a microbial-derived pesticide to combat the fall armyworm, and harness the full potential of our Micromining™ platform to swiftly identify tailored solutions for agriculture.”
Illumina Ventures’ Charles Lin, PhD, who has joined Pluton’s Board of Directors, expressed his excitement about the fund’s first AgBio investment, “In the past two decades, we have witnessed how genomics revolutionized the landscape of human diagnostics and therapeutics. We expect genomics to also enable breakthroughs in agriculture. Pluton’s Micromining™ approach, combining genomics with rigorous data science, can unlock the potential of soil microbes for more sustainable agriculture and beyond.”
RA Capital’s Michael Gillespie, MD, has also joined Pluton’s Board of Directors, along with agricultural industry veterans Jerry Steiner and Neal Gutterson, Ph.D.
Precision Ag News 5/24/23
- CNH Industrial and ONE SMART SPRAY, a joint venture between Bosch and BASF, have signed a collaboration agreement to integrate the latter’s advanced spraying system within CNH Industrial’s agricultural brand product portfolios. The system’s integration will be led by the Raven team and will be commercially available via the global Case IH and New Holland Agriculture brands.
- The American Farm Bureau Federation signed two more memoranda of understanding with two agricultural equipment manufacturers, AGCO and Kubota, providing farmers and ranchers the right to repair their own farm equipment. The MOUs, which were negotiated independently with each manufacturer, follow similar agreements AFBF entered into with John Deere and CNH Industrial Brands earlier this year. Combined, the four MOUs cover roughly 70% of the agricultural machinery sold in the United States.
- The non-profit Soil Health Academy has announced the availability of educational scholarships for leaders in indigenous and underserved communities, as well as agriculture education professionals to attend one of SHA’s three-day, on-farm soil health and regenerative agriculture schools. In addition, the grant will provide ag educators with free access to the regenerative agriculture online course, Regen Ag 101.
- “Living Soil,” a film produced by the Soil Health Institute in 2018 – has reached a milestone of over 4 million views. The documentary has been watched in over 130 countries and has won numerous awards, including “Outstanding Excellence in Direction, Editing, and Cinematography” at the Women’s International Film Festival (2021) and “Best of Show for Environmental Films” by the Docs Without Borders Film Festival (2022). It was made possible through the generous support of The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation.
- Landus, Iowa’s largest farmer-owned cooperative and a leading retailer of agricultural inputs, announced today that it has joined The GROWERS Retail Network. This partnership connects Landus to farmers on The GROWERS App, a digital platform for farmers to connect with retailers and research input products.
- CNH Industrial, parent company to Case IH has entered into an agreement with AGuru Machinery, a strip-tillage company based in Congerville, Illinois. With this relationship, Case IH incorporates a key partner to enhance and elevate its Strip-Till product offering with the most dependable, productive, and agronomically superior Strip-Till solutions to meet the growing demands of our customers.
- EnGeniousAg has received a National Science Foundation (NSF) Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant to develop low-cost instant-readout plant nitrate sensors to aid farmers in maintaining crop productivity, increasing profitability, and reducing nitrogen runoff. The EnGeniousAg in-field nitrogen sensors enable farmers to measure nitrogen levels in their crops in as little as 3 seconds.
- Registration for the 16th Annual Conservation in Action Tour is now open. This year’s tour will take place in in Frankenmuth, Michigan, July 10-11, with the theme “Experiencing Conservation in Supply Chains” to help connect the circle from farmer to consumer. At this year’s event, farmers, input suppliers, conservation advocates and processors will dig deep and share their perspectives on sustainable, climate-smart food production. Attendees can look forward to seeing the supply chain up close and personal, including cutting edge dairy practices, specialty crops like sugar beets and dry beans, milling and processing, and more.
- Ceres Imaging is proud to announce its commitment to increasing the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices by enrolling as a Program Supporter of Leading Harvest, an industry leader in sustainable agriculture. As a Program Supporter, Ceres joins the Leading Harvest membership that includes farmland managers, suppliers, retailers, consumer product companies, investors, and tech innovators with a shared vision of advancing the rigorously vetted and third-party verified Leading Harvest Farmland Management Standard.
- OPI is introducing an innovative new Grain Quality Sensor designed to assist farmers and commercial storage operators. This innovative sensor aims to detect biological activity in grains at the earliest possible stage, offering valuable insights and enabling proactive measures to maintain grain quality.
- UPL Ltd., a global provider of sustainable agricultural solutions, introduces its SHENZI™ 700 WG and SHENZI™ 400 SC insecticides to the North American market to provide growers with proven solutions to protect crops against insect pests and resistance while minimizing environmental impacts. Both contain the powerful active ingredient chlorantraniliprole.
Cargill Expands Regenerative Agriculture Program to Europe
Cargill is moving its award-winning regenerative agriculture program into Europe, allowing farmers in Germany, Poland, Romania, and France to receive financial compensation for adopting climate-friendly farming practices.
Building on two years of success in North America, Cargill RegenConnectTM will also expand from 15 to 24 states, introducing the program in nine new states including North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Colorado, Mississippi, Alabama, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Texas. It will also provide U.S. farmers with higher payments, cover more commodities (such as cotton) and improve ease and access to enrollment via mobile devices.
Cargill RegenConnectTM has not only received positive feedback from growers and customers but has also been recognized by the prestigious 2023 Edison Awards™ for its innovative approach to creating a more resilient and secure food system. Its expansion demonstrates Cargill’s commitment to helping farmers adopt sustainable agricultural practices across its global supply chain, rooted in the firm belief that change starts where the food system begins – at the farm.
Cargill RegenConnect is a voluntary, market-based regenerative agriculture program which helps farmers improve soil health and decarbonize the agriculture supply chain. Farmers enrolled in the program can choose the practices best suited to their operation, which includes planting cover crops and implementing reduced- or no-till farming.
In addition to providing technical support and resources to enable farmer success, the program offers an environmental market opportunity for participants, who are then able to connect with some of the world’s largest companies actively seeking to reduce their environmental footprint while supporting regenerative agriculture.
Eligible farmers in North America are invited to enroll now through Sept. 15 by visiting Cargill Regenerative Ag Program (cargillag.com)
Eligible farmers in participating EU countries are invited to enroll beginning June 1 through July 15, 2023 at regenconnect.cargill.com.
Custom Agronomics Appoints New Chief Financial Officer
Custom Agronomics, a leading provider of private-label liquid plant nutrition and other specialty products for the agriculture, turf, and ornamental markets, has appointed Jerry Cook as Chief Financial Officer.
“We are excited to have Jerry join our executive leadership team,” said Brian Scott, Custom Agronomics co-founder and co-CEO. “He is a skilled financial leader who will help manage our growth as we pursue strategic acquisitions to expand our business.”
Cook is an experienced financial executive with extensive experience in corporate accounting, financial analysis, and strategic planning and budgeting.
“I look forward to providing financial leadership to Custom Agronomics,” Cook said. “The company is doing exciting work around custom formulations that improve soil and plant health, and I look forward to helping the company build its capacity and expand its reach.”
Cook previously served in financial leadership roles at major chemical firms, including Ascent Chemicals, DanChem Technologies, and TCI Powder Coatings. He has previously worked with private equity firms and has more than a decade of international experience.
Passing of Charlie Stenholm
Charlie Stenholm (R) smiles at Barry Flichbaugh during the 2012 AMS Great Debate
Stenholm served in the House of Representatives for 26 years from 1979-2005 and was the Ranking Member of the House Agriculture Committee from January 1997, playing a major role in farm policy.
The “Great Debates” between Stenholm and Flinchbaugh at AMS were as entertaining as they were newsworthy, with the two friends on opposite ends of the political spectrum frequently agreeing to disagree about farm policy. Those of you who were there are smiling as you remember!
You can listen to the 2012 Great Debate here: AMS Great Debate
Speaking of Ag Media Summit … it’s coming up July 30-August 2, 2023 in Palm Springs, CA and registration is open now.