Blaine Bishop recently joined Vive Crop Protection to support Vive Crop Protection’s unique Precision Chemistry products in the Midwest Region.
Bishop was most recently a Product Manager at MFA Inc. Prior to MFA, he was a Chemical Account Manager and National Sales Representative with Valent USA covering from Colorado to Ohio. Bishop holds a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture Systems Management from the University of Missouri – Columbia.
Mark Varner, Vive’s National Sales Manager says, “Blaine will be supporting distributors, retailers and growers from Wisconsin to Kentucky to drive the awareness and adoption of our unique Precision Chemistry products, including the introduction of AZterknot, the industry’s first 3-in-1 biological/chemical/Allosperse fungicide later this spring.”
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is seeking comments on a Department-wide effort to improve and reimagine the supply chains for the production, processing and distribution of agricultural commodities and food products. USDA is taking this action in response to Executive Order 14017, America’s Supply Chains, signed by President Biden on Feb. 24, 2021. The request for comments is published in the Federal Register and the comment period will close on May 21, 2021.
The comments received will help USDA assess the critical factors, risks, and strategies needed to support resilient, diverse, and secure supply chains and ensure U.S. economic prosperity, national security, and nutrition security for all Americans. Such supply chains are needed to address conditions that can reduce critical processing and infrastructure capacity and the availability and integrity of critical goods, products, and services.
Identifying food system supply chain-bottlenecks and vulnerabilities also may provide valuable insights into the competitive and fair markets landscape, effects on local and regional producers and processors, and equitable access to food and economic opportunity across diverse communities. USDA will use the comments to prepare a report required by Executive Order 14017.
University of Idaho Extension’s Ag Talk Tuesday sessions will resume May 4 at 11 am MDT for the 2021 season.
Ag Talk Tuesdays are live, interactive sessions that focus on agriculture and current-season issues related to pests, diseases, weeds, diagnostics, soil health, irrigation, agronomy and more. The sessions have featured topics and guest speakers.
All sessions will be held on the first and third Tuesdays of May, June, July and August, from 11AM to 1PM (MDT).
Registration is required to attend. You only need to register once to attend all sessions. Once you register, information on how to attend via Zoom or by calling in by phone will be sent to you in a separate email.
To register, click this link (or copy and paste it into your web browser):
Koch Agronomic Services, LLC (Koch) reached agreement with Compass Minerals (NYSE: CMP) to purchase Compass Minerals’ North American micronutrient assets, the global intellectual property rights, with trademarks and patents, and certain other assets associated with the Wolf Trax, Rocket Seeds and Hydro Bullet product platforms.
Through the acquisition of the micronutrient assets, Koch, a global leader in nitrogen management additives, will expand its ability to help growers across the world improve efficiency, utilization, and uptake of nutrients beyond nitrogen.
Koch currently markets and distributes a proven portfolio of enhanced efficiency fertilizer products in more than 55 countries and looks forward to continuing the growth and innovation of the micronutrient product portfolio.
The transaction is expected to close in April 2021, subject to customary closing conditions.
About Koch Agronomic Services, LLC Koch Agronomic Services, LLC and its affiliates produce and market a proven and expanding global portfolio of plant performance technologies for agriculture producers and turf and ornamental professionals. With a commitment to creating real, sustainable, long-term value for customers and society, Koch Agronomic Services, LLC focuses on developing customer-driven solutions to maximize plant performance and minimize environmental impact. Koch Agronomic Services, LLC is a subsidiary of Koch Ag & Energy Solutions, LLC. www.kochagronomicservices.com
About Compass Minerals Compass Minerals (NYSE: CMP) is a leading provider of essential minerals focused on safely delivering where and when it matters to help solve nature’s challenges for customers and communities. Its salt products help keep roadways safe during winter weather and are used in numerous other consumer, industrial and agricultural applications. And its plant nutrition business manufactures an innovative and diverse portfolio of products that improve the quality and yield of crops, while supporting sustainable agriculture. Additionally, its specialty chemical business serves the water treatment industry and other industrial processes. The company operates 21 production and packaging facilities with more than 3,000 personnel throughout the U.S., Canada, Brazil and the U.K. Visit compassminerals.com for more information about the company and its products.
The National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), a 15-member volunteer advisory board appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture, considers public comments and makes recommendations on the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances and other topics involved in organic agriculture. Congress designed the Board to make sure that a broad range of industry perspectives are represented.
USDA seeks nominations of qualified individuals for four open seats on the NOSB. Each member serves a five-year term and represents specific sectors of the organic community. Current openings for positions beginning January 2022 include:
One individual who owns or operates an organic farming operation or an employee of such individual.
One individual with expertise in areas of environmental protection and resource conservation.
One individual who represents public interest or consumer interest groups.
One individual with expertise in the fields of toxicology, ecology, or biochemistry.
Working to include voices from historically underserved communities involved in organic agriculture is important to the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service and National Organic Program. We encourage applications from traditionally underrepresented individuals, organizations, and businesses to reflect the diversity of this industry. This includes qualified individuals regardless of race, color, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion, disability status, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law.
Qualified candidates may also apply to be considered for future unexpected vacancies in any of the seven categories representing the scope of the organic community.
Vive Crop Protection is celebrating its 15th anniversary. During Vive’s 15 years, it has focused on helping farmers be more efficient using nanotechnology and other precision chemistry tools.
Since its inception in 2006, Vive Crop Protection has:
Commercialized the first use of nanotechnology in crop protection – the Allosperse delivery system
Leveraged Allosperse technology as the basis for eight insecticide and fungicide products currently available in the U.S. market
Based on grower case studies, Vive products are estimated to have saved 34 million gallons of water, 189,000 gallons of fuel and 15,000 hours of farm labor by enabling applications with in-furrow liquid starter
Reached a milestone of one million crop acres treated with Vive-branded fertilizer-compatible products in 2020
Achieved a 97% satisfaction rating from growers who use Vive products
Collaborated with major biologicals providers to develop industry-leading chemistry and biological combination products
Named Life Sciences Ontario “Company of the Year” for 2021
Ranked #27 on the 2020 Globe and Mail’s “Canada’s Top Growing Companies” list
Vive CEO and Co-founder Darren Anderson says, “Our purpose is to create products that provide a real benefit to farmers. Since day one, our priority has been ensuring that our products provide performance first and sustainability second.”
Evolution, adaptation to newer areas cause variance in physical traits
Seeds come in different sizes and shapes across plant species. They range from dust-sized seeds in orchids to double coconut Lodoicea (yes, coconuts are seeds!). This Sustainable, Secure Food Blog explores different types of sizes of seeds and how they’ve evolved. The post is part of the 2021 Seed Week celebration, organized by the Crop Science Society of America.
According to blogger Aniruddha Maity, “depending on geographical location and the prevailing biotic and abiotic factors, seed size and shape can vary even within a species. Even within same species, for example corn, the size, shape, and shininess of the seeds vary.”
Seeds usually have three main parts:
seed coat that protects the inner parts from outside hazards,
embryo that grows to a plant, and
endosperm (grasses) or cotyledon (non-grass) that stores and supplies food to the growing embryo.
Scientists have found smaller seeds have shorter dormancy lifespans than larger seeds because they contain less food inside. They need to stay near the soil surface so the smaller embryo can pierce through the soil. Larger seeds can stay in greater depth in soil. The depth at which a seed is planted depends on the shape of the seed as well.
By Michael Sansolo, Retail Food Industry Consultant
Following the craziness of 2020, the entire food industry faces both a specific challenge and opportunity as prominent as ever: determine what shoppers want and, as a follow up, find out how to best satisfy those needs.
Certainly, 2020, thanks to the COVID-19 crisis, has created an unusual environment that casts this perennial issue in a new light. In 2020 (and certainly into 2021), shoppers’ needs have focused on finding enough supplies to survive mandated lockdowns and then finding solutions and ideas for mealtime in an environment where restaurant eating has become near impossible.
Against this backdrop, the entire food industry is presented and confronted with opportunities and challenges both new and old.
The unique concerns of this very strange year include ensuring that supply chains manage to stay functional despite incredibly unexpected shortages in everything from toilet tissue to even coins for change. While the industry has been – and continues to be – hard pressed to meet all those challenges, the results, nearly a year into the crisis, have been largely encouraging.
Food stores of all types remained largely in stock of all items, and retail workers rose to the challenge of keeping stores open and serving customers. More visible than usual to shoppers has been the incredible efforts undertaken to keep all elements of the supply chain functioning from farms to transportation to product manufacturing and on to distribution centers. In countless ways, the industry has demonstrated its ability to survive an unthinkably difficult time and to merit its status as an essential industry.
Given the near complete collapse of the foodservice industry, it’s hardly surprising that food retail sales have boomed, with many companies posting levels of sales growth unseen in decades.
But even in the face of that growth, other consumer challenges, wants and desires are changing, and savvy companies must keep an eye on these issues to best thrive once the health crisis passes. For example, online shopping for food has blossomed faster than anyone expected, likely altering the very nature of food shopping into the future. And the economic hangover of the prolonged shutdown of much of the economy creates a new set of challenges, as large portions of the population are likely to focus on budget issues in 2021 and beyond.
What makes these challenges more prominent than usual is that millennials and Gen Z, two young and incredibly large demographic groups, are coming of age while this is happening. That means their shopping, cooking and eating habits are forming in circumstances that might lead them to be even more focused on low-price operators and electronic commerce convenience for decades to come.
The opportunity and challenge is clear to the food industry, including commodity groups. For the first time in possibly 50 years, Americans are returning to home cooking and eating, so the industry has a rare opportunity to help these shoppers with recipes, product tips, nutritional benefits and more. Done properly – and with cooperation throughout the supply chain – this could lead to long-term gains in food retail sales.
However, this requires new thinking and better levels of cooperation and consumer education than we’ve seen in years. Minus that, a once-in-a-generation opportunity could be missed.
In addition, agricultural groups growing carrots, onions, potatoes and other products need to consider how to pivot production away from the decimated restaurant industry and toward food retail, a daunting, but essential, task on its own.
There is no way of knowing today when the COVID crisis will deepen or, hopefully, end, but just as in other tumultuous times, some changes brought about will likely become permanent. Shoppers’ desires are always shifting, and the entire food industry must constantly adapt to them or risk losing opportunity and more.
Editor’s note: Michael Sansolo is a retail food industry consultant, speaker and author. For more information, visit www.michaelsansolo.com.
President Joe Biden has proclaimed March 23, 2021 as National Ag Day. This year marks the fifth year that The White House has publicly recognized National Ag Day as a salute to the contributions of America’s farmers, ranchers and agribusinesses.
Greg Horstmeier, DTN/Progressive Farmer, chairman of the board for the Agriculture Council of America, the national organization charged with promoting National Ag Day, said receiving this type of recognition from the administration and USDA greatly enhances the stature of National Ag Day, as well as the many local and state Ag Day activities planned around the country. “More importantly, it reminds everyone that the affordable, abundant and nutritious food that they depend on every day comes to them thanks to the hard work and resilience of 2 million American farmers and ranchers.”
National Ag Day is organized by the Agriculture Council of America (ACA). ACA is a nonprofit organization composed of leaders in the agricultural, food and fiber community, dedicating its efforts to increasing the public’s awareness of agriculture’s role in modern society. #AgDay21
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