Senate Disapproves of #WOTUS

Cindy Zimmerman

afbf-wotusBy a vote of 53-44, the U.S. Senate passed a joint “resolution of disapproval” of the EPA Clean Water rule known as ‘Waters of the United States’ (WOTUS).

Resolution sponsor Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) says the action would “put an end to” the expanded EPA rule. “Our resolution stops the EPA from continuing to act as an unchecked federal agency of the Obama Administration, expanding its power over Iowa farmers, small businesses, ranchers, and other landowners in our rural communities,” said Ernst. “Passing this resolution is a major step forward to stop the EPA’s blatant power grab and scrap the expanded WOTUS rule.”

Click here to hear what Sen. Ernst said on the floor.

One of the bill’s 50 co-sponsors, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS) says the legislation will “put Senators on-record” as to where they stand on the WOTUS rule. “Farmers and ranchers now know who supports their ability to protect and maintain their own water and land – and who supports overregulation by the EPA,” said Roberts. “You know where I stand – fighting to protect America’s farmers and ranchers from EPA’s overreach.”

“Thank you to the bipartisan group of Senators who have recognized that the Waters of the U.S. rule did not work,” said National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) president Chip Bowling. “Let’s work together on a better rule that will give farmers the certainty they need while protecting America’s water resources.”

Corn, NCGA, Water

Zimfo Bytes

Talia Goes

Zimfo Bytes

  • Join MoKan NAMA on Wednesday, November 11, 2015 at 11:30 a.m. for a lunch and learn on Inte-GREAT-ed Marketing.
  • Across the globe, clients of The Context Network now have access to a new website.
  • The Public Lands Council welcomes Ethan Lane to the association in his new role as executive director.
  • Jason Andringa will serve as Vermeer Corporation’s President and CEO. This announcement was first made in August 2014, as part of the company’s family succession planning process.
Zimfo Bytes

That Blue Corduroy Jacket

Kelly Marshall

ffa-15-114-luke-kerstetterLuke Kerstetter, Pennsylvania State Sentinel, sat down with Jamie Johansen at the National FFA Convention to talk about what he is passionate about in agriculture.

“I’m passionate about agriculture education, because as the growing population [of the world will reach] 9 billion, we need to figure out ways to implement better technology into farming as well as agriculture science and biotechnology.  It will help out the world as well as the U.S. as a whole,” Kerstetter relates.

From a freshman who hadn’t considered taking an ag class until his brother encouraged him to do so, Luke has come a long way in his outlook on FFA and the industry.  He credits getting that blue corduroy jacket as a major moment for him.  Now he hopes to wear that jacket as an ag teacher himself someday.

Listen to the full interview: Pennsylvania State FFA Sentinel Luke Kerstetter

Find photos from the event here: 2015 National FFA Convention Photo Album

Coverage of the National FFA Convention is sponsored by
Coverage of the National FFA Convention is sponsored by New Holland
Ag Groups, Audio, FFA

Sustainable Ag Expo Educates Growers

Kelly Marshall

Sustainable Ag ExpoThe 11th Annual Sustainable Ag Expo will be held November 16-17, 2015, at the Madonna Inn Expo Center in San Luis Obispo, California. The expo, hosted by the Vineyard Team, promises educational information for growers of many crops.

“The Expo started as a way to explore various issues affecting different types of ag professionals,” said Kris Beal, Executive Director for The Vineyard Team. “It is a chance for farmers and researchers to come together, learn from each other, and engage in conversations with some of the brightest in the industry. Not only do we address production practices, we’re exploring initiatives from buyers like Campbell and Cisco that are influencing behavior.”

Begun 11 years ago, the Sustainable Ag Expo started when the Vineyard Team saw crop industries using various innovations and felt growers could benefit from learning from each other.  The Expo was developed to share information about energy and water conservation, holistic management, integrated pest management and soil conservation.

With 40 speakers, session highlights include focusing on water availability and quality; access to affordable labor; and new federal air quality standards that may have significant impacts on farming operations in the future presented by Dr. Jay Lund, Director for the Center for Watershed Science and Professor at UC Davis, Bryan Little, Director Employment Policy, California Farm Bureau Federation and Nancy Levin, Air Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 9. Additionally, Dr. Michelle Moyer, Washington State University, will present new research on powdery mildew monitoring, detection and management along with Dr. Renaud Travadon of UC Davis and Larry Bettiga, University of California Viticulture Farm Advisor.

Learn more about the event, view exhibitors and vendors or register for the event now.

Ag Groups, Education, Energy, Events, pesticides, Soil, Sustainability, Water

The FFA Hunger Games

Jamie Johansen

ffa-15-197-editedInspiring young people to take action was the central theme of the National FFA Organization’s Food For All booth at the 88th National FFA Convention. As students entered the FFA Hunger Games they were challenged to a number of optical courses and educated on two program’s they can take part in at home to help fight hunger.

I spoke with Michele Sullivan with the National FFA Organization to help walk me through their message to members. “The FFA Food for All grants is a competitive grant application for FFA chapters to apply for up to $2,500 to develop, implement and evaluate a year-long service learning project that focuses on hunger.”

Michele said the other program they highlighted was the FFA Heroes Challenge. Last year they challenged members to raise 2.5 million meals to impact hunger across the country. Not only did they meet that goal, but they raised a little over 3 million meals. The National FFA Organization has issued another challenge this year and is asking members to raise 3.5 million meals in the 2016 calendar year.

Learn more about what the FFA members are doing across the country to fight hunger in their local communities in my complete interview with Michele. Interview with Michele Sullivan, National FFA Organization

Find photos from the event here: 2015 National FFA Convention Photo Album

Coverage of the National FFA Convention is sponsored by
Coverage of the National FFA Convention is sponsored by New Holland
Ag Groups, FFA, Food

Does Mass Media Impact Consumer Food Opinion?

Jamie Johansen

New Holland ZimmPollOur latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “How do you pass the time flying?”

The ZimmComm Team takes to the skies quite a bit throughout the year, so it was fun to see what others do to pass the time. I like to read and it looks like I am in the majority. It looks like we had a wide variety of answers. A few commented that they liked to watch movies and we even had a pilot chime saying he stuck to simply flying.

Here are the poll results:

  • Sleep – 30%
  • Read – 33%
  • Play games – 6%
  • Work – 13%
  • Other – 18%

Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, What’s mass media’s impact on consumer food opinion?

Throughout the last few weeks food has been the center of mass media. Whether it was Subway’s announcement about antibiotics or the World Health Organization’s claim of meat causing cancer, it seems positive messages about agriculture don’t make mainstream news. How big do you think mass media’s impact is on consumers opinion on food? Share your thoughts with us.

ZimmPoll

Senate to Vote on Second WOTUS Bill

Cindy Zimmerman

wotus-ernstAfter failing to invoke cloture on a bill that would require EPA to re-work the Clean Water rule known as WOTUS, the Senate did vote to allow debate on a resolution of disapproval, sponsored by Iowa Senator Joni Ernst, that would scrap the WOTUS rule entirely.

“My legislation is the necessary next step in pushing back against this blatant power grab by the EPA,” said Sen. Ernst. “We will send this to the president, where he will be forced to decide between the livelihood of our rural communities nationwide and his unchecked federal agency.”

President Obama has already said he will veto any bill passed by Congress that makes changes in the water rule which has already been put on hold by court cases against it. A vote on Sen. Ernst’s bill will be held on Wednesday.

Listen to Sen. Ernst here: Sen. Ernst on WOTUS disapproval

Audio, EPA, Water

Senate Fails to Take WOTUS Rework to Vote

Cindy Zimmerman

wotus-senateForty-one senators voted against moving forward with debate on a bill that would require EPA to rework the controversial Clean Water rule known as Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS), which was enough to keep the bill from a vote on the floor.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Barrasso (R-WY), would instruct EPA to craft a WOTUS rule that “takes into consideration positions held by folks like farmers, ranchers, manufacturers and small businesses.” The bipartisan legislation was backed by a number of Democrats, including Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) who spoke in favor of the bill on the floor. “Uncertainty of #WOTUS rule affects everyone,” she tweeted. “Working 2 give certainty 2 farmers & #smallbiz w/ our bipartisan bill.”

Floor speech from Sen. Heitkamp: Sen. Heitkamp on WOTUS

The Republican senator from North Dakota also gave an impassioned floor speech against the WOTUS rule. “The federal government should be doing all that it can to empower those who grow our food and create jobs,” said Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND). “Instead regulators are stifling growth with burdensome regulation that generates cost and uncertainty.”

Floor speech from Sen. Hoeven: Sen. Hoeven on WOTUS

Audio, EPA, Water

Deere to Acquire Precision Planting & Monosem

Chuck Zimmerman

Pat Pinkston, John DeereThis morning John Deere announced that the company has acquired Precision Planting from the Climate Corporation, a subsidiary of Monsanto. Also included in the announcement is an exclusive agreement with Climate Corporation for near real-time data connectivity between certain John Deere equipment and Climate Corporation’s FieldView Platform.

Making the announcement at the Develop with Deere conference was Pat Pinkston. You can listen to his announcement below.

Yesterday Deere made another announcement that it is acquiring Memosem, a leading manufacturer of precision planters in Europe. Also announced is a joint venture creating SageInsights with DN2K’s cloud software platform. Yep, lots of announcements from Deere!

Listen to Pat’s comments here: Pat Pinkston, John Deere

climatecorp2The Climate Corporation, a subsidiary of Monsanto Company, held a press conference this morning to discuss the new agreements.

“To maximize the value of digital agriculture, farmers need solutions for simple and seamless collection of in-field agronomic data,” said Mike Stern, president and chief operating officer for The Climate Corporation. “As a result of these milestone agreements, farmers will experience the fastest, most frequent and highest resolution third-party connectivity between John Deere’s equipment and the Climate FieldView platform.”

Stern was joined in the press conference by Climate senior vice president for agronomic services John Raines, and Illinois farmer Steve Moffitt. Climate Corp/Deere press conference

Agribusiness, Audio, John Deere

Developing with Deere

Chuck Zimmerman

Develop with DeereHello from Kansas City, MO and the Develop with Deere conference. John Deere has once again brought together application developers to learn and to discuss opportunities with John Deere’s open API system.

I’m learning to and will be bringing you stories as they happen. I know there is going to be an announcement this morning and hopefully I can provided you with a very personal look at that very soon.

John Deere