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Haydock joins MCPR team
Emma Haydock recently joined the MCPR staff as 4R Coordinator.
Haydock graduated from Marquette University in May 2023 with a degree in environmental studies and a minor in Spanish. After graduating college, she completed a Siting and Land Rights internship at Xcel Energy and later worked as a stable hand on a racehorse farm in New Zealand. In her most recent position, Seasonal Farm Educator, she executed agricultural education programs to increase the public's knowledge and appreciation of agricultural and natural environments around Minnesota.
“I am so excited to be joining the MCPR team as the 4R Coordinator,” said Haydock. “My passion for the environment and agriculture makes me eager to get started in this new role!”
As the 4R Coordinator, Haydock will lead MCPR’s 4R Nutrient Stewardship Certification program and support our efforts to conduct a statewide survey of ag retailers to gather information on farming and conservation practices. MCPR recently received a USDA-NRSC grant that provided additional funding to advance the 4R program, conduct the survey and continue to promote the value of having Certified Crop Advisers on staff.
Please join us in welcoming Emma to the team!
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Pre-registration for Short Course and Trade Show ends today
Pre-registration for the CPM Short Course and MCPR Trade Show will close at 11:59 p.m. today, Dec. 2.
The Short Course and Trade Show feature technical service training, dynamic speakers, networking opportunities and a full trade show floor. All programming, including the trade show and the new After Hours Casino Night, take place at the Hilton Minneapolis Hotel Dec. 10-12.
Featured speakers include Erin Mies of People Spark Consulting about leadership and building a company culture; Erik Hoegemeyer, Midland University, Brian McClung and Blois Olson with a legislative policy and elections discussion and many more. View the full agenda here.
Also new this year is Special Interest Groups, which will be held during the lunch hour on Dec. 11. The networking groups will allow attendees to connect and share experiences with industry colleagues. The four groups: Women in Ag, Emerging Leaders, Sales Agronomists and Conservation Programs will be led by an experienced professional to facilitate conversation and connections. The groups are included at no extra cost in your Short Course and Trade Show registration. Pre-registration is appreciated but not required.
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Learn the tools necessary for leadership during Short Course session
Take a break from shop talk and industry updates and enjoy a few moments to focus on yourself and your professional growth at the CPM Short Course and MCPR Trade Show Dec. 10-12 at the Minneapolis Hilton Hotel.
University of Minnesota Extension Educator of Leadership & Civic Engagement Craig Campbell will host a session called “Planting Seeds for Future Growth: Building a Personal Leadership Toolkit” on Thursday, Dec. 12 at 10:15 a.m. The focus of the session is to help inform and educate both existing and future leaders on a variety of the qualities, skills, capacities and objectives of good leadership.
Full story.
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Pesticide Applicator Re-certification Session changes!
Pesticide Applicator Re-certification Sessions will be held Dec. 10, 1:30-4:30 p.m. and Dec. 11, 7:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. during the CPM Short Course and MCPR Trade Show at the Hilton Minneapolis Hotel.
*Please note Category C starts at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 10! This is a schedule change from previous years. *The start time on Wednesday, Dec. 11 is 7:30 a.m.!
These MDA-approved sessions are for applicators that need recertification credit in Categories A (Core), C (Field Crop Pest Management) and/or H (Seed Treatment). Workshop topics will include insect, disease, and weed updates, new pesticide safety topics, prevention of off-target movement of pesticides and more. Please bring your current license card with you.
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Category A + C: Attend Dec. 10 from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. and Dec. 11 recertification sessions from 7:30-11:15 a.m.
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Category A + H: Attend all Dec. 11 recertification sessions (7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.).
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Category A + C + H: Attend all Dec. 10 and Dec. 11 recertification sessions.
Do you need to recertify? Please refer to your pesticide applicator license for your recertification due date. If the due date is 12/31/2024, you will need to take a recertification workshop, or retest with MDA by the end of 2024 to renew your license in 2025.
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Peach and Blossom are freed as Biden pardons turkeys for last time
From Roll Call
Peach and Blossom, a pair of fluffy, white American turkeys, were “pardoned” Monday by President Joe Biden as he participated in the White House’s most offbeat tradition for the final time.
Any worries about the fowls’ collective fate were relieved late in the morning when Biden, in a tongue-in-cheek ceremony on a sun-drenched South Lawn before what he estimated was a crowd of 2,500 onlookers, used his office’s clemency powers to keep the birds off some American family’s Thanksgiving dinner table. Biden joked that they all had shown up “looking for a pardon.”
Full story.
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No lame duck farm bill
From Brownfield Ag News
It seems time has run out on getting a farm bill done during the lame duck session of Congress.
Democratic and Republican farm bill negotiators have reportedly started formal talks on an extension, and National Farmers Union president Rob Larew tells Brownfield.
Full story.
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Trump picks former domestic policy adviser Brooke Rollins for agriculture secretary
From USA Today
President-elect Donald Trump has named longtime ally Brooke Rollins to be agriculture secretary.
Rollins is currently president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, a conservative, pro-Trump think tank she formed in 2021 alongside other members of the former president's orbit while out of office.
Full story.
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What goes into aid package for ag?
From Progressive Farmer
As Congress looks to craft a disaster package, Republican senators are making the case that disaster aid for farmers should be broader than just those producers hit by hurricanes this fall and include "market-related disasters."
The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee held a hearing Wednesday with officials from multiple federal agencies dealing with disasters. The hearing comes just days after the White House proposed a nearly $100 billion disaster package that includes $21 billion in aid for farmers and ranchers.
Full story.
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Divided Minnesota Legislature will have to pass budget with looming shortfalls this session
From Duluth News Tribune
While the results of a few Minnesota House elections still aren’t final, one thing is certain — when lawmakers return to the state Capitol in January, they’ll have to figure out how to pass a two-year budget with a divided government and a limited budget surplus.
It’ll be an odd-numbered year at the Legislature, and that means lawmakers are required to get spending and taxes in order for the next two years by the end of June. The Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party still controls the Senate and governor’s office, but they’ve lost control of the House.
Full story.
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House committee, division co-chairs announced for 2025-26 legislative biennium
The Minnesota House of Representatives committee structure for the next two years was recently announced.
Rep. Paul Anderson (R-Starbuck) and Rep. Rick Hansen (DFL-South St. Paul) will lead the Agriculture Finance and Policy Committee.
See the full list here.
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Court ruling a win for treated seeds, EPA process
From Feed Stuffs
A California federal court ruled in favor of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and an industry coalition — including CropLife America (CLA), American Seed Trade Assn., Agricultural Retailers Assn., National Cotton Council of America, American Soybean Assn., National Association of Wheat Growers and National Corn Growers Assn. ("intervenors") — in Anderson vs. EPA, a lawsuit brought against EPA by a number of plaintiffs.
The plaintiffs had asked the court to order EPA to regulate seeds treated with pesticides as if the seeds were the pesticides themselves, the result of which would be to unnecessarily duplicate EPA's science-based regulatory review of the active ingredients used in treatment products. The court ruled in favor of EPA and the intervenors and against the plaintiffs on each of the plaintiffs' claims.
Full story.
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EPA restrictions on new product raise concerns
From Farm Progress
BASF announces registration of a new herbicide product by the Environmental Protection Agency. That headline should have been the end of the story. Instead, the EPA slipped new restrictions into the final label, generating its own headlines.
Full story.
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US farm groups want Trump to spare their workers from deportation
From Reuters
U.S. farm industry groups want President-elect Donald Trump to spare their sector from his promise of mass deportations, which could upend a food supply chain heavily dependent on immigrants in the United States illegally.
Nearly half of the nation's approximately 2 million farm workers lack legal status, according to the departments of Labor and Agriculture, as well as many dairy and meatpacking workers.
Full story.
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Survey shows increase in cover cropping
From Iowa Farmer Today
Results from the annual Iowa Nutrient Research & Education Council crop survey show Iowa farmers planted more than 3.8 million acres of cover crops in the 2023 crop year.
INREC initiated the yearly survey in 2017 as part of the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy to track tillage practices, crop rotations and nitrogen, phosphorus and manure fertilizer applications. These practices can reduce the amount of nutrients, notably nitrogen and phosphorus, that run off cropland and into waterways.
Full story.
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BASF introduces Endura PRO fungicide for potato growers
From CropLife
BASF Agricultural Solutions is introducing Endura PRO fungicide, the newest broad-spectrum fungicide innovation for potato growers. Endura PRO fungicide provides long-lasting protection against some of the toughest diseases in potatoes, including early blight and white mold, helping farmers improve yield performance.
Full story.
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Agricultural Fertilizer Research and Education Council seeks new members
The Agricultural Fertilizer Research and Education Council (AFREC) is looking for new members to join the council and help expand soil fertility research, education, and outreach in Minnesota.
The 2024 Minnesota Legislature expanded AFREC to include a new member who is “an expert in public health” and a new member who is “an expert in water quality and has performed scientific research on water issues.” A member of the public fitting either position can apply through the Secretary of State’s website. Applications are due Dec. 20.
Full story.
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EPA makes thousands of records on the Agency’s review of studies on pesticides publicly available
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it made available more than 4,500 Data Evaluation Records (DERs) in ChemView, a public portal that houses data and review of toxic chemicals. A DER is the documented EPA review of studies submitted during the request to register a pesticide or during the registration review process, and does not contain confidential business information. The studies may include product chemistry, toxicology, ecological effects, human exposure, spray drift, environmental fate, and residue chemistry.
EPA has not routinely released most DERs to the public. Prior to the announcement, to obtain a DER not included as part of EPA’s registration review docket, including most product chemistry DERs, a requester would need to submit a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request separately for each DER. Releasing this batch of DERs that have previously been requested through the FOIA process, which are largely product chemistry DERs, aims to reduce the need for submitting FOIA requests for these DERs in the future.
To access DERs in ChemView, select “EPA Assessments” in the output selection box. Results can be filtered using an EPA-issued study number with the document information filter, or product code with the chemical identifier filter. EPA plans on exploring ways to proactively add DERs to ChemView as they are developed.
To learn more, visit ChemView.EPA.gov.
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The ABCs of ESA: Exploring the EPA’s Herbicide Strategy
Watch this expert panel for an interactive discussion on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) final Herbicide Strategy and its impact on farmers, ag retailers and suppliers.
Learn about mitigation measures to reduce pesticide movement from treated fields, compliance and enforcement of the Herbicide Strategy, and the roles ag retailers and suppliers are playing to support farmer-customers.
Register here.
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