Ag Export Coalition Urges Increased Funding for Export Programs

Ag Group, AgWired Precision, Exports, Specialty Crops

More than 120 members of the Coalition to Promote U.S. Agricultural Exports are urging leaders of the House Committee on Agriculture to increase funding for USDA export promotion programs in the new farm bill.

The coalition ssent a letter to Committee Chairman Michael Conaway (R-TX), and Ranking Minority Member Collin Peterson (D-MN), asking them to increase funding for the Market Access Program (MAP) to $400 million annually and the Foreign Market Development (FMD) program to $69 million annually, phasing in the additional funding over the life of the next farm bill. Coalition members include virtually all of the major commodity organizations, as well as state and regional groups, representing everything from apples to wine.

“Over the years we’ve had a decrease in funding based on sequestration, administrative costs, and just overall inflation and depreciation of the U.S. dollar,” said Mark Powers, president of Northwest Horticultural Council and chairman of the coalition. “It’s a very positive public-private partnership, but the real purchasing power of those matching funds provided to MAP and FMD has decreased over the years.”

MAP and FMD are cost-share programs. Overall, producers and other participants contributed matching funds representing 70 percent of total program funds in 2016. Federal MAP funding has been apportioned at an annual level of $200 million since 2006 and FMD at its annual level of $34.5 million since 2002.

In this interview, Powers talks about how successful the programs have been and how important exports are to specialty crop producers, and you can learn more at AgExportsCount.org. Interview with Mark Powers

Bayer Showcasing Commitment to Cotton

Agribusiness, AgWired Precision, Audio, Bayer, Cotton

The Head of Seeds, North America, for Bayer CropScience is Lee Rivenbark. Lee was a lunchtime presenter during the Bayer Showcase Plot Tour in Lubbock, TX. I thought he would be a great person to provide an overview of why Bayer holds these events and especially the one in their new Cotton Breeding Station. He started out by telling me, “Today gives us a unique opportunity to interact with our growers. That’s what we’re here to do today.”

The event allows growers to hear about Bayer’s new technologies, germplasm, new varieties and commitment to agriculture and the cotton industry. Probably the most visible sign of that commitment is the Cotton Breeding Station itself. Growers got to tour the facility and see some of the equipment Bayer is using in its research. You can see photos from that part of the tour in the photo album below.

For more on what was going on during the day listen in to my interview with Lee: Interview with Lee Rivenbark, Bayer

Bayer Showcase Plot Tour – Lubbock, TX Photo Album

Zimfo Bytes 9/29

AgWired Precision, Zimfo Bytes

  • Rural Media Group has brought Janet Shope on board as VP of Advertising Sales for RFD-TV and Rural Radio Channel 147 on SiriusXM. Shope has more than 20 years of Cable, Radio and Broadcast sales experience and was previously Senior Account Executive with Sinclair Broadcast Group.
  • The Georgia Peanut Commission is hosting “Photos from the Field,” a photo contest to help fill the pages of next year’s Georgia Peanut Calendar.  Contest submission forms are due October 1, 2017.
  • Brandon Willis, the former administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency, has released a new study exposing the misleading ideas in the Heritage Foundation’s narrative that there is no place for farm policy in America.  You can read the study in its entirety or catch up with seven key points here.
  • DTN has announced enhancements to DTN Connect, its innovative agriculture retailer offering.  The system’s consolidation of critical data provides insights for more informed conversations between users and their customers.
  • WinField is celebrating the opening of their new 55,000 square-foot facility.  The United Innovation Center replaces the former WinField Product Development Center and Spray Analysis System.
  • Roger Johnson, President of the National Farmers Union, released a response to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s announcement of proposed lower obligations for renewable fuel usage under the Renewable Fuel Standard.  The proposal reduces obligations for total renewable fuel volumes, biomass-based diesel, and advanced biofuel if finalized.
  • The American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture has announced a winner in the Purple Plow Challenge.  Kitchen to Garden to Kitchen, a homeschool team from Port Orange, Florida, received a 3-D printer and gift card to support future educational investments.

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ASTA Support for Cover Crops

AgWired Precision, ASTA, Audio, Cover Crops, seed

The latest Cover Crop Survey released earlier this month will be highlighted at the American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) Farm & Lawn Seed Conference, coming up November 5-6 in Kansas City.

Since 2014, ASTA and its members have helped support this important survey conducted by the Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC) with funding from USDA’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE). Past ASTA chair Risa DeMasi of Grassland Oregon says the conference will feature SARE’s Rob Myers and Bill Buckner of the Noble Foundation who will discuss the report and the bright future for cover crops. “We have over 700 attendees from different types of seed companies, and those companies come from all over the U.S.,” said DeMasi. The meeting is always held in Kansas City at the Westin the two days before the NAFB annual convention.

DeMasi says the increased adoption of cover crops shown by these surveys means the industry should start thinking ahead 5-10 years “in order to produce enough cover crop seed and the right options growers are going to want to be more precise in their planting…the goals are huge.”

Audio file: Interview with Risa DeMasi, Grassland Oregon

Precision Ag Bytes 9/27

AgWired Precision, Precision Ag Bytes

  • Land O’Lakes, Inc. announced the finalists for the Land O’Lakes Prize: Drone Challenge, a crowdsourced competition launched to help find drone solutions for farmers.  Finalists are: Sandhills Robotics, Fayetteville, North Carolina; CreateUAS, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; and American Robotics, Boston, Massachusetts.
  • The 3rd World Congress on Biostimulants in Agriculture is an international scientific and technical congress to review the latest knowledge on these products.  It will be held in Miami on November 27-30, 2017. 
  • Congratulations to Hortau, which has won the 2017 North American Smart Irrigation New Product Innovation Award, presented by Frost & Sullivan.
  • Valent U.S.A. LLC is launching a Sustainable Solutions Business Unit, a new division dedicated to supporting the industry in the adoption and integration of sustainable production practices for crop protection, productivity and yield enhancement products and technologies. Ron Maitoza will head up the new team.

Alltech Talks Farm of the Future LIVE

Agribusiness, AgWired Animal, AgWired Precision, Alltech, Audio, Consumers, Farming, Food, technology, Video

Alltech hosted a live video event on the future of agriculture and technology with a panel of agribusiness experts discussing and debating their thoughts on the future of the agricultural industry, new consumer demographics and demands, ag technology, big data, nutrigenomics and precision nutrition.

Continue to follow the discussion on Twitter with the hashtag #FarmingTheFuture. Great questions were posed, thought-provoking answers were given and all conversation made us start imagining the farm of the future.

Panelist Included:
– Aidan Connolly, chief innovation officer and vice president of corporate accounts at Alltech.
– Mary Shelman, former director of Harvard Business School’s Agribusiness Program.
– Professor Michael Boehlje, distinguished professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics and the Center for Food and Agricultural Business at Purdue University.
– Dr. Karl Dawson, chief scientific officer at Alltech.

Conaway Comments on Cotton Damage in Texas

AgWired Precision, Audio, Cotton, Government

Harvey damaged cotton in Texas (USDA photo)

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway (R-TX) toured south Texas last week with Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to see first hand some of the agricultural damage caused by Hurricane Harvey.

Conaway and Perdue viewed the area by helicopter and visited farms that were anticipating a record crop before the snow white fields of cotton were covered in flood waters from the storm. “When that water settled out, it basically coated all those plants, cotton bolls about to be harvested, with mud,” said Conaway, who adds that the smell from the rotting cotton is “pretty obnoxious.”

Check out the USDA photo album of the tour and listen to these comments from Conaway, provided by his office. Rep. Conaway comments on Harvey damage

SMART Farmer Emily Buck

AgWired AgNewsWire, AgWired Animal, AgWired Precision, Audio, SMART Farmer, USFRA

Emily Buck farms with her husband and daughter near Columbus, Ohio where they raise soybeans, corn and wheat and also have a small sheep operation. Her main role on the farm, beyond helping with crops, is to manage the 40 ewes.

Off the farm, Emily is a university researcher and professor of agricultural communication at Ohio State University, which gives her the opportunity to also raise future agricultural advocates. In addition, she serves as one of the U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance’s (USFRA) Faces of Farming & Ranching.

Learn more about Emily in this edition – SMART Farmer Podcast with Emily Buck, Ohio farmer

Subscribe to the SMART Farmer podcast

Learn more about USFRA and SMART Farm

Talking with Bayer Crop Science, Global Research Head

Agribusiness, AgWired Precision, Audio, Bayer, Research

Adrian Percy, Global Head of Research and Development, Crop Science, a division of Bayer, met with the U.S. press during this week’s Future of Farming Dialog in Germany. I asked him about the effect of Hurricane Irma on the citrus greening project that was recently announced since so much of the Florida crop was devastated this season. He says that it’s too early to tell what it means to research in the Florida citrus growing region but that this is a long term project and they can get started in their own research facilities in the mean time.

On the subject of the global environment for new product development Percy says that “We don’t have a harmonized regulatory system and we certainly don’t have a harmonized way of accepting technology into the different markets we work.” This means that new technologies are getting introduced at very different times in different countries and regions.

Listen to our interview with Percy here: Adrian Percy, Bayer

2017 Future of Farming Dialog Photo Album

Senate Ag Committee Hears from USDA Nominees

AgWired Animal, AgWired Energy, AgWired Precision, Audio, Government, USDA

Nine months into the Trump Administration and the Senate Agriculture Committee just held a hearing this week on the first two nominees to help out Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue at the USDA.

The committee heard from Stephen Censky, long time CEO of the American Soybean Association nominated to be Deputy Secretary of Agriculture; and Indiana Director of Agriculture Ted McKinney, nominated for the new position of Under Secretary of Agriculture for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs.

Both farm boys with a long history of service in the agriculture industry, the two nominees are not controversial and are expected to be approved whenever the Senate gets around to it.

Here are opening statements from the two nominees at the hearing on Tuesday: Censky and McKinney opening statements