White House Releases Pollinator Strategy

Cindy ZimmermanBayer CropScience, Bees, Government, Pesticides, pollinators

beesLast June, President Obama called for an interagency Task Force to create a Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators. Today, the Task Force released its strategy, under the joint leadership of EPA and USDA.

The strategy has outlined three primary goals: reduce honey bee colony losses to economically sustainable levels; increase monarch butterfly numbers to protect the annual migration; and restore or enhance millions of acres of land for pollinators.

The strategy includes actions to be taken by more than a dozen other federal agencies and departments, as well as entities such as the Smithsonian Institute and the National Zoo. EPA will be working “to balance the unintended consequences of chemical exposure with the need for pest control” and is directed complete a review of the effects of neonicotinoid pesticides on pollinators by the end of 2017.

Bayer CropScience president and CEO Jim Blome welcomed the release of the strategy, calling it a “balanced and multi-faceted approach.”

“We are particularly encouraged by the specific commitment to invest more into research to improve our understanding of pollinator health,” said Blome, noting that many of Bayer’s on-going pollinator initiatives mirror specific recommendations included in the national strategy.

Reward Your Community through Drive to Thrive

Kelly MarshallAgribusiness, Contest, Syngenta

syngentaA reminder that the Drive to Thrive contest deadline is approaching.  June 1, 2015 will be the last day for ag professionals to will a grand prize of $500 and a $1000 donation to a local charity of their choice.  Ten finalists will also win mini touch-screen tablets.

This Syngenta sponsored contest invites those involved in ag to describe how agriculture drives their communities to thrive.

The application process is simple:
Click on the easy-to-use online entry form.
Briefly describe how agriculture makes your community thrive.
Then, upload a photograph or video that visually supports your written entry.

You may vote online until Sept. 1, 2015.  Syngenta will announce the grand prizewinner in October.

Farmers Network Raises $15M in Capitol

Cindy ZimmermanData, Farmers, seed

fbnFarmers Business Network (FBN), a farmer-to-farmer information network, today announced the company has closed $15 million in funding led by Google Ventures.

FBN intends to use the new funding to grow its platform nationally and work with more farmers. “Farmers have been advising each other for thousands of years. FBN gives them a platform to do so with real information on a massive scale, so they can make the most informed decisions,” said FBN Co-Founder Charles Baron. “This funding will allow us to reach even more farmers in more crops, so they can make the best decisions for their land.”

Baron with CEO Amol Deshpande founded the company with other agriculture and technology veterans in 2014 to connect farmers around the globe in an independent information-sharing network. “It is rare to find a team that bridges the gap between Silicon Valley tech smarts and expertise in agricultural markets,” said Andy Wheeler, General Partner at Google Ventures, who will now will join FBN’s Board of Directors. “Today, there are greater opportunities for farmers to scale their businesses than ever before, and we’re excited to work with the FBN team as they help build the next wave of productivity in agriculture.”

With FBN, farmers get advanced analytics – comprehensive yield benchmarking, real world seed performance and matching on over 490 varieties, practice analytics – all from anonymous information from real farmers. FBN can integrate over 35 different formats of farm data, clean and standardize it, then network thousands of fields together. In just six months, FBN has analyzed 7 million acres of data in the United States, and has been growing at 30% per month. Now, with this national launch, the company will connect more farmers on its network, leading the network to become more insightful than ever before.

FBN is based in San Carlos, California with a Midwestern Headquarters in Davenport, Iowa and an office in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Lawmakers Urge Coordination in Pollinator Health

Cindy ZimmermanBees, biotechnology, Government, pollinators

The Biotechnology, Horticulture, and Research Subcommittee of the House Agriculture Committee held a hearing last week to review the federal coordination and response regarding pollinator health, and what role, if any, neonicotinoid insecticides may be playing.

rod-bio“Federal coordination and communication is vital in establishing rules and regulations impacting pollinator health and farmers’ abilities to produce food,” said Subcommittee Chairman Rodney Davis (R-IL). “Pollinators play an important role in agriculture production, and it is essential that agencies work together to promote their health without overburdening farmers and politicizing the issue.”

In his opening statement, Davis noted that the White House last year established a task force involving various departments and agencies to develop a National Pollinator Health Strategy. “While coordination and communication were understood to be a central tenant of this executive order, only days after receiving the order, the National Wildlife Refuge System announced a ban on neonics and biotech plants without a single effort to communicate with either USDA or EPA their intentions or justification,” said Davis. “I would note that the Secretary of Agriculture and Administrator of the EPA were appointed to co-chair the President’s task force. As both agencies were completely caught off guard by this announcement, each expressed frustration with the lack of communication.”

Jim Jones, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, and Robert Johansson, acting chief economist at USDA, testified on behalf of their respective agencies.

Mosaic to Sponsor CTIC Tour for 5th Year

Cindy ZimmermanConservation, CTIC, Fertilizer

ctic-2015For the fifth year in a row, The Mosaic Company has signed on as tour leader for the Conservation Technology Information Center’s (CTIC) Conservation in Action Tour. This year’s tour will bring as many as 250 farmers, crop consultants, agribusiness leaders, conservation leaders, researchers and government officials to southeastern Minnesota on August 11 and 12, 2015.

“At Mosaic, we work hard to help farmers produce higher crop yields, while limiting agricultural impact on the environment,” said Ben Pratt, Vice President of Public Affairs at The Mosaic Company. “We are pleased to once again support CTIC and its Conservation in Action Tour, which encourages modern agriculture techniques that generate strong yields and support natural resource conservation.”

The August tour will include a broad array of farms and conservation practices, from saturated buffers and drainage control structures on corn/soybean operations to innovative strategies on vegetable fields. Speakers will include farmers, resource agency officials and conservation group leaders.

CTIC is organizing the tour with the help of Minnesota-based partners including the Goodhue Soil and Water Conservation District, Minnesota Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts, Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources, Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Minnesota Agricultural Water Resource Center, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and USDA-NRCS.

Find out more here.

USDA Targets Aid to Drought Stricken States

Cindy ZimmermanAudio, Conservation, NRCS, USDA, water

nrcsUSDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) will invest an additional $21 million to help farmers and ranchers in eight drought-stricken states.

NRCS will provide technical and financial assistance through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) to target areas that are experiencing either exceptional or extreme drought conditions, including parts of California, Kansas, Idaho, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, and Utah. The EQIP funding will allow NRCS to help producers apply selected conservation practices to better deal with the effects of drought in their operations, including prescribed grazing, livestock watering facilities, cover crops, nutrient management, irrigation systems, and other water conservation practices.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and NRCS Chief Jason Weller announced details of the funding during a press call on Monday. [wpaudio url=”http://www.zimmcomm.biz/usda/usda-nrcs-drought.mp3″ text=”USDA-NRCS Drought Aid investment”]

FAA Announces UAS Center of Excellence

Taylor TruckeyAudio, Aviation, drone, technology, UAV

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) last week announced the selection of Alliance for System Safety of UAS through Research Excellence ASSURE, a consortium of universities headed by Mississippi State University (MSU), to lead the newly-designated FAA Center of Excellence for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS COE).

ASSURE is tasked with identifying issues critical to the integration of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) into the nation’s airspace and engaging in research and policy development on the growing use of unmanned aerial systems. Mississippi State Univ. heads the consortium of 15 universities from across the country that have shown a commitment to UAS research & development.

FAAAt a press conference last week, FAA Administrator Michael Huerta, MSU President Mark Keenum and consortium members joined U.S. Senators Thad Cochran (R-MS), John Hoeven (R-ND), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Roger Wicker (R-MS), and U.S. Representatives Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Gregg Harper (R-MS) to discuss the next steps and goals for the COE UAS.

“Unmanned aircraft technology is here to stay, and we are all excited that our states will have an active role in figuring out the safest and most efficient way to incorporate this evolving technology into our airspace to assist on issues ranging from precision agriculture to disaster recovery,” said Sen. Cochran. “We are interested in continuing to support what will be a collaborative process to address the complicated nature of integrating unmanned aircraft into our national airspace system, as well as privacy and other issues that arise with their use.”

The directive to the FAA to establish the national center has been included in congressional appropriations bills since FY2012, with Congress appropriating $5.0 million to support a five-year agreement with the COE UAS. Federal funding will be matched by ASSURE team members.

The FAA expects the COE to begin research in 2015 and be fully operational in 2016 in its exploration of evolving new technological developments regarding unmanned aircraft and their uses, including detect-and-avoid technology, low-altitude operations safety, privacy safeguards and other areas. Research will also involve the deployment of UAS for emergency response, biofuel and clean fuel technologies, law enforcement activities, and agricultural and environmental monitoring.

Read more: Press Release from Mississippi State University and Press Release from FAA

Listen to the announcement here: [wpaudio url=”http://www.zimmcomm.biz/government/uas-coe-news-conference.mp3″ text=”UAS COE News Conference”]

Cotton LEADS Attracts New Partners

Kelly MarshallAgribusiness, Cotton, environment

CottonLEADS-Logo-pxSince 2013 the Cotton LEADS program has partnered with more than 300 companies and is now announcing the addition of several new business.  Among others, HanesBrands, Jo-Ann Fabrics, Kohl’s®; and Life Is Good® have joined the partnership.

The Cotton LEADS™ program was launched to illustrate, at a national level, the responsible production practices of cotton growers in Australia and the United States, the program’s two founding countries. At the heart of the Cotton LEADS™ program is the commitment to continuous improvement in cotton growing practices in these countries; a unique situation made possible by the strict national and regional regulatory environments; grower self-investment in research and development; and the ability to affect best practices at a national level that exists in Australia and the United States.

“The goal of the Cotton LEADS™ program,” explains Mark Messura, senior vice president of Supply Chain Marketing at Cotton Incorporated, “is to assure the industry that the cotton entering their supply chain is being produced in an increasingly responsible manner.”

cottonleadslunchmay15Louisiana cotton grower and Cotton LEADS governing board member, Jay Hardwick shared information about the tools and practices in use by cotton growers today.  These include the Fieldprint® Calculator, which allows growers to see how decisions affect the environmental footprint of their operation.

Crop Analytics Plan wins MIT $100K

Kelly MarshallAgribusiness, Contest, drone, UAV

Raptor logoThe ‘Granddaddy’ of all business plan competitions, the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition, has selected a crop analytics business plan as the winner.  The Robert P. Goldberg $100,000 grand prize winner was awarded to Raptor Maps – a startup drone technology business with the goal of feeding a growing world population. The team, consisting of three PhD candidates from MIT, beat out seven other finalist teams offering projects such as underwater robots and a new technology for treating inoperable tumors.

A panel of judges made up of venture capitalists, serial entrepreneurs, and industry professionals said they chose Raptor Maps based on the strength of their technology, business plan, pitch, and team composition.

According to the World Wildlife Foundation, agriculture is the largest industry in the world. Yet a staggering one-third of all crops planted annually are destroyed by diseases, pests, and insects. [Source: Plant Pathology by George N. Agrios]

Raptor Maps uses proprietary multispectral imaging that scans large areas of farmland and, with the use of analytics, pinpoints crop damage before pests and diseases can spread. This enables focused pesticide application, which increases crop yields while reducing environmental impact.

Initially the team contemplated selling their drone system. “But by engaging with farmers and other clients, we realized they cared far more about obtaining data than operating drones,” says Vadhavkar. “Now, with the help of the MIT $100K Competition, we will be able to deliver our services where they are needed the most.”

Granular Announces Integration of As-Applied Data

Taylor TruckeyAgribusiness, Audio, Granular

granular Granular, a leading agriculture software and analytics company, has announced another major extension to its analytics platform. Granular has added the ability to import and integrate as-applied files to help producers analyze and manage field level profitability. The news release, in full detail, can be found here.

Granular’s latest round of enhancements focuses on the analysis of as-applied files and field-level profitability. The ability to ingest, process and analyze as-applied files off farm equipment allows Granular to build a complete electronic production record on each field with full detail on all inputs, labor and machine costs for each completed task. As-applied file analysis also allows Granular to understand sub-field level variation in costs, yields and efficiencies.

“Granular serves professional, expansion-oriented producers,” said Sid Gorham, Granular’s co-founder and CEO. “These producers view this downturn as an opportunity to expand to farm more acres and Granular is helping them build their businesses on a solid foundation.”

Sid Gorham, CEO of Granular, spoke with Chuck Zimmerman about Granular’s recent announcement and the value of intuitive technology to their customers. Hear his outlook on how farmers will be able to utilize Granular’s tools to improve their profitability.

Chuck Zimmerman’s interview with Sid Gorham: [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/precision/granular-gorham-5-14-15.mp3″ text=”Interview with Sid Gorham, Granular”]