President Donald Trump welcomed representatives from a number of agricultural organizations to the White House Thursday to talk about the $16 billion in trade assistance announced by the administration. “I have directed Secretary Perdue to provide $16 billion in assistance to America’s farmers and ranchers. It all comes from China. We’ll be taking in, over a period of time, hundreds …
USDA Announces More Trade Aid for Farmers
Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today announced several actions that USDA will be taking to assist farmers in response to trade damage from unjustified retaliation and trade disruption. President Trump directed Secretary Perdue to craft a relief strategy to support American agricultural producers while the Administration continues to work on free, fair, and reciprocal trade deals to open more markets …
ACE Annual Meeting Registration Open
Registration for the 32nd annual American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) conference, August 14-16 at the Omaha Marriott Downtown at the Capitol District in Omaha, Nebraska. This year’s “What it Takes” conference theme and programming reflect the ethanol industry’s fortitude for growing the business of clean fuel despite several headwinds the industry battles today. ACE Senior Director of Operations and Programming …
GROWMARK Launches AgValidity Platform
GROWMARK is partnering with startup technology companies with its AgValidity testing platform to bring new research and developments to its member companies and farmer customers. Lance Ruppert, director of agronomy marketing technology for GROWMARK, hopes the partnership will be a “win-win-win” as GROWMARK will help to identify cutting edge companies and help them to gain credibility with farmers and agricultural …
NCGA Promotes Corn in Pet Food
The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) was on hand to talk with those attending the recent Petfood Forum in Kansas City. More than 3,000 people from 38 countries took part in the event. Sarah McKay, director of market development at NCGA, shared information from a study commissioned by NCGA and the Kansas Corn Growers through Kansas State University looking at …
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ONE: The Alltech Ideas Conference
ONE: The Alltech Ideas Conference (ONE19), held May 19–21 in Lexington, Kentucky, brings together producers and industry experts from around the world to share insights and solutions to today’s most pressing issues within the global agriculture industry. Now in its 35th year, Alltech’s conference is attended annually by nearly 4,000 people from over 70 countries. Whether producers are navigating a …
GrainCoat App Streamlines Grain Marketing
GrainCoat, launched in 2018, is an app for farmers to manage their grain marketing decisions, to organize information and do away with excel sheets or hand-written notes. GrainCoat founder Sean Arians discussed and tested GrainCoat with farmers from across the country, making tweaks and updates along the way. He’s looking forward to continuing to integrate technology solutions to ease data …
American Butter Institute Fights “Fake” Butter
Plant-based imitations of butter and other dairy products pose an increasing challenge for consumer understanding in the butter sector, which is dealing with proliferating imposters even as butter’s popularity grows. Because of this, the American Butter Institute is urging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to take action before fake products make federal standards of identity for established terms such …
Study Shows Economic Impact of Grain Exports
A new study commissioned by the U.S. Grains Council (USGC) and the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) points to the importance of export markets to U.S. farmers. The study highlights the total economic impact of U.S. grain exports to be $55 billion in 2016 and also shows grain exports supporting 271,000 jobs directly or indirectly, according to Kimberly Atkins, vice …
New Dicamba-tolerant Stoneville Varieties from BASF
BASF has added three new dicamba-tolerant Stoneville® cottonseed varieties to its ever-expanding cotton portfolio. Each of these new varieties is tolerant to Liberty,® Engenia® and glyphosate herbicides and brings three-gene lepidopteran resistance, which decreases the likelihood that an application for worm control will be needed. The new varieties include: ST 4480B3XF A new early- to mid-maturity variety for growers in …
VP Talks Trade with Minnesota Farmers
Vice President Mike Pence talked trade Thursday with Minnesota farmers and FFA leaders at R & J Johnson Farm near Glyndon. “Farmers need the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) done now. U.S. agriculture needs strong trade agreements to access 95% of the people in this world who live outside of the United States. Our number one and number two customers on …
Stay Strong Nebraska Initiative for Farmers and Ranchers
“Stay Strong Nebraska” is an initiative created to help farmers and ranchers impacted by recent flooding, providing easy access to the Nebraska Farm Bureau Disaster Relief Fund and Nebraska Cattlemen Disaster Relief Fund with all donations remaining in the state. Federal officials estimate the bomb cyclone weather phenomenon and subsequent flooding caused $1.4 billion in damages in the state of …
U.S. Grains Council Board Names Next President And CEO
U.S. Grains Council (USGC) Director in Mexico Ryan LeGrand has been named as its next president and chief executive officer, effective next month. LeGrand joined the organization in Mexico in 2015 and has served as the director of the Council’s Mexico City office since 2016. In this capacity, he has overseen the expansion of the Council’s programming in that country …
Lawmakers Rally for Biodiesel Tax Incentive
The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) hosted a press conference on Capitol Hill Wednesday featuring a bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers including Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Rep. Abby Finkenauer (D-IA), Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-IL), Rep. Darin LaHood (R-IL), Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Rep. Dave Loebsack (D-IA) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT). Grassley introduced The Tax Extender and …
RFA Submits Comments on E15/RIN Reform Proposal
The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) submitted comments on the April 29 deadline for EPA’s proposal allowing 15 percent ethanol blends (E15) to take advantage of the 1-psi Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) waiver that currently applies to E10 during the summer months. The ethanol trade organization strongly supports the proposed regulatory fix that would allow year-round sales of E15 in conventional …