A five-minute summary of AAI, regulation, and industry activities for members of the largest state agribusiness association in the nation. | |
Applicator of the Year, Ag Leader Awards Presented at Showcase | |
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More than 400 people gathered for the Agribusiness Showcase & Conference this week to gain insight about the industry and make connections with other agribusiness professionals.
During the event, a number of awards were presented to acknowledge those who have made an impact in the agribusiness industry. The awards included the Iowa Commercial Applicator of the Year, and two conservation leaders in the agribusiness industry who were recognized by Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig.
Secretary's Ag Leader Award - Leader in Conservation Liz Hobart
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Pictured: Liz Hobart, left with Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig | |
Liz Hobart recently retired from GROWMARK after serving as Government Relations Manager since 2013. She began working with GROWMARK just as the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy was announced. Liz brought a valuable perspective to the conversation and always looked for ways that ag retailers could partner with states, including the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, and other partners. Liz was instrumental in developing one of the only Natural Resources Conservation Service RCPP projects led by an ag retailer. Largely thanks to Liz’s leadership, GROWMARK continues to be a strong promoter of the Iowa Nitrogen Initiative’s on-farm trials and has helped to get farmers within their network signed-up to participate. She served on the Iowa Nutrient Research and Education Council (INREC) Advisory Board since its inception, in addition to many other boards and working groups within Iowa and neighboring states.
Secretary's Ag Leader Award - Leader in Conservation Evan Brehm
Evan Brehm is a certified crop advisor who serves as a conservation agronomist with the Iowa Soybean Association. Based in eastern Iowa, he works closely with ag retailers, farmers, and the City of Cedar Rapids to implement conservation practices that contribute to soil health, improved water quality and greater farmer productivity. He is responsible for connecting growers to cost share programs, providing advice on nutrient management, and delivering technical assistance for the installation of edge-of-field practices. Evan has been an integral part of several batch and build projects aimed at scaling up the installation of edge-of-field practices as part of the Middle Cedar Watershed Regional Conservation Partnership Project (RCPP). These practices include saturated buffers, bioreactors and water quality wetlands, among many others. Working alongside ag retailers in eastern Iowa, Evan has developed relationships with sales agronomists to promote conservation practices and has assisted with signing up farmers for participation in publicly and privately funded conservation programs.
Iowa Commercial Applicator of the Year
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Pictured: Loren Green, left with Nutrien Wholesale representative Joel Nelson | |
Loren was nominated by Dan Hart who said Loren’s daily consistency, exceptional communication with customers and attention to detail has been proven with customer requests for his application in their fields. Loren has been a leader in the New Century FS system showing up to do the work while simultaneously encouraging his team with positivity, mentoring new applicator talent, embracing new technologies and encouraging their company leadership to embrace new technologies. Off the job Loren has donated countless hours of his time for the past 8 years in supporting the local high school basketball programs, following the teams on and off the road keeping the books and records at the official scorekeeper bench. He is also involved in 4H and FFA beef showmanship and is a constant figure at the Marshall County Fair, Iowa State Fair, and Marshall County Cattlemen.
The other two finalist for the award were Philip Shaughnessy with Pro Cooperative and Clayton Voss with Nutrien Ag Solutions.
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Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy Modernized to Incorporate New Insights, Science and Technology | |
Updates to Iowa’s Nutrient Reduction Strategy (INRS) were introduced last week by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Iowa State University (ISU). The three Principals modernized the INRS – the state’s soil health and water quality framework – to reflect new research, practices, partnerships and funding that have emerged since the strategy was finalized in 2013.
The INRS was last revised in 2017. The 2025 version includes the following updates:
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Nonpoint source – recommends a three-year extended rotation to reduce nitrogen loss.
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Point source – list of affected facilities is now posted on the INRS website so it can be updated regularly.
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Measurement – evolved from a static annual report to an online dashboard updated quarterly.
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Clarified partner roles – Iowa Water Resources Coordinating Council (WRCC) and 19 state and federal agencies are now listed as collaborators and advisors.
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Nutrient credit trading – Iowa Nutrient Reduction Exchange, established in 2019, is listed as the formal framework for the voluntary nutrient credit trading program.
The updated document outlines new implementation strategies the INRS Principals and their public and private partners are using to maximize funding and impact while accelerating practice adoption. These include:
- The Batch and Build process, which began in 2020, streamlines the development process for landowners by building a group of practices at the same time instead of working with individual landowners. The state has completed five “batches” to date and is expanding this process to include new geographies and partners.
- Established and expanded partnerships with Conservation Agronomists, Iowa Agriculture Water Alliance, Iowa Nutrient Research Center, and many others, play vital roles in research, outreach and engagement, technical support and project funding.
- The Iowa Nitrogen Initiative developed the N-FACT precision ag tool to help farmers optimize nitrogen application rates based on their operations and the unique needs of each acre.
View the full press release online
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Fuel Marketing Award Presented to AAI Member Pro Coop | |
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig presented the 2025 Renewable Fuels Marketing Awards to leaders in promoting biofuels in Iowa last week. The award for biodiesel marketing was presented to AAI Member Pro Cooperative, a farmer-owned cooperative with its headquarters in Pocahontas.
For 2024, Pro Cooperative enrolled more farmers in the On Farm Biodiesel Credit Program than any other retailer. Their marketing efforts accounted for approximately 20,000 gallons of biodiesel blended diesel. Most of the farmers were first time biodiesel users, and the feedback was very positive.
The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, Iowa Biodiesel Board and Iowa Soybean Association have partnered with Iowa biodiesel producers to support the On Farm Biodiesel Credit Program. This program provides fuel credits to Iowa farmers filling on-farm bulk tanks with biodiesel blends to be used in agricultural operations. Farmers can earn up to $500 for using biodiesel blends of B11 or higher.
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Was there ever any doubt that Brooke Rollins would be confirmed as the next Secretary of Agriculture? The Texas native and former CEO of the nonprofit America First Policy Institute cruised through the full U.S. Senate, being confirmed Thursday by a vote of 72-28.
Senators described her as a “terrific nominee” and lauded her “long personal and professional connection to agriculture and rural America.” And during her confirmation hearings last month, Rollins presented a command of the room, giving strong answers to questions from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
“I appreciate Mrs. Rollins committing to getting the much-needed economic assistance for wheat producers rolled out during her confirmation hearing, as well as her interest in getting a long-term, meaningful farm bill signed into law this year that strengthens the farm safety net,” said National Association of Wheat Growers CEO Chandler Goule.
“Brooke Rollins’ passion for agriculture is clear and we know she will be a strong advocate for the entire agriculture and food value chain from production to harvest and beyond,” said Julie Anna Potts, President and CEO of the Meat Institute.
[...] Read Full Story
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He said he has long “disturbed the status quo by asking uncomfortable questions.” He said overhauling the U.S. food system “simply cannot succeed if we do not have the partnership of America’s farmers.” He said declines in rural health are “undoubtedly related to the intensity of chemical pesticides.”
After a 52-48 largely party-line vote in the U.S. Senate on Thursday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was given the keys to realize his Make America Healthy Again vision as the new secretary of Health and Human Services.
While much of his tense confirmation hearings the last week of January focused on RFK Jr.’s perspective on vaccines, abortion access, and chronic illness in America, farmers specifically had a vested interest in the nominee’s fate: The HHS Cabinet position includes leadership over the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, both of which carry powerful influence in the research, communication, record-keeping, and regulation of American agriculture.
All told, the Department of Health and Human Services typically accounts for about $1.7 trillion in annual spending — at least before the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency gets its say.
Trump “has instructed me to take care of the farmers and make sure they’re full partners” in food policy moving forward, RFK Jr. has said throughout the process.
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In the first quarter of 2025, Class I railroads in North America are so far demonstrating varied levels of service performance, according to new metrics mandated by the Surface Transportation Board. The STB now requires major freight railroads to report additional data on on-time percentages, train speeds and terminal dwell times in an effort to increase transparency and accountability.
The new STB metrics, which began being collected in September 2024, establish baseline standards for on-time arrival percentage and successful local service percentage. If targets remain unmet, railroads could potentially lose business to competitors, pending shipper petitions to the STB.
On-time arrival percentage is calculated as the number of manifest carloads that arrive at their final destination within 24 hours of the original estimated time of arrival, divided by the total number of manifest carloads. Successful local service percentage measures the number of cars placed at their final destination within 24 hours of the commitment, divided by the total number of cars with local service commitments.
“Entering 2025, rail service has been far more consistent than the 2021-22 experience aside from some disruption out West as a result from elevated imports (hurting BNSF specifically) and unusual weather in the East (hurricanes & irregular Winter storms having outsized affect on CSX), wrote Susquehanna equity analyst Bascome Majors in a February 5 client note.
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A research team from the Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a new framework to evaluate soil moisture stations' spatial representativeness globally. Their study found that about 63% of existing soil moisture observation stations reliably reflect conditions at the satellite pixel scale.
This study, published in IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, provides valuable insights into the optimal deployment of soil moisture sites and the robust validation of satellite products.
Soil moisture is crucial for climate systems, hydrology, and agriculture. While passive microwave remote sensing is effective for large-scale monitoring, it often suffers from low spatial resolution. In contrast, ground-based stations provide accurate local measurements but struggle to represent broader satellite-scale conditions, complicating the validation process.
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