A five-minute summary of AAI, regulation, and industry activities for members of the largest state agribusiness association in the nation. | |
Board Election - Vote By August 21 | |
Ballots for the Agribusiness Association of Iowa Board of Directors election were sent earlier this month to all voting members both electronically and via US Postal Service. If you are the voting member for your company and have not received a ballot, please contact Sally Thompson - sally@agribiz.org or 515.868.0323.
A reminder that ballots must be received by August 21, 2024.
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EPA’s Webinar on Draft Strategy to Better Protect Endangered Species from Insecticides - Sept. 6 | |
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will hold a public webinar on September 5, 2024, from 1-2 PM ET to provide an overview of its draft Insecticide Strategy. Released on July 25, 2024, the draft strategy furthers the agency’s work to adopt early, practical protections for federally endangered and threatened (listed) species and designated critical habitats from the use of conventional agricultural insecticides.
The draft strategy identifies protections that EPA will consider when it registers a new insecticide or reevaluates an existing one. In developing this draft strategy, EPA identified protections to address potential impacts for more than 850 species listed by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS). The draft strategy identifies protections earlier in the pesticide review process, thus creating a far more efficient approach to evaluate and protect the FWS-listed species that live near these agricultural areas.
The draft insecticide strategy uses the most updated information and processes to determine whether an insecticide will impact a listed species and identify protections to address any impacts. To determine impacts, the draft strategy considers where a species lives, what it needs to reproduce (e.g., food or pollinators), where the pesticide will end up in the environment, and what kind of the pesticide might have if it reaches the species. These refinements greatly reduce the need for pesticide restrictions in situations that do not benefit species.
The webinar will include:
- Discussion of the proposed three-step framework to identify potential population-level impacts to species, identify mitigation measures to address these impacts, and determine the geographic extent of the mitigation measures;
- An overview of case studies to illustrate how the framework could be applied to representative insecticides and how EPA expects to implement the strategy in its registration and registration review actions; and
- An opportunity for the public to ask questions.
The webinar will be open to the public on the GoTo webinar platform, and all interested stakeholders are invited to attend. The agenda and instructions for joining the webinar will be sent to registered attendees.
Click below to Register:
EPA Webinar
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ISU Releases Nitrogen Use Efficiency Benchmarking Publication | |
Researchers at Iowa State University have released a new Extension publication titled “Pounds of Nitrogen per Bushel of Corn – Benchmarking Farms Against Local Averages.” The document reports county-scale average nitrogen use efficiencies (pounds of nitrogen fertilizer applied per bushel of corn harvested).
Farmers and agronomists can utilize this information to compare their fields' nitrogen use efficiency to county-level averages and learn more about practices that improve nitrogen use efficiency. Applying the optimal amount of nitrogen for corn production maximizes profitability while limiting environmental losses. Click here to access the publication:
Pounds of Nitrogen per Bushel of Corn - Benchmarking Farms Against Local Averages (iastate.edu)
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REGISTRATION DEADLINE SUNDAY, AUGUST 18
Grain Grading Workshops | August 20 & 21
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Member Registration - $130
Non-Member Registration - $155
Location:
Little Sioux Events Center
201 Linden St.
Cherokee, Iowa 51012
Grain Grading Workshop sessions begin at 8:30 AM and ends at 3:30 PM. Lunch is provided.
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Congratulations To The Amana Golf Outing Winning Team! | |
On Thursday, 80 golfers gathered to network, compete, and enjoy a great day on the golf course. The golfers fought off soggy conditions and turned in a fantastic tournament.
Congratulations to the winning team from Altorfer Ag - Bryce Kuesel, Wyatt Trucke, Kenny Sutton, and Al Krob.
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Coldwater (Ames) Registration Deadline August 19 | |
Summer means more when you spend some time on the golf course with your industry colleagues and customers. Join us the next two weeks for outings in eastern Iowa and central Iowa.
Register now to make sure you summer is complete!
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Upcoming Golf Tournaments
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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Disaster Declarations and Resources | |
Visit the Governor's website for links to resources and information on additional declarations that may be applicable to you or your business:
https://www.iowa.gov/iowa-disaster-recovery
Links to state and federal programs and agencies can be found on the site.
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August 20 & 21
AAI Grain Grading Workshops
Little Sioux Event Center, Cherokee
August 22
AAI Golf Outing - Ames
Coldwater Golf Links
August 29
Membership Committee Meeting
Video Conference
September 4
Agronomy & Environment Committees Joint Meeting
LICA Farm, Melbourne
September 5
Legislative Committee Meeting
AAI Main Office Board Room
September 11
AAI Foundation Golf Outing - Moravia
AAI CHAIRMAN'S GOLF TOURNAMENT
The Preserve On Rathbun Lake
September 12
AAI Board of Directors Meeting
Honey Creek Resort, Moravia
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Spray Drone Field Day Will Feature Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Demonstration | |
Iowa State University Extension and Outreach
Spray Drone Field Day
September 6 | 10:30 AM
Peterson Farm Solutions, 22077 430th St., Havelock
Register Online
Spray heights, pass overlaps and coverage will all be discussed Sept. 6
Unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) or remotely piloted or operated aircraft are seeing an increase in agricultural applications including but not limited to plant growth monitoring, plant health imagery and land surveying and terrain analysis. One new area of growth is pesticide spraying.
To demonstrate the operating capabilities and characteristics of spray drones, specialists with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach and the Digital Ag Innovation Laboratory have scheduled a Spray Drone Field Day in Havelock, Iowa, on Sept. 6. The day will start at 10:30 a.m. with the morning session devoted to aerial applications of drones in agriculture. Registration starts at 10 a.m. and lunch is provided at no cost to registered participants.
The afternoon session will focus on spray drones and will include demonstrations of spraying with Hylio, Agras and XAG spray drones. Participants will observe drone design and spraying system parameters that are important for maximizing spray deposition and coverage on the targeted plants.
The event is being held in collaboration with Titan PRO SCI, Innovative Ag Solutions, and Terraplex Ag.The event will be held at Peterson Farm Solutions, 22077 430th St., Havelock.
Pre-registration by Sept. 3 is required and limited to 50 participants. Register online at https://iastate.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1HTdgmsADl4UeTY or call the ISU Extension and Outreach Pocahontas County office at 712-335-3103.
For more information, Contact Kapil Arora at 515-291-0174 or Gentry Sorenson at 641-430-6715.
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Food inflation expectations and estimates both dropped last month to their lowest levels since January 2022, according to the July 2024 issue of the Consumer Food Insights Report.
The survey-based report out of Purdue University’s Center for Food Demand Analysis and Sustainability assesses food spending, consumer satisfaction, and values, support of agricultural and food policies, and trust in information sources. Purdue experts conducted and evaluated the survey, which included 1,200 consumers across the U.S.
The consumer price index measure of annual food inflation remained unchanged at 2.2 percent for the fifth month in a row. The CFDAS survey asked consumers to estimate how much food prices have increased over the last year and their expectations for the coming year.
“Consumers estimate food inflation at 5.4 percent, higher than the CPI estimate but a decrease from last month,” said the report’s lead author, Joseph Balagtas, professor of agricultural economics at Purdue and CFDAS director. “Consumers also expect food prices to be 3.2 percent higher 12 months from now. This also decreased from last month. Both the inflation estimate and expectation are the lowest they have been since the inception of the CFI survey in January 2022.”
“There are a couple of perspectives to consider when looking at the evolution of food inflation and inflation perceptions,” Balagtas said. “On the one hand, cumulative inflation over the past several years has left prices much higher than they were.
However, inflation has cooled substantially from its peak at 11.3 percent two years ago, which, together with wage growth, will increase consumer purchasing power.
[...] Read Full Story
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In May, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed SB 1084, the first law in the country to ban the manufacture, distribution or sale of cultivated meat. Institute for Justice (IJ), a nonprofit, public interest law firm, announced this week that it, along with leading cultivated meat company UPSIDE Foods, has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the ban.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida on August 13, 2024, raises claims under the Commerce Clause and the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. According to the Institute for Justice, all UPSIDE Foods wants is the right to sell its innovative product to willing Florida consumers.
IJ pointed out that the ban doesn’t stem from concerns about safety but rather economic protectionism.
“Why did Florida ban cultivated meat? It’s not because of concerns about safety. The USDA and FDA have both reviewed the evidence that UPSIDE’s product is just as safe as conventional chicken and given the company the green light to sell its product throughout the country. Instead, Gov. DeSantis has positioned the ban as a blow to ‘the global elite’s plan to force the world to eat meat grown in a petri dish or bugs to achieve their authoritarian goals,’” IJ noted.
IJ said protecting in-state agricultural interests from innovative out-of-state competition is not a legitimate use of government power.
[...] Read Full Story
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Source: Progressive Farmer
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The average retail price of all eight fertilizers tracked by DTN continued to decline during the first week of August 2024, according to sellers surveyed by DTN, although none of the prices experienced a significant move, which DTN designates as 5% or more.
Anhydrous led the way down with a 4% drop compared to last month, falling from $705 per ton to $676. That was followed by UAN32 with a 3% decline from $389 per ton to $376. DAP recorded the third-biggest drop of 2% from $760 per ton to $744. The price of UAN28 saw a decline of about 2%, from $345 to $338.
The remaining four fertilizers were all down fractionally. Potash came in at $503 per ton, down from $506. MAP fell from $821 per ton to $819, urea declined from $506 to $504, while the price of 10-34-0 also fell slightly from $642 to $640.
On a price per pound of nitrogen basis, the average urea price was at $0.55/lb.N, anhydrous $0.41/lb.N, UAN28 $0.60/lb.N and UAN32 $0.59/lb.N.
Six of the eight fertilizers were lower compared to one year ago.
Both anhydrous and MAP are 6% more expensive compared to last year. The prices of the remaining six fertilizers were lower compared to last year at this time, including potash at 13%, urea at 12%, UAN28 at 11%, 10-34-0 at 10%, UAN32 at 9% and DAP at 3%.
[...] Read Full Story
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A University of Queensland library—full of hailstones instead of books—is helping researchers to better understand and predict damaging storms.
Dr. Joshua Soderholm, an Honorary Senior Research Fellow from UQ's School of the Environment, and lead researcher Ph.D. candidate Yuzhu Lin from Penn State in the US, have found storm modeling outcomes change significantly when using real hailstones.
The research paper is published in the Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences.
"People tend to think of a hailstone as a perfect sphere, like a golf ball or cricket ball," Dr. Soderholm said. "But hail can be all sorts of weird shapes, from oblong to a flat disk or have spikes coming out—no two pieces of hail are the same.
"Conventional scientific modeling of hail assumes spherical hailstones, and we wanted to know if that changed when non-spherical, natural hail shapes are used."
Lin said they found the differences were dramatic.
"Modeling of the more naturally shaped hail showed it took different pathways through the storm, experienced different growth and landed in different places," Lin said. "It also affected the speed and impact the hail had on the ground. This way of modeling had never been done before, so it's exciting science."
[...] Read Full Story
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