A five-minute summary of AAI, regulation, and industry activities for members of the largest state agribusiness association in the nation. | |
Cover Crop Results And Collaboration - Iowa Seed Corn Initiative Provides 2023 Report | |
In 2023, nearly $464,000 in financial assistance was provided to farmers through the Iowa Seed Corn Cover Crop Initiative for cost share associated with cover crop conservation practices through the Water Quality Initiative (WQI). The Iowa Seed Corn Cover Crop Initiative is a project developed by the Iowa Seed Association with the Agribusiness Association of Iowa, Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, and Iowa Corn. “Cover crop utilization in a seed corn production system offers a unique opportunity for earlier establishment to further increase soil conservation efforts and protect water quality,” said Iowa Seed Association’s Board of Directors President Jeff Steinback. In 2023, 137 growers received finance assistance, covering over 32,000 acres, saving almost 97,000 tons of soil, and spending an estimated $1.15 million of their own money to implement cover crops.
Partnerships with eight seed companies, representing the majority of seed corn production in Iowa, provide cost share, technical assistance, outreach, and education dedicated to seed corn growers. Funding incentives available to seed corn growers are $15 per acre for winter-hardy and $10 per acre for winterkill cover crops. An additional $5 per acre incentive is available for first-time cover crop users. Financial assistance provided by the Iowa Seed Corn Cover Crop Initiative is stackable with private funds, such as the Practical Farmers of Iowa.
In 2023, the Iowa Seed Association collaborated with Heartland Co-op for dedicated outreach and technical assistance for edge-of-field water quality practices that were not invasive to field operations. The Iowa Seed Association’s $10,000 contribution, along with additional contributions from Agriculture’s Clean Water Alliance, BASF, Iowa Nutrient Research & Education Council, and Syngenta, supported forty saturated buffers and sixteen bioreactors to be released for bidding this spring in the Big Creek and Lower Cedar River watersheds. According to William Hoffman, a Conservation Agronomist for Heartland Co-op, these structures will drain a total of 3,486 acres and remove an average of 41,831 pounds of nitrogen annually. Identification of potential sites was completed by Hoffman and other Conservation Agronomists from Heartland Co-op, who reached out to landowners and surveyed sites for engineering. By connecting growers with technical and cost share information on these practices, increased knowledge and awareness of these practices can further understanding of conservation practices and facilitate accelerated implementation.
The Iowa Seed Corn Cover Crops Initiative helps increase adoption of cover crops specifically within the seed corn production system in Iowa. The focus on seed corn is driven by the unique opportunity that seed corn provides due to the earlier harvest, thereby providing better timing opportunities for establishing cover crops in the late summer and early fall after harvest. Cost share applications for planting cover crops on seed corn acres this coming fall are currently being accepted. Visit www.sustainableseedcorn.org for more information.
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CISA Issues Emergency Directive 24-02:
Mitigating the Significant Risk from Nation-State Compromise of Microsoft Corporate Email System | |
The following note was sent by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
Today, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) publicly issued Emergency Directive 24-02 in response to a recent campaign by Russian state-sponsored cyber actor Midnight Blizzard targeting Microsoft corporate email accounts and potentially accessing correspondence with Federal Civilian Executive Branch (FCEB) agencies. The Directive was initially issued to federal agencies on April 2nd based upon currently available threat information and limited applicability of relevant actions, which are predicated on notification of exposed credentials by Microsoft.
Midnight Blizzard is using information initially exfiltrated from Microsoft corporate email systems, including authentication details shared between Microsoft customers and Microsoft by email, to gain, or attempt to gain, additional access to certain Microsoft customer systems. This Directive requires agencies to analyze potentially affected emails, reset any compromised credentials, and take additional steps to secure privileged Microsoft Azure accounts.
While ED 24-02 requirements only apply to FCEB agencies, other organizations may also have been impacted by the exfiltration of Microsoft corporate email and are encouraged to contact their respective Microsoft account team for any additional questions or follow-up. FCEB agencies and state and local government should utilize the distro MBFedResponse@Microsoft.com for any escalations and assistance with Microsoft.
Regardless of the direct impact, all organizations are strongly encouraged to apply stringent security measures, including strong passwords, multifactor authentication, and prohibited sharing of unprotected sensitive information via unsecured channels.
For more information on this and other directives, visit:
Cybersecurity Directives
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AAI GOLF OUTINGS REGISTRATION OPEN | |
Golf Gets Going In July
Join with other agribusiness greats for a day (or four!) of golf this summer. Whether you're in it to win it or just putting for pleasure, the AAI Golf Outings are a champion's choice to entertain clients, gather with long time agribusiness colleagues, and enjoy the company of a great group of industry leaders.
Chairman's Tournament In September
On September 11, you can take part in the AAI Chairman's Foundation Golf Tournament. Proceeds support the AAI Foundation Agribusiness Career Day in February 2025 which promotes opportunities in agribusiness to FFA High School Seniors and Community College ag students.
July 25 - AAI Tournament
Emerald Hills Golf Course - Okoboji
August 15 - AAI Tournament
Amana Colonies Golf Course - Amana
August 22 - AAI Tournament
Coldwater Golf Links - Ames
September 11 - AAI Chairman's Foundation Tournament
The Preserve on Rathbun Lake - Moravia
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Thank You To Our 2024 Golf Sponsors!
Is your business missing from this list? Claim your sponsorship now and show your support for the success of agribusiness in Iowa.
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Member and Industry Visits
Visited by: Heath DeYoung, Membership & Business Development Director
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July 25
AAI Golf Outing - Okoboji
Emerald Hills Golf Club
August 15
AAI Golf Outing - Amana
Amana Colonies Golf Club
August 22
AAI Golf Outing - Ames
Coldwater Golf Links
September 11
AAI Golf Outing - Moravia
AAI CHAIRMAN'S GOLF TOURNAMENT
The Preserve On Rathbun Lake
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Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Crop Scout School - May 16, 2024 | |
The Iowa State University Extension Crop Scout School prepares individuals with little or no previous crop scouting experience, providing a foundation of basic skills for crop scouting in the Midwest. Correctly identifying pests in the field is critical for selecting the correct tools to economically manage the issue.
Students will rotate through sessions and have the opportunity to have one-on-one interactions with specialists. Live corn and soybean plants and weed samples will be provided to give students the opportunity to look at living plants, rather than pictures, and practice with their field guides and other resources before they go to the field.
Cost is $150, and includes lunch, refreshments, and course materials including hard copies of the ISU Corn and Soybean Field Guide, Field Crop Insects Guide, Corn Disease Guide, and Soybean Disease Guide as well as a digital version of the ISU Weed ID Guide and other course materials.
For more information and to register, visit:
https://go.iastate.edu/CIODCP
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U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack implied that China may be favoring Brazilian corn and soybeans partly in retaliation against recent restrictions on ownership of American farmland.
Vilsack said his counterpart in China recently brought up Arkansas’ move to force seed company Syngenta AG, which is controlled by China’s Sinochem Holdings Corp., to sell 160 acres of farmland in the state.
The action — the first enforcement taken under legislation signed into law by Republican governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders that bans prohibited foreign entities from owning Arkansas farmland — is part of the constant “ripping” of China that has prompted it to spurn U.S. agriculture products, Vilsack said.
“We had a trade deficit of $6 billion in the first quarter of this fiscal year; China’s purchases are $6 billion less than they were a year ago,” Vilsack said in an interview Tuesday. “Why would that be? Is it just Brazil, or was there a reason why the Chinese ag minister asked me about Syngenta?”
Why was it brought up, Vilsack asked: “It was a signal.”
An email sent to the Chinese embassy in Washington on Tuesday wasn’t immediately answered. China’s Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Vilsack said the U.S. needs to diversify by working more with other countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Still, he said the U.S. would like to be able to continue doing business with China.
[...] Read Full Story
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While our annual CropLife 100 ranking is based on sales from crop inputs (e.g., seed, fertilizer, crop protection products) and custom application, it doesn’t include other key categories such as precision ag services and products. And yet we still track this additional information to help us get a more complete understanding of the revenue portfolios of the largest ag retailers in the country. As it turns out, our audience really wants to know this critical information, too.
As always, we asked CropLife 100 survey respondents to provide their estimated revenue in precision agriculture services/products. While CropLife has partnered with Purdue University for years in surveying retailers on their precision farming adoption and the specific services offered, our top 100 survey gets to the bottom line (although we keep precise dollar amounts confidential).
What’s not surprising about the top 10 ag retailers with the most revenue in precision ag services/products is who is on the list. It’s the big names you’d expect, with nine of the 10 companies among the top 20 retailers in the overall top 100 ranking. To take it a step further, these 10 companies accounted for $733.2 million in precision ag service revenue in 2023, which was a 90% share of total CropLife 100 precision ag sales. To find out which retailers made the list (in reverse order of sales), click the link below.
[...] Read Full Story
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Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, grocery prices skyrocketed as shelves were left bare of novelties and necessities. The culprit? Supply chain disruptions.
The COVID-19 pandemic severely strained the U.S. food supply chain, exposing vulnerabilities from farm to table. With limited capacity to meet surging demand due to sick workers and supply shortages, some companies seized the opportunity to increase prices and boost profits. Larger retailers, wielding more influence, reinstated fines and penalties on suppliers through OTIF policies, giving them a competitive edge over smaller rivals.
A new report by the Federal Trade Commission seeks to answer some of the questions surrounding the years of price increases, while examining the pandemic-related supply chain issues among retailers, wholesalers, and suppliers and the impacts on consumers and businesses.
Ultimately, the report indicates that large grocers took advantage of disruptions in the supply chain to raise consumer prices.
In the United States, there are approximately 25,000 conventional supermarkets and roughly 15,000 additional grocery retail stores in different formats.
However, the grocery supply chain, which includes retailers, wholesalers, and suppliers, has significantly consolidated in recent decades. The FTC examined three major grocery retailers: Kroger, Walmart, and Amazon.
[...] Read Full Story
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If you use the annual County Estimates for Crops and Livestock or the July Cattle report from USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), plan on looking elsewhere to find that information.
NASS announced on Tuesday that it has eliminated those two reports, along with the Cotton Objective Yield Survey.
“They’re pretty significant,” Lance Honig acknowledged to Chip Flory, AgriTalk host, in a discussion on Wednesday afternoon.
Honig said the cuts are a direct result of the agency having fewer dollars available to develop the reports. As acting director of the NASS methodology division, Honig oversees all crop estimating programs at USDA-NASS. This includes more than 200 official USDA reports each year covering acreage, yield, production, price and value for more than 100 crop commodities.
“Certainly, we’re not excited about having to do that. But just like anybody else that has a budget to manage, you can only spend what you've got, and so we need to be respectful of that. Unfortunately, sometimes, hard decisions like this have to be made,” Honig said.
"Boy, Lance, the one that has raised the most questions that have come my way was about the county estimates on crops. That data was used in determining federal farm program payments, wasn't it?" Flory asked.
[...] Read Full Story
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