Five college students from agricultural backgrounds were presented with $1000 NCGA Academic Excellence in Agriculture scholarships, sponsored by BASF, at this week’s Commodity Classic in Grapevine, Texas.
Adam Burnhams (left) with U.S. Crop Protection Products at BASF and NCGA Chairman Ron Litterer (right) presented the students with their awards on Friday. Four of the five students were able to attend this year’s Commodity Classic. They are pictured here, left to right – Emily Treu of Wisconsin, Michael Sukalski of Minnesota, Alex Coughlin of South Dakota and Rita Cook of Iowa. Not pictured is Elias Klokkenga of Illinois.
Rita is a senior at Iowa State University majoring in agricultural business with a minor in public service and administration in agriculture and economics. Alex is a junior at South Dakota State University majoring in agricultural business with a minor in agricultural marketing. Elias is a sophomore at the University of Illinois majoring in agricultural and consumer economics with a concentration in agribusiness, markets and management. Michael is a sophomore at South Dakota State University majoring in agricultural and biosystems engineering with a minor in accounting and business management. Emily is a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin – Madison double majoring in agricultural education and agricultural journalism.
I did interviews with each of the winners present, which you can hear below:
Alex –
Emily –
Rita –
Michael –
Farmers will soon have a new tool to analyze their natural resource use and key crop production inputs, introduced this week at the Commodity Classic by Field to Market, The Keystone Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture.
The Fieldprint Calculator was developed with input from a diverse group of grower organizations, agribusinesses, food companies, economists and conservation groups, to help farmers evaluate natural resource use on their operation compared to industry averages. These measures could help improve production efficiencies and profit potential.
The calculator will be available at www.fieldtomarket.org beginning March 15 for grower testing and feedback.
“Sustainable agriculture must make sense economically as well as environmentally or it’s not sustainable,” said Doug Goehring, who grows corn, soybeans and wheat in North Dakota. “This calculator will help producers understand how they’re being sustainable on the farm today, while providing insight into for future improvements that can benefit the environment and our bottom line.”
Watch Doug demonstrate the Fieldprint calculator here:
It’s becoming tradition at Commodity Classic for the leader of each participating organization to participate in a round table discussion on stage at the opening general session. Before the round table, session moderator, Mark Mayfield, did a little one on one with each President.
NCGA President, Bob Dickey, had his session and says he attributes two reasons for the organization’s success: their agenda and their people.
Some exhibitors at the Commodity Classic not only have new products to help corn growers be more productive, they also are showcasing new products made from corn.
Take the BASF booth, for example. They are showcasing a carpet in their exhibit made from corn polymers, and giving away plastic coffee cups made from 100 percent corn plastic, as Dan Westberg and Leon Duschene explain in this YouTube video.
The first Obama budget announced today would end direct payments for farms with large sales and incomes that receive a disproportionate amount of the payments, according to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack speaking at USDA’s Annual Ag Outlook Forum. According to Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag, the president is “proposing to phase out those payments over time for farms with revenue of more than $500,000 a year.”
With that announcement coming out as the 2009 Commodity Classic was getting underway, it was the first question that came up during a press conference with National Corn Growers Association president Bob Dickey, a grower from Nebraska, who says they are very concerned about that statement but they need to examine the proposal closer.
“I can tell you that we will take a strong stand to defend out corn producers,” Dickey said. “We do have policy on that and we will defend our policy.”
The budget would also support the implementation of a 250-thousand dollar commodity program payment limit and reduce crop insurance subsidies.
On the plus side, Obama’s 3.55 trillion dollar budget for fiscal year 2010 would provide over 20-billion dollars in loans and grants to support and expand rural development activities and make investments to double the nation’s renewable energy capacity.
Despite the economy, the farming community has turned out in droves for the 2009 Commodity Classic in Grapevine, Texas this week.
This is the first Classic to feature four commodities under one roof – corn, soybeans, wheat and now grain sorghum. Pre-registrations were almost the same as last year with more farmers registered than ever before.
The theme of the 14th Annual Commodity Classic is “Discover Bright Horizons” and features educational sessions on topics such as managing risk, energy independence, farm finances and nitrogen strategies.
There are so many events going on at the Classic that it’s hard to keep up. Committee meetings, state caucuses and policy discussions are being held in nearly every room of the Gaylord Texan Resort in Grapevine. The sold-out trade show is the largest in Commodity Classic history, with more than 230 companies in more than 940 booths.
The weather is sunny and the mood is upbeat here in the Lone Star State – no economic crisis here!
Expansion of corn ethanol production to 15 billion gallons per year in 2015 is unlikely to result in the conversion of non-agricultural lands anywhere, according to a new study released today at the National Ethanol Conference by Air Improvement Resource (AIR).
The study found that increasing crop yields and growing supplies of nutrient-dense feed co-products are likely to nullify the need to expand global cropland to meet the corn ethanol requirements of the Renewable Fuels Standard.
According to Thomas Darlington with AIR, indirect land-use affects of corn-based ethanol would be smaller than other studies have estimated. Darlington points out that the earlier studies neglect to factor in yield improvements and “land use credits” from the use of distillers grains. His research also lays out a “philosophical” assumption that if the U.S. exports are constant or increasing even with ethanol, no international land use effects should be assigned to corn ethanol.
President Barack Obama has announced his intention to nominate Kathleen Merrigan as deputy secretary of the Agriculture Department.
Merrigan is no stranger to USDA, having served as administrator of the Agricultural Marketing Service under President Clinton from 1999 to 2001. She is currently Assistant Professor and Director of the Agriculture, Food and Environment MS and PhD Program at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, Boston MA.
Because Merrigan helped develop USDA’s U.S. organic food labeling rules and has been involved in organic policy on both the national and international levels, her choice is being well received by organizations such as the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, which were disappointed with Obama’s pick of Tom Vilsack for secretary of agriculture. No reaction yet from agriculture groups on her nomination.
President Obama also named his choice for Deputy Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, a position that will play an important role in implementing the Renewable Fuels Standard.
Jon Cannon is currently a professor of environmental law as well as the director of the Environmental and Land Use Law Program at the University of Virginia. He also served at the Environmental Protection Agency during three previous administrations – Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Clinton – eventually rising to general counsel.
Both still must be confirmed by the Senate before taking on their new roles.
Of course, the Renewable Fuels Association can be expected to be optimistic when it comes to ethanol. That’s part of its job. But our country’s ethanol associations do honest and thorough work when it comes to research, policy and marketing.
Today, the RFA released its 2009 ethanol industry outlook, which provides an optimistic look at the future of corn ethanol. RFA President and CEO Bob Dinneen writes in his cover letter:
We will continue to challenge ourselves to reduce our carbon footprint. More efficiently using our natural resources is at the core of this nation’s efforts to secure a more sustainable energy future. America’s ethanol producers are at the forefront of that effort, developing the technologies that are constantly improving its green footprint.
The U.S. ethanol industry remains strong and steadfast in its resolve to provide domestically produced renewable fuels because America’s energy future starts at home.
Also bullish on meeting fuel needs with ethanol is a new study on biomass by Sandia National Laboratories and General Motors that found that plant and forestry waste and dedicated energy crops could sustainably replace nearly a third of gasoline use by the year 2030.
This is just more great news for those of us who are concerned about energy security, economic growth and protecting the environment. The 90 Billion Gallon Study assumes 75 billion gallons would be ethanol made from nonfood cellulosic feedstocks and 15 billion gallons from corn-based ethanol.
Writing at Slate.com, a history professor from Texas argues in favor of biotech from a sustainability point of view, taking to task organic food activists and others who won’t even give biotech any consideration whatsoever. Author James E. McWilliams looks at the recent history of biotech and some of its positive factors, concluding:
Given the potential of these products to reduce the environmental impact of farming, it’s ironic that traditional advocates for sustainable agriculture have led a successful campaign to blacklist GMOs irrespective of their applications. At the very least, they might treat them as legitimate ethical and scientific matters deserving of a fair public hearing.
Adam Burnhams (left) with U.S. Crop Protection Products at BASF and NCGA Chairman Ron Litterer (right) presented the students with their awards on Friday. Four of the five students were able to attend this year’s Commodity Classic. They are pictured here, left to right – Emily Treu of Wisconsin, Michael Sukalski of Minnesota, Alex Coughlin of South Dakota and Rita Cook of Iowa. Not pictured is Elias Klokkenga of Illinois.
Farmers will soon have a new tool to analyze their natural resource use and key crop production inputs, introduced this week at the Commodity Classic by 
It’s becoming tradition at Commodity Classic for the leader of each participating organization to participate in a round table discussion on stage at the opening general session. Before the round table, session moderator, Mark Mayfield, did a little one on one with each President.
Some exhibitors at the Commodity Classic not only have new products to help corn growers be more productive, they also are showcasing new products made from corn.
With that announcement coming out as the 2009 Commodity Classic was getting underway, it was the first question that came up during a press conference with National Corn Growers Association president Bob Dickey, a grower from Nebraska, who says they are very concerned about that statement but they need to examine the proposal closer.
This is the first Classic to feature four commodities under one roof – corn, soybeans, wheat and now grain sorghum. Pre-registrations were almost the same as last year with more farmers registered than ever before. 
According to Thomas Darlington with AIR, indirect land-use affects of corn-based ethanol would be smaller than other studies have estimated. Darlington points out that the earlier studies neglect to factor in yield improvements and “land use credits” from the use of distillers grains. His research also lays out a “philosophical” assumption that if the U.S. exports are constant or increasing even with ethanol, no international land use effects should be assigned to corn ethanol. 
President Barack 
President Obama also named his choice for Deputy Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, a position that will play an important role in implementing the Renewable Fuels Standard.