A five-minute summary of AAI, regulation, and industry activities for members of the largest state agribusiness association in the nation. | |
AAI Member Installed as ASA Board Chair
Source: Agricultural Retailers Association
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The Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) installed Amy Asmus with Asmus Farm Supply as chair of the board of directors during the closing session of the 2023 ARA Conference & Expo last week.
Asmus succeeds Ian McGregor with The McGregor Company in the role and will serve a two-year term.
“It has been an honor serving as chairman of our board of directors for the two years,” says McGregor. “I am proud of the work the team has accomplished on behalf of our members, and I am excited about where Amy will take our association as our new chair. Amy is an impassioned advocate for retail, and she has done an excellent job as vice chair these past two years.”
In her remarks, Asmus set the tone for her term as chair:
“I am honored to serve as ARA’s new chair, and I am excited about the incredible things we will achieve. Together, as we embark on this journey, let us build upon the successes of the past, embrace the challenges of the present, and shape a future that ensures the prosperity and sustainability of agricultural retailers and their partners.”
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Grain Indemnity Fund Payments Due Dec. 15 | |
The Grain Warehouse Bureau is encouraging the use of the online portal to submit Grain Indemnity fund assessments. The online portal is currently available for reporting and payments.
The quarterly assessment that began September 1, 2023, is now due for the first three months. The remittance of these assessments is due by December 15, 2023. Any payments made after the 15th will be assessed a $10/day penalty.
A document outlining the procedures to follow for the reporting and payments can be found online:
Portal Instructions PDF
A webinar showing the procedures on the Bureau’s website also is available:
Portal Instructions Demonstration Video
Both of the above links can be found at the bottom of the main page of the Grain Indemnity Fund Reporting and Payment portal:
https://data.iowaagriculture.gov/grainreport/
The GWB is encouraging everyone to try this reporting method. The access will be the same log-in and password as your online W-11 reporting. If you do not have your username login or password, please contact the GWB at:
gwb@iowaagriculture.gov
If you have any questions regarding the online portal, license renewals, or Grain Indemnity Fund reporting or payments, please contact the Bureau at gwb@iowaagriculture.gov or Jim Kennedy at James.Kennedy@IowaAgriculture.gov.
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Crop Insurance Discount Program Sign Up Open Through January 26 | |
The sign-up period for the Crop Insurance Discount Program opened December 1 and will close on Friday, January 26, 2024.
To sign-up to participate, visit Apply.CleanWaterIowa.org.
Offered by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, the program provides farmers and landowners who plant fall cover crops the opportunity to apply for a $5 per acre discount on their spring crop insurance premiums.
“Cover crop utilization in Iowa continues to rise because of innovative incentives like the Crop Insurance Discount Program. Iowa is a leader in conservation innovation and this successful program, which was first developed and launched in Iowa, has become a model in other states and at the national level,” said Secretary Naig. “This incentive can help defray some of the cover crop seeding costs on more acres, so we invite farmers and landowners to get their eligible acres signed up before January 26. As cover crops offer water quality and soil health improvements, valuable forage for livestock and many more agronomic benefits, we want to significantly increase the number of Iowa cover crop acres in the years ahead.”
Now in its seventh year, the Crop Insurance Discount Program has enrolled nearly 2,000 farmers who have seeded more than 1 million acres of cover crops to date. To qualify for the program, the cover crop acres cannot be enrolled in other state or United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) cost share programs.
The Crop Insurance Discount Program is jointly administered by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Risk Management Agency (RMA). Iowa’s program has served as a model and has been replicated by the USDA as well as Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana. To qualify for the Crop Insurance Discount Program, the cover crop acres cannot be enrolled in other state or federal cost share programs. Farmers should visit their local USDA Service Center to learn about other cost share funding available to support the implementation of conservation practices. Some insurance policies, such as Whole-Farm Revenue Protection or those covered through written agreements, may be excluded. Participants must follow all existing farming practices required by their respective policy and work with their insurance agencies to maintain eligibility.
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Sponsorship Opportunities
Opportunities for sponsorship have been expanded for the Career Day. Your company can be a Premier Sponsor, a Primary Sponsor, or a Career Fair Participating Sponsor.
Premier (Event) Sponsors - $6000
Opportunity to address the students directly, provides a scholarship for a participant, and receives a Career Fair table.
Primary (Scholarship) Sponsors - $1500
Introduced by company, provides a scholarship for a participant, and receives a Career Fair table.
Career Fair Companies - $100
Acknowledged and will receive a Career Fair table.
All sponsors are encouraged to join the students for lunch and interact throughout the event.
Click Here to download the Career Day Sponsorship flyer
If your company would like to be seen and prominently recognized by more than 350 potential future employees, contact Sally Thompson for details - sally@agribiz.org or 515.868.0323.
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EXHIBITOR OPTIONS LIMITED
Booths Available: 71 4
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EARLY REGISTRATION DISCOUNT FOR EXHIBITORS ENDS DEC. 8
The Exhibitor Registration deadline is this Friday, December 8. Booth space is extremely limited - Register Now!
Contact us at 515.262.8323 or agribizshowcase@agribiz.org to reserve your sponsorship.
| Attendee Registration Is Open | |
Scheduled Speakers
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Danielle Watts, VP Data Science, Pattern Ag
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Trent Newell, Agronomy Lead, Pattern Ag
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Connor Ferguson, Senior Agronomy Sales, Simplot Grower Solutions
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Secretary Mike Naig, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship
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Dr. Sabrina Ruis, Research Soil Scientist, USDA Agriculture Research Service (ARS)-National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment (NLAE)
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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
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Chris Souder, Bayer CropScience
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Dr. Geoff Graham, Vice President, Seed Product Development, Corteva
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Kapil Arora, Field Agriculture Engineer, ISU Extension
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Monty Malone, Soybean Variety Development Lead, US Agricultural Solutions, BASF
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Jason Gibson, Market Development Specialist, Corteva Agriscience
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Governor Kim Reynolds (Invited)
View General Schedule
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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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- VICAM, A Waters Business
- Adair Feed & Grain Co.
- agriCAREERS, Inc.
- BUNGE North America, Inc.
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- CR Conveying, Inc.
- Gold Eagle Cooperative
- IAS Innovative Ag Services
- North Iowa Cooperative Elevator
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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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Country Elevator Conference
Attended by:
Bill Northey, AAI CEO
Iowa Drainage Districts Association Annual Meeting
Attended by:
Ben Gleason, INREC Executive Director
Iowa Farm Bureau Federation Annual Meeting
Attended by:
Bill Northey, AAI CEO
Ben Gleason, INREC Executive Director
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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
January 25
AAI Legislative Breakfast
7:30 AM | Iowa State Capitol Building
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Partner With Iowa State University For Variable Rate Nitrogen Trials | |
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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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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According to the U.S. Grains Council’s (USGC’s) 2023/2024 Corn Harvest Quality Report, the 13th such annual survey published, the 2023 U.S. corn crop is the largest on record with the lowest percentage of broken corn and foreign material (BCFM) to date.
Warm and dry weather conditions in April and May let producers plant ahead of schedule, and despite concerns about continued dryness in June, healthy rainfall returned later in the summer. This allowed the crop to properly mature and resulted in the timely harvest of 386.97 million metric tons (15,234 million bushels) of corn.
The average aggregate quality of the representative samples tested was better than the grade factor requirements for U.S. No. 1 grade. The report also showed that 88% of the samples met the grade factor requirements for U.S. No. 1 grade and 96.7% met the grade factor requirements for U.S. No. 2.
“The Council is proud to produce this annual report that proves the quality and abundance of U.S. corn year over year. The transparency it provides to buyers helps them make informed decisions and takes another step towards developing markets, enabling trade and improving lives,” said Brent Boydston, USGC Chairman. “This crop’s incredible volume allows the United States to remain the world’s leading corn exporter, accounting for an estimated 26.4% of global corn exports.”
The report is based on 611 yellow corn samples taken from defined areas within 12 of the top corn-producing and exporting states. Inbound samples were collected from local grain elevators to measure and analyze quality at the point of origin and provide representative information about the variability of the quality characteristics across the diverse geographic regions.
[...] Read Full Story
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It has been a quarter century since corn and soybeans were engineered to withstand the withering mists of the herbicide glyphosate. Initially heralded as a “silver bullet” for weed control, the modified crops and their herbicide companion were quickly and widely adopted across corn and soybean-growing regions of North America.
In the years that followed, though, weeds targeted for eradication quietly fomented a rebellion.
A new PNAS Nexus study led by scientists from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign takes a retrospective look at glyphosate efficacy after commercializing the engineered crops.
Research has long indicated that weed control periods and full, labeled application rates are critical to controlling weed populations — partial applications kill only weaker weeds and inadvertently spur a population shift toward hardier and resistant weeds. However, this particular PNAS Nexus study explores the need to diversify weed management systems.
Amassing data from annual herbicide evaluation trials at land-grant universities across the U.S. and Canada, the researchers show a significant and rapid decline in glyphosate control for all seven major weed species they examined.
“Our analysis represents one of the largest cumulative measures of how weed communities have adapted to the simplified weed management tactics adopted at an unprecedented scale throughout North America,” said Chris Landau, postdoctoral researcher for USDA-ARS and first author on the paper.
[...] Read Full Story
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Canadian railway CN plans to acquire Iowa Northern Railway (IANR) a short-line railroad that operates on 275 miles of track in Iowa.
IANR, which connects with CN’s (NYSE: CNI) network and is based in Waterloo, is privately owned by the Sabin family. Acquisition costs weren’t disclosed, but the transaction is subject to the Surface Transportation Board’s regulatory approval, which could be granted in 2024.
IANR serves agricultural and industrial markets in the Upper Midwest, and customers include those transporting grain and biofuels. According to IANR’s website, the company also provides car storage and transloading services. The railway also interchanges with two other Class I railroads — Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (NYSE: CP) — and one short line, the Iowa Interstate Railroad via short line and UP subsidiary Cedar Rapids & Iowa City Railway.
“We are delighted to have reached an agreement with Iowa Northern Railway. We look forward to the opportunities our combined network will provide customers, farmers, and our partners to respond to the needs of their existing and new markets,” CN President and CEO Tracy Robinson said in a Wednesday afternoon news release. “By enabling all of us to play an even more important role in this critical supply chain and densifying our southern network, we are accelerating sustainable, profitable growth.”
[...] Read Full Story
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Although Charles Dickens was describing the state of English society when he penned “A Tale of Two Cities” in 1859, the novel’s opening line could have just as easily been talking about today’s ag retail marketplace. Based upon the data collected in the 2023 CropLife 100 survey, this year had many “best times” moments. Unfortunately, there were also many “worst times” moments as well.
First, let’s look at some of the “best times” moments. And since this year represents the 40th time CropLife magazine has compiled a listing of the nation’s top ag retailers, some historical perspective is in order. Back in 1984 when the first CropLife 100 was put together, the sales range for the companies on the list was between $5 million and more than $80 million. In 2023, annual sales in the $80 million range would land an ag retailer in the mid-sixties out of the 100 largest companies, with 59 ag retailers on the 2023 listings recording yearly sales of more than $100 million. At the other end of the spectrum, an ag retailer would need to have double $5 million in annual sales just to make the list at all!
More “best times” in 2023 come from the overall growth of the ag retail marketplace itself. Back at the start of the 21st century in 2000, the nation’s top ag retailers had overall revenues of $10.9 billion. According to the 2023 CropLife 100 survey, this figure has skyrocketed over the past 23 years, now topping out at $46.7 billion – more than $35 billion higher! Better still, compared with 2022, CropLife 100 ag retailers increased their annual revenues by almost 2% year-over-year.
[...] Read Full Story
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