A five-minute summary of AAI, regulation, and industry activities for members of the largest state agribusiness association in the nation. | |
Google, INREC Support Batch and Build Projects | |
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig announced yesterday that Google, through a grant to the Iowa Nutrient Research and Education Council (INREC), will provide $150,000 to support Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) “batch and build” water quality projects. Iowa’s innovative “batch and build” model modernizes the project management process by installing batches of conservation practices on multiple farms at once, therefore allowing a faster acceleration of water quality progress. The funding will provide financial support to alleviate bottlenecks, encourage practice adoption and fill in gaps not covered by state or federal funding.
“It takes many great public and private partners to accelerate our statewide water quality progress, and we are thankful to Google and INREC for their support as well as the more than 350 other committed urban and rural partners,” said Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig. “Many existing and potential partners are taking note of the water quality momentum that is building in Iowa, and this progress wouldn’t be possible without the record levels of conservation work implemented by Iowa farmers and landowners.”
"Iowa farmers have been some of Iowa’s earliest innovators, and we are proud to support INREC in their work to create groundbreaking models for the adoption of edge-of-field practices,” said Dan Harbeke, Regional Head of Public Policy and External Affairs at Google. “These practices can provide long-lasting impact with nitrate reduction and remove some of the barriers landowners face when working to increase their sustainable farming initiatives.”
“INREC greatly appreciates this generous grant from Google that supports one of our top goals, which is to facilitate accelerated nutrient reduction practice adoption via technology, partnerships, and innovation,” said Roger Zylstra, a farmer from Jasper County and chair of the INREC Board of Directors.
The latest grant from Google builds upon previous support for water quality efforts in Iowa. In 2022, Google presented INREC with a $250,000 grant for water quality efforts. Earlier this year, Google.org hosted a design sprint to help Iowa State University and stakeholders start development of a decision support tool to help farmers manage nitrogen and profitability.
The Agribusiness Association of Iowa is an INREC member organization.
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IDOT Survey Requests Farmer Input | |
The Iowa Department of Transportation is requesting input from farmers related to agricultural vehicle requirements.
Iowa DOT is asking specifically for farmers to take a survey as they work to put together new tools and resources to address common questions related to agricultural vehicle requirements.
Iowa DOT Farmer Survey
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Iowa Nitrogen Initiative Presentations for Winter Meetings | |
The Iowa Nitrogen Initiative (INI) at Iowa State University is offering two presentation topics for winter agricultural meetings. The INI is a public-private partnership that works directly with farmers and nitrogen applicators to conduct nitrogen rate trials on private farm fields. In 2023, 270 trials were conducted, a 400% increase from 2022. The goal is 500 trials for the 2024 crop year.
The INI is offering two presentation options for winter meetings including co-op board meetings, grower reward meetings, and other events. One option includes an overview of the project, yield response data from the 2023 trials, development of a decision support tool, and trials for 2024. The other option provides a demonstration of the Agricultural Production Systems sIMulator (APSIM) cropping systems modeling platform and explains how the on-farm trial data and APSIM work to inform a decision support tool that will change the way we think about nitrogen recommendations.
Contact Melissa Miller at millerms@iastate.edu or 515-567-0607 if you are interested in hearing from the Iowa Nitrogen Initiative at your winter events.
The INI team will be presenting at the 2024 Agribusiness Showcase. Mark your calendar now for February 12-13 at Prairie Meadows in Altoona.
Partner with Iowa State University For Variable Rate Nitrogen Trials
Related to the above, Iowa State University is looking for 500 fields for the 2024 crop season to test nitrogen rates. The trial is built into a variable rate prescription that works with the existing nitrogen program.
Five rates will be tested five times each in a small area (7-10 ac.) of the field. ISU is sent the as-applied file from the applicator and the yield file after harvest. Farmers and agronomists receive information on the optimum nitrogen rate for their fields. If a zero-applied nitrogen rate is included in the trial, growers receive a soil fertility test, soil nitrate testing throughout the growing season, and $600 to offset yield loss on the zero nitrogen plots (~1.5 acres total).
Variable rate application equipment is required to conduct the trials. If you apply variable rate nitrogen to your customers’ fields, please consider participating.
For more information, reach out to Melissa Miller, Iowa Nitrogen Initiative Project Director, at 515-567-0607 or millerms@iastate.edu.
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2024 Showcase Attendees
Registration opens for attendees November 13.
Session topics being finalized include:
Drone Use and Challenges | Biologicals | Agribusiness P&C Insurance
National Ag Policy | Pesticide Regulations | Product Development Update
Variable Rate Nitrogen & Stabilizers | Soil Sampling For Pest Pressure
Real World Decision Making With Ag Data | Adjuvants - Getting It Right
Confirmed Speakers Include:
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Corey Rosenbusch, President and CEO, The Fertilizer Institute
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Daren Coppock, President and CEO, Agricultural Retailers Association
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Mike Seyfert, President and CEO, National Grain And Feed Association
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Doug Jones, Senior Environmental Advisor, U.S. EPA Region 7
Mark your calendar now for February 12 & 13, 2024
Showcase Attendee Registration begins Monday, November 13 at 8:00 AM
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EXHIBITOR OPTIONS STILL AVAILABLE
Booths Available: 71 18
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NEW FOR 2024 - Companies have the opportunity to host hospitality rooms. Options are available both for main floor and hotel suite rooms. View the Sponsorship Options on the registration site for full details:
Sponsor Options Information
Contact us at 515.262.8323 or agribizshowcase@agribiz.org to reserve your sponsorship.
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Thank You For Your Membership! | |
As a member of AAI, you are the driving force of the organization Where Agribusiness Matters. Thank you for your membership and your commitment to the success of agribusiness in Iowa.
The following companies have recently renewed their membership for the 2024 Membership Year.
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- East Dubuque Nitrogen Fertilizers, LLC
- Gardiner + Company
- Agriland FS, Inc.
- Assured Partners Agribusiness
- CCS Group, LLC
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- CJ Bio America, Inc.
- Farmers Coop Society
- Grain Service Corporation
- Newell Machinery
- Pivot Bio, Inc.
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Not currently a member? Click Here to send us an email so we can follow up with your company and help you get connected to AAI. | |
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Watershed Planning Advisory Council
Attended by:
Ben Gleason, INREC Executive Director
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November 17
AAI Showcase Committee Meeting
3:30 PM | The Meadows Conference & Event Center
November 23 & 24
Thanksgiving Holiday - AAI Main Office Closed
December 11
AAI Legislative Committee Meeting
10:00 AM | AAI Main Office Board Room
December 14
AAI Board of Directors Meeting
10:00 AM | AAI Main Office Board Room
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Agricultural Trade Update Webinar from IEDA | |
IEDA's International Trade Office will host an update with state and global industry leaders to share current affairs within ag trade and examine new insights and opportunities.
IEDA Ag Trade Update Webinar
November 15, 2023
9:00 AM
The webinar is free, but registration is required.
Registration Page
Contact Information
Email: international@iowaeda.com
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Kirkwood Agricultural Sciences Career Fair | |
Friday, November 17, 2023
The Kirkwood Center | 7725 Kirkwood Blvd. SW | Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Setup: 8:30 - 9:30 a.m. | Career Fair: 9:30 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Banquet: 12 - 1:30 p.m.
There is no cost to exhibit at the Career Fair, but registration is required. Deadline for registration is November 10, 2023.
More information and registration: Kirkwood Ag Career Fair Page
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Midwest Ag Safety Leadership Conference | |
This conference is for anyone within a Safety role within their company. This event provides Ag Safety Professionals an opportunity to grow in their leadership skills & network with other professionals. It’s not enough to write safety programs and train employees. Safety professionals must have excellent leadership skills to influence the safety culture within your organizations.
January 9 -11, 2024
Mid-America Center, Council Bluffs, Iowa
Additional Information & Registration Page
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Source: Progressive Farmer
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A federal appeals court has ruled the state of California cannot require a cancer warning label on Roundup products containing glyphosate. The ruling on Tuesday upheld a lower court's permanent injunction against the state and said it was unconstitutional to require such labels.
In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) declared glyphosate was "probably carcinogenic" to humans. A consensus of the scientific community does not share that determination.
Still, under California's Proposition 65 passed by voters in 1986, the state required businesses whose products exposed consumers to glyphosate to provide warnings that glyphosate is a carcinogen.
A cadre of agriculture interest groups and businesses, including the National Association of Wheat Growers, National Corn Growers Association, CropLife America, Agriculture Retailers Association and Monsanto Company among others, took legal action that ended up at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco.
The plaintiffs alleged the warning label requirements violated their First Amendment rights to free speech.
[...] Read Full Story
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House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member David Scott, D-Ga., is calling on Congress to pass a one-year extension of the farm bill. Scott said extending the legislation is the “responsible” thing to do because it will provide farmers, ranchers and foresters an element of certainty as Congress continues working on a long-term bill.
“While we continue the bipartisan effort on the House Agriculture Committee to craft a new farm bill, the extremism and cynicism that has taken hold of the broader House Republican Conference makes a five-year farm bill reauthorization by the year's end increasingly unlikely,” Scott said. “Therefore, I am calling on my colleagues to support a one-year extension of the 2018 Farm Bill.”
While there does seem to be strong support for an extension on the House and Senate agriculture committees, it remains unclear what it will take to get one passed in the full House and Senate. There has been speculation that an extension could happen in conjunction with a continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown later this month.
House Republicans recently sent an open letter to newly elected Speaker Mike Johnson calling for the swift passage of a new farm bill. They say the letter was intended to highlight the critical importance of federal policies helping farm, ranch and forester families.
[...] Read Full Story
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As a record-setting drought throttles transits through the Panama Canal, most of the focus has been on higher-capacity ships: the container vessels, liquefied natural gas carriers and liquefied petroleum gas carriers that use the larger Neopanamax locks.
But there’s another shipping segment that’s seeing major fallout: the dry bulk vessels carrying U.S. grain that use the smaller Panamax locks.
Trade patterns have already seen a major shift, with the majority of these dry bulk vessels now opting for the longer route via the Suez Canal.
Bulker execs confirm new route
“Particularly for grain cargoes out of the U.S. Gulf to China and Asia, [the Panama Canal route] is the typical trade historically,” said Gary Vogel, CEO of Eagle Bulk (NYSE: EGLE), during a conference call last Friday. “We’re now routing our ships through the Suez, which adds about 10 days and is slightly more expensive in terms of canal dues.”
Peter Allen, CFO of Genco Shipping & Trading (NYSE: GNK), said during a conference call Thursday, “We are getting some help from the Panama Canal situation. Instead of going through the Panama Canal, ships are going through the Suez, which is extending ton-miles.” (Ton-miles is shipping demand measured in volume multiplied by distance.)
“It’s definitely meaningful,” said Vogel, who also noted that ballasting (sailing empty) to the U.S. Gulf from the Pacific side of South America is “a non-starter right now.” This has led to fewer vessels available to load American grain exports, pushing up freight rates.
[...] Read Full Story
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A federal appeals court out of Arkansas has rejected the Environmental Protection Agency’s ban on the insecticide chlorpyrifos, which had long been the target of dubious claims related to developmental delays in children.
The ban on chlorpyrifos has been in place since before the 2022 growing season. The court sent the rule back to the EPA, and the agency has 45 days to review the ruling and can request a rehearing by the judges from the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Chlorpyrifos is a chemical class of insecticides that has been in use since the ’60s, treating pests on over 80 different crops. On soybeans alone, it helps to mitigate leaf beetle, soybean aphid, caterpillars, grasshoppers, leafhoppers, and others. Farm groups have said that using chlorpyrifos has prevented up to 40 percent yield losses for soybeans in the Midwest.
But in 2021, amid pressure from environmental organizations, the EPA revoked all “tolerances” for chlorpyrifos, which established a level of pesticide that is allowed on food, rather than opting to modify the tolerances.
Then in December 2022, the EPA issued a Notice of Intent to Cancel three chlorpyrifos pesticide products because they bear labeling for use on food.
Farm groups and some politicians have long supported the use and safety of chlorpyrifos, saying that eliminating the most popular conventional insecticide in the nation increases burdens on farmers already taxed by record inflation, increased input costs, and supply chain issues.
[...] Read Full Story
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