Category: Industry News

National Ag Day has announced that Bayer has become an Ag Day Platinum sponsor. Ag Day, organized by the Agriculture Council of America (ACA), marks a nationwide effort to tell the story of American agriculture and remind citizens that agriculture is a part of us all. Ag Day will take place on March 21, 2023.

“We are excited to be taking a more active role in National Ag Day since we at Bayer embody its mission in our work all year long,” said Dr. Jacqueline Applegate, President of Bayer’s Crop Science business in North America.

2023 Marks the 50^th anniversary of National Ag Day, and this year’s theme is “Agriculture: Growing a Climate for Tomorrow.”

The ACA will host a virtual Ag Day event and events in Washington, D.C. Many agricultural associations, corporations, students, and government organizations involved in agriculture are expected to participate.

The ACA will also bring college students from youth ag organizations to Washington “virtually” to deliver the message of Ag Day to The Hill, while a core team of student leaders will attend events in D.C. Other Ag Day events in D.C. will be announced soon.

Learn more at http://www.agday.org.

Annie’s Project, a national non-profit to educate and empower women in agriculture, is celebrating 20 years since its founding. Today, the program has over 19,000 graduates across 38 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Annie’s Project uses a methodology that builds confidence, develops networks and creates lifelong learners among women farmers, ranchers, growers, landowners, and agriculturalists.

The inaugural class of 10 women met in February 2003 in Centralia, Ill., and several members of the group will gather again for a virtual meeting via Zoom to share memories of those early meetings and the impact Annie’s Project has had on their farms and lives.

The virtual event is set for Tuesday, Feb. 21, noon Central Standard Time. Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_gmpYG0dJSl-F2O-nFDffEw

Additional events are being planned to celebrate the 20th anniversary, with updates provided at www.anniesproject.org or on Facebook, www.facebook.com/anniesproject. Sponsors can contact doris@anniesproject.org to learn ways to be part of the initiative and the celebration.

Annie’s Project is based on the life of a farm woman, Annie Fleck, who spent her lifetime learning how to be an involved business partner with her husband. She died in 1997 and was the inspiration for her daughter, Ruth Fleck Hambleton, to create Annie’s Project in 2003. Hambleton was a Farm Business Management and Marketing Educator for University of Illinois Extension at the time.

SOURCE: AgPR.com

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) has announced an investment of $70 million in sustainable agricultural projects that integrate research, education, and Extension efforts. The goal is to establish robust, resilient, and climate-smart food and agricultural systems. 

This investment is made under NIFA’s Sustainable Agricultural Systems program. This innovative program focuses on a broad base of needed research, education, and Extension solutions – from addressing labor challenges and promoting land stewardship to correcting climate change impacts in agriculture and filling critical needs in food and nutrition.

Examples of the seven projects newly funded under NIFA’s AFRI Sustainable Agricultural Systems program area include the following:   

• Auburn University will receive a $9.95 million grant to transform controlled environment agriculture (CEA) – a rapidly expanding segment of U.S. agriculture that includes producing food crops in greenhouses and indoor spaces, with great promise for producing the food we need while reducing carbon emissions.  
• Michigan State University will receive a $10 million grant to assess the impacts of historical and projected shocks to the nation’s agri-food system and develop alternative mitigation and adaptation strategies.  
• University of Missouri will receive a $10 million grant to address USDA-NIFA Sustainable Agriculture Systems goals on climate-smart agriculture along with strengthening regional bioeconomies in rural areas.

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Washington State University Extension offers the Produce Safety Alliance Grower’s Training courses at four different locations in Washington this spring.

The courses are aimed at fruit and vegetable growers and others interested in learning about produce safety, the Food Safety Modernization Act Produce Safety Rule, good agricultural practices, and co-management of natural resources and food safety. The Grower Training Course is one way to satisfy the Produce Safety Rule requirement that necessitates a supervisor or a responsible party on farms have successfully completed food safety training.

The course includes seven hours of instruction time covering topics including worker health, hygiene, and training, agricultural water, postharvest handling and sanitation, and more.

The dates and locations for the four trainings are:

• Feb. 17 in Spokane, Washington
• March 14 in Port Hadlock, Washington
• March 16 in Mount Vernon, Washington
• April 14 in Vancouver, Washington

Cost is $25 for Washington residents, $125 out of state. The Washington State Department of Agriculture is subsidizing the course.

Register and find more information on the WSU Food Safety website.

The Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance (SCFBA), a national coalition of more than 200 specialty crop organizations representing growers of fruits, vegetables, dried fruit, tree nuts, nursery plants and other products, has released its recommendations for the 2023 Farm Bill.

In a letter to Agriculture Committee leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, the SCFBA Co-Chairs emphasized that investments in the competitiveness and sustainability of the U.S. specialty crop industry will produce a strong return for all Americans, not just farmers. The SCFBA’s 2023 Farm Bill recommendations, which can be viewed in full at the link, represent the most comprehensive set of ideas from the coalition to date, including 109 specific recommendations covering eight Farm Bill titles.

The recommendations prioritize a set of core principles:

• Healthy Americans: Expanding access and availability to safe, wholesome, healthy and affordable foods, as well as trees, flowers and plants, will encourage lifelong healthy eating habits, mental and physical well-being, and help address national priorities such as obesity, heart disease, and food and nutrition insecurity.

• Competitiveness and Sustainability: In recognition of its significance to American agriculture, the American food supply, and the communities it supports across the United States, a proportional share of farm bill resources and mandatory spending should be allocated to specialty crop priorities.

• Trade and Foreign Competition: Establishing a competitive playing field for American specialty crop producers includes assisting American producers with unfair foreign competition, promoting American specialty crops in foreign markets and eliminating trade barriers that discriminate against American specialty crop exports.

• Research and Innovation: A sustained federal investment into research and innovation must be of a meaningful scale to catalyze opportunities for the industry, alleviate existing challenges and propel the U.S. specialty crop industry to a new level of global competitiveness.

• Natural Resources and Climate: Recognizing the diverse nature and unique challenges involved in specialty crop production enhances the ability of specialty crop producers to participate fully in all USDA conservation programs as well as any initiatives to address global climate change.

In preparation for National Ag Day 2023 on March 21, the Agriculture Council of America (ACA) is hosting an essay contest. The theme for this year is Growing a Climate for Tomorrow: How American agriculture does it every day.

This essay contest is divided into two categories of competition: written essay and video essay. Both are national competitions. Both winners will receive $1,000.

The contest is open to students currently enrolled in grades 9 through 12. Contestants must be a U.S. citizen and attending school in the U.S.  Contestants must meet all requirements to compete. The deadline for submitting entries in the essay contest is February 15, 2023.

The complete list of rules and regulations for this contest may be found online: https://www.agday.org/essay-contest

Purdue University is offering a new fully online Professional Master of Science in International Agribusiness aimed at agribusiness professionals worldwide. Applications are being taken now, and the program launches in January 2023.

The new degree is particularly valuable for learners looking to enhance their skills in data analytics, quantitative data analysis and data-based decision-making. This knowledge is applicable whether they work in industry or government, management or marketing, and in a range of areas from commercial agriculture to food product development and production, and from natural resources management to managing supply chains. The program also teaches a skill set applicable to working in the fast-paced global economy in general, as well as the dynamic, rapidly growing international agribusiness and food industry specifically.

While the 100% online option is new, the mature, rigorous curriculum has been taught and refined for a decade by Purdue’s Department of Agricultural Economics faculty, who excel at teaching, research and engagement in their field. Each of the instructors also has multiple years of experience teaching in online and hybrid modes.

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By  Andrew McGuire

Soil health management can be distilled to two principles:

1. Maximize photosynthesis
2. Minimize tillage

These are principles; they do not tell you what practices you should use, but rather what the practices you choose to implement should provide.

Maximizing photosynthesis is all about interception of sunlight to power plant growth.

Fill the space you have with plant growth. Aim for a full-time, full canopy as much as possible.

Fill the time you have with plant growth, year-round plant growth, although I doubt we could tell if you missed a couple weeks over the course of a year.

Filling time and space will require a soil with sufficient nutrients, optimum pH, and structure conducive to seedling emergence and to root growth, which brings us to the second principle.

Minimizing tillage is all about maintaining soil structure and keeping the soil protected from erosion. Tillage damages soil structure and reduces protective residue cover.

When both principles are followed, you get the five soil health principles and practices from NRCS, regenerative agriculture, and others:

1. Keep soil covered as much as possible. This is achieved by combining the Max and min principles.
2. Minimize soil disturbance. Tillage is the primary culprit in disturbing the soil, hence the min principle.
3. Keep plants growing year-round. This is one way to accomplish the Max principle.
4. Use cover crops and crop rotation. These practices also accomplish the Max principle.
5. Integrate livestock grazing. This practice allows more flexibility in applying the Max and min principles, allows the use of perennials, and reduces tillage.

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SOURCE: WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY CSNAR

McCain Foods has acquired Scelta Products, a Netherlands-based producer of frozen foods. This purchase is the latest in a series of investments and acquisitions McCain has made in recent years to expand its appetizer and snack offerings.  

Scelta Products has been in the frozen vegetable industry for more than 22 years and has been a business partner of McCain’s for 13 years. Scelta Products’ vegetable appetizers fit well within McCain’s existing appetizers portfolio and will allow McCain to serve growing customer demand for snacking options, according to the company. 

Photos courtesy USDA-ARS

Carrot breeders appear to be making some progress in their work to breed nematode-resistant carrots. Carrots with nematode resistance were among the promising results of the 2022 USDA-ARS Hybrid Carrot Trial. Specifically, a few carrot hybrids that have nematode resistance, such as numbered lines C2145 and C208, did well in the cello category of the trial. Breeding nematode-resistant carrots is an ongoing goal of the USDA-ARS carrot research program in Madison, Wisconsin.

Carrots grown in the trial were on display and evaluated in late September at the University of Wisconsin campus in Madison. Entries included 40 baby, 35 cello and 40 novel carrot hybrids from various seed companies and the USDA cooperative breeding program.  

The trial was grown on sand at Paul Miller Farms near the University of Wisconsin Hancock Research Station. In general, the growing conditions were typical for the area with the exception of a cold, wet spring. There was also a heavy rain shortly after planting that caused the loss of a few plots.