US Equipment Exports Decline by 16%

Kelly Marshall

US ExportsThe first half of 2015 showed a drop of 16 % in the exports of U.S.-made agricultural equipment as compared to 2014.  In total $4 billion were shipped to global markets.

Exports to Europe dropped 31% and South America was down 30%.  Markets in Asia grew by 19% and sales were up in Central America as well.

The second quarter of 2015 marked the 6th consecutive quarter that U.S. agricultural equipment exports and imports experienced year over year declines. This is an interesting difference from the construction equipment exports, which have experienced growth in imports. A logical explanation may be that the domestic market demand for construction is still stable, while the U.S. farmer lacks resources or incentive to buy new equipment. Looking at specific equipment categories, the only category for which exports grew were components, while exports of Dairy/Milking machinery remained stable.

Our Agritech Business Barometer, a global report from the Agrievolution Alliance that indicates the worldwide climate for agricultural equipment, does not come out until next month. However, we can assume that the lower commodity prices are taking a toll on farmers in other countries as well. Aside from the low commodity prices, a stronger U.S. dollar is plaguing U.S. manufacturers, making them less competitive. In September 2015, the Broad Weighted Trade Index for the US Dollar, provided to us by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, had grown 18.2 percent compared to January 2014 and 21.5 percent compared to January 2013.

You can review AEM’s Agricultural Equipment Global Markets Export report for more details.  AEM members may access the export report as well as the Agrievolution report on the AEM website, Market Intelligence section.

Agribusiness, Equipment, Exports, International

New Holland Hero from South Africa

Cindy Zimmerman

cnh-expo-gerryGerry Manuel from Harare, Zimbabwe truly embodies the “Feeding the Planet” theme of Expo Milano 2015 and the New Holland “Seeds of Life Series” at the Sustainable Farm Pavilion.

Born and raised in a family of farmers in Zimbabwe Gerry runs the Juggler Investments P/L Farm, founded and owned by his younger brother, in Harare. The 22 acre farm produces tomatoes, potatoes, onions and cabbage, as well as some other crops and livestock. “We specialize in intensive horticulture,” he said. “I’m on limited land so I have no room for failure.”

Gerry is very glad he has been given the opportunity to share his experience as a small acreage farmer with the rest of the world and talk about the challenges of feeding a growing world population. “We have to step up our game, come to the plate and try and meet those needs because that’s a very tall order,” he said. “We have to get better, more efficient, use new technology, use innovative methods – whatever we do we have to get to producing high levels.”

Listen to Chuck’s interview with Gerry here: New Holland Hero Gerry Manuel of Zimbabwe

2015 New Holland Heroes & Bloggers Days

Audio, Farming, International, New Holland

Research Reveals Consumers’ Transparency Wants

John Davis

foodintegrity1New research is revealing consumers’ attitudes towards transparency from today’s food system. The information will be revealed at the upcoming Center for Food Integrity (CFI) Food Integrity Summit, Nov. 17-18 in New Orleans.

“Transparency is no longer optional. It’s a consumer expectation for those in today’s food system,” said Charlie Arnot, CEO of The Center for Food Integrity. “We are going to take an in-depth look at what that means and how to go about achieving it.”

As part of the research, a quiz posted on the CFI Facebook page invites consumers to discover their “food personality” by answering questions about their favorite weekend restaurant or typical lunch. They’re also encouraged to provide additional feedback on food system transparency at www.TransparencyTable.org by answering open-ended questions like, “What do you want to know about the food you and your family eat?” and “What would you like food entities to be more transparent about?”

Results are being collected through Oct. 1. The comments will be combined with quantitative data from CFI’s annual consumer research to develop transparency best practices for the food system.

“This year’s study determines exactly what consumers want to know about their food and how they prefer to access the information,” Arnot said. “We’ll also introduce a transparency index that can help companies determine their level of transparency and implement steps for improvement.”

Organizers say this will be a hands-on conference with concrete advice on how to become more transparent.

Food

CROP Hunger Walk Organizer to Receive Humanitarian Award

John Davis

melby1A man who walked so others could eat will be recognized with a humanitarian award. This news release from the World Food Prize says the Rev. Russell “Russ” Melby, a long-time Iowa organizer of Church World Service CROP Hunger Walks, will receive the 2015 Robert D. Ray Iowa SHARES Humanitarian Award will be presented to the during the Iowa Hunger Summit on Oct. 13 in Des Moines, Iowa.

From 1984 until his retirement in 2014, Rev. Melby involved almost 500,000 Iowans, who together raised over 12 million dollars to alleviate hunger. A quarter of all funds raised in Iowa are returned to local food pantries, and the remainder reduces global hunger by providing emergency aid during famines and supporting families around the world to transition from dependence to self-sufficiency. CROP Hunger Walks are community celebrations that bring people from many different perspectives and faith traditions together to fight hunger in over 80 communities across Iowa.

“Rev. Melby and CROP Hunger Walks are tremendous proof of the belief, shared by Dr. Borlaug and Governor Ray, that the struggle to end hunger should bring together people of all perspectives and walks of life,” said Amb. Kenneth M. Quinn, President of The World Food Prize. “By working together and building on our great humanitarian heritage, Iowa can eradicate hunger from our state and rise to the greatest challenge in human history – feeding the estimated 9.7 billion people who will share our planet by 2050,” the Ambassador added.

The Iowa SHARES Award has special meaning for Russ, who, in 1985, was invited by the Des Moines Register to represent the Protestant faith community at discussions of a possible fundraiser to alleviate famine in Ethiopia. “I was asked if Church World Service wanted to be involved,” Russ recalls, “and though I was a rookie at the time, I said ‘Yes, we’d love to be’. Then I called our headquarters – we had never done something like this before – and said ‘I hope this is okay!’” This initiative grew into the Iowa CARES program, which, inspired by the Iowa SHARES program, raised over $800,000 in under a year to feed starving refugees in Ethiopia.

More information, an agenda and registration is available at www.iowahungersummit.org.

World Food Prize

Zimfo Bytes

Talia Goes

Zimfo Bytes

  • The Iowa Corn Promotion Board (ICPB) is the recipient of a newly issued patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
  • On October 1, 2015 employees and partners of Fresno-based Stoughton Davidson Accountancy Corporation join K·Coe Isom, the nation’s leading business consultants and CPAs in food and agriculture.
  • United Fresh Produce Association is pleased to announce the two recipients of the 2015 Frieda Rapoport Caplan Family Business Scholarships: Alex DiNovo, DNO Produce, Columbus, OH and Seth Hansen, Kingsburg Orchards, Kingsburg, CA.
  • The 2015 Austrailian Society of Agronomy C.M. Donald Medal has been awarded to Professor Graeme Blair in recognition of this lifelong commitment to plant-soil research and teaching at the highest national and international level.
Zimfo Bytes

2015 NAMA Fall Conference

Chuck Zimmerman

NAMA Fall ConferenceThe 2015 National Agri-Marketing Association Fall Conference is underway in Denver. Daily reports are once again being posted to YouTube by Max Armstrong. His first one is below.

Like many of us who would like to be at the conference I’m following when I can on social media. Isn’t it great? I hope so.

Even though you may not be at the conference you can still support the Agri-Business Education Foundation.


Ag Groups, NAMA, Video

Where the Sidewalk Ends

Melissa Sandfort

20150924_093457By Shel Silverstein

When I was young, I loved to go to “work” with my dad. Mind you, while he was really working, I was sitting in the old hay loft, writing and reading poetry. One of my all-time favorites was the collection of Shel Silverstein poems, and this one in particular:

There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we’ll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we’ll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.

For at the end of our driveway (not the sidewalk, but you see the comparison) is this beautiful Little Bluestem grass. It’s before the lake road begins, where the grass grows soft and whispery, where the sun burns bright, and the turkeys rest from their flight to cool in the lake-mist wind.

I didn’t know when I was 8 that I’d make my home in a place taken straight from my favorite poem.

Until we walk again …

Uncategorized

New Holland 1st Cut Competition Winners

Chuck Zimmerman

New Holland 1st CutThe results are in and the winners of the New Holland 1st Cut Competition have been announced. They are Les Hershey of Kirkwood, Pa., Jimmy Parker of Stringer Miss., Merlin Bontrager of Timbo, Ark., Tyler Egeland of Ossian, Iowa, David Nelson of Preston, Idaho, Vanessa Dirksen of Alma, Ontario, and Leroy Otten of Ponoka, Alberta. Pictured is Leroy Otten’s entry.

The winners receive one year’s use of a New Holland Roll-BeltTM 450 Silage Special Round Baler.

To enter the 1st Cut competition, farmers ages 18 and older submitted a photo of their first cutting and uploaded the photo to the 1st Cut competition website. During the voting period, the public was invited to review the photos and vote for their favorite. Over 600 photos were eligible to win the use of a Roll-Belt round baler, and seven winners were selected from across the United States and Canada.

Forage, Hay, New Holland

New Holland Hero From Italy

Cindy Zimmerman

cnh-expo-francescoSince Expo Milano 2015 is being held in Italy and the vast majority of visitors are Italian, it made sense for New Holland to choose two farmers from Italy as “Seeds of Life Series” Heroes.

One of those is Francesco Condello, a grape grower and wine producer from Fiumana, where his Conde’ family farm is devoted to producing authentic Sangiovese di Predappio wine. “Our company estate is an example of the main theme of Expo ‘Feeding the World,'” said Francesco, through an interpreter, who is also his daughter. “Our estate is new, established in 2001, in a valley where we now have 110 hectares of vineyard and olive trees, where in 15 years a valley that was non-productive before has been transformed into a productive area.”

Francesco says he is very thankful to New Holland for the “Seeds of Life” project to put a face on producers around the world and was happy to be able to meet other farmers like himself from other countries and talk about the future of agriculture.

In this interview with Francesco he also talks about the sustainable practices he employs in his operation: New Holland Hero Francesco Condello of Italy

We did not get to interview the other Italian New Holland hero, but you can click here find out more about Claudio Destro who produces wheat, corn, canola and potatoes, and cattle on his estate in Maccarese.

2015 New Holland Heroes & Bloggers Days

Audio, Farming, International, New Holland

College Aggies Online Scholarship Program

John Davis

AnimalAgAllianceCollege students with an interest in agriculture will have the chance to get a real education and some real money to pay for education. The Animal Agriculture Alliance is launching its College Aggies Online (CAO) scholarship competition Sept. 28th.

“This year’s College Aggies Online participants are really in for a rewarding experience,” said Alliance President and CEO Kay Johnson Smith. “We are looking forward to helping connect future leaders in agriculture to our expert panel, which consists of experienced and renowned individuals in diverse fields, including online engagement, consumer communications, public policy and digital media.”

Program mentors include:

Kristina Butts, a Texas native and alumna of Texas Tech University, who serves as the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s executive director of legislative affairs.

Ilina Ewen, who writes at Dirt & Noise and is a seasoned marketer with 25 years of marketing, brand strategy, communications, and writing experience.

Lisa M. Frame, a freelance writer, social media strategist and blogger who currently lives just outside of Charlotte, NC.

Casey Hushon, account supervisor with Charleston|Orwig and a graduate of Virginia Tech with a degree in dairy science and a minor in professional writing.

Rebecca Shaw, dairy marketing specialist at Cargill Animal Nutrition who also works on her family’s calf and heifer raising operations.

Andy Vance, former farm broadcaster and current contributor and blogger for Feedstuffs who also designs multi-platform campaigns for advertisers reaching an agricultural audience via Feedstuffs, National Hog Farmer and BEEF Magazine.

Krissa Welshans, staff editor for Feedstuffs covering livestock and feed news, who has also worked for the National Pork Producers Council and the Animal Agriculture Alliance.

The competition consists of weekly challenges, and whoever gets the highest score will receive a $5,000 scholarship, national recognition and a trip for two representatives to attend the Alliance’s annual Stakeholders Summit in May. The first place individual will win a $2,500 scholarship and a trip to Summit. Scholarships and recognition will also be awarded to the first and second runner-up clubs as well as to the second and third placing individuals.

Education, University