Soy Checkoff Request for Referendum Results

Chuck Zimmerman

United Soybean BoardUSDA just announced the results of the request for referendum on the Soybean Research and Promotion Program. There were 355 request-for-referendum forms received, of which only 324 were valid, from Farm Service Agency offices. The 355 forms represent 0.06 percent of all eligible U.S. soybean farmers. That result falls short of the 10 percent needed to prompt a referendum.

“These results show that U.S. soybean farmers overwhelmingly see the value in our soy checkoff,” says Jim Call, soybean farmer from Madison, Minnesota, and United Soybean Board (USB) chairman. “It’s more important than ever that the volunteer farmer-leaders of USB continue to invest soy checkoff funds to maximize the profit potential for all U.S. soybean farmers.”

If 10 percent of the 569,998 U.S. soybean farmers had requested a referendum, with no more than one-fifth of the 10 percent coming from one state, USDA would have conducted the referendum on the soy checkoff within 12 months. USDA conducts the request-for-referendum vote every five years, as required by the Soybean Promotion, Research and Consumer Information Act. The most recent period took place from May 5 through May 30.
Farmers certifying that they or the entity they represent paid into the checkoff at any time between Jan. 1, 2012, and Dec. 31, 2013, were eligible to participate in the petition for referendum. Eligible farmers who did not want a referendum did not need to take any action.

USDA requested and approved a notification by USB to inform U.S. soybean farmers about the request–for-referendum period. USB placed paid notifications on the request for referendum in national, regional and state agricultural publications and also distributed the notification to all Qualified State Soybean Boards and the news media. In addition, USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service and Farm Service Agency distributed the information about the request-for-referendum period.

Ag Groups, Soybean, USB

American Ethanol Winning Races

Chuck Zimmerman

Ryan Hunter ReayEver since I met Ryan Hunter Reay as the driver for the Indy Team Ethanol Car I’ve been following him as his racing gets better and better. He showed it this weekend when he roared to a dramatic finish and won the Iowa Corn Indy 300, presented by Dekalb. He’s pictured here with board members of Iowa Corn.

With the Indy cars running on the same fuel that we can put in our flex fuel vehicles – E85 – this renewable fuel was on the big stage again. In addition to the Indy race last weekend NASCAR held the American Ethanol 200 presented by Enogen, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, on Saturday. Our Joanna Schroeder was there courtesy of Syngenta and will have some stories to share from that event over on Domestic Fuel. You can see her first post that describes how Syngenta and Quad County Corn Processors have teamed up to begin commercial production of cellulosic ethanol here.

Ag Groups, Biofuels, Corn, Ethanol

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2014 Cooperative Communicators Winners Showcase

Chuck Zimmerman

Cooperative Communicators AssociationWant to see who the winners are in this year’s Cooperative Communicators Association Communications Contest? Here’s where you can see the best writing, publication, photography and more.

Welcome to the 2014 Winners Showcase

This showcase features all of the winning entries in this year’s CCA Communications Contest. Here you’ll find the best of the best of cooperative communications, from writing and photography to publications, programs, and projects. Below are links to PDFs of the lists of winners in each division. These lists are available to members and nonmembers alike.

Writing Winners
Publication Winners
Photography Winners
Programs and Projects

Ag Groups, Media

Farm Bill Toolbox

Chuck Zimmerman

farmdoc Farm Bill ToolboxHere’s a Toolbox farmers might want to add to their arsenal. It’s the University of Illinois farmdoc Farm Bill Toolbox. You’ll find articles, videos and FSA documentation.

This website provides educational outreach on 2014 Farm Bill related decisions and tools which are currently under development.

Previously, articles on farmdoc Daily have provided details regarding the efforts to inform readers about the 2014 Farm Bill, particularly with regard to farm program decisions that will have to be made (those articles are available here and here). As the next step in that project, today we introduce the Farm Bill Toolbox as the one-stop resource for farm program decisions, information and analysis, as well as providing further information regarding the ongoing efforts for the Farm Bill.

On July 1, 2014, the University of Illinois as the lead university for the National Coalition for Producer Education (NCPE) entered into a cooperative agreement with the Farm Service Agency for development of web-based decision tools to help producers and farm owners with the decisions and programs in the Farm Bill. This effort will involve the development of three different tools by the Illinois-led NCPE, as well as training, education, outreach and analysis on the tools and programs: (1) a tool for the ARC/PLC program decision, including base acre reallocation, payment yield updating and SCO/STAX; (2) a tool for the new dairy Margin Protection Program and Livestock Gross Margin-Dairy insurance policy; and (3) a tool for the new Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) provisions regarding buy-up coverage.

Education, Farm Bill, University

Well Cow – Bluetooth Connection to Your Cows

Chuck Zimmerman

Well CowWe’re hearing a lot about health applications of mobile and wearable technology lately. The anticipated iWatch from Apple is expected to open some new doors into that technology. But that’s for humans. What about cows? Well a Scottish company is introducing a bluetooth way to monitor cow and herd health – The Well CowTM Bolus.

Monitor the health of your herd remotely

The Well Cow bolus wirelessly monitors rumen pH and temperature, allowing optimisation of nutrition management for cows to improve their health and welfare. Farmers can use the data to optimise the diets for their cattle and consequently improve production efficiency and ultimately the profitability of their business.

Well CowTM has now also demonstrated the world’s first automated continuous long term measurement of rumen pH in dairy herds using its unique wireless telemetry bolus system. This enables the dietary health of herds to be monitored and early indications of problems which will adversely affect milk yields to be identified.

In the future Well CowTM technology will have the potential to also deliver the automated detection and measurement of other health and disease markers. This technology together with the latest developments in Wide Area Network communications will provide farmers with immediate alerts on the status of their herds on PC’s and mobile devices.

Thanks to CNET for the heads up.

Agribusiness, Dairy, Technology

McCarthy’s Comments on WOTUS in Missouri

Jamie Johansen

photo-1Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy addressed the Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City yesterday. Her goal was to defend and explain the Administration’s proposed rules defining Waters of the United States (WOTUS) under the Clean Water Act (CWA).

In a media call on Wednesday before her trip concerns were expressed from those in attendance. During her speech yesterday, she addressed a few of them.

“Yesterday, we heard very clearly some of the concerns about our proposed rule. Let me clear up some of that: We heard fears that EPA is regulating groundwater. This is not true; groundwater regulations do and will fall under the purview of the states. EPA is not regulating all activities in floodplains, or every puddle, dry wash, and erosional feature. In fact, we’re doing just the opposite. If cattle cross a wet field – let them. That’s a normal farming practice, and all normal farming practices are still exempt. The bottom line is – if you didn’t need a permit before this proposed rule, you won’t need one when it’s finalized.”

McCarthy said their goal is for the practices to be reasonable and consistently applied. She added that everyone playing by the same rules allows farmers and ranchers to work with confidence and certainty.

“So let’s talk about the interpretive rule and the 56 conservation practices that are good for production and good for water quality. That rule seems to have generated lots of confusion. So, why did we want to list out those 56 practices? Those 56 are an attempt to clear the path for slam dunk conservation practices. We did not narrow exemptions; those 56 are a subset to the existing exemptions for normal farming, ranching, and silviculture. No one should have to think twice about taking advantage of these conservation practices.”

“Some mistakenly think that this means additional federal standards with which to comply, but that’s wrong. Conservation practice standards are not federal regulatory standards. They just provide a roadmap for producers to make sure they’re squeezing all they can out of their practice.”

“New exemptions are ‘self-implementing,’ which means no one needs to notify or get approval from EPA or the Corps. There’s no need to double check with anyone at any time. I’m sure farmers agree that the best discussion on jurisdictional determinations is one that never needs to happen. We added 56 exemptions because we want to boost conservation without boosting bureaucracy. Is the interpretive rule the best way to do that? Let’s figure that out together. I am about outcomes, not process.”

You can listen to her complete comments here: Administrator McCarthy’s Comments on WOTUS

Ag Groups, Conservation, Environment, Water

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AG UAVs in the Air

Chuck Zimmerman

Precision Aerial Ag ShowYou especially like to have good weather when you’re holding an air show! In this case it’s the Precision Aerial Ag Show taking place at the Farm Progress Show site in Illinois. Check out the flight schedule that’s going on.

I was really hoping to have a chance to attend this event. It has “AgNerd” written all over it. But the next best thing to being there is getting to chat with someone and being able to share a couple of photos.

Precision Aerial Ag ShowI talked with one of the coordinators for the event, Stu Ellis, AgEngage. The show is presented by Penton Farm Progress.

The show features a UAV technology showcase where manufacturers and suppliers of UAVs and related equipment for agricultural application will demonstrate their products throughout the show. There are also educational activities in addition to the demos.

I learned from Stu that there are more than 1,000 companies worldwide who are involved in UAVs for agriculture. he invited many of them to the show. He says that the U.S. is way behind Japan and countries in Europe in the use of this technology. Surprisingly there are attendees from several countries outside the U.S. As you might guess he says attendees are most interested in using UAVs for crop scouting since it can save so much time.

Listen to my interview with Stu Ellis here: Interview with Stu Ellis

Maybe I can go next year. BTW. Thank you to Hugh Whaley for the use of his phone for both photos and my interview with Stu!

Agribusiness, Audio, Media, Precision Agriculture

Do You Know How the EPA Water Rule Will Impact You?

Jamie Johansen

New Holland ZimmPollOur latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “What will be on your Independence Day grill?”

It looks like most people stuck with the traditional 4th of July grillers. Hamburgers and hot dogs topped the list and I can’t say I am surprised. Maybe everyone was saving their creative genius for the fireworks display.

Our poll results:

  • steak – 14%
  • hamburgers – 25%
  • hot dogs – 18%
  • pork chops – 14%
  • chicken – 4%
  • fish – 0%
  • shrimp – 4%
  • lamb chops – 0%
  • venison – 0%
  • multiple meats – 11%
  • other – 10%

Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, “How would the EPA water rule impact you?”

One of the hottest topics in the ag sector these days has to do with water rights. The EPA says that under the proposed rules defining Waters of the United States (WOTUS) under the Clean Water Act (CWA) “all normal farming practices are exempt – period” but those in the agriculture community are questioning if that will hold true. Have you looked in to how this water rule would impact your operation?

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